Project Gutenberg
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English
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Charmingly imperfect Catherine Morland is invited to Northanger Abbey, the home of new friends. Hearing exaggerated reports of her wealth, the head of household General Tilney encourages a marriage between his son Henry and Catherine. Before matters can be settled, Catherine must learn to distinguish between books and real life, false friends and true.
4) Candide
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English
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One of the world's great satires since its first publication in 1759. Witty, caustic skewering of romance, science, philosophy, religion, government - nearly all human ideals and institutions.
5) Common sense
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English
Description
Thomas Paine arrived in America from England in 1774. A friend of Ben Franklin, he was a writer of poetry and tracts condemning the slave trade. In 1775, as hostilities between Britain and the colonies intensified, Paine wrote "Common Sense" to encourage the colonies to break the British exploitative hold through independence.
6) The jungle
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English
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A documentary novel portraying industry's conditions at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Sinclair's novel prompted public outrage which led President Theodore Roosevelt to demand an official investigation. This eventually led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws.
7) Frankenstein
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English
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These unabridged editions of timeless childrens favorites feature stunning black-and-white artwork by Scott McKowen, a ribbon marker, and a series of insightful questions by Pober to encourage discussion and a deeper understanding of these enduring works.
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English
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This is the story of the savage, tormented foundling Heathcliff, who falls wildly in love with Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of his benefactor, and the violence and misery that result from their thwarted longing for each other. A book of great power and strength, it is filled with the raw beauty of the moors and an uncanny understanding of the terrible truths about men and women. It is an understanding made even more extraordinary by the fact that...
9) Siddhartha
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English
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Written in a prose of almost biblical simplicity and beauty, Hesse's classic work tells the story of a soul's long quest for the answer to the enigma of man's role on Earth.
10) A doll's house
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English
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"Before Ibsen, tragedies examined the lives of the aristocracy and upper classes, but A Doll's House was the first serious play to be written in prose about ordinary people in everyday situations. The plot revolves around Nora Helmer who is married to Torvald, an ambitious banker. Initially, the couple seem ideally matched, but as a consequence of blackmail Nora is forced to re-examine her life along with her role as a frivolous, scatter-brained wife."--p....
11) Emma
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English
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As daughter of the richest, most important man in the small provincial village of Highbury, Emma Woodhouse is firmly convinced that it is her right--perhaps even her "duty"--To arrange the lives of others. Considered by most critics to be Austen's most technically brilliant achievement, "Emma" sparkles with ironic insights into self-deception, self-discovery, and the interplay of love and power.
13) Persuasion
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English
Description
Austen's last novel is the crowning achievement of her matchless career. Her heroine, Anne Elliot, a woman of integrity, breeding and great depth of emotion, stands in stark contrast to the brutality and hypocrisy of Regency England. Includes a new Introduction by Margaret Drabble, famed novelist and editor of The Oxford Companion to the English Language.
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The memoirs of a brilliant and beloved Founding Father
Printer, author, scientist, inventor, statesman, revolutionary—arguably no American life has been more remarkable than Benjamin Franklin’s.
Penned between 1771 and 1790 and published after his death, the unfinished Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is one of the most acclaimed and widely read personal histories ever written. From his youth as...
Printer, author, scientist, inventor, statesman, revolutionary—arguably no American life has been more remarkable than Benjamin Franklin’s.
Penned between 1771 and 1790 and published after his death, the unfinished Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is one of the most acclaimed and widely read personal histories ever written. From his youth as...
15) Paradise lost
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English
Description
Presents John Milton's epic poem, which chronicles man's fall from grace and Satan's rebellion against God, providing a scholarly introduction, chronology, bibliography, Andrew Marvell's verse tribute to Milton from the second edition, and explanatory notes.
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English
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Uncle Tom, Topsy, Sambo, Simon Legree, little Eva: their names are American bywords, and all of them are characters in Harriet Beecher Stowe's remarkable novel of the pre-Civil War South. Uncle Tom's Cabin was revolutionary in 1852 for its passionate indictment of slavery and for its presentation of Tom, "a man of humanity," as the first black hero in American fiction. Labeled racist and condescending by some contemporary critics, it remains a shocking,...
17) The Aeneid
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English
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Fleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles' mighty foe in the Iliad, begins an incredible journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome. His voyage will take him through stormy seas, entangle him in a tragic love affair, and lure him into the world of the dead itself--all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods. Ultimately, he reaches the promised land of Italy where, after bloody battles and with high hopes, he founds...
18) Dubliners
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English
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A collection of short stories meant to be a naturalistic depiction of the Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early 20th century.
19) Jane Eyre
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English
Description
"Jane Eyre is poor, parentless and plain. Her future looks bleak. Jane's aunt and cousin detest her. Life at Lowood School is cruel and dangerous. What inner strength can the young Jane find? Seeking adventure and independence, Jane sets out alone. Is her new master, Mr Rochester, all that he seems? What secret does he keep locked in the third storey, where strange laughter haunts the nights? In her search for affection, Jane faces horror, cruelty,...
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"In one of Verne's supreme adventures, Professor Lidenbrock discovers a centuries-old document which, when decoded by his brilliant nephew Axel, offers instructions to the Earth's core. Accompanied by an Icelandic guide, they set off on a dangerous and exciting trek that begins with a descent into an extinct volcano. As the explorers travel through geologic time, they encounter a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of humanity"--