Is crime and punishment any good? I was thinking about getting it from the library. I heard its very long, does it keep it up the whole way through? I hate books that start great but by the 300th page you rushing to finish it as fast as you can.
I read his autobiography about his time in Siberia and thought it was ok/good. I'm not a great fan of translated novels, they always loose something for me in the transition, I don't know what it is, I think its because I always think of the talentless translator losing the artistic license.

What books can you recommend? I like dark themes juxtaposed with philosophy, hopefully with a little violence and drugs.

"Crime and Punishment" is only about five-hundred pages long, it's not exactly "War and Peace" in the length department. Anyhow, I verily enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes their fiction to contain a little substance. I particularly enjoyed the satirical jabs at utilitarianism and the claim of some anarchists that all crimes are either crimes of passions or unconscious protests against the political system a criminal finds himself within.

Sounds like you'd be better of starting with Notes From Underground.

i have a huge collection of his books, in russian, sitting on my shelf. in fact im looking at it right now.

i've read some of his short stories, and i tried picking up crime and punishment several times, but i just cant get into it, i get bored like 1/4 of the way through.

this.

I thought Crime and Punishment was boring as fuck.

"Oh noes, will I be caught?" for 400 pages. No thank you.

It's pretty good. I don't find him as boring as other Russian writers but I also don't think I got as much out of his books. Unlike, say, Tolstoy.

Definitely worth reading though.

Crime and Punishment is definitely worth the read, I thoroughly enjoyed Notes from Underground as well. Crime and Punishment does take a bit of perseverance to get through but it's worth it.

He's a brilliant author and, in my more mindful pieces, I cop him significantly. However, no one has said his absolute masterpiece (at least in my eyes): The Brothers Karamazov. That book is one of the best. It is just stellar and is exactly what you said you wanted.

Although, to be fair, most of his books fit your description as he is that bad ass.

While you're dabbling in 19th century Russian literature be sure to check out Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogul.