The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse is a mesmerizing tale of a journey that is both geographic and spiritual. The story is narrated by H.H., a German choirmaster, who joins an expedition with the League, a secret society that includes notable figures like Paul Klee, Mozart, and Albertus Magnus.

The participants traverse both space and time, encountering Noah's Ark in Zurich and Don Quixote at Bremgarten. Their ultimate destination is the East, the "Home of the Light," where they hope to find spiritual renewal. However, the initial harmony begins to unravel into conflict. Each traveler finds the group intolerable and ventures off alone, with H.H. blaming others for the journey's failure.

Only long after the trip, while examining records in the League archives, does H.H. uncover his own role in the group's dissolution and the ominous significance of the journey itself.

Double Indemnity presents a gripping tale that delves deep into the human psyche, exploring themes of guilt, duplicity, and the destructive nature of obsessive, loveless love. James M. Cain, a master of the roman noir, crafts a story that is both tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful.

The narrative follows Walter Huff, an insurance salesman with an uncanny instinct for detecting potential trouble. His path crosses with Phyllis Nirdlinger, a woman with a dangerous plan. Phyllis desires to purchase an accident policy for her husband—with the ultimate aim of orchestrating his "accident." Caught in a web of attraction, Walter is drawn into Phyllis's scheme, willing to betray everything he stands for, to be with her. Together, they embark on a journey to commit the perfect murder, only to find themselves ensnared in a trap of their own making.

Few readers need any introduction to the work of the most influential poet of the twentieth century. In addition to the title poem, this selection includes "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", "Gerontion", "Ash Wednesday", and other poems from Mr. Eliot's early and middle work.

"In ten years' time," wrote Edmund Wilson in Axel0s Castle (1931), "Eliot has left upon English poetry a mark more unmistakable than that of any other poet writing in English." In 1948 Mr. Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work as trail-blazing pioneer of modern poetry.

Bleak House opens in the twilight of foggy London, where fog grips the city most densely in the Court of Chancery. The obscure case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, in which an inheritance is gradually devoured by legal costs, the romance of Esther Summerson and the secrets of her origin, the sleuthing of Detective Inspector Bucket and the fate of Jo the crossing-sweeper, these are some of the lives Dickens invokes to portray London society, rich and poor, as no other novelist has done.

Bleak House, in its atmosphere, symbolism and magnificent bleak comedy, is often regarded as the best of Dickens. A 'great Victorian novel', it is so inventive in its competing plots and styles that it eludes interpretation.

The reference to the Antichrist is not intended to refer to the biblical Antichrist but is rather an attack on the "slave morality" and apathy of Western Christianity. Nietzsche's basic claim is that Christianity is a poisoner of western culture and perversion of the words of and practice of Jesus. Throughout the text, Nietzsche is very critical of institutionalized religion and its priest class, from which he himself was descended.

The majority of the book is a systematic attack upon the interpretations of Christ's words by St. Paul and those who followed him. Nietzsche claimed in the Foreword to have written the book for a very limited readership. In order to understand the book, he asserted that the reader "... must be honest in intellectual matters to the point of hardness to so much as endure my seriousness, my passion." The reader should be above politics and nationalism. Also, the usefulness or harmfulness of truth should not be a concern. Characteristics such as "Strength which prefers questions for which no one today is sufficiently daring; courage for the forbidden" are also needed. He disdained all other readers.

Merry Christmas! ...every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding.

Dickens' story of solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by a series of ghostly visitors, has proved one of his most well-loved works. Since its publication in 1843, it has had an enduring influence on the way we think about the traditions of Christmas.

Dickens' other Christmas writings collected here include:

• The Story of the Goblins who Stole a Sexton, the short story from The Pickwick Papers on which A Christmas Carol was based;
• The Haunted Man, a tale of a man tormented by painful memories;
• along with shorter pieces, some drawn from the 'Christmas Stories' that Dickens wrote annually for his weekly journals.

In all of them, Dickens celebrates the season as one of geniality, charity, and remembrance.

Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil is translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale with an introduction by Michael Tanner in Penguin Classics. Beyond Good and Evil confirmed Nietzsche's position as the towering European philosopher of his age. The work dramatically rejects the tradition of Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil. Nietzsche demonstrates that the Christian world is steeped in a false piety and infected with a 'slave morality'. With wit and energy, he turns from this critique to a philosophy that celebrates the present and demands that the individual imposes their own 'will to power' upon the world.

This edition includes a commentary on the text by the translator and Michael Tanner's introduction, which explains some of the more abstract passages in Beyond Good and Evil.

Frederich Nietzsche (1844-1900) became the chair of classical philology at Basel University at the age of 24 until his bad health forced him to retire in 1879. He divorced himself from society until his final collapse in 1899 when he became insane. A powerfully original thinker, Nietzsche's influence on subsequent writers, such as George Bernard Shaw, D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann and Jean-Paul Sartre, was considerable.

If you enjoyed Beyond Good and Evil you might like Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, also available in Penguin Classics.

Written initially to guide his son, Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography is a lively, spellbinding account of his unique and eventful life, now a classic of world literature that is sure to inspire and delight readers everywhere. Few men could compare to Benjamin Franklin. Virtually self-taught, he excelled as an athlete, a man of letters, a printer, a scientist, a wit, an inventor, an editor, and a writer, and he was probably the most successful diplomat in American history. David Hume hailed him as the first great philosopher and great man of letters in the New World.

The World of Winnie-the-Pooh invites you into the enchanting Thousand Acre Wood, home to the whimsical philosopher Winnie-the-Pooh and his delightful friends: Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga, and Christopher Robin. Despite calling himself a Bear of Very Little Brain, Pooh is wise and loving, always ready for an adventure and, of course, some honey.

This beautifully illustrated book, with delicate paintings that have charmed generations, perfectly captures the essence of childhood wonder and friendship. Join Pooh and his friends in a world where imagination knows no bounds.

Considered the most important work of modern Iranian literature, The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. Replete with potent symbolism and terrifying surrealistic imagery, Sadegh Hedayat's masterpiece details a young man's despair after losing a mysterious lover. And as the author gradually drifts into frenzy and madness, the reader becomes caught in the sandstorm of Hedayat's bleak vision of the human condition.

The Blind Owl, which has been translated into many foreign languages, has often been compared to the writing of Edgar Allan Poe.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.

This cult classic of gonzo journalism is not just about reckless behavior; beneath the hallucinogenic facade is a stinging criticism of American greed and consumerism. The narrative follows Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo as they embark on a surreal quest that blurs the line between reality and fantasy, fueled by nearly every drug imaginable in search of the elusive American dream.

Also a major motion picture directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, this 50th Anniversary Edition celebrates the enduring legacy of Hunter S. Thompson's work.

First published in 1960, The Violent Bear It Away is now a landmark in American literature. It is a dark and absorbing example of the Gothic sensibility and bracing satirical voice that are united in Flannery O'Connor's work.

In it, the orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousins, the schoolteacher Rayber, defy the prophecy of their dead uncle—that Tarwater will become a prophet and will baptize Rayber's young son, Bishop.

A series of struggles ensues: Tarwater fights an internal battle against his innate faith and the voices calling him to be a prophet while Rayber tries to draw Tarwater into a more "reasonable" modern world. Both wrestle with the legacy of their dead relatives and lay claim to Bishop's soul.

O'Connor observes all this with an astonishing combination of irony and compassion, humor and pathos, resulting in a novel where range and depth reveal a brilliant and innovative writer acutely alert to where the sacred lives and to where it does not.

The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1877. It begins with a man walking the streets of St. Petersburg while musing upon how ridiculous his life is, as well as its distinct lack of meaning or purpose. This train of thought leads him to the idea of suicide, which he resolves to commit using a previously-acquired gun. However, a chance encounter with a distressed little girl in the street derails his drastic plans.

The Moonstone is a page-turner, writes Carolyn Heilbrun. It catches one up and unfolds its amazing story through the recountings of its several narrators, all of them enticing and singular. Wilkie Collins’s spellbinding tale of romance, theft, and murder inspired a hugely popular genre–the detective mystery. Hinging on the theft of an enormous diamond originally stolen from an Indian shrine, this riveting novel features the innovative Sergeant Cuff, the hilarious house steward Gabriel Betteridge, a lovesick housemaid, and a mysterious band of Indian jugglers.

This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the definitive 1871 edition.

Swallows and Amazons is the first title in Arthur Ransome's classic series, originally published in 1930. It's a book for children, for grownups, for anyone captivated by the world of adventure and imagination.

Swallows and Amazons introduces the lovable Walker family, the camp on Wild Cat Island, the able-bodied catboat Swallow, and the two intrepid Amazons, Nancy and Peggy Blackett. Join them as they embark on a summer filled with unforgettable discoveries and incredible adventures, setting sail on the open waters and exploring the enchanting landscapes of the English countryside.

The Sign of Four, the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes, was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in February 1890. Set in 1888, the novel presents a flashback of characters working for the East India Company and the Indian Rebellion of 1857, involving a treasure heist, four convicts, and corrupt prison guards.

It is in this narrative that Doyle first delves into Holmes's drug addiction, providing a more human aspect to his character than seen in the preceding novel, A Study in Scarlet. This story also introduces Dr. Watson's future wife, Mary Morstan, who brings a perplexing mystery to Holmes—a mystery that he eagerly embraces as a stimulating challenge.

Mary Morstan seeks Holmes's help to solve the enigma surrounding her father, Captain Arthur Morstan, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances ten years prior upon returning to London from India, where he and his friend Thaddeus Sholto had discovered a vast treasure.

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin is a profound narrative set in a future where Terrans have established a logging colony and military base named 'New Tahiti' on a planet inhabited by the Athsheans—a species with a culture deeply intertwined with lucid dreaming.

Terran exploitation clashes with the Athsheans' way of life, leading to a spiraling overturn of the ancient society. Interstellar travel has become commonplace amongst humans, and the novel introduces the ansible—a device enabling instantaneous communication across light years—and the formation of the League of All Worlds.

The peaceful Athsheans call their world 'Athshe,' meaning 'forest,' a stark contrast to the Terrans' 'dirt.' The Terran colonists' approach to colonization mirrors the destructive patterns of the 19th century, including deforestation, farming, mining, and enslavement. Without a cultural understanding of tyranny, slavery, or war, the Athsheans initially offer no resistance—until a single act of violence ignites a rebellion that forever alters the inhabitants of both worlds.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (Persian: رباعیات عمر خیام‎) is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his translation of a selection of poems, originally written in Persian and numbering about a thousand, attributed to Omar Khayyám (1048–1131), a Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer. A ruba'i is a two-line stanza with two parts (or hemistichs) per line, hence the word rubáiyát (derived from the Arabic language root for "four"), meaning "quatrains".

Omar Khayyám was an eleventh-century Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer. Renowned in his own time for his scientific achievements, his fame was reborn in the nineteenth century when Edward Fitzgerald published a translation of his rubáiyát (quatrains in a style popular among Persian intellectuals of his day). Fitzgerald's first translation was first published anonymously in 1859. (His revised editions were published in 1868, 1872, and 1879). FitzGerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is perhaps the most frequently read Victorian poem of all time.

First published in Paris in 1955 and originally banned in America, J. P. Donleavy's first novel is now recognized the world over as a masterpiece and a modern classic of the highest order.

Set in Ireland just after World War II, The Ginger Man is J. P. Donleavy's wildly funny, picaresque classic novel of the misadventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, a young American ne'er-do-well studying at Trinity College in Dublin.

Dangerfield's appetite for women, liquor, and general roguishness is insatiable—and he satisfies it with endless charm.

La vida es sueño es la creación más lograda y de carácter más universal de Calderón. En síntesis, la plasmación barroca de la idea de la fugacidad de la vida con todos los aditamentos geniales de construcción, caracteres y estilo que el autor supo imprimirle. Con este pesimismo radical sobre el valor de la vida humana se interfiere el libre albedrío como afirmación personal de Segismundo —“¿y teniendo yo más vida / tengo menos libertad?”—. Estos dos principios combinados crean una riqueza enorme de sentidos, que en esta edición son desmenuzados críticamente por Ciriaco Morón Arroyo.

The poems in Sylvia Plath's Ariel, including many of her best-known such as 'Lady Lazarus', 'Daddy', 'Edge' and 'Paralytic', were all written between the publication in 1960 of Plath's first book, The Colossus, and her death in 1963. 'If the poems are despairing, vengeful and destructive, they are at the same time tender, open to things, and also unusually clever, sardonic, hardminded . . . They are works of great artistic purity and, despite all the nihilism, great generosity . . . the book is a major literary event.' A. Alvarez in the Observer

This beautifully designed edition forms part of a series with five other cherished poets, including Wendy Cope, Don Paterson, Philip Larkin, Simon Armitage and Alice Oswald.

The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights is a collection of enchanting stories that have captivated readers for centuries. When the beautiful Shahrazad gives herself to the bloody-handed King Shahriyar, she is not expected to survive beyond dawn. But using her wit and guile, she begins a sequence of stories that will last 1001 nights.

These stories include tales of 'ifrits and money-changers, princes and slave girls, fishermen and queens, and magical gardens of paradise. This volume also features the well-known tale of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'.

Along with this landmark new translation, Robert Irwin's introduction discusses the many cultures The Arabian Nights has drawn on and the elaborate structure of the story-within-a-story that defines the collection. The book delves into the recurring themes of money, merchants, debts, locked doors, and the intricate dance of sex and power.

Peter Blood, an Irish physician and former soldier, is happily settled in an English town in the 1680s when the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth catches him by accident. He saves a man's life, as a doctor must try to do, but the man is a rebel. The infamous Judge Jeffreys sentences him to ten years as an indentured slave in the Caribbean colonies.

Once there, his skills as a physician are recognized, and he meets and falls in love with the daughter of the man who owns his servitude. A Spanish ship attacks the town, and while the Spaniards celebrate their victory, he boldly steals their ship. He and his fellow convicts sail off to become the boldest and most fearless of pirates among the islands and on the Spanish Main.

But all the glory of his adventures cannot help him, for the woman he loves cannot love a "thief and pirate." Even when he destroys England's enemies, even at his most triumphant... but wait! Is that...?

The classic novel of adventure and romance, and one of Sabatini's best.

Far From the Madding Crowd was Thomas Hardy's first major literary success. Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, the soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy, and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community.

One of his first works set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex, Hardy's novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships. This edition, based on Hardy's original 1874 manuscript, is the complete novel he never saw published, and restores its full candor and innovation. Rosemarie Morgan's introduction discusses the history of its publication, as well as the biblical and classical allusions that permeate the novel.

King Henry IV, Part 1 is a remarkable play that delves into the complexities of history and fiction. While it is conventionally regarded as a history play, much of it is a conspicuously invented fiction. This duality raises questions about the very nature of history and how it is represented.

The play's language is rich with an economic vocabulary that provides a texture reflecting the social concerns of the time. The central relationship between value and political authority is a key focus, along with the recurring theme of honor and the role of women in the narrative.

The Arden Shakespeare edition offers an exceptional scholarly experience, with comprehensive introductions that contextualize the play within the historical and cultural backdrop of Shakespeare's era. It includes detailed appendices that address challenges such as dating, casting, and analyzing the differing Quarto and Folio sources.

This edition provides a full commentary by leading contemporary scholars, illuminating the text by glossing unfamiliar terms and explaining allusions and significant background information. It is highly informative, making it the fullest experience of Shakespeare available to readers.

El Arte de la Guerra, traducido por primera vez por un jesuita en 1772 con el título de Los Trece Capítulos, que lo dio a conocer en Europa, se convirtió rápidamente en un texto fundacional de estrategia militar para las distintas cortes y estados mayores europeos.

Pocas veces un libro antiguo (escrito entre los siglos VI y III a.C.) se ha mantenido tan moderno, porque esta filosofía de la guerra y la política basada en la astucia y el fingimiento, más que en la fuerza bruta, que describe, sigue siendo actual. Incluso fuera de lo "militar", Sun Tzu sigue siendo una gran referencia para descifrar la estrategia de empresa y la política. La formulación precisa y pictórica de Sun Tzu añade al interés del texto un toque de sabiduría milenaria.

The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy is Isaac Newton's monumental work, originally published in 1687. Known familiarly as the Principia, this text laid out in mathematical terms the principles of time, force, and motion that have guided the development of modern physical science.

Even after more than three centuries and the revolutions of Einsteinian relativity and quantum mechanics, Newtonian physics continues to account for many of the phenomena of the observed world. Newtonian celestial dynamics is still used to determine the orbits of our space vehicles.

This edition is a completely new translation, the first in 270 years, based on the third (1726) edition, the final revised version approved by Newton. It includes extracts from earlier editions, corrects errors found in previous versions, and replaces archaic English with contemporary prose and up-to-date mathematical forms.

Newton's principles describe acceleration, deceleration, and inertial movement; fluid dynamics; and the motions of the earth, moon, planets, and comets. A great work in itself, the Principia also revolutionized the methods of scientific investigation. It set forth the fundamental three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity, the physical principles that account for the Copernican system of the world as emended by Kepler, thus effectively ending controversy concerning the Copernican planetary system.

The illuminating Guide to the Principia by I. Bernard Cohen, along with his and Anne Whitman's translation, makes this preeminent work truly accessible for today's scientists, scholars, and students.

Historias de cronopios y de famas es uno de los libros legendarios de Julio Cortázar. Postulación de una mirada poética capaz de enfrentar las miserias de la rutina y del sentido común, el escritor argentino toma aquí partido por la imaginación creadora y el humor corrosivo de los surrealistas. Esta colección de cuentos y viñetas entrañables es una introducción privilegiada al mundo inagotable de uno de los más grandes escritores de este siglo y un antídoto seguro contra la solemnidad y el aburrimiento.

Sin duda, Cortázar sella un pacto de complicidad definitiva e incondicional con sus lectores.

Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a man whose job it is to range through past and present Centuries, monitoring and, where necessary, altering Time's myriad cause-and-effect relationships. But when Harlan meets and falls for a non-Eternal woman, he seeks to use the awesome powers and techniques of the Eternals to twist time for his own purposes, so that he and his love can survive together.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible is a renowned and comprehensive biblical commentary that spans from Genesis to Revelation. Matthew Henry combines practical application, devotional insight, and scholarship to provide profound insights into the content, message, and nature of God's divine revelation.

This edition is the only complete and unabridged one-volume version of Henry's famous work, making it perfect for readers seeking a convenient and comprehensive commentary on the Bible. It includes the entire text of Matthew Henry's original multi-volume commentary presented in modern, easy-to-read type.

Henry is praised for his spiritual depth, heavenly insights, and practical lessons deduced from every text. As a Christian's companion, this work is suitable for everyone and instructive to all, making it an essential addition to any theological library.

Features:
- Modern easy-to-read type
- Portable
- Attractive and affordable

In this short novel, Tolstoy fictionalizes the final days of Hadji Murád, a legendary Avar separatist who fought against, and later with, Russia, as the Russian Empire was struggling to annex Chechnya and the surrounding land in the late 1840s.

The novel opens with the narrator finding a thistle crushed in a blooming field, which reminds him of Hadji Murád and his tragic tale. As the narrator recounts the story, the reader is quickly thrust into the rich, colorful history of the Caucasus, and its people’s fight against Russian imperialism. Hadji Murád is portrayed as a legendary and imposing, yet friendly and approachable figure. Despite his reputation, it seems that his best days are behind him; as the novel opens, Murád is fleeing Shamil, a powerful imam who has captured Murád’s family.

Murád finds himself thrust between the invading Russians on one side, and Shamil’s vengeance on the other. As Murád and his tiny but loyal group of warriors try to forge alliances in their attempt to rescue Murád’s family, they quickly find themselves politically outclassed. The Russians are Murád’s enemies, yet only they can help him in his struggle against Shamil; and after years of losses incurred by Murád’s guerrilla tactics, the Russians would like his help but cannot trust him.

Shamil, on the other hand, is a deep link to the region’s complex web of tribal blood feuds, vengeances, reprisals, and quarrels over honor. He’s one of the few powers left standing between the Russians and their control of the Caucasus, but Murád, having crossed him, can’t rescue his family from Shamil’s clutches without the help of the Russians.

Murád’s impossible position, the contradiction between his legendary past and his limping, dignified, and ultimately powerless present, and the struggle against a mighty empire by a people torn by internecine conflict, form the major thematic threads of the novel.

The novel was one of the last that Tolstoy finished before his death and was only published posthumously in 1912. Tolstoy himself served in the Crimean War, and the war scenes portrayed in the novel echo his personal experiences. As the story progresses, Tolstoy characterizes various real-life historical personalities besides Hadji Murád and Shamil, making this a fascinating piece of historical fiction.

HMS Ulysses is the novel that launched the astonishing career of one of the 20th century’s greatest writers of action and suspense. It is an acclaimed classic of heroism and the sea during World War II, now reissued in a new cover style.

The story follows men who rise to heroism, and then to something even greater. HMS Ulysses takes its place alongside The Caine Mutiny and The Cruel Sea as one of the classic novels of the navy at war.

This compelling story of Convoy FR77 to Murmansk is a voyage that pushes men to the limits of human endurance, crippled by enemy attack and the bitter cold of the Arctic.

Thomas Pynchon's classic post-modern satire, which tells the wonderfully unusual story of Oedipa Maas, first published in 1965. When her ex-lover, wealthy real-estate tycoon Pierce Inverarity dies and designates her the co-executor of his estate, California housewife Oedipa Mass is thrust into a paranoid mystery of metaphors, symbols, and the United States Postal Service. Traveling across Southern California, she meets some extremely interesting characters, and attains a not-inconsiderable amount of self-knowledge.

First published in French as a serial in 1909, The Phantom of the Opera is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, which eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully.

All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous 'ghost' of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears.

The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster. Gaston Leroux's work, with characters ranging from the spoiled prima donna Carlotta to the mysterious Persian from Erik's past, has been immortalized by memorable adaptations. Despite this, it remains a remarkable piece of Gothic horror literature in and of itself, deeper and darker than any version that follows.

The Metamorphosis is a novella written by Franz Kafka, which was first published in 1915. It tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect and subsequently struggles to adjust to this new condition.

The novella has been widely discussed among literary critics, with differing interpretations being offered. The text was first published in the October issue of the journal Die weißen Blätter under the editorship of René Schickele. The first edition in book form appeared in December 1915 in the series Der jüngste Tag, edited by Kurt Wolff.

With a length of about 70 printed pages over three chapters, it is the longest of the stories Kafka considered complete and published during his lifetime. In popular culture and adaptations of the novella, the insect is commonly depicted as a cockroach.

A timeless American classic and one of the most beloved children’s books ever written, Old Yeller is a Newbery Honor Book that explores the poignant and unforgettable bond between a boy and the stray dog who becomes his loyal friend.

When his father sets out on a cattle drive toward Kansas for the summer, fourteen-year-old Travis Coates is left to take care of his family and their farm. Living in Texas Hill Country during the 1860s, Travis comes to face new, unanticipated, and often perilous responsibilities in the frontier wilderness. A particular nuisance is a stray yellow dog that shows up one day and steals food from the family. But the big canine who Travis calls “Old Yeller” proves his worth by defending the family from danger. And Travis ultimately finds help and comfort in the courage and unwavering love of the dog who comes to be his very best friend.

Fred Gipson’s novel is an eloquently simple story that is both exciting and deeply moving. It stands alongside works like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Where The Red Fern Grows, and Shiloh as a beloved and enduring classic of literature. Originally published in 1956 to instant acclaim, Old Yeller later inspired a hit film from Walt Disney. Just as Old Yeller inevitably makes his way into the Coates family’s hearts, this book will find its own special place in readers’ hearts.

Once a Runner captures the essence of what it means to be a competitive runner; to devote your entire existence to a single-minded pursuit of excellence. It has become one of the most beloved sports novels ever written.

Originally self-published in 1978 and sold at road races out of the trunk of the author’s car, reading the book became a rite of passage for many runners, and tattered copies were handed down like sacred texts from generation to generation.

Once a Runner is the story of Quenton Cassidy, a collegiate runner at fictional Southeastern University whose lifelong dream is to run a four-minute mile. He is less than a second away when the political and cultural turmoil of the Vietnam War era intrudes into the staid recesses of his school’s athletic department. After he becomes involved in an athletes’ protest, Cassidy is suspended from his track team.

Under the tutelage of his friend and mentor, Bruce Denton, a graduate student and former Olympic gold medalist, Cassidy gives up his scholarship, his girlfriend, and possibly his future to withdraw to a monastic retreat in the countryside and begin training for the race of his life: a head-to-head match with the greatest miler in history.

This audiobook is a rare insider’s account of the incredibly intense lives of elite distance runners; an inspiring, funny, and spot-on tale of one man’s quest to become a champion.

Adam Deveril, the new Viscount Lynton, is madly in love with the beautiful Julia Oversley. But he has returned from the Peninsular War to find his family on the brink of ruin and his ancestral home mortgaged to the hilt. He has little choice when he is introduced to Mr. Jonathan Chawleigh, a City man of apparently unlimited wealth and no social ambitions for himself-but with his eyes firmly fixed on a suitable match for his only daughter, the quiet and decidedly plain Jenny Chawleigh.

Adam desperately needs money to keep his fatherless family together, and a marriage to Jenny would solve all his problems. And Jenny's father, a man of great wealth and ambition for his daughter, is only too happy to arrange a suitable match with a title for her. Adam chafes under Mr. Chawleigh's generosity, and Julia's jealous behavior upon hearing of the betrothal nearly brings them all into a scandal. But Adam didn't reckon with the Jenny nobody knew, or the unknown quality that lay hidden behind her demure and plain facade, who bring him comfort and eventually more....

When it was first published in 1917, Growth of the Soil was immediately recognized as a masterpiece. Ninety years later it remains a transporting literary experience. In the story of Isak, who leaves his village to clear a homestead and raise a family amid the untilled tracts of the Norwegian back country, Knut Hamsun evokes the elemental bond between humans and the land. Newly translated by the acclaimed Hamsun scholar Sverre Lyngstad, Hamsun's novel is a work of preternatural calm, stern beauty, and biblical power—and the crowning achievement of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

Beat movement icon and visionary poet, Allen Ginsberg broke boundaries with his fearless, pyrotechnic verse. This collection brings together the famous poems that made his name as a defining figure of the counterculture.

They include the apocalyptic 'Howl', which became the subject of an obscenity trial when it was first published in 1956; the moving lament for his dead mother, 'Kaddish'; the searing indictment of his homeland, 'America'; and the confessional 'Mescaline'.

Dark, ecstatic, and rhapsodic, these works show why Ginsberg was one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.

Set in the rural Midlands of England, The Rainbow (1915) revolves around three generations of the Brangwens, a strong, vigorous family, deeply involved with the land. When Tom Brangwen marries a Polish widow, Lydia Lensky, and adopts her daughter Anna as his own, he is unprepared for the conflict and passion that erupts between them. All are seeking individual fulfilment, but it is Ursula, Anna's spirited daughter, who, in search for self-knowledge, rejects the conventional role of womanhood.

This visionary novel, considered to be one of Lawrence’s finest, explores the complex sexual and psychological relationships between men and women in an increasingly industrialized world.

Everyone knows the cumulative rhyme “This Is the House That Jack Built,” but The Napping House is close on its heels in the race for posterity:

“And on that granny
there is a child
a dreaming child
on a snoring granny
on a cozy bed
in a napping house,
where everyone is sleeping.”

Included in the napping house menagerie is a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, a slumbering mouse, and a wakeful flea who ends up toppling the whole sleep heap with one chomp!

Don Wood’s delightfully detailed comical illustrations are bathed in moonlight blues until the sun comes up, then all is color and rainbows and a very awake household.

The Temptation of St. Antony is a profound work that deeply influenced the young Freud and served as an inspiration for many artists. This book was Flaubert's lifelong endeavor, taking thirty years to complete.

Based on the story of the third-century saint who lived on an isolated mountaintop in the Egyptian desert, it presents a fantastical narrative of one night during which Anthony is besieged by carnal temptations and philosophical doubt.

Letters from the Earth is one of Mark Twain's posthumously published works, written during a difficult time in his life. Twain was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters. The book consists of a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. Twain penned a series of letters from the point-of-view of a dejected angel on Earth.

This title story consists of letters written by the archangel Satan to archangels, Gabriel and Michael, about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of man's religions. By analyzing the idea of heaven and God that is widely accepted by believers, Twain is able to take the silliness that is present and study it with the common sense that is absent. It's not so much an attack as a cold dissection.

Other short stories in the book include a bedtime story about a family of cats Twain wrote for his daughters, and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to Man. Twain's writings in Letters From the Earth find him at perhaps his most quizzical and questioning state ever.

Manfred contains supernatural elements, reflecting the popularity of ghost stories in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Romantic closet drama.

Friedrich Nietzsche was impressed by the poem's depiction of a super-human being and even wrote some music for it. Byron described this as a "metaphysical drama," written after his marriage failed amidst scandalous charges.

Attacked by the press and ostracized by society, Byron fled England for Switzerland in 1816 and never returned. Manfred was written immediately after this, and its main character is tortured by his own sense of guilt for an unmentionable offense, leading some critics to consider it autobiographical.

The unnamed but forbidden nature of Manfred's relationship to Astarte is believed to represent Byron's relationship with his half-sister Augusta. The supernatural references are clear throughout the poem. In one scene (Act III, Scene IV, Interior of the Tower), Manfred recalls traveling through time to Caesar's palace, "and fill'd up, As 't were anew, the gaps of centuries..."

Dana, a modern Black woman, is celebrating her 26th birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him.

Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

Boy: Tales of Childhood is a delightful autobiography by the world-renowned storyteller, Roald Dahl. In this captivating memoir, Dahl takes us on a journey through his early years in England.

From his mischievous days at boarding school, where he was quite the prankster, to his enviable role as a chocolate tester for Cadbury's, Dahl's childhood was full of excitement and surprises. His boyhood tales are packed with anecdotes—some funny, some painful, all interesting—that are sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

Experience the hilarious and sometimes painful memories of Dahl's youth, vividly shared in this timeless classic.