If the internet is still up late this afternoon, I'll likely be adding more to this entry.
But I'll post now so as not to waste any time in the event you might want to participate in a War and Peace chapter-a-day readalong in 2020. I've been waiting a while for one to come along, and was happy to hear news of this one yesterday, at the blog Classical Carousel.
The host of the readalong is Nick Senger. Click here to get all the information.
.
Nick has hosted year-long readalongs in previous years as well. As he points out, the chapters in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace are quite short for the most part (around 4 or maybe 5 pages.) Participants can also read any translation they wish.
I'm reading the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation. I bought a copy when it was first published in 2007, and have hung on to it ever since. I read War and Peace the first time when I was seventeen and loved it, though my appreciation did not extend to the battle chapters.
Our power has come and gone many times over the past 36 hours. So has the internet. So I hope I can answer comments in a few hours. Til then, Happy New Year's Eve. Ken is picking up the bubbly for us. I hope we can watch a movie or two tonight. I hope to tell you about the movie we saw on Sunday at the cinema, Bombshell. I thought it was very, very well done. More later.
Classics Club Spin
4 hours ago
Oh my goodness... War and Peace! Good luck. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteHappy New year to you Judith. I've enjoyed your posts very much this year and here's to lots more posts from all my bookish friends in the blogging world.
Happy New Year, Cath!
DeleteIt's been wonderful to be closely in touch with you and your reading this past year. If only the Atlantic were not such a barrier--then I could pop over for coffee or tea at your local café and we could have a good chat, at a moment's notice. If only...
I wish you the best with all of your challenges this year. And, of course, with your garden coming up this spring. Best wishes!
This sounds like a great readalong, Judith. If I did not already have too many other long books planned (and if I had a copy to read) I might consider it. I have read it before but it has been a long time.
ReplyDeleteI did the Les Misarables readalong at Nick Senger's blog two years ago and I wasn't able to keep up with the chapter a day approach. I did finish the book one month late at the end of January and I mostly read in larger chunks. I was glad I read it.
So I will be following your progress.
Tracy,
DeleteAfter all, this is your first year of being really free to read more than you've been able to! I think it's wise to pick and choose, and go where you feel the greatest instinct or will to go. And aren't you going to read Bleak House? I so want to read that book--I bought a copy over ten years ago and still am dying to do it, but, in some ways similar to War and Peace, it's a challenge. One has to be prepared and ready.
Yes, I will be reading Bleak House, and it will be a challenge. I have several books already planned for January so maybe I will start it in February or March.
DeleteOh, Tracy, enjoy to the fullest! I hear you got lots more rain after we discussed it, too. All to the good, as long as you are not flooded with it.
DeleteLonging to read Bleak House. It's been on my Classics Club List since forever.
You know, Tracy, I'm having trouble finding time for all my projects and hobbies.
I know what you mean, Judith. I have plans to purge a lot of things I have been accumulating for years now that I am not working. May not sound like fun but I really want a cleaner, tidier place and now I have time to achieve that. It is a challenge to balance that with reading, reviewing, blogging and watching TV / movies.
DeleteAh, Tracy--what a sound, very good plan. The only problem for me is: I hate to take any time away from my projects and hobbies to be tidy. And yes, I know very well that I am slowed down, yes, my progress is impeded by my clutter and untidiness, but it's hard to devote the time to de-cluttering. But at the moment I am organizing because Ken's cousin is arriving in less than two weeks for several days and he is a neatnik! Help!
DeleteEnjoy, Judith. I'm so tempted, but know 2020 is not the year for me to do this. Funny but I bought that translation is hardcover when it was released, too - it's SO heavy!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, you are absolutely right. With all that's going on in your life right now--and it has been a huge though wonderful transition--you're wise to wait until your life is just a bit more settled. Which will come. And oh my gosh, is that book HEAVY! Noted it today as read the first chapter. Yikes.
Delete