I have had a recent fascination with the classics, and have made it my summer goal to dedicate my life to War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Worth it?

Good luck! I read about 300 pages in, got sick of the VERY long geniology lesson and gave up,lol. Let us know how it goes.:)

I would try and read it, but so-far I have spent 2 months reading a 200 page story and isn't yet half-way though, it would take me a while/.

Make sure you buy a decent edition. I decided to read it, bought the bargain version and then found the print to small to read. Its still on my list of things to read someday

I have a nasty reaction to long books, one summer I was asked to read four books including Wuthering Heights and a couple of other mammoths, and after the holidays the essay was on the only bloody book I didn't read, 1984. No wonder I decided to take a degree in maths :dozey:

lol I can't believe you read Wuthering Heights before 1984. Would have thought you'd have left wh til last

THat's one book I'm very passionate about. I read Animal Farm and 1984 in about 3 days! It was just soooooo engrossing I couldn't put it down. I think I even made a thread on here about it.

^_^

 

Good.....Good..

I've actually finished it, but it took me a long time, the better part of two weeks. It might have been that I always was reading it before bed but it literally put me to sleep A LOT, I mean a lot, like to the point where I just couldn't keep my eyes open. You know what I'm talking about? Where your eyes just keep shutting no matter how hard you try to keep them open.

 

It was a good novel though, different from what you're used to probably. I'd say read it if you can find the time.

 

On a side note this was one of the assigned readings for my summer class in London in a month for some reason and I'm so fucking glad I don't have to read it. Four other novels are assigned, including Great Expectations and some other fairly large books and I don't think I'd be able to finish them all by the end of June

I just began reading it. Just as everyone has told me, there are many characters. If I wasn't so distracted by other things, it would be hard to put down. I'm loving how the women in this book are all about stupid gossip then the politics of the time are always hanging in the air. I'm enjoying it so far... 70 pages in that is.

Glad to hear you like it, it's really a very good novel. I thnk it's gotten a bad rap over the years... I don't know maybe people are just getting dumber

I've read it in russian, and I liked it very much, don't know if I could have read it in any translation though, good luck it's a good read

Done Book 1

 

I'm a very slow reader for I just finished the first book. Liked it so far. Shows in impressive detail the best of human folly, hope, foolishness, treachery, love, life and death. Just as I have learned from other materials, there is a constant struggle between virtue and vice, and I find this especially in the book. It's almost ideal that I'm reading this book when the new album came out because many of the themes Tolstoy writes about appear in one form or the other in Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. Anyway, until I finish the next part, Adios!

By the way, I meant that I finished the first book of four... not the entire thing.

finished

 

Well, I finished the book two weeks ago. It surely was one of the better books I have ever read. I'm not sure I quite grasp its significance yet, but I know that if I ever read it again I will certainly grasp it better. Tolstoy's descriptions and inclusion of so many and so many important human characteristics, was unique in that I have never before experienced such detail and elaborate plot. It fulfills its classification of an epic. I learned so much about the history, culture and people of the time. It was just all around a great book. READ IT

Glad you enjoyed it! This book is definitely on my To-Read-Before-I-Die List :)