Tolstoy together : 85 days of War and peace with Yiyun Li

From the acclaimed author of Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, a book about the art of reading. In Tolstoy Together: 85 Days of War and Peace, Yiyun Li invites you to travel with her through Tolstoy’s novel—and with fellow readers around the world who joined her for an online book club & an epic journey during a pandemic year.“I’ve found that the more uncertain life is,” Yiyun Li writes, “the more solidity & structure War & Peace provides.” Tolstoy Together expands the epic novel into a rich conversation about literature & ways of reading, with contributions from Garth Greenwell, Elliott Holt, Carl Phillips, Tom Drury, Sara Majka, Alexandra Schwartz, & hundreds of fellow readers.Along with Yiyun Li’s daily reading journal & a communal journal with readers’ reflections—with commentary on craft & technique, historical context, & character studies, Tolstoy Together: 85 Days of War and Peace includes a schedule & framework, providing a daily motivating companion for Tolstoy’s novel & a reading practice for future books.°°° Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing & came to the United States in 1996. Her debut collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award & the Guardian First Book Award. Her novel, The Vagrants, was shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Award. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages. She was selected by Granta as one of the 21 Best Young American Novelists under 35, and was named by The New Yorker as one of the top 20 writers under 40. “You know how, very occasionally in your life, there’s a ‘before and after’ reading experience? Well, reading War and Peace with Tolstoy Together has been that for me—a milestone not just in reading but in living.”—Michael Langan From the acclaimed author of Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, a book about the art of reading. In Tolstoy Together: 85 Days of War and Peace, Yiyun Li invites you to travel with her through Tolstoy’s novel—and with fellow readers around the world who joined her for an online book club and an epic journey during a pandemic year. “I’ve found that the more uncertain life is,” Yiyun Li writes, “the more solidity and structure War and Peace provides.” Tolstoy Together expands the epic novel into a rich conversation about literature and ways of reading, with contributions from Garth Greenwell, Elliott Holt, Carl Phillips, Tom Drury, Sara Majka, Alexandra Schwartz, and hundreds of fellow readers. Along with Yiyun Li’s daily reading journal and a communal journal with readers’ reflections—with commentary on craft and technique, historical context, and character studies, Tolstoy Together: 85 Days of War and Peace includes a schedule and framework, providing a daily motivating companion for Tolstoy’s novel and a reading practice for future books. "You know how, very occasionally in your life, there's a 'before and after' reading experience? Well, reading with has been that for me----Michael Langan From the acclaimed author of , a book about the art of reading. In Yiyun Li invites you to travel with her through Tolstoy's novel--and with fellow readers around the world who joined her for an online book club and an epic journey during a pandemic year. "I've found that the more uncertain life is," Yiyun Li writes, "the more solidity and structure War and Peace provides." expands the epic novel into a rich conversation about literature and ways of reading, with contributions from Garth Greenwell, Elliott Holt, Carl Phillips, Tom Drury, Sara Majka, Alexandra Schwartz, and hundreds of fellow readers. Along with Yiyun Li's daily reading journal and a communal journal with readers' reflections--with commentary on craft and technique, historical context, and character studies, includes a schedule and framework, providing a daily motivating companion for Tolstoy's novel and a reading practice for future books." --Amazon.com For the writer Yiyun Li, whenever life has felt uncertain, War and Peace has been the novel she turns to. In March 2020, as the pandemic tightened its grip, Li and A Public Space launched #TolstoyTogether, a War and Peace book club, on Twitter and Instagram, gathering a community (that came to include writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Garth Greenwell, and Carl Phillips) for 85 days of prompts, conversation, succor, and pleasure. It was an experience shaped not only by the time in which they read but also the slow, consistent rhythm of the reading. And the extraordinary community that gathered for a moment each day to discuss Tolstoy, history, and the role of art in a time like this. Tolstoy Together captures that moment, and offers a guided, communal experience for past and new readers, lovers of Russian literature, and all those looking for what Li identifies as "his level-headedness and clear-sightedness offer[ing] a solidity during a time of duress." A reader's companion for Tolstoy's epic novel, War and Peace, inspired by the online book club led by Yiyun Li