If you want to get started with Tolstoy without reading War and Peace (1296 pages) or even Anna Karenina (864 pages), look no further. This compilation includes 8 of Tolstoy's finest short works (some longer than short stories), including The Death of Ivan Ilych, which many consider to be his best work.

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," begins this classic Russian novel. Anna leaves her husband and son for Count Vronksky but their love is ultimately doomed. Tolstoy’s much-beloved tome is praised for its depiction of Russian life and nuanced portrait of humanity. Numerous translations exist; if I had to choose one, I'd go with Constance Garnett's, if only because the audiobook is narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who calls this her favorite novel and said performing it was one of the greatest accomplishments of her work life. 

Enthusiastic readers have finally convinced me to add this tome to my TBR. Called the greatest novel ever written, a philosophical study, a historic epic of the Napoleonic Wars, chock full of characters, and often compared to Homer. Originally written in Russian, and translated numerous times—from Dunnigan to Garnett to Maude to Edmonds. Scholar and author Andrew D. Kaufman recommends the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation.

Includes all 12 novels with professional formatting, several unfinished novels, short stories, and Tolstoy's journals.