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Literature & Adult Fiction

The value of a book lies in the author's ability to convey meaning. This is the most basic—and in recent years most overlooked—fact about writing. Words on the page must tell us something or they're worthless. Experimenters are free to try new methods, but if the result is empty drivel their creation will end up just another misguided novelty.

Almost equally important is the value of the author's message. Anyone can understand a cheap romance novel or mystery thriller, but if there's a message it's typically trite. Paradise Lost takes more work, but the beauty of Milton's style and the depth of his perception and observations on human (and divine, and demonic) nature have steeled readers to make the effort for centuries.

Which implies—reading is not merely for entertainment. The art of reading to empty the mind is not brand-new (as any perusal of titles in the Rare Old Books room of your local mega-bookstore will reveal), though with the increasing ease of publication it has grown. People have always looked to get the same experience from books that comes from watching a TV show. But there is a still better way.

Reading-to-Broaden-the-Soul is even older than reading-to-induce-a-comatose-state. Each person that comes by it makes the discovery in a different way, whether by hearing a line from a Keats poem, or finding a derelict copy of All Quiet on the Western Front on a discount shelf and reading the whole thing in an afternoon, or realizing that Aristophanes is still funny 2400 years later.

Reading the right books is good for us, but it's also enjoyment of the highest and best kind, and both for the same reason: reading great literature is dangerous. You don't get to leave the last page of Crime and Punishment unchanged. After hundreds of pages with David Copperfield it's a different You that peers back from the mirror. King Arthur will pull apart your insides and rearrange them with the violence of a medieval warlord.

You won't find a lot of rainbows and sunshine here. At least, you won't find them alone, certainly not without the lightning storms that always come first. You'll find humanity, with all the bloodshed and terror and sorrow and weakness and confusion of the race. But you'll also find joy and beauty and goodness and comfort, as much as any of those things are part of life.

These are some of the best poems, novels, plays and philosophical treatises ever written. Hopefully you'll find some enjoyment, though if it's not all as "fun" as you expected, try adjusting your expectations before starting a burn pile. Hopefully, you'll grow a little with each Boo Radley, Romeo Montague, Esther Summerson, Starbuck, and Rose of Sharon Joad you encounter.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Parent Categories
Literature & Adult Fiction
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Related Links
Editoreric.com's list of great literature.
85 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 11th grade (Ages 16-17), Mass market paperback, Used Books & Materials
100 Best-Loved Poems
Dover Thrift Editions
by Philip Smith
from Dover Publications
Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$4.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
by Lewis Carroll
from Bantam Books
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Antigone
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$3.00 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Dover Thrift Editions
by James Weldon Johnson
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 $2.50 (2 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Dover Thrift Editions
by Benjamin Franklin
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
China Cry
by Nora Lam with Richard Schneider
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens,
Enriched Classic from Pocket Books
for 9th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Slave Narratives
by Henry Louis Gates, ed.
Reissue from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Sonnets
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Lyrical Poetry for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.50 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Confessions of Saint Augustine
by Augustine of Hippo (translation by Thomas Williams)
from Hackett Publishing Company
Autobiography/Devotional Material for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, unknown translator
from Wordsworth Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand
from Bantam Books
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Cyrano de Bergerac
Dover Thrift Editions
by Edmond Rostand
from Dover Publications
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 $2.00 (2 in stock)
David Copperfield
Signet Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Dover Publications
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History
Dover Thrift Editions
by John Grafton, editor
from Dover Publications
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Emma
Penguin Classics
by Jane Austen
from Penguin Classics
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00 $5.00 (1 in stock)
England Have My Bones
by TH White
from Futura Publications
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Ethan Frome
Dover Thrift Editions
by Edith Wharton
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 $1.00 (2 in stock)
Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Anonymous
from Dover Publications
Medieval Drama for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$5.00 $1.50 (9 in stock)
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
3rd printing, 1962 from Ballantine Books
Science Fiction/Dystopian Literature for 10th grade-adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
First Men in the Moon
by H. G. Wells
from Magnum
for 7th-Adult
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Flatland
by Edwin A. Abbott
from Penguin Books
for 10th grade-adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
For Those Tears
by Nora Lam and Cliff Dudley
1978 Printing from New Leaf Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Gods and Generals
by Jeff Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Gold-Bug and Other Tales
Dover Thrift Editions
by Edgar Allan Poe
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Great American Short Stories
from Dover Publications
for 7th-Adult
in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH)
$8.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Hamlet
The Pelican Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
from Penguin Putnam
Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Heart Songs
by E. Annie Proulx
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Realistic Fiction for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Hiroshima
by John Hersey
from Vintage Classics
Historical Non-Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.95 $4.50 (1 in stock)
House of Mirth
by Edith Wharton
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Humorous Stories and Sketches
by Mark Twain
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.50 $2.50 (2 in stock)
Imitation of Christ
by Thomas à Kempis
from Dover Publications
Devotional Material for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Julius Caesar
Barron's Shakespeare Made Easy
by William Shakespeare
1st U.S. from Barron's
Historical Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Jungle, The
by Upton Sinclair
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
King John and Henry VIII
by William Shakespeare
from Bantam Books
Historical Drama for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
Kreutzer Sonata
Dover Thrift Editions
by Leo Tolstoy
from Dover Publications
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
La Vita Nuova
by Dante Alighieri
from Dover Publications
Medieval Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$3.00 $1.50 (2 in stock)
Le Morte d'Arthur
Signet Classics
by Sir Thomas Mallory
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lewis and Clark Expedition - 3-volume Set
by Meriwether Lewis
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Primary Source Documents for 9th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$32.00 (1 in stock)
Libraries in the Ancient World
by Lionel Casson
from Yale University Press
for 10th-Adult
in History of Books & Language (Location: HISV-BOOK)
$6.50 (2 in stock)
Lord Foulgrin's Letters
by Randy Alcorn
from Multnomah Books
for 8th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Macbeth
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-12th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
from Barron's
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Macbeth (Dover Study)
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.50 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Marble Faun
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Oedipus at Colonus
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$3.00 $2.00 (3 in stock)
Open Boat and Other Stories
Dover Thrift Editions
by Stephen Crane
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50 $1.50 (2 in stock)
Pygmalion
Dover Thrift Editions
by George Bernard Shaw
from Dover Publications
Drama/Comedy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 $1.50 (2 in stock)
Quest of the Three Worlds
by Cordwainer Smith
1978 first Ballantine edition from Ballantine Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Rime of the Ancient Mariner & Other Poems
Dover Thrift Editions
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$4.00 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Robert Frost's Poems
by Robert Frost
from St. Martin's Press
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare Made Easy
by William Shakespeare
from Barron's
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Rosanna's Boys
Sequel to Rosanna of the Amish
by Joseph Warren Yoder
Revised from Choice Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Scarlet Letter
Dover Thrift Editions
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
from Dover Publications
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Selected Poems of John Donne
Dover Thrift Editions
by John Donne
from Dover Publications
Lyrical Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
by Langston Hughes
from Vintage Books
for 4th-12th grade
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Shane
by Jack Schaefer
from Harcourt
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
by Gary Kinder
from Vintage Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by Anonymous, translated by Jessie L. Weston
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Song of Hiawatha
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Spoon River Anthology
by Edgar Lee Masters
from Collier Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Stardust
by Neil Gaiman
from HarperCollins
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Study in Scarlet & The Sign of Four
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Dover Publications
Mystery for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 $2.40 (1 in stock)
Summer
by Edith Wharton
from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Taming of the Shrew
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Elizabethan Drama for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.00 $1.00 (28 in stock)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Signet Classics
by Thomas Hardy
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.95 $4.00 (1 in stock)
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin
from Bantam Books
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
The People: No Different Flesh
by Zenna Henderson
from Avon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
from Fawcett Books
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Time Machine
by H. G. Wells
from Dover Publications
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
from Warner Books
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Trial and Death of Socrates
Dover Thrift Editions
by Plato
from Dover Publications
Ancient Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Up From Slavery
Dover Thrift Editions
by Booker T. Washington
from Dover Publications
Autobiography for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Waiting for Odysseus
by Clemence McLaren
from Simon Pulse
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Walden and Other Writings
by Henry David Thoreau, edited and an introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch
from Bantam Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
War of the Worlds
Signet Classics
by H. G. Wells
from Signet Classics
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95 $3.50 (1 in stock)
We the Living
by Ayn Rand
Anniversary Edition from Signet
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (24 in stock)
When I Was a Slave
Dover Thrift Editions
by Norman Yetman (editor)
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
White Fang
Dover Thrift Editions
by Jack London
from Dover Publications
Action/Adventure for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard's Almanack
Dover Thrift Editions
by Benjamin Franklin
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.00 $2.00 (3 in stock)
Wit and Wisdom of the American Presidents
Dover Thrift Editions
by Joslyn Pine
from Dover Publications
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.50 $1.50 (1 in stock)
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