Tolstoy's Friday

Alison Can Read Feature & FollowI have now lived in my own house for a week (THE EXCITEMENT) and feel incredibly grown up! But I didn't get Wifi until yesterday, which is why A Universe in Words has been generally quiet. But today, it's time for the Memes! :)

Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee. This week's qst is:
If you could only have ONE book - one book - for the rest of your life. Don't cheat...what would it be?

Oh God, that is such a difficult question! There are so many books out there that are amazing and so many I haven't read yet but want to. I am really torn between two books, right now. It would either be 'The Lord of the Rings' for obvious reasons. I mean, there's enough there to last me a lifetime I think! But on the other hand, I absolutely love 'Wuthering Heights' and every time I reread it I discover something new. The love story between Heathcliff and Cathy is one of my favourite ones in all of literature and I think Emily Bronte was incredibly talented.

I think it would be a toss up between these two. And then I'd smuggle Harry Potter through the checks as well, because, let's face it. I don't think I'd be here without that book.

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer and this week's question is:
Have you ever ended up reading a book with its last or last few pages missing? What book was it? And how did you manage to get to the the end?

I don't think I could start a book if I wasn't assured of the end. I mean, when you start reading a book you trust yourself to it and good books can rip out your heart. So unless I know that there is an end at which there is the chance everything will be resolved, even if it is in the last line, it makes everything easier to bear. So no, I've never read an incomplete book. The closest I maybe have ever come to this is when my mother taped shut the last two chapters of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. So the end wasn't really accessible, but she cut it open once I got there, so it wasn't really hard work to finish the book.


I've recently started reading 'War and Peace' by Tolstoy, because I actually really like the idea of this novel that is going to take me months and that will just unfold an entire world in front of me that I can sink away in. So, this is the book I'm using for Book Beginnings (Rose City Reader) and Friday 56 (Freda's Voice).

BB:
'Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichirst - I really believe he is the Antichrist - I will have nothing more to do with you and you are o longer my friend, no longer my "faithful slave", as you call yourself. But how do you do? I see I have frightened you - sit down and tell me all the news.'
I love this beginning for a number of reasons. Partly because it is a great example of conversational writing. There are just so many shifts and it shows a lot of the speaker's character, I think.

F56:
'The princess smiles as people do who think they know more about the subject  under discussion than those they are talking with.'
The book, as far as I've read, is filled with these tiny kind of wisdoms about people and society. Tolstoy really observed people well, because occasionally there'll be this little anecdote that could come straight out of real life.

So, what are you reading this week? Have you ever tried to read a book with a missing end?

Comments

  1. Right! HP would definitely be needed! Can there be 1 book that puts all the books together? Like the biggest compilation known to reader?! That would be my 1 book!

    Here's my Follow Friday

    Have a GREAT weekend!

    Old Follower :)

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  2. I like Harry Potter. new GFC follower
    hope you can visit my Follow Friday

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  3. Good luck with War and Peace, I've never yet attempted it though I know people who have and who finished it! Sounds good to immerse yourself into it.

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  4. Well, there's a classic that I haven't read. I've always been put off by its length. Hope you enjoy it...and your new home!

    Here's my Friday post: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2013/08/friday-focus-friday-56-book-beginnings_30.html

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  5. I also loved Wuthering Heights which sort of surprised me as I'm usually not that much in those classics.

    New Follower via GFC and Bloglovin!

    Here’s my Follow Friday!

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  6. I need to read Wuthering Heights!! Its on my shelf at home, but just never get around to it! Mostly because I get review books and then the books that have been on my shelf for a while get even more neglected...

    My FF

    Tina @ Pages of Comfort - new follower via bloglovin!

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  7. Lord of the Rings would definitly be a great choice. You can check out my Friday Memes here: http://meandu-justthinking.blogspot.ca/2013/08/friday-memes-83013.html

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  8. It has been many years since I read this one...and I haven't even seen the updated movie adaptation. Time to reread? I do recall loving it. Enjoy.

    Here's MY FRIDAY MEMES POST

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  9. I never read a book with pages missing. I would be upset.

    Happy Hopping!!
    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Blog Hop Answer

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  10. How could you pick only one? That is ssooo not fair. I could not pick one at all! NEVER! EVER!

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  11. Picking just one book is so hard. Wuthering Heights and the Lord of the Rings are both great choices.

    Good luck with War and Peace, I hope you enjoy it. Everyone I've ever heard of who's read it found it rewarding.

    New follower, via Bloglovin' :)

    My FF

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  12. LOTR is a good pick!Happy Friday.

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  13. Love LotR... but I counted it as more than one book so I didn't choose it XD


    Old bloglovin follower!

    http://littlesqueed.blogspot.com/2013/08/feature-and-follow-friday.html

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  14. Your mom taped the last few pages to Harry Potter?! That's awesome!!!

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