Eugene Onegin
1832 · 304 pages
Onegin coolly refuses a country girl's love letter, then kills a friend in a pointless duel. Pushkin wrote it in verse so quick and alive that Russians still know stanzas by heart.
★ 8.8
The Books canon
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Every book chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 1,178 books or filter by subject, era, place, and author.
Browse all 1,178 books or filter by subject, era, place, and author.
Don Juan and Other Plays
1665 · 392 pages
Don Juan seduces, dodges his creditors, and believes in nothing, while his servant argues feebly for God and a stone statue accepts an invitation to dinner. Moliere never wrote anything more dangerous.
★ 7.1
The Mayor of Casterbridge
1886 · 448 pages
Drunk at a country fair, a farm laborer sells his wife and baby to a sailor for five guineas. Years later he is mayor of Casterbridge, and Hardy lets the past collect.
★ 7.0