Great Literature

The Great Jazz Age Novel. The 1925 Original Version, with Classroom History. The Great Gatsby is considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's magnum opus, exploring themes of decadence, idealism, social stigmas, patriarchal norms, and the deleterious effects of unencumbered wealth in capitalistic society, set against the backdrop of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. At its heart, it's a cautionary tale, a revealing look into the darker side to the American Dream.

Two Best-Selling Agatha Christie Novels in One Great Audiobook. In Agatha Christie's class mystery Murder on the Links, Hercule Poirot attempts to unravel the grisly conundrum of not one, but two dead bodies discovered on a French golf course. An urgent cry for help brings Hercule Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face down in a shallow grave on a golf course.

When the young orphan called Pip encounters the escaped convict Magwitch, the child's life is altered forever - in ways he cannot even imagine. In the course of his story, Pip encounters such memorable characters as the eccentric Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward Estella - and a mysterious benefactor. This recording includes both of the endings Dickens wrote for this classic novel.

The Greatcoats have found the heir to the throne...but now they must keep her alive, against all the odds. Falcio Val Mond has completed the final task given to him by the late King Paelis: he has found the King's Charoites (well, one at least). But his task isn't over, and now he, Kest and Brasti must protect the girl from those who want her dead.

The Man in the Brown Suit is Agatha Christie at her best, as a young woman makes a dangerous decision to investigate a shocking “accidental” death she witnesses at a London tube station. Described by the Queen of Mystery herself as one of her favorites of her published works, Crooked House is a classic Agatha Christie thriller revolving around a devastating family mystery.

Under the Great British Baking Contest tent, the competition's heating up to be crowned best baker in all of Britain. For amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson, there are mysteries, secrets, and lies, even murders to solve. As a fledgling witch, Poppy's having enough trouble controlling her sponge cake, never mind trying to control her powers. Besides solving crime, Poppy's also trying to uncover the mystery surrounding her own background. Will she discover who she really is before she gets sent home? Or worse?

Thomas Keneally, the Booker Prize-winning author of Schindler’s List, is universally praised for crafting smooth narratives from authentic historical events. With The Great Shame, he turns his insightful eye toward the Irish struggle through the 19h century. In sharp contrast to much of Europe, Ireland was a terrible place to be during the 1800s. Many of the nation’s finest people set sail for America and Canada.

Charming, vibrant, witty and edifying, The Life of Samuel Johnson is a work of great obsession and boundless reverence. The literary critic Samuel Johnson was 54 when he first encountered Boswell; the friendship that developed spawned one of the greatest biographies in the history of world literature. The book is full of humorous anecdote and rich characterization, and paints a vivid picture of 18th-century London, peopled by prominent personalities of the time.

This collection of wonderful stories read by John Lavelle and penned by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat will find a place on any Nate the Great fan's bookshelf.

A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes, a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham, and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward, Estella, the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor. These form a series of events that change the orphaned Pip's life forever, and he eagerly abandons his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman.

Zane Grey shows his knowledge of Indian tribes and their history and the peon system of Mexican plantations.

This audiobook includes 10 Great Russian Short Stories: The Mantle by Nikolai Gogol, Mumu by Ivan Turgenev, First love by Ivan Turgenev, An Avenger by Anton Chekhov, Darkness by Anton Chekhov, The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy, Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Little Angel by Leonid Andreyev, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, A Troublesome Visitor by Anton Chekhov.

In What Matters in Jane Austen?, John Mullan shows that we can best appreciate Austen's brilliance by looking at the intriguing quirks and intricacies of her fiction. Asking and answering some very specific questions about what goes on in her novels, he reveals the inner workings of their greatness. In 20 short chapters, each of which explores a question prompted by Austen’s novels, Mullan illuminates the themes that matter most in her beloved fiction.

In the 1950s, as a continuation of Moses, Man of the Mountain, Zora Neale Hurston penned a historical novel about one of the most infamous figures in the Bible, Herod the Great. In Hurston’s retelling, Herod is not the wicked ruler of the New Testament who is charged with the “slaughter of the innocents,” but a forerunner of Christ—a beloved king who enriched Jewish culture and brought prosperity and peace to Judea.

Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story - Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect.

The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander's life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas is sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but finds freedom with Alexander the Great after the Macedon army conquers his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination plots, the demands of two foreign wives, a sometimes mutinous army, and his own ferocious temper.

A group of "workers" whose better judgement has been clouded by hopes and expectations have descended into the unknown depths of a mysterious tomb. These trespassers include the small but elite team Foresight, the storied warriors of Heavy Masher, the crew lead by a legendary elder worker, Green Leaf, and the invincible swordsmen of Angel. They are some of the best that can be hired, but as more and more vengeful residents of Nazarrick appear, will any make it out alive?

One moment, a certain salaryman is on cloud nine, that promotion finally within his grasp, and the next, he’s keeled over pain, and that was all she wrote. Luckily for him, fate had a bit more to say. A world of magic, monsters, and other such life-shortening entities await his newly reincarnated self for a second shot at life. With nothing but his past-life experiences and sharp business skills to guide him in the foreign lands of Galdardia, he takes up the name Luciel and vows that his (next) demise will be from naught but old age.

This bundle includes Basil of Baker Street, Basil and the Cave of Cats, Basil in Mexico, and Basil in the Wild West.

Set in New York during the Jazz Age, this new adaptation tells the tragic tale of self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby. Consumed with desire for his former lover, Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby draws new neighbor Nick Carraway into his desperate pursuit to win her back—and into their world of lavish wealth, wild parties, and free-flowing liquor.