LitWit Challenge 4.7: We’re going to read War and Peace. Who will join us?
Time to stop talking about it and start reading the damn book.
Photo: War and Peace is “Heavy Reading”
This is a book that makes us see the point of getting a Kindle; then again it should improve the muscle tone of our arms even if there is the real danger of smothering to death while reading the book in bed. It’s going to be a long slog but it’s the degree of difficulty that separates the hardcore readers from the wimps. Think of it as your statement against the meretriciousness and mediocrity of contemporary society.
A task of this nature requires a company of like-minded individuals. Who will join our War and Peace reading group?
Obviously this is a long-term LitWit Challenge. Shall we say two months, and try to finish in less?
Every week starting Monday we will post a War and Peace reading journal. To join the LitWit Challenge, post your own regular updates in Comments: how far you’ve gotten, your observations on the characters, events, etc, problems you have encountered in the course of your reading, what you wish would happen next, whom you would cast in the movie (This should help you keep track of the legion of characters with long names). When we get to the end of War and Peace, we will give prizes to our three favorite War and Peace diarists. We can do this.
The War and Peace Reading Support Group begins on Monday, but we will start reading the Tolstoy this weekend. We’re using the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation, but feel free to take up any of the available translations. If you do not have a copy, you can download the book in its entirety from these sites:
Project Gutenberg
Planet PDF
Many Books
Top Shareware
ePub
and many others.
The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to you by our friends at National Bookstore.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 5th, 2011 at 19:14
War and Peace Reading Support Group. Reading Russian novels sounds scary. =)
February 5th, 2011 at 21:09
Whoa!! That is one heavy book. Sadly I’m in the middle of Clavell’s Asian Saga.
Good luck to all the takers!! :)
February 5th, 2011 at 22:28
Wow! I like this idea. I was planning to read Gone with the Wind for this month, but I will pass on it if I can get a copy of War and Peace. I will look for a copy tomorrow and send an update. (cross fingers)
February 5th, 2011 at 23:38
Okay, I’ll bite. I doubt I’ll finish in time, but at least I should at least get enough momentum to see it through to the end.
February 5th, 2011 at 23:40
Wow. The marathon of LitWit Challenges…
February 6th, 2011 at 01:34
I’m in! I’ve gone through Chekov and Nabokov but I’m a Tolstoy virgin.
February 6th, 2011 at 01:42
I’ll do it, not sure I can keep up with the level of writing for the diaries, but I’ll give it a whirl.
February 6th, 2011 at 02:28
Dahil ba ito sa Freedom ni Franzen? :-)
February 6th, 2011 at 05:48
i’m signing up for this. will do my best and it may take a miracle for me to finish this in 2 months. i’m a bit inspired of this exhibit i went to last weekend of russian paintings from the tsarist era (ang drama!).
*just finished download from project guttenberg :)
February 6th, 2011 at 09:53
@ros, I rarely come across people mentioning Clavell. I love the Asian Saga esp Shogun (which I’ve read numerous times), King Rat and Noble House :D
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I’m going to join this litwit. I’ve had my War and Peace copy for a while now but I never dared to attempt to read it. This is just what I need to finally conquer that monstrosity :D
February 6th, 2011 at 10:51
Count me in. :)
February 6th, 2011 at 11:06
Read an abridged version when I was seventeen. Only thing I remember about the book is the miserable cold of the French army during their invasion of Russia.
I remember too one time during the whole process while on board a ferry boat, my seatmate, an older man asked me how old I was. When I said 17, he said, no you’re not, no 17 year old girls read that kind of book. I think I just shrugged at that and turned my nose up at him.
Maybe it’s time to read the whole deal, no?
February 6th, 2011 at 12:09
Sign me up. I’ll grab my Pevear-Volkhonsky translation from Barnes and Nobles tomorrow. Got nothing to look forward to for the next couple of weeks.
February 6th, 2011 at 12:51
What a novel idea! But I’ll pass. I have yet to begin the Lydia Davis book, and I’m expecting a package of Mark Twain hardbounds this February. Now reading: Crimes and Punishments (bedtime book) and Dirty Jokes and Beer, Stories of the Unrefined (by Drew Carey, in the office).
February 6th, 2011 at 15:57
I’m all for it, count me in!
Read this some three years ago, pre-Kindle, but probably liked it because I was interpreting it from a mediocre wimp’s point of view.
I enjoyed the snippets of drama weaved through the characters here. Elopement (well–almost), spoiled, drunken scions of noblemen, existentialist playboys, philandering wives, love-struck but otherwise dutiful daughters, gossiping matrons, class snobbery, duels, war! It reminded me of the stories I used to hear about provincial life in pre-war Philippines.
With the help of this reading group, this time around I’ll aim for profundity, so the next time someone asks me what I thought about the book, I can come up with a better answer than this!
February 6th, 2011 at 17:12
Count me in.
February 6th, 2011 at 17:31
I want to join — but I can’t make up my mind which translation to read — I read that Pevear-Volkhonsky are said to give the best translation, but I have yet to find a copy. I’m interested in how different translation can give different readings too.
February 6th, 2011 at 17:46
oh goody! I think I found a PV translation: http://www.accuratefiles.com/fileinfo/gs614f216h82i0
Ms. JZ, I would really appreciate if you can check it out, just so I know it really is the same book (and maybe share the link with other readers just in case they want to be reading the same translation?) — I think so far it’s the same (I checked available excerpts from the web to the ebook, but couldn’t find if the first page matches).
Im on board! :)
February 6th, 2011 at 20:52
I will bow out of this one and leave it to the truly dedicated. Also, I lack ambition and drive. Will watch from the sidelines.
February 6th, 2011 at 22:50
lady q: You can get the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation from Amazon for $9.09, downloaded to your PC via Kindle for PC. The app is free, no need for a Kindle. The downloading process is amazingly quick.
February 6th, 2011 at 23:21
Hi, I got my copy, and it was quite tough because three out of four book stores I’ve been to were out of stock. Mine was translated by Constance Garnett, which is a bit of a bummer because I want a Pevear-Volokhonsky translation. And I don’t want an e-book, so I settled for it.
Count me in! I’ll start reading tomorrow. :)
February 6th, 2011 at 23:49
thanks avignon for the heads-up :) I can’t do online transactions though :( but I got a PV translation ebook for my kindle :)
February 7th, 2011 at 15:20
haay..busy sa february..pwedeng humabol na lang sa march? nyahaha..ambitious..
February 7th, 2011 at 19:51
Someone gave me this book for Christmas, count me in. Starting on Thursday though, the book wouldn’t fit in my carry-on bag.
February 8th, 2011 at 04:21
count me in! Just downloaded a free copy from iBooks to read on my phone since it’s a huge tome for me to be lugging around. This would be my second attempt to read this book. I had it ages ago but i keep getting distracted. Hoping to finish it this time.
February 8th, 2011 at 11:24
ok.. great idea.. I’ll start reading now.. I downloaded the copy since Dec. 2009 but I only got passed up to 10 pages… great to have this reading group… ok.. will start now…