I'm at the point in War and Peace when all the various character start making sojourns to "the country" and start having their Aha moments in Nature. Many of them are taught lessons by various peasants and farming types and wolves they've hunted. There is much eating of Russian peasant food and listening to Russian peasant songs and dancing of Russian peasant dances. Everyone is either unhappily married or happily engaged, but I suspect there will be a major reversal of fortunes on that front very soon.

On another note, I'm frustrated by the fact that I've felt like I was at the half-way point for at least two weeks now, and unless I somehow manage to find the motivation to power past page 700 this weekend (unlikely given that I have an impending baby shower for a friend and a woefully unfinished knitting gift) I will continue to languish there for at least another week. I'm losing perspective of the fact that I've somehow managed to read 550 pages of War and Peace while simultaneously finishing 15 books since January 1, along with working full-time, getting caught up on 'The Americans' and working on the above-mentioned knitting. I should pat myself on the back, but instead I'm going to continue feeling guilty that I haven't read more.