It did make it hard for me to keep going in Anna Karenina once I heard the ending. 🙁 Fortunately I was far enough into it that I wouldn’t stop, but still. A bummer for sure.

You could probably do AK without any outside help, but I discovered when I’d read the notes, that I had always missed something significant. ha. That’s probably just me though.

Yes, Feathers is a Newbery medal winner, and deservedly so. It was a quick read.

What is amazing me the most about Misty Copeland is how far she had to come. Her childhood was very difficult! She actually came to dance very late, but her natural aptitude for it stood out once she took a class at Boys and Girls Clubs. She had several people in her life in her teen years that took a keen interest in her. That inspires me too to see what a difference caring adults can make in the lives of a child.

Feathers – interesting, I’ve not heard of it. Is it a new Newbery winner? I need to look into it.

Misty Copeland fascinates me; beauty exudes off of her in dance. I love looking at photos of her in ballet action. How are you liking the memoir? Is it worth the reading time.

No, I haven’t read Brown Girl Dreaming but it sounds like one I need to add to my list! You’re teaching me that I need to stay more current with the Newbery books. 🙂 I got slack once my kids were “outgrowing” them, but now I realize that we don’t ever really outgrow great books, whether they’re originally written for kids or not.

Spark Notes has saved me on several occasions. I never would have gotten through Brothers Karamazov without them. It seemed that every character had at least 4 names. ha. And yes, now that my kids are gone, I’m reading these longer classics. 🙂

You’re right that often we know more than we want to about the plots in the classics before we ever read them. Sigh. I guess there’s nothing we can do about that since they’ve been around for so long. But still, the ending? I wish everyone would hold off on that. 🙂

Feathers does sound good. I usually like books about racial issues, and Jacqueline Woodson is quite the poet/author. Have you read Brown Girl Dreaming, her Newbery honor book of last year?

I use the movie as my ‘reward’ for finishing a book as well. I enjoyed AK but have yet to watch any movie version. (Guess I should put that on my Netflix list!)

Looks like I’m still going to plan on reading The Word Exchange – that’s a fun excerpt, and yes, it does show the author to be a remarkably talented writer.

The various conversations above about spoilers and book notes and the like gets me thinking about education and how most people encounter many of the classics: by hearing someone analyze them and give away the main plot points. Maybe this is one of the reasons (in addition to the tendency for rabbit trails!) that we so frequently dread the classics? I’m reading Screwtape Letters with the Reading to Know Classics Bookclub and read the notes at the front of the library edition I borrowed. I enjoyed the notes because I’ve read the Letters before, but if I hadn’t…

Yeah, I’ve recently decided to not even mention the books that I read that I didn’t like. Although there is value in that information too! The “anger of grace” was a very curious concept to me. Tripp went on and on explaining it, but I never could get on board with him on it.

Life in Motion has been enlightening, to read how hard Misty Copeland’s life was growing up. She had many, many obstacles! Yet she overcame them to live out her dream. Stories like that always inspire.