Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Books read in 2012: No. 76 -- Reminiscences of Tolstoy

by Count Ilya Tolstoy
translated by George Calderon

Amazon link

Started: Sept. 10
Finished: Sept. 11

Notes: For some few years now I've been interested in Leo Tolstoy's journey not only as a writer, but his spiritual journey as a Christian, which I've found fascinating. Late author John Gardner's writings first introduced me to Tolstoy's notions about art and writing and life, though I have read some of Tolstoy's fiction and noticed the strong spiritual elements. This little collection of apparently true tales about Tolstoy was written by his son, Count Ilya Tolstoy.

Mini review: An interesting look into Tolstoy's domestic life, some of his relationships with friends, and his final days. Not overly deep here, but there are some nice, cute little scenes of the great author interacting with his children and other relatives. It was also nice to get a family perspective about Tolstoy.

2 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I definitely want to have a look at this. I don't know that much about Tolstoy but I'm always interested in writers.

Ty said...

Charles, I've several books by or about Tolstoy in my to-be-read pile, and I'm looking forward to getting to them. I'm really wanting to read his "What is Art?" and his "The Kingdom of God is Within You." His fiction actually interests me the least, though I've read some of that. I'm more interested in his thought processes over the years, and the spiritual changes that occurred with his thoughts, especially towards the end of his life, though his fiction does show elements of all this.