Koncocoo

Best World Literature

Big Little Lies
Reviews
"It's incredible; Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon are compelling as a pair of 'yummy mummies' who on the surface appear to have the perfect life, but beneath the surface things are far from the polished facade they portray. Alexander Skarsgard steals every scene he appears in as the poised, rich, handsome husband with violent tendencies behind closed doors."
"There are three main characters, all mothers with kindergarten children in the same school. The scene where the death actually occurs is so wonderfully written that I had to read it twice. I am going to watch the tv show but I don't know how it can measure up to the book!"
"When I started reading this, I thought it was going to be a beach-read sort of book."
"Great story teller."
"Think of the song Sisters and add one more - "Lord help the Mr who comes between me and my sister"."
"Liane Moriarty is a truly gifted author, her plots are incredibly intriguing, her phycological incite in to her characters is flawless, and her stories flow with such ease that you are inclined to read every word....I intend to read everything she has written and recommend that to anyone reading this...."
"Focuses on the squabbles of parents of kindergarteners about the kids, their relationships, spouses, ex-spouses, abusive spouses and how important all of it is."
"The different women in the book provided enough separate stories to keep me interested."
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Big Little Lies
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. NOW A GOLDEN GLOBE AND EMMY-WINNING HBO® LIMITED SERIES STARRING REESE WITHERSPOON, NICOLE KIDMAN, SHAILENE WOODLEY, ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD, LAURA DERN, ADAM SCOTT, AND ZOË KRAVITZ. FROM THE DIRECTOR OF WILD AND DALLAS BUYERS CLUB , JEAN-MARC VALLÉE, AND WRITER DAVID E. KELLEY. From the author of Truly Madly Guilty and The Husband’s Secret comes a novel about the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive. Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal. "The secrets burrowed in this seemingly placid small town...are so suburban noir they would make David Lynch clap with glee...[Moriarty] is a fantastically nimble writer, so sure-footed that the book leaps between dark and light seamlessly; even the big reveal in the final pages feels earned and genuinely shocking.”— Entertainment Weekly. “Reading one [of Liane Moriarty's novels] is a bit like drinking a pink cosmo laced with arsenic...a fun, engaging and sometimes disturbing read…Moriarty is back in fine form.”— USA Today “A hell of a good book. It takes a powerful stand against domestic violence even as it makes us laugh at the adults whose silly costume party seems more reminiscent of a middle-school dance.”— The Washington Post. “Moriarty demonstrates an excellent talent for exposing the dark, seedy side of the otherwise ‘perfect’ family unit...Highly recommended.”— Library Journal (starred review).
Reviews
"It's incredible; Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon are compelling as a pair of 'yummy mummies' who on the surface appear to have the perfect life, but beneath the surface things are far from the polished facade they portray. Alexander Skarsgard steals every scene he appears in as the poised, rich, handsome husband with violent tendencies behind closed doors."
"There are three main characters, all mothers with kindergarten children in the same school. The scene where the death actually occurs is so wonderfully written that I had to read it twice. I am going to watch the tv show but I don't know how it can measure up to the book!"
"When I started reading this, I thought it was going to be a beach-read sort of book."
"Great story teller."
"Think of the song Sisters and add one more - "Lord help the Mr who comes between me and my sister"."
"Liane Moriarty is a truly gifted author, her plots are incredibly intriguing, her phycological incite in to her characters is flawless, and her stories flow with such ease that you are inclined to read every word....I intend to read everything she has written and recommend that to anyone reading this...."
"Focuses on the squabbles of parents of kindergarteners about the kids, their relationships, spouses, ex-spouses, abusive spouses and how important all of it is."
"The different women in the book provided enough separate stories to keep me interested."
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From Sand and Ash
With the Gestapo closing in, Angelo hides Eva within the walls of a convent, where Eva discovers she is just one of many Jews being sheltered by the Catholic Church. I marvel at her ability to weave together a story that grips hold of my heart and my imagination.” —Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author. A Panzer tank through your heart, leaving dirt and rubble through which poppies bloom.” —Suanne Laqueur, author of An Exaltation of Larks. Amy Harmon is a New York Times , Wall Street Journal , and USA Today bestselling author of ten novels, including the Whitney Award–winning The Law of Moses . Her historical novels, inspirational romances, and young adult books are now being published in twelve countries around the globe.
Reviews
"Amy Harmon brings together the best and the worst of humanity on these pages, paving this journey with violence and bravery, horror and love. It's a ruthless barrage of emotions, this story, a relentless war between life and death, between good and evil, illustrated exquisitely by an author whose writing prowess knows no bounds. I've read many books of the true accounts of holocaust survivors, seen the movies and documentaries, taken classes concentrating on this area of study. To feel as though you know their strength, to get to know their life up until the moment it is stolen away, to know their helplessness in the face of something so unjust and so terrifying, it changes the way you look at the world, to see such atrocities through their eyes. This may be a fictionalized account inspired by true events, but you won't convince my heart Eva and Angelo aren't real. This story weaves it's way under your skin and into your soul so you feel every step of their journey, of their fight, of this miracle. Our world would be such a beautiful, peaceful, harmonious one if we sought to understand each other instead of judging each other for the ways we are different, for the God we pray to, for where each of our trees first took root. From Sand and Ash is a rich work of art, a stunning masterpiece that has moved me, altered me, captivated me. These characters, this fictionalized truth swathed in Harmon's unparalleled storytelling and her breathtaking writing style make for an epic story of bravery, love, resilience and loss that is both haunting and heartwarming all at once."
"But the mark of a great Amy Harmon book is her expertly crafted story that builds so very slowly - she builds you up and up and before you know it you’ve fallen for her characters and then it happens - the downfall that completely shatters you. The common theme within all of her books is that love and faith conquers all, and how hope and resilience can help you rise above even the most difficult of situations. I really hope that people give this book a chance. And strangely enough, I find myself convinced that God loves his children – all his children – that he loves me, and that he provides moments of light and transcendence amid the constant trial.”. “Many will seek to tell me what God’s will is. He is quiet, and my anguish is so intense, so incredibly loud, that right now I can only do my will and hope that somehow, it aligns with his.”. "Our immortality comes through our children and their children."
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Best African Literature

Americanah
Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. One of the Best Books of the Year NPR • Chicago Tribune • The Washington Post • The Seattle Times • Entertainment Weekly • Newsday • Goodreads. Brilliant.” — San Francisco Chronicle “A very funny, very warm and moving intergenerational epic that confirms Adichie’s virtuosity, boundless empathy and searing social acuity.” —Dave Eggers, author of A Hologram for the King “Masterful. Pulls no punches with regard to race, class and the high-risk, heart-tearing struggle for belonging in a fractured world.” — O, The Oprah Magazine “[A] knockout of a novel about immigration, American dreams, the power of first love, and the shifting meanings of skin color. Americanah is superlative at making clear just how isolating it can be to live far away from home. a novel that holds the discomfiting realities of our times fearlessly before us. A steady-handed dissection of the universal human experience.” — The New York Times Book Review “Adichie is uniquely positioned to compare racial hierarchies in the United States to social striving in her native Nigeria. She does so in this new work with a ruthless honesty about the ugly and beautiful sides of both nations.” — The Washington Post “Gorgeous. A bright, bold book with unforgettable swagger that proves it sometimes takes a newcomer to show Americans to ourselves.” — The Dallas Morning News. Adichie digs in deeply, finding a way to make them fresh.” — Los Angeles Times. Americanah tackles the U.S. race complex with a directness and brio no U.S. writer of any color would risk. [The novel] brings a cleansing frankness to an old, picked scab on the face of the Republic. It’s not healing, and it’s not going away.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer “So smart about so many subjects that to call it a novel about being black in the 21st century doesn’t even begin to convey its luxurious heft and scope. Adichie’s style of writing is familiar and personal. Americanah is that rare thing in contemporary literary fiction: a lush, big-hearted love story that also happens to be a piercingly funny social critique.” — Vogue “A near-flawless novel, one whose language so beautifully captures the surreal experience of an African becoming an American that one walks away with the sense of having read something definitive.” — The Seattle Times “An important book . its strength and originality lie with the meticulous observation about race—about how embarrassed many Americans are about racial stereotypes, even as they continue to repeat them, about how casual racism still abounds.” — The Economist “Moving.” — The. Huffington Post. “[ Americanah ] presents a warm, digressive and wholly achieved sense of how African lives are lived in Nigeria, in America and in the places between.” — The. Financial Times “Glorious. Americanah provide[s] Adichie with a fictional vehicle for all kinds of pithy, sharply sensible commentary on race and culture—and us with a symphonic, polyphonic, full-immersion opportunity to think outside the American box.” — Elle “Winning . breath[ing] life into characters whose fates absorb us. “Adichie defines the sum of disparate cultures with new clarity, while questions of identity and love remain elusive as ever.” — Interview magazine.
Reviews
"This book gave a vivid portrayal of life in Nigeria as well as the "non-American black's" immigrant experience."
"Never has a book captured in such raw essence the experience of coming to university in America not out of desperation, but out of a desperate search for options and the adventures and experiences many of us find therein."
"The writing is better than the story - which makes it important to savor this book."
"The book's story takes place in Nigeria, then the U.S., then Nigeria again. I wasn't ever sure of the point of the story - was it about racism, identity, love?"
"Ifemelu ultimate ventures to the United States for college, and she and Obinze plan to stay together, but things don't work out that way and their lives are pulled in two different directions. I also thought parts of Obinze's story didn't come across as super authentic, particularly the chapters detailing the years right after he and Ifemelu separated."
"Their separate lives are good stories, their coming together is forced, like Ken and Barbie dolls smooshed together by an eight-year-old. - A deep prejudice of mine that I was forced to confront: Adichie presents an intellectually curious women who spends way too much time thinking and working on her appearance [I'm working on it]. - And right, I never did pause to think how much time Michelle Obama's hair requires."
"This story started out great, then turned into a brutally long monologue about racism in America that might as well have been called Dear White People, abondoning the story I bought the book for."
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Best Asian Literature

Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era
On his way home, he commits a rash act, becomes a fugitive and brings life in his own village to a standstill--until he is captured by a weaponless Zen monk. Continually striving to perfect his technique, which leads him to a unique style of fighting with two swords simultaneously, he travels far and wide, challenging fighters of many disciplines, taking nature to be his ultimate and severest teacher and undergoing the rigorous training of those who follow the Way. Interweaving themes of unrequited love, misguided revenge, filial piety and absolute dedication to the Way of the Samurai, it depicts vividly a world Westerners know only vaguely. "... A stirring saga ... not only for readers interested in Japan but also for those who simply want a rousing read."
Reviews
"A must read in my opinion for any/All martial artists."
"This story captured all of the truly wonderful elements of literature in a single novel."
"So happy I was introduced to this book."
"I look forward to continue reading this!"
"The names of the characters and locations are very confusing, but you can follow the story despite this small obstacle."
"It's awesome there is a Kindle version now as the hardcover is too large to pack for a weekend camping trip."
"As a karateka for many years I found the glimpse of Musashi and his mindset to be a window into the underpinnings of the martial arts."
"Beautiful story, amazing writing, fantastic imagery, and a satisfyingly long read."
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Best Australia & Oceania Literature

Big Little Lies
Reviews
"It's incredible; Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon are compelling as a pair of 'yummy mummies' who on the surface appear to have the perfect life, but beneath the surface things are far from the polished facade they portray. Alexander Skarsgard steals every scene he appears in as the poised, rich, handsome husband with violent tendencies behind closed doors."
"There are three main characters, all mothers with kindergarten children in the same school. The scene where the death actually occurs is so wonderfully written that I had to read it twice. I am going to watch the tv show but I don't know how it can measure up to the book!"
"When I started reading this, I thought it was going to be a beach-read sort of book."
"Great story teller."
"This felt like a quick read with the format being such short chapters and the story so compelling."
"Think of the song Sisters and add one more - "Lord help the Mr who comes between me and my sister"."
"Liane Moriarty is a truly gifted author, her plots are incredibly intriguing, her phycological incite in to her characters is flawless, and her stories flow with such ease that you are inclined to read every word....I intend to read everything she has written and recommend that to anyone reading this...."
"Focuses on the squabbles of parents of kindergarteners about the kids, their relationships, spouses, ex-spouses, abusive spouses and how important all of it is."
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Best Canadian Literature

Blindsight
Blindsight is the Hugo Award–nominated novel by Peter Watts, "a hard science fiction writer through and through and one of the very best alive" ( The Globe and Mail). Send them to the edge of the solar system, praying you can trust such freaks and monsters with the fate of a world. Led by an enigmatic AI and a genetically engineered vampire, the crew includes a biologist who's more machine than human, a linguist with surgically induced multiple personality disorder, a professional soldier who's a pacifist, and Siri Keeton, a man with only half a brain.
Reviews
"Solid cast and plot."
"Lots of research and ideas went into this book, and that's its strength."
"I have been thinking about and trying to convey to friends some of the concepts of sapience vs. consciousness and think I may have to read both books again to make sure I am relating them fairly."
"Without giving anything away, I'll say it reminds me of a cross between Rendezvous with Rama and Neuromancer, but with more detail and deeper *ideas* than both. It could be read without the background knowledge, but it would make less sense and would sound a bit like Star Trek technobabble."
"This is hardcore sci-fi at its best, delving deep into what it is to be sentient and what the purpose of life is."
"Not sure if there is a sequel, but if there is, I will have to check it out."
"I really enjoyed this book, it's very odd and dark."
"Watts delivers with a sci-fi mind bender."
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Best Caribbean & Latin American Literature

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. It is typical of Gabriel García Márquez that it will be many pages before his narrative circles back to the ice, and many chapters before the hero of One Hundred Years of Solitude , Buendía, stands before the firing squad. A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread. The story follows 100 years in the life of Macondo, a village founded by José Arcadio Buendía and occupied by descendants all sporting variations on their progenitor's name: his sons, José Arcadio and Aureliano, and grandsons, Aureliano José, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo.
Reviews
"This is my first book read of Gabriel Garcia Marquez."
"I ordered the the as an homage to Marquez who I believe is 9ne of the greatest writer's of of time."
"From Colombia, Garcia Marquez provides us with a great example on magical realism."
"An amazing book from the South American classics for mature readers that challenges typical perceptions of reality."
"The best book ever it's the type of book that you read many times and you discover something diferent."
"This is one of the classics of the twentieth century, by a Nobel Prize laureate."
"SUMMARY: Probably Garcia Marquez's finest and most famous work, One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family."
"a fantasy novel about the many adventers of a family through many generations."
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Best European Literature

The Hangman's Daughter: [Kindle in Motion] (A Hangman's Daughter Tale Book 1)
Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at. play in his small Bavarian town. Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Author Oliver PötzschQuestion: What initially inspired you to write this story? But I also look up to many authors of the fantasy genre such as Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, and the almost forgotten Fritz Leiber. In his life he built an enormous archive of information about my ancestors and the hangman profession, and I have been allowed free use of this resource. Also, during my career as a journalist I made several radio programs on this topic, talking to herb women and guardians of cultural heritage and searching in many archives of Bavarian cities for my ancestors. Oliver Pötzsch: After the thriller about Ludwig II, I am writing the fourth novel in the Hangman series. "A brilliantly-researched and exciting story of a formative era of history when witches were hunted and the inquisitors had little belief in their methods beyond their effect in pacifying superstitious townspeople . Pötzsch, actually descended from a line of hangmen, delivers a fantastically fast-paced read, rife with details on the social and power structures in the town as well as dichotomy between university medicine and the traditional remedies, which are skillfully communicated through character interactions, particularly that of Magdalena and Simon. The shocking motivations from unlikely players provide for a twist that will leave readers admiring this complex tale from a talented new voice."
Reviews
"I liked the start of this story, the basic idea of the tale, a hangman searching for the truth. The title of this story suggests this daughter has a major role, but quite frankly she doesn't. In fact, the hangman's daughter is such a minor character, she could be removed completely from the story and the novel would be virtually the same. She has a scene towards the end of the book where she's captured as a hostage, but it's so forced and unnecessary, it's more like a "women in refrigerators" moment. In the meantime, if you're a minor character living in this historical world, it seems like your only purpose is to be to chased, tortured, threatened with rape, or face being burnt alive as a witch. Yes, the hangman's daughter manages to escape, but the scene adds nothing to the novel. The second woman, the hangman's daughter, captured and threatened, was an unnecessary cliché. Instead of tying up loose ends, there's more drama, then everything is miraculously solved behind the scenes. The female characters could be replaced with potted plants, so I can't see myself recommending it to any of the women in my life."
"This is a great read and I am going to read ALL of your books in this series."
"Truly enjoyed the read."
"What an interesting book!"
"Enjoyed this historically accurate murder mystery/love story."
"A historical mystery with a real connection is a bonus; this tale introduces characters that draw you in, love them or hate them, and isn't one of the mysteries with an obvious solution."
"a pretty good read, but not particularly captivating... a nice political integration of how midwives were persecuted as witches...and a political metaphor for 2018...charges of misconduct with no due process...."
"Memorable characters and interesting insight into historical Germany."
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Best Middle Eastern Literature

Three Daughters of Eve
Peri, a married, wealthy, beautiful Turkish woman, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. Three Daughters of Eve is set over an evening in contemporary Istanbul, as Peri arrives at the party and navigates the tensions that simmer in this crossroads country between East and West, religious and secular, rich and poor. "Turkey's best-known female novelist, Elif Shafak, has been building a body of work that needles her country's historical amnesia . The ways in which an unresolved past can fuel present-day tensions is the subject of Shafak's vivid and timely eighth novel." Three Daughters of Eve , her 10th novel, takes place in contemporary Istanbul, but looks back on an earlier era, as Peri, a wealthy housewife, recalls her friendship with two fellow students at Oxford University. Shafak explores themes of feminity and spirituality and extremism and political oppression in a way that feels thoughtful and refreshing. " From Turkish writer Elif Shafak, Three Daughters of Eve follows a wealthy woman in Istanbul whose university friendships become touchstones as she navigates politics of Islam and feminism." " Shafaq has masterfully created equally lush portraits of warm and complicated Istanbul and cold and collected Oxford. Three Daughters of Eve is a marvelous lesson in multiculturalist angst, the clash between modernity and tradition, and the vicissitudes of personal struggle. "[Shafak's] portrait of a woman in existential crisis feels universal, shining clarifying light on Islam--and religious spirituality in general--within the frame of today's world." " Turkish author Shafak uses rich, thought-provoking prose to illuminate women's struggles and fuse Islam with feminist theory. Like her compatriot Orhan Pamuk, Shafak illustrates the ongoing fissure between Eastern and Western culture in Turkey." The book's protagonist, Peri, is torn between her mother and her father, between her love and hate for a charismatic professor, between the double lures of religiosity and secularism. Three Daughters of Eve upends the omnipresent but crude truisms of East and West, oppression and liberation, right and wrong that continue to divide, torment, and haunt us all."
Reviews
"Caught in between the love of learning and ideas and the search for truth Peri is confronted by her past in 2016 Istanbul."
"I was totally irritated initially with her story of the tramp and arrival at a party in torn and dirty clothes."
"I learned that, our country, cultures,other's lives and our own are messy, and beautiful."
"As you expect the woman’s crisis to play out instead you get her journey through the courses and wine at the dinner party, interspersed with flashbacks to her coming-of-age story. Surely even at Oxford most students would be more animated by bands or sport or reality TV than the theatrics of lecturers in philosophy of religion? It began with great potential but the story feels messy and unedited (there are a number of repetitions and contradictions, and the ending is rushed and incoherent). There are some fascinating insights into life in Turkey and some genuinely heartrending moments but the novel doesn’t live up to the promise of the opening pages."
"Her childhood in a dysfunctional family where most of the tension grew out of the struggle between traditional religious devotion versus interest in modernization and rational science. 24 hours in Peri's adult life, which begin with a mugging and ends at a fancy dinner party, where again, the struggle between Eastern and Western values takes center stage. I learned a lot about Shafak's country and culture and identified with many of the universal truths she considers-- about love, family, and the pressures inherent in being a female."
"This book was didactic."
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Best Russian Literature

War and Peace (Vintage Classics)
A s Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. Together, Pevear and Volokhonsky have translated Dead Souls and The Collected Stories by Nikolai Gogol, The Complete Short Novels of Chekhov , and The Brothers Karamazov , Crime and Punishment , Notes from Underground , Demons , The Idiot , and The Adolescent by Fyodor Dostoevsky. They were twice awarded the PEN Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize (for their version of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and for Tolstoy's Anna Karenina ), and their translation of Dostoevsky's Demons was one of three nominees for the same prize.
Reviews
"I have, at various times, tried to read four different editions of War & Peace (Penguin, Signet, Barnes & Noble, and now this) and by far, this is the best edition I've seen. This edition is everything I was looking for in a copy of War & Peace and I cannot recommend it highly enough. When reading the Signet edition, I found myself using google translate to understand sentences or phrases left in the book in French. Other editions translated most of the French but left phrases here and there untranslated and in the text, without footnotes. Cons: Compared to editions that translate all the French, reading in the footnotes can be burdensome."
"Approaching War and Peace feels like a monumental task. Set against the backdrop of Napoleonic Europe, the story follows three main Russian families as they navigate the early years of the nineteenth century. Our main protagonist is Pierre Bezukhov, a mirror for Tolstoy himself. The Bolkonskys are right and proper with an autocratic father from one of the lower levels of Hell. But honestly the main characters that the book follows number about 5 to 10. Aside from Pierre Bezukhov, there is Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, Countess Natalya Rostova, Count Nicholas Rostov, and Helene Kuragina. Perhaps the German word, 'Gesamtkunstwerk' - total work of art - should be applied to literature. The notes and translations of the French were all hyperlinked which made things easy enough to read and follow."
"It has fully realized depictions of Russian high society and 19th century Russian military life, with a full complement of complex characters. We stay with some of them for years and watch as their circumstances wax and wane, as they struggle to adapt and change according to their circumstances. The novel has at least three distinct narrative perspectives- the storyteller, the historian, and the philosopher, and each are very well done."
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Best Russian Dramas & Plays

War and Peace (Complete Version, Best Navigation, Active TOC)
Search a title: enter Forward2. forward2.wordpress.com. The Best Russian Novel by Leo Tolstoy. Table of Contents. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28. BOOK FIVE: 1806 - 07. FIRST EPILOGUE: 1813 - 20. British scholar Briggs unveils his lucid new translation of Tolstoy's masterpiece-the first in almost 40 years-to a slightly anxious audience, from first-timers who, balking at the amount of time required by this massive yet startlingly intricate work, want to ensure they are reading the best translation available, to purists who worry that clunky modern prose will replace the cadences of earlier translations. 's" than the Garnett, Maude, or Edmonds translations, leaving readers free to enjoy the rich and complex plot, vivid characters and profound insights into war and the nature of power. Briggs will face competition next year when Pevear and Volokhonsky release their new translation, but for now, this is the most readable translation on the market.
Reviews
"I have, at various times, tried to read four different editions of War & Peace (Penguin, Signet, Barnes & Noble, and now this) and by far, this is the best edition I've seen. This edition is everything I was looking for in a copy of War & Peace and I cannot recommend it highly enough. When reading the Signet edition, I found myself using google translate to understand sentences or phrases left in the book in French. Other editions translated most of the French but left phrases here and there untranslated and in the text, without footnotes. Cons: Compared to editions that translate all the French, reading in the footnotes can be burdensome."
"Approaching War and Peace feels like a monumental task. Set against the backdrop of Napoleonic Europe, the story follows three main Russian families as they navigate the early years of the nineteenth century. Our main protagonist is Pierre Bezukhov, a mirror for Tolstoy himself. The Bolkonskys are right and proper with an autocratic father from one of the lower levels of Hell. But honestly the main characters that the book follows number about 5 to 10. Aside from Pierre Bezukhov, there is Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, Countess Natalya Rostova, Count Nicholas Rostov, and Helene Kuragina. Perhaps the German word, 'Gesamtkunstwerk' - total work of art - should be applied to literature. The notes and translations of the French were all hyperlinked which made things easy enough to read and follow."
"I most definitely recommend this book for readers who enjoy classic works."
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