In Desert and WildernessHenryk Sienkiewicz
The renowned Polish novelist, inspired by his travels through Africa, gives us a fascinating book recounting adventures and experiences of two children during an escape from Khartoum after the death of General Gordon, and their flight through Africa to the Indian Ocean. The children's adventures in the Egyptian... read more »
Indian TalesRudyard Kipling
The stories in this collection capture the varied scents and colours of India in the days of the Raj. Magic and religion, art and life, politics and society, combine into one special stroke of genius in Kipling's imaginative canvas, bringing the short story and the poem together. These tales hold a tremendous appeal... read more »
Indiscretions of ArchieP. G. Wodehouse
It wasn't Archie's fault really. It's true he went to America and fell in love with Lucille, the daughter of a millionaire hotel proprietor and if he did marry her--well, what else was there to do? From his point of view, the whole thing was a thoroughly good egg; but Mr. Brewster, his father-in-law, thought... read more »
In Good King Charles's Golden DaysGeorge Bernard Shaw
A wonderful restoration comedy written by the great George Bernard Shaw, the play is set as a discussion on the nature of power and wealth between King Charles II and Isaac Newton, George Fox and Godfrey Kneller. The kings three mistresses intervening along with his queen. read more »
The Innocence of Father BrownG. K. Chesterton
The first book of G.K. Chesterton’s ingenious, thoughtful, and lyrically written mystery stories featuring the unassuming little priest who solves crimes by imagining himself inside the mind and soul of criminals, thus understanding their motives. The stories are full of paradox, spiritual insight, and... read more »
InnocentMarie Corelli
Raised on the prosperous farm of Hugo Jocelyn, descendant of a French knight, Innocent has always believed herself to be Jocelyn's illegitimate daughter by his fiancee before her death. She is an idealistic woman, inspired by the romanticism of the medieval French literature preserved by her ancestor; indeed, she... read more »
The InnocentsSinclair Lewis
If this were a ponderous work of realism, such as the author has attempted to write, and will doubtless essay again, it would be perilous to dedicate it to the splendid assembly of young British writers, lest the critics search for Influences and Imitations. But since this is a flagrant excursion, a tale for people... read more »
In Our TimeErnest Hemingway
A strikingly original collection of short stories and accompanying vignettes that marked Ernest Hemingway’s American debut. When published, it was praised by Ford Madox Ford, John Dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald for its simple and precise use of language to convey a wide range of complex emotions, and it... read more »
In Search of the CastawaysJules Verne
A message in a bottle is found from Captain Grant of the HMS Britannia. The ship has sunk but Captain Grant is alive. Only he is being held hostage. The children of Captain Grant set out to rescue their father. But to do this they face all kinds of dangers and must travel to the other side of the world. read more »
In Search of the UnknownRobert W. Chambers
Our narrator is hired by the New York Zoological Society to assist a professor who is in charge of their gardens and exhibits. He embarks on his search for a Great Auk, a species that was extinct for fifty or so years. read more »
In Strange CompanyGuy Boothby
Australian author Guy Boothby put his wanderlust to work as fodder for his fiction. Though his first publication was a non-fiction account of a trip through his native country, he soon turned to fiction as an outlet for his creativity, focusing primarily on action-adventure, mystery, and detection tales. In Strange... read more »
In the CageHenry James
Henry James's novella In the Cage tells the story of a young women, the "betrothed of Mr Mudge", who works at a post-office counter sending telegrams mostly from the "idle rich" to their fellows to arrange their meetings, parties and other affairs. Concerned, as ever, with the plight of the not so well-to-do--and... read more »
In the Days of the CometH. G. Wells
A provocative novel by H.G. Wells. In the midst of a world war, the tail of a comet brushes the atmosphere of earth, causing everyone to lose consciousness for a few hours. When the world awakens, everyone has an expanded understanding of the meaning of things. The war is quickly ended; a new utopia is created; even... read more »
In the High ValleySusan Coolidge
Lionel Young and his sister, Imogen, set out for the picturesque but remote High Valley in Colorado, leaving their hometown in Devonshire, England behind. Lionel wants to take the share in Geoffrey Templestowe’s cattle business. Imogen, owing to her prejudices against America and the American way of life, finds it... read more »
In the Penal ColonyFranz Kafka
The story is set in an unnamed penal colony. Internal clues and the setting on an island suggest Octave Mirbeau's The Torture Garden as an influence. As in some of Kafka's other writings, the narrator in this story seems detached from, or perhaps numbed by, events that one would normally expect to be registered with... read more »
In the Ranks of the C.I.V.Erskine Childers
Erskine Childers, the famed author of the classic novel of sailing and spying The Riddle of the Sands served with London's finest-The City Imperial Volunteers within its artillery arm-associated with the Honourable Artillery Company. Childers-together with his enthusiastic colleagues from the professions of the city... read more »
In the Shadow of Young Girls in FlowerMarcel Proust
When publiched, Within a Budding Grove was awarded the Prix Goncourt, bringing the author immediate fame. In this second volume of In Search of Lost Time, the narrator turns from the childhood reminiscences of Swann's Way to memories of his adolescence. Having gradually become indifferent to Swann's daughter... read more »
In the South SeasRobert Louis Stevenson
"The first experience can never be repeated. The first love, the first sunrise, the first South Sea island, are memories apart ..." In the South Seas records Stevenson's travels with his wife Fanny and their family in the Marquesas, the Paumotus, and the Gilbert Islands during 1888-9. Originally drafted in journal... read more »
In the WetNevil Shute
Shute's speculative glance into the future of the British Empire. An elderly clergyman stationed in the Australian bush is called to the bedside of a dying derelict. In his delirium Stevie tells a story of England in 1983 through the medium of a squadron air pilot in the service of Queen Elizabeth II. It is the... read more »
In the Yule-Log Glow #1Various
If, gentle reader, you will step across this threshold now as the moon rises in the keen Christmas air and will find a place by the ruddy ingle within doors you may hear if you will, a Babel of voices from many lands telling over the adventures of the road and falling into the good fellowship of the happy Christmas... read more »
The Invisible ManH. G. Wells
Spine-tingling and entertaining, The Invisible Man is a science fiction classic–and a penetrating, unflinching look into the heart of human nature. To its author, H. G. Wells, the novel was as compelling as "a good gripping dream." But to generations of readers, the terrible and evil experiment of the demented... read more »
Iphigenia in TaurisJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
In King Thaos's kingdom, Iphigenia is the priestess of Artemis who takes the lives of strangers in sacrifice for the gods. Until the day two special strangers are brought to her -- strangers who she recognizes: Orestes, her brother, and Pylades, their cousin. To keep the king from sacrificing her family, the three... read more »
Irish Fairy TalesJames Stephens
Take a trip through the rich folklore of Ireland in this enchanting volume from author James Stephens. Fairy kings, femmes fatales, bewitched animals, epic feuds -- these action-packed stories traverse a broad spectrum of themes and settings. Folklore fans and readers interested in Gaelic and Celtic culture will... read more »
The Iron HeelJack London
Jack London's dystopian novel about the rise of oligarchic tyranny in the United States. Playing upon the socialistic themes that were so prevalent at the beginning of the 20th century, The Iron Heel tells the story of a wealthy class that squeezes out the middle class and effectively rules for three centuries until... read more »
The Iron StarJohn Taine
Swain, one member of an African expedition, becomes demented and attempts to exterminate a peculiar species of African ape. The other members of the expedition are befriended by an intelligent ape called the Captain. The expedition discover that the apes are in fact humans that have evolved in reverse due to... read more »
IslandAldous Huxley
For over a hundred years the Pacific island of Pala has been the scene of a unique experiment in civilisation. Its inhabitants live in a society where western science has been brought together with eastern philosophy and humanism to create a paradise on earth. When cynical journalist, Will Farnaby, arrives to search... read more »
The Island of Captain SparrowS. Fowler Wright
Stranded on an unknown island in the Pacific, Charlton Foyle must fight goat-like hominids, giant, semi-intelligent birds, degenerate pirate settlers, and the remnants of an ancient race of men with powers to foretell the future, in order to save the life and love of a beautiful French girl. read more »
The Island of Dr. MoreauH. G. Wells
A shipwreck in the South Seas, a palm-tree paradise where a mad doctor conducts vile experiments, animals that become human and then "beastly" in ways they never were before--it's the stuff of high adventure. It's also a parable about Darwinian theory, a social satire in the vein of Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's... read more »
It Can't Happen HereSinclair Lewis
A vain, outlandish, anti-immigrant, fear-mongering demagogue runs for President of the United States - and wins. Lewis's chilling, and yet prescient bestseller is the story of Buzz Windrip, a 'Professional Common Man', who promises the countries poor, angry voters that he will make America great again, but whose... read more »
IvanhoeWalter Scott
In Ivanhoe, Scott fashioned an imperial myth of national cultural identity that has shaped the popular imagination ever since its first appearance at the end of 1819. With the secret return of King Richard and the disinherited Saxon knight Ivanhoe, Scott confronts his splendid and tumultuous romance, featuring the... read more »