De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (translated On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia) or more simply Utopia is a 1516 book by Sir (Saint) Thomas More. The book, written in Latin, is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. The name of the place is derived from the Greek words οὐ u and τόπος tópos , with the topographical suffix -εία eía, hence Οὐτοπεία outopeía (Latinized as ...

Book #5 in the Wizard of Oz series.~~ includes all the original illustrations (over 130) by John R. Neill, and a new Preface by Oz expert and Eltanin Editor Joseph Nusbaum. ~~~~ An excerpt from the preface:"If Baum’s prior book, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, struck too dark and grim a tone with many Oz fans, The Road to Oz brings readers back to a marvelous fairyland where the greatest hardship our...

The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult. The narrative predates and most likely influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot and Guinevere, and has had a substantial impact on Western art and the idea of romantic love and literature.

"Nicholas Nickleby" combined the comic and the sensational elements for the first time, and is still the type of Dickens's longer books, in which the strain of violent pathos or sinister mystery is incessantly relieved by farce, either of incident or description. In this novel, too, the easy-going, old-fashioned air of "Pickwick" is abandoned in favour of a humanitarian attitude more in keeping with the access of Puritanism which the new reign had brought with it, and from this time forth ...

"Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka is an enigmatic exploration of the human psyche that unfolds like a surreal tapestry, weaving threads of existentialism, isolation, and the absurd. At its heart is the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, whose ordinary life is irrevocably altered when he awakens one morning to discover he has metamorphosed into a grotesque insect. Kafka's prose, hauntingly beautiful, captures the essence of Gregor's inner turmoil and the profound alienation that ensues. The novella's ...

Life hasn't been generous to Moll Flanders. Moll's mother is in prison, so Moll is raised by a kind widow. As a teenager, Moll is seduced by the widow's oldest son, but he convinces her to marry his brother instead. This first husband dies a few years after, leaving Moll and her children without support. From that day on, Moll embarks on a quest to find a man with money. Instead, a series of failed marriages, assorted children, and poverty force Moll into a life of crime. Later imprisoned ...

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It relates the events experienced by a mariner who has returned from a long sea voyage. The Mariner stops a man who is on the way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The Wedding-Guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience and fear to fascination as the Mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style: for example, Coleridge uses narrative techniqu...

The Man Who Knew Too Much is a book of detective stories by English writer G. K. Chesterton, published in 1922 by Cassell and Company in the United Kingdom, and Harper Brothers in the United States. The book contains eight connected short stories about "The Man Who Knew Too Much", and additional unconnected stories featuring separate heroes/detectives. The United States edition contained one of these additional stories: "The Trees of Pride", while the United Kingdom edition contained "Tree...

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 appreciate this collection.

Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centres on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new step-sister enters Molly's quiet life – loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford. When Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell died suddenly in 1865, the novel was not quite complete, and aft...

Long, long ago there was a large plain called Adachigahara, in the province of Mutsu in Japan. This place was said to be haunted by a cannibal goblin who took the form of an old woman. From time to time many travelers disappeared and were never heard of more, and the old women round the charcoal braziers in the evenings, and the girls washing the household rice at the wells in the mornings, whispered dreadful stories of how the missing folk had been lured to the goblin's cottage and devour...

‘Of Human Bondage’ is Maugham's masterpiece strongly autobiographical in nature, although Maugham denied this stating that this was a novel, not an autobiography, though much of it was autobiographical, more is pure invention. Of Human Bondage is often included in lists of best English-language novels of the 20th century. From a tormented orphan with a clubfoot, Philip Carey grows into an impressionable young man with a voracious appetite for adventure and knowledge. His cravings take him ...