Anonymous wrote:tolstoy: because he wrote the greatest line ever, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

and The Death of Ivan Ilyich is just such a good story

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really like to choose between brilliant writers who each have such different voices, but if you insist then of course I would choose Tolstoy. Even Dostoyevsky seemingly considered Tolstoy the better writer, and called Anna Karenina a work of perfection.

OP you might want to check out Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An essay in the old criticism by George Steiner.

As an English major with advanced degree who has loved reading and escaped into and lived via thousands of books over the last five decades, I can honestly say that if anyone asked me which one great novel they should read above all others, it would have to be Anna Karenina.

I first read it in the summer between sophomore and junior years in HS when I was just 15, and I can still remember all those long cool summer days I spent laying on the bed in the bedroom I shared with my grandmother, reading and reading and reading that enormous book which encapsulated all of life and human yearning. It changed my life and how I viewed everything around me. I have read so many amazing works of literature since, in the course of pursuing a BA and MA in literature and then just for the sheer pleasure - but nothing has ever moved me so much as Anna Karenina first did.

One of my favorite daydreams is that I'd love to have a dinner party for literary giants, gather them all at the same table - and at the head would be Leo Tolstoy.

I don’t think you’d actually want Tolstoy at your party. He ended up hating AK so much that he burned it. The fact that Dostoevsky recognized the genius in AK says more about the personalities than it does which books are Bette. Tolstoy was rather an a-hole who hated his own stuff and hated other people’s stuff even more.
There’s also some question about whether Tolstoy’s wife contributed to AK … she did all his transcriibing for him and was herself a very intelligent thoughtful woman. Many people have questioned whether such a famous misogynist could write a book like AK….if so, it’s a great irony! But Tolstoy always wanted to be a different kind of writer than he was. He wanted to be a clear dogmatist but despite his best efforts ended up writing complex people. He didn’t want to write such an endearing adulteress, but he did.

Anonymous wrote:I don't really like to choose between brilliant writers who each have such different voices, but if you insist then of course I would choose Tolstoy. Even Dostoyevsky seemingly considered Tolstoy the better writer, and called Anna Karenina a work of perfection.

OP you might want to check out Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An essay in the old criticism by George Steiner.

As an English major with advanced degree who has loved reading and escaped into and lived via thousands of books over the last five decades, I can honestly say that if anyone asked me which one great novel they should read above all others, it would have to be Anna Karenina.

I first read it in the summer between sophomore and junior years in HS when I was just 15, and I can still remember all those long cool summer days I spent laying on the bed in the bedroom I shared with my grandmother, reading and reading and reading that enormous book which encapsulated all of life and human yearning. It changed my life and how I viewed everything around me. I have read so many amazing works of literature since, in the course of pursuing a BA and MA in literature and then just for the sheer pleasure - but nothing has ever moved me so much as Anna Karenina first did.

One of my favorite daydreams is that I'd love to have a dinner party for literary giants, gather them all at the same table - and at the head would be Leo Tolstoy.

Anonymous wrote:Probably Dostoyevsky. I love Tolstoy of course, but Dostoyevsky just speaks to me.

Anonymous wrote:I don't really like to choose between brilliant writers who each have such different voices, but if you insist then of course I would choose Tolstoy. Even Dostoyevsky seemingly considered Tolstoy the better writer, and called Anna Karenina a work of perfection.

OP you might want to check out Tolstoy or Dostoevsky: An essay in the old criticism by George Steiner.

As an English major with advanced degree who has loved reading and escaped into and lived via thousands of books over the last five decades, I can honestly say that if anyone asked me which one great novel they should read above all others, it would have to be Anna Karenina.

I first read it in the summer between sophomore and junior years in HS when I was just 15, and I can still remember all those long cool summer days I spent laying on the bed in the bedroom I shared with my grandmother, reading and reading and reading that enormous book which encapsulated all of life and human yearning. It changed my life and how I viewed everything around me. I have read so many amazing works of literature since, in the course of pursuing a BA and MA in literature and then just for the sheer pleasure - but nothing has ever moved me so much as Anna Karenina first did.

One of my favorite daydreams is that I'd love to have a dinner party for literary giants, gather them all at the same table - and at the head would be Leo Tolstoy.

Anonymous wrote:Dostoyevsky! Crime and Punishment is the GOAT.