Ten Must-Read Classics of Great Literature

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the D...53 points

1984 by George Orwell

George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision of "Negative Utopia" is timelier than ever-and its warnings more powerful.45 points

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Please visit www.ArcManor.com for more books by this and other great authors39 points

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of love and war won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to give rise to two authorized sequels and one of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time. Many novels have been written about the Civil War and its aftermath. None take us into the burning fields and cities of the American South as Gone With the Wind does, creating haunting scenes and thrilling portraits of characters so vivid that we remember their words and feel their fear and hunger for the rest of o...30 points

Jane Eyre (Dover Thrift Editions) by Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë characterized the eponymous heroine of her 1847 novel as being "as poor and plain as myself." Presenting a heroine with neither great beauty nor entrancing charm was an unprecendented maneuver, but Brontë's instincts proved correct, for readers of her era and ever after have taken Jane Eyre into their hearts. The author drew upon her own experience to depict Jane's struggles at Lowood, an oppressive boarding school, and her troubled career as a governess. Unlike Jane, Brontë had...27 points

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Richard Maxwell.24 points

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

This is a beautifully designed, 6"x9" large format edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous book Treasure Island.20 points

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independ ent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists...17 points

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London's masterpiece. Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.12 points

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Following its initial appearance in serial form, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage was published as a complete work in 1895 and quickly became the benchmark for modern anti-war literature. Although the exact battle is never identified, Crane based this story of a soldier's experiences during the American Civil War on the 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville. Many veterans, both Union and Confederate, praised the book's accurate representation of war.10 points

A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway

The best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Hemingway's frank portrayal of the love between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley, caught in the inexorable sweep of war, glows with an intensity unrivaled in modern literature, while his description of the German attack on Caporetto -- of lines of fired men marching in the rain, hungry, weary, a...9 points

The Count of Monte-Cristo (Volume 4) by Alexandre Dumas

Volume: 4 Publisher: London : G. Routledge Publication date: 1888 Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.9 points

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

At last, Ayn Rand's masterpiece is available to her millions of loyal readers in trade paperback. With this acclaimed work and its immortal query, "Who is John Galt?",

It is an investment of time but well worth it.9 points

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO - by Alexander Dumas

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is often considered to be, along with The Three Musketeers, Dumas' most popular work. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815-1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through to the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is primarily concerned...9 points

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family for a contemplative life, then, restless, discards it for one of the flesh. He conceives a son, but bored and sickened by lust and greed, moves on again. Near despair, Siddhartha comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. This sound signals the true beginning of his life -- the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace, and, finally, wisdom.8 points

WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace is Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece - an epic novel of Russian society in the early 19th century. The war with Napoleon-led France is the backdrop to personal stories of members from four aristocratic families: the Bezuhovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, and Rostovs. Love, death, war, spiritual struggle, and financial loss bring personal growth for the characters and underscore the main theme: the search for the meaning of life.8 points

Persuasion by Jane Austen

This is a new beautifully-designed edition of Jane Austen's best-selling classic PERSUASION. 6x9 large format. Printed on high quality paper.8 points

Crime and Punishment (Oxford World's Classics) by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment is one of the most important novels of the nineteenth century. It is the story of a murder committed on principle, of a killer who wishes to set himself outside and above society. The novel is marked by Dostoevsky's own harrowing experience in penal servitude, and yet contains moments of wild humor. This new edition of the authoritative and readable Coulson translation comes with a challenging new introduction and notes that elucidate many of the novel's most important--and...8 points

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon. The story tells of Charles Marlow, an Englishman who took a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the myth behind colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters--the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the E...6 points

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Ray Bradbury

"Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner, burn 'em to ashes, then burn the ashes." For Guy Montag, a career fireman for whom kerosene is perfume, this is not just an official slogan. It is a mantra, a duty, a way of life in a tightly monitored world where thinking is dangerous and books are forbidden. In 1953, Ray Bradbury envisioned one of the world's most unforgettable dystopian futures, and in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the artist Tim Hamilton translates...6 points

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

A cry for attention to a sad, culture-destroying apathy during the era of Apartheid in South Africa.5 points

Middlemarch (Oxford World's Classics) by George Eliot

This panoramic work--considered the finest novel in English by many critics--offers a complex look at English provincial life at a crucial historical moment, and, at the same time, dramatizes and explores some of the most potent myths of Victorian literature. The text of this edition comes from the Clarendon Middlemarch, the first critical edition of the novel.5 points

Wuthering Heights (Norton Critical Editions) by Emily Brontë, Emily Bronte

The text of the novel is based on the first edition of 1847.

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

The early masterpiece of V. S. Naipaul's brilliant career, A House for Mr. Biswas is an unforgettable story inspired by Naipaul's father that has been hailed as one of the twentieth century's finest novels.

In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas...2 points

Moonfleet (Penguin Popular Classics) by J. Meade Falkner

"Moonfleet" (1898) begins as a mystery and an adventure story, a tale of smuggling set among the cliffs, caves, and downs of Dorset. What will be the outcome of the conflict between smugglers and revenue men? How can the hero, John Trenchard, discover the secret of Colonel John Mohune's treasure? As the book progresses these two interwoven themes resolve themselves into a third and richer one, with the friendship and suffering of both John Trenchard and the craggy, taciturn Elzevir Block. Falkne...2 points

A Seperate Peace by John Knowles

2 points

Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition by Joseph Heller

Fifty years after its original publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest-and most celebrated-books of all time. In recent years it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.

Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him....

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

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...2 points

The Children of the New Forest (Yesterday's Classics) by Frederick Marryat

An engaging adventure story set in England during the time of the Civil War when King Charles was deposed and the Roundheads were vying with the Cavaliers. The central characters are the four children of staunch Royalist Colonel Beverley killed in battle while fighting for King Charles. Through the efforts of aged forester Jacob Armitage, the children escape the burning of their ancestral home and take up residence with him in his cottage in the New Forest. As his "grandchildren" they take eager...1 point

Herzog (Penguin Classics) by Saul Bellow

In one of his finest achievements, Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow presents a multifaceted portrait of a modern-day hero, a man struggling with the complexity of existence and longing for redemption.

Introduction by Philip Roth1 point

Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Hardy

Coming to PBS in January 2009- a MasterpieceTM Classic production of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'UrbervillesTess Durbeyfield knows what it is to work hard and expect little. But her life is about to veer from the path trod by her mother and grandmother. When her ne'er-do-well father learns that his family is the last of a long noble line, the d'Urbervilles, he sends Tess on a journey to meet her supposed kin- a journey that will see her victimized by lust, poverty, and hypocrisy. With its sensitive...1 point

Breakfast of Champions: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut

In Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonnegut's  most beloved characters, the aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. What follows is murderously funny satire, as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.1 point

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare s finesse to Oscar Wilde s wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim s Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpiec...1 point

Don Quixote (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

The Third Witch: A Novel by Rebecca Reisert

If you like history, Shakespeare and fiction, you may enjoy this book as much as I just did.

In this stirring debut novel, Rebecca Reisert enters the world of Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which a young woman's search for vengeance plunges her into a legendary tale of deceit, murder, and retribution....0 points

The Horse Whisperer (Penguin Readers, Level 3) by Evans

The extraordinary first novel that is taking the publishing and film worlds by storm, The Horse Whisperer is at once a gripping adventure and an epic love story that weaves an incredible tale of healing and redemption, an emotional journey that explores our ancient bonds with earth and sky and hearts untamed.0 points

Housekeeping: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

A modern classic, Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, who grow up haphazardly, first under the care of their competent grandmother, then of two comically bumbling great-aunts, and finally of Sylvie, their eccentric and remote aunt. The family house is in the small Far West town of Fingerbone set on a glacial lake, the same lake where their grandfather died in a spectacular train wreck, and their mother drove off a cliff to her death. It is a town "chastened by an outsized...0 points

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter is an intense exploration of morality, judgment, guilt, and sin as they affect the individual and society as a whole. Hester Prynne, a young woman sent to America ahead of her elderly husband, bears an illegitimate daughter. Condemned by her puritanical community and forced to wear a scarlet A on her clothing as a visible badge of her sinful nature, she nonetheless refuses to reveal the father s identity. Hawthorne s insight into lives of Hester, her estr...0 points

Don Quixote (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

The Chosen (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Chaim Potok

"Anyone who finds it is finding a jewel. Its themes are profound and universal."
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
It is the now-classic story of two fathers and two sons and the pressures on all of them to pursue the religion they share in the way that is best suited to each. And as the boys grow into young men, they discover in the other a lost spiritual brother, and a link to an unexplored world that neither had ever considered before. In effect, they exchange places, and find the peace that neither will...0 points