The Amateur CracksmanE. W. Hornung
Gentleman thief Raffles is daring, debonair, devilishly handsome-and a first-rate cricketer. In these eight stories, the master burglar indulges his passion for cricket and crime: stealing jewels from a country house, outwitting the law, pilfering from the nouveau riche, and, of course, bowling like a demon-all with... read more »
The Black StarJohnston McCulley
The Black Star was a master criminal who took great care to never be identifiable, always wore a mask so nobody knew what he looked like, rarely spoke to keep his voice from being recognized, and the only mark left at the scenes of the crimes which he and his gang committed were small black stars which were tacked... read more »
The Most Dangerous GameRichard Connell
The Most Dangerous Game features as its main character a big-game hunter from New York, who becomes shipwrecked on an isolated island in the Caribbean, and is hunted by a Russian aristocrat. The story is an inversion of the big-game hunting safaris in Africa and South America that were fashionable among wealthy... read more »
Swann's WayMarcel Proust
Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time is one of the most entertaining reading experiences in any language and arguably the finest novel of the twentieth century. In the overture to Swann's Way, the themes of the whole of In Search of Lost Time are introduced, and the narrator's childhood in Paris and Combray is... read more »
The Mantle and Other StoriesNikolai Gogol
Explore the Russian creative movement known as literary realism through the work of writer Nikolai Vassilievitch Gogol, whom many critics regard not only as one of the foremost practitioners of this style, but also as one of the most significant literary figures of the twentieth century. This exquisitely translated... read more »
The League of the Scarlet PimpernelEmma Orczy
More adventures amongst the terrors of revolutionary France. No one has uncovered the identity of the famous Scarlet Pimpernel - no one except his wife Marguerite and his arch-enemy, citizen Chauvelin. Sir Percy Blakeney is still at large however, evading capture... read more »
The Door into InfinityEdmond Hamilton
An amazing weird mystery story, packed with thrills, danger and startling events. Edmond Hamilton. For most people, this name conjures visions of two-fisted space opera -- pure pulp science fiction. And Hamilton -- known as the author of the Captain Future series -- was indeed one of the foremost writers of pulp... read more »
The Velveteen RabbitMargery Williams
Given as a Christmas gift to a young boy, the Velveteen Rabbit lives in the nursery with all of the other toys, waiting for the day when the Boy (as he is called) will choose him as a playmate. In time, the shy Rabbit befriends the tattered Skin Horse, the wisest resident of the nursery, who reveals the goal of all... read more »
Uncle VanyaAnton Chekhov
This structurally and psychologically compact drama takes place on an estate in 19th-century Russia, exploring the complex interrelationships between a retired professor, his second wife, and the daughter and brother-in-law from his first marriage. Interwoven themes of weakness, delusion, and despair are balanced by... read more »
The Insidious Dr. Fu-ManchuSax Rohmer
The first in the popular Fu-Manchu mystery series introduces English sleuth Denis Nayland Smith and his companion, Dr. Petrie, to the satanic Dr. Fu-Manchu, a cunning Chinese criminal mastermind who means to rule the world. The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu is the first title in the famous series of Yellow Peril novels... read more »
Dead SoulsNikolai Gogol
A stranger arrives in a Russian backwater community with a bizarre proposition for the local landowners: cash for their 'dead souls,' the serfs who have died in their service. A comic masterpiece. Dead Souls is eloquent on some occasions, lyrical on others, and pious and reverent elsewhere. Nicolai Gogol was a... read more »
The Red and the BlackStendhal
A landmark in the development of psychological realism, Stendhal's masterpiece chronicles a young man's struggles with the dualities of his nature. Julien Sorel, a young dreamer from the provinces whose imagination is afire with Napoleonic ideals, sets off to make his fortune in Parisian society of Restoration... read more »
The Scarlet PimpernelEmma Orczy
'Who is this man, this Scarlet Pimpernel?' Each day this question grew more pressing to the rulers of the French Revolution. Only this man and his band of followers threatened their total power. Only this maddeningly elusive figure defied the vast network of fanatics, informers, and secret agents that the Revolution... read more »
The SeagullAnton Chekhov
The Seagull is the first of Anton Checkov's four full-length plays. It explores the romantic and artistic tension in the relationships between a young woman, a fading older lady, her playwright son and a popular story writer. The play references Shakespeare's Hamlet both in text and content. It has a cast of... read more »
The Deluge: Volume 2Henryk Sienkiewicz
This is volume two of a two-volume work, the sequel to With Fire and Sword, a massive book called one of the greatest in European literature. Number two in his trilogy on the history of Poland, it tells the love story of a man and a woman tragically separated by foolishness, pride, confusion and the Swedish invation... read more »
The Phantom RickshawRudyard Kipling
The Phantom Rickshaw & Other Eerie Tales brings together four of Kipling's most-loved short stories. Each deals with events that can't quite be explained away, whether a traditional ghost story, a terrifyingly realistic nightmare or an sumptuous and lavish romance. Powerful, exotic and extravagant, these tales are... read more »
PhaedoPlato
The Phaedo is acknowledged to be one of Plato's masterpieces, showing him both as a philosopher and as a dramatist at the height of his powers. For its moving account of the execution of Socrates, the Phaedo ranks among the supreme literary achievements of antiquity. It is also a document crucial to the... read more »
Barrack Room BalladsRudyard Kipling
The Barrack-Room Ballads are a set of martial songs and poems by Rudyard Kipling originally published in two parts: the first set in 1892, the second in 1896. Many have become classic military ditties, still well known, and are closely linked to British imperialism in many minds, particularly Gunga Din, Tommy and... read more »
English TraitsRalph Waldo Emerson
Emerson traveled broadly in England and Scotland in 1833 and again on lecture tour fifteen years later. Drawing on his experiences there as well as his wide reading in British history, he set forth in English Traits his view of the English as a nation. English Traits is a searching and distinctive portrayal of... read more »
Arms and the ManGeorge Bernard Shaw
Arms and the Man was George Bernard Shaw's first commercially successful play. It is a comedy about idealized love versus true love. A young Serbian woman idealizes her war-hero fiance and thinks the Swiss soldier who begs her to hide him a terrible coward. After the war she reverses her opinions, though the tangle... 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 »
Discourses on LivyNiccolò Machiavelli
The Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius is one of the masterpieces by Machiavelli. This work narrates the writer's comments as to how a democratic government should be established. Through the comparison of Venice and Rome a detailed analysis of different kinds of governments is given. Machiavelli has... read more »
CritoPlato
Crito is a short but important dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It is a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito regarding justice (δικη), injustice (αδικια), and the appropriate response to injustice. Socrates thinks that injustice may not be answered with injustice, and... read more »
NatureRalph Waldo Emerson
Originally published anonymously, Nature was the first modern essay to recommend the appreciation of the outdoors as an all-encompassing positive force. Emerson’s writings were recognized as uniquely American in style and content, and launched the idea of going for a walk as a new way of looking at the world... read more »
Eastern Standard TribeCory Doctorow
Art is an up-and-coming interface designer, working on the management of data flow along the Massachusetts Turnpike. He's doing the best work of his career and can guarantee that the system will be the most counterintuitive, user-hostile piece of software ever pushed forth into the world. Why? Because Art is an... read more »
Let Us Follow HimHenryk Sienkiewicz
This story by Henryk Sienkiewicz, is of interest as it can be considered the germ, so to speak, of Quo Vadis, which is among one of the most noteworthy of novels and has won a large audience as well in Europe as in America. It is the tale of Cains Septimus Cunia, a Roman patrician, rich, splendid, luxury-loving... read more »
The Man Who Mastered TimeRay Cummings
It took what seemed but half a day's traveling to traverse the 28,000 years that separated Loto Rogers from the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He had expected to find mighty cities and a flowering civilization in that future world, but instead he found only ice and snow -- and Azeela. Third in the Matter... read more »
From Sea to SeaRudyard Kipling
This collection of notes and essays on Kipling's world travels reveals a man bursting with self-deprecating wit, keen observational powers, and an intelligent awareness of his own cultural biases and prejudices. First published in 1899, this volume serves as a delightful reminder of Kipling's genius. read more »
EuthyphroPlato
These four dialogues enact the trial and execution of Socrates, presenting a dialectical process that shows not only why the Athenians condemned him to death but, much more to the point, the reason why Socrates lived and devoted himself to examining the meaning of life. These works not only offer the best... read more »
Cashel Byron's ProfessionGeorge Bernard Shaw
After poleaxing his mathematics master with a perfect right, Cashel Byron, the unloved son of a successful actress, runs away to Australia. He returns to England and becomes the most famous prizefighter of his age, only to be floored himself by the lovely and impossible Lydia Carew. Can Lydia, with her reputation... read more »