Books to Challenge Your Perspective

The Trial

240 pages

The Trial is a thought-provoking exploration of justice and the absurdity of life, making it a compelling read that challenges your perceptions.

The Double Annotated

236 pages

"The Double is a novella written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published on January 30, 1866.The Double centers on a government clerk who goes mad. It deals with the internal psychological struggle of its main character, Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin, who repeatedly encounters someone who is his exact double in appearance but confident, aggressive, and extroverted, characteristics that are the polar opposites to those of the toadying pushover protagonist. The motif of the novella is a doppelganger.Golyadkin is a titular councillor. This is rank 9 in the Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great. As rank eight led to hereditary nobility, being a titular councillor is symbolic of a low level bureaucrat still struggling to succeed. Golyadkin has a formative discussion with his Doctor Rutenspitz, who fears for his sanity and tells him that his behavior is dangerously antisocial. He prescribes cheerful company as the remedy. Golyadkin resolves to try this, and leaves the office. He proceeds to a birthday party for Klara Olsufyevna, the daughter of his office manager. He was uninvited, and a series of faux pas lead to his expulsion from the party. On his way home through a snowstorm, he encounters a man who looks exactly like him, his double. The following two thirds of the novel then deals with their evolving relationship."

501 Facts Factory

203 pages

Humans have not stopped building since they learned how to, and this book takes you on a fun, fact-packed tour of the architectural masterpieces and curiosities people have built over the centuries. From ancient monuments to lofty modern marvels, from technical feats to the fabulously fanciful, and from rich royal residences to sacred spiritual spaces, Amazing Buildings of the World covers forts and castles, palaces and pavilions, temples and shrines, museums and libraries, lighthouses and clock towers, and many more unusual buildings that will make you go ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’! With bite-sized information and photographs, this well-researched book gives you an entertaining peek into man-made structures worldwide. What are you waiting for? Step into the 501 Facts Factory to see a fascinating line-up of the most brilliant buildings ever.

Real

304 pages

Inspired by a true story. My name is Charity. I am thirteen years old. Actually, thirteen years plus eighty-seven days. I love sour gummies and pepperoni pizza. That last part no one knows because I have not spoken a sentence since I was born. Each dawning day, I live in terror of my unpredictable body that no one understands. Charity may have mad math skills and a near-perfect memory, but with a mouth that can't speak and a body that jumps, rocks, and howls unpredictably, most people incorrectly assume she cannot learn. Charity's brain works differently from most people's because of her autism, but she's still funny, determined, and kind. So why do people treat her like a disease or ignore her like she's invisible? When Charity's parents enroll her in a public junior high school, she faces her greatest fears. Will kids make fun of her? Will her behavior get her kicked out? Will her million thoughts stay locked in her head forever? With the support of teachers and newfound friends, Charity will have to fight to be treated like a real student. Inspired by a true story, Real speaks to all those who've ever felt they didn't belong and reminds readers that all people are worthy of being included.

We Were an Island

208 pages

A couple set out on a bold and vigorous quest for independence and a more essential way of life on a Maine island

The Gambler

258 pages

Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky , an Russian novelist and short story writer. He was born on 11th Nov 1821 and was died on 9th Feb 1881. His famous works includes: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.

The Brothers Karamazov

826 pages

Winner of the Pen/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize The award-winning translation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic novel of psychological realism. The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons—the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture. This award-winning translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky remains true to the verbal inventiveness of Dostoevsky’s prose, preserving the multiple voices, the humor, and the surprising modernity of the original. It is an achievement worthy of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel.

Nausea

196 pages

This classic Existentialist novel features a new Introduction by renowned poet, translator, and critic Richard Howard.

The Stranger

134 pages

With the intrigue of a psychological thriller, The Stranger—Camus's masterpiece—gives us the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach. With an Introduction by Peter Dunwoodie; translated by Matthew Ward. Behind the subterfuge, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd" and describes the condition of reckless alienation and spiritual exhaustion that characterized so much of twentieth-century life. “The Stranger is a strikingly modern text and Matthew Ward’s translation will enable readers to appreciate why Camus’s stoical anti-hero and ­devious narrator remains one of the key expressions of a postwar Western malaise, and one of the cleverest exponents of a literature of ambiguity.” –from the Introduction by Peter Dunwoodie First published in 1946; now in translation by Matthew Ward.

A Clockwork Orange (Restored Text)

273 pages

A frightening story of good and evil. A fifteen year old boy named Alex, who is in trouble with the authorities. The state wants to reform him.

East of Eden

609 pages

A masterpiece of Biblical scope, and the magnum opus of one of America’s most enduring authors, in a commemorative hardcover edition In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The masterpiece of Steinbeck’s later years, East of Eden is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. Adapted for the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean, and read by thousands as the book that brought Oprah’s Book Club back, East of Eden has remained vitally present in American culture for over half a century.

The Fall

162 pages

Camus' works are rich with existential themes that provoke deep thought, making them intriguing reads for anyone interested in philosophy.

The Castle

319 pages

The Castle delves into themes of bureaucracy and alienation, offering a fascinating narrative that keeps you questioning the nature of authority.

Stories of Your Life and Others

340 pages

This fantastic collection of short stories explores profound themes, making it a compelling read for anyone interested in the search for meaning.

1984

309 pages

75th ANNIVERSARY EDITION “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.

The Giver

210 pages

At the age of twelve, Jonas, a young boy from a seemingly utopian, futuristic world, is singled out to receive special training from The Giver, who alone holds the memories of the true joys and pain of life. An ALA Notable Book for Children & Newbery Medal Winner. Reissue.

The Pillars of the Earth

994 pages

It's an amazing series that can pull you out of a reading rut and immerse you in a captivating story.

Kafka on the Shore

481 pages

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the acclaimed author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and one of the world’s greatest storytellers comes “an insistently metaphysical mind-bender” (The New Yorker) about a teenager on the run and a deceptively simple old man. Now with a new introduction by the author. Here we meet fifteen-year-old runaway Kafka Tamura and the elderly Nakata, who is drawn to Kafka for reasons that he cannot fathom. As their paths converge, acclaimed author Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder, in what is a truly remarkable journey. “As powerful as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.... Reading Murakami ... is a striking experience in consciousness expansion.”—Chicago Tribune