c l a s s i c s
10 stories
Annabel Lee (1849) by EdgarAllanPoe
Annabel Lee (1849)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 18,914
  • Votes 1,689
  • Parts 1
"Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. Cover by: @KatrinHollister
Ligeia (1838) by EdgarAllanPoe
Ligeia (1838)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 4,351
  • Votes 129
  • Parts 1
"Ligeia" is an early short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1838. The story follows an unnamed narrator and his wife Ligeia, a beautiful and intelligent raven-haired woman. She falls ill, composes "The Conqueror Worm", and quotes lines attributed to Joseph Glanvill (which suggest that life is sustainable only through willpower) shortly before dying. After her death, the narrator marries the Lady Rowena. Rowena becomes ill and she dies as well. The distraught narrator stays with her body overnight and watches as Rowena slowly comes back from the dead - though she has transformed into Ligeia. The story may be the narrator's opium-induced hallucination and there is debate whether the story was a satire. Cover by the lovely @theynotgone
Little Women (1880) by LouisaMayAlcott
Little Women (1880)
LouisaMayAlcott
  • Reads 678,037
  • Votes 15,881
  • Parts 47
"Little Women" follows the lives of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March – and is loosely based on the author's childhood experiences with her three sisters.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by MarkTwain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
MarkTwain
  • Reads 185,160
  • Votes 3,491
  • Parts 37
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River.
The Bells (1849) by EdgarAllanPoe
The Bells (1849)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 7,272
  • Votes 492
  • Parts 1
"The Bells" is a heavily onomatopoeic poem by Edgar Allan Poe which was not published until after his death in 1849. It is perhaps best known for the diacopic use of the word "bells." The poem has four parts to it; each part becomes darker and darker as the poem progresses from "the jingling and the tinkling" of the bells in part 1 to the "moaning and the groaning" of the bells in part 4. Cover by: @CaffeinatedKiwi
The Cask of Amontillado (1846) by EdgarAllanPoe
The Cask of Amontillado (1846)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 14,675
  • Votes 383
  • Parts 1
"The Cask of Amontillado" (sometimes spelled "The Casque of Amontillado") is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive - in this case, by immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective. Cover by the lovely @theygotnone
The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) by EdgarAllanPoe
The Fall of the House of Usher (1839)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 11,790
  • Votes 280
  • Parts 1
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839. Cover by the lovely @FayLane
The Masque of the Red Death (Completed) by EdgarAllanPoe
The Masque of the Red Death (Completed)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 2,914
  • Votes 168
  • Parts 1
"The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy" (1842), is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball within seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it; the guests also die in turn. Cover by the lovely @CaffeinatedKiwi
The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) by EdgarAllanPoe
The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)
EdgarAllanPoe
  • Reads 21,522
  • Votes 1,096
  • Parts 1
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is relayed by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of his sanity while simultaneously describing a murder he committed. The victim was an old man with a filmy "vulture-eye", as the narrator calls it. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, and he hides the body by dismembering it, and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately, the narrator's feelings of guilt, or a mental disturbance, result in him hearing a thumping sound, which he interprets as the dead man's beating heart. Cover by the lovely @FayLane.
A STUDY IN SCARLET (Completed) by ArthurConanDoyle
A STUDY IN SCARLET (Completed)
ArthurConanDoyle
  • Reads 64,268
  • Votes 2,623
  • Parts 14
A Study in Scarlet is a 1887 detective novel by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Written in 1886, the story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become two of the most famous characters in popular fiction. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, an amateur detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it." Cover by the wonderful @-capetown