TEENS

This novel, published in 1949, takes place in a totalitarian society in the year 1984. Winston Smith is a employee of the Ministry of Truth, which creates propaganda that promotes the government. He begins to rebel as he realizes that the regime's constant survellience and mind control have brainwashed humanity.

"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is exactly what its title says and much more. In an exuberantly inventive masterpiece of subjectivity, Joyce portrays his alter ego, Stephen Dedalus, growing up in Dublin and struggling through religious and sexual guilt toward an aesthetic awakening. In part a vivid picture of Joyce's own youthful evolution into one of the 20th century's greatest writers, it is also a moment in the intellectual history of an age.

Young and well bred, Lucy Honeychurch finds herself in a muddle after encountering the Emersons on a trip to Florence. Their social class is different from Lucy's and their manner -- unlike the "respectable" people she's used to -- is simple and direct, causing her to find the people around her wanting.

"A Tale of Two Cities" is a vivid and dramatic depiction of the events of the French Revolution and its impact on the lives of French aristocrats Charles Darnay and Lucie Manette and English lawyer Sydney Carton. As his characters struggle for self-determination in the face of events beyond their control, Dickens describes the political upheaval of the period and denounces the fanatical excesses it engenders. The result is one of his most beloved and revered novels.

In this futuristic novel, all love, individuality and emotion have been replaced by social stability through the use of medications and government mind control. But Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses that his relationship with a young womon has the potential to be much more than their society would allow.

Beautiful, clever, rich -- and single -- Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protégée Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, "Emma" is often seen as Jane Austen's most flawless work.

One freezing morning, a lone man wandering across the Arctic ice caps is rescued by a ship's captain. As he is nursed back to health, Victor Frankenstein recounts his story of ambition, murder, and revenge. As a young scientist Frankenstein pushed moral boundaries in order to create life itself. But his creation is a monster stitched together from grave-robbed body parts who has no place in the world, and whose life can only lead to tragedy.

The orphan, Pip, and the convict, Magwitch, the beautiful Estella, and her guardian, the embittered and vengeful Miss Havisham, the ambitious lawyer, Mr. Jaggers - all have a part to play in the mystery. Dickens supplied two endings to his great novel, both are included in this book.Note: Many titles by this author adapt well for dramatic interpretation.

On two voyages, an Englishman becomes shipwrecked in a land where people are six inches high, and stranded in a land of giants. This, the most famous of Jonathan Swift's works, has been a classic for over two centuries.

In Conrad's haunting tale, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey in search of the enigmatic Kurtz. Travelling to the heart of the African continent, he discovers how Kurtz has gained his position of power and influence over the local people. Marlow's struggle to fathom his experience involves him in a radical questioning of not only his own nature and values but the nature and values of his society.

In the 12th century, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe returns home to England from the Third Crusade to claim his inheritance and the love of the lady Rowena. The heroic adventures of this noble Saxon knight involve him in the struggle between Richard the Lion-Hearted and his malignant brother John: a conflict that brings Ivanhoe into alliance with the mysterious outlaw Robin Hood and his legendary fight for the forces of good.

This 19th century British Novel charts the evolution of its independent titular character from young orphan to grown woman. She doesn't face off with any monsters, but takes on the adversity of social norms and expectations with zeal, and develops into the hero of one of the earliest modern novels - showing that anyone who can be themselves in a world at odds is a hero in their own right.

"Lord of the Flies" remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" in its influence on modern thought and literature. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, "Lord of the Flies" has established itself as a true classic.

One of the most accomplished and prominent novels of the Victorian era, "Middlemarch" is an unsurpassed portrait of 19th-century English provincial life. Dorothea Brooke is a young woman of fervent ideals who yearns to effect social change yet faces resistance from the society she inhabits. In this epic in a small landscape, Eliot's large cast of precisely delineated characters and the rich tapestry of their stories result in a wise, compassionate, and astute vision of human nature.

A novel of social customs in late 18th century England, "Pride and Prejudice" depicts the personality clash between Elizabeth Bennet, one of five daughters of a country gentleman, and prosperous, aristocratic landowner Fitzwilliam Darcy, which eventually develops into courtship. Note: Many titles by this author adapt well for duo interpretation.

The sole survivor of a shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe is washed up on a desert island. In his journal he chronicles his daily battle to stay alive, as he conquers isolation, fashions shelter and clothes, first encounters another human being and fights off cannibals and mutineers. With "Robinson Crusoe," Defoe wrote what is regarded as the first English novel, and created one of the most popular and enduring myths in literature.

Disappointed in friendship and love, and embittered by a false accusation, weaver Silas Marner retreats from the world with his loom, but soon finds his monastic existence forever changed by the arrival of an orphaned girl, whom he takes in and raises as his own daughter.

Set in the magical Wessex landscape so familiar from Thomas Hardy's early work, "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" is unique among his great novels for the intense feeling that he lavished upon his heroine, Tess, a pure woman betrayed by love. Hardy poured all of his profound empathy for both humanity and the rhythms of natural life into this story of her beauty, goodness, and tragic fate. In so doing, he created a character who, like Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina, has achieved classic stature.

Despite being abandoned by his parents, Tom Jones grows into a gallant and irresistible young man. Most of his time is spent romping through the English countryside, getting himself into all kinds of trouble with his good nature and unquenchable eye for women. After being betrayed by jealous relatives, Tom is exiled from home and must undergo a variety of trials in his quest to be reunited with his one true love and to redeem himself in the eyes of society. Filled with mischief and adventure, this bildungsroman is one of the most clever and witty novels ever written.

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.

Wilkie Collins's classic thriller took the world by storm on its first appearance in 1859. The novel's continuing fascination stems in part from a distinctive blend of melodrama, comedy, and realism; and in part from the power of its story. The catalyst for the mystery is Walter Hartright's encounter on a moonlit road with a mysterious woman dressed head to toe in white. Hartright soon learns that she may have escaped from an asylum and finds to his amazement that her story may be connected to that of the woman he secretly loves. Collins brilliantly uses the device of multiple narrators to weave a story in which no one can be trusted, and he also famously creates, in the figure of Count Fosco, the prototype of the suave, sophisticated evil genius.

The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women.

Robert Louis Stevenson's cherished, unforgettable adventure magically captures the thrill of a sea voyage and a treasure hunt through the eyes of its teenage protagonist, Jim Hawkins. Crossing the Atlantic in search of the buried cache, Jim and the ship's crew must brave the elements and a mutinous charge led by the quintessentially ruthless pirate Long John Silver. Brilliantly conceived and splendidly executed, it is a novel that has seized the imagination of generations of adults and children alike.

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time, "Ulysses" is a disillusioned study of estrangement, paralysis and the disintegration of society. It details a day in the life of Leopold Bloom, whose odyssey through the streets of turn-of-the-century Dublin leads him through trials that parallel those of Ulysses on his epic journey home.

This 19th century English novel, set in the wild moor country of Yorkshire, is about Heathcliff, a foundling raised in the Earnshaw home, who passionately loves Catherine. He dedicates his life to the realization of that love and revenge on those who oppose him.