War and Peace

I bought W&P 100 years ago in college, and it's been high on my "will read", and "started but couldn't stay awake past page 2" lists for years. Right up there with Proust. But Mandy raved about this new translation, so I bought it -- I've long read books by Spanish and Latin American authors in both the original language and in translation, and I know how important a translator is. Funny I never thought that perhaps that was the problem with the W&P version I had. I'm captivated. Yes, it remains hard, but there's a reasonably complete list of the principal characters with all the patronyms and nicknames, and the footnotes are excellent. (Of course 19th century Russian audiences would know what the battle of whatchamacallit was all about, but who alive today ever heard of it?) It's happily underway...