I've set myself the goal of reading a chapter a day of Tolstoy's War and Peace, and given that there are 365 chapters in the novel and 365 days in a year, I should hopefully have finally finished the tome on December 31st. I attempted to finish it before my 50th birthday, two years ago, but as the summer progressed, I got mired in the battle scenes and just couldn't do it. I figure I can read a battle scene if it's just a chapter's worth, and the other stuff -- the drama, the characters, the intrigue and romance and cold Russian sexism -- is pretty darn riveting. So watch that little mermaid tail bookmark sink, and if anyone wants to join me, the first seven chapters are short and interesting, so you can catch up by tomorrow.
Anyone?
Anyone?
Maybe I will join you. Always wanted to read War and Peace, but somehow never sat down to it! Might download it on my Kindle today. I like the idea of reading along with you!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! I hope you will. And I hope the chapters are easy to distinguish on the Kindle -- they're short, so far, in the regular book.
DeleteI'll do it! I read it in high school and I don't mind diving in again. xo
ReplyDeleteGreat! Maybe we can start writing in some sort of coded language about the goings on in Russia?
ReplyDeleteI already decided that The King of Prussia would be an excellent name for a cat....
DeleteSorry! I've sort of thought about maybe at last reading Moby Dick. I changed my mind the next day because I don't give a damn about the relationship between a man and a whale!!
ReplyDeleteBest,
Bonnie
LOL!
DeleteI am in. Must find the mouldy old pb copy first though.
ReplyDeleteGreat. Maybe you should spring for a new one?
DeleteNah, it's good enough, from 1968. Found it at a jumble sale in London years ago. I just skipped the lengthy introduction by John Bayley despite the fact that he was married to the great Iris Murdoch. I probably committed a sin.
DeleteI'll pass but thanks for the invite.
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome.
DeleteYou can read my blog as a companion! LOL. :) So excited to hear what you think.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a separate blog for the reading of War and Peace or is it all on Criticlasm?
DeleteOh my gosh! I just found it and scrolled back to the beginning. I am MOST DEFINITELY going to suggest this as a companion! I wish only that there were an easier way to load it in reverse order! Thank you so much for telling me, B. I will probably have a separate entry here to let fellow readers know, so expect some weird traffic all of a sudden to your 2010 posts!
DeleteMy daughter loved last summer's assigned reading: Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment. She kept a cheat sheet close by for everyone's name/title/surname/rank/etc. I guess it's easy to get mired and lost in all the Russian names. But you probably already know that you smart woman you.
ReplyDeleteMy eldest read it two summers ago, and when he pronounced it his favorite book I decided I would read the whole thing. I'd read it ages ago, skipping all the war parts - but decades later, I still found that I couldn't read them. So, good luck to you! (PS my boy never finished Anna Karenina, which I gave him for Christmas last year and is one of my favorite books. He declared it "too psychological" for his taste!)
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Glad you're trying it again. I loved that book, though I read it more than 20 years ago and I don't remember any of the specifics.
ReplyDelete