One title on the list: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Penguin, $17).Read about the other books on Arana's list.
It was panned as “a trifling romance” when it was released over the course of five years in a Russian periodical. But Dostoyevsky declared this novel flawless. It centers on the doomed love between a married woman and a dashing count, and it’s as urgent as a potboiler. I’d even call it the greatest novel of all time.
Anna Karenina also made Louis Begley's list of favorite novels about cheating lovers and the most important books lists of Ha Jin, Claire Messud, and Alexander McCall Smith.
--Marshal Zeringue
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