Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

One of the world’s oldest novels and the greatest single work of Japanese literature, this 11th-century romance centers on the lives and loves of an emperor’s son. It offers a vast tapestry of the intrigues and rivalries of court life, as well as an exquisitely detailed portrayal of a decaying aristocracy. Rich in poetry and wordplay in addition to subtle social and psychological observations, this splendid... (more)

The Trojan Women

by Euripides

"In his clear preface, Gilbert Murray says with truth that The Trojan Women, valued by the usage of the stage, is not a perfect play. "It is only the crying of one of the great wrongs of the world wrought into music." Yet it is one of the greater dramas of the elder world. In one situation, with little movement, with few figures, it flashes out a great dramatic lesson, the infinite pathos of a successful wrong. It... (more)

Lun yu?. (English & Chinese)

by Roger T. Ames, Confucius

"To quietly persevere in storing up what is learned, to continue studying without respite, to instruct others without growing weary--is this not me?" --Confucius Confucius is recognized as China's first and greatest teacher, and his ideas have been the fertile soil in which the Chinese cultural tradition has flourished. Now, here is a translation of the recorded thoughts and deeds that best remember... (more)

Around The World In 80 Days

by Jules Verne

In 1872 Phileas Fogg wagers that he can circle the earth in 80 days.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain

Sparkling with mischief, jumping with youthful adventure, Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer is one of the most splendid re-creations of childhood in all of literature. It is a lighthearted romp, full of humor and warmth. It shares with its sequel, Huckleberry Finn , not only a set of unforgettable characters--Tom, Huck, Aunt Polly and others--but a profound understanding of humanity as well. Through such hilarious scenes... (more)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

Mark Twain's classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , tells the story of a teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious. Though some of the situations in Huckleberry Finn are... (more)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

by Mark Twain

This novel of Mark Twain's -- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court -- gives us an odd view of the American literary genius: it shows his bent toward science fiction. Twain developed a close and lasting friendship with scientific wunderkind Nikola Tesla, and the two spent quite a bit of time together (in Tesla's laboratory, among other places). Twain's fascination appears in his time traveler (from... (more)

The House of Spirits

by Isabel Allende

Bestseller internacional y muy admirado clásico de la literatura latinoamericana, la trascendental novela de Isabel Allende cuenta la historia épica de la numerosa y turbulenta familia Trueba de Chile, con su patriarca angustiado y sus mujeres clarividentes, trazando sus vidas desde los fines del siglo pasado, hasta los días violentos del golpe que derrocó al gobierno de Salvador Allende en 1973. En La casa de... (more)

The Prophet

by Khalil Gibran

A brilliant man's philosophy on love, marriage, joy and sorrow, time, friendship and much more. Originally published in 1923 - translated into more than 20 languages. With 12 full page drawings by Gibran.

The Time Machine

by H. G. Wells

The story that launched Wells's successful career-the classic tale of the Time Traveler and the extraordinary world he discovers in the far distant future. A haunting portrayal of Darwin's evolutionary theory carried to a terrible conclusion.

Cold Mountain: 100 Poems

by Hanshan, Burton Watson

-- Asian Affairs

Songs for the Open Road: Poems of Travel and Adventure (Dover Thrift Editions)

Songs for the Open Road: Poems of Travel and Adventure (Dover Thrift Editions)

by Walt Whitman, George 'Lord Byron' Gordon, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Service, Bliss Carman, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Masefield, Langston Hughes, Many Others

Affordable collection of more than 80 poems by 50 American and British masters celebrates travel, adventure and the many real and metaphorical journeys each of us take in the course of our lives. Works by Whitman, Byron, Millay, Sandburg, Service, Bliss Carman, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Masefield, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Shelley, Tennyson, Yeats, many others. Note.

Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (Perennial Classics)

Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (Perennial Classics)

by Margaret Mead

Rarely do science and literature come together in the same book. When they do -- as in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, for example -- they become classics, quoted and studied by scholars and the general public alike. Margaret Mead accomplished this remarkable feat not once but several times, beginning with Coming of Age in Samoa. It details her historic journey to American Samoa, taken where she... (more)

The Grass Is Singing

by Doris Lessing

Set in South Africa under white rule, Doris Lessing's first novel is both a riveting chronicle of human disintegration and a beautifully understated social critique. Mary Turner is a self-confident, independent young woman who becomes the depressed, frustrated wife of an ineffectual, unsuccessful farmer. Little by little the ennui of years on the farm work their slow poison, and Mary's despair progresses until the... (more)

The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei, Volume Three: The Aphrodisiac (Princeton Library of Asian Translations)

The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei, Volume Three: The Aphrodisiac (Princeton Library of Asian Translations)

In this third volume of a planned five-volume series, David Roy provides a complete and annotated translation of the famous Chin P'ing Mei , an anonymous sixteenth-century Chinese novel that focuses on the domestic life of His-men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines. This work, known primarily for its erotic realism, is also a landmark in the development... (more)

Confessions of Lady Nijo

One of the oldest books in print by a woman, Confessions of Lady Nijo contains the thoughts, reflections, and poetry of an opinionated Japanese Imperial court concubine, covering the years 1271 to 1306. Writing in diary form towards the end of her life, Lady Nijo chronicles her past life in the Imperial court, where her strong personality and aspirations for a higher position provoked the jealousy of the... (more)

The Plum in the Golden Vase, or Chin P'ing Mei: Volume Two: The Rivals.

The Plum in the Golden Vase, or Chin P'ing Mei: Volume Two: The Rivals.

In this second of a planned five-volume series, David Roy provides a complete and annotated translation of the famous Chin P'ing Mei , an anonymous sixteenth-century Chinese novel that focuses on the domestic life of Hsi-men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines. This work, known primarily for its erotic realism, is also a landmark in... (more)

The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei : The Gathering, Volume I

The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei : The Gathering, Volume I

In this first of a planned five-volume set, David Roy provides a complete and annotated translation of the famous Chin P'ing Mei , an anonymous sixteenth-century Chinese novel that focuses on the domestic life of Hsi-men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines. This work, known primarily for its erotic realism, is also a landmark in the... (more)

Growing up in New Guinea;: A comparative study of primitive education (A Mentor book)

Growing up in New Guinea;: A comparative study of primitive education (A Mentor book)

by Margaret Mead

Following the sensational success of her first book, Coming of Age in Samoa, Margaret Mead continued her brilliant work in Growing Up in New Guinea, detailing her study of the Manus, a New Guinea people still untouched by the outside world when she visited them in 1928. She lived in their noisy fishing village at a pivotal time -- after warfare had vanished but before missions and global commerce had begun to... (more)

The White Pony: An Anthology of Chinese PoetryRobert Payne

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: classic-world literature

The Tale of Genji

by Murasaki Shikibu

The Trojan Women

by Euripides

Lun yu?. (English & Chinese)

by Roger T. Ames, Confucius

Around The World In 80 Days

by Jules Verne

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

by Mark Twain

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

by Mark Twain

The House of Spirits

by Isabel Allende

The Prophet

by Khalil Gibran

The Time Machine

by H. G. Wells

Cold Mountain: 100 Poems

by Hanshan, Burton Watson

Songs for the Open Road: Poems of Travel and Adventure (Dover Thrift Editions)

by Walt Whitman, George 'Lord Byron' Gordon, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Service, Bliss Carman, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Masefield, Langston Hughes, Many Others

Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (Perennial Classics)

by Margaret Mead

The Grass Is Singing

by Doris Lessing

The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei, Volume Three: The Aphrodisiac (Princeton Library of Asian Translations)

Confessions of Lady Nijo

The Plum in the Golden Vase, or Chin P'ing Mei: Volume Two: The Rivals.

The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei : The Gathering, Volume I

Growing up in New Guinea;: A comparative study of primitive education (A Mentor book)

by Margaret Mead

The White Pony: An Anthology of Chinese Poetry

by Robert Payne