[auxym]

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain): A tale about escape, thinking for yourself and looking upon society with a critical eye. Plus, I find the beauty of the language, especially dialogues written in the characters' respective slangs, stunning.

Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoi): Intertwined tales about love and finding happiness that simply feels timeless. I think Tolstoi's greatest achievement is making the characters feel so human in this. For what it's worth i did not find it a difficult or heavy read at all.

The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoyesky): Them russians really have something with humanness. Where Anna touches love and happiness, karamazov contrasts religion and ethics, faith and reason. Once again, it feels like it could have been written today and still be as relevant.

1984, Orwell. Don't think I need to go into this one, but every time i read it, I find something. This novel was really deeply thought out, inventions like doublespeak really makes you think about how we think about and react to politics.

I realize most of those are likely required reading in american high schools, which to me is proof that your public school system is not entirely lost. I wish we had read some actual substantial texts in my schooling and didn't have to discover these in my early 20s.

[pjungwir]

Came here to recommend Brothers Karamazov and also add David Copperfield. I've read Dickens was a favorite of Dostoevsky, and David Copperfield has characters you'll remember all your life. It is especially good to read as you're setting out on life, e.g. halfway through college.

One story I've heard about David Copperfield: in Russian monasteries, there are abbots who forbid novices from reading any spiritual literature until they've first read David Copperfield, because while the goal of the monastic life is to become more like God, first you have to become human.

For the Russians, especially Dostoevsky, if there is a translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, that's the one to pick. It makes a huge difference.

As a college senior, after devouring pretty much all of Dostoevsky, I read Anna Karenina largely because in On Moral Fiction it is John Gardner's favorite example of a great novel---and it was so boring. Now that I'm 38 I think often of re-reading it, if I can work up the gumption. I'm glad to hear you found it not so heavy.

A favorite English professor in his 60s told me he was still re-reading Crime and Punishment, but Brothers Karamazov didn't speak to him anymore, and he felt it was a young man's book. I've been trying for 15+ years to decide if I agree.