"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is considered by many to be the greatest of all American novels. This sequel to Twain's «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,» is a first person narrative told by its title character. The novel picks up where «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer» leaves off. Huck Finn who is now wealthy with the discovery of treasure at the end of «The Adventures of Tom Sawyer» finds himself in great danger from his abusive drunk ...
"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is considered one of the greatest adventure novels of all time. It is the first in a series of stories about Percy Blakeney, an Englishman in France during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, who lives a double life as an English aristocrat and a swashbuckling masked rescuer of French aristocrats from the guillotine. «The Scarlet Pimpernel» is the classic tale of action and adventure that literally invented ...
Upon original submission of «Anthem» to Macmillan publishing the book was rejected on grounds that «the author does not understand socialism.» For the harshest of Ayn Rand's critics this might as well be an analysis of all her work. However, for those who revere Rand's work and subscribe to her particular philosophy of objectivism this novel could be set in the present day instead of some unidentified future in which mankind has entere ...
First Published in 1653, Izaak Walton's «The Compleat Angler» is a much loved treatise on the art of fishing. In the 1676 edition of the book, Charles Cotton added a second part thus expanding the volume. Those two parts are included here in this edition. «The Compleat Angler» is a classic of fishing literature and a copy belongs in the library of any true sportsman. ...
Oliver Goldsmith's 18th century novel «The Vicar of Wakefield» was so popular in Victorian times that it is mentioned in many classics of that era including George Eliot's «Middlemarch,» Jane Austen's «Emma,» Charles Dickens' «A Tale of Two Cities» and Mary Shelley's «Frankenstein», amongst others. It is the story of Dr. Charles Primrose, the titular Vicar, his wife Deborah and their six children who live an idyllic life ...
Perhaps one of the most influential works ever written, «The Metamorphoses» is an epic and narrative poem by the Roman writer Ovid. Finished in 8 AD, this work, organized into fifteen books, combines a stunning arrangement of mythological tales that are masterfully connected by a theme of transformation, most often through love. Beginning with the world's creation, the poet utilizes unparalleled wit to describe the history of the world, inc ...
"El Filibusterismo" or in English «The Filibustering» is the second novel by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, which is the sequel to his first novel «Noli Me Tangere» or «Touch me Not.» The main character of the first novel, Juan Crisostomo Ibarra returns as Simoun, a rich jeweler, to the Philippines after a thirteen year absence. At the center of the story is the conflict against Spanish colonialism. The Philippines, which is named aft ...
"The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson" begins with the act of a young slave girl exchanging her light-skinned child, fearing for its safety, for that of her master's. From this reversal of identities evolves a suspenseful murder mystery and courtroom drama. «The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson» is everything one would expect from a novel by Mark Twain. On the surface it is a witty and satirical tale but as one digs deeper a biting s ...
Set in rural New England, «Ethan Frome» is the story of its title character who marries Zenobia, a nagging hypochondriac of a woman, and finds himself trapped in an unfulfilling life. When Zenobia's young cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, Frome falls in love with her. «Ethan Frome» is the story of forbidden love and its tragic consequences. In «Summer» we have the story of the sexual awakening of a young woman, Charity Royall. C ...
