Mark Minyard > Recent Status Updates

Each chapter reads like a parable. Enjoying the journey and looking forward to the endless analyses and reviews of this great work when I finish.

Surprisingly little about Natasha so far. She’s like a side character. Lots of development for Nikolay. Can’t wait to see what becomes of Bolkonsky.

Embarked on Part 2! First time skip. The ending to Part 1 was so bleak. Loved it. What an epic.

Finished Part 1 Book 3! Called “Voluptuaries” in the Penguin McDuff translation. That’s certainly a word. This story is really starting to get in my head. I can see layers being overlaid and it’s really something.

Getting smoked by grad school but I’m still reading! This is getting better and better..

Last chapter of Volume I. 🙌🏻 No one does existential dread like Tolstoy.

Tolstoy’s war scenes are something else. One more chapter and I start volume 2!

First book to ever make me tear up. Wow.

Tolstoy’s description of the moment leading up to Napoleon initiating his attack is just 🤌

Tolstoy’s description of the moment leading up to Napoleon initiating his attack is just 🤌

Getting excited for the battle of Austerlitz!

Stegenga cites a review paper of 192 statin trials in Ch3 (Gonzalez-Moreno 2015). His main point seems to be that most trials only measure LDL level reduction & not actual CVD outcomes. It’s a totally valid critique. But he doesn’t seem keen to discuss the Statin trials that DO show reduction in CVD events. Seems sloppy but I’ll keep reading.

I am LOVING this. Very keen to see Stegenga explain why he thinks Statins are ineffective drugs. (I strongly disagree with that position.) But his philosophical introductory chapters are very fun and interesting.

Pierre is cooked. I really wonder how Tolstoy will develop a character so tragically passive. Will he start taking ownership of his life by the end? Also feeling a lot of empathy for Marya Bolkonsky.

Said out loud:" WTF is Fyodor about to do?" reading the end of Book 2. Haha!

Last chapter was so wild. What a dysfunctional family haha.

He’s doing that thing again where he takes his characters and makes them argue about his current favorite idea for a few pages. Interesting to read but it’s not really character-driven storytelling. He’s using his characters, like in C&P, to make his point. Not my fave but there have been some real gems in there.

Finished Part 1 Book 2. Poor Nikolay. Keen to see how Bolkonsky changes from this recent battle. And I want to know what’s going on with Pierre and Natasha!

This battle sequence is EPIC.

Ok the war sequences in Part 1 Book 2 are really so exciting. Took some time to study the maps and google some places and it’s coming together.

10% done! I’m going to need some kind of guide or analysis of the war/heavy sections to really make it clear to me what is going on. Still loving it though!

Book 1 done!

Book 1 Part 1 done. I’ve used 19 sticky notes to note when characters are introduced. Pierre, Andrey, and Natasha are pretty well outlined. Turning back to Brothers Karamazov now.