|
|
1
|
The Iliad
by Homer
|
|
Focusing on the closing days of the Trojan War, this novel incorporates the same epic cast of gods and warriors from The Odyssey. From the kidnapping of Helen from her Greek home to the death of Achilles's companion, the battle rages between two warring nations and the gods which protect both sides. Thrilling in content, but literate and subtle in its meaning, The Iliad remains a classic among classics. (Published: 900 B.C.)
Words: 138044 - Reading Time: 394-552 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
26 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
2
|
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll
|
|
Lewis Carroll is best remembered for this story, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, both of which are children's books with content and style that have often appealed as much to adult readers as to the young. It was published in 1865 and was in fact with a particular child in mind, Alice Liddell, and had the working title "Alice's Adventures Under Ground". As befits that title, the tale is indeed of a trip (with the additional psychedelic sense certainly ... more info>> (Published: 1865)
Words: 26649 - Reading Time: 76-106 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
81 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
3
|
A Room with a View
by E. M. Forster
|
|
Published in 1908, A Room with a View is one of E. M. Forster's most celebrated works. Forster explores love among a cast of eccentric characters gathered in an Italian pension and in a corner of Surrey, England. Caught up in a world of social snobbery, Lucy Honeychurch must make a decision that will decide the course of her future: She is forced to choose between convention and passion. (Published: 1908)
Words: 66616 - Reading Time: 190-266 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
11 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
4
|
A Journal of the Plague Year
by Daniel Defoe
|
|
This account of the Great Plague of London (1664-65) was first published in 1722. In it Defoe describes the horrifying daily events in London city as it was besieged by bubonic plague. (Published: 1722)
Words: 95419 - Reading Time: 272-381 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
10 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
5
|
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
|
|
Charles Dickens' compelling portrait of the results of terror and treason, love and supreme sacrifice continues to captivate readers around the world. With Frank Muller's brilliant performance, unforgettable characters--the ever-knitting Madame Defarge, the lovely Lucie Manette, her broken father, the honorable Charles Darnay, and the sometimes scurrilous Sydney Carton--burst from the pages, full of life and passion. (Published: 1850)
Words: 139658 - Reading Time: 399-558 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
157 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
6
|
Black Spring
by Henry Miller
|
|
Completing, in a sense, the trilogy begun with Tropic of Cancer, Miller again presents us with anecdotes of life in Brooklyn. His work at the Tailor is much-discussed, among other humerous anecdotes. There are ten stories in this volume, loosely arranged. An odd (-er-than-usual for Mr. Miller) publishing history accompanies this work. Miller actually wrote it while simultaneously revising Tropic of Cancer, working on Tropic of Capricorn and completing a study of D.H. Lawrence. Hectic in its pace... more info>>
Words: 67154 - Reading Time: 191-268 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
2 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
|
| Great |
Good |
OK |
Poor |
|
|
|
|
7
|
The Beasts of Tarzan [Tarzan Series #3]
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
|
|
As the rich Lord Greystoke, Tarzan found himself the target of greedy, evil men. Stranded on a desert island, his wife and son kidnapped, Tarzan's plight seemed helpless. But with the help of Sheeta, the ferocious panther, and the great ape Akut, Tarzan crafted his escape with the giant Mugambi. Yet the trail of the kidnappers led deep into the interior--and it would take all of Tarzan's skills to reach his family in time. (Published: 1914)
Words: 63613 - Reading Time: 181-254 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
19 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
| Great |
Good |
OK |
Poor |
|
|
|
|
8
|
The Secret Adversary [Tommy and Tuppence Book 1]
by Agatha Christie
|
|
The sinking of the Lusitania is only a taste of the action when Tommy meets Tuppence in World War I England and the two set out together to foil an enemy spy. (Published: 1916)
Words: 75310 - Reading Time: 215-301 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
5 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
|
| Great |
Good |
OK |
Poor |
|
|
|
|
9
|
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
|
|
Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights is one of the pinnacles of 19th century English literature. It's the story of Heathcliff, an orphan who falls inlove with a girl above his class, loses her, and devotes the rest of his life to wreaking revenge on her family. (Published: 1847)
Words: 116578 - Reading Time: 333-466 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
20 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
10
|
A Rogue's Life
by Wilkie Collins
|
|
Mr. Frank Softly was sent to one of the most fashionable and famous of the great public schools. "I will not mention it by name, because I don't think the masters would be proud of my connection with it. I ran away three times, and was flogged three times. I made four aristocratic connections, I learnt to play at cricket, to hate rich people, to cure warts, to write Latin verses, to swim, to recite speeches, to cook kidneys on toast, to draw caricatures of the masters, to construe Greek plays, t... more info>> (Published: 1879)
Words: 47929 - Reading Time: 136-191 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
4 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
11
|
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
|
|
A collection of numerous fables from Aesop translated by George Fyler Townsend, including such familiar ones as "The Wolf and the Lamb," "The Bat and the Weasels," "The Ass and the Grasshopper," "The Lion and the Mouse," and "The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller." Also includes "The Father and His Sons," "The Boy Hunting Locusts," "The Cock and the Jewel," "The Kingdom of the Lion," ... and many others. (Published: 1484)
Words: 36535 - Reading Time: 104-146 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
19 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
12
|
Barrack-Room Ballads
by Rudyard Kipling
|
|
Thirty-nine samples of poetic verse from the brilliant mind of Rudyard Kipling, including "Gunga Din," "Fuzzy-Wuzzy," "Danny Deever," and "Mandalay." (Published: 1892)
Words: 16445 - Reading Time: 46-65 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
23 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
13
|
Don Quixote
by Miguel del Cervantes
|
|
Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. [Translated by John Ormsby.] (Published: 1605)
Words: 403600 - Reading Time: 1153-1614 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
17 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
14
|
Dracula
by Bram Stoker
|
|
More than a century after its first publication, Dracula remains the ultimate horror story, thrilling readers with its hair-raising portrait of a bloodthirsty vampire set loose on an English port town. Spawning countless film adaptations and literary spin-offs, Stoker's novel--a patchwork of letters, diary entries, and newspaper clippings--was the first to capture vampire mythology as we know it. We can still trace its abiding influence among the cinemas, bookstores, and television programs of t... more info>> (Published: 1897)
Words: 160520 - Reading Time: 458-642 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
49 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
15
|
Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton
|
|
Set against the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome tells the story of a poor farmer, lonely and downtrodden, his wife Zeena, and her cousin, the enchanting Mattie Silver. In the playing out of this short novel's powerful and engrossing drama, Edith Wharton constructed her least characteristic and most celebrated book. In its unyielding and shocking pessimism, its bleak demonstration of tragic waste, it is a masterpiece of psychological and emotional realism. (Published: 1911)
Words: 35746 - Reading Time: 102-142 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
13 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
|
| Great |
Good |
OK |
Poor |
|
|
|
|
16
|
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
|
|
Classic tale of a scientist who learns the secrets of life and death--with horrifying results. (Published: 1818)
Words: 75505 - Reading Time: 215-302 min.
Category: Classic Literature/Horror
|
93 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
17
|
Great Ghost Stories
by John L. French
|
|
A collection of great ghost stories from the classics. Be prepared for a restless night with strange sounds and eerie adventures (Published: 1920)
Words: 60301 - Reading Time: 172-241 min.
Category: Classic Literature/Horror
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling
|
|
How did the camel get his hump? Why won't cats do as they are told? Who invented reading and writing? How did an inquisitive little elephant change the lives of elephants everywhere? Kipling's imagined answers to such questions draw on the beast fables he heard as a child in India, as well as on folk games with language, exploring the relationships between thought, speech, and the written word. He also celebrates his own joy in fatherhood. The tales were told to his own and his friends' children... more info>> (Published: 1902)
Words: 28995 - Reading Time: 82-115 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
38 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
19
|
Paradise Lost
by John Milton
|
|
Paradise Lost is the greatest work of one of the most acclaimed poets in English literature. It has had a profound influence on Western culture, and has attracted a vast amount of critical commentary of every sort. (Published: 1667)
Words: 90387 - Reading Time: 258-361 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
89 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
20
|
Siddhartha
by Hermann Hesse
|
|
Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near dispair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of life--the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace and, finally, wisdom (Published: 1922)
Words: 39749 - Reading Time: 113-158 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
43 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
21
|
Summer
by Edith Wharton
|
|
Considered by some to be her finest work, Edith Wharton's Summer created a sensation when first published in 1917, as it was one of the first novels to deal honestly with a young woman's sexual awakening. Summer is the story of proud and independent Charity Royall, a child of mountain moonshiners adopted by a family in a poor New England town, who has a passionate love affair with Lucius Harney, an educated young man from the city. Wharton broke the conventions of woman's romantic fiction by mak... more info>> (Published: 1917)
Words: 57579 - Reading Time: 164-230 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
11 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
22
|
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin Franklin
|
|
One of the most powerful and controversial writers of his time, his own words on his greatest creation--his own persona. (Published: 1791)
Words: 64913 - Reading Time: 185-259 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
16 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
23
|
The Black Arrow
by Robert Louis Stevenson
|
|
Set in the time of the English Wars of the Roses, this is a classic tale of murder and revenge in medieval England. (Published: 1926)
Words: 79558 - Reading Time: 227-318 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
5 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
24
|
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas (Sr)
|
|
Set against the tumultuous years of the Post-Napoleonic era, Dumas's grand historical romance recounts the swashbuckling adventures of Edmond Dantes, a dashing young sailor falsely accused of treason. The story of his long imprisonment, dramatic escape, and carefully wrought revenge offers up a vision of France that has become immortal. (Published: 1845)
Words: 461653 - Reading Time: 1319-1846 min.
Category: Classic Literature
|
48 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
25
|
The Frances Hodgson Burnett Omnibus: The Secret Garden; A Little Prinecess; Little Lord Fauntleroy
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
|
|
Three Beloved Novels for One Low Price! You have read the books and seen the movies, now reexperience Burnett's warmth and humor in the three books that have outlived her and most of the literature of her day. First the story of a daring young girl who violates all taboos when she enters the forbidden secret garden to liberate a handicapped young boy's soul. Then a young woman shows herself a true princess when the collapse of her father's investments changes her position at boarding school dram... more info>>
Words: 205265 - Reading Time: 586-821 min.
Category: Classic Literature/Children's Fiction
|
3 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
|
| Great |
Good |
OK |
Poor |
|
|
![Long [138044 words]](/images/long.gif "Long [138044 words]")
![Mid-Length [26649 words]](/images/medium.gif "Mid-Length [26649 words]")
