1. Leo Tolstoy divided War and Peace into four volumes and an epilogue. Each volume has 3, 4, or 5 parts and the epilogue has 2 parts.
Today I finished the first part of Volume I. It's very early in the book, but as I see it so far, Tolstoy gradually and masterfully opens his story wider and wider, moving the story from family to family and place to place. The novel begins in Petersburg, moves to Moscow, and Volume ends in a country estate called Bald Hills.
At some point, it will move to war.
I'm hooked.
The drumbeat of the coming war is out of sight and cannot be heard, but it's very much on the minds of the aristocrats Tolstoy introduces in this first part of Volume 1 and as the characters discuss their points of view about Napoleon, Tsar (or Emperor) Alexander, and about Russia's place in the western world, I find myself wondering how much they really know, how much of their talk is misinformed, how much certain characters are bloviators more than reliable commentators, and how this war is going to affect these protected, elite, and privileged aristocrats.
I might be totally wrong about where this book is going, but I thought I'd write out what I'm wondering and see, later on, if my questions are legitimate.
2. I keep thinking. as I progress in reading this book how glad I am that I'm not reading it for a class.
Well, that's not totally true. I'd love to be reading this under the direction and guidance of a professor of Russian literature.
What I'm glad about, though, is that my reading is not at all guided by the calendar. I don't have to have some number of pages read by some deadline, I am not reading this book with exams or paper writing in mind, and what and how I read this book will not be graded.
All those years that I was employed as an instructor, I spent an inordinate amount of time fantasizing about working with students with no calendar and no grades. The fantasies were folly, of course, but the first thing I thought about when i retired was that I had some number of years ahead of me to read for the sake of knowledge, enjoyment, and relaxation. No syllabus. No grades. It's been blissful.
3. I focused my shopping trip to Trader Joe's late this afternoon on buying ingredients for soups and leafless salads and on having frozen chicken tenders and raw shrimp on hand for stir fries. I bought two treats for myself, too: a pack of dark chocolate and almond bars and a quart of Cookie Butter ice cream.
As the checker scanned my groceries, she asked me what I was going to do on the Fourth of July.
"Hide."
Then I corrected myself. "Well, I'm having dinner with family, but then I think I'll go home and wrap myself in an American flag and hide in the basement."
She replied, "That sounds good." (The customer is always right!)
As I started to walk away at the end of our transaction she smiled warmly and said, "Well, have a good Fourth -- and enjoy your hiding."
"You, too," I replied. "And I will."
Okay.
I confess.
I exaggerated.
I won't be on the cold cement floor of the basement in the fetal position with Old Glory as my cocoon.
But I hope my point was clear.
I'm a quiet patriot.
After our family dinner, I'll be committed to keeping Gibbs and Copper company in case the rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air bother them for the first time ever.
And I'll quietly contemplate the USA coming into being.
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