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  Metamorphosis (The Golden Ass)

  Lucius Apuleius

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  The Metamorphoses of Apuleius — which St. Augustine referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus) — is the only Ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety.Simultaneously a blend of romantic adventure, fable, and religious testament, Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass) is one of the truly seminal works of European literature, of intrinsic interest as a novel in its own right, and one of the earliest examples of the picaresque.The story is about Lucius Apuleius, a young man of good birth, who, while disporting himself in the cities and along the roads of Thessaly, encountered many diverting and strange adventures. Not the least of these was that Apuleius suffered the indignity of being turned into an ass after trying to steal a sorceress's magic. How Apuleius supported his misfortune and how he contrived to dedicate himself to the one goddess who could help him resume his human form make up the body of this tale. The Golden Ass is rich in lusty incident, curious adventure, and bawdy wit."Robert Graves' translation abandons the aureate latinity of Apuleius for a dry, sharp, plain style—which is itself a small masterpiece of twentieth-century prose.

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  Treasure Island

  Robert Louis Stevenson

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  Stevenson's classic tale of 18th-century intrigue, conspiracy and piracy has everything an adventure story should have, especially a resourceful young hero in Jim Hawkins. From the moment a drunken sailor arrives to menace the tranquillity of his father's inn, Jim is caught up in a web of plots. By chance rather than design, he finds himself the central figure in an attempt to recover the buried treasure of a pirate named Flint. Long John Silver's villainy and the search for this booty spark off skulduggery, murder and betrayal.

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  Siddhartha

  Herman Hesse

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  Siddhartha is one of the great philosophical novels. Profoundly insightful, it is also a beautifully written story that begins as Siddhartha, son of an Indian Brahman, leaves his family and begins a lifelong journey towards Enlightenment. On the way he faces the entire range of human experience and emotion: he lives with ascetics, meets Gotama the Buddha, learns the art of love from Kamala the courtesan, and is transformed by the simple philosophy of the ferryman Vasudeva whose wisdom comes not from learned teachings but from observing the River. Herman Hesse (1877-1962) was a German-Swiss novelist, poet, and painter. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946.

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  The Aspern Papers

  Henry James

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  Henry James' short but much acclaimed suspense novel. Set in Venice, it's the story of an American editor's determination to acquire a collection of unpublished letters at any cost. The letters are to the former mistress of a famous, deceased poet, Jeffrey Aspern. The mistress, Miss Bordereau is now very elderly, living modestly in a dilapidated old palazzo with her shy, awkward and uncomely niece Tita, an unwitting 'pawn' in the plot. The strong characterizations of the three main players in the story make for a compelling story of lies, betrayal and psychological warfare.  James' gift for building suspense is evident, the tension builds until the very last moment.

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  The Ebb-Tide - Unabridged

  Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd...

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  The Ebb-Tide. A Trio and a Quartette is a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson and his stepson Lloyd Osbourne. Three beggars operate in the port of Papeete on Tahiti. They are Herrick, a failed English businessman; Davis, an American sea captain disgraced by the loss of his last ship; and Huish, a dishonest Cockney of various employments. One day they see THE opportunity to steal a ship and its cargo, but being trapped into an insurance scam, their hopes prove to be in vain. They end up on an island where they try to plunder Attwater, a devout Christian, who has been harvesting pearls there for many years with the help of native workers. Attwater proves to be ruthlessly violent while talking always of Jesus' forgiveness. He alternately repels and fascinates the other characters, and reflects Stevenson's own conflicted feelings about Christianity.

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  David Copperfield - The Personal...

  Charles Dickens

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  "The most perfect of all the Dickens novels." (Virginia Woolf)
  
  David Copperfield is the tale of a boy who loses his parents at an early age, escapes the torturous conditions of working for his pitiless stepfather, and eventually determines to make something of himself. With a little luck and a lot of help along the way from some of the most colorful characters ever penned, David overcomes to achieve all for which he aspires. Featuring an unforgettable gallery of characters, including the cantankerous Miss Betsey, the merciless stepfather Mr. Murdstone, the obsequiously penniless Mr. Micawber, and the treacherous Uriah Heap, it is a tale so luxuriant in setting, so fabulous in character, and so pure in intent that though it was written 150 years ago, we still cheer with David during his triumph and weep with him in his suffering.
  
  "Like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favorite child. And his name is David Copperfield." (From the preface by Charles Dickens)

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