Tolstoy and the Purple Chair

by Nina Sankovitch

  Bombay Time by Thrity Umrigar, copyright © 2002, published by Picador, used by permission of the author.

  The Laws of Evening by Mary Yukari Waters, copyright © 2003, published by Scribner.

  The Touchstone by Edith Wharton, published in Scribner’s Magazine, 1900.

  Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, copyright © 1998, translation by Megan Backus, copyright © 1993, published by Washington Square Press.

  Acknowledgments

  My heartfelt thanks to my parents, Tilde and Anatole Sankovitch, and my sister Natasha, for their constancy and company and love.

  Thank-you to my in-laws Pat and Bob Menz, and to all of my brothers- and sisters-in-law, for their unfailing faith in me; to Joan Batten, for all her great ideas; to my children, Peter, Michael, George, and Martin, for filling my life with light; to my stepdaughter, Meredith, for allowing me to be her oldest friend; and to all the Janssens, for sharing books and family stories and long meals.

  Thanks to Jack Menz, for being who and what he is, which is everything to me.

  Thank-you to Stephanie Young, Margaret Kelley, Sally Maca, Bev Stanley, Sarah Hickson, Christine Utter, Viveca Van Bladel, Nataliya Lenskiy, Tish Fried, David and Laura Wilk, Gary Ginsberg, Joe Tringali, Margaret Hughes Henderson, Susan Paullin Nussbaum, Marion Nixon, Kate Sheehan Gerlach, Ellice Ratliff, Kristina Krause, Angie Atkins, Celia Zahner, and Jill Owens. Special thanks to Debbie Holm and Catherine Jacobi of Ted Studios. Thank-you to Tim and Patsy Wallace and to Peter Applebome. Thank-you to Tazewell Thompson, who showed me that dedication plus desire creates things of beauty.

  I could never have found all the wonderful books I did during my year of reading without the resources of the Westport Public Library. I owe special thanks to Marta Campbell, who finds books from all over the world and brings them home to Westport.

  Thank you a million times over to Esther Newberg, for giving me confidence, and to Julia Cheiffetz and Katie Salisbury, for pushing me onward, with patient determination.

  I offer thanks and reverence to all the great authors I’ve read during the past forty-plus years and from whom I hope to keep drawing wisdom, comfort, pleasure, escape, and joy until my last breath.

  About the Author

  The youngest of three girls, Nina Sankovitch was born in Evanston, Illinois, to immigrant parents. She graduated from Tufts University and Harvard Law School. She worked as a corporate lawyer and later as a coastal attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council and became executive director of Save the Sound in 2003. In 2008, Nina launched ReadAllDay.org, and at the end of her year of reading, she was profiled in the New York Times. She continues to review books on ReadAllDay.org and for the Huffington Post. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and four sons.

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  Credits

  JACKET PHOTOGRAPH OF CHAIR © VINCENZO LOMBARDO/GETTY IMAGES; PHOTOGRAPH OF BOOKS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

  DESIGN BY CHRISTINE VAN BREE

  Copyright

  The names and identifying characteristics of some individuals discussed in this book have been changed to protect their privacy.

  TOLSTOY AND THE PURPLE CHAIR. Copyright © 2011 by Nina Sankovitch. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Photograph on the dedication page courtesy of the author

  FIRST EDITION

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Sankovitch, Nina.

  Tolstoy and the purple chair : my year of magical reading / by Nina Sankovitch.

  p.cm.

  ISBN 978-0-06-199984-0 (hardback)

  1. Sankovitch, Nina— Books and reading. 2. Books and reading—United States. I. Title.

  Z1003.2.S26 2011

  028'.8—dc22 2010052855

  EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780062092168

  11 12 13 14 15 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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