Short Classic Literature

This follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories features familiar Seussian faces and places - including Horton the Elephant, Marco, Mulberry Street, and a Grinch - as well as an introduction by renowned Seuss scholar Charles D. Cohen. Seuss fans will learn more about Horton’s integrity, Marco’s amazing imagination, a narrowly avoided disaster on Mullbery Street, and a devious Grinch.

“The Thing Invisible” is a story featuring Thomas Carnacki, a detective who investigates cases of an occult or supernatural nature. It is one of five tales of Carnacki's ghost hunting exploits that first appeared serially in The Idler magazine in 1910 and were published together with one more as a collection Carnacki the Ghost-Finder in 1913. After a good dinner, Mr. Carnacki relates his experiences of ghost-finding to his limited circle of four friends whom he has summoned to his home in Chelsea.

From a childish fear of the dark in "The End of the Party" to the chilling conclusion of the "Destructors" and the all-consuming selfishness of "May We Borrow Your Husband", this collection opens with three of Greene's most disturbing stories. Things take a surreal turn in "Under the Garden" before finally blossoming for a moment in "Two Gentle People", then there's a detective story and a brush with Greene's sardonic wit to finish.

In the final years of his life, Chekhov produced some of the stories that rank among his masterpieces and some of the most highly-regarded works in Russian literature. The poignant 'The Lady with the Little Dog' and 'About Love' examine the nature of love outside of marriage - its romantic idealism and the fear of disillusionment. And in stories such as 'Peasants', 'The House with the Mezzanine' and 'My Life' Chekhov paints a vivid picture of the conditions of the poor and of their powerlessness in the face of exploitation and hardship.

This book is a collection of Jack London's short stories about his experiences sailing and seal hunting in the Pacific Ocean during the late 1800s. An additional adventure looks at life along the Sacramento River. A special section describes the different types of sailing vessels, and a glossary helps the listener understand nautical terms.

The Virginia Woolf Complete Collection brings together all of her most iconic works, including all 9 of her published novels, a selection of her best short stories, as well as some of her most influential non-fiction writing. From the enduring importance of her ideas of female independence in A Room of One's Own to the modern masterpieces of Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, alongside many more of her novels, criticism, and essays, this collection takes you across the broad breadth of Woolf's ever-inventive and timeless writings.

Set in the world of Enid Blyton's best-loved series, this story follows Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog on a special new adventure. The story is broken down into short chapters—perfect for sharing or for newly confident listeners to enjoy independently.

Like all great metropolises before it, when a city gets big enough, old enough, it must be born; but there are ancient enemies who cannot tolerate new life. Thus New York will live or die by the efforts of a reluctant midwife...and how well he can learn to sing the city's mighty song.

Once, Hope Payne was a mermaid, performing at the local theme park and captivating audiences young and old. Today, she's married to a pragmatic marine biologist who has filled the pool in their backyard with flounder for a special study. Before he begins, the fish vanish - echoing a loss Hope alone can understand. She senses there's something underwater, something alive and hungry for more, but is she in too deep to ever resurface?

Almustafa, the chosen and beloved, must leave the port of Orphalese upon the ship he has waited upon for 12 years. As he descends to the waterfront, the people of Orphalese gather to question him and hear his wisdom on important topics of their daily lives. Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece is a series of enlightening, philosophical answers to those questions. The inspirational and spiritual words of The Prophet, written in an almost Biblical, poetic style, reveal deep insights into each of the subjects in question.

One winter evening a shoemaker finds a mysterious stranger naked and freezing by a shrine in his small village. The shoemaker rescues the man, and takes him home. Though the stranger won’t say where he came from, Simon invites him to work beside him, and stay with his family. As the story unfolds, the stranger transforms, and ultimately reveals an astonishing and deeply moving secret. Late in Tolstoy’s life, after he had written his great masterpieces War and Peace, and Anna Karenina, he underwent a spiritual transformation.

Twenty-five more timeless Christmas stories from Enid Blyton. The excitement of singing carols, exchanging gifts and a bit of her trademark mischief can all be found in this festive collection. Stories include 'The Pantomime Wolf', 'Christmas in the Toyshop' and 'The Extraordinary Christmas Tree'.

Personaggio buffo e melanconico, Marcovaldo è il protagonista d'una serie di favole moderne, dove Italo Calvino va segnando avvenimenti impercettibili nella vita di una grande città industriale. Partite come divagazioni comico-poetiche sul tema della più elementare lotta per la vita, le venti favole di Marcovaldo arrivano alla rappresentazione della più complicata realtà d’oggi, alla satira del "miracolo economico" e della "civiltà del consumo"; ma sempre restano fedeli a una classica struttura narrativa: quella delle storielle a vignette dei giornalini per l'infanzia.

Blacky the Crow is a mischief maker. He has very sharp eyes and sees things he shouldn't. They often get him into trouble. Blacky loves eggs. One day he discovers that Hooty the Owl and Mrs. Hooty have laid eggs in a nest when there is still snow on the ground. Blacky devises a plan with his fellow crows to steal them. Later, we find out that Blacky has a good side too. As with all Thornton W. Burgess books, there are positive messages for young listeners.

Recently rediscovered in the archives of the New York Public Library, these short stories provide an unparalleled look at Truman Capote writing in his teens and early twenties, before he penned such classics as Other Voices, Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and In Cold Blood. This collection of more than a dozen pieces showcases the young Capote developing the unique voice and sensibility that would make him one of the twentieth century’s most original writers.

Before Jack Kerouac expressed the spirit of a generation in his 1957 classic On the Road, he spent years figuring out how he wanted to live and, above all, learning how to write. Atop an Underwood brings together more than sixty previously unpublished works that Kerouac wrote before he was twenty-two, ranging from stories and poems to plays and parts of novels, including an excerpt from his 1943 merchant marine novel, The Sea Is My Brother. These writings reveal what Kerouac was thinking, doing, and dreaming during his formative years and reflect his primary literary influences.

Mathilde Loisel, the lowly born wife of a clerk, has always felt she was meant for greater things. She imagines beautiful gowns, glittering parties, a home of opulence, and a life of comfort. Her only wish is to be flattered and admired, and she is miserable that she will never know that life. But out of the blue, her husband comes home with an invitation to a ball. She buys a new dress but mourns her lack of jewels. But wait!

How long would you walk, if the Devil sauntered up to you of an evening, and journeyed alongside of you? Young Goodman Brown is led by the Devil to a midnight ritual, where fire, blood, and water change his opinions of the nature of humanity.

“All the tales are a variety of detective story,” wrote Bowles of this, his first short story collection, “in which the reader is the detective; the mystery is in the motivation for the charcters’ behavior.” In such stories as “A Distant Episode” and How Many Midnights,” Bowles pushes human character beyond socially defined limits and maps a transformed (often horribly transformed) reality.

From a wizard on the moon to midnight fairy parties, there's a dreamy story for everyone in this short story collection by Enid Blyton. Drift off to dreamland with these starlit adventures!