i just got given a leo tolstoy war and peace box set (all four books) i havent started reading yet. i wanna know peoples thoughts about it and you know fav bits all that. i have no idea. i think i'm going to abandon virginia woooolf short fiction and move on to this straight away!

no?
darn.

i picked it up for $4 about a month ago.. let me know what you think, i gonna read it when i'm done with a few others.

quite daunting

I'll be interested to hear what you two think of it as you read it or afterwards. I hope you like it better than I did.

I did not like it. My main problem was that I didn't like the character of Natasha (yes even though she "is" Russia); the author's and the characters' obvious adoration of this girl was not explained enough to me and therefore bothered me. Plus I found the battle scenes too long. Not really my type of book. I thought Death of Ivan Ilyich was more interesting, but I haven't loved anything of Tolstoy's that I've read, which are mainly his short stories. I prefer Dostoyevsky (I just feel compelled to say that since the two are often compared).
Anyway, I read it about 6 years ago so I don't remember details. This was during the time I was too stubborn to quit books before finishing them even though I didn't like them.

it is daunting hey?? ive decided to get myself into the mood of reading longer books before i start. i'm a bit of a short stories buff, coz i have such a short attention span:| (shit)
i'll read it though, that AND te rise and fall of the roman empire. simply so i can be a tool and brag.

well it's daunting for me and i know you're several years younger than i am..
which possibly doesn't mean shit but yeah, i get the feeling that it will just drag on while i'm waiting for the end to explain/justify &make worth while the entire 10000 pages

the rise & fall of the roman empire - another one i never finished. mostly just picked it off a library shelf, occasionally brought home & scribbled all over it

this is something strange i tend to do, as soon as i'm nearing the end of a book i just put it down and forget about it. I know i don't do it on purpose, i just happen to lose interest at the very end but i'm killing this habit right now. you know i do the same thing with movies, i get distracted during the last 10 minutes i find something really important that can't wait

and by the way - i thought dostoyevsky was brilliant
fuck him - east of eden - please read! i am half way through and inlove with steinbeck now
which is why i'm thinking fuck tolstoy & all the russian boys,
blatantly disturbing oversexed cruel foolish ridiculous human behaviour
as opposed to passive & secretive

i'm drunk so disregard that.

maybe.

hahaha i'll regard it when i feel up for figuring out what you said
i tend to forget to read the ends of books and movies too. it has never really bothered me. weird.
have you read anything by the dude who wrote metamorphosis? he's a bit odd. sorry i forgot his name, kafkha or somehting.

War and peace is one hell of a piece of art.
It's like a yesterday's soap opera.
The same is with my favorite writer of all time, Feodor Dostojevski.
Everybody allways thinks that these 19th century russian guys are really hard to read but If they only gave them a chance they would find out they are the most entertaining writers of all the times.
And yes, besides Brothers Karamazov War and peace is the greatest piece of litteraure ever written.
First... 200-300 pages are boring but after that... Wow.
yeah, probably I' m not the one to believe in.
Well, I personally think that poorest book Dostoevsky ever wrote, Notes from the underground is his greatest.
But the greatest book Tolstoi ever wrote, Anna Karerina, is his worst. So enjoy the War and peace and never lay your hand on Resurrection or on stuff like that.
And by the way Jean Genet IS THE GREATEST WRITER EVER;

i watched an old sitcom from the 70s, kind of like a james bond spoof. two guys were fighting in a bookstore and the one stabbed a knife into war and peace and the other guy said "no one gets through war and peace that fast!"

that's about all i know about it too. i thought it was funny =)

hey, thanks for that actually. it provides incentive to keep reading. i'm up to the 100th page (landmark!!) and so far i have actually enjoyed it more than i thought. i'm just having a lot of trouble remembering who is who.
my friend arron keeps recommending dostoyovesky, maybe i'll listen soon

the bookshop joke, classic. seriously it made me lol

I do want to read this. Yes.

yeah do it! i'm really staryting to get into it now. not so confusing anymore.

I might read that on my death bed. Seems like a good vibe to take into eternity.