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
Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius · biography
The story in one page
Three hundred Aesop’s fables
A frog gets pelted with stones and points out the obvious to the neighborhood children.
Aesop · collection
The story in one page
Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None
A mountain-dwelling prophet descends to announce that God is dead and humans are merely a bridge to something better.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche · ideas
The story in one page
Timaeus
A Pythagorean theorist explains how the Creator used geometry, fire, and a single soul to build the physical world.
Plato · dialogue
The story in one page
Timon of Athens
An Athenian nobleman bankrupted by bad hospitality decides humanity is the problem.
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
Titus Andronicus
A general sacrifices a prisoner's son. The queen decides this requires several dozen sequels.
William Shakespeare · play
In the library
Tragedies of sex
Frank Wedekind · play
In the library
Translations from Lucretius
Titus Lucretius Carus · poetry
The story in one page
Treasure Island
A boy finds a map, a squire hires a mutinous crew, and a parrot screams for pieces of eight.
Robert Louis Stevenson · novel
In the library
Trilbyana: The Rise and Progress of a Popular Novel
Joseph Benson Gilder · novel
In the library
Trips to the Moon
of Samosata Lucian · novel
The story in one page
Troilus and Cressida
A Trojan prince falls for a traitor’s daughter while legendary heroes bicker in the mud over a seven-year stalemate.
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
Troilus and Criseyde
A Trojan prince falls for a defector's daughter, only for a prisoner swap to test if love outlasts a siege.
Geoffrey Chaucer · myth
The story in one page
Twas the Night before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas
A scholar spends his life writing a Hebrew dictionary, but history remembers his side-hustle about a sleigh.
Clement Clarke Moore · poetry
The story in one page
Twelfth Night
A woman disguises herself as a man, and then everyone falls in love with the wrong person.
William Shakespeare · play
The story in one page
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
A rogue captain drives a submarine around the world; his guests want off.
Jules Verne · novel
In the library
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World
Jules Verne · novel
The story in one page
Twenty-Two Goblins
A king must carry a talkative goblin across a cemetery without speaking, or risk his head literally exploding.
Arthur W. Ryder · myth
In the library
Two Dramatizations from Vergil: I. Dido—the Phœnecian Queen; II. The Fall of Troy
Virgil · play
In the library
Two Dyaloges (c. 1549)
Desiderius Erasmus · play
The story in one page
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two best friends move to Milan, where one immediately decides to steal the other's girlfriend.
William Shakespeare · play
In the library
Two Tragedies of Seneca: Medea and The Daughters of Troy
Lucius Annaeus Seneca · play
The story in one page
Ulysses
A man walks the streets while his wife stays in bed and a poet loses his mind.
James Joyce · novel
The story in one page
Uncle Tom's Cabin
A debt-ridden Kentuckian sells his best man and a toddler, triggering a desperate flight across ice and a descent downriver.
Harriet Beecher Stowe · novel
The story in one page
Utopia
An traveler visits an island where gold is for chamber pots and war is unpopular.
Thomas Saint More · ideas
The story in one page
Vanity Fair
Two schoolmates navigate a world of debt, social climbing, and war where everyone has a price and no one is satisfied.
William Makepeace Thackeray · novel
In the library
Vathek; An Arabian Tale
William Beckford · novel
In the library
Venice Preserved: A Tragedy in Five Acts
Thomas Otway · play
In the library
Venus and Adonis
William Shakespeare · poetry
In the library
Victorian Songs: Lyrics of the Affections and Nature
Edmund H. Garrett · poetry
In the library
Virgil
W. Lucas Collins · biography
In the library
Virgil & Lucretius
Virgil · poetry
In the library
Voyages to the Moon and the Sun
Cyrano de Bergerac · novel
The story in one page
War and Peace
Five aristocratic families attend high-society parties in Saint Petersburg while Napoleon marches a massive army toward their front doors.
Leo graf Tolstoy · novel
The story in one page
Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Complete
An English soldier visits Scotland for a quiet holiday and accidentally joins a revolution to restore a king.
Walter Scott · novel
In the library
Webster & Tourneur
John Webster · play
In the library
What Maisie Knew
Henry James · novel
In the library
Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra · general
In the library
Women of the Classics
Mary -1925 Sturgeon · myth
In the library
Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03
John Bunyan · collection
The story in one page
Wuthering Heights
A foundling spends two generations dismantling two families to avenge a broken heart and a lost social standing.
Emily Brontë · novel