War and Peace - Read Along Check In #4

I have found War and Peace a challenge.  I understand it's awesomeness, and appreciate Tolstoy's purpose, but simply find it long, tedious, full of diversions in which I'm not interested, and containing far too much of the War.

In fairness, some parts of this book were inspired, and I enjoyed some of the more philosophical reflecitons on the nature of war, death, and love interspersed throughout.  I liked some of the social reflections, the parties and intrigue.  The characters grew and expanded, I particularly liked Nicholai/Nicholas Rostov here, and also Mary/Marya, and their relationship.  Pierre remained a frustrating favourite, I kinda wanted him to just snap out of it.  It sucked that Helene died with little or no exploration, that was obviously a plot device, clumsy.

There were patches I actively didn't like: the wolf hunting scene (that was a WTF moment); the overall portrayal of women, they never quite reached the real world image that was true of some of the male characters, even the central women stayed as stereotypic, seeming to lack that final acceptance of women as actual human actors required to make them fully real; the long descriptions of politics and tactics littered throughout - in trying to be an accurate history, Tolstoy parted ways with having a good story.

What do I think of the book.  Long.  Wordy.  Detailed.  Slow.  Mixed with moments of beauty, grand ideas, and close characterisation (for blokes).  Overall, I didn't like it, but the book itself as a reading experience will stay with me for a long time.  I'm glad I read it, and I'm also glad it's over.

Thank you, Allie, at A Literary Odyssey, for hosting this as a readalong, I never would have finished it otherwise!!

War and Peace - Read Along Check In #3

Sigh. 

I am just NOT enjoying this book.  Quite honestly, it's the only thing I've been reading as I know if I start something else, I will never finish War and Peace, so it's sending me quietly crazy!!  I have moments of not minding it quite as much as other times, but overall I am simply not enjoying it.  Reading it is a chore, not a pleasure. 

I feel I am getting the point of what Tolstoy is doing, and even am sympathetic with it, I want to like this book!  I admire it as a work of fiction/history, as an attempt to give both the broad strokes and minutiae of history, as a philosophical treatise, and so on and so forth, but I still don't wanna read it. I don't look forward to reading it.  I've read more blogs and online articles than ever before in an attempt to amuse myself (pre-bedtime reading-wise) so I don't turn on Kindle on my iPad to continue War and Peace.  I am very grateful to be doing this as a read-a-long so I am accountable and have kept going at it!

Kindle cruelly reports that I am 74% of the way through.  That last 26% seems very. very. long.

Okay, the bits I like: the philosophical explainations of war and human action:

"But what is war? What is needed for success in warfare? What are the habits of the military? The aim of war is murder; the methods of war are spying, treachery, and their encouragement, the ruin of a country's inhabitants, robbing them or stealing to provision the army, and fraud and falsehood termed military craft. The habits of the military class are the absence of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, and drunkenness. And in spite of all this it is the highest class, respected by everyone. All the kings, except the Chinese, wear military uniforms, and he who kills most people receives the highest rewards.

"They meet, as we shall meet tomorrow, to murder one another; they kill and maim tens of thousands, and then have thanksgiving services for having killed so many people (they even exaggerate the number), and they announce a victory, supposing that the more people they have killed the greater their achievement. How does God above look at them and hear them?" exclaimed Prince Andrew in a shrill, piercing voice. "Ah, my friend, it has of late become hard for me to live. I see that I have begun to understand too much. And it doesn't do for man to taste of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.... Ah, well, it's not for long!" he added.

Nice.  

I like Helene more and more, though her characterisation as "stupid" is offensive, she is pretty clearly a cluey soul.  Tolstoy also explains her independence as a masculine trait, or as her foolishness and ignorance.  This is annoying, I would far prefer her to be unapologetically a strong and smart woman. 

I'm still a fan of Andrei/Andrew, and NOT a fan of Natasha - she is insipid and continues to be flighty and dull. 

So: I get the point, I like the point, I just don't want to be reading the point.  But either way, this book has made a big impression on me, I find myself thinking about it and my reactions to it often, and so it has definitely been a reading success.

Trudging off to finish the rest of it.  Slowly. 

See other read-a-long posts here, care of A Literary Odyssey.

War and Peace - Read Along Check In #2

I'm not finished up to the set point for the check in (over at A Literary Odyssey) yet!  I've just been busy and distracted, and War and Peace has been taking a back seat.

I will say that I'm enjoying it a little more in this part than the first one.  Some of the war scenes weren't as dull as I found the first lot, and there was some interesting stuff on how the army worked, and on the hospitals (blerg!) in wartime.

The random masonry was odd but interesting, Pierre's conversion fervour, marriage issues and duel had a deft touch to it.  I'm enjoying the parts with Andrei/Andrew in them, he's an aloof fellow, but I like him!  He's one of the few characters that I'm interested in, to be honest.  I like Rostov as well, despite the fact he's a bit of an idiot.  He's got a kind of charm that is appealing.  Boris is a manipulative self-serving bounder, but he's not bad as a character, I feel relatively invested in his success.

The women are not so well drawn. There's not much on them, certainly not as individuals, and what little there is is stereotypical to the extreme.  Loyal maidens, cruel heartbreakers, innocent virgins.  Sigh.  None are as thoughtfully drawn as even the more minor male players.  They are ciphers, to be acted upon by the real protagonists of the story.  It's kinda irritating, to say the least.

According to my Kindle (oh cruel Kindle, how you constantly let me know how behind I am and how very far I have to go!!) I am 37% of the way through the book.  I think I'm several chapters behind the read-a-long, in my edition I'm up to Book 6: 1808-1810, about a third of the way through that "book".  Prince Andrew/Andrei is making his way in society and worshipping at the altar of Speranski.  Pierre is doing Masonry things. 

I'm trying to catch up, but at least the book is passing by.  Unless something radical happens, I'm pretty certain it's not going to be one I love, or re-read.  But it's on the bloody list, so it will be done, at least!

I love this pic from the classic film - I'm going to have to watch this again when I'm done reading it.

War and Peace - Read Along Check In #1

Well, I'm through the first volume, a little late due to being distracted, and having no ereader during the floods here!

War and Peace, what does one say?  I'm liking it better than I thought, but not as much as I'd prefer, given how much of the damn thing there is left!  I hit some serious battle scenes, which I've always found tedious no matter the book, and War and Peace is no exception, what a suprise given it's title.  It's not even battle, some of it, just never ending warfare intel and politics.  Didn't love it.

The court scenes in the first part of the book, I liked some of this, there were elements of that glimpse into other times that I love in classic literature, some of the characters were interesting enough, I like the aloof Andrei/Andrew Bolkonsky, he seems to have a smirk of cynicism that I appreciate, and his fervent sister was well, if stereotypically, drawn.  The letter she writes in Book one is like an extended eyeroll of heated religiousity and "obedience" - nice!

Pierre is the character most people seem to like best, but he just seems a little dull and easily led thus far, I'm not burning to find out what happens next to him.  I also found the introduction of one of the main love interests, Natalya/Natasha, when she is 13 to be more than a little off-putting.  I know!  Let's set up our personification of feminine awesomeness as a young girl, a child really, then she'll be super easy for all the grown men around her to love and worship, and lust after!  That's not problematic at all!!  /sarcasm.  Again, didn't love it.

Book 1 is like the world's longest introduction, it could do with some serious editing.  Is that bad...I suppose one isn't supposed to say such things about Tolstoy.  I was also not as up with my French, or my Russian turn-of-the-century-in-jokes as Tolstoy seems to expect, so often felt like the odd one out at a rather formal and lengthy dinner party put on by people who speak a lot of French for a country getting invaded by France.

As a rampaging feminist, I'm struggling a little with the "men = active, women = stay home and die in childbirth whilst obeying their elders and keeping demure" dichotomy, [not to mention the 13 year old girls are super awesome, you should really fall for one right now!!] but hey, that's par for the course with classic literature (and all too much modern lit too, sad to say).  Overall, I did like the machinations of some of the society "ladies," especially Anna Mikhaylovna, Boris' mother, who will stop at nothing to advance him in society.  I liked her drive and effortless use of her few remaining cards to put one over the many Princes in the story, manipulate everyone, and get her own way.  My less favourite characters are the "typical ladies" or romantic interests, they are a little tedious and obvious - but hey, I'm optimistic given I've got so far left to read, maybe it'll turn around.

Overall, it's getting there, but I'm more than a bit tempted to take a break and read something else!  It's not an easy book to pick up in between demands from my small child, either, so I am a little behind with it generally.  Must pick up the pace to keep up with the other read-a-longers!


The edition I'm reading:

Revisiting the maths, how many books do I really read a month?

Okay, this is why anything involving more than the basic 1+1 = something that makes sense is not possible on the amount of sleep I am currently getting. 

If I read 100 (+) books a year, that is NOT equal to 4 books a month.  See how that doesn't work? 

I blame my 2 year old, who thinks that 1am is an *awesome* bedtime, now for over a week running.  *sound of hair tearing and the gnashing of teeth*

So, if worked out accurately with actual maths, turns out it works like this:
   

 

Because you're 37 years old, female and from Australia, you're likely to die in another 46 years when you're 83. At your current reading rate, you could read 5032 books if you wanted to, so you're on target to read the remaining 1144 and finish your plan when you're 47 years old. That should give you plenty of time for some of life's other pleasures.

 Now that makes a tad more sense to me!  I put in 9 books a month, which is doable I think, on average over a year (I hope!).  It's the aforementioned toddler that is the issue here.

The irony is that my first proper book for 2011 is The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, which is NOT on the list.  I'm enjoying it, in a confronted kind of way, and will write something on it when I'm done.

I thought I'd join a reading challenge or two as well to share and keep me on track.  There's a great book blogging community that I read but haven't participated in before, that I would love to tap into, and challenges are a nice way to say "hi!".  *waves*

I think I'll do a list of the first few 1001 books I plan to start with, I'm picking some favourite "I always meant to read that" books to ease me in. 

I am also joining a War and Peace challenge, the fab idea of Allie at A Literary Odyssey, as I've always shied away from that mighty tome, despite my otherwise great love of classic lit. I'm afraid I've always found the very idea of War and Peace the epitome of tedium, but hey, it's on the bloody list so I've got to get to it eventually.  *rolls eyes*  Here is the basics of the challenge...

We will have four posts covering the following:

• January 15, 2011: The first check-in will focus on volume 1. In my edition it is about 295 pages.
• January 31, 2011: The second check-in will focus on volume 2. In my edition it is about 306 pages.
• February 12, 2011: The third check-in will focus on volume 3. In my edition it is about 332 pages (the longest section).
• February 28, 2011: The fourth check-in will cover volume 4 and the 2-part epilogue. These sections are about 282 pages in my edition.

It may seem like a lot and it probably is, but we will be reading around 300 pages every two weeks. That is incredibly doable! There are 365 chapters in the novel, so the chapters are short (something I always love in long books).

If you'd like to sign up, do it now, the first section has to be done by the 15th, yikes!

Happy Reading!