I don’t understand how people don’t like War and Peace, aside from its size and the weird discursive turns he takes in the appendices. I’ve read it three times and every time it’s a page-turner. So good. But Tolstoy was an infinitely better literary artist than Dostoevsky could ever hope to be. (Tolstoy’s novella, Hadji Murad, is 100 pages of literary crystal, cleverly concealing itself from you as you look on through the transparent glass of words into the world Tolstoy points out to you, until you realize the whole thing is just Tolstoy and his astonishing talent).

But Dostoevsky had the real big heart, and I love him for it.