Bon Bini from Aruba (aka 1,000 versts away). I didn't think I wanted to lug WAP to the beach with me on vacation but I'm actually quite happy to have brought it with me. I think that you really need to have quality time with the book to make headway. There are very few books that take 400 pages to set the scene and that are worth reading! I never thought I'd get to a point where the pages would go by quickly but at half way through, I feel like things are finally picking up! Of course the warm Arbua breeze helps, but it is hard to hold that book up (and alongside a Tropical Trance (by drink of today!).
I feel like I got to know some of the characters at this point--where I actually cared if Prince Andrey lived or died, and whether Prince Andrey will (re)marry Natasha. And I like the freemasons and their virtues. And I was also glad to read that Prince Andrey said "No, life is not over at thirty-one." Thank goodness!
Okay, so where is everyone else in the book?? What do you think? Where have you been?? I might take a break tomorrow to read something lighter on the beach. . . until I'm fewer versts from you all...Bon Bini, Shani
3 comments:
I'm so glad you're excited about it! I agree that it's tough to get caught up in because of all the characters (who is this? will they show up again? should I bother to pay attention?). But once you're hooked, and you know who you're likely to see again, you're hooked. I am nearly done. Napoleon is in Moscow and almost all the residents left before the French arrived. The city has started to burn.
I'm so envious of your Aruba trip, Shani! Russia must seem like another world to you but in snowy Chicago, it feels rather close. I'm almost finished, too. The French are leaving and I think I'm only 10-20 pages away from the end of the story and beginning of Tolstoy's ramblings.
I'm not quite as far as you all, but just as captivated. Somehow I lived through the execution scene with Pierre this morning. It took superhuman strength to keep myself from vomiting on the bus. One of my favorite themes so far has been the insignificance of individual actions and inevitability of history. What about everyone else?
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