War and Peace (Vintage Classics)

Book club pick. LOOOOOOONGEST three months of my life.

love Tolstoy

Tolstoy wrote it with "five years of ceaseless and exclusive labour, under the best conditions of life". At ~1300 pages, it is "as vast as Russia itself and as long to cross from one end to the other". It is on the list of many writer's "Top 10 Books" and Haruki Murakami read it 3 times in his teens.

This is the best translation ever.

War and Peace has a huge cast of characters, some historically real, like Napoleon and Alexander I, the majority of whom are introduced in the first book. The scope of the novel is vast, but the focus is primarily on five aristocratic families and their experiences in life. The interactions of these characters are set in the era leading up to, around and following the French invasion of Russia...more

War and Peace has a huge cast of characters, some historically real, like Napoleon and Alexander I, the majority of whom are introduced in the first book. The scope of the novel is vast, but the focus is primarily on five aristocratic families and their experiences in life. The interactions of these characters are set in the era leading up to, around and following the French invasion of Russia during the Napoleonic wars   hide

It's my favorite book. I read it 4 time. I used to be a literature teacher in High School in Russia. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Bunin are best.

Reading it ... yes have been reading it for past 10 years... complete about 250 pages ..and get busy... start all over.... and back to the square one.. Anyway...I loved the characters...the girl who sort of falls in love with the war prince... Prince (andrews)with a beautiful but irritating wife.. I always thought ...the girl who lives with her old father is the central character.... turns...more

Reading it ... yes have been reading it for past 10 years... complete about 250 pages ..and get busy... start all over.... and back to the square one.. Anyway...I loved the characters...the girl who sort of falls in love with the war prince... Prince (andrews)with a beautiful but irritating wife.. I always thought ...the girl who lives with her old father is the central character.... turns out ..she's not the one... . i think i'm a little confused...may be i'll try to pick it up once more.... i wish mr tolstoy had omitted a few characters..... ... I'll finish reading before i die :) :)   hide

Reading it ... yes have been reading it for past 10 years... complete about 250 pages ..and get busy... start all over.... and back to the square one.. Anyway...I loved the characters...the girl who sort of falls in love with the war prince... Prince (andrews)with a beautiful but irritating wife.. I always thought ...the girl who lives with her old father is the central character.... turns...more

Reading it ... yes have been reading it for past 10 years... complete about 250 pages ..and get busy... start all over.... and back to the square one.. Anyway...I loved the characters...the girl who sort of falls in love with the war prince... Prince (andrews)with a beautiful but irritating wife.. I always thought ...the girl who lives with her old father is the central character.... turns out ..she's not the one... . i think i'm a little confused...may be i'll try to pick it up once more.... i wish mr tolstoy had omitted a few characters..... ... I'll finish reading before i die :) :)   hide

Excellent...