Dale Carnegie

General Press

'How to Win Friends and Influence People' is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. Just after publishing, it quickly exploded into an overnight success, eventually selling more than 15 million copies worldwide, and pioneering an entire genre of self-help and personal success books. With an enduring grasp of human nature, it teaches his readers how to handle people without letting them feel manipulated, how to make people feel important without inspiring resentment, how win people over to your point of view without causing offence, and how to make a friend out of just about anyone. Millions of people around the world have improved their lives based on the teachings of Dale Carnegie. This classic book will turn your relationships around and improve your interactions with everyone in your life. (How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, 9788180320217)

How to Win Friends and Influence People

William Strunk Jr.

The Elements of Style is widely considered America’s most beloved grammar book. This is the most trusted writer's guide to English—this is the book that generations of writers have relied upon for timeless advice on grammar, diction, syntax, sentence construction, and other writing essentials. Strunk begins with the basic rules of usage, offering accessible explanations of correct punctuation and grammar. The Elements of Style is some kind of examples’ collection of all kinds of styles of writing very different works. The greatest book of its kind, this volume is a must for any student, teacher and writer.

Writing Strategies with Grammar

The Elements of Style

H.G. Wells

'The Time Traveller', a dreamer obsessed with traveling through time, builds himself a time machine and, much to his surprise, travels over 800,000 years into the future. He lands in the year 802,701— the world has been transformed by a society living in apparent harmony and bliss, but as the Traveler stays in the future he discovers a hidden barbaric and depraved subterranean class. 'The Time Traveller' conveys the Time Traveller into the distant future and an extraordinary world. There, stranded on a slowly dying Earth, he discovers two bizarre races—the effete Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—a haunting portrayal of Darwin’s evolutionary theory carried to a terrible conclusion.

The Time Machine

Virginia Woolf

In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf imagines that Shakespeare had a sister—a sister equal to Shakespeare in talent, and equal in genius, but whose legacy is radically different. This imaginary woman never writes a word and dies by her own hand, her genius unexpressed. If only she had found the means to create, argues Woolf, she would have reached the same heights as her immortal sibling. In this classic essay, she takes on the establishment, using her gift of language to dissect the world around her and give voice to those who are without. Her message is a simple one—women must have a fixed income and a room of their own in order to have the freedom to create. Woolf's blazing polemic on female creativity, the role of the writer, and the silent fate of Shakespeare's imaginary sister remains a powerful reminder of a woman's need for financial independence and intellectual freedom.

A Room of One's Own

D.H. Lawrence

First published in 1913, Sons and Lovers is a highly autobiographical and compelling portrayal of childhood, adolescence and the clash of generations. The marriage of Gertrude and Walter Morel has become a battleground. Repelled by her uneducated and sometimes violent husband, delicate Gertrude devotes her life to her children, especially to her sons, William and Paul—determined they will not follow their father into working down the coal mines. But conflict is evitable when Paul seeks to escape his mother's suffocating grasp through relationships with women his own age. While 'Sons and Lovers' scandalized its original English readers for its oedipal implications and social criticism, it remains a powerful story of terrifying inner and outer conflict and intense sensuality.

Sons and Lovers

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy’s first major literary success, Far from the Madding Crowd, published in 1874, gave the name of Wessex to the landscape of south-west England, and the first to gain him widespread popularity as a novelist. In rural Victorian England, independent and wilful Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her valiant presence draws three very different suitors- Gabriel Oak (a generous shepherd), Boldwood (a proud, relentless Farmer) and Sergeant Troy (charming, unethical soldier). Each, in striking ways, perturbs her decisions, entangles her life, and tragedy emerges, threatening the stability of the whole community. Authentically portraying the superstitions and traditions of a countryside community, ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ shows the speculative position of a woman in a man's world. The novel depicts the many faces of love, including heartfelt love and unscrupulous and manipulative adoration. It portrays a deep understanding of human sentiment and is undeniably one of Hardy's greatest love stories.

Far From the Madding Crowd

In The War of the Worlds (1898) H. G. Wells invented the myth of invasion from outer space. Martians land near London, conquering all before them, and ruin the metropolis; the fate of civilization and even of the human race remains in doubt until the very last. The War of the Worlds is disturbingly realistic both because of its setting -- Wells bicycled the route the Martians take on landing—and because of its characters: the superstitious curate, boastful artilleryman, and enterprising medical student are believable if not sympathetic figures, as well as signifying types of fin-de-siecle change and vision. The novel exemplifies most dramatically the scientific scepticism and vivid narrative imagination which make Wells the pre-eminent founder of modern science fiction. As life on Mars becomes impossible, Martians and their terrifying machines invade the earth.

The War of the Worlds

Fyodor Dostoevsky

After his great portrayal of a guilty man in Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky set out in The Idiot to portray a man of pure innocence. The twenty-six-year-old Prince Myshkin, following a stay of several years in a Swiss sanatorium, returns to Russia to collect an inheritance and ‘be among people’. Even before he reaches home he meets the dark Rogozhin, a rich merchant's son whose obsession with the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna eventually draws all three of them into a tragic denouement. In Petersburg the prince finds himself a stranger in a society obsessed with money, power, and manipulation. Scandal escalates to murder as Dostoevsky traces the surprising effect of this ‘positively beautiful man’ on the people around him, leading to a final scene that is one of the most powerful in all of world literature.

The Idiot

Alexandre Dumas

A popular bestseller since its publication in 1844, The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the great page-turning thrillers of all time. Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas’ epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s. The story of his long imprisonment, dramatic escape, and carefully wrought revenge offers up a vision of France that has become immortal.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha is an allegorical novel by Hermann Hesse which deals with the spiritual journey of an Indian boy called Siddhartha during the time of the Buddha. The book was written in German, in a simple, yet powerful and lyrical style. It was first published in 1922, after Hesse had spent some time in India in the 1910s. The story revolves around a young man who leaves his home and family on a quest for the Truth. Embarking on a journey that takes him from the austerities of renunciation to the profligacy of wealth. That leads him through the range of human experiences from hunger and want, to passion, pleasure, pain, greed, yearning, boredom, love, despair and hope. A journey that leads finally to the river, where he gains peace and eventually wisdom. This is the story of Siddhartha as told by Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse in his most influential work.

Siddhartha

Madeleine L'Engle

A Wrinkle in Time is the winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal. It was a dark and stormy night—Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. "Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract." A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

A Wrinkle in Time

Gaston Leroux

The Phantom of the Opera is the most famous work of French author Gaston Leroux. First published in French as a serial in 1909, the story revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins singing successfully on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous 'ghost' of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears. The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster. Part horror story, part historical romance, and part detective thriller, the timeless tale of a masked, disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House is familiar to millions of readers, as well as to movie and theater-goers. At the heart of the story's long-standing popularity lies its questioning of a universal theme: the relationship between outward appearance and the beauty or darkness of the human soul. Despite finding little success in print after its 1911 publication, interest in and acclaim for Gaston Leroux’s ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ intensified as a result of numerous film and stage adaptations, most notably Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 stage adaptation.

The Phantom of the Opera

James Joyce

'Ulysses' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal 'The Little Review' from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach in February 1922, in Paris. 'Ulysses' has survived bowdlerization, legal action and bitter controversy. Capturing a single day in the life of Dubliner Leopold Bloom, his friends Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus, his wife Molly, and a scintillating cast of supporting characters, Joyce pushes Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to splendid extremes. An undisputed modernist classic, its ceaseless verbal inventiveness and astonishingly wide-ranging allusions confirm its standing as an imperishable monument to the human condition. It takes readers into the inner realms of human consciousness using the interior monologue style that came to be called stream of consciousness. In addition to this psychological characteristic, it gives a realistic portrait of the life of ordinary people living in Dublin, Ireland, on June 16, 1904. The novel was the subject of a famous obscenity trial in 1933, but was found by a U.S. district court in New York to be a work of art. The furor over the novel made Joyce a celebrity. In the long run, the work placed him at the forefront of the modern period of the early 1900s when literary works, primarily in the first two decades, explored interior lives and subjective reality in a new idiom, attempting to probe the human psyche in order to understand the human condition. This richly-allusive novel, revolutionary in its modernistic experimentalism, was hailed as a work of genius by W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway. Scandalously frank, wittily erudite, mercurially eloquent, resourcefully comic and generously humane, 'Ulysses' offers the reader a life-changing experience. Publisher : General Press

Ulysses

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start—Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under cover of darkness but are pursued by an enraged Demetrius (who is himself pursued by an enraptured Helena). In the forest, unbeknownst to the mortals, Oberon and Titania (King and Queen of the faeries) are having a spat over a servant boy. The plot twists up when Oberon's head mischief-maker, Puck, runs loose with a flower which causes people to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. Throw in a group of labourers preparing a play for the Duke's wedding (one of whom is given a donkey's head and Titania for a lover by Puck) and the complications become fantastically funny.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Beatrix Potter

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, first published by Frederick Warne in 1902, is a classic children's story by Beatrix Potter that is a must read for new and returning readers alike. Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children's books featuring animals. Potter's artistic and literary interests were deeply influenced by fairies, fairy tales and fantasy. ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ was her first publication. It tells the story of a very mischievous rabbit and the trouble he encounters in a vegetable garden. Peter disobeys his mother by going into Mr. McGregor's garden and almost gets caught. Potter's books continue to sell throughout the world in many languages with her stories being retold in song, film, ballet, and animation. The basis for the 2018 film, Peter Rabbit has been hailed as one of the bestselling stories of all time. The warmth and charm of Beatrix Potter's animal stories have made them favorites with generations of children and adults.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Brenda Ueland

Brenda Ueland was a journalist, editor, freelance writer, and teacher of writing. In If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit she shares her philosophies on writing and life in general. Ueland firmly believed that anyone can write, that everyone is talented, original, and has something important to say. In this book she explains how find that spark that will make you a great writer. Carl Sandburg called this book the best book ever written about how to write. Join the millions of others who've found inspiration and unlocked their own talent.

A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

If You Want to Write

Helen Keller

The Story of My Life is an autobiography by Helen Keller. It is the story of Helen Keller and her life as a deaf and blind girl, and her triumph over these tribulations. Iin the book, she reveals her frustration and rage over her condition. It details her educational achievements and her introduction to the world through her breakthrough into communication. The story was written by Helen Keller when she was just 22 years old. The Story of My Life is a tale of the courage and unbreakable will of Helen Keller. The book has been adapted into a television series, a Broadway play, a Hollywood feature film, and an Indian feature film.

The Story of My Life

J.M. Barrie

Considered a masterpiece since its first appearance on stage in 1904, Peter Pan is JM Barrie’s most famous work and arguably the greatest of all children’s stories. Humorous, satiric, filled with suspenseful cliff-hangers and bittersweet truths, Peter Pan works an indisputable magic on readers of all ages, making it a true classic of imaginative literature. Ever since Peter Pan flew in through Wendy Darling's nursery window and took her off to Never Land, Barrie's classic adventure story has thrilled and delighted generations of theatre-goers.

Peter Pan

HP Lovecraft

At the Mountains of Madness, Lovecraft's incontrovertible masterpiece, written in February-March 1931, is a story details the events of a disastrous expedition to the barren, windswept Antarctic continent, where the secret history of our planet is preserved, amidst the ruins of its first civilization, in September 1930, and what was found there by a group of explorers led by the narrator, Dr. William Dyer of Miskatonic University. Throughout the story, Dyer details a series of previously untold events in the hope of deterring another group of explorers who wish to return to the continent. It uncovers strange fossils and mind-blasting terror. Since it was originally serialized in the February, March, and April 1936 issues of Astounding Stories during the classic pulp era, ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ has influenced both horror and science fiction worldwide. Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi describes the novella as representing the decisive "demythology" of the Cthulhu Mythos by reinterpreting Lovecraft's earlier supernatural stories in a science fiction paradigm.

At the Mountains of Madness

E. M. Forster

E.M. Forster’s 1924 political and philosophical masterpiece, A Passage to India, is among the greatest novels of the twentieth century. The book mirrors the troubled politics of colonialism and questions whether a friendship between a British person and an Indian would have been possible in those prejudiced times. Adela Quested and her fellow British travelers, set to experience the ‘real’ India, develop a friendship with the suave Dr. Aziz. A mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar Caves, and the trip results in a shocking accusation on the well-respected doctor that throws Chandrapore into a fever of racial tension and results in a devastating series of events, revealing how deeply the bigotry has taken root. A powerful depiction of a society in the grasp of imperialism, ‘A Passage to India’ portraits the future of individuals caught between the major political and cultural conflicts of the modern world.

General Press

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