Great Classics

A blockbuster illustrated book that captures what Americans love to read, The Great American Read: The Book of Books is the gorgeously-produced companion book to PBS's ambitious summer 2018 series.

What are America's best-loved novels? PBS will launch The Great American Read series with a two-hour special in May 2018 revealing America's 100 best-loved novels, determined by a rigorous national survey. Subsequent episodes will air in September and October. Celebrities and everyday Americans will champion their favorite novel and in the finale in late October, America's number one best-loved novel will be revealed.

The Great American Read: The Book of Books will present all 100 novels with fascinating information about each book, author profiles, a snapshot of the novel's social relevance, film or television adaptations, other books and writings by the author, and little-known facts. Also included are themed articles about banned books, the most influential book illustrators, reading recommendations, the best first-lines in literature, and more.

Beautifully designed with rare images of the original manuscripts, first-edition covers, rejection letters, and other ephemera, The Great American Read: The Book of Books is a must-have book for all book lovers.

A wonderful collection of great classic love stories for the incurable romantic in all of us. "The Scrupulous Father" by George Gissing, "The Marquise" by George Sand, "Her Lover" by Maxim Gorky, "A Long-Ago Affair" by John Galsworthy, "A Dill Pickle" by Katherine Mansfield, "Portrait of a Lady" by Jerome K. Jerome, "The Pig and Whistle" by George Gissing, "A Race for a Bride" by H. K. Hales, "The Christmas Tree and the Wedding" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "The Girl Who Was Tired of Love" by Leonard Merrick...

No one plumbs deeper depths of the psyche than French and Russian authors. This second wide-ranging collection of 19th-century literary masterworks, presented in their entirety, not only entertains, but provides insight into 19th-century mores and the mysteries of human nature.

The third installment of the best-selling Great American Bathroom series delivers an invaluable gift to the listener: The ability to comprehend over 100 of the most renown works of literary genius in the time it would normally take you to devour one complete audiobook. It's basically literary time travel! With over 100 classic novels, plays, and operas at your disposal, The Great American Bathroom Book: Volume 3 offers you the opportunity to enhance your literary acumen one bathroom break at a time!

The second volume of the best-selling Great American Bathroom Book series delivers a comprehensive crash course in more than 170 iconic literary masterpieces. You'll be well on your way to becoming the most popular trivia partner not named Ken Jennings after you're done devouring The Great American Bathroom Book: Volume 2!

Herbert George "H. G." Wells (1866 - 1946) was an English writer. He was prolific in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is called a "father of science fiction"

BOOK THE THIRD: THE GREAT DAYS OF TONO-BUNGAY: But now that I resume the main line of my story it may be well to describe the personal appearance of my uncle as I remember him during those magnificent years that followed his passage from trade to finance.

The Great Gatsby is a triumph of descriptive prose, and has entered into the annuls of fame of both American literature as well as Americana. The story transcends time, and while set in the Roaring Twenties, describes the human psyche—its needs, desires, obsessions—in both detail and depth. A must listen for anyone wanting to gain a deeper understanding into the mindset of that time, as well as perhaps modern-day America.

"In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." It’s the height of the roaring 20’s. Every Saturday, the doors to Gatsby’s gothic mansion are flung wide to the bright young things of New York - the music is loud, the dancing is wild, and the champagne flows freely. Gatsby’s new neighbor, Nick Carraway, is fascinated by the spectacle. But when he pushes beyond the shimmering, glistening veneer of Gatsby’s charmed life, Nick discovers his new friend is tortured by a profound yearning for the one thing - and one person - he can’t have.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to The Great Gatsby and experience a classic work of fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Nick Carraway is expecting a normal life. He has a steady, if boring, job and a modest home. He even has some family nearby. But there's one thing he didn't plan for - his neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby. Gatsby hosts lavish parties, while rumors about his sordid past fill the air. After attending an infamous Gatsby bash, Nick is pulled into love triangles, destructive wealth, secrets, and far too much champagne. Join Nick on a journey through art deco decay.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is more than one of America's most-read, taught, and debated novels. Gatsby represents a paradigm shift in the novel form, a deep dive into the intimacies of the dark and selfish aspects of human nature. The novel is an over-the-top display of the Jazz Age as seen through the eyes of a staid and - by his own account - honest Midwestern man, Nick Carraway.

Three professional narrators, Mike Vendetti, Kathy Verduin, and Stephen Jay Cohen, lend their voices to what is considered by many to be one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's greatest novels, The Great Gatsby. Travel back with them to the Jazz Age, where the wealthy and entitled collide with pretenders and common citizens.

Often described as the great American novel, The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece of the Jazz Age - has become one of the most beloved and revered books of the 20th century. Narrated by the enigmatic Nick Carraway, the story takes place in the well-to-do section of Long Island, New York, where socialites and millionaires cavort about on their yachts and hydroplanes, oblivious to the day-to-day drudgery of the working-class drones they motor past each day.

Often considered one of the greatest novels in American classic literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is the story about a young man named Nick Carraway, who moves to Long Island in pursuit of his dream of becoming a bond salesman, and his next door neighbor, a self-made millionaire named Jay Gatsby, a man who lives a lavish lifestyle, and likes to throw extravagant parties every weekend. As the two get better acquainted, Carraway is thrust into Gatsby’s world of over the top parties, and his love and desire for a married woman he once knew named Daisy Buchanan.

Jay Gatsby is a millionaire who throws extravagant parties that attract famous celebrities, but no one really knows him - no one except for his neighbor, Nick Carraway. Often touted as a Great American Novel, The Great Gatsby is Nick's account of one summer spent with his wealthy friend and Nick's front-row seat to Gatsby's wealth, his dreams, and his impossible quest for love with the enigmatic Daisy Buchanan.

Considered one of the greatest American novels ever written, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story of the book primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession to reunite with his ex-lover, the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Midwesterner Nick Carraway is lured into the lavish world of his neighbor, Gatsby.

The Great Gatsby, the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, follows a cast of characters on Long Island in the summer of 1922. It is considered a classic of the Jazz Age or Roaring Twenties. The story is told by Nick Carraway, a Yale University graduate from the Midwest who has moved to New York to pursue a stock-market career. Recounting the events of a summer he spent on Long Island, his narrative emerges as a series of flashbacks.

This great American novel describes the lavish lifestyle, along with the cruelty and ugliness, of Long Island society during the Jazz Age. Told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the book follows events surrounding Jay Gatsby, who, despite his enormous wealth, longs desperately for those things that money can't buy.

Seventeen of Twain's best-loved and funniest shorter works, including "The Jumping Frog of Calavarous County", "The Story of Old Ram", "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses", "Tom Quartz", and "The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut". Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He grew up in the Mississippi River town of Hannibal. Sam was to be a printer, a river boat pilot, an officer in the Confederacy, a silver prospector and a journalist. He once wrote, "To simply amuse would have satisfied my dearest ambition".

A double adventure written at the end of the 19th century, somewhat in the theme of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth, telling of a submarine trip in the year 1947 to reach the North Pole and a project to examine the center of the Earth by boring a deep shaft. What they find at the core of the planet surprises the enterprising explorers.