[hawkal]

Wow I need to get my head in your space. I tend to view completion as the achievement, not progress. This leads to single victories amidst a million defeats. An attitude not conducive to happiness. I'll definitely make a large effort to celebrate/recognize the small victories. Separately, I am 14% through War and Peace, and still don't know who I am supposed to care about. Does that come later or have I missed something?

[DenisM]

I think it's very important to set apart entire hour and make sure nothing intrudes. Having spent a solid block of time on an important purpose feels like an achievement, but if I get interrupted I feel I feel as if I did neither thing well, a waste of time and mental energy. Once again, I stress the important of guaranteed reserved block of time.

As to the book itself, I am the most intrigued by very detailed descriptions of the character flaws of various people. Each person in the book serves to demonstrated a certain set of weakness of the character, framed in a suitable circumstance. In each one I recognize myself (and sometimes people around me), and this creates a strange feeling - on one hand it's somewhat disturbing and disgusting when laid so baren in front of me, on the other hand it's a relief to know I am not the only one to feel or do X/Y/Z. It's also humbling to know all these things were there 200 years ago...

So, in that sense I care about all of books characters. :)

Another thing is that you're probably overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters in the book, I know that I was. Concentrated reading makes it easier to remember most people, so that helps a bit. However when it's time to re-read the book I will probably take a piece of paper and write all characters and their relationships down. Writing things down while reading a book is something I think I will need to learn to do also for other books, as well as for reasons other than following the plot development.