I've been threatening to do this for a really long time, but now I've taken the plunge and committed myself. Next Spring, I will read War and Peace.
I will never read this on my own, but as Charlotte says, there's safety in numbers.
Let's read War and Peace together.
There will be ten weeks of finally reading that book you've always meant to get to, plus the added bonus of getting to be nosy at everybody else's posts. We'll start reading on February 1st and every Sunday after that, I'll post a list of prompts/questions that you can answer in your own post if you want to. If you don't, just have a good old ramble. Either way, link up on this blog and we can all support each other.
Sign-up below. You know you'll never read it otherwise ;)
WHAT DID I JUST DO? *stares at War and Peace on shelf* *hyperventilates* *considers starting now so she's finished the first chapter by February*
ReplyDeleteHi Ellie! *waves*
DeleteIt'll be fun :) Feel free to throw that back at me next March...
It occurs to me that this is going to be difficult if I end up starting uni in February...
DeleteAhhh I want to join you, but I haven't read ANY Russian classics, and feel like jumping into this one might be a bit much.....! But... what the hell, I'll join you! I need to go and find a pretty version of the book now :D Always happy for an excuse to buy actual physical books, yay!
ReplyDeleteHaha, yay!
DeleteIf it helps any, I read Anna Karenina in 2012 and it was surprisingly accessible and interesting. And yes, I also bought a pretty version of it just for the occasion :)
Glad to have you on board!
I have heard a lot of people say that about Anna Karenina! Maybe I'll try to squeeze that in before starting War and Peace. Although I feel like if I can manage to get through War and Peace I probably don't have much to fear from any other Russian classics!
DeleteHaha, you might not want to read another huge Russian classic if you try and squeeze in Anna Karenina beforehand!
DeleteAlthough I agree that no book will ever intimidate me if I manage to get through War & Peace :)
I've read Crime and Punishment, and it was easier than I expected. Hopefully War and Peace will also be at least slightly less daunting than its reputation would have us believe!
DeleteThank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I have been too scared to read this all by myself, so now I have no excuse.
ReplyDeleteMy sentiments exactly. There's no way I would EVER have read this otherwise and it's been glaring it me from my shelf for over a year.
DeleteNot sure what it says about my idea of fun but really like the idea of reading this. I might now be saying that 10 weeks into the read but still...
ReplyDeleteIt says you have a super, awesomely correct idea of fun!
DeleteI sort of feel that if I'M enthusiastic enough, it will somehow make the book good... let me know how that goes :p
This sounds great! I'll do a tentative sign up. I'm still reading Anna Karenina (about 70% left), and two Tolstoy books at the same time might be a bit too ambitious. At least this gives me the motivation to finish that one soon!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I know I wouldn't want to be reading them at the same time. It'll be bad enough trying to keep the characters from ONE book straight! :)
DeleteI'm hopeful though - I actually really liked Anna Karenina so maybe this one will be accessible too.
Of COURSE I'm in - how masochistically exciting! :)
ReplyDelete10 weeks is definitely sensible. It'll give me time to actually read the chapters AND catch up online so that I can understand what I've read!
PLUS, the last book that we started out reading together went *really* well for me so how could I even think twice?
Yay!
DeleteI'm quite happy with the ten weeks idea. I haven't looked at a chapter-by-chapter scheduling yet but ten weeks seems doable. I didn't want to get to the point where I ONLY had time to read this and nothing else.
Haha, I'm sure War & Peace will be better than Tess. I mean, how could it POSSIBLY be worse? :p
NOTHING can be worse than Tess. That books took me three years to finish. Anna Karenina by comparison waa lovely, and I've only been putting off War and Peace for so long because my dad loves it, and he's generally a fan of long, nonfiction history books :-p
DeleteYep I'm in! Mostly because it gives me an excuse to actually buy it :-p love how much more popular War and Peace is than Pickwick haha
ReplyDeleteOnly because people are more likely to read Pickwick off their own back... The War & Peace read-a-long is like an act of desperation - could be your only chance to actually read the damn thing :/
DeleteJust signed up... what did I just doooooo?!
ReplyDelete*sweats nervously*
It's going to be fun!! :-D
DeleteI've signed up!
ReplyDeleteBeen meaning to read Anna Karenina for years so hope I do better with this one!
Before I nip off to Amazon is there a particular version I'm better getting?
Great to have you on board :)
DeleteRight now you know just as much about the various editions as I do :p I have the Vintage edition but I'm sure they won't be THAT different. They may also be a free e-book?
Ok, no prob.
DeleteI just wondered as I was warned off one particular version of Les Miserables as apparently the translator makes a difference?!
Seeing as I know nothing and haven't read any Russian ones I'll see what there is :)
I read War and Peace a couple of years ago and truly enjoyed it. Would love to join in the discussion. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteMarianne from Let's Read
Great! It's reassuring that somebody has read it before and LIKED it! :)
DeleteI attempted reading this book over a year ago, then stopped. I'm thankful to have a group to read-a-long with me. I'm in! Thanks for hosting. Annette @ http://impressionsinink.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteHi Annette :)
DeleteHopefully this time you'll be able to complete it - there's safety in numbers, after all!
Thank you for organizing this! I was deliberately searching online for a book club to read War and Peace and found you! I haven't started reading yet but will do my best to catch up! I read Anna Karenina a couple of years ago with an online book club. It was so much more fun than reading all by myself!
ReplyDelete