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1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
In a world where every thought is monitored and every truth is manufactured, one man dares to remember what it means to be free. 1984 is a harrowing descent into a society ruled by fear, where language is weaponized, love is treason, and the past is endlessly rewritten. As the walls close in, the quiet rebellion of a solitary mind becomes a question with no easy answer: can the human spirit survive when even reality is no longer its own? Stark, prophetic, and unrelenting, this is a story of resistance in the age of absolute control.
- Originally Published: June 8, 1949
- Publisher: Penguin Books, 2008
- Genre: Science fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Social science fiction, Political fiction
- Pages: 1231
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0241969694
- Access: Members
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Animal Farm
On a quiet farm, where the animals rise in revolt against their human masters, an ideal of freedom is born—only to curdle into tyranny beneath the hoofprints of power. Animal Farm is a fable sharpened into a political blade, where noble dreams decay into slogans, and those who promise equality learn to walk upright over the backs of others. How does liberation become a new form of control, and why do the oppressed so often trade one master for another? With deceptively simple prose and chilling clarity, this tale reveals that the most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves. A story for every age, it asks: who truly governs when all are supposed to be free?
- Originally Published: August 1945
- Genre: Novella, Political Satire
- Pages: 101
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780451526342
- Access: Members
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Anna Karenina
Beneath the glittering ballrooms and snowbound estates of imperial Russia, Anna Karenina unfolds as a sweeping tale of passion, betrayal, and the fragile architecture of human happiness. Caught between the demands of a rigid society and the call of her own heart, Anna dares to pursue love at any cost—only to find that desire can both liberate and destroy. Around her, lives intersect in a delicate ballet of hope and despair, raising a timeless question: can true fulfillment ever exist within the confines of duty, marriage, and convention? Lyrical and unflinching, Tolstoy’s masterpiece captures the full spectrum of the human soul, from ecstasy to ruin.
- Originally Published: 1873
- Publisher: Penguin Books, 2002
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 880
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0140449174
- Access: Members
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Atlas Shrugged
What happens when the world’s thinkers, builders, and dreamers vanish, one by one, into silence? Atlas Shrugged is a thunderous epic set in a collapsing civilization, where the engines of progress are halted by a society that punishes excellence and rewards mediocrity. Amid the smoke of industry and the ruins of broken ideals, a defiant few must decide: is it moral to serve a world that drains your soul—or to walk away and let it crumble? With sweeping prose and unflinching vision, this novel challenges the very foundations of duty, ambition, and what it means to live with purpose. It is a story of resistance, of love forged in fire, and of the relentless power of the human mind.
- Originally Published: 1957
- Publisher: Signet, 2004
- Genre: Fiction
- Pages: 1088
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780451191144
- Access: Members
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Brave New World
In a world engineered for comfort, pleasure, and perfect order, what becomes of the soul that aches for meaning? Brave New World unfolds in a gleaming dystopia where humanity has traded truth for tranquility and freedom for engineered bliss. Yet beneath the narcotic hum of conformity, a quiet rebellion stirs—one that questions whether a life without pain is worth living at all. With eerie grace and razor-edged irony, this is a tale of longing in a society that has forgotten how to long.
- Originally Published: 1932
- Publisher: Vintage Classics, 2004
- Genre: Novel, Science fiction, Dystopian Fiction
- Pages: 229
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0099477464
- Access: Members
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Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
In a nation cloaked in irony—celebrated as the “happiest on earth” yet corroded by rot beneath its smiles—a doctor uncovers a macabre trade in human body parts, unraveling a sinister conspiracy that binds faith, politics, and power in a deadly knot. Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is a darkly satirical epic, where absurdity and horror walk hand in hand through the corridors of privilege and corruption. Can truth survive in a land where joy is manufactured, and silence is the price of peace? With baroque language and blistering wit, this novel holds up a fractured mirror to society—daring us to ask whether laughter is a balm or a mask. It is a profound and unsettling journey into the theatre of power, where even hope wears a disguise.
- Originally Published: 2021
- Publisher: Vintage, 2022
- Genre: Fiction
- Pages: 464
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780593314470
- Access: Members
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Crime and Punishment
In the stifling alleys of St. Petersburg, a young man commits a murder—not out of greed, but out of a fevered belief in his own moral exception. Crime and Punishment plunges into the shattered psyche of Raskolnikov, whose act of violence births a torment more relentless than justice itself. As guilt and redemption collide, the novel becomes a harrowing descent into the abyss of conscience, a crucible where reason and madness blur. Can one transcend morality to reshape the world—or does the soul exact its own terrible price? This is not merely a crime story, but a haunting meditation on what it means to be human in a world of suffering and consequence.
- Originally Published: 1866
- Publisher: Dover Publications, 2001
- Genre: Fiction, Psychological
- Pages: 448
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0486415871
- Access: Members
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Death of a Salesman
In Death of a Salesman, the quiet tragedy of the American Dream unfolds through the fractured life of Willy Loman—a man chasing success with empty hands and fading hope. Haunted by memory and illusion, he wanders the wreckage of his past, measuring his worth in missed opportunities and imagined glory. As family and reality close in, the question echoes: what remains of a man who stakes his identity on a dream that never loved him back? Miller crafts a sorrowful, aching portrait of ambition, delusion, and the cost of needing to matter. This is not just the story of one salesman’s downfall—it is a mirror held to a society that sells identity for applause.
- Originally Published: 1949
- Publisher : Fingerprint Classics, 2017
- Genre: Tragedy
- Pages: 136
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-8175994300
- Access: Members!
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Devil on the Cross
In a land where the soil is rich but the people starve, Devil on the Cross follows a young woman returning to her homeland only to confront a grotesque masquerade of power, greed, and betrayal. As she journeys through the heart of postcolonial Kenya, she finds herself caught in a surreal pageant of thieves who celebrate the plunder of their own nation. Told with searing lyricism and satirical fire, the novel exposes a world where devils wear the faces of patriots and justice is a song barely remembered. Can a wounded soul ignite a revolution when the devil himself is nailed not to punishment—but to praise? This is a haunting fable of resistance, dignity, and the desperate poetry of survival.
- Originally Published: 1980
- Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2017
- Pages: 320
- Genre: Novel
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780143107361
- Access: Members
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Beneath the fog-choked streets of Victorian London, a brilliant doctor dares to divide the good from the evil within himself—only to unleash a darkness he cannot contain. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a chilling psychological thriller that probes the monstrous duality of human nature with unnerving precision. As civility gives way to savagery, can one ever truly separate virtue from vice, or are both bound in the soul’s unbreakable mirror? This haunting tale whispers a question still echoing through the ages: what lurks within us when no one is watching?
- Originally Published: 1886
- Publisher: Vintage Classics Library, 2016
- Genre: Gothic, Horror
- Pages: 240
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781784871604
- Access: Members
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Fathers and Sons
In Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev captures the eternal tension between generations through the story of Arkady Kirsanov, who returns from university with his radical friend Bazarov, a self-proclaimed “nihilist” who believes in nothing but science and rejects all traditional values. What begins as a clash between old aristocratic ideals and new revolutionary thinking evolves into something far more nuanced—a meditation on how love, family bonds, and human nature itself resist the neat categories we try to impose on them. Turgenev’s genius lies in his refusal to take sides, instead showing us how both the romantic idealism of the older generation and the harsh materialism of the young contain their own truths and blindnesses. Can any philosophy, no matter how logically constructed, truly account for the messy complexities of the human heart? This masterpiece of Russian literature offers no easy answers, but it provides something more valuable: a deeply compassionate understanding of why each generation believes it has discovered the key to life, and why each is both right and profoundly wrong.
- Originally Published: 1862
- Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 215
- BookType: Hardcopy (paperback)
- ISBN: 9780192833921
- Access: Members
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Frankenstein
In a quest to conquer death itself, a brilliant but tormented scientist breathes life into a being stitched from forgotten fragments, unleashing a profound struggle between creation and creator. Frankenstein weaves a haunting tapestry of ambition, isolation, and the desperate yearning for connection in a world quick to shun the unfamiliar. As the creature grapples with its own existence and the shadows of rejection, the story probes the boundaries of human responsibility and the price of playing god. What defines true monstrosity—the malformed flesh or the heart that beats within? This timeless tale challenges us to confront the ethical depths of invention and the fragile nature of humanity.
- Originally Published: 1818
- Publisher: Wordsworth Classics, 1992
- Genre: Fiction
- Pages: 174
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781853260230
- Access: Members
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Hamlet
In the shadowed halls of Elsinore, a prince wrestles with grief, betrayal, and the maddening question of justice—whether to act swiftly or be paralyzed by doubt. Hamlet unfolds as a profound exploration of conscience and revenge, where the line between appearance and reality blurs into a haunting dance of suspicion and despair. What price does one pay when the soul is torn between duty and doubt, action and reflection? This timeless tragedy probes the depths of human frailty and the elusive nature of truth, inviting readers to confront the paradox of inaction amid urgent turmoil.
- Originally Published: 1623
- Publisher: Wordsworth Classics, 1992
- Genre: Tragedy, Shakespearean tragedy
- Pages: 200
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781853260094
- Access: Members
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Hard Times
In the soot-stained city of Coketown, where facts are sacred and imagination is a crime, lives are measured in productivity and hearts are left to wither. Hard Times tells the story of those caught in the iron grip of industry and ideology—children molded into machines, love reduced to calculation, and wonder smothered by cold logic. Yet even in this world of grinding gears and grim utilitarianism, a question lingers: can the soul survive where only numbers matter? With biting wit and deep compassion, this is a tale of rebellion not in battle, but in the quiet persistence of feeling, curiosity, and hope.
- Originally Published: August 12, 1854
- Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1985
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 328
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0140430424
- Access: Members
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Heart of Darkness
A steamer drifts up the Congo River, deeper into a wilderness that mirrors the shadows within the human soul. Heart of Darkness follows Marlow, a sailor haunted by his quest to find the elusive Kurtz—a man revered and corrupted in equal measure. As civilization fades into jungle and reason gives way to something more primal, the line between savagery and enlightenment begins to blur. What is revealed when we journey not outward, but inward, into the darkest chambers of power, greed, and conscience? Stark, hypnotic, and unsettling, this is a tale where the true horror lies not in the wild, but in the hearts of men.
- Originally Published: April, 1899
- Publisher: Collins Classics, 2016
- Genre: Fiction, Novella
- Pages: 130
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780007368624
- Access: Members
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Jude the Obscure
In Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy traces the aching path of a man whose dreams of learning, love, and belonging crumble beneath the grinding weight of class, convention, and fate. Jude Fawley, a stonemason with the soul of a scholar, reaches toward the promise of knowledge and connection, only to find himself punished for daring to hope beyond his station. At once tender and merciless, the novel asks: what becomes of a heart that dares to defy the world’s design, only to be shattered by it? Hardy delivers a bleak, unflinching meditation on aspiration and despair, where love is both salvation and ruin, and idealism can be the most tragic burden of all. This is not merely the story of a man—but of humanity caught between what it is and what it longs to be.
- Originally Published: 1895
- Publisher : Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1993
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 376
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-1853262616
- Access: Members
