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Sail off on a fantastical journey with Baron Munchausen, the jocular title character of this whimsical tale from Rudolf Erich Raspe. The book is based on the exploits of a real-life German baron whose stories about the battles in which he fought as a member of the Russian army included details such as riding on a cannonball and flying to the moon. The book was also the basis of a 1988 film adaptation.
42) Blind Love
Love is said to be the salve that soothes a damaged soul. But in some cases, an all-consuming intimacy can have the opposite effect, inflaming murderous jealousies and compelling people to act in the most nefarious ways. The relationship at the center of Wilkie Collins' classic novel Blind Love started out innocently enough, but before long, Iris Henley and Lord Harry Norland find themselves doomed by their passion.
43) The Black Robe
In The Black Robe, a strikingly original novel from master storyteller Wilkie Collins, what starts out as a night of fun and games turns tragic when a dispute over a card game leads to murder. Desperate to atone for his sin, the perpetrator tries to offer assistance to the victim's family, but instead finds himself enmeshed all the deeper in a web of falsehoods and intrigue. Will he ever be able to extricate himself and move on with his
...At first glance, wheat farming may not appear to be a scintillating topic for a novel, but in the hands of renowned social realist Frank Norris, this seemingly quotidian activity is transformed into a fascinating analysis of the economic factors that spurred the expansion into the western United States. The first novel in a planned trilogy that Norris never completed, The Octopus: A Story of California is an enlightening and gratifying read.
...45) Poor Miss Finch
What if you had been deprived of sight for your entire life—only to have your vision restored just as you found yourself falling in love for the first time? That's the seemingly miraculous fate that befalls the Miss Finch of the title in this classic novel from abidingly popular nineteenth-century author Wilkie Collins.
46) The Chimes
Love A Christmas Carol? Celebrate the holiday season with the second of Dickens' trio of Christmas classics, The Chimes. This tale of humanity's warring moral impulses and ultimate redemption highlights the true meaning of the holiday season. An uplifting read at Christmastime, or at any time of the year.
Ranked by critics and literary experts as one of the most important English writers, Joseph Conrad contributed to the Western canon with such masterpieces as Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. A master of intricate psychological portraiture, Conrad brings this skill to bear in The End of the Tether, a story about an elderly man's attempt to come to grips with his own mortality.
48) Prester John
Fans of H. Rider Haggard's action-adventure novels will be swept away by John Buchan's Prester John, a thrill-a-minute tale set in colonial Africa. Young David Crawfurd travels to Africa to make a quick buck as a merchant, but the ambitious entrepreneur soon finds himself caught in the middle of an uprising—and under the sway of a charismatic rebel leader with a mysterious past.
Tom Sawyer, Detective follows Twain's popular novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Tom Sawyer Abroad. In this novel, Tom turns detective, trying to solve a murder. Twain plays with and celebrates the detective novel, wildly popular at the time. This novel, like the others, is told through the first-person narrative of Huck Finn.
50) Mr. Standfast
World War I espionage thriller meets modern-day morality tale in Mr. Standfast, the third of five Richard Hannay novels written by acclaimed storyteller John Buchan. Follow Hannay's exploits as a soldier and a spy in a fast-paced book that echoes may of the themes and motifs of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
Science fiction master H. G. Wells was never one to shy away from complex or controversial topics, and in this classic novel, he takes on Christianity. Though The Soul of a Bishop takes place on Earth and is wholly free of invading alien hordes or other fantastical creatures, it does deal with supernatural and mystical topics, delving into the how and why of religious belief.
Dive into the scandalous roman à clef that shocked the world. Based in part on H. G. Wells' own alleged affair with a much-younger woman, the novel The New Machiavelli follows the rise to power of brilliant politician Richard Remington, whose ascendance is stopped in its tracks when his extramarital dalliance is revealed.
William Porphyry Benham, the protagonist of H. G. Wells' thought-provoking allegory The Research Magnificent, has dedicated his entire life to one sole purpose: embodying the life of an aristocrat. For him, this doesn't mean lolling about in a state of extreme leisure, but rather, cultivating a well-rounded, honorable existence. Will his all-encompassing mission pay off in the end?
54) Tono Bungay
Philosophically minded science fiction fans will rejoice in this novel from H.G. Wells, the author regarded as one of the originators of the genre who wrote classic gems such as The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau. Though more grounded in realism than some of his other works, Tono-Bungay offers an interesting look into the morality of scientific discovery.
55) Pierre and Jean
Pierre and Jean is a short realist novel by Guy de Maupassant. The relationship of two brothers to each other and to their mother begins to change when a family friend dies and leaves all his money to one brother, bringing his legitimacy into question.
The novel is a psycho-realist portrayal of the power of heredity and money within relationships.
H. G. Wells' comic 1910 novel, The History of Mr. Polly, stars Alfred Polly, a timid man who is more successful at daydreaming than working in the local draper's shops. He marries a woman he's not really in love with, despite being in love with another, and together they attempt to create a success of their own shop while slowly making one another miserable. But on the night of a fire everything changes in Mr. Polly's life.
57) Shirley
Shirley was the second published novel by Charlotte Brontë, after Jane Eyre. It is a social novel set against the backdrop of the Luddite uprisings in Yorshire after the Napoleonic Wars, particularly in the depressed textile industry. The novel's heroine is given a boy's name by her father, who expected a son. The novel's popularity turned the distinctly male name Shirley into a distinctly female one.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is Robert Louis Stevenson's thriller allegory of a medical experiment gone wrong and dual personalities, one the essence of good, the other the essence of evil, fighting for supremacy in one man. Filled with suspense, the book has had such an impact in popular culture that the expression "Jekyll and Hyde" has itself become synonymous with extremes of, or inconsistent behavior.
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick
"A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don't know how to live properly." —Zadie Smith
One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with
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