Swallows and Amazons and War & Peace #1

I have started reading War and Peace and, indeed, have read approximately a quarter of it (loving the Kindle's display of the % completion, it gives me hope!). However, it's the kind of book which is such a hard slog that it makes me forget I love reading.

So, as a treat to myself, I decided that I will pause after each quarter of W&P and read another list book before continuing.

Firstly, W&P - I'm not hating the reading experience; some of Tolstoy's characters are brilliant. I particularly enjoy the soldier with the lisp, and am intrigued as to how that would have been depicted in the original version. There is definitely a sense of comedy within the work, as Tolstoy very gently satirises Russian high society. Whilst it was set within Moscow, at society parties and following the exploits of the young and rich, it was shaping up to be an enjoyable read. Then...the war...and we became mired in interminable descriptions, in minute detail, of battles and interactions and success and failure. There are so many characters that I still don't quite know who everyone is (not helped by the way that many of them have a couple of names), and so it's difficult to connect what goes on on the battlefield to the previous events of the novel. This is probably my fault for only reading a few pages at a time before going to sleep. My mother-in-law is currently reading W&P "again". I don't think this is something I'll ever need to say for myself, but finishing it once does seem achievable.

Swallows and Amazons, on the other hand, is a really quick, easy read, which I have finished over 3 days. It is quite a good thing to read during never-ending rain, as it's proper escapism, and reminded me that one day, there may be sun again! I had only got a few pages in when I realised I'd read it before, but as I had no idea what happened, I felt I should persist with reading it again. S&A so deserves its place in this list. It's a children's book, it's not massively complex, but it is a beautifully written story of a summer adventure when kids were allowed to go and camp on an island for a week with no parents. This is something I feel nostalgic about, even though it wouldn't have been allowed within my lifetime either; it's a very idyllic picture where these children could go off and live in their fantasy sailor world, rowing back to the mainland every morning to pick up milk from a local farmer, fishing, and engaging in wars with the local pirates. Children, imaginations running free, and learning life skills too...what's not to like. In fact, one of my favourite bits in the book was where Captain Flint unfairly accuses John of being a liar, and this deeply hurts and offends John. It made me nostalgic (again) for the sense of "honour" and "playing the game" that children in novels of this era always have, which just doesn't seem to exist any more - being called a liar was the worst insult that John could imagine, and it's difficult to see a child of today taking it the same way. Maybe I'm wrong!

If you haven't read Swallows and Amazons, do read it. It's a lovely book.

And now back to War and Peace...