Books: What to Know
Classic Stories Without the Homework
The plot, the people, the point and the ending — then the Boovie film, where there is one.
The library
1,001 classics
In the library
The Sonnets
William Shakespeare · poetry
The story in one page
The Sorrows of Young Werther
A sensitive young artist falls for a woman who is already engaged, then sends a lot of very long letters.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · novel
The story in one page
The sound and the fury
The Compson family legacy is collapsing, and nobody can agree on what time it actually is.
William Faulkner · novel
In the library
The Spanish Tragedy
Thomas Kyd · play
The story in one page
The Story of Beowulf, Translated from Anglo-Saxon into Modern English Prose
The Danish king has a pest problem in his living room, and a Geat offers to handle it.
Ernest J. B. Kirtlan · novel
In the library
The Story of Burnt Njal: The Great Icelandic Tribune, Jurist, and Counsellor
George Webbe Sir Dasent · myth
In the library
The Story of Don Quixote
Arvid Paulson · novel
In the library
The Story of Genesis and Exodus: An Early English Song, about 1250 A.D.
Richard Morris · religious
In the library
The story of the Iliad
Alfred John Church · myth
In the library
The Story of the Odyssey
Alfred John Church · myth
The story in one page
The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga); with Excerpts from the Poetic Edda
A family tree grows around a divine sword, but its branches eventually buckle under the weight of cursed dragon treasure.
Eiríkr Magnússon · myth
The story in one page
The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
A doctor creates a chemical shortcut to immorality and finds the commute is impossible to stop.
Robert Louis Stevenson · novel
The story in one page
The Sun Also Rises
Expatriates drink through Paris and Pamplona while a war-wounded veteran watches the woman he loves chase a teenage bullfighter.
Ernest Hemingway · novel
In the library
The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Rudolf Erich Raspe · novel
In the library
The Swiss Family Robinson; or, Adventures on a Desert Island
Johann David Wyss · novel
In the library
The Swiss Family Robinson: A Translation from the Original German
Johann David Wyss · novel
In the library
The Symposium
Xenophon · ideas
In the library
The Tale of Beowulf, Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats
William Morris · poetry
In the library
The Tale of the Argonauts
Rhodius Apollonius · poetry
In the library
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 2 (of 5)
Queen consort of Henry II King of Navarre Marguerite · short story
In the library
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 3 (of 5)
Queen consort of Henry II King of Navarre Marguerite · short story
In the library
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 4 (of 5)
Queen consort of Henry II King of Navarre Marguerite · short story
In the library
The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. 5 (of 5)
Queen consort of Henry II King of Navarre Marguerite · short story
The story in one page
The Taming of the Shrew
A father mandates his younger daughter stays single until her older sister finds a husband.
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
The Tell-Tale Heart
A man insists he's sane. This does not go well.
Edgar Allan Poe · short story
The story in one page
The Tempest
A sorcerer maroons his enemies on an island. Then things get complicated.
William Shakespeare · play
In the library
The Thoughts of Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal · ideas
In the library
The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.
Edward William Lane · myth
The story in one page
The Three Bears
A girl breaks into a family home for lunch. The homeowners are not amused.
poetry
The story in one page
The three musketeers
A country boy arrives in Paris, insults three legends, and suddenly everyone is fighting for the Queen.
Alexandre Dumas · novel
In the library
The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I.
Euripides · collection
In the library
The Tragedies of Seneca
Lucius Annaeus Seneca · collection
In the library
The Tragedy of Dido Queene of Carthage
Christopher Marlowe · play
In the library
The Tragedy of Macbeth
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
A nurse swaps two babies in their cribs; twenty years later, the wrong boy inherits everything.
Mark Twain · novel
The story in one page
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
A scholar trades his eternal soul for twenty-four years of magic, petty pranks, and a very stressed demon servant.
Christopher Marlowe · play
In the library
The Translations of Beowulf: A Critical Bibliography
Chauncey Brewster Tinker · reference
The story in one page
The Trojan women of Euripides
Troy has fallen, its king is dead, and the survivors are being sorted like inventory.
Euripides · play
In the library
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
William Shakespeare · play
In the library
The Two Noble Kinsmen
John Fletcher · play
In the library
The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) and Two Rambler papers (1750)
Samuel Johnson · poetry
In the library
The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman, Volume 1
William Langland · religious
In the library
The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman, Volume 2
William Langland · poetry
In the library
The vision of hell.
Dante Alighieri · myth
In the library
The Visions of Quevedo
Francisco de Quevedo · play
In the library
The Visions of the Sleeping Bard
Ellis Wynne · poetry
In the library
The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern Story
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra · novel
The story in one page
The war of the worlds
Earth is watched by creatures with vast, cool intellects. They are not interested in missionary work.
H. G. Wells · novel