Yay! Thank you Dennie for starting this!

In fact, I know of a few people who are even planning to read it for the first time sometime soon, which makes me very happy.

Ah yes, I would be one of those people indeed. I'm only forty pages in so far- I don't want to get too far ahead of those I'm reading it with, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. I'm also reading other, lighter books at the same time, but I find that War and Peace is really easy to get back into after I've spent a few hours reading another book. I like it- sometimes some books take some time to get re acquainted with when they are first picked back up (even if it's only been half a day or so since it was last read), but so far not W&P.

Other then that, I must admit that I've never read Tolstoy, although if I enjoy War and Peace enough, that might change.

I haven't read any Tolstoy yet. I'm ashamed of myself. Where's the best place to start, and what translations should I use?

Cheese Queen! What a great SF idea! Thanks for opening it!

Which is your favorite Tolstoy book? War and Peace. Actually W&P is my favorite book of all time.
How old were you when you read it? I can't remember exactly but I want to say I was around 21 or 22
What is your least favorite? I've only read W&P and Anna Karenina, so I'm probably not in a good position to make that call.
Who is your favorite Tolstoy character? Pierre by far. He's the one character in almost all the books I've read that I felt such an intense resonance from. Natasha would have to be in 2nd while Andre would be tied in third place with Levin from Anna Karenina
Have you seen any good movie adaptions of his novels? The only adaptation I've ever seen was the old 1960's version of W&P with Audrey Hepburn as Natasha and Henry Fonda as Pierre. It was a decent adaptation but they skipped out an enormous quantity of stuff...but given the book is what? 1,450 pages long (all small print), I think they did the best they could to squeeze it into a 3-4 hour time span.

I started out reading the Classics when I was in the military around age 18 and had gone through a bit of a "Russian Literature" phase in my early 20's, and that was started by War and Peace. The scope of the book is staggering when you think about it. Tolstoy covers something like 10 years and Heaven only knows how many hundreds of characters, although you really only need to keep up with about 20 of them at any given time. He juggles history, military campaigns, relationships, and the mother of all love triangles, all the while taking on no less than the French invasion of Russia. There are several different translations out there but I've read only two. Would that I could remember the translation name because one was a marked improvement over the other.

I don't know that it's that there's so many different characters in almost every shade of the rainbow but it seems like any reader could find someone to connect with in the book. I connected with Pierre almost immediately, as though he were kin to me, and rooted for this gentle giant through the entire book, including getting a little literary crush on Natasha (sue me, she was the cat's pajamas ). I initially didn't care much for Andrei Bolkonsky, but changed my mind considerably at the Battle of Austerlitz where Andrei really looks around and "sees" things for the first time.

Well I've blithered on long enough already. Someone else take over.

Wow! Great idea for a thread!

Which is your favorite Tolstoy book? Anna Karenina
How old were you when you read it? 21 or 22
What is your least favorite? "Gimpel the Fool," a short story
Who is your favorite Tolstoy character? Lenin [Anna Karenina] and Gerasim [Ivan Ilyich]
Have you seen any good movie adaptions of his novels? I liked the 2000 BBC version of Anna Karenina. I thought it was more faithful to the book, partly because it included the Lenin/Kitty subplot. Some other versions didn't. I also thought Anna's character was nobly tragic. But some may disagree.

I liked The Death of Ivan Ilyich, even though the plot was depressing. But at least it wasn't predictable. I liked the beauty and simplicity of Gerasim's character. I've never read War and Peace, nor seen any movie version. I think the book's length is prohibitive. I'd like to read Resurrection, though. I found "Gimpel the Fool" terribly dull.

Which is your favorite Tolstoy book?
War & Peace
How old were you when you read it?
20, I read it at the beginning of this year.
What is your least favorite?
I found I liked Anna Karenina the least, but that's no slight against it, I just find W&P so wonderful
Who is your favorite Tolstoy character?
Pierre, Prince Andrei and Denisov. Although Natasha did redeem her silliness, I never quite liked her. And for Anna Karenina, Levin.
Have you seen any good movie adaptions of his novels?
I've seen the Audrey Hepburn version of W&P, and me and a friend are now watching the BBC adaption with Anthony Hopkins. It's taking a long time, they miss out hardly anything Anthony's a great Pierre, the guy who plays Denisov is excellent too.

I envy those of you reading War and Peace for the first time! My translation is the Pevear & Volokhonsky, I think recommended by kotwcs, and it's a very good one.

Which is your favorite Tolstoy book? Anna Karenina

How old were you when you read it? Ah... 8 I remember carrying it upstairs and reading it by the fading summer light before I went to sleep. I read it again a couple years ago, and remembered little enough that it was like a second first time read.

What is your least favorite? I would say that I haven't read enough of Tolstoy's novels to judge that...

Who is your favorite Tolstoy character? Martin Avdeitch; the Shoemaker, from the short story of same or similar name.

Have you seen any good movie adaptions of his novels? Only the Audrey Hepburn/Mel Farrar adaption of W&P, which is why I read War and Peace in the first place. I found it helped to have someone to visualise when I worked my way through all the titles and long names of the different characters.

Fanny, I'm glad you're enjoying War and Peace! I was hoping that this SF would coincide with your reading group, so you'd all come in here and discuss the book.
I do think that War and Peace is a lot easier than most people assume. People get scared by the length and the fact that it was written by a Russian, and assume it's dull and difficult. It's not though! I had a friend over a month or so ago, and when she opened it up and began looking at it, she said that it seemed very interesting, and she'd like to read it.

Gladius, you could always start with some of Tolstoy's short stories and see if you got hooked. As for translations, I really like my copy of War and Peace, which is translated by Anthony Briggs. It sounds like the version Shantih mentioned is excellent as well.

Shadowlander, I was hoping you'd stop by. As always, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on War and Peace. I like the Audrey Hepburn/Henry Fonda movie version a lot; I think Audrey Hepburn is the epitome of Natasha. I even call the actress Natasha sometimes, because the two are so mixed up in my head. If anyone ever hears me talking about Natasha Hepburn, now they'll know who I mean.

Henry Fonda is NOT Pierre, but all the same he's nice in the movie, so I just imagine he's somebody else. Pierre really is the grandest, most beautiful, wonderful hero whoever existed. He is absolutely marvelous. I still can't get over the chapter

220, I hope you do read War and Peace sometime! I know the length is daunting, but I don't think it's a very difficult read.
I'll have to try that Anna Karenina movie version you mentioned-I haven't seen any versions, and I'd like to.

Shantih, I actually didn't know there was another War and Peace movie adaption! I shall most definitely have to watch that sometime!

Whoa, Mel, really, eight? Wow. And I thought reading such books at 12 was impressive. I don't think I learned to read until I was eight, and then it was the Hardy Boys. Anyway, I got a nice picture of you carrying it up the stairs in the fading sunlight. I think I was picturing 1800s or something. . .

I do think that War and Peace is a lot easier than most people assume. People get scared by the length and the fact that it was written by a Russian, and assume it's dull and difficult. It's not though! I had a friend over a month or so ago, and when she opened it up and began looking at it, she said that it seemed very interesting, and she'd like to read it.

Indeed! My friends saw me reading this and thought I was a lunatic. The thing is that when you get a really good book a part of you doesn't really want it to end, even though by necessity it has to. And W&P really fits the bill there. I personally found the first 150-200 pages or so kind of daunting...I like a good adventure story and that particular portion of the book struck me as kind of dull (books featuring "society" stuff just doesn't rock my proverbial socks off, which is probably why I'm so put off by Austen's books), but once the 1805 Campaign begins W&P really sticks its talons in you and doesn't let go!

Henry Fonda is NOT Pierre, but all the same he's nice in the movie, so I just imagine he's somebody else. Pierre really is the grandest, most beautiful, wonderful hero whoever existed. He is absolutely marvelous.

I completely agree! I've said it before and I'll say it again...Pierre is the one literary character in all of the books I've ever read that I ever connected with with such totality. I didn't realize until I came to NWeb that he can be quite a divisive character...I remember a discussion of W&P came up in the old forums and a few people felt he was kind of one brick shy of a load, or bordering on psychotic in some way. I never got that impression of him at all and, if I had to describe him in one sentence, I'd say that he was a very tall, very rotund man with a heart the size of a boulder and the unique and intrinsic ability to see absolutely the best in everyone around him. The poor guy literally has no idea through much of the book of how various people are trying to take advantage of him and his situation, and that his naivety and good-nature, instead of making me question him, rather make him that much more of incredibly endearing character.

Although Natasha did redeem her silliness, I never quite liked her.

I don't know that I would call Natasha "silly" so much as I think Tolstoy was trying to portray the exhuberance of innocent and energetic youth. Like Cheese Queen, Natasha is definitely among my favorite female literary characters. If you promise not to laugh (this is asking much, I know ) back in my youthful dating days I used to measure dates with a sort of "Natasha Rating System". I never found total seriousness about life to be an attractive trait, but occasionally one would come along that knew what it was to have a good belly laugh, had a positive outlook on life, and with an extroverted nature made friends instantaneously seemingly with no effort because they had that rare magnetic personality. Those rated high on the Natasha Scale.

One other note...I don't know if I've ever seen anyone really capture the essence of pure and raw love quite like Tolstoy does. He describes to perfection every sensation, the euphoria, the longing, all the elements that make true love so "magic". He integrates it seamlessley into the narrative in such a way that...well, there's really no way to describe it. He manages to capture it and put it into writing and have it retain its purety and power. That's a magnificent achievement all its own.

Please note that this Special Feature will be closing this Thursday evening, after which you may post your thoughts on Tolstoy's writings in the Books thread.

Fanny, I'm glad you're enjoying War and Peace! I was hoping that this SF would coincide with your reading group, so you'd all come in here and discuss the book.
I do think that War and Peace is a lot easier than most people assume. People get scared by the length and the fact that it was written by a Russian, and assume it's dull and difficult. It's not though! I had a friend over a month or so ago, and when she opened it up and began looking at it, she said that it seemed very interesting, and she'd like to read it.

Thanks! Your idea is greatly appreciated!

That is certainly very true- and perhaps they don't have entirely unfounded reasons for thinking that. I know many people had bad experiences with books of this type in school- being forced to read them and whatnot, which is most unfortunate, and so when they see a book that could very well be "one of those", well, it doesn't help any. (I'm not saying I entirely blame them, though.)

War and Peace is progressing nicely- I think I've found my favourite characters (and please, no one laugh at me if I say I like them now and think they are great, and they turn out to be bad... ), and they would be Andrei and Maria, especially the latter. I find her fascinating, not just herself, but her reactions to situations and how she handles her life. I'm quite interested in seeing how things will turn out for her- I do hope it all ends happy...

But yes! I'm enjoying it all on accounts.

I started War and Peace two days ago and I'm absolutely loving it! I had only planned on flipping through it--I ought to be finishing Moby Dick--but once I started I couldn't put it down. It's severely interfering with school!

I think I am the happiest 'cause I can read Tolstoys books in the original Russian!
I haven't read a lot of Tolstoy, mostly his kids stories but he is still a great writer. He is my favorite Russian writer along with Pushkin

DTR, I should take a picture of my copy of Anna Karenina for you--it's really pretty. Not as old as you were imagining, but old enough to have gilt edges.

FF, I liked Andrei and his sister too. The translation I read called her Mary, so... we are thinking of the same person, right?

an interesting fact: The Russian title for War and Peace is a little different from the English one. The Russian word for peace 'mir' has a double meaning. It also means 'world' so the Russian title for War and Peace has a double meaning 'War and Peace' and 'War and the World'
My favorite Tolstoy book is his autobiography
I've never read it in English so I don't know how easy it is to read, in Russian it is rather and very difficult.