ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy

Everything you've heard and read about ANNA KARENINA is true. It is one of the finest, subtlest, most exciting, most romantic, truest, most daring, charming, witty and altogether moving experiences anyone can have. And you don't have to slog through pages and chapters to find the truth and beauty. It's right there from the first, famous sentence: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

This new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is wonderful and deserves your attention even if you already have a favorite version of the book. Pevear and Volokhonsky are considered "the premiere translators of Russian literature into English of our day." Working, as I do, in the Theatre, I hope they take on some of Turgenev's plays.

Anyone who believes in the power of Art, especially Literature, must buy and read this book. I promise it can change your life. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Tales From Watership Down by Richard Adams [SOLD]

The stories about the Watership Down warren and the characters from the first book are a bit more satisfying. Interesting ideas and characters, such as the warren Thinial, which is headed by a female chief rabbit named Flyairth, are taken up and discarded. Strangely, as a result of this small storyline Hazel names Hyzenthlay the Watership warren's first female Chief Rabbit and an equal co-ruler with himself. While it's refreshing to see a female rabbit gain a high position in a story that has been almost without exception focused on male characters, the switch seemed groundless. Other stories, such as the ones about the rabbits Sandwort and Stonecrop, were interesting but not gripping.

A very good story for your children.

Reviewed by Riswan Lintang-RL