Howards EndE. M. Forster
The Schlegels are intellectuals, devotees of art and literature. The Wilcoxes are practical and materialistic, leading lives of "telegrams and anger." When the elder Mrs. Wilcox dies and her family discovers she has left their country home—Howards End—to one of the Schlegel sisters, a crisis between the two... read more »
AnthemAyn Rand
In Anthem, Rand examines a frightening future in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values. Equality 7-2521 lives in the dark ages of the future where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, and all traces of individualism have been wiped out. Despite such a... read more »
William WilsonEdgar Allan Poe
William Wilson tells the tale of a man who travels around the world pursued by his ghostly double who tries to keep him from sin and vice. This stands out among Edgar Allen Poe's stories for the fact that it is less Gothic, less gruesome, and less melodramatic than most of his other work. You'll find a different... read more »
The MoneychangersUpton Sinclair
Here Upton Sinclair offers us a novel about the Wall Street panic of 1907. He tells of a financial disaster brought on deliberately by powerful capitalists intent upon the ruin of their rivals -- fundamentally evil people who live to out-maneuver one another. We are a nation, said Sinclair, fundamentally corrupt... read more »
Robert BrowningG. K. Chesterton
Chesterton declares that it is fashionable to boast that one cannot understand Browning but he reveals in this fascinating literary biography how Browning 'combines the greatest brain with the simplest temperament'. This is a multi-faceted biography and critique of Browning's work. Chesterton takes us from his early... read more »
The Murders in the Rue MorgueEdgar Allan Poe
The room was on the fourth floor, and the door was locked - with the key on the inside. The windows were closed and fastened - on the inside. The chimney was too narrow for a cat to get through. So how did the murderer escape? And whose were the two angry voices heard by the neighbours as they ran up the stairs?... read more »
The Turn of the ScrewHenry James
The story starts conventionally enough with friends sharing ghost stories 'round the fire on Christmas Eve. One of the guests tells about a governess at a country house plagued by supernatural visitors. But in the hands of Henry James, the master of nuance, this little tale of terror is an exquisite gem of sexual... read more »
Cuba in War TimeRichard Harding Davis
Author and journalist Richard Harding Davis, one of the most popular newspaper writers and novelists at the turn of the 20th century, may well be the source of the image of the dashing war correspondent. He represented the growing power of the press as the mass media's influence was expanding, and this controversial... read more »
Our Mr. WrennSinclair Lewis
A little New York clerk, full of dreams of travel, goes to London on a cattle steamer, has experiences with bohemianisms of a sort and returns joyfully to New York to find his real romance. Told with a true understanding and humour. read more »
The Masque of the Red DeathEdgar Allan Poe
A thousand of the favored joined their decadent prince behind high walls and welded gates. They engaged in bizarre celebrations while the Red Death raged outside--until one cryptic figure showed them the true horror in The Masque of the Red Death. read more »
The AwakeningKate Chopin
From her vacation to the Gulf of Mexico to her return to New Orleans, Edna Pontellier, the wife of Léonce and mother of two boys, embarks on an emotionally fraught journey to discover love and self-fulfillment. Her relationships with her husband, with LeBrun and with Mademoiselle Reisz lead to a battle with... read more »
The SphinxEdgar Allan Poe
The Sphinx is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe about a man who decides to visit a relative living near the Hudson River, north of New York City, for two weeks during a cholera epidemic that occurred during the summer of 1832. One day during this visit, the man is reading a book near the window revealing a... read more »
Sons and LoversD. H. Lawrence
Called the most widely-read English novel of the twentieth century, D. H. Lawrence’s largely autobiographical Sons and Lovers tells the story of Paul Morel, a young artist growing into manhood in a British working-class community near the Nottingham coalfields. His mother Gertrude, unhappily married to Paul’s... read more »
Allan's WifeH. Rider Haggard
It may be remembered that in the last pages of his diary, written just before his death, Allan Quatermain makes allusion to his long dead wife, stating that he has written of her fully elsewhere. When his death was known, his papers were handed to myself as his literary executor. Among them I found two manuscripts... read more »
The Blonde LadyMaurice Leblanc
LeBlanc's creation, gentleman thief Arsene Lupin, is everything you would expect from a French aristocrat -- witty, charming, brilliant, sly . . . and possibly the greatest thief in the world. In this classic tale, Lupin comes up against the only man who may be able to stop him . . . no less than the great British... read more »
OrthodoxyG. K. Chesterton
This book is meant to be a companion to "Heretics," and to put the positive side in addition to the negative. Many critics complained of the book called "Heretics" because it merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy. This book is an attempt to answer the challenge. It is... read more »
The Man That Was Used UpEdgar Allan Poe
The story follows an unnamed narrator who seeks out the famous war hero John A. B. C. Smith. He becomes suspicious that Smith has some deep secret when others refuse to describe him, instead remarking only on the latest advancements in technology. When he finally meets Smith, the man must first be assembled piece by... read more »
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. 3Edward Gibbon
In this third of volume, readers will discover the rules of Jovian, Valentinian, Valens, Gratian, Theodosius, Arcadius, Honorius, Eutropius, and Valentinian III; wars in Germany, Britain, Africa, and Persia; the Gothic War in 376; the conversion of Rome; the revolt of the Goths; the numerous sackings of Rome by the... read more »
The Lost GirlD. H. Lawrence
The daughter of well-to-do tradespeople in the fictional mining town of Woodhouse, Alvina Houghton struggles to find excitement in her provincial surroundings and worries that she is condemned to become an old maid. After plans to elope with her lover to Australia and train as a nurse in London lead to nothing, she... read more »
AyeshaH. Rider Haggard
In this heart-stopping sequel to the classic novel "She," Allan Quatermain discovers a lost kingdom in the heart of Africa, ruled by the mysterious Ayesha. A haunting story of love and enchantment that spans the centuries to defy death and time. As to be expected from Haggard, this book is full of adventure -- a... read more »
The Eight Strokes of the ClockMaurice Leblanc
The eight strokes of the clock is a collection of stories of Maurice Leblanc featuring the adventures of Arsene Lupin, all of which have a common thread. To distract and seduce a young woman, Hortense Daniel, Arsene Lupin, with the identity of Prince Serge Renin, will focus on solving eight puzzles. Working with... read more »
ManaliveG. K. Chesterton
Perhaps the most light-hearted of all Chesterton’s "serious" works, in Manalive we follow the madcap adventure of Innocent Smith. Innocent Smith is a man who keeps the commandments but breaks all the conventions, and while doing so he shows us just how absurd those conventions are. Follow him as he breaks into his... read more »
The World Set FreeH. G. Wells
This chilling, futuristic novel, written in 1913, was incredibly prophetic on a major scale. Wells was a genius and visionary, as demonstrated by many of his other works, but this book is clearly one of his best. He predicts nuclear warfare years before research began and describes the chain reactions involved and... read more »
The Balloon-HoaxEdgar Allan Poe
The Balloon-Hoax is the title now used for a newspaper article written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1844. Originally presented as a true story, it detailed European Monck Mason's trip across the Atlantic Ocean in only three days in a hot air balloon. It was later revealed as a hoax and the story was... read more »
The Black CatEdgar Allan Poe
A study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's \"The Tell-Tale Heart\". In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime and believes himself unassailable, but eventually breaks down and reveals himself, impelled by a nagging reminder of his guilt. A man overcome by alcohol sinks into wild... read more »
Arsène Lupin vs. Herlock SholmesMaurice Leblanc
Leblanc’s creation, gentleman thief Arsene Lupin, is everything you would expect from a French aristocrat – witty, charming, brilliant, sly...and possibly the greatest thief in the world. In this classic tale, Lupin comes up against the only man who may be able to stop him...no less than the great British... read more »
Monday or TuesdayVirginia Woolf
A haunted house that holds the mystery of the human heart; a challenge to read the contents of a library -- that reveals how dismally bad all too many books are. Five faces in a train compartment that among them become an unwritten novel. . . . a garden that holds the memory of love. Monday or Tuesday contains eight... read more »
The Oakdale AffairEdgar Rice Burroughs
A robbery, marriage, and disappearance of a young girl have struck the town of Oakdale, but are things as they really seem? The beautiful young daughter of a wealthy family is robbed of her money and jewels, and she herself disappears; A young man fleeing a band of murderous hoboes becomes the target of a lynch mob... read more »
Allan QuatermainH. Rider Haggard
Before there was Indiana Jones there was Allan Quartermain: the original explorer, treasure hunter, and adventurer. In this sequel to King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and his companions once more set out for Africa, this time in search of a white race reputed to live north of Mount Kenya. They survive fierce... read more »
The TrespasserD. H. Lawrence
Siegmund, a musician at the local opera house, has fallen in love with a former pupil, Helena. She persuades him to go with her to the Isle of Wight for a few days, but happiness eludes them. Helena, dreaming of a great union of minds, rejects the physical intensity of Siegmund's love. read more »