War and Peace

My bedside table is breathing a sigh of relief. War and Peace is finished. It can move from its seemingly permanent perch on my bedside table to its more permanent home on my bookshelf. In the summer of 2008, a friend, Kelli loaned me her copy of War and Peace, saying it was her favorite book. She and I had been reading books together for a few months, so I trusted her. I sat down to start her 800+ page book to find that it was an abridged version. Hmmm. If I'm going to read 800+ pages, I'm going to read the entire book. So, I checked to see if the translators of Anna Karenina, Pevear and Volokhonsky, had a translation of War and Peace. They did. And it would be out in paperback by Christmas. I put the book on my list, and Letha got it for me. I started to read. I made it through 200 pages before Gavin was born.

With a newborn it was difficult to hold such a large book. I took a break from War and Peace and read books on my iPod. I read The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Neither of which is particularly short. But holding a nursing baby in one arm and a iPod in the other hand, I read them. I slowly began to read other books. Real books-not electronic ones. June 2010 rolled around, and I knew it was time to go back to War and Peace. I started reading by scanning the Spark Notes so I could remember where I was and what was happening in those first 200 pages--no way was I going to re-read them.

I truly enjoyed the fiction surrounding the story of Natasha, Andrei, Pierre, and Mary. Learning who they were and what their life circumstances were before the French invasion of Russia and during the war was interesting to me. Reading about war strategies was not. If you've read Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, some of War and Peace reads much like Steinbeck's comments on social structures and society that interrupt the flow of the fictional narrative. I don't like that. But, Tolstoy's interspersing of the social commentary with fiction does serve a purpose, people read it and they think. (Or some people like me get tired of it and skim. I hate to say I skimmed, but I did.) I did learn more about the battles fought by Napoleon. I can't say that I paid that much attention to any class discussions that I had in World History about Napoleon. I've read Vanity Fair, Thackery's historical fictional account of Napoleon's conquests from a different perspective. I'm intrigued by how going off to war was like a journey for some couples to embark upon. Young wives would follow their husbands and camp a bit behind the soliders. It sort of makes war seem not so bad. I can't imagine families being just a bit behind enemy lines the way wars are fought today.

I'm no stranger to long novels. My aunt Lesa introduced me to my first in 1993, when she gave me Middlemarch for Christmas. I loved Elliot's story so much that I didn't want it to end. I've read John Jakes' North and South trilogy. I've read all the Harry Potter books. In 2004, I read Anna Karenina (800+pages) in a span of about 10 days--there were 3 plane flights and a glorious week on the beach in Tampa during those 10 days, but I read it in 10 days. I enjoyed the story. Tolstoy still had some social commentary in it, but it didn't go on for page after page. Perhaps I'm just not that intellectual, but I could really care less at this point in my life. When I read, I read to escape. I read books the way some people watch TV or movies. I keep a journal of books I've read and when I read them. I was happy to add War and Peace to the list.

My bedside table looks lonely with only my Bible and devotional on it. War and Peace looks beautiful next to Anna Karenina.

So, would I read it a second time? No. Been there; done that. If I had it to do over would I read it again? Probably. It's a feather in my hat. But, I'm learning that it's OK to skim or read synopses of portions that don't interest me.

Would I recommend it to another? In certain circumstances and with the caveat that it contains a lot of commentary about war and human nature. Not that that's a bad thing. It's just a thing.

And now, off to another book. Actually, there are several books I need to be reading for work. But that's not an escape, now is it?