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    Literature

    What to read, in what order, and why it matters.

    Autumn park in Moscow. Photo: Vlad Lario.
    Autumn park in Moscow

    Literature

    Russian literature: start here, not with War and Peace

    A short reading list for anyone who wants to actually finish the books, in translations you can trust. First post in a series.

    September 15, 2026 · 7 min read

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    Next in this series

    • Dostoevsky in 15 minutesThe three books that matter — and how to choose which one to read first.Coming soon
    • How to read War and Peace without giving up on page 200A practical guide with a two-month reading plan.Coming soon
    • Contemporary Russian writers you should actually readVodolazkin, Ulitskaya, Stepanova, Slavnikova and others working now.Coming soon
    • The Silver AgeWhat happened to Russian poetry between 1890 and 1930, and why Akhmatova and Mandelstam still matter.Coming soon
    • Russian literature in exileFrom Bunin to Voynovich to the writers who left after 2022.Coming soon
    • Why Gen Z is reading Dostoevsky in 2026White Nights became a BookTok bestseller — what happened, and what the novella actually says.Coming soon
    • The Master and Margarita, and seven Russian words with no English twinThe novel everyone quotes, and the words you need to understand the people quoting it.Coming soon
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