http://feedbooks.com/list/646 books I want to read The Gift of the Magi O. Henry http://feedbooks.com/book/3504 urn:isbn:141693586X en 1906 Short Fiction Jim Dillingham Young and his wife Della are a young couple who are very much in love with each other, but can barely afford their one-room apartment opposite the elevated train due to their very bad economic condition. For Christmas, Della decides to buy Jim a chain which costs twenty dollars for his prized pocket watch given to him by his father. To raise the funds, she has her prized long hair cut off and sold to make a wig. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his watch to buy Della a beautiful set of combs made out of tortoise shell for her lovely, knee-length brown hair. Although each is disappointed to find the gift they chose rendered useless, each is pleased with the gift they received, because it represents their love for one another. The true unselfish love that the characters, Jim and Della, share is greater than their possessions. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3504.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3504.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3504.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3504.mobi Fanny Herself Edna Ferber http://feedbooks.com/book/3455 en 1917 Novels Biography This intensely personal chronicle of a young girl growing up Jewish in a small midwestern town is the most autobiographical of Pulitzer Prize-winning Ferber’s novels, full of fine, full-blown, and fascinating characters. This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://feedbooks.com/book/3455.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3455.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3455.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3455.mobi Fall Love Anne Whitehouse http://feedbooks.com/userbook/1900 en 2008 Fall Love tells the intertwined stories of four twenties-something artists and professionals adrift in the bad old pre-AIDS New York of 1980. From a summer of love through an autumn of deceit and regret, we follow the lives of Althea, Jeanne, Paul, and Bryce from self-sacrifice to self-knowledge. fiction roman love absurd comedy Amor romantic triangle literature literary fiction art and artists art/teaching artists in love gay novel bisexual novel http://feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.png http://feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.pdf http://feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.epub http://feedbooks.com/userbook/1900.mobi The Man Who Could Not Forget Michael Graeme http://feedbooks.com/userbook/2857 en 2008 A Short Story by Michael Graeme (a fifteen minute read): ...I have a problem with my memory. It isn't that it ever fails me - quite the opposite in fact. Indeed, my recall of events from all but the earliest years of my life is truly photographic, so there was little doubt in my mind the woman before me now was the one who had stolen the book.... fantasy fiction romance short story speculative http://feedbooks.com/userbook/2857.png http://feedbooks.com/userbook/2857.pdf http://feedbooks.com/userbook/2857.epub http://feedbooks.com/userbook/2857.mobi Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling http://feedbooks.com/book/3584 urn:isbn:1406819034 en 1897 Novels Young Readers Adventure The adventures of Harvey Chaney Jr., an arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon. Washed overboard from a transatlantic steamship and rescued by fishermen on the Grand Banks, Harvey cannot persuade them to take him ashore, nor convince them of his wealth. However, the captain of a passing schooner offers him a job as crew until they return to port. With no other choice, Harvey accepts, and there begins a series of trials and adventures where the boy learns to adjust to his rough new life, and takes the first steps towards becoming a man. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3584.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3584.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3584.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3584.mobi Cheerful—By Request Edna Ferber http://feedbooks.com/book/3470 urn:isbn:1598187805 en 1918 Short Fiction Collections Humor/Satire A collection of 12 short stories. This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://feedbooks.com/book/3470.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3470.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3470.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3470.mobi Anne's House of Dreams Lucy Maud Montgomery http://feedbooks.com/book/3307 en 1917 Novels Romance A chronicle of Anne’s early married life, as she and her childhood sweetheart Gilbert Blythe begin to build their life together. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3307.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3307.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3307.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3307.mobi Anne of the Island Lucy Maud Montgomery http://feedbooks.com/book/3272 en 1915 Novels Young Readers Romance This is the continuing story of Anne Shirley and the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series. Anne attends Redmond College in Kingsport, where she is studying for her BA. The book is dedicated to "all the girls all over the world who have "wanted more" about ANNE." There was a gap of six years between the publications of Anne of Avonlea and the publication of this book. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3272.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3272.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3272.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3272.mobi Anne of Avonlea Lucy Maud Montgomery http://feedbooks.com/book/3197 urn:isbn:1402754280 en 1909 Novels Young Readers Following Anne of Green Gables (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. This book follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, as well as new ones like Mr Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3197.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3197.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3197.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3197.mobi The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde http://feedbooks.com/book/6 urn:isbn:0375751513 en 1891 Novels Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence, and a few years later the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted in his imprisonment. Of the book's value as autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps." http://feedbooks.com/book/6.png http://feedbooks.com/book/6.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/6.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/6.mobi The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie http://feedbooks.com/book/2058 urn:isbn:1579126227 en 1920 Novels Crime/Mystery In her first published mystery, Agatha Christie introduces readers to the heroic detective, Hercule Poirot. This is a classic murder mystery set in the outskirts of Essex. The victim is the wealthy mistress of Styles Court. The list of suspects is long and includes her gold-digging new spouse and stepsons, her doctor, and her hired companion. This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://feedbooks.com/book/2058.png http://feedbooks.com/book/2058.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/2058.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/2058.mobi Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery http://feedbooks.com/book/2776 en 1908 Novels Young Readers Marilla Cuthbert and Matthew Cuthbert, middle-aged siblings who live together at Green Gables, a farm in Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island, decide to adopt a boy from an orphan asylum in Nova Scotia as a helper on their farm. Through a series of mishaps, the person who ends up under their roof is a precocious girl of eleven named Anne Shirley. Anne is bright and quick, eager to please but dissatisfied with her name, her pale countenance dotted with freckles, and with her long braids of red hair. Being a child of imagination, however, Anne takes much joy in life, and adapts quickly, thriving in the environment of Prince Edward Island. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/2776.png http://feedbooks.com/book/2776.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/2776.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/2776.mobi To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf http://feedbooks.com/book/1234 urn:isbn:0156907399 en 1927 Novels To the Lighthouse (5 May 1927) is a novel by Virginia Woolf. A landmark novel of high modernism, the text, centering on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920, skillfully manipulates temporality and psychological exploration. To the Lighthouse follows and extends the tradition of modernist novelists like Marcel Proust and James Joyce, where the plot is secondary to philosophical introspection, and the prose can be winding and hard to follow. The novel includes little dialogue and almost no action; most of it is written as thoughts and observations. The novel recalls the power of childhood emotions and highlights the impermanence of adult relationships. One of the book's several themes is the ubiquity of transience. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50. http://feedbooks.com/book/1234.png http://feedbooks.com/book/1234.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/1234.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/1234.mobi The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka http://feedbooks.com/book/8 urn:isbn:0553213695 en 1912 Short Fiction Horror The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin". This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/8.png http://feedbooks.com/book/8.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/8.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/8.mobi Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert http://feedbooks.com/book/2042 urn:isbn:0192840398 en 1857 Novels Romance Madame Bovary scandalized its readers when it was first published in 1857. And the story itself remains as fresh today as when it was first written, a work that remains unsurpassed in its unveiling of character and society. It tells the tragic story of the romantic but empty-headed Emma Rouault. When Emma marries Charles Bovary, she imagines she will pass into the life of luxury and passion that she reads about in sentimental novels and women's magazines. But Charles is an ordinary country doctor, and provincial life is very different from the romantic excitement for which she yearns. In her quest to realize her dreams she takes a lover, Rodolphe, and begins a devastating spiral into deceit and despair. And Flaubert captures every step of this catastrophe with sharp-eyed detail and a wonderfully subtle understanding of human emotions. http://feedbooks.com/book/2042.png http://feedbooks.com/book/2042.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/2042.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/2042.mobi Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray http://feedbooks.com/book/1469 urn:isbn:1593083653 en 1848 Novels “I think I could be a good woman, if I had five thousand a year,” observes beautiful and clever Becky Sharp, one of the wickedest—and most appealing—women in all of literature. Becky is just one of the many fascinating figures that populate William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair, a wonderfully satirical panorama of upper-middle-class life and manners in London at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Scorned for her lack of money and breeding, Becky must use all her wit, charm and considerable sex appeal to escape her drab destiny as a governess. From London’s ballrooms to the battlefields of Waterloo, the bewitching Becky works her wiles on a gallery of memorable characters, including her lecherous employer, Sir Pitt, his rich sister, Miss Crawley, and Pitt’s dashing son, Rawdon, the first of Becky’s misguided sexual entanglements. Filled with hilarious dialogue and superb characterizations, Vanity Fair is a richly entertaining comedy that asks the reader, “Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?” http://feedbooks.com/book/1469.png http://feedbooks.com/book/1469.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/1469.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/1469.mobi I, Robot Cory Doctorow http://feedbooks.com/book/337 urn:isbn:1560259817 en 2005 Short Fiction Science Fiction "I, Robot" is a science-fiction short story by Cory Doctorow published in 2005. The story is set in the type of police state needed to ensure that only one company is allowed to make robots, and only one type of robot is allowed. The story follows single Father detective Arturo Icaza de Arana-Goldberg while he tries to track down his missing teenage daughter. The detective is a bit of an outcast because his wife defected to Eurasia, a rival Superpower. Please read the legal notice included in this e-book and/or check the copyright status in your country. http://feedbooks.com/book/337.png http://feedbooks.com/book/337.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/337.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/337.mobi The Island of Dr. Moreau H. G. Wells http://feedbooks.com/book/33 urn:isbn:0553214322 en 1896 Novels Science Fiction Edward Prendick is shipwrecked in the Pacific. Rescued by Doctor Moreau's assistant he is taken to the doctor's island home where he discovers the doctor has been experimenting on the animal inhabitants of the island, creating bizarre proto-humans... This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/33.png http://feedbooks.com/book/33.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/33.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/33.mobi Star Maker William Olaf Stapledon http://feedbooks.com/book/2029 urn:isbn:0819566934 en 1937 Novels Science Fiction Widely regarded as one of the true classics of science fiction, Star Maker is a poetic and deeply philosophical work. The story details the mental journey of an unnamed narrator who is transported not only to other worlds but also other galaxies and parallel universes, until he eventually becomes part of the "cosmic mind." First published in 1937, Olaf Stapledon's descriptions of alien life are a political commentary on human life in the turbulent inter-war years. The book challenges preconceived notions of intelligence and awareness, and ultimately argues for a broadened perspective that would free us from culturally ingrained thought and our inevitable anthropomorphism. This is the first scholarly edition of a book that influenced such writers as C.S. Lewis and Arthur C. Clarke and which Jorge Luis Borges called "a prodigious novel." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50. http://feedbooks.com/book/2029.png http://feedbooks.com/book/2029.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/2029.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/2029.mobi Free Air Sinclair Lewis http://feedbooks.com/book/3689 urn:isbn:1409951111 en 1919 Novels Romance Travel Long before Jack Kerouac penned his famous American roadtrip epic, Sinclair Lewis wrote what may in fact be the seminal work of the genre. This cheerful little road novel, published in 1919, is about Claire Boltwood, who, in the early days of the 20th century, travels by automobile from New York City to the Pacific Northwest, where she falls in love with a nice, down-to-earth young man and gives up her snobbish Estate. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3689.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3689.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3689.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3689.mobi The Arabian Nights Andrew Lang http://feedbooks.com/book/208 urn:isbn:1605896403 en 1898 Novels Young Readers One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of stories collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars in various countries across the Middle East and South Asia. These collections of tales trace their roots back to ancient Arabia and Yemen, ancient Indian literature and Persian literature, ancient Egyptian literature and Mesopotamian mythology, ancient Syria and Asia Minor, and medieval Arabic folk stories from the Caliphate era. Though the oldest Arabic manuscript dates from the fourteenth century, scholarship generally dates the collection's genesis to somewhere between AD 800–900. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/208.png http://feedbooks.com/book/208.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/208.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/208.mobi The Rainbow David Herbert Lawrence http://feedbooks.com/book/214 urn:isbn:0375759654 en 1915 Novels Romance Sexuality The Rainbow is a 1915 novel by British author D. H. Lawrence. It follows three generations of the Brangwen family, particularly focusing on the sexual dynamics of, and relations between, the characters. Lawrence's frank treatment of sexual desire and the power plays within relationships as a natural and even spiritual force of life, though perhaps tame by modern standards, caused The Rainbow to be prosecuted in an obscenity trial in late 1915, as a result of which all copies were seized and burnt. After this ban it was unavailable in Britain for 11 years, although editions were available in the USA. The Rainbow was followed by a sequel in 1920, Women in Love. Although Lawrence conceived of the two novels as one, considering the titles The Sisters and The Wedding Ring for the work, they were published as two separate novels at the urging of his publisher. However, after the negative public reception of The Rainbow, Lawrence's publisher opted out of publishing the sequel. This is the cause of the delay in the publishing of the sequel. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/214.png http://feedbooks.com/book/214.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/214.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/214.mobi The Awakening & Other Short Stories Kate Chopin http://feedbooks.com/book/342 urn:isbn:0679783334 en 1899 Short Fiction Sexuality The Awakening shocked turn-of-the-century readers with its forthright treatment of sex and suicide. Departing from literary convention, Kate Chopin failed to condemn her heroine's desire for an affair with the son of a Louisiana resort owner, whom she meets on vacation. The power of sensuality, the delusion of ecstatic love, and the solitude that accompanies the trappings of middle- and upper-class life are the themes of this now-classic novel. As Kaye Gibbons points out in her Introduction, Chopin "was writing American realism before most Americans could bear to hear that they were living it." http://feedbooks.com/book/342.png http://feedbooks.com/book/342.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/342.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/342.mobi Venus in Furs Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch http://feedbooks.com/book/190 urn:isbn:1440416869 en 1906 Novels Sexuality Psychology Severin is so infatuated with Wanda that he requests to be treated as her slave and encourages her to treat him in progressively more degrading ways. At first Wanda does not want to, but later embraces the idea; though at the same time, she disdains Severin for allowing her to do so. Severin describes his feelings during these experiences as suprasensuality. Wanda treats him brutally as a servant, and recruits a trio of African women to dominate him. The relationship arrives at a crisis point when Wanda herself meets a man to whom she would like to submit. Severin, humiliated by Wanda's new lover, ceases to desire to submit, stating that men should dominate women until the time when women are equal to men in education and rights. Probably the first book which blatantly addresses the issue of female sexual domination, this is today a classic of the genre and it is the author from whom the word masochism takes its name. http://feedbooks.com/book/190.png http://feedbooks.com/book/190.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/190.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/190.mobi Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman http://feedbooks.com/book/3610 urn:isbn:0451525620 en 1915 Novels Sexuality Humor/Satire Politics Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society composed entirely of women who reproduce via parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict and domination. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.mobi The Air Trust George Allan England http://feedbooks.com/book/1993 en 1915 Novels Science Fiction The story of a billionaire, Isaac Flint, who attempts to control the very air people breathe, and the violent consequences of his ambition and greed. In the concluding chapter, Flint is described as one of "the most sinister and cruel minds ever evolved upon this planet." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/1993.png http://feedbooks.com/book/1993.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/1993.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/1993.mobi The Poison Belt Arthur Conan Doyle http://feedbooks.com/book/352 en 1913 Novels Science Fiction The Poison Belt was the second story, a novella, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, roughly a year before the outbreak of World War I, much of it takes place--rather oddly, given that it follows The Lost World, a story set in the jungle--in a room in Challenger's house. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to affect his writing. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/352.png http://feedbooks.com/book/352.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/352.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/352.mobi The Land of Mist Arthur Conan Doyle http://feedbooks.com/book/353 en 1926 Novels Science Fiction Heavily influenced by Doyle's growing belief in Spiritualism after the death of his son, brother, and two nephews in World War I, the book focuses on Edward Malone's at first professional, and later personal interest in Spiritualism. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://feedbooks.com/book/353.png http://feedbooks.com/book/353.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/353.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/353.mobi