Starting Leo Tolstoy's Book: War and Peace

I just received my new book War and Peace from Amazon. I want something fictional to read over the holiday period. After briefly flipping through the book, I am a bit intimidated by its length. I read the introduction by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonksy, who both translated Leo Tolstoy's original Russian book into the English equivalent. I learned that Leo Tolstoy wrote his book between 1863 and 1868, starting when he was thirty-five. My understanding is that the book covers Russian life during the period of the Napoleonic wars of 1805 to 1812. My knowledge of history in general is weak, let alone this specific period. The book, however, does provide notes at the end to explain the various events that were taking place as well as the important people. Words and phrases are explained too.

Although I am looking forward reading Tolstoy's book, I am certain that it will take me several months to complete. The book looks reasonably complex with several different characters. Furthermore, the impression I have from reading the introduction is that this book does not follow the traditional novel format. So it will be an interesting journey.

On Amazon, there are 27 reviews with an overall average rating of 4.5. Given that almost all those who reviewed the book gave it the highest possible rating, I am certainly looking forward to reading it.

Calgary model Judith Aldama is featured in the photograph above, which is hosted at Flickr. If you click on the picture of Judith, you will be taken to where you can view a larger version and see even more pictures of her.