Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Oedipus the King ( Oedipus Rex )

by E A Sophocles

To Laius, King of Thebes, an oracle foretold that the child born to him by his queen Jocasta would slay his father and wed his mother. So when in time a son was born the infant's feet were riveted together and he was left to die on Mount Cithaeron. But a shepherd found the babe and tended him, and delivered him to another shepherd who took him to his master, the King of Corinth. Polybus being childless adopted the... (more)

Heart of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

JOSEPH CONRAD (1857-1924) was one of the most remarkable figures in English literature. Born in Poland, and originally named Josef Teodor Konrad Walecz Korzeniowski, he went to sea at the age of seventeen and eventually joined the crew of an English vessel, becoming a British citizen in the process. He retired from the sea in 1894 and took up the pen, writing all his works in English, a language he had only... (more)

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Noted Fitzgerald biographer Matthew J. Bruccoli draws upon years of research to present the Fitzgerald's Jazz Age romance exactly as he intended according to the original manuscript, revisions, and corrections--with explanatory notes. Reprint.

Antigone

by Sophocles

Paul Woodruff's translation of one of Sophocles' most famous tragedies captures the dramatic and poetic intensity of the ancient Greek play without sacrificing accuracy. This edition also features an Introduction and annotations by the translator.

Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare

Folger Shakespeare Library The world's leading center for Shakespeare studies Each edition includes: • Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play • Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play • Scene-by-scene plot summaries • A key to famous lines and phrases • An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language • An essay by an... (more)

Hamlet

by William Shakespeare

Each edition includes: • Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play • Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play • Scene-by-scene plot summaries • A key to famous lines and phrases • An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language • An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play • Illustrations from the Folger... (more)

The Crucible

by Arthur Miller

Based on historical people and real events, Arthur Miller's play uses the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence unleashed by the rumors of witchcraft as a powerful parable about McCarthyism. Introduction by Christopher Bigsby

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

In his debut novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini accomplishes what very few contemporary novelists are able to do. He manages to provide an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political turmoil--in this case, Afghanistan--while also developing characters whose heartbreaking struggles and emotional triumphs resonate with readers long after the last page has been turned over. And he does this on... (more)

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. This is a lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this story - a black man charged with raping a white girl in the Deep South of the 1930s. To Kill a Mockingbird has become a staple of American literature and has been made into a feature-length film of the same name.

Leaves of Grass

by Walt Whitman

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP A collection of quintessentially American poems, the seminal work of one of the most influential writers of the nineteenth century. THIS ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: A concise introduction that gives readers important background information A chronology of the author's life and work A timeline of significant events that... (more)

The Once and Future King

by T. H. White

A novel about the court of King Arthur, which was the basis for the movie "Camelot".

The Princess Bride

by William Goldman

The Princess Bride is a true fantasy classic. William Goldman describes it as a "good parts version" of "S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure." Morgenstern's original was filled with details of Florinese history, court etiquette, and Mrs. Morgenstern's mostly complimentary views of the text. Much admired by academics, the "Classic Tale" nonetheless obscured what Mr. Goldman feels... (more)

Song of Solomon

by Toni Morrison, Durthy Washington

Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family’s origins, Morrison... (more)

The Man Who Was Thursday

A Nightmare

by G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas.... (more)

A Room With a View

by E. M. Forster

Published in 1908, A Room with A View is one of E. M. Forster's most celebrated works. Forster explores love among a cast of eccentric characters gathered in an Italian pension and in a corner of Surrey, England. Caught up in a world of social snobbery, Lucy Honeychurch must make a decision that will decide the course of her future: She is forced to choose between convention and passion.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The legend of the hound which has brought terror to the Baskerville family for generations brings Sherlock Holmes up against a formidable adversary and sends Dr Watson to a bleak and lonely moor where it is all too easy to believe that something not of this world is intent on driving his friend to a foul and hideous death... "As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor" read the note Sir Henry... (more)

The Aeneid

by Virgil

Virgil's great epic transforms the Homeric tradition into a triumphal statement of the Roman civilizing mission. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald.

A Room of One's Own

by Virginia Woolf

Originally published in 1929, A Room of One's Own eloquently states Woolf's conviction that in order to create works of genius, women must be freed from financial obligations and social restrictions.

Alas, Babylon (Perennial Classics)

by Pat Frank

The classic apocalyptic novel that stunned the world.

Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters: Storytelling Secrets From the Greatest Mind in Western Civilization

Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters: Storytelling Secrets From the Greatest Mind in Western Civilization

by Michael Tierno

A Paperback Original. An insightful how-to guide for writing screenplays that uses Aristotle's great work as a guide. Long considered the bible for storytellers, Aristotle's Poetics is a fixture of college courses on everything from fiction writing to dramatic theory. Now Michael Tierno shows how this great work can be an invaluable resource to screenwriters or anyone interested in studying plot... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: books i am teaching

by E A Sophocles

by Joseph Conrad

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

by Sophocles

by William Shakespeare

by William Shakespeare

by Arthur Miller

by Khaled Hosseini

by Harper Lee

by Walt Whitman

by T. H. White

by William Goldman

by Toni Morrison, Durthy Washington

A Nightmare

by G. K. Chesterton

by E. M. Forster

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

by Virgil

by Virginia Woolf

by Pat Frank

by Michael Tierno