en-US Wed, 17 Sep 2025 13:34:20 -0700 60 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 489732 'The horror, whatever it was, had not yet entirely spoiled that marvellous beauty'

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The Picture of Dorian Gray was a succès de scandale. Early readers were shocked by its hints at unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895.

This definitive edition includes a selection of contemporary reviews condemning the novel's immorality, and the introduction to the first Penguin Classics edition by Peter Ackroyd.]]> 253 Oscar Wilde 0141439572 Elizabeth 5 4.19 1890
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1890
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 32929156
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before. What unfolds is the tale of the intense love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrenders to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.

In this edition, a new preface by Lucasta Miller, author of The Brontë Myth, looks at the ways in which the novel has been interpreted, from Charlotte Brontë onwards. This complements Pauline Nestor's introduction, which discusses changing critical receptions of the novel, as well as Emily Brontë's influences and background.]]> 359 Emily Brontë 0141439556 Elizabeth 0 to-read 3.88 1847
author: Emily Brontë
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1847
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56916837 To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable coming-of-age tale in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage iniquities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father — a crusading local lawyer — risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.]]> 323 Harper Lee Elizabeth 0 to-read 4.23 1960
author: Harper Lee
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10210 Alternate editions can be found here and here.

A gothic masterpiece of tempestuous passions and dark secrets, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davis in Penguin Classics.

Charlotte Brontë tells the story of orphaned Jane Eyre, who grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, enduring loneliness and cruelty. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds employment as a governess to the young ward of Byronic, brooding Mr Rochester. As her feelings for Rochester develop, Jane gradually uncovers Thornfield Hall's terrible secret, forcing her to make a choice. Should she stay with Rochester and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions - even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.]]> 532 Charlotte Brontë 0142437204 Elizabeth 0 to-read 4.15 1847
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1847
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 5907 Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).

9780618260300]]> 366 J.R.R. Tolkien Elizabeth 5 4.30 1937
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 5 547 J.K. Rowling 043965548X Elizabeth 5 4.57 1999
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 42844155 An alternative cover for this ASIN can be found here

"Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'."

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!]]> 333 J.K. Rowling Elizabeth 5 4.45 1997
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 41733839 Alternate covers of this ISBN can be found here, here and here.

James L. W. West III to include the author’s final revisions and features a note on the composition and text, a personal foreword by Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan—and a new introduction by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald Elizabeth 5 3.94 1925
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 129915654 400 Jane Austen Elizabeth 5 4.35 1813
author: Jane Austen
name: Elizabeth
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1813
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]>