Literary Summits

A few months ago, I decided that this would be the year that I (finally!) would read War and Peace. It’s been sitting on my shelf for about 10 years now. All 1386 pages of it.

Maybe it was because I spent a Saturday morning reading without distraction, and I got far enough that I could figure out who was doing what.

It helps, too, that I have a daily train commute where I’m sitting in one place for about 20 minutes each way. I had to switch backpacks to find one with a War & Peace sized pocket to carry the big boy around.

Whatever the reason, I’m hooked. I’m in it for the long haul.

Occasionally people on the train will ask, “Is it good?” Last weekend, on the flight home from Oakland, the guy folded into the seat next to me — a big, twitchy guy — turned and asked: “Isn’t that about Napoleon? I like watching that stuff on the History Channel.”

I’m not toting it around as a conversation piece. But it has been interesting to get beyond “what it’s about” to really get to know the people inside the book.

Reading a book like this is sort of like living with a new family or discovering a TV series on DVD for the first time. Unexpected, intriguing. Fun.