Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15 urn:isbn:0486264645 en 1902 Novels Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski). Before its 1902 publication, it appeared as a three-part series (1899) in Blackwood's Magazine. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon. This highly symbolic story is actually a story within a story, or frame narrative. It follows Marlow as he recounts, from dusk through to late night, his adventure into the Congo to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary. The story details an incident when Marlow, an Englishman, took a foreign assignment as a ferry-boat captain, employed by a Belgian trading company. Although the river is never specifically named, readers may assume it is the Congo River, in the Congo Free State, a private colony of King Leopold II. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver; however, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization in a cover up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/15.mobi The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721 urn:isbn:0192801694 en 1907 Novels Mr Verloc, the secret agent, keeps a shop in London's Soho where he lives with his wife Winnie, her infirm mother, and her idiot brother, Stevie. When Verloc is reluctantly involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory things go disastrously wrong, and what appears to be 'a simple tale' proves to involve politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats and London's fashionable society in the darkest and most surprising interrelations. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/721.mobi Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31 urn:isbn:014018371X en 1904 Novels Set in the imaginary South American republic of Costaguana, this work is an illustration of the impact of foreign exploitation on a developing nation. As Sulaco, site of an English/American controlled silver mine establishes its independence, its ideals are inevitably compromised. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/31.mobi The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/718 urn:isbn:1406921297 en 1897 Novels This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/718.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/718.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/718.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/718.mobi Typhoon Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/720 urn:isbn:0192801732 en 1902 Novels This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/720.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/720.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/720.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/720.mobi Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe http://www.feedbooks.com/book/102 urn:isbn:0375757325 en 1719 Novels Adventure The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (of York, Mariner Who lived Eight and Twenty Years all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where in all the Men perished but Himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates) is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719 and sometimes regarded as the first novel in English. The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character, an English castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela, encountering Native Americans, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. This device, presenting an account of supposedly factual events, is known as a "false document" and gives a realistic frame story. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/102.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/102.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/102.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/102.mobi Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë http://www.feedbooks.com/book/144 urn:isbn:1551111802 en 1847 Novels Romance Jane Eyre, the story of a young girl and her passage into adulthood, was an immediate commercial success at the time of its original publication in 1847. Its representation of the underside of domestic life and the hypocrisy behind religious enthusiasm drew both praise and bitter criticism, while Charlotte Brontë's striking expose of poor living conditions for children in charity schools as well as her poignant portrayal of the limitations faced by women who worked as governesses sparked great controversy and social debate. Jane Eyre, Brontë's best-known novel, remains an extraordinary coming-of-age narrative, and one of the great classics of literature. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/144.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/144.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/144.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/144.mobi The Duel Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/750 en 1908 Short Fiction War This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/750.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/750.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/750.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/750.mobi The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6 urn:isbn:0375751513 en 1891 Novels Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence, and a few years later the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted in his imprisonment. Of the book's value as autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/6.mobi Don Quixote Miguel Cervantes http://www.feedbooks.com/book/183 urn:isbn:B001AAWVRY en 1615 Novels Humor/Satire Don Quixote, errant knight and sane madman, with the company of his faithful squire and wise fool, Sancho Panza, together roam the world and haunt readers' imaginations as they have for nearly four hundred years. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/183.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/183.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/183.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/183.mobi Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203 urn:isbn:0486436772 en 1820 Novels War Ivanhoe is the story of one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time when the English nobility was overwhelmingly Norman. It follows the Saxon protagonist, Wilfrid of Ivanhoe, who is out of favour with his father owing to his courting the Lady Rowena and for his allegiance to the Norman king Richard I of England. The story is set in 1194, after the end of the Third Crusade, when many of the Crusaders were still returning to Europe. King Richard, having been captured by the Duke of Saxony, on his way back, was still supposed to be in the arms of his captors. The legendary Robin Hood, initially under the name of Locksley, is also a character in the story, as are his 'merry men,' including Friar Tuck and, less so, Alan-a-Dale. (Little John is merely mentioned.) The character that Scott gave to Robin Hood in Ivanhoe helped shape the modern notion of this figure as a cheery noble outlaw. Other major characters include Ivanhoe's intractable Saxon father Cedric, a descendant of the Saxon King Harold Godwinson; various Knights Templar and churchmen; the loyal serfs Gurth the swineherd and the jester Wamba, whose observations punctuate much of the action; and the Jewish moneylender, Isaac of York, equally passionate of money and his daughter, Rebecca. The book was written and published during a period of increasing struggle for Emancipation of the Jews in England, and there are frequent references to injustice against them. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/203.mobi The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1513 urn:isbn:0553212702 en 1851 Novels Romance Gothic In a sleepy little New England village stands a dark, weather-beaten, many-gabled house. This brooding mansion is haunted by a centuries-old curse that casts the shadow of ancestral sin upon the last four members of the distinctive Pyncheon family. Mysterious deaths threaten the living. Musty documents nestle behind hidden panels carrying the secret of the family’s salvation—or its downfall. Hawthorne called The House of the Seven Gables “a Romance,” and freely bestowed upon it many fascinating gothic touches. A brilliant intertwining of the popular, the symbolic, and the historical, the novel is a powerful exploration of personal and national guilt, a work that Henry James declared “the closest approach we are likely to have to the Great American Novel.” http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1513.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1513.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1513.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1513.mobi Moby-Dick Herman Melville http://www.feedbooks.com/book/54 urn:isbn:0553213113 en 1851 Novels Adventure Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaling ship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby-Dick, a white whale of tremendous size and ferocity. Comparatively few whaling ships know of Moby-Dick, and fewer yet have encountered him. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to exact revenge. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/54.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/54.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/54.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/54.mobi Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2042 urn:isbn:0192840398 en 1857 Novels Romance Madame Bovary scandalized its readers when it was first published in 1857. And the story itself remains as fresh today as when it was first written, a work that remains unsurpassed in its unveiling of character and society. It tells the tragic story of the romantic but empty-headed Emma Rouault. When Emma marries Charles Bovary, she imagines she will pass into the life of luxury and passion that she reads about in sentimental novels and women's magazines. But Charles is an ordinary country doctor, and provincial life is very different from the romantic excitement for which she yearns. In her quest to realize her dreams she takes a lover, Rodolphe, and begins a devastating spiral into deceit and despair. And Flaubert captures every step of this catastrophe with sharp-eyed detail and a wonderfully subtle understanding of human emotions. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2042.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2042.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2042.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2042.mobi An Anarchist Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/749 en 1905 Short Fiction This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/749.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/749.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/749.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/749.mobi The Lagoon Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/13 urn:isbn:0192832220 en 1897 Short Fiction This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/13.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/13.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/13.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/13.mobi The Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri http://www.feedbooks.com/book/206 urn:isbn:0451208633 en 1306 Poetry Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise-the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/206.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/206.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/206.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/206.mobi The Secret Sharer Joseph Conrad http://www.feedbooks.com/book/741 urn:isbn:1599869004 en 1909 Short Fiction This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/741.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/741.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/741.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/741.mobi Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2052 urn:isbn:0451530179 en 1915 Novels From an orphan with a clubfoot, Philip Carey grows into an impressionable young man with a voracious appetite for adventure and knowledge. Then he falls obsessively in love, embarking on a disastrous relationship that will change his life forever. This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2052.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2052.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2052.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2052.mobi The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73 urn:isbn:037576030X en 1845 Novels Adventure The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers, as Dumas' most popular work. It is also among the highest selling books of all time. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet. The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, forgiveness and death, and is told in the style of an adventure story. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/73.mobi