F. Scott Fitzgerald published this captivating short story in 1926, a year after The Great Gatsby. One of his most famous short stories, Fitzgerald wrote “The Rich Boy” about one of his friends in the guise of a wealthy, old-money protagonist, Anson Hunter, and the effects of wealth on his character and thus with women, love, and life. It originally appeared in two parts, in the January and February 1926 issues of Redbook. “The Rich Boy” is a masterpiece of twentieth-century American fiction.

A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love and vanishing illusions.

Audiobook narrators Mike Vendetti and Kathy Verduin bring Hemingway's classic masterpiece "The Sun Also Rises" to life. Travel with them through pre-WWII Europe as Hemingway explores the dysfunctional relationship of friends drawn together by a beautiful, troubled, and often confused woman, plus the drama and excitement of the bullfights.

In this new recording, Paapa Essiedu breathes new life into the classic tale. Robert Louis Stevenson's dark psychological fantasy follows a respectable London lawyer as he investigates the strange relationship between his old friend Dr Henry Jekyll and the evil Edward Hyde. Its sensitive portrayal of man's dual nature is moving, beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.

Eight-year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of 16, she's competing for the US Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting.

In 1908, at the age of two, Henry Pu Yi ascended to become the last emperor of the centuries-old Manchu dynasty. After revolutionaries forced Pu Yi to abdicate in 1911, the young emperor lived for 13 years in Peking’s Forbidden City, but with none of the power his birth afforded him. The remainder of Pu Yi’s life was lived out in a topsy-turvy fashion: fleeing from a Chinese warlord, becoming head of a Japanese puppet state, being confined to a Russian prison in Siberia, and enduring taxing labor.

Minimalism is a lifestyle and a mindset that prioritizes simplicity, intentionality, and purpose. It involves letting go of excess possessions and distractions and focusing on what truly matters to you. By simplifying your life, you can create more space for the things that are truly important to you, such as relationships, experiences, and personal growth. In this audiobook, learn about the principles of minimalism and how they can be applied to different areas of your life. You will learn how to declutter your home and create a more intentional and purposeful life.

Harry Benson suffers from violent seizures. So violent that he often blacks out when they take hold. Shortly after severely beating two men during an episode, the police escort Benson to a Los Angeles hospital for treatment. There, Dr. Roger McPherson, head of the prestigious Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, is convinced he can cure Benson with an experimental procedure that would place electrodes deep in his brain's pleasure centers.

Trevor White reads Mark Twain's timeless tale about friendship and loyalty set in America's Deep South. Tom Sawyer is a fun-loving and adventurous boy who always tries to keep one step ahead of his long-suffering Aunt Polly. Who wouldn't want to skip school when there are adventures to be had along the banks of the Mississippi River? Tom gets into plenty of scrapes with his friend Huckleberry Finn. But the innocent and child-like japes turn for the worse as the two boys witness an event that has them fearing for their lives....

A land-surveyor, known only as K., arrives at a small village permanently covered in snow and dominated by a castle to which access seems permanently denied. K.'s attempts to discover why he has been called constantly run up against the peasant villagers, who are in thrall to the absurd bureaucracy that keeps the castle shut, and the rigid hierarchy of power among the self-serving bureaucrats themselves.

On their Martha’s Vineyard estate, the Carter family prepares to celebrate. But when the billionaire patriarch dies right before his seventieth birthday, the media is quick to question the future of the multi-industry conglomerate that makes the Carters living legends. Amid the succession crisis, his daughter, Kennedy, is questioning her father’s past.

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles.

Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.

Paul Auster's signature work, The New York Trilogy, consists of three interlocking novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room - haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller.

The hero of Everyman is obsessed with mortality. As he reminds himself at one point, "I'm 34! Worry about oblivion when you're 75." But he cannot help himself. He is the ex-husband in three marriages gone wrong. He is the father of two sons who detest him, despite a daughter who adores him. A masterful portrait of one man's inner struggles, Everyman is a brilliant showcase for one of the world's most distinguished novelists.

Twenty-two years of marriage, and all Becca Larkin’s divorce settlement includes is a live-aboard sailboat and a huge helping of heartache. So when normally cautious Becca proposes a girls’ trip with her daughter, Liv, boating from Maine to a ready buyer for the boat in Miami, it seems like a recipe for a fun summer and a fresh start. After all, how hard can this sailing thing be?

In C. S. Lewis: Writer, Scholar, Seeker, Dr. Sørina Higgins will take you on a fascinating expedition through the life and work of this influential author, examining the crucial events and relationships that shaped his personal, literary, and spiritual journeys.

Against the mythical dreamscape of America, Auster brilliantly weaves the bizarre narrative of Marco Stanley Fogg, an orphan searching for love, his father, and the key to the riddle of his origin and fate.

Ernest Hemingway's first novel, The Sun Also Rises, follows the adventures of a group of young, hard-drinking, American expatriates - which Hemingway refers to as the "Lost Generation" - as they pinball through Europe, from France to Spain and back again.

As she emerges from the prison of a Puritan New England town, Hester Prynne defies the dark gloom much as the rose blooms against the prison door. With her illegitimate baby, Pearl, clutched in her arms and the letter A - the mark of an adulteress - embroidered in scarlet thread on her breast, Hester holds her head high as she faces the malice and scorn of the townsfolk. Her powerful, bittersweet story is an American classic that continues to touch the hearts of modern readers with its timeless themes of guilt, passion and repentance.

Long considered one of the best American novels of our time, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable tale of an American ambulance driver and his passionate affair with a beautiful English nurse. Set against the backdrop of World War I, this gripping semi-autobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war as only Hemingway can. A story of love and pain, loyalty and desertion, A Farewell to Arms paints an intimate portrait of the pain and intensity of a love overshadowed by the inexorable creep of global war.

New American Stories presents diverse stories of contemporary American life and dreams lost and found, by four of the best young contemporary writers - Jhumpa Lahiri, Sherman Alexie, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Aleksandar Hemon - as performed by terrific stage and screen actors. All four writers have a unique perspective on the American experience, which is reflected in their work.

When his closest friend, Benjamin Sachs, accidentally blows himself up on a Wisconsin road, Peter Aaron attempts to piece together the life that led to Sachs' tragic demise and determine the reason for his death.

One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike ( Gone Girl). In her bright and energetic performance of this British classic, she expertly captures Austen’s signature wit and tone. Her attention to detail, her literary background, and her performance in the 2005 feature film version of the novel provide the perfect foundation from which to convey the story of Elizabeth Bennet, her four sisters, and the inimitable Mr. Darcy.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.