Translation finder
The Brothers Karamazov
Their version restored Dostoevsky's restless, half-comic, half-frenzied voice that earlier translators had smoothed into proper English. It reads as alive and argumentative as the novel actually is — the closest most of us will get to the Russian.
Crime and Punishment
The most propulsive modern rendering — it captures Raskolnikov's fevered, claustrophobic mind without sounding either dated or anachronistically slangy. If you want the dread to land, start here.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Most older English editions are quietly abridged and bowdlerized — whole threads cut, the racier edges sanded off. Buss is complete, unfussy, and fast, which is exactly what this big, vengeful page-turner needs.
Madame Bovary
Flaubert agonized over every comma, and Davis — a master of the precise sentence herself — honors that obsession instead of paraphrasing past it. Some find it cool; that coolness is the point. You're reading the prose, not just the plot.
The Odyssey
A clean five-beat line that moves like spoken English, paired with word choices that quietly rethink centuries of assumptions. It is readable enough for a first encounter and sharp enough to surprise people who think they already know the poem.