Recommendations based on The Purloined Letterby Edgar Allan Poe

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  1. The Fall of the House of Usher - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A man's descent into madness as he visits an ominous estate, beset by death and horror.

    The story begins with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking ... (Wikipedia)

  2. The Raven

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A man is visited by a mysterious raven, leading him on a journey of grief and reflection.

    In Gustave Doré, one of the most prolific and successful book illustrators of the late 19h century, Edgar Allan Poe's renowned poem The Raven found perhaps its most perfect artistic interpreter. ... (Goodreads)

  3. The Pit and the Pendulum - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A man is sentenced to death by a cruel Spanish Inquisition, and struggles against insurmountable odds to survive.

    The unnamed narrator is brought to trial before sinister judges of the Spanish Inquisition . Poe provides no explanation of why he is there or of the charges on which he is being tried. Before him ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Measure for Measure

    by William Shakespeare
    A dark comedy about justice, morality, and the search for truth.

    Measure for Measure is among the most passionately discussed of Shakespeare’s plays. In it, a duke temporarily removes himself from governing his city-state, deputizing a member of his ... (Goodreads)

  5. Beowulf

    by Unknown
    Epic poem recounting the heroic deeds of a legendary Scandinavian warrior.

    Beowulf is a major epic of Anglo-Saxon literature, probably composed between the first half of the seventh century and the end of the first millennium. The poem was inspired by Germanic and ... (Goodreads)

  6. Troilus and Cressida

    by William Shakespeare
    A tragic love story set during the Trojan War, where the lovers' relationship is tested by the politics and betrayals of war.

    Troilus and Cressida is set during the later years of the Trojan War , faithfully following the plotline of the, Iliad, from Achilles ' refusal to participate in battle, to Hector 's death. ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Silk

    by Alessandro Baricco
    Adventure of a 19th century French trader who travels to Japan to find rare silkworm eggs.

    The novel tells the story of a French silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler named Hervé Joncour in 19th century France who travels to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out ... (Wikipedia)

  8. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

    by Angela Carter
    A collection of subversive, darkly fantastical tales exploring the power of femininity.

    Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural ... (Goodreads)

  9. Five Weeks in a Balloon

    by Jules Verne
    An adventure-filled journey to explore the African continent in a hot-air balloon.

    A scholar and explorer, Dr. Samuel Fergusson, accompanied by his manservant Joe and his friend professional hunter Richard "Dick" Kennedy, sets out to travel across the African continent — still not ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Don Quixote

    by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
    An aging knight's adventures and misadventures, filled with chivalry, honor, and satire.

    Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Magic Mountain

    by Thomas Mann
    A young man's journey of self-exploration and personal growth during a long stay at a Swiss sanatorium.

    The narrative opens in the decade before World War I . It introduces the protagonist, Hans Castorp, the only child of a Hamburg merchant family. Following the early death of his parents, Castorp has ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Steppenwolf

    by Hermann Hesse
    The inner struggles of a tortured soul as he searches for redemption.

    The book is presented as a manuscript written by its protagonist , a middle-aged man named Harry Haller, who leaves it to a chance acquaintance, the nephew of his landlady. The acquaintance adds a ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Nancy Drew: #1-64

    by Carolyn Keene
    Girl detective solves mysteries, faces danger and adventure.

    Nancy Drew has been solving mysteries, and delighting fans, for over 75 years. Now, for the first time, you can purchase all sixty-four classic Nancy Drew titles in one complete set! #1: The Secret ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Fall

    by Albert Camus
    A man's journey into alienation and despair, driven by a sense of absurdity in life.

    The Fall, ( French :, La Chute, ) is a philosophical novel by Albert Camus . First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam , The Fall consists of a series of ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Island of Dr. Moreau

    by H.G. Wells
    A shipwrecked man's encounters with a mad scientist's experiments in animal-human hybridization.

    The Island of Doctor Moreau is the account of Edward Prendick, an Englishman with a scientific education who survives a shipwreck in the southern Pacific Ocean. A passing ship called Ipecacuanha ... (Wikipedia)

  16. The Call of the Wild, White Fang and Other Stories

    by Jack London
    Adventure stories of survival in the wild, featuring animals and humans alike.

    Of all Jack London's fictions none has been as popular as his dog stories. In addition to The Call of the Wild, the epic tale of a Californian dog's adventures during the Klondike gold rush, this ... (Goodreads)

  17. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

    by Tom Stoppard
    A humorous exploration of fate and free will, seen through the eyes of two minor characters in Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

    Hamlet told from the worm's-eye view of two minor characters, bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, reality and illusion mix, and where fate leads heroes to a ... (Goodreads)

  18. Ulysses

    by James Joyce
    Epic narrative following a day in the life of an Irishman living in Dublin.

    It is 8 a.m. Buck Mulligan , a boisterous medical student, calls Stephen Dedalus (a young writer encountered as the principal subject of, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ) up to the roof of ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Ferdydurke

    by Witold Gombrowicz
    A man is magically regressed to adolescence, exploring the absurdities of adulthood.

    In this bitterly funny novel by the renowned Polish author Witold Gombrowicz. a writer finds himself tossed into a chaotic world of schoolboys by a diabolical professor who wishes to reduce him to ... (Goodreads)

  20. Robinson Crusoe

    by Daniel Defoe
    A shipwrecked sailor's struggle to survive on an isolated island, and his eventual redemption.

    Crusoe (the family name corrupted from the German name "Kreutznaer") set sail from Kingston upon Hull on a sea voyage in August 1651, against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to pursue a ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

    by Ernest Hemingway
    Collection of short stories depicting the human experience in all its complexities.

    THE ONLY COMPLETE COLLECTION BY THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR In this definitive collection of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, readers will delight in the author's most beloved classics such as ... (Goodreads)

  22. Sentimental Education

    by Gustave Flaubert
    Romance and personal growth in the midst of a turbulent political climate.

    Frédéric Moreau renews his acquaintance with a childhood friend, Deslauriers, who advises him to meet with Dambreuse, a rich Parisian banker. Frédéric leaves for Paris, armed with a letter of ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The Lost World

    by Arthur Conan Doyle
    An expedition to a remote region of South America, filled with prehistoric creatures and danger.

    Edward Malone, a young reporter for the Daily Gazette , asks his editor for a dangerous assignment to impress the woman he loves, Gladys, who wishes for a great man capable of brave deeds and ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The Death of Ivan Ilych

    by Leo Tolstoy
    A man's journey of self-reflection in the face of death, confronting mortality and the meaning of life.

    Ivan Ilyich lives a carefree life that is "most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible". Like everyone he knows, he spends his life climbing the social ladder. Enduring marriage to a ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Whatever

    by Michel Houellebecq
    A man's search for purpose in a world of nihilism and alienation.

    "Houellebecq captures precisely the cynical disillusionment of disaffected youth."— Booklist "This boy needs serious therapy. He may be beyond help."—,The Washington Post, Just thirty, with a ... (Barnes & Noble)

  26. The Complete Poems

    by William Blake
    A collection of poems that explore the spiritual, supernatural, and philosophical realms.

    One of the great English Romantic poets, William Blake (1757-1827) was an artist, poet, mystic and visionary. His work ranges from the deceptively simple and lyrical Songs of Innocence and their ... (Goodreads)

  27. The Twelve Chairs

    by Ilya Ilf
    A comedic tale of two men's quest for hidden jewels in a chair with a secret compartment.

    In the Soviet Union in 1927, a former Marshal of Nobility , Ippolit Matveyevich "Kisa" Vorobyaninov, works as the registrar of marriages and deaths in a sleepy provincial town. His mother-in-law ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Congo

    by Michael Crichton
    Exploring a mysterious African jungle in search of a lost civilization, with a ragtag expedition.

    The novel starts in 1979, with an abrupt end to an expedition sent by Earth Resource Technology Services Inc. in the dense rainforests of the Virunga region, in the heart of the Congo , when the team ... (Wikipedia)