Rainy-Day Reads
17 stories
Northanger Abbey (1818) by JaneAusten
Northanger Abbey (1818)
JaneAusten
  • Reads 208,650
  • Votes 6,087
  • Parts 32
Northanger Abbey follows seventeen-year-old Gothic novel aficionado Catherine Morland and family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen as they visit Bath. It is Catherine's first visit there. She meets new friends, such as Isabella Thorpe, and goes to balls. Catherine finds herself pursued by Isabella's brother, the rough-mannered, slovenly John Thorpe, and by her real love interest, Henry Tilney. She also becomes friends with Eleanor Tilney, Henry's younger sister. Henry captivates her with his view on novels and his knowledge of history and the world. General Tilney (Henry and Eleanor's father) invites Catherine to visit their estate, Northanger Abbey, which, from her reading of Ann Radcliffe's Gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho, she expects to be dark, ancient and full of Gothic horrors and fantastical mystery.
Little Women (1880) by LouisaMayAlcott
Little Women (1880)
LouisaMayAlcott
  • Reads 678,396
  • Votes 15,883
  • Parts 47
"Little Women" follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters.
A House of Pomegranates (1891) by OscarWilde
A House of Pomegranates (1891)
OscarWilde
  • Reads 22,959
  • Votes 548
  • Parts 4
"A House of Pomegranates" is a collection of fairy tales. "The Young King" tells the story of the illegitimate shepherd son of the recently dead king's daughter of an unnamed country. Being his only heir, he is brought to the palace to await his accession. "The Birthday of the Infanta" is about a hunchbacked dwarf, found in the woods by courtiers of the King of Spain. The hunchback's father sells him to the palace for the amusement of the king's daughter, the Infanta, on her twelfth birthday. In "The Fisherman and his Soul," a young Fisherman finds a Mermaid and wants nothing more than to marry her, but he cannot, for one cannot live underwater if one has a soul. "The Star-Child" is the story of an infant boy found abandoned in the woods by a poor woodcutter, who pities him and takes him in. He grows up to be exceedingly beautiful, but vain, cruel, and arrogant, believing himself to be the divine child of the stars. Cover done by @zonaamind
Rose in Bloom by LouisaMayAlcott
Rose in Bloom
LouisaMayAlcott
  • Reads 10,454
  • Votes 366
  • Parts 23
Rose in Bloom, by Louisa May Alcott, depicts the story of a nineteenth-century girl, Rose Campbell, finding her way in society. It is Alcott's sequel to Eight Cousins. Cover by the wonderful @ESJohnson.
Ivanhoe: A Romance by Sir Walter Scott by SapphireAlena
Ivanhoe: A Romance by Sir Walter Scott
SapphireAlena
  • Reads 10,087
  • Votes 402
  • Parts 57
First published in 1820. Public Domain. Daring sword fights. Heroes in disguise. Maidens in distress. What's not to love? A treatise on social classes and racial and religious prejudice in the 12th Century.
Great Expectations (1861) by CharlesDickens
Great Expectations (1861)
CharlesDickens
  • Reads 1,399,612
  • Votes 12,038
  • Parts 60
On Christmas Eve, around 1812, Pip, an orphan who is about six years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting the graves of his mother, father, and siblings. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and a file to grind away his shackles, from the home he shares with his abusive older sister and her kind, passive husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The next day, soldiers recapture the convict while he is engaged in a fight with another convict; the two are returned to the prison ships from which they escaped...
The Cask of Amontillado (1846) by EdgarAllanPoe
The Cask of Amontillado (1846)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 14,678
  • Votes 383
  • Parts 1
"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado") is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive - in this case, by immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective. Cover by the lovely @theygotnone
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by LewisCarroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
LewisCarroll
  • Reads 1,238,879
  • Votes 13,040
  • Parts 12
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children.
Oliver Twist (1837) by CharlesDickens
Oliver Twist (1837)
CharlesDickens
  • Reads 338,322
  • Votes 5,943
  • Parts 52
The story is about an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Naively unaware of their unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin.
The Count of Monte Cristo (1845) (Completed) by AlexandreDumas
The Count of Monte Cristo (1845) (Completed)
AlexandreDumas
  • Reads 283,981
  • Votes 7,403
  • Parts 115
"The Count of Monte Cristo" focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune and sets about getting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. However, his plans have devastating consequences for the innocent as well as the guilty. Cover by xflowerpetalsx