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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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Editoreric.com's list of great literature.
70 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 12th grade (Ages 17-18), Mass market paperback, Used Books & Materials
1984
Signet Classics
by George Orwell
from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.20 $3.60 (3 in stock)
Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates
Dover Thrift Editions
by Patrick Henry & John DeWitt
from Dover Publications
American Political Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$8.50 $5.60 (1 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)
$3.40 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Dover Thrift Editions
by Benjamin Franklin
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.65 $3.60 (2 in stock)
Billy Budd
Signet Classics
by Herman Melville
from Signet Classics
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.21 $2.40 (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)
$6.76 $4.00 (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)
$3.83 $1.60 (1 in stock)
Count of Monte Cristo (abridged)
Signet Classics
by Alexandre Dumas, introduction by Roger Celestin
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.76 $3.60 (2 in stock)
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand
from Bantam Books
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.94 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury
from Spectra Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.49 $4.00 (1 in stock)
England Have My Bones
by TH White
from Futura Publications
for 11th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.40 (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)
$5.00 $1.00 (1 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)
$4.25 $1.20 (6 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)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Fifty Great Short Stories
by Milton Crane
from Bantam Books
for 9th-Adult
in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH)
$7.64 $4.80 (1 in stock)
First Men in the Moon
by H. G. Wells
from Magnum
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Flatland
by Edwin A. Abbott
from Penguin Books
for 10th grade-adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.40 (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)
$5.10 $2.40 (1 in stock)
Great American Short Stories
from Dover Publications
for 7th-Adult
in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH)
$6.80 $3.20 (1 in stock)
Grief Observed
by C. S. Lewis
from Bantam Books
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Hamlet
The Pelican Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
from Penguin Putnam
Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$2.00 (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)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien
17th Printing from Ballantine Books
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (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)
Inferno
by Dante Alighieri, translated by John Ciardi
from Signet Classics
for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$2.80 (1 in stock)
Jungle, The
by Upton Sinclair
from Penguin Putnam
for 12th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.00 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Kon-Tiki
by Thor Heyerdahl
from Pocket Books
Non-fiction/Adventure for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.64 $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)
$2.55 $1.20 (1 in stock)
Les Miserables
Signet Classics
by Victor Hugo
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 (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)
$5.20 (1 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)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave
by Frederick Douglass
from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06 $2.80 (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)
$2.55 $1.60 (3 in stock)
Of Plymouth Plantation
by William Bradford
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$12.71 $6.40 (1 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)
$4.25 $2.00 (1 in stock)
Othello
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Othello
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Barron's
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$2.80 (1 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)
$5.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.25 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Red Pony
by John Steinbeck
27th Printing from Bantam Books
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Republic
by Plato
from Oxford University
Classic Literature for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$8.46 $4.80 (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)
$5.94 $3.60 (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)
Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
by Langston Hughes
from Vintage Books
for 4th-12th grade
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95 $2.80 (2 in stock)
Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
by Gary Kinder
from Vintage Classics
for 9th-Adult
in Clearance: Fiction (Location: ZCLE-FIC)
$3.00 (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 (1 in stock)
Starship Troopers
by Robert Heinlein
from ACE Publishing
Science Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 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)
$5.95 $3.20 (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)
Tale of Two Cities
Dover Thrift Editions
by Charles Dickens
from Dover Publications
Victorian Novel for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95 $3.20 (1 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)
$5.91 $3.20 (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)
Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
from Fawcett Books
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Time Machine
by H. G. Wells
from Dover Publications
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$1.60 (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)
$5.10 $1.60 (1 in stock)
Twelfth Night
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Graymalkin Media
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.40 (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
Copper Lodge Library
by Henry David Thoreau, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.80 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Warriors Don't Cry
by Melba Pattillo Beals
from Simon Pulse
for 6th-12th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$4.50 (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 (23 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)
$5.10 $2.40 (1 in stock)
Where Christ is Still Tortured
by Richard Wurmbrand
from Marshalls
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Winter's Tale
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$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)
$3.40 $1.60 (1 in stock)
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
from Bantam Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
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