The Vicar of Wakefield Oliver Goldsmith http://www.feedbooks.com/book/116 urn:isbn:0192805126 en 1766 Novels http://www.feedbooks.com/book/116.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/116.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/116.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/116.mobi The Man Who Was Thursday: a Nightmare Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3680 urn:isbn:0375757910 en 1908 Novels Crime/Mystery Fantasy Thriller Religion The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The book has been referred to as a metaphysical thriller. Although it deals with anarchists, the novel is not an exploration or rebuttal of anarchist thought; Chesterton's ad hoc construction of "Philosophical Anarchism" is distinguished from ordinary anarchism and is referred to several times not so much as a rebellion against government but as a rebellion against God. The novel has been described as "one of the hidden hinges of twentieth-century writing, the place where, before our eyes, the nonsense-fantastical tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear pivots and becomes the nightmare-fantastical tradition of Kafka and Borges." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3680.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3680.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3680.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3680.mobi 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 Time Regained Marcel Proust http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1453 urn:isbn:0375753125 en 1931 Novels Romance This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1453.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1453.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1453.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1453.mobi Swann's Way Marcel Proust http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1262 urn:isbn:0142437964 en 1922 Novels In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past (French: À la recherche du temps perdu) is a semi-autobiographical novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its extended length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine". Still widely referred to in English as Remembrance of Things Past, the title In Search of Lost Time, a more accurate rendering of the French, has gained in usage since D.J. Enright's 1992 revision of the earlier translation by C.K. Scott-Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin. Swann's Way is the first volume. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1262.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1262.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1262.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1262.mobi The Red and the Black Stendhal http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1356 urn:isbn:0812972074 en 1830 Novels Romance The Red and the Black, Stendhal’s masterpiece, is the story of Julien Sorel, a young dreamer from the provinces, fueled by Napoleonic ideals, whose desire to make his fortune sets in motion events both mesmerizing and tragic. Sorel’s quest to find himself, and the doomed love he encounters along the way, are delineated with an unprecedented psychological depth and realism. At the same time, Stendhal weaves together the social life and fraught political intrigues of post–Napoleonic France, bringing that world to unforgettable, full-color life. His portrait of Julien and early-nineteenth-century France remains an unsurpassed creation, one that brilliantly anticipates modern literature. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1356.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1356.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1356.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1356.mobi Géorgiques Virgil http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2888 urn:isbn:2251013059 fr -28 Poetry http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2888.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2888.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2888.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2888.mobi The Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2065 urn:isbn:0486434664 en 1903 Novels http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2065.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2065.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2065.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2065.mobi Great Expectations Charles Dickens http://www.feedbooks.com/book/70 urn:isbn:0192833596 en 1861 Novels Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens first serialised in All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It is regarded as one of his greatest and most sophisticated novels, and is one of his most enduringly popular, having been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times. Great Expectations is written in a semi-autobiographical style, and is the story of the orphan Pip, writing his life from his early days of childhood until adulthood. The story can also be considered semi-autobiographical of Dickens, like much of his work, drawing on his experiences of life and people. The action of the story takes place from Christmas Eve, 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old, to the winter of 1840. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/70.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/70.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/70.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/70.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 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3311 en 1868 Novels Crime/Mystery Widely regarded as the precursor of the modern mystery and suspense novels, The Moonstone tells of the events surrounding the disappearance of a mysterious (and cursed) yellow diamond. T. S. Eliot called it 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. It contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre, including a crime being investigated by talented amateurs who happen to be present when it is committed, and two police officers who exemplify respectively the 'Scotland Yard bungler' and the skilled, professional detective. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3311.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3311.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3311.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3311.mobi Buttered Side Down Edna Ferber http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3459 en 1912 Short Fiction Collections From the Foreword: "And so," the story writers used to say, "they lived happily ever after." Um-m-m—maybe. After the glamour had worn off, and the glass slippers were worn out, did the Prince never find Cinderella's manner redolent of the kitchen hearth; and was it never necessary that he remind her to be more careful of her finger-nails and grammar? After Puss in Boots had won wealth and a wife for his young master did not that gentleman often fume with chagrin because the neighbors, perhaps, refused to call on the lady of the former poor miller's son? It is a great risk to take with one's book-children. These stories make no such promises. They stop just short of the phrase of the old story writers, and end truthfully, thus: And so they lived. This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3459.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3459.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3459.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3459.mobi The Gift of the Magi O. Henry http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3504 urn:isbn:141693586X en 1906 Short Fiction Jim Dillingham Young and his wife Della are a young couple who are very much in love with each other, but can barely afford their one-room apartment opposite the elevated train due to their very bad economic condition. For Christmas, Della decides to buy Jim a chain which costs twenty dollars for his prized pocket watch given to him by his father. To raise the funds, she has her prized long hair cut off and sold to make a wig. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his watch to buy Della a beautiful set of combs made out of tortoise shell for her lovely, knee-length brown hair. Although each is disappointed to find the gift they chose rendered useless, each is pleased with the gift they received, because it represents their love for one another. The true unselfish love that the characters, Jim and Della, share is greater than their possessions. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3504.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3504.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3504.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3504.mobi The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel Baroness Emma Orczy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3569 urn:isbn:1406835870 en 1919 Short Fiction History Adventure Collections Written by Baroness Orczy and first published in 1919, The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel is a sequel book to the classic adventure tale, The Scarlet Pimpernel. The book consists of eleven short stories about Sir Percy Blakeney's exploits in rescuing various aristos and French citizens from the clutches of the guillotine. The stories are set in 1793 but appear in no particular order. They occasionally refer to events in other books in the series. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3569.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3569.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3569.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3569.mobi The Scarlet Pimpernel Baroness Emma Orczy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3568 urn:isbn:014037454X en 1905 Novels History Adventure In this historical adventure set during the French Revolution, the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel sets out to rescue men, women and children facing the horrors of the guillotine, while evading the relentless pursuit of his arch enemy, Chauvelin. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3568.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3568.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3568.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3568.mobi El Dorado Baroness Emma Orczy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3576 urn:isbn:0486440265 en 1913 Novels History Adventure Eldorado, by Baroness Orczy is a sequel book to the classic adventure tale, The Scarlet Pimpernel. It was first published in 1913. The novel is notable in that it is the partial basis for most of the film treatments of the original book. A French language version, translated and adapted by Charlotte and Marie-Louise Desroyses, was also produced under the title La Capture du Mouron Rouge. As well as containing all the main characters from the first book, Eldorado introduces several new characters and features the Baron de Batz, who also turns up in Sir Percy Leads the Band and The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (Baron Jean de Batz is a genuine historical figure). It is 1794 and Paris, "despite the horrors that had stained her walls - has remained a city of pleasure, and the knife of the guillotine did scarce descend more often than did the drop-scenes on the stage." The plot begins when Sir Percy reluctantly agrees to take Armand St. Just with him to France as part of a plan to rescue the young Dauphin. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3576.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3576.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3576.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3576.mobi The Elusive Pimpernel Baroness Emma Orczy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3575 urn:isbn:0755111133 en 1908 Novels History Adventure First published in 1908, The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy is the 4th book in the classic adventure series about the Scarlet Pimpernel. It is September 1793 and French Agent and chief spy-catcher Chauvelin is determined to get his revenge for the previous humiliations dished out to him at the hands of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvelin travels to England as an official representative of the French government tasked with looking after the interests of French citizens, but this is only a cover and his real purpose is to trick Sir Percy Blakeney into returning to France, where he can be captured and put to the guillotine. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3575.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3575.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3575.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3575.mobi I Will Repay Baroness Emma Orczy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3574 urn:isbn:1599865696 en 1906 Novels History Adventure I Will Repay was written by Baroness Emmuska Orzcy and originally published in 1906, this is a sequel novel to the Scarlet Pimpernel. The second Pimpernel book written by Orzcy, it comes (chronologically) third in the series and should be read after Sir Percy Leads the Band and before The Elusive Pimpernel. The story starts before the French revolution. It's 1783 and wealthy Paul Déroulède has offended the young Vicomte de Marny by speaking disrepctfully of his latest infatuation, Adèle de Monterchéri. Déroulède had not intended to get into the quarrel but has a tendency to blunder into things -- "no doubt a part of the inheritance bequeathed to him by his bourgeois ancestry." Incensed at the slur on Adèle, who he sees as a paragon of virtue, the Vicomte challenges Déroulède to a duel, a fight which Déroulède does not want -- for he knows and respects the boy's father, the Duc de Marny. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3574.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3574.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3574.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3574.mobi Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Lewis Wallace http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3540 urn:isbn:1404185712 en 1880 Novels History Religion Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace published on November 12, 1880 by Harper & Brothers. Wallace's work is part of an important sub-genre of historical fiction set among the characters of the New Testament. The novel was a phenomenal best-seller; it soon surpassed Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) as the best-selling American novel and retained this distinction until the 1936 publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. The central character is Judah, prince of the Hebrew house of Hur. Judah grows up in Jerusalem, during the turbulent years around the birth of Christ. His best friend is Messala, a Roman. As adults Judah and Messala become rivals, each hating the other, which leads to Judah's downfall and eventual triumph. Elements of the story include leprosy, naval battles among galleys, the Roman hippodrome, Roman adoption, Magus Balthasar, the Arab sheikh Ilderim. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3540.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3540.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3540.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3540.mobi The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1523 en 1850 Novels Romance Gothic The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, is an American novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and is generally considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery, refuses to name the father, and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores questions of grace, legalism, sin and guilt. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1523.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1523.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1523.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1523.mobi Paradise Lost John Milton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174 urn:isbn:0393924289 en 1667 Poetry Religion Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books; a second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/174.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 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 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 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 Timaeus Plato http://www.feedbooks.com/book/712 urn:isbn:0521790670 en -400 Philosophy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/712.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/712.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/712.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/712.mobi Candide Voltaire http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709 urn:isbn:0553211668 en 1759 Novels Philosophy Candide, ou l'Optimisme (1759) is a French satire by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, English translations of which have been titled Candide: Or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: Or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Or, Optimism (1947). The novella begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply optimism) by his tutor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this existence, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not outright rejecting optimism, advocating an enigmatic precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/709.mobi The Aeneid of Virgil (I-VI) Virgil http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3076 urn:isbn:0199231958 en -29 Poetry The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by Virgil in the 1st century BC (between 29 and 19 BC) that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is written in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas' wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half treats the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a character in the Iliad; Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas' wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Rome and a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous piety, and fashioned this into a compelling founding myth or nationalist epic that at once tied Rome to the legends of Troy, glorified traditional Roman virtues and legitimized the Julio-Claudian dynasty http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3076.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3076.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3076.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3076.mobi