War and Peace

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We had book club on Friday and I have to say, most of the time that's my favorite day of the month.  Seriously.  You could not meet a better group of girls. 

And we're girls who are serious about books!  I've heard a lot of book clubs gather simply so that the group can talk and eat/drink for one night per month.  No husbands or babies allowed (though we do allow babies in ours from time to time, heehee!).

We do plenty of that too, but when it's time to talk books...we're serious and listen to each and every person go through their bag of books. (I've mentioned before that we don't all read the same book every month, rather each person gets to talk about every book they read and offer to rotate it through the club if there's any interest.)

Well, about halfway through book club this time, my friend Kelsie took a pic of some of our rotation.  We're definitely an eclectic bunch!

Today I wanted to talk about the book in this pile that's mine, the third from the top.  War and Peace.  You remember how I mentioned last week that I had a super intense book that required some fluffy, palate-cleansing side reading?  Yea, this one was it.

War and Peace is one of those books that works it's way into everyday conversation simply because eeeeveryone has heard of it.  In fact, David and I were watching an old Seinfeld rerun the other day and Elaine was talking about it (War, what's it good for?).

In case you're unaware and curious as to the plot, War and Peace is the story of five interconnected families in Russia spanning the French invasion of Russian as well as the Napoleonic era and the peaceful times surrounding those.  It's extremely intense and long...in fact, War and Peace is almost unanimously certified as the longest novel ever written.

I really enjoyed the story, but I will say that I was super glad to finish it simply because of the length.  I actually listened to it via audiobook (through my library app) and kept the character log open at all times.  And if you want to try this, I would definitely recommend having a fantastic character log.  My particular copy (the one pictured) had a wonderfully detailed one and I don't know what I would have done without it.  Plus, having to check this book out with the library, I only had two weeks with it.  That pushed me to finish it quickly, unlike when I read on Anna Karenina for approximately six months.  This was a much better experience.

Needless to say, War and Peace is fantastic and I highly recommend it.  But, you do need to be prepared to dedicate a certain amount of time to reading it and also on being an active reader (constantly checking the character log throughout).  There's no "zoning out" on this one.  Let me know if you decide to give this one a go!