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Description Rasselas is a fable-like story, more apologue than novel, written by Johnson in 1759 to help pay for the costs of his recently-deceased motherβs funeral. While the plot is basic and the characters are thin, the work is an important philosophical piece exploring whether or not humanity can attain happiness. Rasselas, an Abyssinian prince, travels with his sister Nekayah, her handmaiden Pekuah, and the wise poet Imlacβa proxy for Johnson himself. Their exploration of happiness and the
Description P. T. Barnum, the legendary entertainer and co-founder of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, was not just a successful businessman, but a philanthropist and writer as well. This short, pamphlet-length work distills Barnumβs advice on achieving success and wealth, in his own words.
Description The Jungle Book is a short collection of stories published by Kipling in various magazines between 1893 and 1894. Kipling spent both his early years and his late teenage years in India, and that upbringing is front and center in these storiesβdespite them being written while he was living in Vermont, in the United States. The stories are fable-like, with most of them centering on the lives of anthropomorphised jungle animals and a few focused on human characters in India. The
Description Father Goriot, today considered one of Balzacβs most important works, is part of his novel sequence The Human Comedy. Itβs the first of Balzacβs novels to feature recurring characters, a technique that he famously developed in his subsequent novels. Set in Paris during the Bourbon Restoration of the early 1800s, Father Goriot follows EugΓ¨ne de Rastignac, a student born to noble roots but little means, as he tries to climb the social ladder in Paris. The impoverished Goriot is
Description Father Brown is a Catholic priest, but a slightly unusual one in that heβs also an amateur detective. Unlike his more famous literary cousin Sherlock, Father Brown takes a less analytical and more intuition-oriented approach to solving the many murders that he happens to come across. This collection of short murder mysteries is Brownβs first appearance on the literary stage. In it we see him practicing his unique brand of sleuthing alongside his sometimes-partner, the reformed
Description Little Women is the classic coming-of-age tale of four sisters on their journey to adulthood. Though today itβs considered a classic, Little Women almost wasnβt written: Alcott wanted to publish a collection of short stories instead, but her publisher and her father pressed her to write a book that would appeal to a wide audience of young girls. The first volume was written quickly and published in 1868; it was a huge success, and Alcott composed volume 2 just as quickly and