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The Sign of Four [Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection #2]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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It is in this, the second Holmes novel, that the great detective comes fully to life--not only as a melancholic and an inscrutable master of deduction, but also as an incurable drug addict. "Which is it today?" Watson asks Holmes matter-of-factly on the opening page of the novel, "morphine or cocaine?" "It is cocaine," Holmes famously replies. "A seven-per-cent. solution. Would you like to try it?" Mary Morstan comes to Holmes in the hope that he will be able to solve a mystery. Ten years earlie... more info>> (Published: 1890)
Words: 43138 - Reading Time: 123-172 min.
Category: Classic Literature/Mystery/Crime
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51 Reader Ratings:
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2
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The Divine Comedy
by Dante Alghieri
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Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise--the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation. [Translation by H. W. Longfellow.] (Published: 1472)
Words: 130570 - Reading Time: 373-522 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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26 Reader Ratings:
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3
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Anthem
by Ayn Rand
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This expanded edition of Ayn Rand's classic tale of a future dark age of the great "We"--in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values--is a beautifully written, powerful novel that projects current social trends into the future, and anticipates such later Rand masterpieces as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.
Words: 19508 - Reading Time: 55-78 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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96 Reader Ratings:
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4
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The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair
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This muckraking novel changed the course of history with its gruesomely detailed picture of the meat-packing industry. Historically accurate and humanistic, the book remains an invaluable mirror by which we may still examine ourselves and society today. (Published: 1906)
Words: 152840 - Reading Time: 436-611 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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8 Reader Ratings:
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5
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The Return of Tarzan [Tarzan Series #2]
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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Tarzan had renounced his right to the woman he loved, and civilization held no pleasure for him. After a brief and harrowing period among men, he turned back to the African jungle where he had grown to manhood. It was there he first heard of Opar, the city of gold, left over from fabled Atlantis. It was a city of hideous men--and of beautiful, savage women, over whom reigned La, high priestess of the Flaming God. Its altars were stained with the blood of many sacrifices. Unheeding of the dangers... more info>> (Published: 1913)
Words: 89642 - Reading Time: 256-358 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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6
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Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
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Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights is one of the pinnacles of 19th century English literature. It's the story of Heathcliff, an orphan who falls inlove with a girl above his class, loses her, and devotes the rest of his life to wreaking revenge on her family. (Published: 1847)
Words: 116578 - Reading Time: 333-466 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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20 Reader Ratings:
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7
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Before Adam
by Jack London
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A young man in modern America is terrorized by visions of an earlier, primitive life. Across the enormous chasm of thousands of centuries, his consciousness has become entwined with that of Big-Tooth, an ancestor living at the dawn of humanity. Big-Tooth makes his home in Pleistocene Africa, a ferocious, fascinating younger world torn by incessant conflict between early humans and protohumans. Before Adam is a remarkable and provocative tale that thrust evolution further into the public spotligh... more info>> (Published: 1907)
Words: 39095 - Reading Time: 111-156 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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8 Reader Ratings:
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8
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Don Quixote
by Miguel del Cervantes
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Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. [Translated by John Ormsby.] (Published: 1605)
Words: 403600 - Reading Time: 1153-1614 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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17 Reader Ratings:
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9
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Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
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Classic tale of a scientist who learns the secrets of life and death--with horrifying results. (Published: 1818)
Words: 75505 - Reading Time: 215-302 min.
Category: Classic Literature/Horror
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92 Reader Ratings:
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10
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Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
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The 'terrible mistake' was the contemporary utilitarian philosophy, expounded in Hard Times as the Philosophy of Fact by the hard-headed disciplinarian Thomas Gradgrind. But the novel, Dickens's shortest, is more than a polemical tract for the times; the tragic story of Louisa Gradgrind and her father is one of Dickens's triumphs. When Louisa, trapped in a loveless marriage, falls prey to an idle seducer, the crisis forces her father to reconsider his cherished system. Yet even as the developmen... more info>> (Published: 1854)
Words: 103524 - Reading Time: 295-414 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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88 Reader Ratings:
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11
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Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
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Written by one of America's greatest authors, Moby-Dick is a work of tremendous power and depth--one of world literature's great poetic epics. In the novel, published in 1851 after sixteen months of writing, Herman Melville recounts the Promethean quest of Captain Ahab, who, having lost a leg in a earlier battle with White Whale, is determined to catch the beast and destroy it. By the time readers meet Ahab, he is a vengeful, crazed, and terror-provoking figure, for Moby-Dick has come to represe... more info>>
Words: 213741 - Reading Time: 610-854 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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33 Reader Ratings:
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12
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The Beasts of Tarzan [Tarzan Series #3]
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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As the rich Lord Greystoke, Tarzan found himself the target of greedy, evil men. Stranded on a desert island, his wife and son kidnapped, Tarzan's plight seemed helpless. But with the help of Sheeta, the ferocious panther, and the great ape Akut, Tarzan crafted his escape with the giant Mugambi. Yet the trail of the kidnappers led deep into the interior--and it would take all of Tarzan's skills to reach his family in time. (Published: 1914)
Words: 63613 - Reading Time: 181-254 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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13
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The Call of the Canyon
by Zane Grey
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Shellshocked war veteran Glenn Kilbournen, in search of himself in the Arizona wilds, realizes that he can never return to his former superficial life.
Words: 75172 - Reading Time: 214-300 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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14
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The Heritage of the Desert
by Zane Grey
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Published in 1910, this was Zane Grey's first western novel. It received wide and unanimous praise for its powerful portrait of the land and the men and women of the Southwest. Full of action and romance, this timeless novel helped create Grey's reputation as a classic author of the American West.
Words: 82377 - Reading Time: 235-329 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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7 Reader Ratings:
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15
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The Invisible Man
by H. G. Wells
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One of the most famous scientific fantasies ever written, this highly imaginative tale focuses on the powers and bold ventures of a scientist, who, after discovering the means to make himself invisible, unleashes a bizarre streak of terror on the inhabitants of an English village. Filled with suspense and psychological nuances of plot. (Published: 1897)
Words: 48733 - Reading Time: 139-194 min.
Category: Classic Literature/Science Fiction
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14 Reader Ratings:
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16
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A House of Pomegranates
by Oscar Wilde
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These four fairy tales from Oscar Wilde weave magical, mythical, and mystical stories of Princes, Princesses, mermaids and Star-Children. Is it any wonder? Wilde wrote these tales were for Cyril and Vyvyan, his young sons. They are fairy tales that teach lessons, but their lessons are unique. Each reader will find a different message, as well as beautiful images and the language of poetry. (Published: 1891)
Words: 33672 - Reading Time: 96-134 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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17
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A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
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Charles Dickens' compelling portrait of the results of terror and treason, love and supreme sacrifice continues to captivate readers around the world. With Frank Muller's brilliant performance, unforgettable characters--the ever-knitting Madame Defarge, the lovely Lucie Manette, her broken father, the honorable Charles Darnay, and the sometimes scurrilous Sydney Carton--burst from the pages, full of life and passion. (Published: 1850)
Words: 139658 - Reading Time: 399-558 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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156 Reader Ratings:
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18
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Anna Karenina
by Leo Nikoleyvich Tolstoy
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In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy moved away from the vast historical sweep of War and Peace to tell, with extraordinary understanding, the story of an aristocratic woman who brings ruin on herself. Anna's tragedy is interwoven with the courtship and marriage of Kitty and Levin as well as the lives of many other characters. Rich in incident, powerful in characterization, the novel also expresses Tolstoy's own moral vision. Translated by Constance Garnett. (Published: 1882)
Words: 358898 - Reading Time: 1025-1435 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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12 Reader Ratings:
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France at War
by Rudyard Kipling
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A chronicle of Kipling's experiences during WWI. (Published: 1915)
Words: 14798 - Reading Time: 42-59 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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20
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Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
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In Conrad's haunting tale, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the enigmatic Kurtz. Traveling to the heart of the African continent, he discovers how Kurtz has gained his position of power and influence over the local people. Marlow's struggle to fathom his experience involves him in a radical questioning of not only his own nature and values but the nature and values of his society. (Published: 1899)
Words: 38566 - Reading Time: 110-154 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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28 Reader Ratings:
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21
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His Last Bow [Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection #8]
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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"His Last Bow," the title story of this collection, tells how Sherlock Holmes is brought out of retirement to help the Government fight the German threat at the approach of the First World War. The Prime Minister himself requests Holmes's services to hunt down the remarkable German agent Von Bork. Several of the detective's earlier cases complete the volume, including "Wisteria Lodge," "The Bruce-Partington Plans," and "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax." In "The Dying Detective," Dr Wats... more info>> (Published: 1917)
Words: 68006 - Reading Time: 194-272 min.
Category: Classic Literature/Mystery/Crime
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32 Reader Ratings:
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22
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth
by Jules Vernes
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When Axel deciphers an old parchment that describes a secret passage through a volcano to the centre of the earth, nothing will stop his eccentric Uncle Lidenbrock from setting out at once. So, with silent Hans the guide, the two men embark on a perilous, astonishing, terrifying journey through the subterranean world--the most incredible voyage ever! (Published: 1872)
Words: 73112 - Reading Time: 208-292 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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23
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Jungle Tales of Tarzan [Tarzan Series #6]
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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This is actually a collection of several short stories about the times when Tarzan was a young boy and a teenager being raised by the great apes. The young Tarzan was unlike the great apes who were his only companions and playmates. Theirs was a simple, savage life, filled with little but killing or being killed. But Tarzan had all of a normal boy's desire to learn. He had painfully taught himself to read from books left by his dead father. Now he sought to apply this book knowledge to the world... more info>> (Published: 1919)
Words: 74398 - Reading Time: 212-297 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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13 Reader Ratings:
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24
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Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
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The classic adventure story of kidnap, shipwreck, murder and pursuit as young David Balfour tries to claim the inheritance he has been cheated out of. (Published: 1886)
Words: 81938 - Reading Time: 234-327 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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36 Reader Ratings:
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25
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Life on the Mississippi
by Mark Twain
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The Mississippi River and Mark Twain are practically synonymous in American culture. Known as "America's river," the popularity of Twain's steamboat and steamboat pilots on the ever-changing Mississippi has endured prominently over the years. Samuel Clemens became a licensed river pilot at the age of 24 under the apprenticeship of Horace Bixby, pilot of the Paul Jones. His name, Mark Twain, was derived from the river pilot term describing safe navigating conditions or "mark two fathoms". This te... more info>> (Published: 1883)
Words: 114521 - Reading Time: 327-458 min.
Category: Classic Literature
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7 Reader Ratings:
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![Mid-Length [43138 words]](/images/medium.gif "Mid-Length [43138 words]")
![Long [130570 words]](/images/long.gif "Long [130570 words]")
![Short [19508 words]](/images/short.gif "Short [19508 words]")
