| 1. | ![]() | The Unbearable Lightness of Being
from Harper & Row
Customer Review:
Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being is a light masterpiece, encapsulating the philosophy of a writer who happened to be Czech, happened to live under a repressive regime, and chose to make the best of his life, realizing the futility of wondering "what if."
This is a book of ideas, though I... more info | 4.0 / 5.0
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| 2. |  | The Master and Margarita
from Vintage
Price: $10.40
Customer Review:
Needless to say, those around me weren't too happy with me the day I read the oh-so-genius "The Master and Margarita". I'm trying to remember the last time a book influenced me this much and made me realize its genius halfway through and laugh hysterically throughout appreciatively. It was probably... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 3. |  | The Brothers Karamazov
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Price: $12.24
Customer Review:
I read this moving story while in the service many, many years ago and quickly became a fan of Dostoevsky. What is there to say about the tale that could lead to exaggeration? It taps inner man - his foibles and strengths, and it says much about the lack of choice afforded us when born into the... more info | 5.0 / 5.0
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| 4. | ![]() | One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
from The Bodley Head Ltd
Customer Review:
A mathematics professor pointedly declared to the Dean of Liberal Arts at the local university that her literature courses should be dumped because fiction is just made up stuff. Tell that to Alexandre Solzhenitsyn. Tell that to Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.
"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 5. |  | Notes from the Underground (Dover Thrift Editions)
from Dover Publications
Price: $3.50
Customer Review:
This was a dark comedy exposing the vanity of liberal enlightenment thinking. The book is often grim, bracing, and anti-climactic. It is the story of some deranged lunatic who boasts of his inability to adapt to society. He is indeed sick, as the opening line, one of the most famous in all of... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 6. | ![]() | Crime & punishment;
from The Heritage Club
Customer Review:
Lord have mercy this book is terrible. I read a lot and am quite capable of reading a long & complex book, but this just makes no sense. Russian loner sulks in his apartment. Oh and then on the street. Then he goes to some other folks' apartments & sulks. In between he has hundreds of pages... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 7. |  | War and Peace: 3-Volume Boxed Set (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
from Everyman's Library
Price: $26.40
Customer Review:
Tolstoy goes far beyond just hitting the peaks of the story but also, writes at length on the hills, valleys, and everything in between (the material that other authors leave out). It is exhaustively detailed, down to the most mundane description of a character. Being that the high-points are few... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 8. |  | Crime and Punishment
from Vintage
Price: $10.85
Customer Review:
Welcome to the glittering world of dyschronic post-modernist criticism, which has enabled me to recognize that 'Crime and Punishment', published in 1866, was written as a prescient refutation of the Objectivist philosophy expressed in Ayn Rand's novels 'The Fountainhead' and 'Atlas Shrugged'.... more info | 5.0 / 5.0
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| 9. |  | Anna Karenina (Signet Classics)
from Signet Classics
Price: $6.95
Customer Review:
Anna Karenina. She was an amazing woman. But no less amazing than the other characters in the novel. Tolstoy was a brilliant man and writer. He knows how to blend plot and thought like few others. After reading his novels, I am convinced that he was a keen observer of human nature and interactions.... more info | 4.5 / 5.0
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| 10. |  | Essential Rumi
from HarperOne
Price: $17.49
Customer Review:
I love to pick this book up on any given day and just read a random page for some inspiration. | 4.5 / 5.0
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