In college, I had a professor who was so in love with Tolstoy that he named his own son Leo. He would come into class, drop his bag, and then reference the 100-years dead author as if he’d spoken to him on the phone that morning.
Intrigued, I attempted Anna Karenina three times that year. As a non-trad student taking 16-credit hours while raising three children (and holding a marriage together) this would only serve as more evidence of my innate drive toward madness.
Some people have skydiving on their bucket list—I just want to finish a work of Tolstoy between dinner and the basketball games.
I had a terrible month in December which led me to wander rather long-faced through a bookstore on more than one occasion. Oddly (or perhaps not odd at all), I wound up in the classics section one afternoon, standing melancholy beneath the weight of Russian literature. Oh, how very artistic. I thought of my obsessed professor and pulled War and Peace down, considering again whether I should attempt Tolstoy.
“Nah,” I thought. Life is already too heavy.
And that is how it always goes—
I re-shelved it with a grunt and relapsed into resentment over the heaps of responsibility to which I am Stockhomed. I ran my fingertips along the spines and allowed myself to feel a full discontent until I reached the end of the shelf where someone had misplaced a slim book called Resurrection. It pulled me in the way that a bottle pulls an addict. I picked it up, flipped it over, and began reading: “Serving on the jury at a murder trial…”
And then the Grinch had a wonderful, awful idea.
Announcing the 2026 Misfit Lit Book Club
As with these previous nudges toward justice-informed titles, this rendezvous with a new-to-me Tolstoy felt like manna from heaven. In a flash, I realized that I just might be able to do it all.
I purchased that copy of Resurrection and it rode home with me atop my front passenger seat like a new friend. I moved it to my nightstand where every day since I have pondered if I am bold enough to follow through.
Turns out, I am.
Even if I read this book alone, I’m doing it (and still calling it a book club).
If You Want To Join Me
In my previous polls and questionnaires about meeting up, you told me that you want the Zoom call option (with the ability to watch it later). You also largely asked for a weekday meet-up. I have decided that we will meet twice a quarter, once before and once after the book is read.
Our first chat and introduction will be next Friday, January 23 at 1pm (EST). Join me on Zoom through this LINK (no, you do not have to have read a thing). It will only last 30ish minutes— no, we don’t have to go around and tell who we are. Promise.
Our second Zoom call will be on Friday, March 27 at 1pm to discuss the book or to just show up and enjoy a beverage together like good book clubs do (my birthday is that week so maybe we will have cake).
In the interim, I will put out monthly updates with discussion points, questions, relevant articles, and other thought provoking links for Resurrection. I have broken this into doable chunks (see below) for those of us still making family dinners and sitting in the stands at basketball games.
Together, we will complete a work of Tolstoy together before Easter!
(Eeek. I am so excited.)
About This Novel
Resurrection (1899) was Tolstoy’s final novel, written in his seventies, at the height of his own moral and spiritual inquiry. Though it is often passed over today, it out-sold all of his other works in it’s time.
Unlike War and Peace or Anna Karenina, this book is explicitly concerned with social justice, the corruption of institutions, and the possibility of moral redemption.
The story follows Prince Dmitri, a privileged aristocrat who serves on a jury and recognizes the defendant—Katyusha Maslova, a woman he seduced and abandoned years earlier when she was a servant in his aunt’s house. Her life has spiraled into poverty and prostitution, leading to her false conviction for murder.
Dmitri’s guilt drives him to seek her forgiveness and work for her release which forces him to confront the brutal injustices of our human legal and penal systems. And as we know, even in the 21st century, that is no simple thing. As such, this book is full of keen and relevant insight as well as needed humor to get us through.
Tolstoy is a considered a master of storytelling for a reason, and this is a great chance to find out why. Fiction and non-fiction lovers alike— there is something in this book for you.
Fun Facts
Resurrection took Tolstoy ten years to write, and it was serialized in a magazine over the course of a year.
Tolstoy gave ALL of the proceeds from Resurrection to the Doukhobors (a pacifist Christian sect) to help them emigrate to Canada to escape persecution. It was a huge sum of money, and his wife was furious.
The Russian government and Orthodox Church hated this book. They censored it heavily, especially the parts criticizing the church and legal system. The full, uncensored version wasn’t published in Russia until after the revolution in 1905.
This work was born out of Tolstoy’s late-in-life admission (to his biographer) of his guilt over impregnating a servant girl earlier in his own life. That child, a boy, lived with him for much of his life.
Tolstoy saw Resurrection as his most important work—explicitly moral and political. By the time he wrote it, he had denounced his earlier novels as frivolous, shallow entertainment.
Resurrection was his last full-length novel. He died 11 years after writing it.
Reading Pace Guide
Read at your own pace or follow the schedule below. No one is counting your pages and you can join our discussions without having read a thing:
Week 1 (Jan 16-23): Chapters 1-20 (80 pages)
Week 2 (Jan 24-31): Chapters 21-40 (80 pages)
Week 3 (Feb 1-8): Chapters 41-59 (80 pages)
Week 4 (Feb 9-16): Part II, Chapters 1-10 (65 pages)
Week 5 (Feb 17-24): Part II, Chapters 11-20 (65 pages)
Week 6 (Feb 25-Mar 4): Part II, Chapters 21-28 (50 pages)
Week 7 (Mar 5-12): Part II, Chapters 29-42 (60 pages)
Week 8 (Mar 13-20): Part III, Chapters 1-14 (65 pages)
Week 9 (Mar 21-25): Part III, Chapters 15-28 (51 pages)
If all goes as planned, we will begin a new (more modern) book in April, after a short break. You are welcome to jump in at any point this year. Each quarter will bring a new opportunity.
The point of this whole thing (the point of life, really) is to connect so I am happy to have you pop in even if you just want to say hi, ask questions, or listen to inevitable life updates. Bring your lunch or a hot beverage, a blanket, or whatever else will give you a few minutes of reprieve from regular life. Mostly, thank you for giving me a place to be fully me.
Please R.S.V.P. in the comments or just tell me I’m crazy. That last part I already know.
