classics.
14 stories
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND (Completed) by FydorDostoevsky
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND (Completed)
FydorDostoevsky
  • Reads 17,414
  • Votes 573
  • Parts 22
Notes from Underground, also translated as Notes from the Underground or Letters from the Underworld, is an 1864 novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Notes is considered by many to be one of the first existentialist novels. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man) who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. The first part of the story is told in monologue form, or the underground man's diary, and attacks emerging Western philosophy, especially Nikolay Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done? The second part of the book is called "Apropos of the Wet Snow" and describes certain events that appear to be destroying and sometimes renewing the underground man, who acts as a first person, unreliable narrator and anti-hero
Three Men in a Boat (Completed) by jeromekjerome
Three Men in a Boat (Completed)
jeromekjerome
  • Reads 6,554
  • Votes 222
  • Parts 19
Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer- Jerome K. Jerome of a two-week boating holiday on the Thames from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford and back to Kingston. The book was initially intended to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history along the route, but the humorous elements took over to the point where the serious and somewhat sentimental passages seem a distraction to the comic novel. One of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers - the jokes seem fresh and witty even today.
THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS (Completed) by johnbuchan
THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS (Completed)
johnbuchan
  • Reads 1,330
  • Votes 58
  • Parts 11
The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh.[1] It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations. The novel formed the basis for a number of film adaptations, notably: Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 version; a 1959 colour remake; a 1978 version which is perhaps most faithful to the novel; and a 2008 version for British television.
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (Completed) by AlexandreDumas
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (Completed)
AlexandreDumas
  • Reads 13,388
  • Votes 379
  • Parts 60
Alexandre Dumas elaborated on the story in the novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, the final installment of his D'Artagnan saga: here the prisoner is forced to wear an iron mask and is Louis XIV's identical twin. Dumas also presented a review of the popular theories about the prisoner extant in his time in the chapter "L'homme au masque de fer" in the sixth volume of his Crimes Célèbres.
The Merchant of Venice by WilliamShakespeare
The Merchant of Venice
WilliamShakespeare
  • Reads 84,603
  • Votes 1,448
  • Parts 21
Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, "The Merchant of Venice" is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and is best known for Shylock and the famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by MarkTwain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
MarkTwain
  • Reads 185,162
  • Votes 3,491
  • Parts 37
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by MarkTwain
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
MarkTwain
  • Reads 183,220
  • Votes 2,645
  • Parts 45
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (Completed) by FydorDostoevsky
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (Completed)
FydorDostoevsky
  • Reads 19,737
  • Votes 743
  • Parts 96
The Brothers Karamazov, also translated as The Karamazov Brothers, is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger from January 1879 to November 1880. The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th-century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, judgment, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia, with a plot which revolves around the subject of patricide. Dostoevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.
THE SCARLET LETTER (Completed) by NathanielHawthorne
THE SCARLET LETTER (Completed)
NathanielHawthorne
  • Reads 22,060
  • Votes 587
  • Parts 26
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is an 1850 novel in a historical setting, written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book is considered to be his "masterwork". Set in 17th-century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES (Completed) by NathanielHawthorne
THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES (Completed)
NathanielHawthorne
  • Reads 832
  • Votes 13
  • Parts 25
The House of the Seven Gables is a Gothic novel written beginning in mid-1850 by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their ancestral home. In the book, Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and atonement and colors the tale with suggestions of the supernatural and witchcraft. The setting for the book was inspired by a gabled house in Salem belonging to Hawthorne's cousin Susanna Ingersoll and by ancestors of Hawthorne who had played a part in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The book was well received upon publication and later had a strong influence on the work of H. P. Lovecraft. The House of the Seven Gables has been adapted several times to film and television.