Classics
16 stories
Macbeth by WilliamShakespeare
WilliamShakespeare
  • WpView
    Reads 210,096
  • WpVote
    Votes 4,221
  • WpPart
    Parts 29
"Macbeth" tells the story of a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and death. Cover by @newsies-
The Pit and the Pendulum (1842) by EdgarAllanPoe
EdgarAllanPoe
  • WpView
    Reads 8,077
  • WpVote
    Votes 214
  • WpPart
    Parts 1
"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are aided by the supernatural. The traditional elements established in popular horror tales at the time are followed, but critical reception has been mixed. Cover by the lovely @KatrinHollister
The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) by EdgarAllanPoe
EdgarAllanPoe
  • WpView
    Reads 21,702
  • WpVote
    Votes 1,102
  • WpPart
    Parts 1
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is relayed by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of his sanity while simultaneously describing a murder he committed. The victim was an old man with a filmy "vulture-eye", as the narrator calls it. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, and he hides the body by dismembering it, and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately, the narrator's feelings of guilt, or a mental disturbance, result in him hearing a thumping sound, which he interprets as the dead man's beating heart. Cover by the lovely @FayLane.
THE LOST WORLD (Completed) by ArthurConanDoyle
ArthurConanDoyle
  • WpView
    Reads 17,381
  • WpVote
    Votes 633
  • WpPart
    Parts 17
The Lost World is a novel released in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle concerning an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals (dinosaurs and other extinct creatures) still survive. It was originally published serially in the popular Strand Magazine and illustrated by New-Zealand-born artist Harry Rountree during the months of April-November 1912. The character of Professor Challenger was introduced in this book. The novel also describes a war between indigenous people and a vicious tribe of ape-like creatures. Cover by the lovely @FaithMurri.
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) by LewisCarroll
LewisCarroll
  • WpView
    Reads 72,018
  • WpVote
    Votes 1,987
  • WpPart
    Parts 12
"Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There" is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The themes and settings of Through the Looking-Glass make it a kind of mirror image of Wonderland: the first book begins outdoors, in the warm month of May (4 May), uses frequent changes in size as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of playing cards; the second opens indoors on a snowy, wintry night exactly six months later, on 4 November (the day before Guy Fawkes Night), uses frequent changes in time and spatial directions as a plot device, and draws on the imagery of chess.
A House of Pomegranates (1891) by OscarWilde
OscarWilde
  • WpView
    Reads 23,069
  • WpVote
    Votes 551
  • WpPart
    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
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) by ArthurConanDoyle
ArthurConanDoyle
  • WpView
    Reads 563,215
  • WpVote
    Votes 8,734
  • WpPart
    Parts 12
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring his famous detective.
Treasure Island (1883) by RobertLouisStevenson
RobertLouisStevenson
  • WpView
    Reads 156,977
  • WpVote
    Votes 3,138
  • WpPart
    Parts 34
Treasure Island follows young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook . . .and the next a dangerous pirate leader. The unexpected and complex relationship that develops between Silver and Jim helps transform what seems at first to be a simple, rip-roaring adventure story into a deeply moving study of a boy’s growth into manhood, as he learns hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and honor—and the uncertain meaning of good and evil.
Frankenstein (1818) by MaryShelley
MaryShelley
  • WpView
    Reads 287,139
  • WpVote
    Votes 7,038
  • WpPart
    Parts 28
"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is about an eccentric scientist Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment.
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by OscarWilde
OscarWilde
  • WpView
    Reads 162,957
  • WpVote
    Votes 2,598
  • WpPart
    Parts 6
"The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personæ in order to escape burdensome social obligations.