Three Beautiful Things 06-26-2026: Blood, Sweat & Tears Again, Starting *War and Peace*, Bed Time Meditations by Hwang Bo-Reum

 1. I enjoyed the responses that came my way in the wake of David Clayton-Thomas' death and my thoughts about Blood, Sweat & Tears' second, self-titled, album. Rich Brock posted his appreciation for the song "Sometimes in Winter" and I was 100 percent with him. I thought a lot about that track while remembering my love for this album, but because Steven Katz wrote it and sang it, mentioning it didn't fit with my focus on David Clayton-Thomas and BS&T cover tunes. 

I'll just say that in high school I used to get all dew-eyed and dreamy whenever I listened to "Sometimes in Winter". 

2. It was a banner day today in my reading life. I started Leo Tolstoy's thick masterpiece War and Peace. I enjoyed how getting started reading this book transported me back to my thousands of year as a student. I needed to prepare to read it. One of the translators wrote the Introduction to this Vantage Classics edition and I read it and especially enjoyed its last several paragraphs that covered his approach to translation. 

I also, for some reason, enjoyed how slowly I'll have to read. Characters speak in French sometimes and the translations of the French are at the bottom of the page. This edition is also generously footnoted, mostly with historical explanations of figures and events Tolstoy refers to that are connected to the early 19th century's Napoleonic Wars. So I'm having to stop, read translations at the bottom of the page or read footnotes (really endnotes) found in the back of the book. 

Keeping characters with sometimes complicated Russian names straight will challenge me, slow me down. I'll take notes and frequently need to refer to the list of characters published in this edition for reference. 

With all that said, I found the early pages of War and Peace compelling, already psychologically fascinating. 

I look forward to moving forward, however slowly -- and, for unhurried me, slow is good. So is the work War and Peace will require. 

3. A while back, Debbie talked quite a bit about how much she enjoyed the Korean author Hwang Bo-Reum's book of short meditations entitled, Every Day Read.

I read that title as a mandate. Hey! Every single day! Read something! 

I couldn't sleep when I went to bed Friday night and so I started reading Hwang Bo-Reum's very short reflections on different aspects of reading. Here are a few examples: "Read Small Books", "You Don't Always Have to Finish It", "Visiting the Library". 

I read over half the book before I nodded off. 

I enjoy the simplicity and wisdom of her chapters, and it was the perfect book to read in bed, even though it didn't really help me fall asleep. It stimulated me and kept me awake! 

Oh, well.