5 books of Leo Tolstoy you have to read!
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, famously known as Leo Tolstoy in English, was a Russian writer regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature and Nobel Peace Prize several times. Towards the latter part of his life, Tolstoy gathered global repute as a moral and religious teacher. Here are some of his must-read books.
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina is often regarded as a pinnacle of realistic fiction along with Tolstoy's War and Peace. Anna is a sophisticated woman who decides to abandon her life as the wife of Karenin and turns to Count Vronsky to fulfill her passion - which only ends tragically. The novel starts to moralize over adultery but also gives Anna's perspective to round things up.
Master and Man and Other Stories
This is a collection of very moving short stories. What Men Live By is a beautiful tale where an angel is sent to Earth as a punishment to learn the existential rules of life. Master and Man, depicts a merchant traveling with his servant through a blizzard to close a business deal, unbeknown that true happiness in life is found by living for others.
Resurrection
Resurrection was first published in 1899 and was the last novel written by the author. Also translated as The Awakening, the novel's idea was of Tolstoy's friend Anatoly Koni. He told the author the story of a man who came to him seeking legal aid. The story is about a nobleman who seeks redemption for a crime committed years ago that went unpunished.
The Kingdom of God Is Within You
The Kingdom of God Is Within You is a work of non-fiction that presents Tolstoy's ideologies and philosophy in a concise format. The book was first published in Germany in 1894 after being banned in Russia. Tolstoy speaks of the principles of nonviolent resistance when confronted by violence in this Christian anarchist philosophical treatise, rejecting the interpretation of Roman and medieval scholars.
War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel mixed with history and philosophy. That is why Tolstoy hesitated to classify War and Peace, saying it's "not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle." Tolstoy wrote the novel after speaking with people who lived during the 1812 French invasion of Russia. Check out more such book recommendations.
