What this book is really about
BIANRY SOLO!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTjolE...

HA! I like flipping through my book and finding the word 'robot' added in. 'That was the year of the great (robot) battle' or 'looked into his (robot) eyes'

They weren't added that's how it always was.

Hi There, What did you think of this book and can you give me a brief synopsis? I have it on my to-read list and am curious about the story and how you feel about it. I know you loved it since you gave it 5 stars. I just don't know anything about the book and am curious. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!!

This is one of my most favourite books ever. Revisiting books during holidays is such a joy! Happy reading.

Holidays and huge books are almost synonyms, don't you think? I hope I can read this one next year – besides, it's a novel that I know I'm going to love and never forget as well, but I need to live the experience, it's the only way to find out what you really feel after that. ☺️

Aisha wrote: "This is one of my most favourite books ever. Revisiting books during holidays is such a joy! Happy reading."

It’s so good! I think I want to do a different translation for the reread but this one was quite good and I tend to like them so maybe I won’t. Holidays and big books go so well together!

Great review. I pulled this down off the shelf for reading in 2022. I have not previously read W&P and am so looking forward to it.

Wanda wrote: "Great review. I pulled this down off the shelf for reading in 2022. I have not previously read W&P and am so looking forward to it."

Oh wonderful, I hope you enjoy! It’s seriously the perfect winter read, I look forward to your thoughts on it

s.penkevich wrote: "Wanda wrote: "Great review. I pulled this down off the shelf for reading in 2022. I have not previously read W&P and am so looking forward to it."

Oh wonderful, I hope you enjoy! It’s seriously th..."

Will do! It is funny how I just pulled this book down yesterday and I come to Goodreads and find your review as No. 2 on my feed. Serendipity, indeed!

Breath-taking book, and perfect for winter season read! I have to finally write my W&P review, it lingers in my mind for months now.

Wanda wrote: "s.penkevich wrote: "Wanda wrote: "Great review. I pulled this down off the shelf for reading in 2022. I have not previously read W&P and am so looking forward to it."

Oh wonderful, I hope you enjo..."

I love when that happens! I always assume it’s a sign I have to read it immediately.

Lea wrote: "Breath-taking book, and perfect for winter season read! I have to finally write my W&P review, it lingers in my mind for months now."

Ha yea this is sort of a non-review placeholder to write a proper one…which I’ve said I’m going to do for 11 years now haha. But as you say, it still pleasantly lingers

I may reread this in 2022.

Kalliope wrote: "I may reread this in 2022."

ooo you should, and I should use that as my motivation to do it as well haha. Which translation would you do?

s.penkevich wrote: "Wanda wrote: "s.penkevich wrote: "Wanda wrote: "Great review. I pulled this down off the shelf for reading in 2022. I have not previously read W&P and am so looking forward to it."

Oh wonderful, I..."

I shall be reading War and Peace in January 2022. I have the P&V copy. My friend has the Garnett. I will download the Garnett so she and I are able to read/enjoy the same copy for commenting, etc. Happy Me!

Wanda wrote: "s.penkevich wrote: "Wanda wrote: "s.penkevich wrote: "Wanda wrote: "Great review. I pulled this down off the shelf for reading in 2022. I have not previously read W&P and am so looking forward to i..."

Oh excellent! Yea I really enjoyed the P&V versions. Curious how the Garnett is, ive read a few Dostoevsky through her that were good. Happy reading! I look forward to your thoughts!

Donna wrote: "If you want them to come around, I recommend thinly sliced black bread and smoked sturgeon."

Haha perfect! I hope Pierre arrives riding that bear!

When I finished this book I found myself missing the characters as one would a friend.

YES! I so understand this. I felt the same way when I finished War and Peace as well as both David Copperfield and The Savage Detectives.

The holidays always remind me of this book and the snow falling out my window onto the trees is the perfect backdrop for thinking about everything that goes on in Tolstoy's big epic.

I agree with this as well. I started this last January, and it was the perfect time to read it. War and Peace is a book that should be read in winter, just as Twain should be read in summer.

I'd love to pick this classic up one day and your great review has tempted me even more to do so!

Is the pictured version the translation you read? I selected this after an extensive review. So important to get the right one... Especially for such a whacking tome! Their translation of Anna Karenina also excellent. BTW What is it about husband and wife translation duoes...?

Alicia wrote: "Is the pictured version the translation you read? I selected this after an extensive review. So important to get the right one... Especially for such a whacking tome! Their translation of Anna Kare..."

Yep! I really liked their translation for Crime and Punishment when I first read it and went with them again and found it very accessible with helpful notes in the back. I also like the way they leave the french in the text and then translate it on the bottom as a footnote because it keeps it clear two languages are happening in the same scene. And true haha. I wonder if that collaborative effort helps? Though I have noticed that this duo does sort of streamline author voices a bit now that I've read them do a variety of authors and I can kind of detect it as their translation voice? If that makes sense? I reread Master and Margarita having read the Burgin/O'Connor translation first and found i didn't like it as much (though maybe its just a preference for first read?)

It’s been almost 20 years since I first read War and Peace and I still miss Natasha and Andrei and sometimes Pierre (but only sometimes Pierre). I really want to see a production of “Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812.” Also feel like I should finally get around to watching the 2016 show with Lily James and James Norton. Although I remember I was living in St Petersburg when it came out and the Rossiiskaya Gazeta was really critical about it. But others said it was really good and the Gazeta is published by the government so take that with a grain of salt 😅

Dot wrote: "It’s been almost 20 years since I first read War and Peace and I still miss Natasha and Andrei and sometimes Pierre (but only sometimes Pierre). I really want to see a production of “Natasha, Pierr..."

Yea this was so good and I think about them still to this day haha. Though I don't know if I'd reread it anytime soon because of length and I should probably do Anna K first. YEA that one has Paul Dano as Pierre right (who...yea, not my favorite character but I do really like Paul Dano). Ha fair, and I feel like any adaptation of something so beloved and culturally significant will always have someone just openly hate it regardless of quality?

s.penkevich wrote: "Dot wrote: "It’s been almost 20 years since I first read War and Peace and I still miss Natasha and Andrei and sometimes Pierre (but only sometimes Pierre). I really want to see a production of “Na..."

Same. I just want to convince more people like your dad to read it rather than necessarily re-read it myself haha. And true. Especially because the Bondarchuk version from the 60s was one of the highlights, if not *the* highlight, of Soviet cinema. So I can sort of see why a remake would make a few people salty. But still.

Also I totally forgot that you haven’t read Anna Karenina yet. Absolutely you need to do that first ha. Also, I feel like my comment the other day about wanting to go to a German spa to recuperate after getting my teeth worked on will make so much more sense after reading AK because I definitely was referencing Kitty’s trip to the German spa 😂

Dot wrote: "s.penkevich wrote: "Dot wrote: "It’s been almost 20 years since I first read War and Peace and I still miss Natasha and Andrei and sometimes Pierre (but only sometimes Pierre). I really want to see..."

Haha fair. I have not seen that one either. Is that the like 8 hour one? I need to! Its sooooo long though haha and so much about farming. Sounds great honestly though. haha perfect. A spa does sound like good reading time however.

Tolstoy is the GOAT. I keep one of his books running all year round...please reread! It is the perfect book! <3

Jamie wrote: "Tolstoy is the GOAT. I keep one of his books running all year round...please reread! It is the perfect book! <3"

He really was a truly incredible author and I need to read way more of him (might reread Death of I.I. soon, I read it in high school and remember very little). Haha fair—do you have a preferred translation?

Interesting. I decided not to read Constance garnetts version when I read that Nabokov said she bowdlerised it.

Your comments on the translators voice is an interesting one. I'm currently reading Jhumpa Lahiri's translating myself and others which raises and analyses all sorts of translating issues I'd never thought of before but which make perfect sense. What a job!

s.penkevich wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Is the pictured version the translation you read? I selected this after an extensive review. So important to get the right one... Especially for such a whacking tome! Their translati..."

Alicia wrote: "Interesting. I decided not to read Constance garnetts version when I read that Nabokov said she bowdlerised it.

Your comments on the translators voice is an interesting one. I'm currently reading ..."

Oh shoot sorry I missed this! I just looked up about Nabokov though and whew yea he did not enjoy her translation haha. I've read she gives like a very UK working class slang to soldiers to denote that they are...well poor farmers and while that just seems terrible it ALSO seems kind of funny in my head. Like that Death of Stalin movie where they didn't bother with accents and half the actors have super english accents while the others are clearly american hah.

But the Lahiri book sounds amazing, I should pick that up. I have somehow never read anything by her and I feel all the shame haha. Maybe I'll make sure to read one this year but I'm going to see if I can find that translation book through the library right now so thank you!

Alicia wrote: "Interesting. I decided not to read Constance garnetts version when I read that Nabokov said she bowdlerised it.

Your comments on the translators voice is an interesting one. I'm currently reading ..."

Digital elibrary for the win, going to read it on desk now! Thank you!