Kleeman and Mike guide to

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1866).  

The Norton Critical edition is the best one.  Good translation, thorough notes.  (as always, beware of reading them if you've never read the story before [possible plot spoilers])  Whatever you do, DON'T get the transation by Richard Pevear and Larrisa Volokhonsky.  I made the mistake of getting their translation of Notes From Underground and it was awful.  They may have a strong grasp of the original Russian, but they have a very weak grasp of current English.  What's frustrating is how heavily their versions are promoted.  Washington Post Book Review calls their C and P "The best [translation] currently available."  Compare their version to any other and you will wonder what the Washington Post people were thinking, or how much they were paid to publish such a review.

Compare these quotes.  One of my favorites from C and P.  First, the Norton (Coulson) version:

When, later, he recalled this time and everything that happened in these few days, minute by minute, point by point, feature by feature, he was always struck with superstitious awe by one circumstance, which, though not really very out of the ordinary, seemed to him afterwards to have determined his fate.

Now, the Pevear/ Volokhonsky version:

...he was always struck to superstition by one circumstance which, though in fact not very unusual, afterwards constantly seemed to him as if it were a sort of predetermination of his fate.

I've never heard of someone being "struck to superstition." Maybe it's a British phrase?  But that last line!

 Compare:

something which "seemed to him afterwards to have determined his fate."

to

something which "afterwards constantly seemed to him as if it were a sort of predetermination of his fate."

What kind of ridiculous, garbled nonsense is that??? And this is "the best [translation] currently available?  "Ah the world!  Oh the world!" *

 

*Melville, Moby Dick