I’m in the mood for a giant Russian novel. Which one should I read next? 
War & Peace. The Brothers Karamazov has more humor, but War & Peace has the better storylines.
I haven’t read Karamazov, but I have read War and Peace. Great book, I’d recommend it. And it’s longer than Karamazov.
Get an unabridged translation, by all means. The Louis and Aylmer Maude is the recommended one, but i read a Penguiin translation by someone else.
Length doesn’t matter, I’m in the mood for a looong book 
Personally, I liked Brothers Karamazov better. While the historical aspects of W&P are probably superior (OK, they are), I prefer the Brothers because I didn’t have to keep a notebook to track the various story lines. Besides, there is a more “mental” aspect to Brothers that I did not find in W&P.
But if you are just going by length…it’s W&P.
None of the above. Go Soviet with The Master and Margarita.
The Brothers Karamazov. That reminds me, I need to finish it.
The Brothers Karamazov
Way better and I have read them both.
War & Peace. It will be easier to read The Brothers K afterward than the reverse order.
The Brothers Karamazov is a force of nature, and a profound book in ways War and Peace is not (IMO – I know that’s certainly not everyone’s judgment).
War and Peace isn’t really that long, though, before anyone starts complaining. Aren’t all those Tom Clancy novels long too? I did skip the past few hundred pages out of boredom – I should give it another read sometime. I like that guy who chained himself to the bear, though – that’s entertainment. But the Tolstoy I like are in short form, and his Confessions. I had great responses from undergrad comp students reading “Hadji Murad” and “The Devil” various semesters, which was good.
I think people are misunderstandi ng me. I was observing that it was long as a positive selling point.
Karamazov - but I’m generally more partial to Dostoyevskiy than to Tolstoy, I think.
War and Peace and then the Bros.
Flip a coin- they’re BOTH great.
And be sure to read the “loser” after you finish the winner.
FYI
War and Peace is FREE to download to ibooks in the iTunes Store
I wasn’t able to finish Karamazov (which probably says more about when I was trying to read it than anything), but War and Peace is definitely worth the read. And it may be long, but it’s mostly small words.
As for Bulgakov…read Heart of a Dog first, says I.