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beautiful! it is one of my all-time favorites, the movie too

I completely understand your first line. Actually your entire review. I read this decades ago and still can feel it. The casting of Sharif couldn’t have been more perfect.

I reread this quite recently and a little bit of my old gigantic love did slip away. It was a bit like watching the Kiera Knightly version of the film after the Julie Christie/Omar original.

Violet wrote: "I reread this quite recently and a little bit of my old gigantic love did slip away. It was a bit like watching the Kiera Knightly version of the film after the Julie Christie/Omar original."

I never dared towatch that second movie, for two reasons: the first was perfect, AND Keira Knightley is my beloved Elizabeth Swann forever!

Tuti wrote: "beautiful! it is one of my all-time favorites, the movie too"

Thanks, Tuti!

Judith wrote: "I completely understand your first line. Actually your entire review. I read this decades ago and still can feel it. The casting of Sharif couldn’t have been more perfect."

Yes, it is a perfect film.

But Omar Sharif has just the required life complication in his eyes

Was that it? I never knew exactly what made him so perfect in that movie but definitely something about the eyes.
My sixteen-year old self read this books to bits � there was no cover on it by the end!

Isn't it remarkable how certain books/films seem to be a part of us even if we haven't read/watched them, Lisa, just be hearing what they mean to friends or relatives? For me now your lyrical write-up joins with the first wedding anniversary of my parents I remember as a child, the one time a year they 'went out' and went to the cinema for watching Doctor Zhivago.

Lovely review :-)

I love the idea of just touching favourite books. Perhaps we should each have our own touchy feely shelf - to go to for comfort.

I confess that I stroke the spines of books I see in bookshops to check they are not broken. Slightly different but along the same lines I guess. This is why I could not get by with a Kindle - abandoned a few years back

Fionnuala wrote: "But Omar Sharif has just the required life complication in his eyes

Was that it? I never knew exactly what made him so perfect in that movie but definitely something about the eyes.
My sixteen-yea..."

Then we can judge the book by its lack of cover! Uncovered truth!

Touching review, Lisa. I might feel for Jane Eyre what you feel about Dr. Zivago. And I take that challenge, I will try to be me, everywhere, with everybody. Thanks for reminding me of that.

Ilse wrote: "Isn't it remarkable how certain books/films seem to be a part of us even if we haven't read/watched them, Lisa, just be hearing what they mean to friends or relatives? For me now your lyrical write..."

That's so true, Ilse! Sometimes books become so familiar, I even get the notion I have read them already, until I realise I haven't. That's the case with quite a few classics, actually.Most notably Henry James, whom I Fionow.

I love your new verb, Lisa!

Fionnuala wrote: "I love your new verb, Lisa!"

I am very pleased with it myself actually, as it encapsulates not only what I know through your reviews, but also the way your reviews introduce new ways of knowing words: Fionowing is a linguistic field!

Lisa wrote: "Fionnuala wrote: "I love your new verb, Lisa!"

I am very pleased with it myself actually, as it encapsulates not only what I know through your reviews, but also the way your reviews introduce new ways of knowing words..."

Ah, Lisa, I'm thrilled. And I want to tell the people around me in my real life what you've said, but I don't think they will get it, none of them being much interested in reading book reviews.
Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ stuff stays on goodreads :-)

Fionnuala wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Fionnuala wrote: "I love your new verb, Lisa!"

I am very pleased with it myself actually, as it encapsulates not only what I know through your reviews, but also the way your reviews i..."

Yes, that's true for me too. My real environment doesn't Fionow the world of Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.

Ray wrote: "I love the idea of just touching favourite books. Perhaps we should each have our own touchy feely shelf - to go to for comfort.

I confess that I stroke the spines of books I see in bookshops to c..."

I am glad you mention the Kindle issue, Ray, for I have a massive problem with it. And it's not that I am generally opposed to people reading on a screen. I am pleased if more people read more often because of that device! It is more to do with me feeling that I need to have my own copy in my own hands, and a Kindle text just doesn't have a feel to it - at all. It even lacks the interest of a library book with random earmarks made by other, previous readers. Kindle books only have words, no personality.

Ah! One of my favorites, Lisa! I have 2 copies of it, the second one a result of my sheer love. You sent me on a little detour down that lane :)

Dolors wrote: "Touching review, Lisa. I might feel for Jane Eyre what you feel about Dr. Zivago. And I take that challenge, I will try to be me, everywhere, with everybody. Thanks for reminding me of that."

Yes. I have to remind myself too, Dolors!

Beautiful review, Lisa! This brings back such fond memories that I want to read it again! I also agree about the film congruency. I saw this with my favourite aunt, who was only 12 years older than I was - and we both sobbed our way through the film. :)

This was the book I had in my coat pocket when I first met the girl who later became (and remains) my wife. Of course when we had a daughter there was only ever going to be one choice of name. :)

Marita wrote: "Lisa, I feel pretty much the same about the book and the movie. I remember my mother taking me to see the film when I was a teenager, and it even warranted her making me a new dress for the occasio..."

I love that you got a new dress for the occasion, Marita!! Worthy choice to celebrate!

Seemita wrote: "Ah! One of my favorites, Lisa! I have 2 copies of it, the second one a result of my sheer love. You sent me on a little detour down that lane :)"

I am glad to hear that I am not the only one who manages to buy several copies of the same book, Seemita!

Oh how I love your review, Lisa! I love the image of you caressing a beloved book, maybe even whispering endearments to it ... (I would totally do that). I love the way you engage with a book and the en-courage-ment it gives to its readers, how you pass that on to us. Brava! (And: adding!)

Jaline wrote: "Beautiful review, Lisa! This brings back such fond memories that I want to read it again! I also agree about the film congruency. I saw this with my favourite aunt, who was only 12 years older than..."

Amazing how long we carry this story with us, Jaline!

Campbell wrote: "This was the book I had in my coat pocket when I first met the girl who later became (and remains) my wife. Of course when we had a daughter there was only ever going to be one choice of name. :)"

Oh, that is a wonderful homage to the novel - and to life, Campbell!

Beautiful review, this one stares at me from my shelf, calmly waiting for so long.

Wonderful review! One of my all-time favorites. The movie too!

Caterina wrote: "Oh how I love your review, Lisa! I love the image of you caressing a beloved book, maybe even whispering endearments to it ... (I would totally do that). I love the way you engage with a book and t..."

Thank you, Caterina! And: enjoy! Oh to read that story for the first time!

poetic prose

Ned wrote: "Beautiful review, this one stares at me from my shelf, calmly waiting for so long."

I guess it is calling you, Ned!

Alice wrote: "Wonderful review! One of my all-time favorites. The movie too!"

Thanks, Alice!

The book and the movie touched me so much......I just bought another copy, thinking I might want to re-read, your review was spot on!

Michael wrote: "poetic prose"

:-)

Linda wrote: "The book and the movie touched me so much......I just bought another copy, thinking I might want to re-read, your review was spot on!"

Thanks, Linda! Happy we share that!

I'm spending half a year abroad in a faraway equatorial country and, me being only allowed to take 20 kilos of luggage with me, my friends have offered me a book-sending service. I'm supposed to give them books before my departure and then when I'm over there and I need one, text them and they'll send it to me. When I'm done, I just send it back and they send the next one. (Don't I have wonderful friends?) Doktor Zhivago is one of the books that is now lying on the stack of books I plan to give them. I thought the icy vastness that everyone says features so prominently in the book would contrast nicely with my temporary tropical home. (For this reason, another book I'll have sent to me is Solzhenitsyn's even more chilly "Ivan Denisovich". I enjoy contrast.)
Yet, yesterday evening I was idling on my phone and read a bit into the Wikipedia article for Doctor Zhivago. Just the plot of the first book and a bit about the background. After that, I was ready to not start reading the novel at all! The Wikipedia summary makes it seem like some horrible episodical soap opera monster, stuffed with unlikely coincidences and meandering senselessly for hundreds of pages like one of these serial novels you can get for a few cents that have the sole purpose of keeping readers entertained so they'll buy the next issue. I was very disappointed.
Thanks to your wonderful review, Lisa, I now understand that the novel is indeed episodical and stuffed with unlikely coincidences, but that the Wikipedia article (unsurprisingly, I must say in hindsight) made the biiiiig mistake of trying to only recount the order of events, which takes away all the philosophical and poetic value and strips the book from its atmosphere that is apparently so intense. In all fairness, that's what Wikipedia articles are supposed to do, I don't blame them.
Anyway, after reading this review I am again considering to have Zhivago sent to me. That's kind of all I wanted to say.

Nina wrote: "I'm spending half a year abroad in a faraway equatorial country and, me being only allowed to take 20 kilos of luggage with me, my friends have offered me a book-sending service. I'm supposed to gi..."

Thank you so much for your wonderful comment!

Doctor Zhivago is one of my „life books�, i.e. books that accompanied and supported me during critical phases in my life. Not only the story, but also the poems touched a very deep string inside. Over the past 30 years I haven’t had the courage to reread it, fearing that this would destroy the memory of the feeling that I had then. Your review, Lisa, lets me wonder that maybe it’s about time now?

Peter wrote: "Doctor Zhivago is one of my „life books�, i.e. books that accompanied and supported me during critical phases in my life. Not only the story, but also the poems touched a very deep string inside. O..."

I would love to follow your reading process, Peter!

I just watched the movie and clearly I must read the book, for the movie does carry a hint of serial convenient coincidence. Most of all, the good doctor might appeal to me more than the movie version. I've read up too much on revolutionary Russia not to judge him a fool who can't feel the noose & in reality would've been killed in cold blood before the 1920s. Stubbornly "bourgeois" in the face of Bolshevik officials and without friends, he lacks survivor instinct.

Dimitri wrote: "I just watched the movie and clearly I must read the book, for the movie does carry a hint of serial convenient coincidence. Most of all, the good doctor might appeal to me more than the movie vers..."

Oh, he is a fool, Dimitri! That is what makes him so lovable.

Great,great review!