Classic books and plays
40 stories
WAR AND PEACE [To Be Continued in Second Part] by LeoTolstoy
LeoTolstoy
  • WpView
    Reads 17,681
  • WpVote
    Votes 1,127
  • WpPart
    Parts 200
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, which is regarded as a central work of world literature and one of Tolstoy's finest literary achievements. The novel chronicles the history of the French invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of five Russian aristocratic families. Portions of an earlier version, titled The Year 1805, were serialized in The Russian Messenger from 1865 to 1867. The novel was first published in its entirety in 1869.
Shakespeare's 154 Sonnets (Completed ) by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 153,723
  • WpVote
    Votes 5,016
  • WpPart
    Parts 155
Shakespeare's Sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare, which covers themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man; the last 28 to a woman. The sonnets are almost all constructed from three quatrains, which are four-line stanzas, and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter. This is also the meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg. Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets. Often, the beginning of the third quatrain marks the volta ("turn"), or the line in which the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany.
A Midsummer Night's Dream by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 157,084
  • WpVote
    Votes 3,437
  • WpPart
    Parts 10
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.
Persuasion (1818) by JaneAusten
JaneAusten
  • WpView
    Reads 285,564
  • WpVote
    Votes 7,949
  • WpPart
    Parts 24
More than eight years before the novel opens, Anne Elliot, then a lovely, thoughtful, warm-hearted 19 year old, accepted a proposal of marriage from the handsome young naval officer Frederick Wentworth. He was clever, confident, and ambitious, but poor and with no particular family connections to recommend him. Sir Walter, Anne's fatuous, snobbish father and her equally self-involved older sister Elizabeth were dissatisfied with her choice, maintaining that he was no match for an Elliot of Kellynch Hall, the family estate. Her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's late mother, persuaded her to break the engagement. Now 27 and still unmarried, Anne re-encounters her former love when his sister and brother-in-law, the Crofts, take out a lease on Kellynch. Wentworth is now a captain and wealthy from maritime victories in the Napoleonic wars. However, he has not forgiven Anne for rejecting him. While publicly declaring that he is ready to marry any suitable young woman who catches his fancy, he privately resolves that he is ready to become attached to any appealing young woman except for Anne Elliot.
Mansfield Park (1814) by JaneAusten
JaneAusten
  • WpView
    Reads 223,292
  • WpVote
    Votes 5,570
  • WpPart
    Parts 48
Fanny Price is a young girl from a large and relatively poor family, who is taken from them at age 10 to be raised by her rich uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas, a baronet, and Lady Bertram, of Mansfield Park. She had previously lived with her own parents, Lieut. Price and his wife, Frances (Fanny), Lady Bertram's sister. She is the second child and eldest daughter, with seven siblings born after her. She has a firm attachment to her older brother, William, who at the age of 12 has followed his father into the navy. With so many mouths to feed on a limited income, Fanny's mother is grateful for the opportunity to send Fanny away to live with her fine relatives.
King Lear by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 35,142
  • WpVote
    Votes 758
  • WpPart
    Parts 27
"King Lear" is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.
Julius Caesar (Completed) by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 99,324
  • WpVote
    Votes 1,822
  • WpPart
    Parts 19
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar) is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It is one of several plays written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history, which also include Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra. Although the play is named Julius Caesar, Brutus speaks more than four times as many lines as the title character; and the central psychological drama of the play focuses on Brutus' struggle between the conflicting demands of honour, patriotism, and friendship. Cover by the wonderful @SaadSohail_.
Romeo and Juliet by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 4,195,284
  • WpVote
    Votes 52,607
  • WpPart
    Parts 27
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. Cover done by @zuko_42
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie by EnlightenmentLibrary
EnlightenmentLibrary
  • WpView
    Reads 249
  • WpVote
    Votes 2
  • WpPart
    Parts 6
Peter Pan is the story of the Darling children, the oldest of them, Wendy, and their adventures with a mischievous little boy named Peter on the island of Neverland. Based on two plays written by Barrie, and first published in 1911, this story has remained a timeless children's classic for a century.
LES MISERABLES - VOL 5 - JEAN VALJEAN (Completed) by VictorHugo
VictorHugo
  • WpView
    Reads 3,554
  • WpVote
    Votes 126
  • WpPart
    Parts 67
Jean Valjean is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. Hugo depicts the character's 19-year-long struggle to lead a normal life after serving a prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his sister's children during a time of economic depression and various attempts to escape from prison. Valjean is also known in the novel as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain Fabre. Valjean and Police Inspector Javert, who repeatedly encounters Valjean and attempts to return him to prison, have become archetypes in literary culture. In the popular imagination, the character of Jean Valjean came to represent both Hugo himself and leftist sentiment.