Tolstoy's reading list: books that impress at different ages

In 1891, in Pall Mall the newspaper published an article "One Hundred Great Books" and publisher of Lederle wanted to create a similar list for its readers. Author of the first article was asked to Leo Tolstoy. But Pall Mall list seemed illogical and the writer did not like. The very idea to make lists of the best books, according to Tolstoy - an impossible undertaking. But you can tell us about the books that are heavily influenced you the most.

Unfortunately, there is only a draft of Tolstoy records. List it supplemented gradually, but the final text of the manuscript has been lost. Although even in the unfinished version, you can get an idea what the writer of the book interested in different years.

Childhood to 14 years

1. The story of Joseph in the Bible (buy Litres.ru →).

2. Tales from the "Book of a Thousand and One Nights", "40 thieves", "Prince Kamaralzaman" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →)

3. Antony Pogorelsky "Black chicken, or Living Underground" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

4. Russian epic "Dobrynya", "Ilya Muromets", "Alyosha Popovich". Folk tales (buy Litres.ru →).

5. Poems of Alexander Pushkin: "Napoleon" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

From 14 to 20 years

6. Matthew: Sermon on the Mount (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

7. Laurence Sterne, "Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

8. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Confessions" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

9. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "Emile" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

10. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "The New Heloise" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

11. Alexander Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

12. Friedrich Schiller "The Robbers" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

13. Nikolai Gogol "The Overcoat," "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich", "Nevsky Prospect" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

14. Nikolai Gogol "Wii" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

15. Nikolai Gogol, "Dead Souls" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

16. Ivan Turgenev, "Notes of a Hunter" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

17. Alexander Druzhinin, "Polina Sachs' (buy Litres.ru →).

18. Dmitry Grigorovich, "Anton Unfortunate" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

19. Charles Dickens, "David Copperfield" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

20. Mikhail Lermontov "Hero of Our Time", "Taman" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

21. William Prescott, "Conquest of Mexico" (buy on Amazon.com →).

From 20 to 35 years old

22. Johann Goethe's "Hermann and Dorothea" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

23. Victor Hugo, "Notre Dame de Paris" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

24. A poem by Fyodor Tyutchev (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

25. Poems by Alexei Koltsov (buy on Amazon.com →).

26. Homer, "Odyssey", "Iliad" (read in Russian) (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

27. Athanasius Fet's poem (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

28. Plato, "Phaedo", "Feast" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

From 35 to 50 years

29. Homer, "Odyssey", "Iliad" (Read in Greek).

30. Epics.

31. Xenophon, "Anabasis" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

32. Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

33. Ellen Wood, novels (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

34. George Eliot, novels (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

35. Anthony Trollope novels (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

From 50 to 63 years

36. Gospel (Read in Greek).

37. Genesis (read in Hebrew) (buy Litres.ru →).

38. Henry George's "Progress and Poverty" (buy on Amazon.com →).

39. Theodore Parker, "The study of issues relating to religion" (buy on Amazon.com →).

40. Frederick Robertson, 'Sermon' (buy on Amazon.com →).

41. Feuerbach, "Essence Christian" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

42. Blaise Pascal, "Thoughts" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

43. Epictetus (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).

44. Confucius and Mencius (buy Litres.ru →).

45. "Lalitavistara" (buy on Amazon.com →).

46. Lao-Tzu, "Tao Te Ching" (buy Litres.ru →, buy on Amazon.com →).