These are some of the most beloved books in literature….
- A Short History of the World – by H.G. Wells, 1922 – “Wells’s two-volume Outline of History published in 1920 was the first general history constructed on an evolutionary, sociological, and anthropological basis. It was immensely popular and set the basis for this Short History, which Wells created ‘to meet the needs of the busy general reader, too driven to study the maps and time charts of that Outline in detail, who wishes to refresh and repair his faded or fragmentary conceptions of the great adventure of mankind.’ “
- Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America – “The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America was founded in 1949 to promote interest in rare books and foster collegial relations. We maintain the highest standards in the trade.”
- AbeBooks.com – “AbeBooks is your source for Used, New, Rare and Out of print books. Find classic collectibles, rare signed editions, used textbooks, and inexpensive bestsellers from independent booksellers worldwide.”
- A Celebration of Women Writers – Find links to Dorothy Parker, Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf and a whole slew of other great authors and their works.
- ALEX – A Catalogue of over 1800 Electronic Texts on the Internet.
- Absolute Shakespeare – Online resource for William Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, poems, quotes, biography and the legendary Globe Theatre. Also includes study guides, quiz and a timeline.
- Alibris – source for used, rare, and hard-to-find books
- AllReaders.com – Search by any combination of over 2,000 literary criteria to find precisely the kind of book you’re looking for.
- Audible Stories Libraray – Kids everywhere can stream an incredible collection of stories that will help them continue dreaming and learning.
- American Hypertexts – online texts of American literature: Crevecoeur, de Tocqueville, Henry Adams, Mark Twain and more.
- American Writers – On this companion web site for a C-SPAN special series, this site offers an in-depth look at 45 American writers who helped shape a nation, featuring biographical and historical background information for each featured author.
- AntiStudy.com – A search engine that searches for free cliff notes online from all the major book notes sites such as Sparknotes and Pinkmonkey. The site makes it easy to find study guides on over 500 novels, plays, and poems.
- Arts & Letters Daily – This site delivers updated report of news and reviews in the field of Arts and Letters – the latest trends, breakthroughs, disputes, and gossip. Featured sections include announcements of new books and articles of note and essays and opinions from many online publications.
- W. H. Auden Society – “The W. H. Auden Society commemorates the life and work of one of the greatest poets in the English language.”
- Banned Books On-line
- Bartleby.com: Great Books Online – Excellent literature, reference, and verse resources.
- Bartlett, John – Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.
- Beasts of Tarzan, The – by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Best Book Buys – site compares prices at 28 independent and chain online bookstores. Your search will show whether a book is in stock or back-ordered, how soon it will be shipped, and the approximate shipping cost.
- Biblio.com – “Biblio brings together thousands of independent booksellers worldwide to offer you over 50 million used, rare, out-of-print, signed and first edition books and textbooks. Searching is done by author, title, keyword, or isbn number. Search Biblio for great used books and text books at great prices!”
- Bibliophile.net – “The web site for everyone interested in reading, buying and selling books.”
- Bonavendi.com – “More than 20 vendor websites for buying and selling used items. Sell your used books, your CD collection, DVD and Blue Ray collection as well as video games. Of course for the best price possible thanks to the free Bonavendi price comparison – we compare prices and find the best deal within seconds.”
- Books AtoZ
- BookLending.com – BookLending.com instantly matches people who want to borrow and lend Kindle books. Always free of charge. Come borrow a book today.
- Book Lovers: Fine Books and Literature
- Bookreporter.com – explore the latest book reviews while interacting with other involved literary experts and popular authors from around the world.
- Books to Borrow – “The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, they provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. Their mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.”
- Book Terms & Glossary
- BookWire Reading Room – “Tremendous Resources!”
- Bookwolf – Site offers free book notes, homework help and message boards for high school and college students.
- British Library
- Bronte, Emily – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Burroughs, Edgar Rice – Literary Works,Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- C-SPAN: American Writers – “C-SPAN’s American Writers: A Journey Through History explores American history through the lives and works of American writers who have influenced the course of our nation. C-SPAN presents each program from a historic site associated with a writer’s life and work. Every program features selected writers’ novels, speeches, diaries, essays and life stories, creating a snapshot of American history.”
- Corona Virus Books for Children – Chloe Drulis and Mary Gianatasio are child development specialists who wrote these two FREE books to help children understand and cope with the effects of the coronavirus on their lives.
- Cambridge History of English and American Literature – All eighteen volumes of this distinguished scholarly encyclopedia are now on the Web, thanks to Bartleby.com.
- Campbell, Joseph Foundation Web Site
- Carroll, Lewis – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Cervantes International Bibliography – An annual bibliography about the life and works of Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616).
- Chapman, George, trans. The Odysseys of Homer
- Chapter One – peruse the first chapters of select new fiction and non-fiction compliments of The Washington Post
- Children’s Literature Web Guide, The
- ClassicBookshelf.com – “We offer free electronic classic books in a new Java format which makes them far easier to read on a computer screen than any other electronic book existing today.”
- Classic Reader – At this site you can read, search, and annotate great works of literature by authors such as Dickens, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and many others. The collection currently contains 651 books and 906 short stories by 196 authors. New works are added to the collection on a regular basis, many at the suggestion of readers.
- ClassicsNotes – site provides free literature summaries and analysis.
- Classic Reader – At this site you can read, search, and annotate great works of literature by authors such as Dickens, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, and many others. The collection currently contains 743 books and 1041 short stories by 211 authors.
- Classics Unveiled – “The ultimate source in Classical studies with information on Greek Mythology, Roman History, Roman Life and Latin Vocabulary and Derivatives.”
- Cliffs Notes
- Coker, Robert Anthony – “The Onancoche Curse” – “Christian Kincaid is an eager young archeologist with a bright future. While exploring a cave in the mountains of rural Maryland he stumbles upon a tribe hidden from society for decades. He soon learns that they have the power to shape shift and a hidden agenda. What starts out as the greatest discovery of his career soon turns into an adventure that tests his loyalty to the tribe, his love of his family and his duty to his country. Follow Chris as he races against time to find a cure to save both the tribe and the town from destruction. The Onancoche Curse, by Robert Anthony Coker, is an action packed thriller filled with drama, humor, romance, horror and scientific discovery.”
- Contemporary Poetry Review
- Daily Haiku, The – “All the news that’s fit to print – in 17 syllables.”
- Darwin, Charles – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Descartes – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Diary of Samuel Pepys – This site is a presentation of the diaries of Samuel Pepys, the renowned 17th century diarist who lived in London, England. A new entry written by Pepys will be published each day; 1 January 1660 was published on 1 January 2003.
- Dickens, Charles – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Dickinson, Emily – Poems
- Doyle, Arthur Conan – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Dr. Jekyll ad Mr. Hyde
- D.C. Reads – The D.C. Public Library recently announced its book club D.C. Reads is going digital, and now anyone can participate from home.
- Dracula – by Bram Stoker
- eNotes – “Need help with an assignment? eNotes offers a large resource of study guides, lesson plans, literary criticism, and a vibrant community of knowledgeable teachers and students in our discussion forum.”
- Electronic Beowulf, The – “The Third Edition of Electronic Beowulf is designed to meet the needs of general readers, who require a full, line by line, translation; of students, who want to understand the grammar and the meter and still have time in a semester to study and appreciate other important aspects of the poem; and of scholars, who want immediate access to a critical apparatus identifying the nearly 2000 eighteenth-century restorations, editorial emendations, and manuscript-based conjectural restorations.”
- FullBooks.com – This site offers thousands of full text free books. With a limited interface, this site will be most useful if you know the title of the book you would like to read.
- Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner’s fourth novel, first published on October 7, 1929, is a difficult work that has posed many problems for both readers and teachers. This hypertext of the novel and related materials is designed as a unique means of exploring the text of the novel, and of augmenting its study, for all levels of readers.
- Flatland – The complete Edwin Abbott science fiction fantasy, “Flatland.”
- Fooling with Words – Based on the 1998 PBS poetry special, this site features the works of 21 poets reading and talking about their work. You’ll also find links to dozens of other poetry sites.
- FreeBookCentre.net – “Freebookcentre.net contains thousands of free online technical books. Which Include core Computer science, networking, programming languages, Systems Programming books, Linux books,Unix Books, Database books, Medical books, Electronics, Mathematics books, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Law Books.”
- FreeBooknotes.com – Looking for free study guides, book notes, or book summaries online? You’ve come to the right place. Site lists over 200 books, and has indexed book notes from all the major study guide sites.
- Gods of Mars, The
- Goodreads – “Discover and share books you love on Goodreads, the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations!”
- Great Expectations – by Charles Dickens
- Grey, Zane – 1872-1939 (Zane Grey’s West Society) – This romantic western author is responsible for 57 novels, 10 nonfiction titles, 130 movies, and for creating the “myth of the West.” Essays on his importance to cowboy literature, bibliography, filmography, and a biography are included. Also includes his fishing records, the geography of his writing, book and film collectors FAQ, information on the annual convention, links to bookstores that have extensive holdings of his titles, and links to related museums.
- HarperAudio – “HarperAudio proudly traces its roots back to 1952, when Dylan Thomas first recorded for our Caedmon label. For more than five decades, HarperAudio/Caedmon has been synonymous not only with distinguished poets reading their works, but also with equally distinguished authors and readers performing classic and contemporary texts.”
- Harvard Classics The Shelf of Fiction, The – The most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume, 5-foot shelf of books, and the the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through the twentieth century.
- Harpers Bazaar: Best New Books of 2019 – “Catch up on the year’s most remarkable, influential and simply page-turning reads.”
- HathiTrust – “HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via the Google Books project and Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally by libraries.”
- Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
- International Standard Book Number (ISBN) – During the nineteenth century there developed in the U.K. and the U.S. pioneering efforts to systemize and cumulate the catalogs of publishers’ output, to the benefit of booksellers, wholesalers and librarians.” The Standard Book Number is the result of these efforts. Use this site to study this numbering scheme and discover its history.
- Internet Classics Archive, The. – searchable collection of almost 400 classical Greek and Roman texts (in English translation) with user-provided commentary
- Keats, John – Poetical Works
- Literary Hub: Our 50 Favorite Books of the Year – “Highlights From a Year in Reading.”
- Kidsreads.com – “site for children 6-12. Listed as a Yahooligan destination for children, the site’s mascot, Booker T. Worm, guides readers through titles that include series books, new titles and author features. Reading lists and reviews are grouped by reader ability.”
- Kindlepreneur: Book Marketing for Self-Publishing Authors – “Learn how to become a bestselling author and market your ebook like a professional. Free guides, lessons and case studies on how to build your author brand.”
- LitCharts – “LitCharts take a completely new approach to analyzing and explaining literature. LitCharts break mold in several ways. LitCharts present a bulleted-list-style summary of every single plot point in the book side-by-side with analysis and color-coded themes for each point. Every LitChart includes a color-coded Themes Key, which assigns a specific color to each theme. Readers can then trace the prevalence of themes as they develop throughout the book.”
- Local Tools: Find Your Local Tool Lending Library – “Local Tools is a library of things that you can check out and use without the cost of purchasing.”
- Literature Post – Welcome to the Literature Post where you can read hundreds of classic books, plays, poems and stories. Our collection currently contains 145 works from 71 authors. New works are being added on a regular basis.
- Little Women
- MX Bookfinder – this is the search engine to start with for used, fine, and out-of-print books. It searches Advanced Book Exchange, Amazon, Antiqbook, Bibliocity, Interloc, and Powell’s Books at once.
- Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe: An Electronic Edition – Features editions of all of Marlowe’s plays, his two known poetic works, his translations of Ovid and Lucan, his short miscellaneous works and others.
- Melville, Herman – Bartleby, the Scrivener. A Story of Wall-street.
- Henry Miller Library – located in Big Sur. Online journal, events calendar and forum.
- MyBookCart.com: Fast Cash for Your Books – MyBookCart.com was started when some of our family and friends were wondering what to do with their used books. Most people don’t want to throw books away, so what do you do with them? We already owned a used bookstore Mediabuster Books, so we thought ‘why not give people cash for their books through a convenient online website! You now have at your fingertips a no hassle way of receiving cash for your books.
- Milton, John – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literature Library.
- National Book Foundation – sponsor of the National Book Awards.
- Nothing In The Rule Book: 45 places you can download tens of thousands books, plays and other literary texts completely legally for free – “In an increasingly digital world, literature is evolving. Sales of e-readers continue to rise, yet the cost of digital books and texts has not necessarily decreased to the extent to which many initially predicted. With authors’ incomes collapsing to near “abject” levels, and with public libraries under threat from swinging public spending cuts, they felt honour bound to provide their fine readers with some valuable resources that could help save valuable money.”
- New York Review of Books, The
- New York Times Books
- New York Public Library: Digital Gallery – “NYPL Digital Gallery provides free and open access to over 800,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library’s vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.”
- NovelGuide – site provides an educational supplement for better understanding of classic and contemporary literature through Chapter Summaries, Character Profiles, Metaphor Analysis, Theme Analyses, and Author Biographies.
- Onancoche Curse, The – “Christian Kincaid is an eager young archeologist with a bright future. While exploring a cave in the mountains of rural Maryland he stumbles upon a tribe hidden from society for decades. He soon learns that they have the power to shape shift and a hidden agenda. What starts out as the greatest discovery of his career soon turns into an adventure that tests his loyalty to the tribe, his love of his family and his duty to his country. Follow Chris as he races against time to find a cure to save both the tribe and the town from destruction. The Onancoche Curse, by Robert Anthony Coker, is an action packed thriller filled with drama, humor, romance, horror and scientific discovery.”
- Online Books Page
- Online Literature Library
- Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250 – 1900
- PEN America – a consortia of poets, playwrights, essayists, editors and novelists (thus PEN), contains a variety of works, opinions and essays from such noted writers.
- Perseus Project Home Page
- PickTextBook.com – “PickTextBook.com allows you to make an optimal choice when you are buying your textbooks online. We offer comparison of the latest and previous editions of textbooks, price comparison of various printed and digital formats, and of course, you can select between new and used books.”
- PinkMonkey.com – Literature Notes, Literature Classics, Study Guides and Online Textbooks.
- Plays for the Day – site of playwright Paul Thain
- Playwrights on the web
- Poe, Edgar Allan – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Poetry 180 – Welcome to Poetry 180. Poetry can and should be an important part of our daily lives. Poems can inspire and make us think about what it means to be a member of the human race. By just spending a few minutes reading a poem each day, new worlds can be revealed.
- Poets.org – “A resource from the Academy of American Poets with thousands of poems, essays, biographies, weekly features, and poems for love and every occasion.”
- Poetry Publishers Online
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – by James Joyce
- Powell’s Books – “The Largest New and Used Bookstore in the World.”
- Project Gutenberg
- Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing – eBooks: BS Murthy – “Books by BS Murthy.”
- Publishers Lunch – a daily book publishing news and information site.
- Pulitzer Prize Winners – Site offers a list of the Pulitzer winners and their citations, the finalists, links to the works, short biographies, and lists of jurors. Winners from previous years also available.
- Quarantine Book Club – Join your favorite authors on Zoom where you can have spirited discussions from the privacy of our own quarantined space!
- ReadPrint – This site offers free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast.
- Red Badge of Courage, The
- Read.gov – “Explore new worlds: Read. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress invites people of all ages to discover the fascinating people, places and events that await you whenever you read. This site provides free resources for reading and encourages kids, teens, adults and families to read books.”
- Return of Tarzan, The – by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- SearcheBooks.com – a search engine that indexes the full text of thousands of online books. Site offers a simple keyword search interface and caches the versions of pages that its robots find, and returns two URLs for each hit, one for the provider’s page, and one for the full text of the book.
- Sell My Text Book – “Sell My Text Book is the only site you ever need for selling and buying your old textbook; here you can list, sell, and buy textbooks without any additional charge.”
- Shakespeare on the Web
- Self-Publishing Checklist for Indie Authors – This checklist guides your self-publishing project to completion, to ensure you don’t miss any important steps.
- Shelley, Mary – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Shelley, Percy Bysshe – Complete Poetical Works
- Short Stories – free classic short stories sorted by genre: fiction, nonfiction, children, humor, romance, science, etc.
- SimonSays.com – Offers live author events, reader reviews, subject and title-driven forums, and access to and information about 11,000 titles
- So You Wanna Publish Your Poetry?
- Spark Notes – Created by Harvard University students and alumni, SparkNotes is a collection of free online study guides to approximately 100 literature classics. Each SparkNote contains sections on context, characters, overall summary, chapter-by-chapter summary and commentary, study questions, and a message board for collaborative learning.
- The Steinbeck Center
- Stoker, Bram – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Strunk, William, Jr – The Elements of Style
- Tuck.com – guide to the best bedtime stories.
- Tech Classics Archive, The
- Teenreads.com – “a site where teens sound off about the books and issues they care about.”
- Tender Buttons – by Gertrude Stein.
- TextBookRush – “We buy and sell books, movies and video games at seriously low prices, and offer textbook rentals for those one-and-done classes.”
- The Guardian: 25 Amazing Long Reads to Distract You
- Thoreau Reader, The – site includes three complete books and four essays by Henry David Thoreau, with a brief introduction, annotated copies of Walden and Civil Disobedience, the Walden Express for students, and links to other Thoreau and Walden sites.
- Today in Literature – Today in Literature features a new original biographical story each calendar day about the great writers, books, and events in literary history.
- Treasure Island – by Robert Lewis Stevenson
- Twain, Mark – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library
- Ulysses – by James Joyce
- Used Books Search.net – “Our simple worldwide used book search will give a price comparison from online book stores. Find the best price on used books in the UK, USA, Australia…”
- Verne, Jules – Literary Works, Courtesy of The Online Literatue Library.
- viaLibri – “Search engine for finding old and rare books available from booksellers and libraries around the world. Provides the world’s largest international markeplace for early and rare books, helping book collectors locate early and valuable books.”
- William Faulkner on the Web
- William Shakespeare – The Complete Works
- Whitman, Walt – Home Page
- Whitman, Walt – Leaves of Grass
- Wilde, Oscar – Poems
- Wordsworth, William – Complete Poetical Works
- The World eBook Library – This site has thousands of downloadable ebooks, including classic works of literature, serials, bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works in a number of languages and countries around the world. You can browse and search by author and title.
- Writer’s Guild of America, The
- Writers Write
