I was going to reply to the fav's of the year post with War & Peace but since it's a classic, it's kinda goofy to put it there.

In any event, what I wanted to say about War & Peace was how surprised I was to find that it was such an easy read. There are a fair number of names to keep track of but I always hear about it like it's a terribly intimidating book. I didn't find that to be the case at all. It is long, so I guess it would be a tough read if you're just going to put in fifteen minutes before bed, but it's not a difficult read. I don't remember the translation I read, but that could have been a reason.

What did other people think of this book?

I don't think people claim it's a tough read...they just claim it's a LONG read!

Yes, I've always heard talk of the length, not like it was Joyce or something.

I guess I had just equated the two. I definitely recommend it if you have the time.

Tough to read and long are definitely different. Count of Monte Cristo is a LONG read, but very easy and enjoyable.

That's good to hear about War & Peace. Russian authors can be intimidating. I did enjoy Brothers Karamazov. I have had War and Peace on my to read pile for a long time. It's kind of like a 3+ hour movie on DVD...you have to pump yourself up to make the investment to tackle it.

I still have yet to read War & Peace. I have had a copy on my shelf for a couple years...but I imagine one of these days I will decide to pick it up...after some of my more "urgent" reading endeavors are out of the way.

I also have War and Peace in my to read pile. I'm glad to hear that it's just long and not a tough read. Someday I'll read it when I get inspired enough.

Count of Monte Cristo is on my shelf, I really enjoyed 3 Musketeers so I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but I'll probably wait until a vacation to start it.

I read about 1200 pages of it last year, but have yet to finish the rest. It can be a pretty engaging read at some points, but drags in others.

I bought it for my grandma earlier in the year. She told me that she is having problems with the peoples names. But then again she is in her 80's.

Actually, the names can be very confusing because there are a number of characters (as opposed to just a couple main characters in most books) and they go by different names depending on how familiar the person is to them so most characters have three names they may go by.