persian poetics and russian deaths,

These two books I had read and loved. I haven't read much poetry and Russian literature lately. As many of you may know, I'm stuck on a environmental rush lately, and put any sort of intellectual literature on hiatus. Well, I spent the past two days reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy and The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. The only books that have came close to any Middle Eastern literature was A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Kite Runner, and The Arabian Nights. I also feel like I can finally read Tolstoy's War and peace (and I still have to admit, the volume of the book is INCREDIBLY intimidating).

So if you need any recommendations of something new, those two are easy and fast reads. A lot of philosophical meaning, if you are into that sort of thing.