Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
The Picture of Dorian Gray - cover

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

Publisher: Stargatebook

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel by Oscar Wilde, first published in 1890. When Dorian Gray's portrait is painted by his friend Basil Hallward, he becomes enthralled by his own beauty and desires to stay eternally youthful while the portrait ages in his place. As Dorian indulges in a life of excess, he becomes increasingly corrupted, committing various immoral acts and leading others to ruin. However, he remains physically flawless and youthful, as his sins and aging are magically transferred to the portrait. However, haunted by his own conscience and the portrait's grotesque transformation, Dorian sinks into paranoia and guilt. He hides the portrait in his attic, away from prying eyes. Over time, the portrait becomes more and more grotesque, reflecting Dorian's inner corruption. The novel explores themes of beauty, morality, and the consequences of one's actions in a decadent society.
Available since: 09/23/2024.

Other books that might interest you

  • This Side of Paradise (Book One: The Romantic Egotist) - cover

    This Side of Paradise (Book One:...

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Book One: The Romantic Egotist
    Amory Blaine, a young Midwesterner, believes that he has a great destiny, but the precise nature of this destiny eludes him. He attends a preparatory school where he becomes a football quarterback. He grows estranged from his eccentric mother Beatrice Blaine and becomes the protégé of Monsignor Thayer Darcy, a Catholic priest. During his sophomore year at Princeton, he returns to Minneapolis over Christmas break and falls in love with Isabelle Borgé, a wealthy debutante whom he first met as a boy. Amory and Isabelle embark upon a romance.
    Show book
  • Cordelia the Crude - From their pens to your ears genius in every story - cover

    Cordelia the Crude - From their...

    Wallace Thurman

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centu-ries of very talented authors.  From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Wallace Thurman.
    Show book
  • The Necronomicon - Complete edition - cover

    The Necronomicon - Complete edition

    Abdul Al-Hazred

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The mysterious and forbidden Necronomicon is a cursed writing of arcane knowledge, forbidden magic and knowledge of dangerous things whose reading provokes madness and death itself. In addition, the book itself has a record of forgotten phrases and incantations that allow contact with beings of inconceivable power, but at the same time it entails an unimaginably horrifying danger to mention them. In short, it is the blasphemy of life. It seemed to be a rumor, but one of the few surviving editions was discovered in 1845 in the desert near Babylon in the caves of Larbit where a remnant of King Ashurbanipal's descendants had been buried.The Necronomicon was written in the ancient city of Damascus by the Arab poet Abdul Al-Hazred according to dates between 730 AD, and it is rumored that he died dismembered and his bones broken into a thousand pieces by an unknown being. Like all those who came in contact with the blasphemies and curses of this noxious book suffered similar fates; mysterious deaths of a cruel and indescribable horror.If you are of a curious spirit, I advise you for your own sake; that you dare not read this book, for if you should do so, only one thing I can tell you as a consolation and assurance: "That death you will never meet it before the horror that awaits you..."
    Show book
  • Use of Ideals The (Unabridged) - cover

    Use of Ideals The (Unabridged)

    H. G. Wells

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Herbert George "H. G." Wells (1866 - 1946) was an English writer.
    He was prolific in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is called a "father of science fiction"
    THE USE OF IDEALS: "Ideals!" said my uncle; "certainly Ideals. Of course one must have
    ideals, else life would be bare materialism. Bare fact alone, naked necessity, is impossible barren rock for a soul to root upon.
    Show book
  • The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton - cover

    The Adventure of Charles...

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes and was published in 1904.Holmes is hired by the débutante Lady Eva Blackwell to retrieve compromising letters from a blackmailer: Milverton, who causes Holmes more revulsion than any of the 50-odd murderers in his career. Milverton is "the king of blackmailers". He demands £7,000 (over £800,000 in 2015) for the letters, which if given to third parties would cause a scandal that would end Lady Eva's marriage engagement. Holmes offers £2,000, all Lady Eva can pay, but Milverton insists on £7,000. It is worth £7,000 to him, he explains, to make an example of Lady Eva; it is in his long-term interest to ensure that his future blackmail victims would be more "open to reason" and pay him what he wants, knowing he will destroy them if they do not. Holmes resolves to recover the letters by whatever means necessary, as Milverton has placed himself outside the bounds of morality.Holmes visits Milverton's Hampstead house, disguised as a plumber, in order to learn the plan of the house and Milverton's daily routine. He cultivates the acquaintance of Milverton's housemaid and even becomes engaged to marry her. This rather shocks Watson, but Holmes assures him that he has a hated rival who will step in when the plumber disappears. Holmes has learned where Milverton keeps his blackmail papers (a safe in his study), and plans to burgle Milverton's house that night. Watson comes along...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.
    Show book
  • The Picture in the House - cover

    The Picture in the House

    H. P. Lovecraft

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Title: The Picture in the House 
    Author: H. P. Lovecraft 
    Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
    Original Publication: 1921 
    Public Domain: Yes 
    Series Placement: Timeless Terrors #58 
    Description: 
    The Picture in the House is a masterclass in creeping dread — a tense, claustrophobic story where isolation and obsession blur the line between horror and fascination. 
    The tale begins with a traveler seeking shelter from a storm in an ancient, decaying New England farmhouse. Inside, he encounters a gaunt, ancient man whose fascination with a grotesque, centuries-old illustration depicting cannibalism quickly becomes unsettling. Every creak, flicker of candlelight, and shadow heightens the traveler’s growing unease as he realizes the horror he has stumbled upon may be closer than he ever imagined. 
    Lovecraft’s story relies on atmosphere, suspense, and human curiosity rather than gore or spectacle. The terror is subtle, intimate, and lingering. 
    Narrated by Amazon-bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, this performance brings Lovecraft’s chilling tale of dread and lurking menace vividly to life. While the text is firmly in the public domain, this narration is an original performance and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
    Part of Timeless Terrors, a series dedicated to resurrecting the masters of the macabre, The Picture in the House reminds us that sometimes the most terrifying thing isn’t what’s on the page, but the dark intentions of the mind that studies it.
    Show book