War and Peace

Book menu for War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace has long been on my to-read list.  Twenty years ago when working with a Russian woman, I expressed my interest in reading Tolstoy.  She advised me to start with Anna Karenina.  Very wise advice!  I've since read Anna twice and loved it both times. 

Completing War and Peace was no easy task!  It took me a little over four months. But, I came away with care and compassion for Tolstoy's characters. Tolstoy is a wonderful storyteller.  I didn't enjoy the sections that were written more as an essay and made no mention of the characters, especially part two of the epilogue (36 pages).

As soon as I finished reading, I watched the new War and Peace mini-series starring Paul Dano. Dano is perfectly cast as Pierre.

 Now I'm on the hunt for a great biography on Napoleon!

ISBN or edition I read: 9781400079988 (trade paperback)


Food mentioned in War and Peace:
Tea, 5, 192, 258
Saute of madere of hazel grouse, 56, 62
Turtle soup, 62
Pineapple ice cream, 65
Champagne, 65, 337, 545, 669
Coffee, 129, 319, 569, 626
Sausage, 131, 133
Doppel Kummel, 137
Ham, 140, 509
Apple, 140-141, 509
Kasha, 172, 175, 179, 898, 995, 1094
Bread and cheese, 173
Rein wine, 210
Gingerbread, 297, 674, 725
Strawberries, 305
Pineapple, 305
Mead, 509
Roasted nuts, 509
Roasted chicken, 509, 806
Cherry liquor, 510
Walnuts and almonds, 518
Lime flower tea, 588
Kvass, 674, 905
Poppy-seed cakes, 674
Biscuits, 675
Lemonade, 691
Sunflower seeds, 698
Plums, 703
Roast lamb, 905
Baked potatoes, 970
Raisins, 1046, 1058

Books/Authors mentioned in War and Peace:

Commentaries / Julius Caesar, 24
Julie / Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 89, 1157
Laurence Sterne, 106
N.P. Nikolev (poet), 310
Moliere
     "Les Fourberies de Scapin", 1231
     "Georges Dandin", 364
Adelaide Filleul, 348
Thomas a Kempis, 354
"The Song of Solomon", 444
Poor Liza / Nikolai Karamazin, 550
The Lives of the Saints, 702
"Jaconde" / Jean de la Fontaine, 708
Les Chevaliers du Cygne / Stephanie Felicite Genlis, 743-744
Anne-Louise Germaine de Stael, 1043, 1085

Music mentioned in War and Peace:
"Spring" / Mozart, 67
Daniel Cooper (dance), 68-69
Dusek sonata, 97
Cherubini, 452
     "The Water Carrier", 519
John Field (composer), 521

Some of my favorite passages from War and Peace:

Thought Price Andrei...How good it would be to know where to look for help in this life and what to expect after it, there, beyond the grave! p.293

Man proposes, God disposes. p. 971

Said Pierre: "Once we're thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost; but it's only here that the new and the good begins. As long as there's life, there's happiness. There's much, much still to come." p. 1118

 

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