“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

That's the famous opening sentence from Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece, Anna Karenina, which I first read back in high school. At that time, although I loved to read, my tastes ran more to young romance novels, techno-thrillers and whodunnits. The only classics I'd read then were Little Women, Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Huckleberry Finn, The Prisoner of Zenda and a few others. I wanted to challenge myself to dip into something heavier and substantial.


I can't recall how I found myself a copy of Anna Karenina but it became my reading project. It took me more than a month to finish the 800+ pages. Russian literature is quite hefty - definitely not your relaxing beach read. What made it more difficult for me was the mature theme of marriage and adultery and Tolstoy's attention to detail. The characters were very complex and my uninitiated brain had a hell of time following them. Even after I was done with it and felt like I'd achieved something, I couldn't honestly say that I'd fully understood what the book was all about. It wasn't until several years later, when I felt brave enough to pore through it again, that I was finally able to appreciate the story's richness and complexities.

What do you recall as being your most challenging read?