War and Peace - week 2

Where am I:

Book One: 1805, end of Vol. 1

Challenges in this part:

I'm really a peace-loving person, but I have to confess I'm slowly getting bored with all this partying...  
In addition, I still can only read with the list of the characters beside me -- as well as the relationships between them!
 

Comments and thoughts:

Very interesting attitude towards life - nothing precious, we all "may die in your bed or God may spare you in a battle"
I also thoroughly enjoy Tolstoy's insight into the mechanisms of high society - the matchmaking plans according to class/money/ambitions, the "family" workings behind the scenes so that illegitimate Pierre gets nothing of his father's will (and the fact that a simple letter to the Emperor suffices for legitimation - I suppose this applies only to sons...)

War and Peace - week 1

Where am I:

Book One: 1805, Vol. 1,  Chapter XI

Challenges in this part:

Already I have trouble keeping track of all the characters presented.  Luckily, I printed the list of characters and the family tree I found in Wikipedia (now I already know of the affairs people will have in future chapters...)

I had intended to read my 1949 printed copy but soon realised that current versions have much more content (I have no idea why in the 1950s they would take out pages, but there you go...).  As a result, I'm reading it on my Kindle, but go back to the printed version to read the commentary section in the beginning of each chapter!

The transition from printed book to e-book is also my official excuse for having actually read so little..

Comments and thoughts:

I am pleasantly surprised at the tone of the story  -  I would have imagined Tolstoy as a rather heavy personality with serious wording and complex notions.  Instead, it feels like a society lady is narrating the story, making comments about age, appearance, status ...  But already I got to taste the first good passages:

"if no one fought except on his own conviction, there would be no wars" (true even to this day)

"Anna Pavlovna ... despite her forty years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness" (one comment: grrr)

"Marry when you are old and good for nothing - or all that is good and noble in you will be lost" (now that IS the weirdest advice I've ever heard on marriage)