Other books that might interest you

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  The Spectacles

  Sampi Books, Edgar Allan Poe

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  In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Spectacles", a vain young man, neglecting his need for glasses, falls in love at first sight. He later discovers that the woman he has fallen in love with is his great-grandmother, revealing a biting irony about perception and reality.

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  Notes From The Underground

  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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  "I don't want to be happy; I want to be myself."
  
  Notes from Underground (1864), is often considered one of the first existentialist works, exploring themes of free will, alienation, moral ambiguity and the conflict between individualism and societal norms.
  
  Alienated from society and paralysed by a sense of his own insignificance, the anonymous narrator—a bitter, self-aware, and deeply conflicted man—tells the story of his tortured life, describing, with blistering irony, his refusal to become a worker in the 'anthill' and his gradual withdrawal from society, his sharp and relentless inner monologue dissecting human behaviour, societal norms, and the illusion of rational progress.
  Notes from Underground serves as a critique of 19th-century Russian society while also posing deeper questions about the nature of existence, morality, and the individual's place within the world.
  Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer renowned for his profound explorations of psychology, morality, and the human condition. Born in Moscow, his tumultuous life was marked by early literary success and followed by arrest and exile due to his radical political activities. He is widely regarded as one of the world's finest novelists, penning classics that include Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov. He had an immense influence on 20th-century fiction and his ideas have profoundly shaped literary modernism, existentialism, and various schools of psychology, theology, and literary criticism.

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  Fireside Reading of Dracula

  Bram Stoker

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  Experiencing a story read out loud is one of the oldest forms of entertainment there is. Fireside Reading is a way to slow down, reconnect with the timeless wisdom of great books and rediscover the simple pleasure of being read to. Join Gildart Jackson in front of a cozy fire as he reads an abridged edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula to you and your family.

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  Demos

  George Gissing

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  Demos by George Gissing is a provocative exploration of class struggle, socialism, and the transformative power of wealth in Victorian England. The novel centers on two families: the working-class Mutimer family and the aristocratic Walthams. When Alfred Mutimer inherits a fortune from his late employer, he seeks to uplift his community through industrial enterprise while pursuing political influence as a socialist. However, his idealism clashes with personal ambition, leading to moral compromises and strained relationships. Meanwhile, the refined Hubert Waltham becomes entangled with Mutimer’s world, exposing the stark contrasts between privilege and poverty. Gissing critiques the complexities of social reform, examining how money and ideology shape human behavior. Through vivid characters and incisive commentary, Demos delves into themes of inequality, materialism, and the challenges of bridging societal divides. A compelling blend of romance and social critique, it remains a timeless reflection on class and change.

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  H G Wells - Six of the Best -...

  H G Wells

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  Six has always been a number we group things around – Six of the best, six of one half a dozen of another, six feet under, six pack, six degrees of separation and a sixth sense are but a few of the ways we use this number. 
   
  Such is its popularity that we thought it is also a very good way of challenging and investigating an author’s work to give width, brevity, humour and depth across six of their very best. 
   
  In this series we gather together authors whose short stories both rivet the attention and inspire the imagination to visit their gems in a series of six, to roam across an author’s legacy in a few short hours and gain a greater understanding of their writing and, of course, to be lavishly entertained by their ideas, their narrative and their way with words. 
   
  These stories can be surprising and sometimes at a tangent to what we expected, but each is fully formed and a marvellous adventure into the world and words of a literary master. 
   
   1 - Six of the Best - H G Wells - An Introduction 
  2 - H G Wells - An Introduction 
  3 - The Crystal Egg by H G Wells 
  4 - The Man Who Could Work Miracles by H G Wells 
  5 - The Sea Raiders by H G Wells 
  6 - The Magic Shop by H G Wells 
  7 - The Flowering of the Strange Orchid by H G Wells 
  8 - A Dream of Armageddon - Part 1 by H G Wells 
  9 - A Dream of Armageddon - Part 2 by H G Wells

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  How a Muzhik Fed Two Officials

  Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin

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  How a Muzhik Fed Two Officials is not just a fable—it is a mirror, polished to a biting shine, reflecting the grotesque logic of power and servitude. In this brief yet mercilessly precise tale, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin strips hierarchy down to its raw absurdity: those who consume and those who are consumed.
  Two officials, stranded in a land without luxury, discover an ingenious solution to their predicament—one that requires neither effort nor skill on their part. Their savior? A humble muzhik, a man shaped by centuries of unquestioning toil. But necessity breeds invention, and soon, the line between duty and exploitation blurs beyond recognition. 
  With razor-sharp irony, Saltykov-Shchedrin lays bare a world where privilege thrives on passivity, and survival itself becomes a grotesque performance. The muzhik, nameless and tireless, embodies an entire class condemned to labor without recognition, while the officials, ludicrous in their entitlement, reveal the disturbing resilience of power, even in the face of absurdity.
  Darkly comic yet chillingly relevant, How a Muzhik Fed Two Officials remains an unflinching satire on authority, dependence, and the silent mechanisms that sustain inequality. A story as brief as it is unsettling—one that lingers long after the last word.

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