Other books that might interest you

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  Into the War

  Italo Calvino

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  "This book deals both with a transition from adolescence into youth and with a move from peace to war: as for very many other people, for the protagonist of this book 'entry into life' and 'entry into war' coincide." - from the Author's Note 
  These three stories, set during the summer of 1940, draw on Italo Calvino's memories of his own adolescence during the Second World War, too young to be forced to fight in Mussolini's army but old enough to be conscripted into the Italian youth brigades. 
  The callow narrator of these tales observes the mounting unease of a city girding itself for war, the looting of an occupied French town, and nighttime revels during a blackout. 
  Appearing here in its first English translation, Into the War is one of Calvino's only works of autobiographical fiction. It offers both a glimpse of this writer's extraordinary life and a distilled dram of his wry, ingenious literary voice.

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  The Black Cat

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  A psychopath gets his comeuppance in the form of The Black Cat.

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  The Problem of Thor Bridge

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  The Problem of Thor Bridge is a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, first published in 1922 in The Strand Magazine (UK) and Hearst's International (US).Neil Gibson, the Gold King and former Senator from "some Western state", approaches Holmes to investigate the murder of his wife Maria in order to clear his children's governess, Grace Dunbar, of the crime. It soon emerges that Mr. Gibson's marriage had been unhappy and he treated his wife very badly. He had fallen in love with her when he met her in Brazil, but soon realised they had nothing in common. He became attracted to Miss Dunbar; since he could not marry her, he had attempted to please her in other ways, such as trying to help people less fortunate than himself.Maria Gibson was found lying in a pool of blood on Thor Bridge with a bullet through the head and note from the governess, agreeing to a meeting at that location, in her hand. A recently discharged revolver with one shot fired is found in Miss Dunbar's wardrobe. Holmes agrees to look at the situation in spite of the damning evidence....Famous works of the author Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Stories of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World.

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  Moby-Dick

  Herman Melville

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  Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by American writer Herman Melville, published in 1851 during the period of the American Renaissance. Sailor Ishmael tells the story of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the white whale which on an earlier voyage destroyed his ship and severed his leg at the knee. The novel was a commercial failure and out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891, but during the 20th century its reputation as a Great American Novel was established. William Faulkner confessed he wished he had written it himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world", and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". "Call me Ishmael" is among world literature's most famous opening sentences. 
  The product of a year and a half of writing, the book draws on Melville's experience at sea, on his reading in whaling literature, and on literary inspirations such as Shakespeare and the Bible. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging from songs, poetry, and catalogs to Shakespearean stage directions, soliloquies, and asides.

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  Oliver Twist (Unabridged)

  Charles Dickens

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  The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble, Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the Artful Dodger, vicious burglar Bill Sikes, his dog Bull's Eye, and prostitute Nancy, all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - Early...

  Jules Verne

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  The ideas and inventions of mankind on many occasions have their roots in the minds of authors. From Interplanetary journeys, time travel, robots and cyborgs to voice control, organ transplants, mobile phones and even the internet are just some that began as mere inky black on paper as thrills and adventures. 
   
  1 - The Top 10 - Early Science Fiction - An Introduction 
  2 - Cool Air by H P Lovecraft 
  3 - Master Zacharius by Jules Verne 
  4 - A Thousand Deaths by Jack London 
  5 - The Park of Kings by Alexander Kuprin 
  6 - The Artist of the Beautiful by Nathaniel Hawthorne 
  7 - The Tachypomp by Edward Page Mitchell 
  8 - What Was It? by Fitz James O'Brien 
  9 - The Republic of the Southern Cross by Valery Bryusov 
  10 - The Repairer of Reputations - Part 1 by Robert W Chambers 
  11 - The Repairer of Reputations - Part 2 by Robert W Chambers 
  12 - Into the Sun by Robert Duncan Milne

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