The Book of Five Rings Musashi Miyamoto http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953 urn:isbn:1590302486 en 1644 Non-Fiction Philosophy Essay Biography Miyamoto Musashi's Go Rin no Sho or the book of five rings, is considered a classic treatise on military strategy, much like Sun Tzu's The Art of War and Chanakya's Arthashastra. The five "books" refer to the idea that there are different elements of battle, just as there are different physical elements in life, as described by Buddhism, Shinto, and other Eastern religions. Through the book Musashi defends his thesis: a man who conquers himself is ready to take it on on the world, should need arise. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3953.mobi Arm of the Law Harry Harrison http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4017 en 1958 Short Fiction Science Fiction At one time—this was before the Robot Restriction Laws—they'd even allowed them to make their own decisions.... Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4017.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4017.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4017.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4017.mobi Fall Love Anne Whitehouse http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/1900 en 2008 Fall Love tells the intertwined stories of four twenties-something artists and professionals adrift in the bad old pre-AIDS New York of 1980. From a summer of love through an autumn of deceit and regret, we follow the lives of Althea, Jeanne, Paul, and Bryce from self-sacrifice to self-knowledge. fiction roman love absurd comedy Amor romantic triangle literature literary fiction art and artists art/teaching artists in love gay novel bisexual novel http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.png http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.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 Antichrist Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711 urn:isbn:1420925091 en 1888 Non-Fiction Philosophy Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Antichrist" might be more aptly named "The Antichristian," for it is an unmitigated attack on Christianity that Nietzsche makes within the text instead of an exposition on evil or Satan as the title might suggest. In "The Antichrist," Nietzsche presents a highly controversial view of Christianity as a damaging influence upon western civilization that must come to an end. Regardless of ones religious or philosophical point of view, "The Antichrist" makes for an engaging philosophical discourse. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/711.mobi Les Misérables Victor Hugo http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1559 urn:isbn:0375403175 en 1862 Novels History Les Misérables (1862) is a novel by French author Victor Hugo, and among the best-known novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty year period in the early 19th century that starts in the year of Napoleon's final defeat. Principally focusing on the struggles of the protagonist—ex-convict Jean Valjean—who seeks to redeem himself, the novel also examines the impact of Valjean's actions for the sake of social commentary. It examines the nature of good, evil, and the law, in a sweeping story that expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, law, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage and screen adaptations, of which the most famous is the stage musical of the same name, sometimes abbreviated "Les Mis" or "Les Miz" . http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1559.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1559.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1559.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1559.mobi Little Women Louisa May Alcott http://www.feedbooks.com/book/139 urn:isbn:0517214628 en 1868 Novels Little Women or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Written and published in two parts in 1868 and 1869, the novel follows the lives of four sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March — and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters. The first part of the book was an immediate commercial and critical success and prompted the composition of the book's second part, also a huge success. Both parts were first published as a single volume in 1880. The book is an unquestioned American classic. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/139.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/139.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/139.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/139.mobi The War of the Worlds H. G. Wells http://www.feedbooks.com/book/35 urn:isbn:0812505158 en 1898 Novels Science Fiction War The War of the Worlds (1898), by H. G. Wells, is an early science fiction novel which describes an invasion of England by aliens from Mars. It is one of the earliest and best-known depictions of an alien invasion of Earth, and has influenced many others, as well as spawning several films, radio dramas, comic book adaptations, and a television series based on the story. The 1938 radio broadcast caused public outcry against the episode, as many listeners believed that an actual Martian invasion was in progress, a notable example of mass hysteria. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/35.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/35.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/35.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/35.mobi Middlemarch George Eliot http://www.feedbooks.com/book/575 urn:isbn:0451529170 en 1871 Novels Vast and crowded, rich in irony and suspense, Middlemarch is richer still in character, with two of the era's most enduring characters, Dorothea Brooke, trapped in a loveless marriage, and Lydgate, an ambitious young doctor. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/575.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/575.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/575.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/575.mobi Bleak House Charles Dickens http://www.feedbooks.com/book/686 urn:isbn:0375760059 en 1853 Novels Widely regarded as Dickens’s masterpiece, Bleak House centers on the generations-long lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, through which “whole families have inherited legendary hatreds.” Focusing on Esther Summerson, a ward of John Jarndyce, the novel traces Esther’s romantic coming-of-age and, in classic Dickensian style, the gradual revelation of long-buried secrets, all set against the foggy backdrop of the Court of Chancery. Mixing romance, mystery, comedy, and satire, Bleak House limns the suffering caused by the intricate inefficiency of the law. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/686.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/686.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/686.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/686.mobi The Portrait of a Lady Henry James http://www.feedbooks.com/book/413 urn:isbn:0375759190 en 1881 Novels Romance One of the great heroines of American literature, Isabel Archer, journeys to Europe in order to, as Henry James writes in his 1908 Preface, “affront her destiny.” James began The Portrait of a Lady without a plot or subject, only the slim but provocative notion of a young woman taking control of her fate. The result is a richly imagined study of an American heiress who turns away her suitors in an effort to first establish—and then protect—her independence. But Isabel’s pursuit of spiritual freedom collapses when she meets the captivating Gilbert Osmond. “James’s formidable powers of observation, his stance as a kind of bachelor recorder of human doings in which he is not involved,” writes Hortense Calisher, “make him a first-class documentarian, joining him to that great body of storytellers who amass what formal history cannot.” This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/413.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/413.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/413.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/413.mobi Fathers and Sons Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1922 urn:isbn:0192833928 en 1862 Novels When a young graduate returns home he is accompanied, much to his father and uncle's discomfort, by a strange friend "who doesn't acknowledge any authorities, who doesn't accept a single principle on faith." Turgenev's masterpiece of generational conflict shocked Russian society when it was published in 1862 and continues today to seem as fresh and outspoken as it did to those who first encountered its nihilistic hero. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1922.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1922.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1922.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1922.mobi Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469 urn:isbn:1593083653 en 1848 Novels “I think I could be a good woman, if I had five thousand a year,” observes beautiful and clever Becky Sharp, one of the wickedest—and most appealing—women in all of literature. Becky is just one of the many fascinating figures that populate William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair, a wonderfully satirical panorama of upper-middle-class life and manners in London at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Scorned for her lack of money and breeding, Becky must use all her wit, charm and considerable sex appeal to escape her drab destiny as a governess. From London’s ballrooms to the battlefields of Waterloo, the bewitching Becky works her wiles on a gallery of memorable characters, including her lecherous employer, Sir Pitt, his rich sister, Miss Crawley, and Pitt’s dashing son, Rawdon, the first of Becky’s misguided sexual entanglements. Filled with hilarious dialogue and superb characterizations, Vanity Fair is a richly entertaining comedy that asks the reader, “Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?” http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1469.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 Camilla Fanny Burney http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1468 urn:isbn:019283908X en 1796 Novels Romance http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1468.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1468.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1468.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1468.mobi The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/93 urn:isbn:0375753206 en 1920 Novels The Age of Innocence centers on one society couple's impending marriage and the introduction of a scandalous woman whose presence threatens their happiness. Though the novel questions the assumptions and mores of turn of the century New York society, it never devolves into an outright condemnation of the institution. In fact, Wharton considered this novel an "apology" for the earlier, more brutal and critical, "The House of Mirth". Not to be overlooked is the author's attention to detailing the charms and customs of this caste. The novel is lauded for its accurate portrayal of how the nineteenth-century East Coast American upper class lived and this combined with the social tragedy earned Wharton a Pulitzer - the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/93.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/93.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/93.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/93.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 A Room with a View E. M. Forster http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2068 urn:isbn:0553213237 en 1908 Novels Romance This Edwardian social comedy explores love and prim propriety among an eccentric cast of characters assembled in an Italian pensione and in a corner of Surrey, England. A charming young Englishwoman, Lucy Honeychurch, faints into the arms of a fellow Britisher when she witnesses a murder in a Florentine piazza. Attracted to this man, George Emerson—who is entirely unsuitable and whose father just may be a Socialist—Lucy is soon at war with the snobbery of her class and her own conflicting desires. Back in England, she is courted by a more acceptable, if stifling, suitor and soon realizes she must make a startling decision that will decide the course of her future: she is forced to choose between convention and passion. This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2068.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2068.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2068.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2068.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 Emma Jane Austen http://www.feedbooks.com/book/45 urn:isbn:0553212737 en 1816 Novels Romance Emma is a comic novel by Jane Austen, first published in December 1815, about the perils of misconstrued romance. The main character, Emma Woodhouse, is described in the opening paragraph as "handsome, clever, and rich" but is also rather spoiled. Prior to starting the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." http://www.feedbooks.com/book/45.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/45.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/45.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/45.mobi