This winter I shall attempt to read War and Peace.  As a creative exercise, I intend to blog my experience and my reaction to this epic.

Many years ago I realized I was reading too much indulgent trash (mystery, sci-fi/fantasy) and decided to force myself to imbibe some more serious literature as medicine.  I selected Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky  Somewhere along the way I’d picked up the idea this was a formidable work.  To my surprise and great pleasure I found the old Russian author captivating, if a bit wordy, and have enjoyed several more of his books. Last spring I finally picked up the other famous Russian, Leo Tolstoy, and found Anna Karenina, although darker, equally difficult to put down.  So here’s hoping that the negative foreboding I have about Tolstoy’s magnum opus is as ill-founded as my prejudice was against Crime & Punishment.

I still devour page-turners.  There’s something about reading ’till 5:00 AM or later on a weekend that feels like pure luxury, and I don’t expect War and Peace keeping me awake like that.  I will probably indulge in at least two pulps a month as a diversion.  Confession: I got totally absorbed in the story when I read Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series.  I’m a hopeless romantic.  And then I found what has become my inspiration for this project, Dan Bergstein’s Blogging Twilight on Sparknotes.com.  It’s absolutely hilarious.  A definite must-read for both lovers and haters of the Twilight saga.

I don’t plan to condense or re-write the book I’m blogging.   Instead it will be my response or reaction as I journey through it.  I won’t consciously be trying to imitate Dan Bergstein’s derisive style.  My own blog will probably be much less consistent, but I am definitely going to avoid being stuffy.  I’ll poke fun at my ignorance, at the author’s bias, but also admit when I’m impressed or awed.  I already know I’m going to be confused at who is doing what.  Every Russian aristocrat (and I think all the characters are aristocrats) has at least five different names, and the author may refer to him/her by any one of them – Christian name, surname, patronymic, title, or nickname, plus any number of pet names used by various friends and family members.  I am often a long way into the story (I just go with the flow) before I realize that, lets say Peter and Nickelaevich are the same person as Macarov, who also happens to be “the General”, but may on another occasion be referred to in passing only as “Bodkin’s nephew”.  With all these names being tossed about, a tea party of five aristocrats can look like a gathering of dozens.

One more thing.  I’m reading War and Peace on my iPod.  I LOVE reading on the tiny screen.  It has become my preferred medium for anything I read front-to-back.  I don’t like it for textbooks or serious study though.  Digital eText is too linear for that. (Now isn’t that a paradox?)

My next installment will be Chapter 1.