Her brushstrokes had just the right efficacy on the canvas to express what she desired. She paused, stepped back and was satisfied with how her work was coming along. Her studio was not extensive, but then one of the beauties of art was being able to create a lot out of very little.

And therein was her pride, the ability to be content with little while others would have the world and nothing less. The minimalism of her lifestyle made way for grander things to fill her heart and become her goals. She would not settle for the banality others associated with simplicity, but instead sought an inundation of adventure, love, grace, and other invisible things more worthy of possession.

I wrote this again when I was supposed to be working on something else. Blah blah blah. I lack conciseness.

—

Perhaps her only fault was being too amiable, he thought, falsely. She had a great deal more faults than were readily apparent, and her own awareness of these faults gave her the restraint needed to not let flattery overcome her. She fell in love with everyone and then got upset when they fell in love with her. She was not insecure, but still saw the bad in herself before she saw the good, while in others she often saw the good before she saw any bad.

She had many plans and so much time, yet lacked efficiency. So her plans impressed him, but was dissatisfied herself because she never seemed to put the water to the mill swiftly enough. As she grew older, though, the equation that efficiency equals success became less an abstract formula than a practical application and she sought more initiative to make her dreams realities.

I got a book in the mail today! My friend recommended I read My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers so strongly that he even offered to buy it for me! So I couldn’t refuse, really – it was a free book! and I’d heard nothing but good about it.

So I was expecting it to be a regular book, but turns out it’s actually a devotional, which is uber neat. I don’t know whether to read a bunch and catch up to Jan 30th and then go from there, or just start now and read into next year. I suppose it doesn’t matter.

 Either way, I’m stoked!

(And if anyone else wants to send me free books, I’m totally down with that. As long as they’re good, of course.)

I think once I finish Anna Karenina I just might read through the Bible – just to get it over with. I mean, not “over with,” but just to be able to say I have. I don’t think I’ve ever read Haggai. Or Malachi. Or any of those small inconspicuous ones.

 I figure it’d be kinda dumb to exert so much energy into all these other books when I haven’t even read the number one best seller of all time straight through.

I figure I could read it in about two months…Anna Karenina is 817 pages at about size 10 font, and I’ll probably finish it this weekend. My Bible is 1081 pages at about size 8 font, so it’ll take me a bit longer.

I mean, I’ve tried to read through the Bible before, but I think I can actually do it this time. I’m actually rather stoked about it.

This will officially be the longest book I’ve ever read. I can sit down and read for a few hours and it hardly seems to make a dent! (Though I am at page 587 of 817 pages…)

That’s why all posts have been about this lately…it’s a monster of a book. At least I’ve decided to look for some different pictures instead of just the book cover, so it’s not so monotonous =P

Auggghhh, I want it to be over. I want to find out how all the major conflicts will be resolved and not have all these hunting days, farming days, trifles with making jam, and visits to local artists get in the way of that.

 Auuuggghhh.

I mean, it still is an amazingly written book, I’m glad I’m reading it, but I’ll also be glad when it’s over.

“Vronsky meanwhile, despite the full realization of what he had desired for so long, was not fully happy. He soon felt that the realization of his desire had given him only a grain of the mountain of happiness he had expected. It showed him the eternal error people make in imagining that happiness is the realization of desires.”

-from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

I am so happy! Why? Because Levin is happy! For so long he had been so depressing and thinking about death all the time…but not anymore!

“So it’s no longer time to die?” said Stepan Arkadyich, pressing Levin’s hand affectionately.
“No-o-o!” said Levin.

I literally grinned ear to ear when I read that.

I havn’t done much reading in the past few days but I’m past the halfway point…I’m at page 453. I’m already trying to think of what books I should read next. I wish I were a faster reader sometimes…my list is huge.

I figure it’s a good idea to read two books at a time. One for when I’m on the train and such, and the other for spending a few hours in my room completely immersed. Here are books that I own but havn’t read yet. I need to read all the books I actually own before going out and buying more. Some of these I bought a year ago!

Ovid has definitely got a lot cooler once I got past Amores, which was all about sex. Now I’m into Metamorphosis which is about all the Greek and Roman gods and jazz, which is totally awesome. It includes the story of Jupiter sending a flood to destroy man, but for the two survivors, Decalion and Pyrrhus, Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection (which is where we get the term “narcissistic”), the origin of echos, Pyramus and Thisbe (which Shakespeare used in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Arachne being turned into a spider by the jealous Athene (which I assume is where we get the word “arachnid”). Totally neat, though I must say a great many of the gods are so flippin’ immature and temperamental. Honestly.

Anyways, so that’s pretty neat. And the book is tiny so I can put it in my purse for riding on the train. Before I used to lug around Anna Karenina, but that was just far too cumbersome. It’s nice having a smaller book for traveling.

And I bought Paradise Lost today, because it had been on sale for the past month and I knew I would be kicking myself if I didn’t once they all sold out or the sale ended because I had wanted it for such a long time. So it’s this huge thing, illustrated and everything, but I’m pretty stoked for it.

Almost halfway there…Page 335.

Another interesting thing about this book is not only do you see the characters do very normal everyday things, you hear their normal everyday conversations. Again using Levin as an example, not every single conversation will be about the primary obstacle in the story, his love for Kitty. He will do accounting and discuss the value of a wood, debate the zemstvo institutions with his brother, and converse about farming techniques and the emancipation of the serfs with other landowners. It’s what a reality show would be like if you showed all the “boring” stuff in between the primary dilemmas.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I really like Levin, he’s so awesome. I said earlier that I saw a lot of myself in him, but that’s not quite true anymore. He’s very different…a bit darker.

Anyways, here are some interesting quotes from Vronsky’s conversation with his friend Serpukhovskoy.

Ariadne to Theseus from Heroides (‘Epistles of the Heroines’).

‘Ariadne laments her lover’s desertion.’

 

 When morning dew on the fields did fall,

And birds with early songs for day did call,

Then I, half sleeping, stretched me towards your place

And sought to press you with a new embrace,

Oft sought to press you close, but still in vain:

My folding arms came empty back again.

=(