How to read Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace"
It made me
Proud 
"Much more enjoyable than expected."
How I did it: Pace yourself, it may take a while but it was worth it. Tolstoy is not overly wordy in this novel. It is 1500 pages because the story is long. It is a rather easy and very enjoyable read.
Lessons & tips: 1) select your edition carefully. I made sure that my addition was almost exclusively English, almost all the French had been translated.
2) Go with the unabridged version, it is the only way that you truly have read the book
3) Download a character list that includes all the derivative and short versions of each characters names. Some of the Russian names are difficult to keep track off. I had a 6 page list of character I used as a book mark, and kept notes on to remember who's who.
4) Set a time goal. I decided on 6 weeks. My addition was 1500 pages. 25 pages per day on Mon-Fri and 50 pages a day on weekends.
Resources: Character list off the internet.
