Announcing the 2020 War and Peace Chapter-a-Day Read-along

/ Nick Senger

This is the official sign-up post for the 2020 War and Peace Chapter-a-Day Read-along. You’re invited to join me in spending the first year of the new decade reading one of the truly monumental literary achievements of the world, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to be intimidated by how long the book is because we’ll be reading it in little bites, a chapter a day, savoring the experience and making it a part of daily life for the next 366 days (2020 is a leap year!).

Each chapter averages about 4 pages, so you should only have to dedicate 10 to 15 minutes a day to reading. And if you get behind, you can catch up pretty easily. The book has 361 chapters (more on the schedule below), so it will take us the entire year to finish. But what an enriching year it will be!

If you loved reading Les Misérables in a chapter a day, then chances are you will also enjoy Tolstoy’s masterpiece. The book is set during the Napoleonic era and centers around the French invasion of Russia in 1812.

Why Read War and Peace?

  • Pat Conroy: “Many have called it the greatest novel ever written, and their ranks include such luminaries as E.M. Forster, John Galsworthy, and Hugh Walpole. Virginia Woolf gushed over it like a schoolgirl, saying…’There is hardly any subject of human experience that is left out of War and Peace.’…Let me now add my own voice to the hallelujah chorus of novelists who have found themselves enraptured by the immensity and luminosity of War and Peace and cast my own vote that it is the finest novel ever written on this planet.”
  • J. Donald Adams : “Reading War and Peace for the first time is one of the greatest literary experiences; reading it again and again is to realize the immeasurable gulf that is fixed between a merely good book and a great one…Here is a novel that is worth whatever time one gives to it. There is more life between its cover than in any other existent fictional narrative. All the normal human emotions find play in this novel; practically every facet of human experience is there. Its characters become as real to us as people whom we have known all our lives….No intelligent person can read it without a deep enrichment of experience. And having once read it, he is certain to turn to it again, to be amazed once more by its veracity, its tremendous vitality, its epic scope.”

How to ParticipateWar and Peace Read-along

  1. Leave a comment on this post telling everyone that you’ll be reading along and why.
  2. Get an unabridged copy of War and Peace. If you’re reading in English, then I recommend a more recent translation that has 361 chapters. See the reading schedule below for more details.
  3. Download the 2020 War and Peace Chapter a Day Reading Schedule.
  4. Commit to reading a chapter a day, starting on January 1, 2020. If you get behind or race ahead, no worries. Life happens. My Twitter and Facebook posts will stay on track with the reading schedule, and I would ask that you please respect the reading experience of those who may not know the full story. In other words, no spoilers!
  5. It’s purely optional, but I encourage you to post a quote each day on Facebook or Twitter. I will be posting on both, using the hashtag #warandpeacereadalong
  6. Please feel free to post the official War and Peace Chapter-a-Day Read-along graphic on your website or blog to spread the word.
  7. Subscribe to One Catholic Life so you don’t miss any read-along posts throughout the year. You can get updates via email by using the form in the right-hand sidebar or you can subscribe via RSS and read them in your favorite blog reader.

Reading Schedule and English Translations

The reading schedule for War and Peace was a bit of a challenge to put together because not all translations have the same number of chapters. One of the most famous English translations is by Louise and Aylmer Maude, and their translation has exactly 365 chapters. However, according to the Oxford World’s Classics Edition of War and Peace, their “division imposed a different structure on the work.” Most recent translations of the book (including translations by Briggs, Dunnigan, Pevear and Volokhonsky, and the revised Maude translation edited by Amy Mandelker) use Tolstoy’s definitive edition of the Russian text. These more recent translations all have 361 chapters, and that is the structure I used when I put together our schedule. Since there are 366 days in the year 2020 and 361 chapters in War and Peace, I have built in five breaks at the end of major sections of the book. These breaks can be days off, but I have also linked to five short stories by Tolstoy if you want to keep up your habit of reading each day.

I will be reading the Signet Classics edition translated by Ann Dunnigan. It’s the one I first read in 2003, and I like the translation. One thing to know about War and Peace, is that about 2% of the book is in French, and some translators don’t translate the French except in footnotes. My edition by Dunnigan translates almost all the French into English, which I appreciate. It’s also reasonably priced. The disadvantage of the Dunnigan edition is the complete lack of footnotes. Here are the translations that should fit our schedule along with a few comments about them (prices are for Kindle editions and are as of December 16, 2019):

  • Signet Classics – translated by Anne Dunnigan; translates the French into English; no footnotes; $1.99
  • Oxford World’s Classics – the Maude translation, edited by Amy Mandelker; does not translate the French into English except in footnotes; lots of other notes to help the reader understand the historical context; $7.01
  • Penguin Classics – translated by Anthony Briggs; translates the French into English, but has been criticized for being too “british” a translation; lots of footnotes; $9.99
  • Vintage Classics – translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky; puts the French translations in footnotes; lots of reader notes; $14.99

What do you say? Will you join me in 2020 to read this monumental work of literary art?

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45 thoughts on “Announcing the 2020 War and Peace Chapter-a-Day Read-along”

  2. I’m in, NIck, and thanks for leading another readalong! I enjoy the experience of reading in community and doubt that I would have tackled this book on my own. If I make it through, I’ve asked my wife to be sure that makes it into my obituary. ?

    Reply

    • Awesome, Rick! I’m sure you’ll make it through, but I hope it’s a long time before your wife has to follow through on your wishes! I know that you had wanted us to read War and Peace last year, so I hope the wait is worth it!

      Reply

  4. I read War & Peace about 20 years ago but remember almost nothing about it. I fast read it during my summer holidays just to say I’d read it!

    Have been very keen to try a slow read of it ever since!

    I may be a bit haphazard during the first 2 months as I also finish my slow read of Moby-Dick, but if Rick can do both, so can I ?

    That’s the long way of saying, I’m in!!

    Reply

    • Hooray! It’s great to have you along, Brona.

      I’m in a similar situation. I read War and Peace about 15 years ago and skimmed a good portion of it because I was impatient to get to other books. I am looking forward to revisiting it and taking my time.

      Reply

  5. I just stumbled on this and I think it is so cool. I will be reading along. I’ve never read the book. I would love to read all the classics but even being retired life takes up alot of my time! ?

    Reply

  7. Blame Brona, I saw this on her blog and after having read Anna Karenina last year, I knew I wanted to read W&P at some point. So I guess this is that point! Since this will be my first read through I am quite relived I don’t have to do it alone. 🙂

    Reply

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  13. Hi Nick, I’m new to your blog, but would love to join in on this readalong. I last read War and Peace exactly 49 years ago, when I was 17. I was introduced to many of the Russian classics during my senior year of high school by a remarkable English teacher. She didn’t assign War and Peace to the entire class, but I chose it for a special project. It was the best reading year of my life. I’ve always meant to reread it and bought the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation when it was first published in 2007. I’m so glad you’re doing this! Thank you for the inspiration.

    Reply

  14. Hi Nick. I just recently found out about this read-along. I think I’d like to join in. I read War and Peace last year but unfortunately it began to feel tedious and I found myself so glad when I finished it. I think I’d like to give it another try by reading it as a read-along with others. So…..I’m in. 🙂

    Reply

  16. I’m going to try to do this. This book has always intimidated me, and I have no idea why? Only one chapter a day is good inspiration to give it a go. I’m all in!

    Reply

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  20. I have the Penguin edition, as well as the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation, and even a Barnes and Noble copy on my nook. I began the Penguin, which is quite lovely, and I am on Chapter 6 as I “ought” to be now, eagerly looking forward to pursuing this journey with you and the others.

    Reply

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  23. I am very late to this party, but I shall try to catch up. I first read War and Peace when I was 18, and again in my 20’s , but not in the intervening 40 years. Still, parts are seared into my memory. Time for a new read.
    I like the Penguin edition, because it is what I am used to, Perhaps I should stretch to your translation….

    Reply

  25. Nick,
    Any chance I can get your reading schedule in an excel version? I’m deploying soon for six months and want to read W&P (but two chapters a day). I’ve got your PDF copy but can’t seem to transfer it to excel.
    Thanks in advance!
    v/r,
    Mike

    Reply

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