I finished Anna Karenina this week. On my iPhone. All 4087 pages.

Crazy as it seems to read Anna Karenina on the iPhone screen, it was… well, okay, it was crazy. I admit it. I downloaded the book thinking I’d occasionally attempt reading it while waiting outside the kids’ classrooms at 2:55. I didn’t believe I’d like it, and I didn’t expect to get through half of it, let alone 4087 pages.

Shockingly, I did like it. There wasn’t a strong narrative arc, but I enjoyed it as a collection of wonderfully drawn, gentle portraits of highly messed-up people. Mixed with some amazing metaphors, plus masses of political discussion of which I understood very little.

In fact, I now realize that my entire knowledge of Russian history stems from:

• Anna Karenina;
• Russian Winter; and,
• The Winter Palace.

Oh, and maybe:

• The Tiger.

Wait, there’s also:

• The Metro Dogs of Moscow.

Yeesh — I’m practically a Russia expert!

Or maybe not. While I loved all five of these books, my background knowledge has gaps as big as Siberia. If I decide to read a second classic Russian novel (which I might, but probably not via iPhone), I’ll have to do a little (LOT) more research along the way.

удача!