Books with author Leo N. Tolstoy

In their world frivolous liaisons are commonplace, but Anna and Vronsky’s consuming passion makes them a target for scorn and leads to Anna’s increasing isolation. The heartbreaking trajectory of their relationship contrasts sharply with the colorful swirl of friends and family members who surround them, especially the newlyweds Kitty and Levin, who forge a touching bond as they struggle to make a life together. Quotes from the book:“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”“Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.”“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”Readers' reviews:“This is world-class literature and a story, albeit an older one, which teaches us much about life. I would highly recommend this book as a gift to any young adult. Yes, it is lengthy but here Tolstoy has yielded us one of the finest tales ever written.” (Patrick W. Crabtree)“This is a surprisingly fast-moving, interesting and easy to read novel. The last of which I'd of never believed could be true before reading it, but you find yourself instantly engrossed in this kind of Russian soap opera, filled with weird and intriguing characters. The most notable theme is the way society overlooked mens' affairs but frowned on womens', this immediately created a bond between myself and Anna, who is an extremely likeable character.” (Emily May - goodreads.com)“Earle, who was from Massachusetts, wrote with fascinating details and anecdotes about old gardens and newer gardens of her era that took inspiration from the past. The many photos are a trove for readers interested in restoring an old garden.” (Boston Globe)

In their world frivolous liaisons are commonplace, but Anna and Vronsky’s consuming passion makes them a target for scorn and leads to Anna’s increasing isolation. The heartbreaking trajectory of their relationship contrasts sharply with the colorful swirl of friends and family members who surround them, especially the newlyweds Kitty and Levin, who forge a touching bond as they struggle to make a life together. Quotes from the book:“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”“Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.”“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”Readers' reviews:“This is world-class literature and a story, albeit an older one, which teaches us much about life. I would highly recommend this book as a gift to any young adult. Yes, it is lengthy but here Tolstoy has yielded us one of the finest tales ever written.” (Patrick W. Crabtree)“This is a surprisingly fast-moving, interesting and easy to read novel. The last of which I'd of never believed could be true before reading it, but you find yourself instantly engrossed in this kind of Russian soap opera, filled with weird and intriguing characters. The most notable theme is the way society overlooked mens' affairs but frowned on womens', this immediately created a bond between myself and Anna, who is an extremely likeable character.” (Emily May - goodreads.com)“Earle, who was from Massachusetts, wrote with fascinating details and anecdotes about old gardens and newer gardens of her era that took inspiration from the past. The many photos are a trove for readers interested in restoring an old garden.” (Boston Globe)

In their world frivolous liaisons are commonplace, but Anna and Vronsky’s consuming passion makes them a target for scorn and leads to Anna’s increasing isolation. The heartbreaking trajectory of their relationship contrasts sharply with the colorful swirl of friends and family members who surround them, especially the newlyweds Kitty and Levin, who forge a touching bond as they struggle to make a life together. Quotes from the book:“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”“Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.”“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”Readers' reviews:“This is world-class literature and a story, albeit an older one, which teaches us much about life. I would highly recommend this book as a gift to any young adult. Yes, it is lengthy but here Tolstoy has yielded us one of the finest tales ever written.” (Patrick W. Crabtree)“This is a surprisingly fast-moving, interesting and easy to read novel. The last of which I'd of never believed could be true before reading it, but you find yourself instantly engrossed in this kind of Russian soap opera, filled with weird and intriguing characters. The most notable theme is the way society overlooked mens' affairs but frowned on womens', this immediately created a bond between myself and Anna, who is an extremely likeable character.” (Emily May - goodreads.com)“Earle, who was from Massachusetts, wrote with fascinating details and anecdotes about old gardens and newer gardens of her era that took inspiration from the past. The many photos are a trove for readers interested in restoring an old garden.” (Boston Globe)

In their world frivolous liaisons are commonplace, but Anna and Vronsky’s consuming passion makes them a target for scorn and leads to Anna’s increasing isolation. The heartbreaking trajectory of their relationship contrasts sharply with the colorful swirl of friends and family members who surround them, especially the newlyweds Kitty and Levin, who forge a touching bond as they struggle to make a life together. Quotes from the book:“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”“Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.”“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”Readers' reviews:“This is world-class literature and a story, albeit an older one, which teaches us much about life. I would highly recommend this book as a gift to any young adult. Yes, it is lengthy but here Tolstoy has yielded us one of the finest tales ever written.” (Patrick W. Crabtree)“This is a surprisingly fast-moving, interesting and easy to read novel. The last of which I'd of never believed could be true before reading it, but you find yourself instantly engrossed in this kind of Russian soap opera, filled with weird and intriguing characters. The most notable theme is the way society overlooked mens' affairs but frowned on womens', this immediately created a bond between myself and Anna, who is an extremely likeable character.” (Emily May - goodreads.com)“Earle, who was from Massachusetts, wrote with fascinating details and anecdotes about old gardens and newer gardens of her era that took inspiration from the past. The many photos are a trove for readers interested in restoring an old garden.” (Boston Globe)

In their world frivolous liaisons are commonplace, but Anna and Vronsky’s consuming passion makes them a target for scorn and leads to Anna’s increasing isolation. The heartbreaking trajectory of their relationship contrasts sharply with the colorful swirl of friends and family members who surround them, especially the newlyweds Kitty and Levin, who forge a touching bond as they struggle to make a life together. Quotes from the book:“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”“Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.”“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”Readers' reviews:“This is world-class literature and a story, albeit an older one, which teaches us much about life. I would highly recommend this book as a gift to any young adult. Yes, it is lengthy but here Tolstoy has yielded us one of the finest tales ever written.” (Patrick W. Crabtree)“This is a surprisingly fast-moving, interesting and easy to read novel. The last of which I'd of never believed could be true before reading it, but you find yourself instantly engrossed in this kind of Russian soap opera, filled with weird and intriguing characters. The most notable theme is the way society overlooked mens' affairs but frowned on womens', this immediately created a bond between myself and Anna, who is an extremely likeable character.” (Emily May - goodreads.com)“Earle, who was from Massachusetts, wrote with fascinating details and anecdotes about old gardens and newer gardens of her era that took inspiration from the past. The many photos are a trove for readers interested in restoring an old garden.” (Boston Globe)

In their world frivolous liaisons are commonplace, but Anna and Vronsky’s consuming passion makes them a target for scorn and leads to Anna’s increasing isolation. The heartbreaking trajectory of their relationship contrasts sharply with the colorful swirl of friends and family members who surround them, especially the newlyweds Kitty and Levin, who forge a touching bond as they struggle to make a life together. Quotes from the book:“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”“Love. The reason I dislike that word is that it means too much for me, far more than you can understand.”“Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.”Readers' reviews:“This is world-class literature and a story, albeit an older one, which teaches us much about life. I would highly recommend this book as a gift to any young adult. Yes, it is lengthy but here Tolstoy has yielded us one of the finest tales ever written.” (Patrick W. Crabtree)“This is a surprisingly fast-moving, interesting and easy to read novel. The last of which I'd of never believed could be true before reading it, but you find yourself instantly engrossed in this kind of Russian soap opera, filled with weird and intriguing characters. The most notable theme is the way society overlooked mens' affairs but frowned on womens', this immediately created a bond between myself and Anna, who is an extremely likeable character.” (Emily May - goodreads.com)“Earle, who was from Massachusetts, wrote with fascinating details and anecdotes about old gardens and newer gardens of her era that took inspiration from the past. The many photos are a trove for readers interested in restoring an old garden.” (Boston Globe)

Book 1. Resurrection is the last of Tolstoy's major fiction works published in his lifetime. Tolstoy intended the novel as an exposition of injustice of man-made laws and the hypocrisy of institutionalized church. It was first published serially in the magazine Niva as an effort to raise funds for the resettlement of the Dukhobors. The story concerns a nobleman named Nekhlyudov, who seeks redemption for a sin committed years earlier. His brief affair with a maid resulted in her being fired and ending up in prostitution. The book treats his attempts to help her out of her current misery, but also focuses on his personal mental and moral struggle.First Page:

Leo Tolstoy’s earliest published work, the trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth, was written when he was in his twenties, offering a tantalizing first glimpse of the literary talents that would come to fruition in his later masterpieces. Chronicling the experiences of a wealthy landowner’s son as he grows up and becomes aware of the world and his place in it, these three short novels were only loosely inspired by Tolstoy’s own memories. In old age he condemned the work as “an awkward mixture of fact and fiction,” but the imaginative powers that enabled him to capture so vividly the universal emotions and sensations of childhood have enthralled generations of readers. We are blessed to have, alongside the mature writer of Anna Karenina and War and Peace and the revolutionary mystic of the later years, the young Tolstoy who wrote these elegiac tales. In their sensitivity to nature and their evocations of fugitive feelings, they reveal his genius in all its untroubled early splendor.

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirées alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The prodigious cast of characters, both great and small, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoy's portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underlie them."The last word of the landlord's literature and the brilliant one at that." —Fyodor Dostoyevsky"The best ever Russian historical novel." —Nikolai Leskov"One of the most remarkable books of our age." —Ivan Turgenev"This is the first class work!… This is powerful, very powerful indeed." —Gustave Flaubert"The best novel that had ever been written." —John Galsworthy"This work, like life itself, has no beginning, no end. It is life itself in its eternal movement." —Romain Rolland"The greatest ever war novel in the history of literature." —Thomas Mann"There remains the greatest of all novelists — for what else can we call the author of 'War and Peace'?" —Virginia Woolf"Tolstoy is the greatest Russian writer of prose fiction." —Vladimir Nabokov

War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. It is regarded as one of the central works of world literature. War and Peace and Tolstoy's other major prose work, Anna Karenina (1875–77), are considered Tolstoy's finest literary achievements. The novel charts the history of the French invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society, through the stories of five Russian aristocratic families. Portions of an earlier version, titled The Year 1805, were serialized in The Russian Messenger between 1865 and 1867. The novel was first published in its entirety in 1869. Newsweek in 2009 ranked it first in its Top 100 Books. In 2007, Time magazine ranked War and Peace third in its poll of the 10 greatest books of all time while Anna Karenina was ranked first. Tolstoy himself said that War and Peace was "not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle". Large sections, especially in the later chapters, are philosophical discussion rather than narrative. He also said that the best Russian literature does not conform to standards and hence hesitated to call War and Peace a novel. Instead, he regarded Anna Karenina as his first true novel. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "no single English novel attains the universality of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace."

An elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of town life: saying how comfortably they lived there, how well they dressed, what fine clothes her children wore what good things they ate and drank, and how she went to the theatre, promenades, and entertainments.

The Cossacks (1863) by Tolstoy is a story about the Cossack life and people through a story of a Russian aristocrat in love with a Cossack girl. "All Cossacks make their own wine, and drunkenness is not so much a general tendency as a rite, the non-fulfillment of which would be considered apostasy. The Cossack looks upon a woman as an instrument for his welfare; only the unmarried girls are allowed to amuse themselves."