War and Peace2005
The readability champion. Briggs writes brisk, plain, thoroughly modern English and is not afraid to render Napoleonic-era soldiers in idiom that moves. He translates the French into English in the main text, so nothing stops you. Some miss the period flavour and the salon French, and a few of his colloquial choices raise eyebrows, but if your goal is to actually finish War and Peace and enjoy it, Briggs gets you there faster than anyone.