Putting Aside War and Peace

I suppose it was inevitable. I courageously made it through 219 pages of War and Peace. Book One was mostly "Peace" and I enjoyed it. Book Two took the Russians to war against Napoleon and the French and I just collapsed under the tedium. I mean, I was staring blankly out the window of the train one day, seeing landscape I didn't even know exists because ordinarily I am nose-deep in a book. Walking home, I realized I'd only read 6 pages that day, during which a courier made his way valiantly through enemy lines to deliver messages to a general. That was it. And when I say "that was it" I mean, that was all I read AND that was the end of War and Peace for me, for now anyway. I mean, I could skip ahead to the "Peace" section again, and celebrate 1800s Russia with ladies who party hard and miss their men. That was fun reading, but those men they miss are the men at war and I feel like I wouldn't be doing it justice if I skipped over them and their stories. So in honor of the US Congress approving the universal health care bill, I am back to reading Ted Kennedy's autobiography, and my train rides are back to their usual lightning-fast speed...I'm reading 20-30 pages a ride. All is right with the world again. In other "getting ready for Russia" news, I am still working on the language lessons on the iPod, laughing at the impossibly consonant-heavy words that the instructor floats over while I stumble over them. I also bought a book on the end of the Romanovs, which should be a far cry easier to read than War and Peace. I hope.