Fiction : Classics

In his journal, John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Adam Trask came to California from the East to farm and raise his family on the new, rich land. But the birth of his twins, Cal and Aron, brings his wife to the brink of madness, and Adam is left alone to raise his boys to manhood. One boy thrives, nurtured by the love of all those around him; the other grows up in loneliness, enveloped by a mysterious darkness. First published in 1952, East of Eden is the work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love’s absence. A masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years, East of Eden is a powerful and vastly ambitious novel that is at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis. more...

Price: $17.00

"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." In this case, the hound is the obvious thing. But it is not supernatural nor devilish nor vengeful. Instead of indicating a connection with the family curse supposedly set in motion by the original founder of the estate in the middle ages, Sir Hugo Baskerville, the attachment is directly established through servants and relatives already present on the scene. The story begins with the death of Sir Charles Baskerville near a moor in Devonshire, England. A close friend and associate, Dr. Mortimer, was present for the autopsy and discovered Sir Charles died of a heart attack caused by a dreadful fright. Dr. Mortimer contacts Sherlock Holmes not for assistance in solving the matter of the death but for advice on how to handle the upcoming arrival of the only remaining heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, who will be coming from the United States to oversee the distribution of the inheritance. more...

Price: $4.49

Sleepy Hollow is a strange little place...some say bewitched. Some talk of its haunted valleys and streams, the ghostly woman in white, eerie midnight shrieks and howls, but most of all they talk of the Headless Horseman. A huge shadowy soldier who rides headless through the night, terrifying unlucky travellers. Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman has become a Halloween classic, although few Americans celebrated that holiday when the story was published. more...

Price: $3.95

Moby-Dick is a novel by Herman Melville. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaling ship Pequod , commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby-Dick, a white whale of tremendous size and ferocity. Comparatively few whaling ships know of Moby-Dick, and fewer yet have encountered him. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to exact revenge. In Moby-Dick , Melville employs stylized language, symbolism, and metaphor to explore numerous complex themes. Through the main character's journey, the concepts of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of gods are all examined as Ishmael speculates upon his personal beliefs and his place in the universe. The narrator's reflections, along with his descriptions of a sailor's life aboard a whaling ship, are woven into the narrative along with Shakespearean literary devices such as stage directions, extended soliloquies and asides. Often considered the embodiment of American Romanticism, Moby-Dick was first published by Richard Bentley in London on October 18, 1851 in an expurgated three-volume edition titled The Whale , and later as one massive volume, by New York City publisher Harper and Brothers as Moby-Dick; or, The Whale on November 14, 1851. The first line of Chapter One—"Call me Ishmael."—is one of the most famous in literature. Although the book initially received mixed reviews, Moby-Dick is now considered one of the greatest novels in the English language and has secured Melville's place among America's greatest writers. Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby_Dick] more...

Price: $3.50

Hawthorne's classic treatise on morality, judgment, and exile in Puritan America. more...

Price: $3.95