Listening to Anna

While knitting, I'm currently listening to the audio book of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, narrated by Davina Porter. Usually I stick to the fantasy genre, but occasionally I like to dip into classic literature. Therefore, I've had this book in mind to read someday for some time now. This love story is full of drama and emotional tension without ever needing to delve into the titillation ubiquitous in modern romance novels. The nineteenth-century Russian setting provides a few references to knitting. I was particularly struck by one scene which could have come straight out of a current tales-about-knitting book or a knit blog. Anna's sister-in-law Dolly is highly agitated by recent upheavals in a home-life she naively thought was ideal. To try and calm herself, she takes out a long unfinished knitting project which she only works on in times of emotional stress. I think quite a few modern knitters can identify with that type of situation.

I am able to download audio books (and ebooks) from NetLibrary via an association my local library has with them. Along with the audio file, you receive a license to play that file for 3 weeks. If you need more time, you just log on to your free account again to receive an updated license. I just listen to the files on my laptop, but you can transfer them to portable audio players that support the secure WMA format (in other words, not ipods, unfortunately). After you're done, you just delete the file to free up the space on your device.

As I was downloading Anna Karenina, I never noticed who the narrator was. When I began listening, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was Davina Porter. I really enjoyed her narration on another audio book I recently listened to, and she sounds equally wonderful in this recording.

Due to the length of this novel and its large cast of characters with their complex Russian names, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of everything. When I've found myself a bit lost, I've turned to the online resources at SparkNotes. They have the complete text (albeit in a slightly different translation) along with analysis and plot summaries which have helped me keep tabs on who's who and what's what.

tags: audio books