Published: c 610 BC

Translated from the Chinese with Introduction and Critical Notes by Lionel Giles, M.A.

Author: Richard Burton

Published: 1898

An ancient Indian text on human sexual behavior, widely considered to be the standard work on love in the Sanskrit literature. The text was written by Vatsyayana. The author is believed to have lived sometime between the 1st to 6th centuries A.D, probably during the Gupta period.

Published: 1813

Austen's finest comedy of manners portrays life in the genteel rural society of the early 1800s, and tells of the initial misunderstandings (and mutual enlightenment) between lively and quick witted Elizabeth Bennet and the haughty Mr. Darcy.

Published: 1892

A delight for a public which enjoys incident, mystery, and above all that matching of the wits of a clever man against the dumb resistance of the secrecy of inanimate things, which results in the triumph of the human intelligence.

Published: 1884

The drifting journey of Huck and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi River on their raft may be one of the most enduring images of escape and freedom in all of American literature. Although the society it satirized was already history at the time of publication, the book was quite controversial, and has remained so to this day.

Published: 1897

The world's best-known vampire story begins by following a naive young Englishman as he visits Transylvania to meet a client, the mysterious Count Dracula. Upon revealing his true nature, Dracula boards a ship for England, where chilling and gruesome disasters begin to befall the people of London...

Published: 1845

A classic adventure novel, often considered Dumas' best work, and frequently included on lists of the best novels of all time. Completed in 1844, and released as an 18-part series over the next two years, Dumas collaborated with other authors throughout. The story takes place in France, Italy, and the Mediterranean from the end of the rule of Napoleon I through the reign of Louis-Philippe.

Published: 1865

The story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale is filled with allusions to Dodgson's friends. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the most characteristic examples of the genre of literary nonsense, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre. --Wikipedia

Published: 1922

Ulysses chronicles the passage through Dublin of Leopold Bloom during an unremarkable day, June 16, 1904. The title alludes to the hero of Homer's Odyssey, and there are many parallels, both implicit and explicit, between the two works.Written from 1914 to 1921, the novel was serialized in the American journal The Little Review from 1918, until the publication of the Nausicaa episode led to a prosecution for obscenity. The book was first published in its entirety in Paris in 1922, but was banned in both the United States and United Kingdom until the 1930s. The work was blacklisted by Irish customs.

Based on translations of Kinder und Hausmarchen by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes.

Published: 1870

Sent to investigate mysterious encounters that are disrupting international shipping, Professor Aronnax, his servant Conseil, and disgruntled harpooner Ned Land are captured when their frigate is sunk during an encounter with the "monster." The submarine Nautilus and its eccentric Captain Nemo afford the professor and his companions endless fascination and danger as they're swept along on a yearlong undersea voyage.

Published: 1876

"A young boy grows up in the antebellum South on the Mississippi River in the town of St. Petersberg, based on the town of Hannibal, Missouri."--Wikipedia

Published: 1869

The novel tells the story of a number of aristocratic families and the entanglements of their personal lives with Napoleon's invasion of Russia. As events proceed, Tolstoy systematically denies his subjects any significant free choice: the onward roll of history determines happiness and tragedy alike. (Translated by Aylmer and Louise Shanks Maude.)

Published: 1859

Sidney Carton is almost the only case in which Dickens has drawn a hero on the true heroic scale, and his famous act of self-sacrifice is unmatched in fiction. The book must be ranked very high among the great tragedies in literature.

Published: 1513

Translated by W.K. Marriott.

Published: 1926

Three independent narratives linked together by the device of a narrator discovering notes left by a deceased relative. Piecing together the whole truth and disturbing significance of the information he possesses, the narrator's final line is ''The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.''

Published: 1862

As much a history or commentary as a work of fiction, Les Misérables is dominated by France's past. While the fictional aspects may seem to be an afterthought, Hugo's craft is apparent as he weaves multiple characters together. (Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood)

Published: 1875

Anna is the jewel of St. Petersburg society until she leaves her husband for the handsome and charming military officer, Count Vronsky. They fall in love, going beyond High Society's acceptance of trivial adulterous dalliances. But when Vronsky's love cools, Anna cannot bring herself to return to the husband she detests...
(Translated by Constance Garnett)

Published: 1913

Alternately slow-moving and fast-paced, the story focuses on three animal characters in a bucolic version of England, and is notable for its mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality and camaraderie. It will provide as much pleasure to adult readers as to children, although for rather different reasons.