Short Classics- Fiction Fiction Title: A Christmas Carol Author: Dickens, Charles Summary: A wretched old man realizes how awful his life was, is, and will be when three ghosts take him on a field trip. Title: A Separate Peace Author: Knowles, Jonathan Summary: At a New Hampshire boys school during World War II, Gene gets sick of his friend, Phinneas, and pushes him out of a tree--or did he? Title: A Study in Scarlet Author: Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Summary: In the first of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the corpse has no visible wounds. Holmes solves the homicide and then has to explain it all to Watson. Title: Animal Farm Author: Orwell, George Summary: Orwell's bleak view of communism disguised as a "funny animal" story. Animals take over the farm and form a collective that succeeds until the pigs decide they're better than everyone else. Title: Billy Budd Author: Melville, Herman Summary: Young sailor has enough of a cruel superior and kills him. Nautical Law and Order in the 19th Century. Title: Brave New World Author: Huxley, Aldous Summary: In a world where everyone's worth is a matter of genetics, where anti-depressants are passed out like candy and movies are feelies, no one goes wanting but happiness is hard to find. Title: Candide Author: Voltaire Summary: A man living a terrible life remains utterly optimistic that there's something good in store for the world. Title: Captains Courageous Author: Kipling, Rudyard Summary: Young man is swept overboard, picked up by a fishing boat and forced to join its crew. The boat gets caught in a storm, a really big storm-not a perfect storm, because people survive. Title: Daisy Miller Author: James, Henry Summary: In 19th Century Europe, Mr. Winterborne wants Daisy, but she'd rather be kissing an Italian! Shocked Americans won't have anything to do with her. Title: Demian Author: Hesse, Herman Summary: Surreal and mystical. People need to be themselves, leave safety and traditional values behind, become amoral to take control of their fates--a chance to use words like Jungian, bourgeois, and gnosticism in a paper or book report. Title: Ethan Frome Author: Wharton, Edith Summary: A New England farmer marries the girl helping him with his sick parents and then falls in love with her cousin. Messy. Title: Fahrenheit 451 Author: Bradbury, Ray Summary: Fireman Guy Montag burns books to keep society happy. But then he starts hoarding and reading books himself, until he is turned in. Title: Frankenstein Author: Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Summary: No flat head, no neck bolts, and a normal I.Q.-find out what the original story was like, and why it is scarier when a smart monster threatens its creator. Title: Grendel Author: Gardner, John Summary: Read Beowulf from the monster's point of view. Likes to kill heroes, but he's not really BAD-you'll understand after you meet his mother. Title: Harold and Maude Author: Higgins, Colin Summary: A young man whose hobby is faking his own suicide falls in love with an old lady. Title: Heart of Darkness Author: Conrad, Joseph Summary: Marlowe goes to rotting, colonial Africa and is sent up the Congo in search of Kurtz. Title: I Heard the Owl Call My Name Author: Craven, Margaret Summary: A young clergyman named "Hoo-ooo" finds beauty in a Native American village and its culture as he grows more disgusted with the destructive influence white men have on it. Title: Lord of the Flies Author: Golding, William Summary: A group of schoolboys struggle to survive on an island after their plane crashes. After a while, they're not only hunting wild boar, they're hunting each other. Title: Metamorphosis Author: Kafka, Franz Summary: Gregor Samsa wakes up, discovers he has become a giant cockroach, deals with it. Title: Nausea Author: Sartre, Jean-Paul Summary: Nobody pukes. Roquentin wanders around looking at things, philosophically horrified or extremely bored. By the man who said, "Hell is other people." Title: Of Mice and Men Author: Steinbeck, John Summary: George (small and smart) and Lennie (big and stupid)-Lenny kills someone, George panics. Title: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Author: Joyce, James Summary: Wear black and read this in a coffee shop-guaranteed cachet. Joyce's first and least experimental (and therefore most understandable) novel takes you into the head of self-consciously literary young man, Stephen Daedelus. Title: Shane Author: Schaefer, Jack Warner Summary: A moral cowboy steps into the middle of a fight, sticks up for homesteaders when they're threatened by a cattle rancher, rides off into the sunset. Title: Siddhartha Author: Hesse, Herman Summary: A man listens to a river to find out about living. Very calming if you're agitated. Title: The Awakening Author: Chopin, Kate Summary: A woman in 19th century New Orleans, married with children, respectable, realizes it might be a whole lot more fulfilling to live a life of sin. Title: The Catcher in the Rye Author: Salinger, J. D. Summary: Cynical, pimple squeezing, smart-alec Holden thinks everyone's a phoney. Book is full of swearing, banned in 35+ states. Title: The Giver Author: Lowry, Lois Summary: The future is trouble free but joyless. Jonas just turned twelve and has been chosen for an honored position, but he learns the dark side along with his new job as "Receiver of Memories." Title: The Great Gatsby Author: Fitzgerald, F. Scott Summary: Mobster wears white suit, pines for Daisy Buchanen, learns "money can't buy me love." Title: The Invisible Man Author: Wells, H. G. Summary: Invisible man hangs out in a small English city, doesn't do any of the nasty things you would expect. Title: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Author: Irving, Washington Summary: Ichabod Crane, the original geeky schoolmaster, wants to marry the beautiful Katrina, but Brom Bones wants her, too. And there's some guy running around with a pumpkin for a head. Title: The Little Prince Author: Saint-Exupery, Antoine De Summary: A pilot lands in the desert, meets a precious little guy in pajamas who gives out wisdom for free. The prince could find happiness, but all he wants is his rose. Illustrated. Title: The Martian Chronicles Author: Bradbury, Ray Summary: This is science fiction for those who hate the genre--introspective short stories about the colonization and exploration of Mars. This is a quiet book about how people treat each other, and is NOT Star Wars. Title: The Old Man and the Sea Author: Hemingway, Ernest Summary: An old man tries to catch fish, keeps peeing over the side of the boat. Written in short sentences, this is very easy to understand. Title: The Outsiders Author: Hinton, S. E. Summary: Ponyboy's friend Johnny kills a "social" during a rumble, and they have to go into hiding. Title: The Pearl Author: Steinbeck, John Summary: Man and his wife find a large pearl and dream of a better life, but things don't work out for them. Title: The Red Badge of Courage Author: Crane, Stephen Summary: The Civil War: lots of smoke and shooting and rations of moldy cheese. Can you believe you had to reload after each shot? Title: The Stranger Author: Camus, Albert Summary: A guy's mother dies, guy goes into a funk (doesn't get closure), gets into a fight with an Arab and kills him. Then he sits there. Should have watched more Oprah. Title: The Turn of the Screw Author: James, Henry Summary: Stephen King too intense? Try this ghost story written too elegantly to be scary. Title: The War of the Worlds Author: Wells, H. G. Summary: Martians invade the earth in tall war machines and start vaporizing everyone in sight.