| 1. The Death of Ivan Ilych And Other Stories | 
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By: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Signet Classics
April 01, 2003
Tolstoy, known for his longer more cumbersome books, gives us a short, impacting story in "The Death of Ivan Ilyich." He captures the tragedy and pathos of the Russian mind, but goes beyond that and brushes against universal fears and struggles.
Ivan has lived his life according to his own plan, a plan that coincides with the expectations of his family and society. Despite a few early... more
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| 2. Notes from the Underground (Dover Thrift Editions) |
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By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Publisher: Dover Publications
February 21, 1992
Fyodor Dostoevsky's masterpiece, Notes from the Underground, is now available with a new translation from Boris Jakim. (I had not read Underground before now, so I cannot compare translations.) If you're looking to read some Dostoevksy, you might start here with this brief story (118 pages) before you dive into The Brothers Karamazov or Crime and Punishment.
Notes from the Underground... more
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| 3. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Signet Classics) |
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By: Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Publisher: Signet Classics
August 06, 2008
This is a world-renown story of a regular man's regular day, only in the setting of a Russian Gulag in frozen Siberia. Denisovich wakes up, works, talks with his fellow prisoners, eats a little, and goes to bed. What makes the book such is a success is the way it subtly gets under your skin, making you empathize with him while acknowledging the futility of feeling in such a remote and barren world... more
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| 4. A Hero of Our Time |
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By: M. Y. Lermontov
Publisher: Book Jungle
September 06, 2007
I this book was on BBC's literacy list of the most underrated books of all time so I thought I would read it. It was an amazing read. I have read it twice so far and it was even better the second time. This book is for anyone who likes to read. It just proved to me that Russian literature is the best literature... more
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| 5. The Brothers Karamazov (Bantam Classics) |
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By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Konstantin Mochulsky
Publisher: Bantam Classics
April 01, 1984
This is an excelent translation, very easy to read. The narrative flows unhindered by obscure words.A coworker and i are reading the same book, he is a native Russian and is reading the Russian version. When i showed him the book he agreed that it is a very good read.I have the MacAndrew translation in paperback version, it is over a thousand pages long but the print more the compensates for the... more
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| 6. Crime and Punishment (Signet Classics) |
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By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Publisher: Signet Classics
March 07, 2006
The Sidney Monas translation is magnificent! I was expecting it to be very slow-going, but I couldn't put it down. But its best to make a list of the names so you don't get confused as sometimes they refer to a person by first name, by last name, or by middle name... more
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| 7. Anna Karenina (Oxford World's Classics) |
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By: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
July 15, 2008
It's almost perfect. The length is intimidating, but once you start reading, you'll begin to wish that it won't come to an end. And then it does. But the ending you find out, is so perfect that you're filled with complete satisfaction. I learned to love Tolstoy's way of telling a story from this book. His characters are absolutely unforgettable. Also, the translation is easy to read and not dry like... more
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| 8. The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History |
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By: Isaiah Berlin
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
January 25, 1993
The fox looks every which way when he runs across the fields, but the hedgehog focuses almost exclusively on his burrow.
So which was Leo Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace (Modern Library Classics)?
Along the way to examining this quetion, Isaiah Berlin raises some big questions himself about the nature of history, human experience, and whether our world is knowable.more
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| 9. The Gambler (Dover Thrift Editions) |
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By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Publisher: Dover Publications
May 20, 1996
The Gambler is my favourite book by Dostoyevsky. (My personal Top3 would be The Gambler, The Idiot, Crime and Punishment). This is also the best place to start with Dostoyevsky before moving on to heavier stuff. The novel is crisp and lighthearted, and is fun to read even in the 21st century. If you liked it make sure to check out The Hero of Our Time by Lermontov... more
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| 10. The Queen of Spades and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) | 
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By: Alexander Pushkin
Publisher: Dover Publications
July 13, 1994
I wish to make it clear that the 2001 review published below when I was at Oberlin College is NOT of this Oxford World Classics edition-- with which I am unfamiliar-- but rather of a previous Dover Thrift Edition.
I am shocked that Amazon places reviews of different translated editions of the same title(s) interchangably.
-David Shengold
Philadelphia PA... more
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