Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong (2001, Paperback)

If you're looking to buy the Chinese Classic novel translated here as Three Kingdoms (sometimes Romance of Three Kingdoms), this four volume paperback box set from Beijing's Foreign Languages Press is probably the single best edition out. Moss Roberts' translation is clear and punchy, and the book is extremely well annotated (end-notes, not footnotes, so they don't break up the story). Comments made by the editors of the most popular chinese edition of the novel are carried over into the endnotes, as well as explanations of historical allusions and references to modern place names by the translator. Furthermore, although they are not large books and are paperback bound, they seem to hold up well to multiple readings or consultations.

As for the story itself, it is considered one of the classic dynastic chinese novels, is very lively, and although told in a more structured, oral storytelling way than western novels (readers are exhorted, at the end of every chapter, to continue reading to find out what happens to the heroes), is easily accessible.