Gretta Wallace
These are all the books I'd like to read in my lifetime.
Plato’s masterpiece is not only the foundation-stone of Western philosophy, but also a stunning work of literature in which Plato shows his full range as a writer. The Republic is presented as a dialogue between Socrates and a series of interlocutors, as they attempt to devise the perfect state.
Mathieu Delarue is a philosophy professor who needs to procure an abortion for his mistress. Over the course of the novel, we follow him as he is forced to make tough decisions and take a hard look at himself and his life. Sartre shows us, slowly, painfully, how freedom suffocates Mathieu – lacking direction, the multitude of choices available to him is also his downfall.
Huxley’s brilliant dystopian novel is a dire warning about societies which allow themselves to be consumed by the seeking of pleasure.
Written by the famous Karl Marx and his comrade Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto is a blueprint for a new type of society without the rampant exploitation that Marx saw in the Europe of his day
It’s widely acclaimed for its haunting vision of an all-knowing government which uses pervasive, 24/7 surveillance tactics to manipulate all citizens of the populace.
Romantic young doctor’s idealism is trampled by the atrocities of the Russian Revolution.
Scholar’s sexual obsession with a prepubescent "nymphet" is complicated by her mother’s passion for him.
Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists.
An ex-convict struggles to become a force for good, but it ends badly.
Monomaniacal Captain Ahab seeks vengeance on the white whale that ate his leg.
A story of love from a father to his son. I dare you to read it and not shed a tear at the end.
A fascinating insight into human nature and society through the eyes of children.
