Down with Tolstoy!

I think too little attention is paid to the roots of our failure to discover and read some great books. Two main reasons for the mishap are our obsession with "the new," and the "Best Books of" lists. Let's dissect them.

We are always eager to see new things, authors, and books. Novelty appeals to us, and that's fine, but the fixation with release dates is absurd. If a new book doesn't take off in the first six months after its release, some people believe it's not worth reading. The truth is that the success of a new book has much more to do with its marketing, the political atmosphere, serendipity, and the weather than with its quality. Everybody can name a lousy book that has sold millions of copies for reasons nobody understands and a fantastic book that has gone almost unnoticed.

But where we are really missing out is with great books that were recognized as such years or decades ago but are not on our radar now because nobody advertises them. The author is dead, the publisher has other fish to fry, and the novel gets forgotten except by a few enthusiasts. I have long lists of books like that: John Whyndam's The Day of the Triffids, if you like horror-leaning science fiction, Franz Molnar's The Paul Street Boys, for a poignant YA drama, or any one of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries, for a fast-paced and entertaining sleuth, are just three examples.

As if that difficulty was not obstacle enough to our discovery of amazing books, we are misguided by the various "Best Books" lists. Take, for instance, the New York Times "Best Book of 125 Years," or Reader's Digest's "100 Best Books of All Time," or Britannica's "Greatest Book Ever Written." They all have Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina at the top of their lists. To those influential lists, I say, Give Me A Break!

I have no dispute with the experts, and I don't deny that Anna Karenina is "considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written." Granted. But that doesn't make it "a good book to read" by today's standards. To the modern reader, a book must flow and have a pace and rhythm that make it pleasurable and engaging because it is written in a way nobody wrote two hundred years ago. To Tolstoy (and other contemporary nineteenth-century writers), the beauty resided in telling the story with long, winding descriptions that may drive a modern reader up the wall. Take, for instance, a random passage from Chapter 3:

"Stepan Arkadyevitch had not chosen his political opinions or his views; these political opinions and views had come to him of themselves, just as he did not choose the shapes of his hat and coat, but simply took those that were being worn. And for him, living in a certain society—owing to the need, ordinarily developed at years of discretion, for some degree of mental activity—to have views was just as indispensable as to have a hat. If there was a reason for his preferring liberal to conservative views, which were held also by many of his circle, it arose not from his considering liberalism more rational, but from its being in closer accordance with his manner of life. The liberal party said that in Russia everything is wrong, and certainly Stepan Arkadyevitch had many debts and was decidedly short of money. The liberal party said that marriage is an institution quite out of date, and that it needs reconstruction; and family life certainly afforded Stepan Arkadyevitch little gratification, and forced him into lying and hypocrisy, which was so repulsive to his nature. The liberal party said, or rather allowed it to be understood, that religion is only a curb to keep in check the barbarous classes of the people."

I mean, What?!

If you are a literature scholar who wants to explore the roots of the Russian novel, by all means, read Anna Karenina—all 1205 painful pages. But if you are a regular person looking for a book that will engage your imagination and take you into the story as you feverishly and vicariously live breathtaking events through the eyes of the protagonist, Tolstoy is not for you. I am not trying to disparage old Leo, mind you—who am I to criticize him? All I'm saying is that Anna Karenina is not in a fair fight with The Hunger Games.

So, what should you do? There is only one solution: ask your friends who read a lot to recommend books released at least ten years ago (preferably much earlier). If they want to remain your friends, they will not recommend Anna Karenina to you. I will try to be that friend to you and, from time to time, will recommend great books you may have missed. After all, we readers must look after each other; the ways of the Lord are infinite, but the total reading time He has granted us is not.