Leo Tolstoy: The Complete Novels and Novellas Kindle Edition

There is no need to present or rate Tolstoy, and I won't. He's a giant, his oeuvre has not aged one bit, he is as important to world literature today as he was when his books were first published. For me, the top are War and Peace and Anna Karenina, but everyone is free to manifest preference for any other piece.I bought this collection to read a particular novella I had heard about: The Kreutzer Sonata. Scalfari, a leading figure in Italian journalism, had written a critique about it that had me intrigued. And I'm glad I found the novella in this collection, it happens to be a well-constructed digital format, easy to use so you can get with a click from the table of contents to whatever piece you want to read. And it certainly is priced at an attractive level, less than the cost of a coffee!As to the Kreutzer Sonata, what can I say? Absolutely well worth the read. It's not what Scalfari was saying about it and I'm glad I read it, it helped, to my mind, clarify Scalfari's mistaken notions, but that's a long story I won't get into here. The Sonata is definitely and excellent piece of vintage Tolstoy. And Tolstoy, when he wrote it, must have had a gigantic fight with his wife, the piece displays an extraordinary mixture of misogyny and admiration for women - but then, we all know he had a difficult relationship with his wife, in his old age, he ran away from her and rode several days on trains across Russia until he died in a distant train station...

I suppose a lot depends on the translator as well, but I have to say I go both ways on Tolstoy. I had some time on my hands so I read War and Peace and Crime and Punishment. They're big name stories and I was ignorant of them. I much preferred War and Peace. That led me to more Tolstoy writings. I found this compilation interesting. I quite liked Anna Karenina as well. However many of the shorter works I found preachy and tiresome.

I read all of the works and was pleasantly surprised, He offers current writers great examples of things such as mental illness, prison life, getting away with crime, love and hate and so many things well presented that it was a pleasure seeing something other than violence/sex/addiction/etc from current stuff that I recommended it to many of my friends.

I know now why they praised him so much. He is an artist with words. Paints the pictures of forest, muddy rutted roads, carriages, and people remarkably well, as anything else he chooses to describe. He must have remarkable recall of his youth. Interesting look into Russian society. So far no sex or violence but is still a good read.

Cannot stop reading this author so full of suspense history and humanity. I had watched War and Peace in many ways: American film Russian Bondarchiuk version (3 times) BBC version. Finally, thanks to kindle, I read the book and felt that it surpasses all of the others.As for the other books and novels: Tolstoi is wonderful!

I'm new 2 Russian literature but so far what I've read two of the novels by Tolstoy have been very enjoyable and informative. I plan to read more out of this collection as time goes on my

Made up my mind to read his entire work.

It is a great book with moving stories. The short stories are easy to read.

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, or better known to us as Leo Tolstoy was a giant of not only Russian literature, but also of world literature. Admittedly his writing does not have the style of other authors, such as Dostoyevsky, and thus it is somewhat workmanlike, but it is what he did with his skills that counted. Here then we have a collection that gives us Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, Family Happiness, The Cossacks, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Kreutzer Sonata, Resurrection, The Forged Coupon, and lastly Hadji Murad. There is an active table of contents to the actual books, and then there are active contents for each of these separately, making it a doddle to navigate around this e-book collection.I find it still quite surprising the number of people who have never read Tolstoy, and of course there are those who claim to have read him, and then show their ignorance by what they say about certain books. Here then we have a collection of his novels and novellas which you can spend many hours wallowing in. Even if you have never read this author before you will surely have heard of War and Peace, and Anna Karenina, the first being much more than a novel, and the second often being cited as the perfect novel. These two books should be read by everyone who enjoys literature and will give you more than enough food for thought, but there is so much more here, with all the pieces placed in chronological order of publication.Childhood, Boyhood and Youth are a trilogy of tales that are semi-autobiographical in nature, and thus give us an insight into not only the author’s life, but that of others at this period of Russia’s history. When the first one was published so Tolstoy was taken seriously as a writer with the potential to go far, which of course as we all know he lived up to.Each story here if reviewed separately could amount to hundreds and hundreds of words, and there is not that space available on this site to do that in a review, but if you have even read only one story by Tolstoy before you will know why he was praised and admired by his contemporaries around the world, and the power and emotions that he evokes for us even to this day. There is everything here, from love and revenge, to war and illness, along with numerous other themes and elements that our lives are based and built around.Certainly this is a large book, and will take quite a while to plough through, especially if you have never read any of the tales before, but it is worth it and very rewarding. My advice is to download this, and read a book here and there, when the fancy takes you. That way you will always know that there is some quality writing awaiting you when you feel like it or need to get away from some of the dross that is published these days. This is worth owning, and if like me, you will come back to these stories many times throughout your life.

I first came across Tolstoy when doing a project on anarchy. With his original ideas on Christianity, Anarchy and Pacifism, he clearly thinks outside the box. When he describes a group of people in a room or prison, you feel you are there. Tolstoy is very interesting and thought provoking. War and Peace is a classic.

The book is a universe in its own. Tolstoy tells us about the life of the aristocracy in Russia and how the war with France evolves. The parties, lunches, marriages, Christmas celebrations, the battles, the glory and misery of war, the doubts and dilemas of the main characters, and their changes through life. Also the description of winter scenery is enchanting. The chapters are short and this makes reading it easier because it's a long read!

One could draw many parallels with the emerging political dynamics of today. A story ofa developing realisation of the inequalities in society...and the conclusion the main character draws is that he is the problem he has too much power and resources.He identifies with the dispossessed and it begins a journey of divesting himself of all the trappings of wealth.He is pitied by his fellow aristocrats as a fool a meddler a stubborn fantasist .Eventually he follows the woman bhe loves, into Siberia and exile.It is to attone for having taken adbantage of the poor servant girl.whilsy stsying with his Aunts when he was a young man.The child was still born and she was cast out of society and ended up working as a prostitute.As an older man he is reawainted with his first love and belongs to understand the consequences of his actions.It is a dark tale of woe and more woe.The legal system was full of corruption and bribery.Justice wasfor those who could pay the right price.Injustice is seen everywhere.The main character starts his personal journey of ressurection to emerge a better in his view human being.

Interesting intense