The Hunchback of Notre Dame Victor Hugo http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580 urn:isbn:0451527887 en 1831 Novels History Romance The Hunchback of Notre Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris) is an 1831 French novel written by Victor Hugo. It is set in 1482 in Paris, in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The book tells the story of a poor barefoot Gypsy girl (La Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo) who was raised by the Archdeacon (Claude Frollo). The book was written as a statement to preserve the Notre Dame cathedral and not to 'modernize' it, as Hugo was thoroughly against this. The story begins during the Renaissance in 1482, the day of the Festival of Fools in Paris. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer, is introduced by his crowning as Pope of Fools. Esméralda, a beautiful 16-year-old gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men but especially Quasimodo’s adopted father, Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his lust and the rules of the church. He orders Quasimodo to get her. Quasimodo is caught and whipped and ordered to be tied down in the heat. Esméralda seeing his thirst, offers him water. It saves her, for she captures the heart of the hunchback. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3580.mobi A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens http://www.feedbooks.com/book/81 urn:isbn:0553211765 en 1859 Novels History A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the second historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding savage brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/81.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/81.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/81.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/81.mobi The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Francis Scott Fitzgerald http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3431 en 1922 Short Fiction This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler's "Note-books." The story was published in "Collier's" last summer and provoked this startling letter from an anonymous admirer in Cincinnati: "Sir-- I have read the story Benjamin Button in Colliers and I wish to say that as a short story writer you would make a good lunatic I have seen many peices of cheese in my life but of all the peices of cheese I have ever seen you are the biggest peice. I hate to waste a peice of stationary on you but I will." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3431.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3431.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3431.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3431.mobi Quo Vadis Henryk Sienkiewicz http://www.feedbooks.com/book/350 urn:isbn:1934169064 en 1896 Novels History Romance Religion Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero, commonly known as Quo Vadis, is a historical novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz. Quo vadis is Latin for "Where are you going?" and alludes to a New Testament verse (John 13:36). The verse, in the King James Version, reads as follows, "Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards." Quo Vadis tells of a love that develops between a young Christian woman, Ligia (or Lygia), and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patrician. It takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero around AD 64. Sienkiewicz studied the Roman Empire extensively prior to writing the novel, with the aim of getting historical details correct. As such, several historical figures appear in the book. As a whole, the novel carries a powerful pro-Christian message. Published in installments in three Polish dailies in 1895, it came out in book form in 1896 and has since been translated into more than 50 languages. This novel contributed to Sienkiewicz's Nobel Prize for literature in 1905. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/350.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/350.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/350.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/350.mobi An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210 urn:isbn:0679783369 en 1776 Non-Fiction Science Politics Adam Smith's masterpiece, first published in 1776, is the foundation of modern economic thought and remains the single most important account of the rise of, and the principles behind, modern capitalism. Written in clear and incisive prose, The Wealth of Nations articulates the concepts indispensable to an understanding of contemporary society. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/210.mobi War and Peace Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/83 urn:isbn:067003469X en 1869 Novels History War War and Peace is a novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published from 1865 to 1869 in Russkii Vestnik, which tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic Era. It is usually described as one of Tolstoy's two major masterpieces (the other being Anna Karenina) as well as one of the world's greatest novels. War and Peace offered a new kind of fiction, with a great many characters caught up in a plot that covered nothing less than the grand subjects indicated by the title, combined with the equally large topics of youth, marriage, age, and death. Though it is often called a novel today, it broke so many conventions of the form that it was not considered a novel in its time. Indeed, Tolstoy himself considered Anna Karenina (1878) to be his first attempt at a novel in the European sense. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/83.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/83.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/83.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/83.mobi I, Robot Cory Doctorow http://www.feedbooks.com/book/337 urn:isbn:1560259817 en 2005 Short Fiction Science Fiction "I, Robot" is a science-fiction short story by Cory Doctorow published in 2005. The story is set in the type of police state needed to ensure that only one company is allowed to make robots, and only one type of robot is allowed. The story follows single Father detective Arturo Icaza de Arana-Goldberg while he tries to track down his missing teenage daughter. The detective is a bit of an outcast because his wife defected to Eurasia, a rival Superpower. Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/337.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/337.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/337.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/337.mobi The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41 urn:isbn:0879238712 en 1915 Novels Thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps shows...an attractive man, not too young...and not too old, since he must have the knowledge of maturity and substantial experience on which he will draw while being able to respond to the physical rigors of chase and pursuit. Let the hero, who appears at first to be relatively ordinary, and who thinks of himself as commonplace, be drawn against his best judgment into a mystery he only vaguely comprehends, so that he and the reader may share the growing tension together. Set him a task to perform...Place obstacles in his path the enemy, best left as ill-defined as possible, so that our hero cannot be certain who he might trust. See to it that he cannot turn to established authority to help, indeed that the police, the military, the establishment will be actively working against him. Then set a clock ticking... This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/41.mobi The Invisible Man H. G. Wells http://www.feedbooks.com/book/34 urn:isbn:0451528522 en 1897 Novels Science Fiction The Invisible Man is an 1897 science fiction novella by H.G. Wells. Wells' novel was originally serialised in Pearson's Magazine in 1897, and published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who theorises that if a person's refractive index is changed to exactly that of air and his body does not absorb or reflect light, then he will be invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but cannot become visible again, becoming mentally unstable as a result. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/34.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/34.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/34.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/34.mobi The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas http://www.feedbooks.com/book/398 urn:isbn:0670037796 en 1844 Novels History Romance Adventure The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—inseparable friends who live by the motto, "One for all, and all for one". The story of d'Artagnan is continued in Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne. Those three novels by Dumas are together known as the D'Artagnan Romances. The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the magazine Le Siècle between March and July 1844. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/398.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/398.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/398.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/398.mobi White Fang Jack London http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3533 en 1906 Novels Adventure An initiation story concerning the taming of a wild dog in the Klondike. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3533.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3533.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3533.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3533.mobi The Art of Public Speaking Dale Breckenridge Carnegie http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3695 urn:isbn:1602060517 en 1905 Non-Fiction Training in public speaking is not a matter of externals--primarily; it is not a matter of imitation--fundamentally; it is not a matter of conformity to standards--at all. Public speaking is public utterance, public issuance, of the man himself; therefore the first thing both in time and in importance is that the man should be and think and feel things that are worthy of being given forth. Unless there be something of value within, no tricks of training can ever make of the talker anything more than a machine--albeit a highly perfected machine--for the delivery of other men's goods. So self-development is fundamental in our plan. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3695.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3695.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3695.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3695.mobi The Kama Sutra Vatsyayana http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622 urn:isbn:0375759247 en 400 Non-Fiction Philosophy Sexuality The Kama Sutra, is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Vatsyayana. A portion of the work consists of practical advice on sex. Kāma means sensual or sexual pleasure, and sūtra are the guidlines of yoga, the word itself means thread in Sanskrit. The Kama Sutra is the oldest and most notable of a group of texts known generically as Kama Shastra). Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Shastra or "Discipline of Kama" is attributed to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva's doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3622.mobi The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421 urn:isbn:0199536953 en 1892 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery Collections The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective and illustrated by Sidney Paget. These are the first of the Sherlock Holmes short stories, originally published as single stories in the Strand Magazine from July 1891 to June 1892. The book was published in England on October 14, 1892 by George Newnes Ltd and in a US Edition on October 15 by Harper. The initial combined print run was 14,500 copies. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1421.mobi The Man in the Iron Mask Alexandre Dumas http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3601 urn:isbn:0192838423 en 1850 Novels History Romance Adventure The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is the third and last of the d'Artagnan Romances following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. It appeared first in serial form between 1847 and 1850. The Man in the Iron Mask is the fourth and final volume. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3601.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3601.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3601.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3601.mobi The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3403 en 1910 Novels Crime/Mystery The story of a man named Erik, an eccentric, physically deformed genius who terrorizes the Opera Garnier in Paris. He builds his home beneath it and takes the love of his life, a beautiful soprano, under his wing. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3403.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3403.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3403.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3403.mobi The Time Machine H. G. Wells http://www.feedbooks.com/book/32 urn:isbn:0812505042 en 1895 Novels Science Fiction The book's protagonist is an amateur inventor or scientist living in London who is never named; he is identified simply as The Time Traveller. Having demonstrated to friends using a miniature model that time is a fourth dimension, and that a suitable apparatus can move back and forth in this fourth dimension, he builds a full-scale model capable of carrying himself. He sets off on a journey into the future. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/32.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/32.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/32.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/32.mobi The Federalist Papers Publius http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674 urn:isbn:1596052473 en 1787 Non-Fiction History Essay Politics The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788. A compilation of these and eight others, called The Federalist, was published in 1788 by J. and A. McLean. The Federalist Papers serve as a primary source for interpretation of the Constitution, as they outline the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government. The authors of the Federalist Papers wanted to both influence the vote in favor of ratification and shape future interpretations of the Constitution. According to historian Richard B. Morris, they are an "incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2674.mobi Common Sense Thomas Paine http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850 urn:isbn:0486296024 en 1776 Non-Fiction Essay Politics Enormously popular and widely read pamphlet, first published in January of 1776, clearly and persuasively argues for American separation from Great Britain and paves the way for the Declaration of Independence. This highly influential landmark document attacks the monarchy, cites the evils of government and combines idealism with practical economic concerns. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2850.mobi Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/97 urn:isbn:1416500294 en 1883 Novels Adventure While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/97.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/97.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/97.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/97.mobi