Literary Collections Books

Orwell's 1945 fable about the power struggles among animals on a farm parallels the situation in Russia at the time as Orwell saw it; the characters include the ruthless pig Stalin, his idealistic Trotsky-like adversary, and the simple, kindly horse who represents the common man.

Dickens's only serious, uncomic novel, A TALE OF TWO CITIES, is set during the French Revolution and tells a story of unselfish devotion. The beautiful Lucy Manette marries Charles Darnay, the descendant of an aristocratic French family denounced by the revolutionaries, among whom are the memorably evil fanatic Mme. Defarge. When Darnay is arrested and condemned to death, his place is taken at the guillotine by Sidney Carton, who loves Lucy himself and is willing to die to secure her happiness (and who happens to resemble Darnay). His last words--"'Tis a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done..."--have become nearly as famous as the novel itself, one of Dickens's most popular works despite its sober subject matter. It is also, with BARNABY RUDGE, one of his only two historical novels.

Woolf's ardent plea for women's share in power, wealth, and fame is a seminal feminist text. This extended essay is an articulation of her belief that all a woman needs is an income that will sustain her, and her own room in which to work.

Book six in the "Anne of Green Gables" series. Now the mother of five children, and pregnant with her sixth, Anne begins to worry that her husband, Gilbert, no longer loves her. Determined to save her marriage, Anne sets forth to make Gilbert fall in love with her again.

African-American writing in all genres is finally given its critical due as a legitimate literary tradition in its own right in the latest (and most talked-about) addition to the "Norton Anthology" series. Its publication, under the much publicized direction of general editors Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Nellie McKay, has conferred canonical status on exemplary African-American poetry, short fiction, novel, drama, autobiography, journals, and letters, including 11 major works, from Frederick Douglass's "Narrative" to Toni Morrison's "Sula". A companion CD, advertised in a coupon included with the book, provides spoken-word recordings of many of the blues, gospel, spirituals, jazz, rap, folk tales, sermons, prayers, testimonies, and speeches featured in the book itself.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote this classic collection of poetry for children in 1885. It continues to be beloved as a charming evocation of childhood, and is considered to be Stevenson's best poetry, as well as one of his most enduring books.

This is the fourth entry in the "Anne of Green Gables" series. Here Anne, now a graduate of Redmond College, is working as the principal of Summerside High School and living in a house called Windy Poplars.

"Civil Disobedience," Thoreau's 1849 essay, justifies his decision to go to jail rather than pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. The opening lines are often quoted: "I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least'; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe--'That government is best which governs not at all'; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have." Thoreau's ideas influenced both Gandhi and Martin Luther King.