I like big books and I cannot lie! Wordsworth Classics presents the Wilbour translation in two volumes, but Signet Classics still sells what may be the thickest mass-market paperback in existence. More pages than their War and Peace!
I read and enjoyed the Maude translation, but most people will have heard of the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation, as it was chosen for Oprah’s book club in 2004. Supposedly it sounds more like Tolstoy than, say, Garnett…
The Plague is popular these days because of the pandemic; that’s a good thing, because it’s an essentially hopeful book.
If you have never read The Tale of Genji, my advice is, DON’T START WITH TYLER. That’s what I did: I started with Tyler. That was a mistake.
“The Noli” has been abridged, adapted, bowdlerized, and translated with several different titles, so there’s definitely some potential for confusion.
If you don’t want to read all 120 chapters, there’s a 60-chapter abridgement. And a kids’ version that’s only 64 pages (including the illustrations)!
“Not to have read it is a crime, and reading it is the punishment.”
So you want to read Alexandre Dumas’ classic adventure, and you don’t read French. There are a host of publishers offering a myriad of paperback and hardcover editions and dozens of digital versions. What’s the difference?
