First Love | 
pick9th I have read on “tookies short perfect novels” this is beautifully written and terribly sad. is that not true of all great Russian literature. Interesting too in its structure of a retelling among friends over drinks. It‘s out of print and hard to find, took months to get from the library. Worth the wait and search. Wish I had a hard copy to keep. Maybe someday on travels I will stumble across a copy. It would be fitting.
"Oh, sweet emotions, gentle harmony, goodness and peace of the softened heart, melting bliss of the first raptures of love, where are they, where are they?"
It's not much, but 2/6 for the #sixby6 challenge done! There's been too much else going on to make progress.
pickI'd give this about 3.5⭐️. A good depiction of a first love/crush/infatuation. Our 16-year-old narrator (looking back from older age) is outgrowing his mother's dominion, reluctant to study for university, wishing for his undemonstrative father's affection; enter an impoverished princess next door. Five years his senior and surrounded by admirers, she wraps him around her finger in no time. A sad story in many ways, but well written.
pickI thought this little novella was superbly written, and I didn‘t struggle with the prose the way I normally do with writing from this one period. It was very sad, though. This was one of y last three books for the #LitsyReadingChallenge, #over150yearsago @jessica
Funny story about the last 10 minutes of my life: I was posting this about the title story's depiction of a first #crush at 16 (or, you know, 'love' but reads more like a crush) and noticed it was dedicated to 'P. V. Annenkov'. In trying some searches and not finding anything I came across the story of Turgenev's lifelong love for opera singer Pauline Viardot, who was married to someone else. So I thought maybe the P. V. initials were a veiled..
#feistyfeb #flowersoncovers 7 of the Penguins 'Great Love' series have flowers on covers the other 13 have mixture of trees, fruit, leaves and feathers. All so pretty 🌺❤️📚
pickFinished Turgenev's "First Love." Great little novella. I loved Fathers and Sons when I read it years ago, so I'm happy I enjoyed this one as well. Now for the gym and more listening to Jurassic Park (only a few hours left). #24in48 #currentlyreading #bookstagram @24in48
pickThe writing in this was beautiful. I will definitely try some of Turgenev's other works.
