The big plunge

I've been putting it off for years. They've been sitting on the shelf the whole time, staring me down, daring me to take them off the shelf and take them on. Up till now, I've looked away and faced down other intimidating books, ones that many people have heard of, few people start reading, and an even smaller percentage of people actually finish them. I've taken on Gravity's Rainbow, Ulysses, and A Brief History of Time, read them and put them back on the shelf. My egotistical trophies that wave to those in the know, saying, "Yes, I'm here and I have been used." Very few books in my house have escaped being read front to back, but this one has. I'm the only one in the house who can read it.

I finally decided to pick up and read my copy of War and Peace, which is daunting for anyone, but my copy is a souvenir of my time in Ukraine and is just how Leo Tolstoy wrote it--in Russian, French, and German. I read two of those languages, and fortunately, there are Russian translations of the French in footnotes. It's spread out over two volumes. I've noticed there are words that I never learned, since they're artifacts from the days of the aristocracy and I'm guessing there will be a lot of words from the Napoleonic-era war culture I won't know either. The rate I'm going, I'll be reading this book for a long time. But I'm determined to finish it. I'll let you know how it goes. If I remember.