Emma Jane Austen http://feedbooks.com/book/45 urn:isbn:0553212737 en 1816 Novels Romance Emma is a comic novel by Jane Austen, first published in December 1815, about the perils of misconstrued romance. The main character, Emma Woodhouse, is described in the opening paragraph as "handsome, clever, and rich" but is also rather spoiled. Prior to starting the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." http://feedbooks.com/book/45.png http://feedbooks.com/book/45.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/45.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/45.mobi The Winter's Tale William Shakespeare http://feedbooks.com/book/3010 urn:isbn:0199535914 en 1611 Romance Plays The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, first published in the First Folio in 1623. Although it was listed as a comedy when it first appeared, some modern editors have relabeled the play a romance. Some critics, among them W. W. Lawrence (Lawrence, 9-13), consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays", because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and supply a happy ending. http://feedbooks.com/book/3010.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3010.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3010.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3010.mobi Cymbeline William Shakespeare http://feedbooks.com/book/2983 urn:isbn:0199536503 en 1611 Romance Plays Cymbeline is a play by William Shakespeare, based on an early Celtic British King. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify it as a romance. Like Othello, Measure for Measure, and The Winter's Tale, it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While its date of composition is unknown, the play is known to have been produced as early as 1611. (From Wikipedia) http://feedbooks.com/book/2983.png http://feedbooks.com/book/2983.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/2983.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/2983.mobi The Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers http://feedbooks.com/book/3871 urn:isbn:0199549710 en 1903 Novels Adventure War Thriller The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service is a patriotic British 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. It is a novel that "owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain"; perhaps more significantly, it was a spy novel that "established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story – the same ploy that would be used so well by John Buchan, Ian Fleming, John le Carré and many others." Ken Follett called it "the first modern thriller." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3871.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3871.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3871.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3871.mobi The Elements of Style William Strunk Jr. http://feedbooks.com/book/3697 urn:isbn:9562916464 en 1918 Non-Fiction The Elements of Style (also known as Strunk & White) is an American English writing style guide. It is one of the most influential and best-known prescriptive treatments of English grammar and usage in the United States. It originally detailed eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition, and "a few matters of form" as well as a list of commonly misused words and expressions. Updated editions of the paperback book are often required reading for American high school and college composition classes. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3697.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3697.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3697.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3697.mobi Fifty-One Tales Lord Dunsany http://feedbooks.com/book/3356 urn:isbn:1592240062 en 1915 Short Fiction Fantasy Collections Fifty-One Tales is a collection of fantasy short stories by Irish writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula LeGuin and others. The first editions, in hardcover, were published simultaneously in London and New York by Elkin Mathews and Mitchell Kennerly, respectively, in April, 1915. The British and American editions differ in that they arrange the material slightly differently and that each includes a story the other omits; "The Poet Speaks with Earth" in the British version, and "The Mist" in the American version. The collection's significance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by its republication (as The Food of Death: Fifty-One Tales) by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the third volume of the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library in September, 1974. The Newcastle edition used the American version of the text. The book collects fifty-one short stories by the author. Source: Wikipedia This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3356.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3356.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3356.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3356.mobi The Innocence of Father Brown Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://feedbooks.com/book/3713 urn:isbn:1602068984 en 1911 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery Collections Religion Twelve mysteries featuring Father Brown, the short, stumpy Catholic priest with "uncanny insight into human evil." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3713.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3713.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3713.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3713.mobi The Napoleon of Notting Hill Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://feedbooks.com/book/3683 urn:isbn:0955519624 en 1904 Novels Humor/Satire Politics The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a novel written by G. K. Chesterton in 1904, set in a nearly-unchanged London in 1984. Though the novel deals with the future, it concentrates not on technology nor on totalitarian government but on a government where no one cares what happens, comparable to Fahrenheit 451 in that respect. The dreary succession of randomly selected Kings of England is broken up when Auberon Quin, who cares for nothing but a good joke, is chosen. To amuse himself, he institutes elaborate costumes for the provosts of the districts of London. All are bored by the King's antics except for one earnest young man who takes the cry for regional pride seriously – Adam Wayne, the eponymous Napoleon of Notting Hill. While the novel is humorous (one instance has the King sitting on top of an omnibus and speaking to it as to a horse: "Forward, my beauty, my Arab," he said, patting the omnibus encouragingly, "fleetest of all thy bounding tribe"), it is also an adventure story: Chesterton is not afraid to let blood be drawn in his battles, fought with sword and halberd in the London streets, and Wayne thinks up a few ingenious strategies; and, finally, the novel is philosophical, considering the value of one man's actions and the virtue of respect for one's enemies. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3683.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3683.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3683.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3683.mobi The Man Who Was Thursday: a Nightmare Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://feedbooks.com/book/3680 urn:isbn:0375757910 en 1908 Novels Crime/Mystery Fantasy Thriller Religion The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare is a novel by G. K. Chesterton, first published in 1908. The book has been referred to as a metaphysical thriller. Although it deals with anarchists, the novel is not an exploration or rebuttal of anarchist thought; Chesterton's ad hoc construction of "Philosophical Anarchism" is distinguished from ordinary anarchism and is referred to several times not so much as a rebellion against government but as a rebellion against God. The novel has been described as "one of the hidden hinges of twentieth-century writing, the place where, before our eyes, the nonsense-fantastical tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear pivots and becomes the nightmare-fantastical tradition of Kafka and Borges." This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3680.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3680.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3680.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3680.mobi The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu Sax Rohmer http://feedbooks.com/book/3305 en 1913 Novels Crime/Mystery Follow the exciting adventures of Commissioner Nayland Smith as he pursues Dr. Fu Manchu across the opium dens of Thames-side London and various country estates. This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://feedbooks.com/book/3305.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3305.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3305.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3305.mobi The Mystery of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens http://feedbooks.com/book/319 en 1870 Novels http://feedbooks.com/book/319.png http://feedbooks.com/book/319.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/319.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/319.mobi Pirates of Venus Edgar Rice Burroughs http://feedbooks.com/book/1219 urn:isbn:0803261837 en 1934 Novels Science Fiction The shimmering, cloud-covered planet of Venus conceals a wondrous secret: the strikingly beautiful yet deadly world of Amtor. In Amtor, cities of immortal beings flourish in giant trees reaching thousands of feet into the sky; ferocious beasts stalk the wilderness below; rare flashes of sunlight precipitate devastating storms; and the inhabitants believe their world is saucer-shaped with a fiery center and an icy rim. Stranded on Amtor after his spaceship crashes, astronaut Carson Napier is swept into a world where revolution is ripe, the love of a princess carries a dear price, and death can come as easily from the blade of a sword as from the ray of a futuristic gun. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50. http://feedbooks.com/book/1219.png http://feedbooks.com/book/1219.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/1219.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/1219.mobi The Mirror of Kong Ho Ernest Bramah Smith http://feedbooks.com/book/3905 en 1905 Short Fiction Crime/Mystery Humor/Satire A lively and amusing collection of letters on western living written by Kong Ho, a Chinese gentleman. These addressed to his homeland, refer to the Westerners in London as barbarians and many of the aids to life in our society give Kong Ho endless food for thought. These are things such as the motor car and the piano; unknown in China at this time. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3905.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3905.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3905.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3905.mobi Kai Lung's Golden Hours Ernest Bramah Smith http://feedbooks.com/book/3906 en 1922 Novels Fantasy Kai Lung's Golden Hours is a fantasy novel by Ernest Bramah. It was first published in hardcover in London by Grant Richards Ltd. in October, 1922, and there have been numerous editions since. The first edition included a preface by Hilaire Belloc, which has also been a feature of every edition since. Its importance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by its reissuing by Ballantine Books as the forty-fifth volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in April, 1972. As with other Kai Lung novels, the main plot serves primarily as a vehicle for the presentation of the gem-like, aphorism-laden stories told by the protagonist Kai Lung, an itinerant story-teller of ancient China. In Kai Lung's Golden Hours he is brought before the court of the Mandarin Shan Tien on treasonable charges by the Mandarin's confidential agent Ming-shu. In a unique defense, Kai Lung recites his beguiling tales to the Mandarin, successfully postponing his conviction time after time until he is finally set free. In the process he attains the love and hand of the maiden Hwa-Mei. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3906.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3906.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3906.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3906.mobi The Wallet of Kai Lung Ernest Bramah Smith http://feedbooks.com/book/3643 urn:isbn:1438504497 en 1900 Short Fiction Fantasy Collections The Wallet of Kai Lung is a collection of fantasy stories by Ernest Bramah, all but the last of which feature Kai Lung, an itinerant story-teller of ancient China. It was first published in hardcover in London by Grant Richards in 1900, and there have been numerous editions since. Its initial tale, The Transmutation of Ling, was also issued by the same publisher as a separate chapbook in 1911. The collection's importance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by the anthologization of two of its tales in the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, edited by Lin Carter and published by Ballantine Books; "The Vision of Yin" in Discoveries in Fantasy (March, 1972), and "The Transmutation of Ling" in Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy Volume II (March, 1973). Although the collection is presented in the fashion of a novel, with each of its component stories designated chapters, there is no overall plot aside from each of the first eight tales being presented as narratives told by Kai Lung at various points in his itinerant career. The final tale is represented as being from a manuscript left by its own separate first-person narrator, Kin Yen. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3643.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3643.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3643.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3643.mobi Tales of Space and Time H. G. Wells http://feedbooks.com/book/3469 en 1900 Short Fiction Science Fiction Collections A collection of short stories: "The Crystal Egg", "The Star", "A Story of the Stone Age", "A Story of the Days to Come" & "The Man who could Work Miracles" This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/3469.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3469.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3469.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3469.mobi The King in Yellow Robert William Chambers http://feedbooks.com/book/1376 urn:isbn:0486437507 en 1895 Short Fiction Horror Collections This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/1376.png http://feedbooks.com/book/1376.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/1376.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/1376.mobi The Book of Tea Kakuzo Okakura http://feedbooks.com/book/991 urn:isbn:1933330171 en 1906 Non-Fiction Philosophy The Book of Tea was written by Okakura Kakuzo in the early 20th century. It was first published in 1906, and has since been republished many times. In the book, Kakuzo introduces the term Teaism and how Tea has affected nearly every aspect of Japanese culture, thought, and life. The book is accessibile to Western audiences because Kakuzo was taught at a young age to speak English; and spoke it all his life, becoming proficient at communicating his thoughts to the Western Mind. In his book, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of Tea and Japanese life. The book emphasises how Teaism taught the Japanese many things; most importantly, simplicity. Kakuzo argues that this tea-induced simplicity affected art and architecture, and he was a long-time student of the visual arts. He ends the book with a chapter on Tea Masters, and spends some time talking about Sen no Rikyu and his contribution to the Japanese Tea Ceremony. According to Tomonobu Imamichi, Heidegger's concept of Dasein in Sein und Zeit was inspired — although Heidegger remains silent on this — by Okakura Kakuzo's concept of das-in-dem-Welt-sein (to be in the being of the world) expressed in The Book of Tea to describe Zhuangzi's philosophy, which Imamichi's teacher had offerred to Heidegger in 1919, after having followed lessons with him the year before. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/991.png http://feedbooks.com/book/991.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/991.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/991.mobi A Voyage to Arcturus David Lindsay http://feedbooks.com/book/901 urn:isbn:0803280041 en 1920 Novels Science Fiction A stunning achievement in speculative fiction, A Voyage to Arcturus has inspired, enchanted, and unsettled readers for decades. It is simultaneously an epic quest across one of the most unusual and brilliantly depicted alien worlds ever conceived, a profoundly moving journey of discovery into the metaphysical heart of the universe, and a shockingly intimate excursion into what makes us human and unique. After a strange interstellar journey, Maskull, a man from Earth, awakens alone in a desert on the planet Tormance, seared by the suns of the binary star Arcturus. As he journeys northward, guided by a drumbeat, he encounters a world and its inhabitants like no other, where gender is a victory won at dear cost; where landscape and emotion are drawn into an accursed dance; where heroes are killed, reborn, and renamed; and where the cosmological lures of Shaping, who may be God, torment Maskull in his astonishing pilgrimage. At the end of his arduous and increasingly mystical quest waits a dark secret and an unforgettable revelation. A Voyage to Arcturus was the first novel by writer David Lindsay (1878–1945), and it remains one of the most revered classics of science fiction. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://feedbooks.com/book/901.png http://feedbooks.com/book/901.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/901.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/901.mobi The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath Howard Phillips Lovecraft http://feedbooks.com/book/247 urn:isbn:0345337794 en 1943 Short Fiction Horror Randolph Carter dreams three times of a majestic sunset city, but each time he is abruptly snatched away before he can see it up close. When he prays to the gods of dream to reveal the whereabouts of the phantasmal city, they do not answer, and his dreams of the city stop altogether. Undaunted, Carter resolves to go to Kadath, where the gods live, to beseech them in person. However, no one has ever been to Kadath and none even knows how to get there. In dream, Randolph Carter descends "the seventy steps to the cavern of flame" and speaks of his plan to the priests Nasht and Kaman-Thah, whose temple borders the Dreamlands. The priests warn Carter of the great danger of his quest and suggest that the gods withdrew his vision of the city on purpose. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70. http://feedbooks.com/book/247.png http://feedbooks.com/book/247.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/247.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/247.mobi Tao Te Ching Laozi http://feedbooks.com/book/215 urn:isbn:0679724346 en -600 Non-Fiction Philosophy Religion The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Taoist school of Chinese philosophy and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. This ancient book is also central in Chinese religion, not only for Taoism but Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, aided by hundreds of translations into Western languages. http://feedbooks.com/book/215.png http://feedbooks.com/book/215.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/215.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/215.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 The Art of War Sun Tzu http://feedbooks.com/book/168 urn:isbn:0762415983 en -514 Non-Fiction Philosophy War The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. The Art of War is one of the oldest books on military strategy in the world. It is the first and one of the most successful works on strategy and has had a huge influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu was the first to recognize the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in that environment. He taught that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive environment, http://feedbooks.com/book/168.png http://feedbooks.com/book/168.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/168.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/168.mobi