War & Peace {Wednesdays}

I’m reading War & Peace. And I’m loving it so far.

If you would like to join me, it’s not too late. I’m planning to take the year to read it.

Here is the schedule I’m trying to follow:

January: Part 1 (thru page 117)
February: Part 2 (thru page 220)
March: Part 3, (thru page 328)
April: Parts 4 & 5 (thru page 469)
May: Part 6 (thru page 552)
June: Parts 7 & 8 (thru page 686)
July: Part 9 (thru page 777)
August: Part 10 (thru page 936)
September: Part 11 (thru page 1062)
October: Part 12 (thru page 1122)
November: Parts 13 & 14 (thru page 1223)
December: Part 15 & Epilogue

I’m thinking that I’m going to blog about it on Wednesdays.

I like talking about books. And this one should keep me talk for a while.

If you want to read it or have read it I would love to hear what you think.

My initial thoughts? 

My first thought was, I wish I knew French!!! I read somewhere when I bought my hard copy of this translation (Pevear and Volokhonsky) a few years ago that the translators  left the French sections intact to first of all be true to the original writing and also to demonstrate how Russian aristocracy moved in and out of Russian and French in conversation.

I love how Tolstoy’s writing can go from poetic and descriptive to frank and simple. His descriptions of facial features and expressions make me giggle sometimes.

Part 1 started out a bit slow for me, but once the circle of how the characters fit together started to come to together I became much more interested. A when the family “intrigue” started I couldn’t put the book down in that section.

I am really looking forward to getting to know these characters more.