Anyone who has ever been on a package tour with a group of strangers who soon become friends, and passed time swapping stories with them, would instantly identify with this timeless classic of English literature. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer recounts twenty different stories recounted by a diverse group of pilgrims who gather at The Tabard Inn in Southwark, near London, before setting out for the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The Host of the inn proposes that they entertain themselves by telling stories along the route and the one who tells the best tale would win a prize – a meal at Bailey's tavern, sponsored by the losers. Lots are drawn and the stories and the jour...

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One of the most quirky, eccentric and endearing heroes to ever be depicted in fiction, the chivalrous Don Quixote is sure to capture hearts while bringing tears of laughter to your eyes. If you've never encountered the Knight from La Mancha before, get set for a delightful sojourn through the Spanish countryside, across the fertile countryside of Central Spain. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was an immediate success when it was first published in 1605 and won huge financial and literary success for its creator, an impoverished writer and poet.

Cervantes' own life was extremely eventful and colorful. The son of a poor army doct...

An acclaimed children’s classic depicting the odd, but riveting journeys of the curious Alice as she explores the surreal world of Wonderland. Written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson or better known under his pseudonym Lewis Caroll, this episodic novel is assembled in twelve chapters each containing a prominent adventure. The departure from logic and its embracement of pure imagination is what makes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a model for fantasy novels and a timeless classic.

The novel begins when the self-aware young Alice, who grows bored of sitting by the river with her sister, and spots a peculiar looking rabbit, dressed in a waistcoat. She hears the rabbit, which is seemingly...

For the Irish historian John Bagnell Bury, history should be treated as a science and not a mere branch of literature. Many contemporary histories written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were poetic and heroic in tone, blending fact and fiction, myths and legends. They sometimes relied on sources from Shakespeare and classical poets. For Bury, the facts of history may be legendary or romantic in nature, but they should be recounted in a scholarly and non-judgmental manner, without the accompanying emotions. His aim was simply to “tell history as it happened.”

A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great was first published in 1900. It wen...

A treasure trove of more than two hundred poems, this gem of an anthology compiled by Mary E Burt is indeed a most valuable set of poems to read or listen to.

Published in 1904, Poems Every Child Should Know contains some well-loved verses like Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Lewis Carroll's delightful parody Father William, Felicia Hemans' deeply-moving Casablanca and other favorites. It also has lesser-known but equally beautiful pieces like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Arrow and The Song, Robert Browning's The Incident of the French Camp, Eugene Field's nonsense lyrics Wynken, Blynken and Nod and a ...

An aristocratic English family is marooned off the coast of West Africa. They find their way into the interior of the dense jungle that lines the coast and here, Lord Greystoke is killed by a predatory ape. Lady Greystoke survives with her infant boy, but in a few months, she too succumbs to the perils of jungle life. The baby is adopted by a maternal she-ape who nurses him along with her own child. This marks the dawn of a legend – Tarzan of the Apes.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American novelist who turned to fiction writing after an unsuccessful stint as a pencil sharpener salesman. His shrewd business acumen and marketing blitzkrieg ensured that Tarzan burst upon ...

Burroughs’ second book in the classic Barsoom series, The Gods of Mars is a scientific fiction novel following the adventures of John Carter as he returns to Mars after a ten year hiatus in the hope of being reunited with his wife, child and the Red Martian people. First published as a five-part serial in a pulp magazine in the course of 1913, the novel was later published as a whole in 1918. A tale of audacity, honor, optimism, and perseverance, Burroughs successfully builds on to the previous book allowing a broader view of the Red Planet.

The novel begins as John Carter returns to Barsoom after his involuntary absence of ten years and finds himself in the Valley Do...

One of the most delightful and enduring classics of children's literature, The Secret Garden by Victorian author Frances Hodgson Burnett has remained a firm favorite with children the world over ever since it made its first appearance. Initially published as a serial story in 1910 in The American Magazine, it was brought out in novel form in 1911.

The plot centers round Mary Lennox, a young English girl who returns to England from India, having suffered the immense trauma by losing both her parents in a cholera epidemic. However, her memories of her parents are not pleasant, as they were a selfish, neglectful and pleasure-seeking couple. Mary is given to the care of her uncl...

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s book "A Little Princess" begins as seven year old Sara Crewe is dropped off at a boarding school by her rich father. She has grown up in India and has lived a very pampered life. Even though she is rich, she is very friendly to everyone and the students all love her.

Unfortunately, the woman in charge of the school does not like Sara and when her father dies on a business trip, the head mistress is angry that she will not get the money she is owed for Sara’s care. She makes her live in the attic with the maid and to do chores to earn her keep at the school. Sara is mistreated, but still remains kind to others and helps anyone she can.

One day, Sara...

These delightful stories created by the writer known famously as the Bedtime Story Man provide hours of endless enjoyment for readers both young and old. His daily newspaper column which he wrote without a break from 1912 through to 1960 featured a host of engaging characters and their lively pranks and doings.

In this charmingly illustrated volume, Reddy Fox, the young hero is sent to stay with his grandma. Grandmother Fox is the “wisest, slyest and smartest fox in all the country around” and she takes it upon herself to educate Reddy in the things that every fox should know! Thus begins a battle of wits between Farmer Brown, Farmer Brown's Boy, Reddy and Grandmother Fox. I...