Around the World in Eighty Days is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a £20,000 wager (roughly £1.6 million today) set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works. The story starts in London on Tuesday, October 1, 1872. Fogg is a rich English...

A Journey to the Center of the Earth is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves German professor Otto Lidenbrock who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the centre of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descend into the Icelandic volcano Snæfellsjokull, encountering many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards, before eventually coming to the surface again in southern Italy, at...

When W.B. Yeats discovered Rabindranath Tagore's work in translation, he felt an intense kinship with a man, whose work was similarly grounded in spirituality and opposition to the British Empire. For the Irish poet, Tagore's poems were at once deeply personal and essentially universal, like a secret kept by all and shared regardless: "I have carried the manuscript of these translations about with me for days, reading it in railway trains, or on the...

From the day of its troubled publication in 1900 to its inclusion in Modern Library's list of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, "Sister Carrie" has been a source of controversy and debate. Regarded as the "first masterpiece of the American naturalist movement".

Austen only completed six novels in her lifetime, of which five feature young women whose chances for making a good marriage depend greatly on financial issues, and whose prospects if they fail are rather grim. Emma is the exception: "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to...

First published in 1926, "The Story of Philosophy" is noted historian Will Durant's survey of Western philosophy. Having been described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy", the book begins with detailed descriptions of the philosophical ideas of the ancient Greeks, i.e. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The book then proceeds in chronicling the different philosophical doctrines of French Enlightenment, German Idealism, Pessimism,...

The Taming of the Shrew (1592) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. Written between 1590 and 1592, The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's earliest works. Frequently critiqued by scholars for its demeaning portrayal of Katherina and for Petruchio's violence, the play has also been considered as an ironic treatment of the inequality experienced by women in marriage. The Taming of the Shrew has served as source material for countless film and...

A chilling compilation of some of Edgar Allan Poe's best-loved stories, edited by Vincent Price and Chandler Brossard and with an introduction by Vincent Price.

A Classic Adventure Novel from the World's Greatest Satirist This classic satirical novel, written by Jonathan Swift and first published in 1726, is an awesome adventure that has made Gulliver's Travels a favorite book of readers for over 250 years. Lemuel Gulliver is a kind English surgeon longing for adventure. He gets a lot more than he bargained for when he signs on board a sailing ship and a shipwreck leaves him swept ashore. He embarks on...