Un libro sui libri, di quelli che piacciono a noi lettrici patologiche. Un gruppo di donne a Manhattan che si riunisce periodicamente a casa di una di loro per una cena seguita dall’analisi di un libro. Si passa dall’Anna Karenina di Tolstoj a Edith Wharton, Louisa May Alcott a Sylvia Plath e ad altri ancora. La preponderanza delle scrittrici donne e delle protagoniste femminili è influenzata dall’abitudine di queste donne di considerare i libri come uno strumento per interpretare le loro realtà, per analizzare sé stesse e la loro vita. Ognuna di loro ha un motivo per rifugiarsi nel santuario della letteratura fin dalla più tenera età, e con il tempo le pagine scritte sono diventate un modo di ritagliare del tempo per sé stesse. Il gruppo di lettura, che per ognuna di loro è l’impegno più importante, ed inderogabile, diventa a volte motivo di un occasionale e moderato fastidio da parte dei compagni o mariti, che si sentono scavalcati od esclusi.
Nonostante il titolo un po’ furbetto, questo romanzo merita veramente, sia per le appassionate interpretazioni del gruppo di lettura (che fra le altre cose fornisce molti gradevoli spunti di lettura) sia per le vicende delle protagoniste, che vengono seguite nelle loro vite piene e complicate e il cui approfondimento psicologico è magistrale. E’ un romanzo non solo sull’importanza della lettura, e sulla valenza che essa può assumere, ma anche sui rapporti sentimentali, sul delicato equilibrio nelle coppie e nelle famiglie, un romanzo sull’amicizia ma anche sui rapporti famigliari. Ne emerge un quadro affettuoso di donne forti ed indipendenti (a volte eccessivamente) ma anche fragili e bisognose di rapporti forti, immerse in un mondo metropolitano, lavorativo, affettivo e familiare che a volte esige tanto, troppo da loro, ma che non impedisce a queste lettrici di sapersi analizzare, capire, reinventare.

Sorry....couldn't even finish the book.....too confusing and stupid....

Boring, confusing and impossible to engage with...mostly I wanted to slap some sense into all these ladies and beg them to do no more book club meetings...for something that starts with such high purposes and claiming to be different, it turns into a mismach of bad literary discussions thinly disguising the gossiping and the attempts at uncovering the dark secret one of them hides....blergh that's all.

Dinner with Anna Karenina was shelved with other "staff picks" at my public library. So, I decided to let someone else pick my next book and I was not disappointed. I struggled in the beginning to "enjoy" this seemingly mundane literary critique masquerading as a novel. Then I became worried I had stumbled on another book about women, food, horrible husbands, and their books. However, while Dinner with Anna Karenina was all those things, I was draw into the lives of these women. And for me, that is a mark of a good book. If I can't argue, laugh, and cry with the characters I take nothing away from my reading. It is not a bit of light reading, but it is worth a read. I definitely recommend it.

Bellissimo!!! Avere un gruppo di lettura
come quello descritto nel libro è uno dei
miei sogni nel cassetto!! =) Alcune parti
sono un poco ripetitive, però la descrizione
delle riunioni delle protagoniste e dei loro
stessi caratteri fanno dimenticare questa
piccola pecca.

This book was barely "OK" and very unsatisfying. I picked it up impulsively from the "recommended" shelf at my local library and I was intrigued by the title due to its reference to Anna K. To me the book seemed pretentious, self-conscious, almost trivial and incredibly predictable. But.....I did finish it.

I want to start a book club like this..any takers? This book should be read by any woman who has a passion for reading and literature. It was wonderful.

Entertaining, and typical story.

Chick Lit, about the characters in a NY book group. Not amazing.

did not love the book. parts of it were enjoyable, but overall not a great read

Our first book club book!

I loved it.  I really enjoyed this one about six women who are friends bonded together with their love of books and  formed a book club.

I found myself absorbed in every chapter, and each book discussion, as if I was right there with them.  I loved how they discussed their books and I couldn't get through each chapter fast enough to learn what the next book was going to be read and discussed.  Fortunately for me, each book selected was one that I had already read and it was so interesting to me to hear their take on the topic. At the same time, you also learn about each woman's lives and their ups and downs.  The women  had very distinct personalities. 

Being in a bookclub myself, this book made me smile and appreciate seeing my friends each month to discuss books, and catching up with each other lives. It's my favorite time of month.  

A few quotes that resonated with me as I was reading this novel...


"They were of a kind, readers from birth..."

"Literature was their passion, each book they discussed a challenge to heart and mind, each of their meetings a celebration of ideas.  Their  friendship, their intimacy, was rooted in that shared passion...". " They shared the ability to immerse themselves in the lives of the fictional characters, to argue passionately about the development of plots, about decisions taken, dilemmas resolved."

"In discussing books, they revealed themselves to one another, exposed their dreams, their deepest fears, their brightest hopes."