Like so many people who consider themselves avid readers, I've tried to read "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. (Tried.) As an honours English student at university in the early 1980s (many years pre-Internet, when my attention span was much better, lol), I earnestly bought up copies of some of the classics that I hadn't covered in my studies, which I fully intended to read during my spare time and summer holidays -- including a two-volume Penguin set of "War and Peace." I think I got through the first 60 pages before I drifted away to something else, and never reopened it again. (It may still be lurking somewhere in the corners of my parents' crawlspace... along with a boxed set of Thomas Hardy, which met a similar fate, lol. I did somewhat better with my boxed set of Jane Austen, although I still haven't read all six of her novels.)
Then, this morning, I saw this Substack Note from one of my favourite writers/Substackers:
"Here I go again...!" I thought. As I've said before (many times...!), I need another book club/readalong like a hole in the head -- but this does sound intriguing and, at one chapter per day spread over an entire year, (possibly) manageable.
As I wrote here, in July, I was interested in a summer readalong of "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, which I read as a university student -- but I just didn't have the capacity to take part (although I've saved the relevant Substack posts, in the event that I do find the time, one of these days...!).
Have you read "War and Peace"? (Are you tempted??)
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
(He's also doing a readalong of Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy... oh dear...)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I've read War and Peace. And Anna Karenina, which I think I enjoyed better. Way back in university days. So in the interests of trying to read some more classics, I decided a few years ago to try "Middlemarch" and drifted off! I never got back to it. I've read the first two of the Cromwell Trilogy, and loved them (especially the first book) and highly recommend them, but I've been less keen to read the third, simply because I know how it ends! lol
ReplyDeleteI need to check this guy out.
I'm impressed! And, apparently, a slacker.
DeleteOh dear... Nope, not tempted. I appreciate people who can passionately enjoy Tolstoy, but I am not one of them. I read A Little Life in September, and I did finish it (800+ pages,), but I have no desire to read a long slog book anytime soon, ha ha.
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