The Master and Margarita

It's quite a fun premise: a Soviet dissident writes a book about the Devil visiting early USSR Moscow for a quick field trip / check-in, and he's delighted to find that A) none of them believe in him because they're an officially atheistic state, and B) some of them are doing plenty of wickedness without him! The whole thing is a blast. It's not a short book, but I sprinted through it.

Even though I've come to appreciate some literature written in the 1800s/early 1900s (Dostoevsky, CS Lewis, etc), usually I'm appreciating the author's ideas, or character development. But Master and Margarita is different; it's actually funny. I don't think I've ever come across a book this old that's this funny (which is especially impressive in translation).

There's also a subplot with the devil's firsthand accounts of Pontius Pilate's troubles around Christ's crucifixion day, which I found to be fascinating and good religious food for thought, as well as an unexpectedly sweet romance, plus a hilarious posse of demons-in-waiting. Rumor is that is also served as the inspiration for the Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil.”

The Master and Margarita is very different, but I loved it, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's even a little bit interested in it.