Weekend Update

I managed to finish War and Peace in record time this past week: 17 days. I was certain it would take me well over a month to read this immense book but by virtue of being sick, I parked myself with my Glowlight and poured through the final chapters on Thursday and finished up early yesterday morning.

My bullet journal reading tracker showing my final sprint to the end

 

I had watched the BBC mini series last year and fell head over heels in love with the story. The book itself had been on my To Read list forever but honestly overwhelmed and intimidated me with the breadth of what could possibly lie between its covers, and so I put off reading it until now.

When I first attempted Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, I just gave up. The awful dragging through all the historical parts killed it for me. Then, once I'd seen the musical and absorbed the gist of the story, I went back and read the entire book--quite happily and loved it, hated for it to end (even though, those historical parts are still quite tiresome...) But this gave me hope to be able to make it through War and Peace, knowing the story and having faces to go with the characters in my head--and it did very much help. I've even ordered the DVD so I can watch it all over again--ah, happiness!

Pierre, Natasha, Prince Andrew, Nicholas and Sonya

 

Moving on to my next book, I requested KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps

from the library. I first saw it at work and was intrigued but not quite sure it was a book I'd want to spend $40 on to own and, in spirit of trying to cut down my on hand backlist, I thought it'd be wiser to check it out free from the library. Smart move as it's pretty intense and I don't know if I'll be able to stomach it the whole way through. It's staggering to imagine the depths of hatred and cruelty human beings are capable of towards each other. We'll see if I make it to the end...

Bullet journal reading tracker for KL

So, what are you reading?