In November my friend and I for some reason thought it’d be “fun” to read ‘War and Peace’…ahem.
‘War and Peace’ – Leo Tolstoy
This monster took me two months to finish. To be fair, it’s a slow read, really slow. In all honesty, I enjoyed it. It’s not for the feint of heart though, the novel flips back and forth between, logically, war time and peace time in Russia in the early 1800’s.
The war time, while interesting to a point, is heavily accurate, if that makes any sense at all. The author breaks down the specifics of war, and discuss’ his opinion on the strategies deployed by both the French and Russian armies. The peace time is much more entertaining to read, you focus on the same families, but understand a little more about how such a massive war affects the people of all classes.
My 1-10 rating, I actually gave it an 8. Like I said, I enjoyed it, I really did! My biggest complaint? Leo Tolstoy is a pious, uppity man, he wrote TWO epilogues for the book, one actually wrapping up the story lines, and the other giving his very, very long winded opinion on war strategies and how Russia could better fight next time around. It was very difficult to read through, but I read every damn word of the thing!
Getting crazy, I’ll add another recently read book tonight. (Currently I’m reading ‘Just After Sunset’ by Stephen King, not ready for a review yet though!
‘Promise Me’ – Nancy G. Brinker
I am heavily, and wholeheartedly involved in Susan G. Komen for the cure events. I’ll be walking in my third 3 Day for the Cure event this summer, and my team has raised over $16,000 for the organization. So, obviously I was excited to read the autobiography of the woman behind this organization!
It was so very different then I expected, I really didn’t know a ton about Nancy, we all know about Susan, but this brought the whole thing to a new level. You learn that giving to others, and not accepting bad things as the final answer was installed in them as children. Their mother helped them on a fund raising campaign to find a cure for Polio! Nancy is a business woman through and through, and reading her feelings on business, and how she’s protecting everything she promised to Susan really brings a fresh perspective to any negative new stories about the Komen group.
It’s also filled with statistics and history about breast cancer. I cried multiple times while reading it, something about it really touched me. It’s a fantastic read for anyone who has dealt with cancer of any kind, it really brought me a lot of hope about actually finding a cure. It also really encouraged me to continue to do what I’m doing, I’m hoping that by doing so, the same thing happens in my family, it’s just what you do, you help others. I hope my son sees my efforts, and continues them in some way, doesn’t have to be the same cause, just knowing he cares passionately about something will be enough.
Excellent book- highly recommended!