Searching for Mr. Right

I have been working my way through Catch-22 and The God of Small Things but it is kind of a struggle. Neither book is calling to me in my non-reading hours. I keep wandering around my apartment looking at bookshelves for something new to read. Something that is going to sweep me off my feet; ask me to sacrifice work and sleep time. I want to fall in love.

I am wondering whether that special connection is going to come from Russia. That's right, I'm looking for an older Russian, one that is smart, complex, has an international reputation. I have flirted with Russians before, and I think it's time to make the big leap in this relationship. Its time for War and Peace.

The edition of War and Peace that I have is kind of old and has Bible pages. I am not interested in straining my eyes for the next several weeks, so today after we visit Noyes Library for the kids, we will head to Kensington Park branch where I am going to borrow this edition.

It's a new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, who b.t.w. sounds like she is an actual character in a Tolstoy novel. Ooooh I hope it's not checked out before I get there! I read Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation of Anna Karenina and the cover told me that they were terrific translators who preserve Tolstoy's language skills.

Because the cover told me to, I attribute my exteme affinity for Anna Karenina to the translators and I hope they will also help me through War and Peace. I am viewing them as relationship counselors of a sort. Years ago when I attempted W&P, I pooped out at around page 700. I have never forgiven myself.

Hopefully, self-flagellation, this announcement of intent, excellent translators and the extreme excellence of Mr. Tolstoy himself will all combine to springboard me to new heights of reading fulfillment.