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This challenge has come out of left field for me. I have been looking for a War and Peace read along for some time. I see several of the bloggers I follow have signed up and having looked at it I think it is achievable.  It is being hosted by Reading in Bed which is a blog that was unfamiliar to me but I am now following her. It looks good. (here)

First I had to look at the schedule.

War and Peace

Soon: The War and Peace Newbie Tag
July 3: Start reading!
July 10: Volume I, Part I
July 17: Volume I, Part II
July 24: Volume I, Part III
July 31: Volume II, Parts I and II
August 7: Volume II, Parts III and IV
August 14: Volume II, Part V and Volume III, Part I
August 21: Volume III, Part II
August 28: Volume III, Part III
September 4: Volume IV, Parts I and II
September 11: Volume IV, Parts III and IV
September 18: Epilogues I and II
Late September: Draw winners, wrap up, etc.

Next I had to answer the questions. I think they are pretty straight forward. I have heard of this book all of my life but never read it. 

What edition and translation are you reading?

 

 

I am going to listen to the audio version (unabridged) narrated by Frederick Davidson from Audible.com. The translator is not mentioned in the blurb. It is published by Blackstone Audio books, 1998. I have no idea if it is a good version or not but the reviews are pretty good. We’ll see.

How much do you know about War and Peace (plot, characters, etc)?

I know very little about this book. I know it is a period history about the Russian Revolution and a great love story. I am not at all knowledgeable about Russian history. 

How are you preparing (watching adaptations, background reading, etc.)?

I am not preparing at all. I have downloaded the book. I realise this is probably a book one needs to read two or three times to get more out of it but I am looking forward to my first read. As Mortimer Adler says in his book, How To Read A Book this book is like moving in to a village and gradually getting to know all the residents one encounters and the events of the community. It takes time.

What do you hope to get out of reading War and Peace?

It is one of those books everyone wants to say, “Oh yes, I have read that.” (Don’t deny you want to say that). But I have thought about reading this book for such a long time but did not want to attempt it by myself. I think it is a book where discussion about the chapters will be useful. I am looking forward to seeing how others interpret it and what they feel about it.

What are you intimidated by?

I am listening to the audio version first because I cannot in anyway begin to pronounce the names. The names, places and events will have Russia references and I want to hear how those words are pronounced. Then if I ever read a written copy I will have that information somewhere in the file cabinets in my brain and I might be able to find those files again. 

Do you think it’s okay to skip the ‘war’ parts? 

In one word, No. 

The Penguin and I are looking forward to travelling through this book with the others whose opinions I respect. 

 

 

Apologies first. I always have this idea that when I travel I will read books, photograph amazing landscapes and update the blog with the penguin every night. I will have great amounts of energy and will love sharing it with everyone.

The reality however is overseas travel is tiring. It’s exhausting. It was hot. I felt grimy. Photos had to be retaken because the first ones were crooked or accidentally shot my feet as I checked the settings.

I give up. No more promises about updating the Penguin and my blog while we travel until we get home or are at least in one place for 10 days.

As I said before, I did finish Herman Koch’s book The Dinner on the plane ride over. I also began an interesting book I was able to get a hold of on NetGalley. However much I enjoyed it I can’t write about it yet as it won’t be published until 4 July. Give me another week or so on that one.  I will show you the cover though.

I visited a famous author’s museum and the Penguin was photographed on an amazing piece of literary history. You’ll have to wait for that post too.

While travelling with my sister we listened to an audio book she picked up in a second hand book shop for a few dollars. When I saw the title and the author, I thought, “Oh no, not him.” But the freeways were long, the day was hot and the air conditioning in the car felt good. We listened to it. Will I talk about it? Yes. Now? No.

What I will try to do is get this trip in order. It was only three weeks long but it seems a lot happened and a great deal of miles were covered.

The highlight of the beginning was meeting James in Novato, California for a coffee. Many of you will know James, of James Reads Books. I had some Penguin Sci Fi books for him I brought along as I am downsizing the massive Penguin collection I have. It was such a pleasure to meet him and he does look just like his photo in his blog, but I could see his whole face and not just him peeking over a book.

I really enjoy his posts. He reads a great assortment of books. Some of them are for his Grade 7 students and I enjoy hearing about their experiences. He sometimes writes about  reading in his classroom.  Some of the comments he posts from his students make me laugh out loud.  James is a very good writer and he has a sense of humour. If you haven’t looked at his blog I think you should and see what ‘ his new favourite book’ is.  Thank you James for agreeing to meet us.  (Read James here.)

I have personally met two bloggers in person since I began writing this thing. Lovely friendships.

I have a lot yet to get through over the next few weeks so I am going to do it one experience at a time. I hope you will enjoy the journey.

The book people amongst us will be happy to know that I arrived safely in San Francisco and less than two hours later I was already looking around City Lights Book Store in downtown San Francisco. I really do love that store. You will also be surprised that I did not buy any books. I keep thinking of the couple of thousand books I still have at home, many of them still TBR.

I need to get into some of my Penguin classics and boxed sets that I have collected over the past years. I may have sold off the main series collection but there are many other series I still have. I would also like to visit the Puffin books once in awhile.

The flight from Hobart to Sydney then Sydney to San Francisco was without incident. I am currently sitting by a window flying on United from San Francisco to Chicago then will head up to Traverse City in northern Michigan. I did think about making a big stink while on United. They could drag me screaming from the plane, punch me in those nose. I know the nose would heal and I could get a multi million dollar settlement and have yet more money for travel and books.

On the flight to America from Australia I finally read the book The Dinner by Herman Koch. I know, I know, probably all of you have read it but it takes me awhile to get around to new books at times. Many people reading this will already know what this is about but the gist of the story is:
A politician running for Prime Minister in the Netherland (Serge) and his wife (Babbette) have dinner in an exclusive restaurant with Serge’s brother (Paul) and his wife (Claire.) In the beginning of the book Paul and Claire seem to be the good guys. Serge is impossibly arrogant and on show all of the time to his prospective voters. The novel is divided into various part of the dinner from Drinks to Entree to Main Course to Dessert. As we hear about this excruciating dinner there are flashbacks to the activities of the teenage children of both couples who are involved in some very unsavoury activities. I don’t want to say more because if you haven’t read this story it will spoil it. It pretty much boils down to how far would you go to save the bright future that you think your children deserve?

I would go from really disliking these people to trying to understand the decisions they make. I really could see both side of the coin but I don’t know how I would handle this situation not having children of my own.
The book held my attention over the Pacific Ocean. I enjoyed the writing.

The down side of the story: I thought there were a couple of threads that were left unfinished. I didn’t think they were needed but they were small and soon forgotten. I also thought the editing could have been a bit tighter and although I could not help keep turning the pages I breathed a large sigh of relief once I was finished. As all the reviewers have said before me, these people are not to be liked at all. Neither are their children.
I think I enjoyed that part of the book. This is not really a ‘happily ever after’ book.

Now, I know those of you who read this have an opinion. As a young woman on the

Qantas flight sitting beside me said, “Oh, I read this book. It is a great book for book club discussions.”

I agree.

Now, I must apologise for the Penguin. He will be making a appearance soon. He has more jet lag than I do and is soundly sleeping at the bottom of my bag.

Let me know what is happening re: books and travel in your life

As an extra here, I must show you the beautiful basset hound dog we met walking down the street on the way back to the car. Isn’t he gorgeous and he was absolutely huge. Had feet like dinner plates.