This is a space dedicated to classical and international literature. Ideal for sharing experiences and emotions about the book read. I invite you to join B&Ruby Literary Club 😍📚
Here I present my selection of readings of all time. They are listed in alphabetical order of title. Some summaries were taken from the original summary of the book and the minority of the summaries were taken from other sources of information.
1. A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
One of the best-known, most frequently performed of modern plays, A Doll's House richly displays the genius with which Henrik Ibsen pioneered modern, realistic prose drama. In the central character of Nora, Ibsen epitomized the human struggle against the humiliating constraints of social conformity. Nora's ultimate rejection of a smothering marriage and life in "a doll's house" shocked theatergoers of the late 1800s and opened new horizons for playwrights and their audiences.
But daring social themes are only one aspect of Ibsen's power as a dramatist. A Doll's House shows as well his gifts for creating realistic dialogue, a suspenseful flow of events and, above all, psychologically penetrating characterizations that make the struggles of his dramatic personages utterly convincing. Here is a deeply absorbing play as readable as it is eminently playable, reprinted from an authoritative translation.
2. A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the book
An immersive entertainment experience unlike any other, A Song of Ice and Fire has earned George R. R. Martin—dubbed “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine—international acclaim and millions of loyal readers. Now here is the entire monumental cycle:
- A GAME OF THRONES.
- A CLASH OF KINGS.
- A STORM OF SWORDS.
- A FEAST FOR CROWS.
- A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.
3. Agatha Christie Collection, by Agatha Christie. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the collection
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, (1890 – 1976) was an English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She also wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections she wrote under her own name, most of which revolve around the investigations of such characters as Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple and Tommy and Tuppence. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap. Born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon, Christie served in a hospital during the First World War, before marrying and starting a family in London. She was initially unsuccessful at getting her work published; but in 1920 The Bodley Head press published her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring the character of Poirot. This launched her literary career. In this book: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920 The Secret Adversary, 1922
4. Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned—a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.
5. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and thereby exposes herself to the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel's seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness.
6.1984, by George Orwell. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
A startling and haunting novel, 1984 creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the novel’s hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions—a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.
7. Complete Poetry, by José Martí. Spanish Edition. Get the book
Synopsis to the poetics of José Martí. Apart from being an ideological and political manifesto, José Martí was one of the most important Latin American poets of his time. He is one of the most visible figures of the transition to Modernism, which in America gave rise to the arrival of new artistic ideals. This edition contains four books: Simple Verses (1891), a too modernist book in which autobiographical extracts and the sign of the popular predominate; Free verses (1878-1882), posthumous work, where assonance poetry takes creative power; Ismaelillo (1882), a book that can be classified as a progress of modernist postulates, given the form that dominates its content; Flowers of exile, is the last book of this edition, where the transit of his poetry is evidenced, in a style that tries to break with the canons of modernism, being perhaps his most ambitious work of poetry in terms of style and avant-garde.
8. Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Crime and Punishment is the story of a brutal double murder and its aftermath. Raskolnikov, a poor student, kills a pawnbroker and her sister, and then has to face up to the moral consequences of his actions. The novel is compelling and rewarding, full of meaning and symbolism, and raises profound questions about the individual and society, and the nature of free will.
9. David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his brilliant, but ultimately unworthy school-friend James Steerforth; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble, yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora Spenlow; and the magnificently impecunious Wilkins Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations. In David Copperfield - the novel he described as his 'favourite child' - Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of the most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure. This edition uses the text of the first volume publication of 1850, and includes updated suggestions for further reading, original illustrations by 'Phiz', a revised chronology and expanded notes. In his new introduction, Jeremy Tambling discusses the novel's autobiographical elements, and its central themes of memory and identity.
10. Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
Edith Grossman's definitive English translation of the Spanish masterpiece, in an expanded P.S. edition.
Widely regarded as one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the adventures of the self-created knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. You haven't experienced Don Quixote in English until you've read this masterful translation.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
11. Eugenia Grandet, by Honoré de Balzac. Spanish Edition. Get the book
Eugenia Grandet (Eugénie Grandet) is a novel by Honoré de Balzac first published in the weekly L'Europe littéraire (Literary Europe) in September 1833, the magazine's first year. The title of this first edition was Eugénie Grandet, histoire de province. It was already published in book form in 1834, at the publishing house of Madame Charles-Béchet; later, in 1839, in the Gervais Charpentier publishing house, with a dedication to which she had been Balzac's lover: Maria du Fresnay. In the Furne edition of 1843, the novel was part of the Human Comedy series, in the first volume of Scènes de la vie de province; and, within it, it was situated between the novels Ursule Mirouët and Pierrette. The novel presents the mentality of the time of the restoration.
12. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Sixty years after its originally publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.
13. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
This intense novel takes place when Captain Robert Walton in one of his free moments in Saint Petersburg, Russia and at the end of the XXVIII century. He is waiting for someone to tail him to the port of Arcángel, where he wants to hire some Russians to sail to the North Pole. But unfortunately, the ship in which they move gets stuck in ice, staying hundreds of kilometers from the mainland. It is there that Walton begins to write letters to his sister in England, since he was eagerly looking for a companion to be with him, despite the fact that he was surrounded by the entire crew of the ship.
14. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. Get the book
Spanish Edtion. Get the book
Since its original publication in 1936, Gone With the Wind—winner of the Pulitzer Prize and one of the bestselling novels of all time—has been heralded by readers everywhere as The Great American Novel.
Widely considered The Great American Novel, and often remembered for its epic film version, Gone With the Wind explores the depth of human passions with an intensity as bold as its setting in the red hills of Georgia. A superb piece of storytelling, it vividly depicts the drama of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, in the pages of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captured readers for over seventy years.
15. Hemingway Boxed Set, by Ernest Hemingway. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the collection
A collection of the most beloved and enduring novels by Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, as featured in the film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on PBS.
16. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Jane Eyre (originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published on 16 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London, England, under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Primarily of the bildungsroman genre, Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of its title character, including her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the byronic master of fictitious Thornfield Hall. In its internalisation of the action — the focus is on the gradual unfolding of Jane's moral and spiritual sensibility and all the events are coloured by a heightened intensity that was previously the domain of poetry — Jane Eyre revolutionized the art of fiction. Charlotte Brontë has been called the 'first historian of the private consciousness' and the literary ancestor of writers like Joyce and Proust. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel's exploration of classism, sexuality, religion, and proto-feminism.
17. Jules Verne Collection (5 books in 1), by Jules Verne. Get the collection
Spanish Edtion. Get the book
The Jules Verne Collection includes five novels: Around the World in 80 Days. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Journey to the Center of the Earth. From the Earth to the Moon. Around the Moon. In Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne helped make the world seem a little smaller, and accessible to young adventurers, spurring many to attempt a voyage around the world. In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the description of Nemo's ship, called the Nautilus, was considered ahead of its time, as it accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels. In Journey to the Center of the Earth, readers were brought face to face with prehistoric creatures deep within the bowels of the Earth. In From the Earth to the Moon, many of Verne's calculations in launching a projectile into space were surprisingly accurate, and his placement of a launch site in Florida predated the Kennedy Space Center's construction in Florida by almost 100 years. In Around the Moon, Verne describes how the gravitational force of a large asteroid can change the course of a space ship, and encouraged readers to dream about the wonders of the Moon's surface.
18. Jurassic Park, by Michael Christon. Get the book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of Timeline, Sphere, and Congo, this is the classic thriller of science run amok that took the world by storm.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
“[Michael] Crichton’s dinosaurs are genuinely frightening.” - Chicago Sun-Times
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them - for a price.
Until something goes wrong...
In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.
Praise for Jurassic Park.
“Wonderful... powerful.” - The Washington Post Book World
“Frighteningly real...compelling... It’ll keep you riveted.” - The Detroit News
“Full of suspense.” - The New York Times Book Review.
19. Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
The subject of the world’s longest-running musical and the award-winning film, Les Misérables is a genuine literary treasure. Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism, and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him, and has been a perennial favorite since it first appeared over 150 years ago. This exciting new translation with Jillian Tamaki’s brilliant cover art will be a gift both to readers who have already fallen for its timeless story and to new readers discovering it for the first time.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
20. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
The International Bestseller and modern literary classic by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez.
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
21. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression.
They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.
Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.
22. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel García Márquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.
23. Oscar Wilde Collection, by Oscar Wilde. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Nine Books In One! In one volume, a new beautifully laid-out edition of nine of Oscar Wilde's most famous and influential works, drawn from his novels, short story collections, plays, and poems. Included in this volume are: The Picture of Dorian Gray (originally published in 1891) A House of Pomegranates (originally published in 1891, containing the classic stories "The Young King," "The Birth of the Infanta," "The Fisherman and His Soul," and "The Star-Child") The Happy Prince & Other Tales (originally published in 1888, containing the classic stories "The Happy Prince," "The Nightingale and the Rose," "The Selfish Giant," "The Devoted Friend," and "The Remarkable Rocket.") Lady Windermere's Fan (originally published in 1892) A Woman of No Importance (originally published in 1893) An Ideal Husband (originally published in 1895) The Importance of Being Earnest (originally published in 1895) The Ballad of Reading Gaol (originally published in 1898) Ravenna (originally published in 1878)
24. Papá Goriot, by Honoré de Balzac. Spanish Edition. Get the book
Written in 1834 for the Revue de Paris and published in 1835 in book form. Considered one of the most important works of the author, it is part of the Scenes of the private life of the Human Comedy. It analyzes the nature of the family, marriage, stratification and corruption in Parisian society during the French Restoration from the drama experienced by characters such as Papa Goriot - the man who lives in misery and rejected by his daughters later having sacrificed everything for them-, Eugène Rastignac -the candid and ambitious young man who aspires to be part of high society-, the other pensioners in the Vauquer House and high-society ladies such as Madame de Bauseánt or the daughters of Goriot .
25. Paula, by Isabel Allende. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
When Isabel Allende's daughter, Paula, became gravely ill and fell into a coma, the author began to write the story of her family for her unconscious child. In the telling, bizarre ancestors appear before our eyes; we hear both delightful and bitter childhood memories, amazing anecdotes of youthful years, and the most intimate secrets passed along in whispers. With Paula, Allende has written a powerful autobiography whose straightforward acceptance of the magical and spiritual worlds will remind readers of her first book, The House of the Spirits.
26. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Few have failed to be charmed by the witty and independent spirit of Elizabeth Bennet in Austen’s beloved classic Pride and Prejudice. When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows us the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life. This Penguin Classics edition, based on Austen's first edition, contains the original Penguin Classics introduction by Tony Tanner and an updated introduction and notes by Viven Jones.
27. Rhymes and Legend (Selection). Rimas y Leyendas (Selección) A Dual Language Spanish, by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Spain's great lyric poet, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), is famed both for his poetry and his fiction. Bécquer's celebrated Rhymes consists of sixty-six of the most splendid poems written in Spain in the nineteenth century. As the Alvarez Quintero brothers said, "All his poetry is moonlight." And the six tales from Bécquer's Legends, shimmering between romance and fantasy, show why his prose is recognized as among the best from the Spanish Romantic tradition.
Editor Stanley Appelbaum provides sensitive, accurate English translations on the pages facing the original Spanish, as well as an informative introduction to the author's life and work. This volume is a treasure for students and teachers of Spanish language and literature and for lovers of poetry and storytelling.
28. Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Shipwrecked on a deserted island for twenty-eight years, Robinson Crusoe recounts his experiences with cannibals, captives, and mutineers before finally being rescued. Filled with adventure and suspense, Crusoe demonstrates heightened self-awareness while relying on his instincts for survival. This riveting novel is sure to have readers on the edge of their seats. A staple for any teen or young adult reader.
29. Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, by Anton Chekhov. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the highly acclaimed translators of War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago, and Anna Karenina, which was an Oprah Book Club pick and million-copy bestseller, bring their unmatched talents to The Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov, a collection of thirty of Chekhov’s best tales from the major periods of his creative life.
Considered the greatest short story writer, Anton Chekhov changed the genre itself with his spare, impressionistic depictions of Russian life and the human condition. From characteristically brief, evocative early pieces such as “The Huntsman” and the tour de force “A Boring Story,” to his best-known stories such as “The Lady with the Little Dog” and his own personal favorite, “The Student,” Chekhov’s short fiction possesses the transcendent power of art to awe and change the reader. This monumental edition, expertly translated, is especially faithful to the meaning of Chekhov’s prose and the unique rhythms of his writing, giving readers an authentic sense of his style and a true understanding of his greatness.
30. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most.
31. Tarzan, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Together for the first time in one omnibus binding are all ten of the original Tarzan Novels that cemented Tarzan’s name in the annals of heroic fiction. That’s more than one thousand pages of pulse pounding adventure. Almost a million words. Return to a simpler more exciting time with Tarzan and his adventures. If you enjoyed this book, you’ll want to search on “Positronic Publishing Super Pack” and check out all our other Super Packs!
Included in this edition.
- Tarzan of the Apes.
- The Return Of Tarzan.
- The Beasts of Tarzan.
- The Son of Tarzan.
- Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar.
- Jungle Tales of Tarzan.
- Tarzan the Untamed.
- Tarzan the Terrible.
- Tarzan and the Golden Lion.
- Tarzan and the Ant-Men.
32. The Arabian Nights, by Andrew Lang.Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
This collection of stories is inspired by oral tradition, which occupied a marginal position in medieval Arab literature. Still, these stories played a major role in the eighteenth-century fascination with Eastern culture, made possible by translations of the work—into French by Antoine Galland, and into English by Richard Francis Burton.
33. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
The Art of War is an enduring classic that holds a special place in the culture and history of East Asia. An ancient Chinese text on the philosophy and politics of warfare and military strategy, the treatise was written in 6th century B.C. by a warrior-philosopher now famous all over the world as Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu’s teachings remain as relevant to leaders and strategists today as they were to rulers and military generals in ancient times. Divided into thirteen chapters and written succinctly, The Art of War is a must read for anybody who works in an competitive environment or who is interested in warfare, strategy and Chinese history.
34. The Best of Alexandre Dumas. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Nineteenth century author Alexandre Dumas is one of the most widely read French authors of all time whose works have been translated into nearly 100 languages and adapted into nearly 200 films. His historical action novels were the most popular of his works, these include: The Count of Monte Cristo; The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.
This collection contains:- Count of Monte Cristo; Man in the Iron Mask; Three Musketeers; Twenty Years After.
35. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Anyone who has read J.D. Salinger's New Yorker stories--particularly A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, The Laughing Man, and For Esme With Love and Squalor--will not be surprised by the fact that his first novel is full of children. The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield.
Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.
There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.
36. The Charles Dicknes Collection, by Charles Dickens. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the book
This handsome slipcased collection brings together five of Charles Dickens' most iconic novels, presented in clothbound volumes with foil embossed cover designs.
Readers can revel in Dickens' masterful atmospheric descriptions of Victorian London and the terror of the French Revolution as they encounter some of the novelist's most enduring and best-loved characters, from Fagin to Scrooge and Miss Havisham. This luxury gift edition contains five volumes bound in high-quality cloth and matching color endsheets. These editions fit handsomely into a decorative slipcase with luxurious cloth finishes on the top and bottom. Complete and unabridged, these enduring classics make a wonderful gift or collectible to take pride of place on your bookshelf.
Includes:
1. Oliver Twist.
2. A Christmas Carol.
3. Hard Times.
4. A Tale of Two Cities.
5. Great Expectations.
37. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Alice Walker's iconic modern classic is now a Penguin Book.
A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker's epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.
38. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, by William Shakespeare. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Romeo and Juliet. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. King Lear. Hamlet. Macbeth — the works of William Shakespeare still resonate in our imaginations four centuries after they were written. The timeless characters and themes of the Bard’s plays fascinate us with their joys, struggles, and triumphs, and now they are available in a special volume for Shakespeare fans everywhere. This edition of William Shakespeare’s works includes all of his poems and plays in an elegant, leather-bound, keepsake edition. Whether for a Shakespeare devotee or someone just discovering him, this is the perfect place to experience the drama of Shakespeare’s words. A scholarly introduction provides additional context and insight into the poems and plays. Specially designed end papers, a ribbon bookmark, and other enhancements complete the package and make this the perfect gift for any lover of literature — a book to read and treasure!
39. The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio. Get the book
Spanih Edition. Get the book
The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. Translated by John Payne. The Decameron subtitled "Prince Galehaut" and sometimes nicknamed "Umana commedia", "Human comedy", is a collection of novellas by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived of The Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary value and widespread influence (for example on Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales), it provides a document of life at the time.
40. The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.
In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annexe” of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
Praise for The Diary of a Young Girl
“A truly remarkable book.”—The New York Times
“One of the most moving personal documents to come out of World War II.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“There may be no better way to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II than to reread The Diary of a Young Girl, a testament to an indestructible nobility of spirit in the face of pure evil.”—Chicago Tribune
“The single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust . . . remains astonishing and excruciating.”—The New York Times Book Review
“How brilliantly Anne Frank captures the self-conscious alienation and naïve self-absorption of adolescence.”—Newsday.
41. The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
This Everyman’s Library edition–containing in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso–includes an introduction by Nobel Prize—winning poet Eugenio Montale, a chronology, notes, and a bibliography. Also included are forty-two drawings selected from Botticelli's marvelous late-fifteenth-century series of illustrations.
Translated in this edition by Allen Mandelbaum, The Divine Comedy begins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity.
Mandelbaum’s astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece of that genius whom our greatest poets have recognized as a central model for all poets.
42. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, by Jose Saramago. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
A wry, fictional account of the life of Christ by the Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, “Illuminated by ferocious wit, gentle passion, and poetry” (Los Angeles Times Book Review). For José Saramago, the life of Jesus Christ and the story of his Passion were things of this earth: a child crying, a gust of wind, the caress of a woman half asleep, the bleat of a goat or the bark of a dog, a prayer uttered in the grayish morning light. The Holy Family reflects the real complexities of any family, but this is realism filled with vision, dream, and omen. Saramago’s deft psychological portrait of a savior who is at once the Son of God and a young man of this earth is an expert interweaving of poetry and irony, spirituality and irreverence. The result is nothing less than a brilliant skeptic’s wry inquest into the meaning of God and of human existence.
43. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.
This Penguin Classics edition contains an introduction and notes by Steinbeck scholar Robert Demott.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,800 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
44. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
A true classic of twentieth-century literature, this edition has been updated by Fitzgerald scholar James L.W. West III to include the author’s final revisions and features a note on the composition and text, a personal foreword by Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan—and a new introduction by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
45. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Seconds before Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together, this dynamic pair began a journey through space aided by a galaxyful of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian (formerly Tricia McMillan), Zaphod’s girlfriend, whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; and Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he’s bought over the years.
46. The House of Spirits, by Isabel Allende. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
The House of the Spirits, the unforgettable first novel that established Isabel Allende as one of the world’s most gifted storytellers, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the Trueba family. The patriarch Esteban is a volatile, proud man whose voracious pursuit of political power is tempered only by his love for his delicate wife Clara, a woman with a mystical connection to the spirit world. When their daughter Blanca embarks on a forbidden love affair in defiance of her implacable father, the result is an unexpected gift to Esteban: his adored granddaughter Alba, a beautiful and strong-willed child who will lead her family and her country into a revolutionary future.
One of the most important novels of the twentieth century, The House of the Spirits is an enthralling epic that spans decades and lives, weaving the personal and the political into a universal story of love, magic, and fate.
47. The Iliad, by Homero. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
The great war epic of Western literature, translated by acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles, and featured in the Netflix series The OA
Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace.
Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad’s mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls “an astonishing performance.”
This Penguin Classics Deluxe edition also features French flaps and deckle-edged paper.
48. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Get the book
Sanish Edition. Get the book
The #1 New York Times bestselling debut novel that introduced Khaled Hosseini to millions of readers the world over.
The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.
Since its publication in 2003 Kite Runner has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic of contemporary literature, touching millions of readers, and launching the career of one of America's most treasured writers.
49. The Lady of the Camellias, by Alexnadre Dumas Fils. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
One of the greatest love stories of all time," according to Henry James, and the inspiration for Verdi’s opera La Traviata, the Oscar-winning musical Moulin Rouge!, and numerous ballets, stage plays (starring Lillian Gish, Eleonora Duse, Tallulah Bankhead, and Sarah Bernhardt, and films (starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Rudolph Valentino, Isabelle Huppert, and Colin Firth), The Lady of the Camellias itself was inspired by the real-life nineteeth-century courtesan Marie Duplessis, the lover of the novel’s author, Alexander Dumas Fils.
50. The Last Legion, by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
The Roman world is in the throes of death, but a new myth, destined to span the centuries, is waiting to be born.
The camp was quiet. Mist shrouded the plains and the Nova Invicta Legion, the legendary warriors charged with protecting the last emperor of Rome, settled in for another cold and bitter night. Then, through the fog, the barbarians appeared. In a space of a few hours, all was lost -- the Roman Empire lay in ruins. But not all the Romans are dead. From the dust of the battlefield, a band of seemingly immortal legionaries rise up. They are the Last Legion. Risking their lives, they attempt an audacious mission to free the young emperor and his enigmatic tutor from the hands of their captors.
The Last Legion is a bewitching novel of bravery, love, myth, and magic. Valerio Massimo Manfredi has written an epic that will hold you spellbound until the very last page.
51. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.
When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.
This edition includes the fiftieth-anniversary fully corrected text setting and an extensive index.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. His chief interest was the linguistic aspects of the early English written tradition, but while he studied classic works of the past, he was creating a set of his own.
52. The Mark Twain Collection, by Mark Twain. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the book
This delightful six-volume collection features many of Mark Twain's best-loved novels, including:
1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
2.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
3. Tom Sayer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective.
4. The Prince and the Pauper.
5. A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court.
6. Puddn'Nhead Wilson and The Mysterious Stranger.
Engaging and entertaining, these showcase the vivid imagination of one of America's greatest writers and make a splendid gift for anyone who has not yet been introduced to Twain's work.
53. The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Franz Kafka's 1915 novella of nightmarish transformation became a worldwide classic and remains a century later one of the most widely read works of fiction in the world. This new and acclaimed translation is accompanied by possible inspirations and critical analysis of Gregor Samsa's strange story.
This Norton Critical Edition includes:
· Susan Bernofsky’s acclaimed new translation, along with her Translator’s Note.
- Introductory materials and explanatory footnotes by Mark M. Anderson.
- Three illustrations.
- Related texts by Kafka, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Rainer Maria Rilke, among others.
- Eight critical essays by Günther Anders, Walter H. Sokel, Nina Pelikan Straus, Mark M. Anderson, Elizabeth Boa, Carolin Duttlinger, Kári Driscoll, and Dan Miron.
- A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography.
54. The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Originally published serially in 1912, “The Lost World” is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tale of discovery and adventure. The story begins with the narrator, the curious and intrepid reporter Edward Malone, meeting Professor Challenger, a strange and brilliant paleontologist who insists that he has found dinosaurs still alive deep in the Amazon. Malone agrees to accompany Challenger, as well as Challenger’s unconvinced colleague Professor Summerlee, and the adventurer Lord John Roxton, into the wilds of South America and the Amazon in search of Challenger’s fantastical beasts. There, cut off from the rest of civilization and high atop an isolated plateau, the explorers find themselves in an amazing land of extinct dinosaurs, a native tribe, and a group of ape-like creatures. The party is drawn into a violent battle when they are taken captive by the ape men and must use their cunning and resourcefulness to escape and save the lives of their party and the other captured native tribesmen. Immensely popular and influential, “The Lost World” is a classic tale of science-fiction adventure that continues to inspire and captivate to this day.
55. The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
An international sensation and winner of the Premio Strega and the Prix Médicis Étranger awards.
The year is 1327, Benedictines in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon—all sharpened to a glistening edge by wry humor and a ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey, where “the most interesting things happen at night.”
“Like the labyrinthine library at its heart, this brilliant novel has many cunning passages and secret chambers . . . Fascinating . . . ingenious . . . dazzling.” – Newsweek.
56. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South—and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred
One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.
57.The Sherlock Holmes Collection, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Get the collection
Spanish Edition. Get the book
This tastefully produced box set collects Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in six volumes. The drug-addled, anti-social sleuth has become one of the most iconic characters in fiction and the tales collected here will entertain readers today just as much as when they were first published in the late 19th Century. Stories include:
1. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles & The Valley of Fear.
3. His Last Bow.
4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
5. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
6. A Study in Scarlet & The Sign of Four.
58. War and Piece, by Leo Tolstoy. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men.
A s Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world
59. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. Get the book
Spanish Edition. Get the book
One of English literature's classic masterpieces—a gripping novel of love, propriety, and tragedy. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Emily Brontë's only novel endures as a work of tremendous and far-reaching influence. The Penguin Classics edition is the definitive version of the text, edited with an introduction by Pauline Nestor.
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before. What unfolds is the tale of the intense love between the gypsy foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrendered to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.
In this edition, a new preface by Lucasta Miller, author of The Brontë Myth, looks at the ways in which the novel has been interpreted, from Charlotte Brontë onwards. This complements Pauline Nestor's introduction, which discusses changing critical receptions of the novel, as well as Emily Brontë's influences and background.
SEE MORE
