Leo Tolstoy's books are great, but not in the way those similarly sized tomes coming from the fantasy genre (my favorites are Brandon Sanderson's, Robert Jordan's, and George R.R. Martin's) where it's hard to put those down once you have started reading them. His books on the other hand are in the "must put down and think" kind of good category. Always, I get myself immersed deeply in my thoughts after just reading a few pages. And then I would avoid his books for several weeks or months because sometimes it can be very stressful the thoughts his writings make me entertain, thoughts that sometimes go directly against my pre-conceived notions and upbringing -- any book that makes you think really hard is good!
While I can finish those fantasy books in 3-7 nights (even the 1000+ page novels), I for example have been reading Anna Karenina for 8 years already and I'm only half-way through. Reading War and Peace took 5 years. And yet oh how I loved these books I've mentioned.
The years have quite piled on and there are still so many classic novels to read in my lifetime reading queue. I guess in the analogy of a marathon, I hope once I get over this Tolstoy hill things would be a lot easier. But actually I don't know if I am on a hill or if I am still running on a plain.
So back to my e-book reader (btw: most classical works are free since the copyright expired) and see what Tolstoy with his arrangement of words, and thoughts, will spark in my mind this time.
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