Modern Classics

Your shortcut to the world’s greatest books. Why spend months (or years) working through reading lists when you can dive into the key ideas, themes, and insights in one place? 50 Must-Read Books: Summaries and Reviews brings you clear, engaging overviews of classics, modern masterpieces, and groundbreaking nonfiction—from Camus, Orwell, Austen, and Dickens to Harari, Atwood, Hosseini, and Liu Cixin.

When a young man is given the chance to rewrite his future, he doesn't realize the price he will pay for giving up his past... Casablanca's stinking alleys are the only home that nineteen-year-old Youssef El-Mekki has ever known. Raised by his mother in a one-room home, he dreams of escape -...

A brilliantly funny story all about celebrating difference – perfect for listening to at home, in the car, at bedtime or any time at all! Everyone knows that tyrannosauruses are big and scary, so when a placid duckbill dinosaur's egg ends up in the wrong nest, confusion is sure to ensue! When...

Narrator Jenna Ushkowitz is an award-winning actress, singer, producer, and podcast host best known for her role as Tina Cohen-Chang on Glee. Meet Anna K! Every happy teenage girl is the same, while every unhappy teenage girl is miserable in her own special way... At seventeen, Anna K is at the...

LES GRANDS TEXTES DU XIXe SIÈCLE. 16 juin 1816. L'orage gronde. Dans une ville cachée au milieu des arbres, sur les bords riants du lac de Genève, une petite société s'ennuie. Il y a deux poètes, Byron et Shelley, leurs compagnes, Claire et Mary, un médecin, Polidori. On se raconte d'horribles histoires, selon la mode du temps. On décide même d'en écrire. Dans la nuit, la jeune Mary – elle n'a pas encore 19 ans – ne peut dormir : elle rêve d'un hideux fantasme d'homme.

Frankenstein is infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement and is also considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. Includes introduction and commentary by Mary Shelley. Required reading for any fan of science fiction and horror genres. A classic.

This program is read by Natalie Portman. Academy Award-winning actress, director, producer, and activist Natalie Portman retells three classic fables and imbues them with wit and wisdom. From realizing that there is no “right” way to live to respecting our planet and learning what really...

An excellent collection of creepy ghost stories from some of the most notable names of early horror fiction, including: “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood, “The Shadows On The Wall” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, “The Messenger” by Robert W.Chambers, “Lazarus” by Leonid Andreyev, “The Beast With Five Fingers” by W.F. Harvey, “The Mass Of Shadows” by Anatole France, “What Was It” by Fitz-James O’brien, “The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot” by Ambrose Bierce, “The Shell Of Sense” by Olivia Howard Dunbar, and more!

From the award-winning author of Girls Burn Brighter, a couple from India—so different from generations of white colonialists who came before them—move to Montana, only to discover the secrets the land holds in this stunning literary novel. Janavi and Sagar were never meant to end up...

Declaring the church corrupt and urging rationality over revelation, Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason directly opposed the existing political and religious order of his time. Initially printed in pamphlet form, his work audaciously employed “vulgar” everyday language, as Paine sought to bring his message, and the appeal of deism, to the masses.

Mit "Also sprach Zarathustra" hat Nietzsche ein faszinierendes Hauptwerk geschaffen, einen Meilenstein der Weltliteratur. In drei zentralen Formeln fasst er seine Philosophie zusammen: der Wille zur Macht, die ewige Wiederkehr des Gleichen und der Übermensch. "Gott ist tot."

Una nueva y veloz visitante ha llegado a un bosque desconocido. Nadie se atreve a competir con la liebre. ¿Nadie? No exactamente. La más inesperada corredora intentará ganarle una carrera. En esta fábula en verso moderno, los niños revisitarán el clásico relato de La liebre y la tortuga y aprenderán valores como la constancia, la superación y la confianza en sí mismos.

This production - adapted by John Tams and Sally Ward at the behest of the author - is a moving tale of a boy's extraordinary bond with his horse during World War One. The story of a farm horse sold from Devon into the mire, wire and machine guns of the Great War of 1914-1918 brings together a...

First published in 1924, A Summer on the Test remains an essential read for fly fishermen. No author has surpassed the Right Honourable John Waller Hills' description of classic chalk stream fishing, or indeed knew more about the history of the sport. The Test is a river much affected by decline and deterioration, with the days of crystal clear waters and plentiful brown trout seemingly impossible to recover. A Summer on the Test reflects on the golden age giving an estimation of what it was once like and what we have lost.

A powerful, award-winning novel that follows the lives of two women as democracy starts to crumble in Hong Kong. One summer morning, college roommates, Ah Lei and Panda, wake up with very different reactions to the night before. They have been chased and tear-gassed in the streets of their city...

This is a story from the Canterbury Tales II: Modern Verse Translation collection.

Can one man sleep his way through the alphabet? Here’s the wager—it’s as easy as A-B-C. Make love to twenty-six women across the alphabet, from “Abigail” to “Zelda.” Our hero beds divas and debutantes, playgirls and politicos, evangelists and entrepreneurs, throughout the boudoirs...

An unforgettable tale of an orphan in Victorian London, based on the boy whose plight inspired Dr Barnardo to found his famous children's homes. When his mother dies, Jim Jarvis is left all alone in London. He is sent to the workhouse but quickly escapes, choosing a hard life on the streets of the city over the confines of the workhouse walls. Struggling to survive, Jim finally finds some friends...only to be snatched away and made to work for the remorselessly cruel Grimy Nick, constantly guarded by his vicious dog, Snipe. Will Jim ever manage to be free?

Maria likes to be alone with her thoughts. She talks to animals and objects, and generally prefers them to people. But whilst on holiday she begins to hear things that aren’t there—a swing creaking, a dog barking—and when she sees a Victorian embroidered picture, Maria feels a strange connection with the 10-year-old Harriet, who stitched it.

Major BBC adaptations of Ford Madox Ford’s two most famous works, with stellar casts including Tom Goodman-Hill, Ruth Gemmell, Kyle Soller and Mark Bonnar A forgotten great of British fiction, Ford Madox Ford wrote over 80 books, founded two trailblazing literary journals and was a friend and...