Showing results by publisher "Trout Lake Media" in Literature & Fiction

With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period.

A young man commits all types of sin, but only his portrait shows the ravages of his life. Oscar Wilde’s Faustian classic. Gothic horror at it's best.

This could very well be the definitive American novel. A great success since it was first published. Required reading. Great fun.

Austen’s classic tale of love and values in the class-conscious England of the late 18th century. The story follows Elizabeth Bennet, one of five sisters, as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in landed-gentry society.

The Mysterious Stranger is Mark Twain’s final novel. It was worked on periodically from roughly 1890 up until 1910. The body of work is a serious social commentary by Twain addressing his ideas of the Moral Sense and the "damned human race". The story tells of the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical Satan, in an Austrian village in the Middle Ages. Classic storytelling. A very interesting side of Twain’s writings.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s magnum opus exploring the themes of legalism, sin and guilt.

Famous for its irregular time sequence and twist ending, this is Bierce's most anthologized story.

A work of subtlety and paradox that shows the way to a clean and aesthetic triumph. Sun Tzu insisted that a skilled warrior observes, calculates, outwits, and outmaneuvers an adversary, and in doing so averts the destruction of battle.

A young American civil war recruit overcomes initial fears and shame to become a hero on the battlefield.

Although Heart of Darkness was one of the first literary texts to provide a critical view of European imperial activities, it was initially read by critics as anything but controversial. While the book was generally admired, it was typically read either as a condemnation of a certain type of adventurer who could easily take advantage of imperialism’s opportunities, or else as a sentimental novel reinforcing domestic values.

Listen to the story of Pip, an English orphan who rises to wealth. After he deserts his true friends, he becomes humbled by his own arrogance. Great Expectations is Dickens at his finest.

The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo is a long essay linking the role of tea (teaism) to the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. Addressed to a western audience, it was originally written in English and is one of the great English tea classics. Okakura had been taught at a young age to speak English and was proficient at communicating his thoughts to the Western mind. In his book, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of tea and Japanese life.

Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization? Here is the novel that has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, 24 years later, when he confronts another human being.

Based on the famous mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding officer of the Bounty in 1789. It has been made into several films and a musical.

Hemingway’s greatest novel. American and British expatriates travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. Hemingway investigates the themes of love and death, the revivifying power of nature, and the concept of masculinity. The novel is well known for its style, which is variously described as modern, hard-boiled, or understated.

The original dinosaur thriller! An expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals still survive! Classic science fiction! 

Praised for its simple and precise language, this book made Hemingway one of the most promising writers of the period. Contains the In Our Time vignettes, “Indian Camp”, “The Doctor and The Doctor’s Wife”, “The End of Something”, “The Three Day Blow”, “The Battler”, “Soldier’s Home”, Mister and Misses Eliot”, “Cat in the Rain”, “Out of Season”, “Cross Country Snow”, “My Old Man”, and “Big Two Hearted River”. 

Time magazine described the work as one of the 100 best novels ever written. The story comes to a boil around racial tensions and prejudices. All is set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s.