Here is the story of Tom, Huck, Becky, and Aunt Polly; a tale of adventures, pranks, playing hookey, and summertime fun. Written by the author sometimes called "the Lincoln of literature," The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was surprisingly neither a critical nor a financial success when it was first published in 1876. It…Read More »
Famous as the basis for several films, including the brilliant 1935 version directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a classic of early twentieth-century popular literature. Richard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in London. But then…Read More »
Austin Gilroy, a physiology student, is introduced to a Miss Penclosa, a cripple who allegedly has psychic powers. After a convincing experiment of Miss Penclosa's powers, Gilroy is convinced and so begins to study her unique skills. Unfortunately for Gilroy, Miss Penclosa falls in love with him and begins to use he…Read More »
The famous, funny, and inspiring stories of creation as readers have never heard them before. From the tale of how the leopard got his spots to the crab who played with the sea, from the ingenious invention of the alphabet to how the rhinoceros got his wrinkled skin, these stories of strange happenings in the High a…Read More »
The most famous—and perhaps greatest—novel of all time, Tolstoy’s War and Peace tells the story of five families struggling for survival during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.Among its many unforgettable characters is Prince Andrey Bolkonsky, a proud, dashing man who, despising the artifice of high society, joins t…Read More »
Doyle's first published story involving the legendary Sherlock Holmes, arguably the world's best-known detective, and the first narrative by Holmes's Boswell, the unassuming Dr. Watson, a military surgeon lately returned from the Afghan War. Watson needs a flat-mate and a diversion. Holmes needs a foil. And thus a g…Read More »
No child should be allowed to grow up without reading The Jungle Books. These stories crackle with as much life and intensity as ever. Rudyard Kipling pours fuel on childhood fantasies with his tales of Mowgli, lost in the jungles of India as a child and adopted into a family of wolves. Mowgli is brought up on a d…Read More »
After many adventures, a tiny boy, no bigger than his father's thumb, earns a place as the smallest Knight of the Round Table. Also includes "The Cat and the Mouse" and "Fire! Fire! Burn Stick!"
In an overgrown churchyard, a grizzled convict springs upon an orphan boy named Pip. The convict terrifies Pip and threatens to kill him unless the boy helps further his escape. Later, Pip finds himself in a ruined garden where he meets the embittered and crazy Miss Havisham and her foster child, Estella, with whom …Read More »
Perhaps the most popular of all Sherlock Holmes stories, The Hound of the Baskervilles combines the traditional detective tale with elements of horror. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the wild Devon moorland with the footprints of a giant hound nearby, the blame is placed on a family curse-and it is up…Read More »
This sparkling sequel to the beloved Little Women follows the grown-up and married Jo, mistress of Plumfield, a school for boys (and a few girls, too). The fun begins with a new arrival, Nat Blake; it is through his eyes that we first meet Plumfield’s lively residen…Read More »
Tales of Space and Time is a fantasy and science fiction collection of three short stories and two novellas written by H. G. Wells between 1897 and 1898. It was first published by Doubleday & McClure Co. in 1899.
This is the legendary novel of technological speculation and social satire that launched an entire genre of adventure fiction: Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and 'Round the Moon is the first story of space exploration and remains a beloved work of daring exploits-and surprisingly accurate scientific conjectu…Read More »
Perhaps the most haunting and tragic love story ever written, Wuthering Heights is the tale of Heathcliff, a brooding, troubled orphan, and his doomed love for Catherine Earnshaw. His desire for her leads him to madness, however, when Catherine is made to marry a wealthy lord, sending Heathcliff on a life-long quest…Read More »
Wodehouse's retelling of the William Tell legend in prose, verse and with illustrations. First published on November 11, 1904 by Adam & Charles Black, the main, prose element was written by P. G. Wodehouse, in typical Wodehousian style, while the 16 colour illustrations were by Philip Dadd and the accompanying ver…Read More »
Even as a pup, he is different from his brothers: A large gray cub among a litter of red-haired puppies, with a quicker bite and heavier paw. When he leaves the protection of his snug cave, he and his mother are captured by the fire-making gods – man-animals who live in teepees, and who determine that the pup is ha…Read More »
The Warlord of Mars completes the story begun in A Princess of Mars and continued in The Gods of Mars, finally bringing together John Carter and his beloved Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. Carter last saw his beloved in the Temple of the Sun of the Holy Therns, with the blade of Phaidor descending toward her heart…Read More »
Harriet Beecher Stowe was appalled by slavery, and she took one of the few options open to nineteenth-century women who wanted to affect public opinion: she wrote a novel, a huge, enthralling narrative that claimed the heart, soul, and politics of pre-Civil War Americans. An overtly moralistic work of unabashed prop…Read More »
Two decades have passed since the famous swordsmen triumphed over Cardinal Richelieu and Milady in The Three Musketeers. Time has weakened their resolve, and dispersed their loyalties. But treasons and strategems still cry out for justice: civil war endangers the throne of France, while in England, Cromwell threaten…Read More »
A mission to rid the seas of a monstrous creature becomes a terrifying nightmare when Professor Arronax, Conseil and Ned Land are thrown overboard. The huge marine animal which has haunted the water is no living beast, but a spectacular man-made vessel, and the three men find themselves the helpless prisoners of Cap…Read More »
The Arisians, benevolent humanoids who have declared themselves Guardians of Civilization, war with the Eddoreans, shapeless, malevolent beings, hungry for power at any price. They fight on both physical and mental levels, wielding weaponry of inconceivable destructiveness. And their battleground is a tiny planet …Read More »
Jim Hawkins has led an ordinary life as an innkeeper's son until the day he inadvertently discovers a treasure map in a trunk belonging to an old sea captain, and thus, suddenly, his ordinary life turns into the extraordinary adventure of a lifetime. Jim and his companions decide ato follow the map to the coast of S…Read More »
Mars has become divided by love. Not one, but two princes and a Jeddak are vying for the love of Thuvia of Ptarth. When she is mysteriously kidnapped, treachery threatens to throw Barsoom into bloody war. Now Cathoris must follow in the footsteps of his father, John Carter, and overcome phantom armies, dangerous spi…Read More »
When a cyclone hits Kansas, Dorothy and her little dog, Toto, are whisked away to the magical land of Oz. All alone in this strange world, they wonder how they'll ever get home. With their new friends, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion, they brave many dangers and journey to the Emerald City in s…Read More »
Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and the mischievous Toad live a quiet life on banks of the River Thames with the rest of their animal friends. But Toad tends to get into trouble, and his passion for cars eventually results in his being caught and kept a helpless prisoner in the remotest dungeon of the best-guarded castle i…Read More »
"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s…" So begins H. G. Wells’ classic novel in which Martian lifeforms take over planet Earth. As the Martians emerge, they construct giant killing machines - …Read More »
Doctor John Dolittle, the veterinarian who can actually talk to animals, sets sail on the high seas for new adventures! Accompanied by his young friend Tommy Stubbins and the beloved animals of his household – Polynesia the parrot, Jip the dog, and Chee-Chee the monkey – the good doctor is off to forbidding Spider…Read More »
It is now 1660, and although promised the captaincy of the musketeers at the close of Twenty Years After, D'Artagnan is still trailing his sword in the Louvre as a lowly lieutenant. Louis XIV is well past the age where he should rule, but the ailing Cardinal Mazarin refuses to relinquish the reins of power. Meanwh…Read More »
Wells touches gently on time travel as a notion, but mostly The Time Machine is about the terminal future he sees for mankind: His nameless time traveler ventures to the world that will be 802,701 A.D., And there he finds mankind divided among the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are a gentle, winsome, idle race, who…Read More »
"All for one and one for all!"The young and headstrong D'Artagnan, having proven his bravery by dueling with each, becomes a friend of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, members of the King's Musketeers. He is in love with Constance Bonancieux and, at her urging, he and his friends head for England to reclaim two diamond s…Read More »