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Author
Description
A banking clerk by day, Bulfinch spent his nights skillfully weaving often disparate versions of classical and medieval mythology into a coherent whole. The thoroughness with which he combed through his sources made his mythological books standard reference guides for many years. Written to teach mythology not as a study but as a relaxation from study, these timeless volumes span the ages: The Age Of Fable describes the gods and goddesses of Greece...
2) Babbitt
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 7.8 - AR Pts: 22
Description
Presents the story of George F. Babbitt, the owner of a real estate company in the 1920's. Through the life and times of the main character, the author provides a satirical view of the sociology of American business and middle-class culture.
3) Vanity Fair
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 12.4 - AR Pts: 66
Description
Thackeray's best-loved work, "Vanity Fair, is a satire of epic proportions, and proves that deep-seated cynicism and heartfelt morality don't have to get in the way of a good story. Filled with exceptionally drawn characters, biting social humor, and Thackeray's own illustrations, "Vanity Fair is not only one of the great English novels of the nineteenth century, its title has become synonymous with the follies of high society. Nicholas Dames is Assistant...
4) My Ántonia
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 6.9 - AR Pts: 14
Formats
Description
Antonia Shimerda, the destitute child of Bohemian immigrants, and Jim Burden, a native Virginian who, after being orphaned at the age of ten, is sent to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. Jim goes to Harvard, becomes a traveling busnissman,a nd returns to Nebraska infrequently; Antonia elopes with a shiftless railroad conductor, comes home disgraced, and finds happiness with Anton Cuzak, a gentle farmer.
5) Main Street
Author
Appears on list
Formats
Description
The wife of a town doctor dreams of initiating social reforms and introducing art and literature to the community.
6) The idiot
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 10.7 - AR Pts: 56
Description
Returning to Russia from a sanitarium in Switzerland, the Christ-like epileptic Prince Myshkin finds himself enmeshed in a tangle of love, torn between two women—the notorious kept woman Nastasya and the pure Aglaia—both involved, in turn, with the corrupt, money-hungry Ganya. In the end, Myshkin’s honesty, goodness, and integrity are shown to be unequal to the moral emptiness of those around him. In her revision of the Garnett translation,...
7) The jungle
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8 - AR Pts: 22
Appears on list
Formats
Description
A documentary novel portraying industry's conditions at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Sinclair's novel prompted public outrage which led President Theodore Roosevelt to demand an official investigation. This eventually led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.7 - AR Pts: 26
Description
Set among the elegant brownstones of New York City and opulent country houses like gracious Bellomont on the Hudson, the novel creates a satiric portrayal of what Wharton herself called "a society of irresponsible pleasure-seekers" with a precision comparable to that of Proust. And her brilliant and complex characterization of the doomed Lily Bart, whose stunning beauty and dependence on marriage for economic survival reduce her to a decorative object,...
9) Jane Eyre
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 3.8 - AR Pts: 2
Appears on list
Formats
Description
Following the death of her uncle, the orphan Jane Eyre is sent to the Lowood School, where she grows into a confident and well-educated young woman. When Jane leaves to become a governess at Thornfield Hall, she falls in love with Mr. Rochester, her pupil's guardian. But a series of eerie and terrifying events threatens to destroy her happy future. Featuring gripping plot twists and surprises, Jane Eyre offers rich insight into the life of a woman...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 11 - AR Pts: 22
Formats
Description
The Pyncheons, having lived for generations under the curse of a supposed witch who once occupied the land on which the family mansion was built, gain a new lease on life with the arrival of young Phoebe Pyncheon from the country.
11) Anna Karenina
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.6 - AR Pts: 69
Appears on list
Formats
Description
A famous legend surrounding the creation of Anna Karenina tells us that Tolstoy began writing a cautionary tale about adultery and ended up by falling in love with his magnificent heroine. It is rare to find a reader of the book who doesn't experience the same kind of emotional upheaval: Anna Karenina is filled with major and minor characters who exist in their own right and fully embody their mid-nineteenth-century Russian milieu, but it still belongs...
Author
Description
Idealistic young scientist Henry Jekyll struggles to unlock the secrets of the soul. Testing chemicals in his lab, he drinks a mixture he hopes will isolate--and eliminate--human evil. Instead it unleashes the dark forces within him, transforming him into the hideous and murderous Mr. Hyde. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" dramatically brings to life a science-fiction case study of the nature of good and evil and the duality that can...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.5 - AR Pts: 66
Formats
Description
Growing Up! Young David Copperfield, orphaned as a child, abandoned by a vicious stepfather, must learn to make a life for himself. In Charles Dickens' brilliant novel, we learn of David's early harsh years... his adoption by his eccentric aunt... his betrayal by a childhood friend... the pressures of starting a career... immature, young love... and finally career success and personal happiness. Charles Dickens' sensitive portrayal of David's early...
14) Bleak house
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 8.8 - AR Pts: 67
Description
As the interminable case of 'Jarndyce and Jarndyce' grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but...
Author
Description
It is one of the most memorable first lines in all of literature: "When Gregor Samsa woke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into some kind of monstrous vermin." So begins Kafka's famous short story, The Metamorphosis . Kafka considered publishing it with two of the stories included here in a volume to be called Punishments. The Judgment explores an enigmatic power struggle between a father and son, while In the Penal Colony...
16) Dracula
Author
Series
Appears on list
Description
"Jonathan Harker is travelling to Castle Dracula to see the Transylvanian noble, Count Dracula. He is begged by locals not to go there, because on the eve of St. George's Day, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will come full sway. But business must be done, so Jonathan makes his way to the Castle - and then his nightmare begins. His beloved wife Meena and other lost souls have fallen under the Count's horrifying spell....
17) Leaves of grass
Author
Series
Description
In 1855, Walt Whitman published — at his own expense — the first edition of Leaves of Grass, a visionary volume of twelve poems. Showing the influence of a uniquely American form of mysticism known as Transcendentalism, which eschewed the general society and culture of the time, the writing is distinguished by an explosively innovative free verse style and previously unmentionable subject matter. Exalting nature, celebrating the human body, and...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
2005
Description
For centuries, presenting a comrade-in-arms with a feather was the ultimate censure and a stinging symbol of cowardice. When British soldier Harry Feversham decides to resign his post and leave the military, he is subjected to this humiliating ritual. Will his reputation ever be redeemed? Read The Four Feathers to find out.
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 9.2 - AR Pts: 21
Formats
Description
"Hank Morgan, cracked on the head by a crowbar in nineteenth-century Connecticut, wakes to find himself in the England of King Arthur. The tough minded Yankee, an embodiment of scientific enlightenment, faces a world whose idyllic surface only masks the dark forces of fear, injustice, and ignorance. This is the springboard which launches one of literature's most extraordinary excursions into fantasy. With the agility of Mark Twain's unique virtuosity,...
Author
Series
Description
When Alice tumbles down, down, down a rabbit-hole one hot summer's afternoon in pursuit of a White Rabbit, she finds herself in Wonderland. And there begin the fantastical adventures that will see her experiencing extraordinary changes in size, swimming in a pool of her own tears and attending the very maddest of tea parties. For Wonderland is no ordinary place and the characters that populate it are quite unlike anybody young Alice has ever met before....