Reading War and Peace

I've downloaded War & Peace onto my Kindle with the determination to read it all the way through this time, right to the last page when everyone either gets married or dies or whatever happens. I'm not sure what happens because the first time I started it--about 12 years ago--I made it to page 400 and had to return to life.

My initial idea this time was that I would listen to it on my MP3 and read it. Like this: listen 20 minutes on my way to work and 20 minutes on the way home; read a few pages before bed; listen 20 minutes on my way to work and 20 minutes home, etc. Sure, I thought, getting through Tolstoy might take a while, but adding the 40 minutes audio a day would speed things up a bit and allow me to finish in no time.

As it turns out, the public library where I get my audio books doesn't have War & Peace, a fact that left me stunned. Stunned. What?! No War and Peace?!

I Googled War & Peace audio book and clicked on the FREE version. Take that public library. I listened to a sample and found that the free version reader is a young man who sounds Indian. His sincerity could not overcome my reluctance to listen to someone with an Indian accent read French phrases and Russian names in a book that had been translated from Russian into English.

I clicked on another Google link. I could buy the book for only 22.00, not a bad price for an audio book.

By reading customer reviews, which I always do, I found that the first audio version had an inadequate reader, but thanks to whiny customers, the company had come out with a second, much better, version. Getting the right reader is crucial in any audio book, but especially in one in which many languages and accents are employed: the Winter Queen, for example, whose reader is the best I've heard.

So I decided that my plan, once in danger of being foiled by a public library specializing in zombie stories, might work, especially if I could squeeze in a trip to two and read steadily every night. Then I checked out the hours on the audio book: 65. Sixty-five hours of audio book. I don't know if I have that much space on my off-brand MP3. I have no plans to drive to California. At 30-40 minutes a day, skipping weekends but taking the occasional weekend trip, I figure listening to the entire book would take me about 6 months.

I haven't downloaded it but still might since I've been told by a reliable friend that I can burn it into an MP3 and play it on my CD player. Meanwhile, I'm reading 4-5 pages a night. Or almost every night.

I love the book. Love it. Which is good since I'll probably be reading this novel for the rest of my life.