This is believed to be the first Gothic novel and essential reading for both fans and scholars of the genre. The story is about Manfred, the lord of the castle, and his family. The story merges medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since.
John Peerybingle and Dot are a happy couple despite their age difference. Their harmony however is disrupted when they meet toymaker Mr. Tackleton and his soon-to-be wife, young May. Tackleton tells Peerybingle his wife Dot is actually cheating on him. But what does all of this have to do with the cricket on the hearth and his chirps?
When a group of pilgrims bound for Canterbury Cathedral meet on the road, they agree to tell stories to pass the time. Each story reflects a different segment of society, from the pious to the bawdy, and has given countless readers a look into fourteenth-century English life. The stories can be read on their own or as part of the entire work and have been translated from their original middle English by D. Lain Purves.
The Borgias by Alexandre Dumas is not necessarily a fiction novel but a history lesson with some fiction in it about the famous House of Borgia that ruled Renaissance Italy. Witness their corruption, the different plots to eliminate their opponents and climb the power ladder from bribery, simony and theft to incest and murder.
The Call of the Canyon is a western novel about a soldier returning from war who is nursed back to health by an Arizona girl. It was adapted into a 1923 silent film and remains an enjoyable tale for readers today.
In The Book of Five Rings, the author lays out the five elements of battle which are as applicable in the boardroom as on the battlefield.
The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush—a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley of California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into service as sled dog in Alaska, he reverts to a wild state. Buck is forced to fight in order to dominate other dogs in a harsh climate. Eventually he sheds the veneer of civilization, relying on primordial instincts and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.
A 19th century Boston woman named Olive Chancellor is committed to the suffrage movement. Olive convinces a young feminist named Verena to move in with her as preparation for Verena's career, but Olive's cousin, Basil, would prefer that the young woman become his wife, rather than a political activist.
This inspirational novel tells the story of a young boy who is responsible for the near-death of another child and how he learns to be a true patriot and right the wrongs of his ignorance.
Good guy Jim Cleve is hurt when he is rejected by the woman he loves. So he decides to leave and learn the ways of the Wild West. Joan tries to go after him but she ends up kidnapped by a gang of thieves. Can the new ‘Bad Guy’ Jim Cleve save her?
Renowned as the author of such popular adventure stories as Kidnapped and Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson also wrote gripping tales of terror and the supernatural. Stevenson's considerable gifts as a teller of tales shine brightly in this choice collection of three of his best short stories.
Miles Coverdale decides to live for a short time in the utopian community of Blithedale. There however, just like the author Nathaniel Hawthorne who joined Unitarian utopian Brook Farm in his early teens, he doesn’t find his answers he was searching for. Instead he gets ill and doubts the community philosophical views and way of life. He returns to the city as a changed man.
The Best American Humorous Short Stories is a collection of 19th-century and early 20th-century stories written by the likes of Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, George William Curtis, Bret Harte or O. Henry. These stories aren’t humorous in the sense of our modern understanding, they present a different kind of humor like jokes about men who don’t wear hats and ridiculous notions about the African-Americans and about women.
A revolutionary philosophical work, The Age of Reason was written by Thomas Paine as a Deist text which was well received in the United States in the late 18th century but seen as too incendiary in the United Kingdom. The Age of Reason challenges the idea of state religion and the legitimacy of the Bible.
In Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein played by her own rules; she dismissed the basic rules of the English language, dismantled the sentence and rearranged it as she pleased. The result? Free your mind and read!
Summa Theologica is an extensive five-volume masterpiece about the meaning of life and the presence of God in our everyday lives. Just like the universe, the compendium starts and ends with God; everything in between is related to God’s creation and how we as human beings can be saved.
A fun and carefree story of boyhood, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an American classic. Children and adults alike have enjoyed the antics of Tom, his friend Huckleberry Finn, and the other memorable characters in Mark Twain's most popular book.
An anonymous narrator arrives in Venice to retrieve Jeffrey Aspern’s - American poet and his idol - love letters. There he finds Juliana Bordereau and her aging niece who may or may not have the letters in question. To convince Juliana, the narrator tries to seduce the niece, Miss Tita but is he willing to pay the price?
Sherlock Holmes is up to something. He doesn’t believe Inspector Lestrade’s story that Miss Susan Cushing is a victim of a prank. She received a parcel with two human ears packed in a coarse salt. And what about the precarious cuts? Or the writing and the spelling correction from the parcel? Doesn’t these clues suggest something more than a prank made by a bunch of medical students?
Venture back in time to Victorian London to join literature's greatest detective team — the brilliant Sherlock Holmes and his devoted assistant, Dr. Watson — as they investigate a dozen of their best-known cases. Originally published in 1892, this is the first and best collection of stories about the legendary sleuth. It's also the least expensive edition available.
The Age of Innocence was the first novel written by a woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Edith Wharton's novel centers around 1870's New York society, scandal and social structure.
Like a beast in the jungle, protagonist John Marcher waits for some catastrophic event to happen letting life and love pass by. Eventually he discovers that tragedy has already occurred: nobody can give his wasted time back to him. The other two stories, ‘The Jolly Corner’ and ‘The Altar of the Dead’ are another great examples of Henry James’ wonderful craft and knowledge of the human soul.
Sons and Lovers is D.H. Lawrence's masterpiece novel that has been listed as one of the top ten novels of the 20th century. The novel centers around the life of Paul Morel. Born into an unhappy marriage, Paul is determined to please his mother, even when it means destroying his own life in the process.
Some Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens is a collection of six short stories all revolving around the Christmas spirit. But these stories are first and foremost essays about life and about its struggles. Don’t expect a Christmas Carol-type of atmosphere. Instead expect some experimental Charles Dickens’ story creation.
Set off on a journey to Europe and Asia, and prepare to meet mad kings, fairies, dragons, Rajahs and other fantastic beings who try to put the world out of balance. Fortunately for all of us, there is always a hero ready to set things right and solve the villain’s puzzles and schemes.
