Penny Reid

What do you do when you discover that your super-hot blind date from months ago is now your super-hot Russian Lit professor? You overthink everything and pray for a swift end to your misery, of course! ‘Kissing Tolstoy’ is the first book in the Dear Professor series, is 46k words, and can be read as a standalone. A shorter version of this story (28k words) was entitled ‘Nobody Looks Good in Leather Pants’ and was available via Penny Reid’s newsletter for free over the course of 2017.

Kissing Tolstoy

There are way too many Russian Literature references for a supposed lighthearted new adult romance.

Sure, given the book’s title, I’d expected occasional mentions of one or two Russian classics at most—not multiple dialogues by a couple of snobby fictitious characters discussing 

At one point, Luca even resorted to mentioning the aftermath of Stalin’s USSR, totalitarianism, and its impact on modern-day Russia. 

 Look, if I were looking to read an essay on Russian culture and history, I definitely wouldn’t choose a novel that uses “super-hot” twice in its blurb. I’d much rather find my fix on 

Anyway, this is very much just my take on it. If you’re in the mood for a romantic read, that is filled with grandiose speeches, allusions to classic Russian literatures, and philosophical musings, then this book may very well suit your fancy.

Ms. Mint

Beautiful writing, but oh.so.pretentious.

There are way too many Russian Literature references for a supposed lighthearted new adult romance.

Sure, given the book’s title, I’d expected occasional mentions of one or two Russian classics at most—not multiple dialogues by a couple of snobby fictitious characters discussing Eugene Onegin, Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

At one point, Luca even resorted to mentioning the aftermath of Stalin’s USSR, totalitarianism, and its impact on modern-day Russia. What the what? Look, if I were looking to read an essay on Russian culture and history, I definitely wouldn’t choose a novel that uses “super-hot” twice in its blurb. I’d much rather find my fix on jstor.org, thank you very much.

Anyway, this is very much just my take on it. If you’re in the mood for a romantic read, that is filled with grandiose speeches, allusions to classic Russian literatures, and philosophical musings, then this book may very well suit your fancy.

Nicole Cousin 

Short, sweet and funny as typical Penny Reid style. Cute novella

rockie

Loved this sweet novella. All the references to classic (Russian) literature were amazing. The writing is so well done and the characters are what make it fun to read.

Maria

Short rant in English: a story about a professor and a student who fell in love with each other and Suffer, and classical Russian literature helps them to revel in their Suffering.

Being born and raised (and educated) in Russia, my completely biased opinion is that loving Russian classics is a diagnosis, especially for a young person. There were no healthy characters in Russian literature - everyone is depressed, agressive, dependent, suffers from anxiety or something. Read the biographies of the writers and you'll discover most of them were psychologically traumatized neurotics, so it's no wonder they wrote about - well - psycologically traumatized neurotics. Identifying with them is like calling for a psychoterapist. It's less so for an adult who can usually see the historical and political context of these books. But when a young person (who is not forced to read them at school like I was) genuinely falls in love with Russian classics I find it alarming.

So I think the love for the Russians says a lot about both characters, their lack of self-confidence, their misguided judgements and their inability to discuss things. I found their relationship extremely unhealthy and them calling each other Andrei and Natasha totally didn't help.
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Same rant in Russian but longer: история о том, как преподаватель и студентка влюбились друг в друга и Страдают, и классическая русская литература помогает им этим упиваться

авторка, судя по всему, пыталась сделать героев сознательными. но дело в том, что в ситуации, когда один человек зависит от другого, границы между сознательностью и бессознательностью стираются. так, преподаватель старательно игнорирует студентку на занятиях - не задает вопросов, не обращает внимания, когда она тянет руку, не пишет ей комментариев, когда проверят эссе. сам себе он при этом кажется ужасно благородным, прямо князем андреем болконским - мол, я не выдаю преференций студентке, в которую влюблен. но вообще-то такой расклад означает, что студентка не получает реализации на занятиях, а значит, не получает образования, на которое имеет право. благородство ли это? нет, это харассмент. это дискриминация. не уверена, впрочем, что сама авторка это понимает

впрочем, это одна из тех книг, где герои - оба - очевидно виктимны. он зависит материально от богатого папы, она гипертревожный, застревающый тип. так что, наверное, логично, что оба - фанатичные поклонники of the Russians. вообще щас кощунство скажу, но по-моему юный человек, по своей воле увлекшийся русской литературой - это потенциальный клиент психотерапевта. мы все знаем, кто они и какие они, эти травматики и невротики, писавшие о травматиках и невротиках. образцов психического здоровья в русской классике нет, герои депрессивны, тревожны, агрессивны, зависимы и далее по списку. отождествление себя с этими героями - практически признание в том, что тебе очень плохо, по таким любимым книгам можно диагностировать. это всё в гораздо меньшей степени относится к взрослым читателям - те более сознательны и способны разглядеть и исторический, и политический контекст. но подросток видит человеческую драму, ему не хватает внутренней силы отстраниться и побыть сторонним наблюдателем. мы в россии-матушке выросли в этом, нам годами вдалбливали, что это величайшая литература в мире - и, наверное, хорошо, что многим додолбили до отвращения и мы не погрузились с головой. но американская студентка, самостоятельно выбирающая погружение в этот травматизм лично у меня вызывает желание немедленно звонить в колокол

у меня с "преподавателем русской литературы" никаких горячих ассоциаций нет - большинство моих преподавателей были женщинами за 50 с именами типа галина степановна. в 9 классе мы читали "войну и мир", и у меня адово пригорело от того, что толстой сделал с наташей в конце. на уроке я имела жаркий спор с галиной степановной. мне было 14 или 15, и я топила за то, что женщины - люди, которые имеют право на реализацию. галина степановна ответила, что я ничего не понимаю, и это женское предназначение, и я сама не смогу уважать мужчину, который - например - зарабатывает меньше меня, и что когда я вырасту, я все пойму. прошло 20 лет, я до сих пор ничего не поняла, но толстого плотно возненавидела, а позже ненависть укрепилась историями о том, как он заставлял жену рожать 13 детей и саму кормить - при том, что у нее был мастит (ну и еще кучу всего он творил с семьей, мудак и мизогин)

тем сильнее закатывались мои глаза, когда где-то в середине книги герои начали называть друг друга Andrei и Natasha. меня затошнило на том же самом месте и продолжало тошнить всю дорогу. они называли так друг друга даже во время секса. so disgusting, I CANT EVEN.

и да. секс у них происходит в его кабинете на столе. лучше б я порно посмотрела, там хотя бы без толстого.

Sahi K

I’m so conflicted about this book. On one hand, I absolutely loved Luca and Anna’s discussions about books, characters, their philosophies and values and so much more. They were intelligent and thoughtful and really impressed me. I can’t judge the accuracy of the points made because I haven’t read any Russian lit, but I understood the thoughts. 

It was the characters I couldn’t connect with. Anna has anxiety, but her overreaction for every small thing just grated on my nerves. Her first choice in any uncertain situation was to run away. She came off as very immature though she didn’t like to be called that way. Luca comes across as a very intelligent, hard working professor and he actually is smart about handling his attraction towards his student by taking the appropriate steps. But we don’t know much about him because we hardly get to read his POV.

I understand that they connected to each other on an intellectual level but I couldn’t totally see their love for each other. Maybe I would have felt more if it was a longer book, but this was too short for me to understand the love. I could definitely get behind the idea that they were great friends.

Barbara

There is nothing in particular wrong with this book, it was just too short to give it more than 3 stars. I also disliked some of the things the main character said/thought because they were sometimes a bit cringey. Overall I really enjoyed it, though.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


Here's a little secret about me — I am AWFUL at following along with serial stories. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE how authors offer these up in their newsletters or on their websites or wherever, but no matter how into a story I am, I fail to stick with it to the end. I'm more of an instant gratification type of girl, I suppose. Though I am subscribed to Penny's newsletter, I never did actually start Nobody Looks Good in Leather Pants. I'm a little sad knowing what I missed out on now, but to be honest, I'm mostly glad I waited so I could read it all in one fell swoop in Kissing Tolstoy. 

This novella had a very different vibe than any of Penny's other books — more literary, I suppose. As someone who has never read any of the Russian novels and was never very "into" the majority of classics, I wondered if I could get into this one. I seriously shouldn't have doubted Penny. At all. I love a good student/teacher romance and when you mix in a delicious slow burn like Luca and Anna had, I'm all over it. Kissing Tolstoy was a quick read and one that just flat-out made me happy. I'm ridiculously excited because it's kicking off a new series and I can't wait for the next book!

FAVORITE QUOTES

Yes, I felt shabby and small, but that's okay. I was shabby and small. There's nothing wrong with being shabby and small. Hobbits are shabby and small and look how badass they are. Plus, second breakfasts for the win.

"You infect me, body and soul, with primitive thoughts of claiming and conquering. I do not know how I am when I touch you. I am no longer civilized, I am blood and heat and lust. I barely recognize myself."

Preye

This was pretty mild and not entirely memorable. It's extra-slow burn so unless you're into one sex scene, an obnoxious fmc and an even stranger MMC, this probably isn't the one for you. 

Kissing Tolstoy

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