/lit/ - Literature

Crime and Punishment was the first book I read by him, and it's the book that got me into "literary" fiction. An easier and shorter starting point, if you like, would be Notes from Underground, which doesn't have much in the way of depth or plot but is still a good, interesting read.

I would discourage you from reading The Idiot first. It is one of my favorite books, but I think it's better if one has a bit more experience with Dostoevsky before reading it since it's a lot less "thrilling" than his other books. It requires more patience.

I would also discourage you from starting with The Brothers Karamazov. If you read some stuff by Dostoevsky and find you don't like him, then go ahead and skip to The Brothers Karamazov (if you have any patience left for him). Otherwise, you might regret reading it so early. Fans of Dostoevsky tend to like leaving it as the last major works* they read. It's a sort of grand finale to all of the stuff Dostoevsky wrote about throughout his life.


*My list of his major works would probably be the following. I'm sure others will protest the inclusion of Demons and The Adolescent or the omission of Poor Folk or "The Double," but whatever.
Notes from Underground
Crime and Punishment
The Idiot
Demons
The Adolescent
The Brothers Karamazov