The vault - urStreams.com

The vault: books for all times and every time

Tags

books / plays / poetry / literature / drama

Emma by Jane Austen: An endearingly sarcastic triumph of romance.

View

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: An easily-led and naïve girl who sees life as the next gothic novel begins to find her way in the world.

View

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Austen's most-loved heroine slowly loses her prejudice when it meets its match in pride.

View

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: Seductive as excitement is, kindness and good sense ultimately win in this romantic novel.

View

Persuasion by Jane Austen: The autobiographical hints in this novel, about a spinster finding love, has made it one of Austen's most popular.

View

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: A clash of classes, wills and fate all mingle to make an amazing love-story.

View

Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte: The tragedy of love and of unrequited love; incredible characterisation.

View

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: An extremely valuable moonstone is stolen, and its pursuit is followed through the narrative, introducing in beautiful language some of literature's most alive characters.

View

Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky: Two beautifully crafted short stories about the effect of the Second World War on life in France

View

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks: Sebastian Faulks’ eye-opening account of World War One

View

Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks: The adventures of a young woman acting as a secret agent in France in the Second World War

View

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks: Faulks' latest novel, set in Cambridge, reveals the mind of a socially unstable man, whose actions have devastating consequences.

View

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan: His short novel poignantly demonstrates the terrible consequences of lack of communication.

View

Atonement by McEwan: McEwan's best-known novel is a love-story, a war-document, and an incredible investigation into literature itself.

View

The Child in Time by Ian McEwan: A poignant yet life-affirming exploration of the difference between the states of adult and child, and the ability of these states to, along with time, fluctuate.

View

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan: A thrilling novel that throws narrative into doubt along with everything else.

View

Bleak House by Charles Dickens: One of Dickens’ finest novels concerning a long-running legal dispute with far-reaching consequences for all involved

View

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: Dicken's classic sees young Pip grow up; and entailed in the process is the subversion of everything he thinks he knows.

View

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: In the depths of the Great Depression, small farmers refuse to give up their dignity and spirit, retaining the dream that life can be better.

View

The Pearl by John Steinbeck: A tragic novel about the corruption of wealth.

View

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck: America in the Depression – an unforgiving place, where even friendship is pushed to its limits.

View

On the Road by Jack Kerouac: An account of travelling across America in the fifties, and the fast-living ethos that saturates its characters.

View

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: The horror of trading one's soul for one's beauty.

View

Paradise Lost by John Milton: John Milton’s great British epic, about the fall of man

View

The Go Between by L. P. Hartley: A novel exploring growing-up, the lack of understanding a child has in an adults' world, and the devastating impact of a sexual awakening too early.

View

Utopia by Thomas More: A new world: does it advocate early communism, or is it a parody of an undemocratic society?

View

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: Love brings only horror: fantastic portrayal of paranoia intermingling with truth.

View

1984 by George Orwell: An alternate world, where private life made public and utter loyalty due to Big Brother on pain of torture in room 101.

View

Animal Farm by George Orwell: George Orwell’s unique and clever critique of Communist Russia

View

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell: George Orwell’s semi-autobiographical account of living in poverty in Paris and London

View

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett: A child leaves her home of India and must adapt to life as a semi-orphan in England – and then to life as a servant, when her fortunes change.

View

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: Fantastic imagination – the novel is a classic for children and adults alike.

View

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: The iconic story of Scarlett O’Hara set in the Old South during the American Civil War

View

Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams: Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize winning play about the culture clash typified in the relationship between Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski

View

All My Sons by Arthur Miller: Arthur Miller’s play about the individual’s responsibility to society above all else

View

Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill: O’Neill’s heart-rending semi-autobiographical play about the effects of addiction

View

High Windows by Philip Larkin: A collection of verse by Philip Larkin, confirming him as one of the finest poets in British literary history

View

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, two “star-cross’d lovers” in a fit of teenaged angst

View

Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s dark tragedy of revenge, grief and moral corruption

View

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy

View

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s famous sonnets, primarily concerned with love, beauty, politics and mortality

View

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

This is a link to an external website that is not part of urStreams.com or the Stream Media Network.

We cannot be held responsible for the content held on external websites, nor any damages that may arise due to clicking on this link.

If you understand and agree to these conditions, click here to continue to /view/4754.

Info
X

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak: In a beautiful story, a man is torn between two women, against the backdrop of the Russian revolution and subsequent civil war

View

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl: The story of Charlie Bucket inside the eccentric Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

View

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memories of her childhood in the American Midwest in the late 1800s

View

The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling: J. K. Rowling’s immortal children’s series about Harry, Ron and Hermione, enjoyed by those of all ages

View

Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot: So good, it’s recommended by a dog lover! T. S. Eliot’s whimsical collection of poetry about cats

View

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: The decay of the American Dream as it shifts from the pursuit of happiness and individualism to the pursuit of money

View

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: Edith Wharton questions the assumptions and morals of New York society at the turn of the century

View

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote: The characters create this short novel; an absolute must-read.

View

Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres: This charming novel centres around the war romance between an Italian captain and the daughter of a Greek doctor in Cephallonia.

View

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah: The true story of an unwanted girl, regarded by her family as a bad omen because her mother died in childbirth.

View

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer: Chaucer’s savagely funny tales, exposing human nature in its truest form

View

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie: Rushdie’s unique chronicling of events in India’s history

View

Watership Down by Richard Adams: A revealing and thoughtful masterpiece about rabbits finding a home.

View

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: Woolf's streams of consciousness weave together to create this masterpiece.

View

Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt: Romance and academia: the exploration of the researcher’s sense of ownership over his subject

View

Beloved by Toni Morrison: A rich, personal and historical account of the impact of slavery

View

Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy: Hardy’s powerful criticism of social conventions in a moving and poetic novel

View

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway: The despair of Frederic and Catherine, two lovers caught up in the First World War

View

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: To get out of the war, you have to be mad; if you claim to be mad, you surely must be sane. The ultimate Catch-22.

View

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Racism and childhood, and the virtue of strength and the pursuit of what you know to be right.

View

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: Sylvia Plath’s semi autobiographical novel about the descent into mental illness

View

The Color Purple by Alice Walker: The novel explores class, race, sexuality and friendship, in beautifully written letters, first to God and then to the protagonist's sister.

View

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: Don't expect Dr Who – time travel involves sadness as well as excitement. Brilliant mixed narrative.

View

The Gathering by Anne Enright: The Booker prize winning novel about love, secrets and disappointment

View

The Shining by Stephen King: Stephen King’s classic story of horror, isolation and the descent into madness

View

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: Ray Bradbury takes the reader to a time where reading is outlawed and firemen are little more than book-burners

View

Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey: The impact of a bet between obsessive gamblers

View

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Hester Prynne, persecuted for adultery by her community, nurtures her independence despite her lover’s hesitation and her husband’s scheming

View

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: The heart-warming story of the four March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy

View

England, England by Julian Barnes: A savage satire of “Englishness” at the end of the twentieth century

View

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt: Friendship, age, work, children, life – beautifully expressed.

View

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: An architect follows his own vision instead of pandering to a crowd who want only the fashion: the difficulty of living life as you see it should be lived.

View

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: A man who has invented one of the cleverest machines of the industrial age allows it to be destroyed – and for the good of mankind. A novel that redefines every preconception.

View

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing: The birth of a fifth child disrupts a harmonious family; the novel forces questions about the extent to which parents are responsible for their children, and what is left for them to do when the child represents a devil-like figure.

View

The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory: Elizabeth I, the virgin queen, has a lover...and it isn't any of her potential suitors.

View

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory: Katherine of Aragon's story: her determination to become Queen of England sees her marry her husband's brother.

View

The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory: Young Hannah seeks refuge as a Jew in a Christian world – and finds potentially blasphemous work in the court of the king.

View

Anita and Me by Meera Syal: A Punjabi girl growing up in Britain in the Sixties tries to find her way in a world where each of her cultures are changing.

View

The Good German by Joseph Kanon: Set in the aftermath of the Second World War, amidst intrigue, occupation, and adjustment.

View

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby: Three strangers find themselves at the top of the same tower block, ready to throw themselves off

View

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby: Nick Hornby shows football fans in a good light in his witty semi-autobiographical homage to football

View

About a Boy by Nick Hornby: An unlikely friendship between a thirty six year old bachelor and an eccentric twelve year old

View

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis: C. S. Lewis’ much loved fantasy series for children

View

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger: In the midst of teenage angst and rebellion, Holden Caulfield displays disturbing cynicism about life and people

View

Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller: A creepy and riveting account of a teacher’s affair with a pupil from the view of her colleague

View

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen: Brian is stranded in the Canadian wilderness with only a hatchet for his survival.

View

Hatchet: The Return by Gary Paulsen: Brian's pangs for the forest and the life he, and no one else, understands, see him return to the wilderness – only to find himself facing an even trickier situation than last time.

View

Hatchet: Winter by Gary Paulsen: Survival in the winter is an entirely different experience to summer self-sufficiency.

View

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro: A most British man talks of his life and his past; his politeness and 'Englishness' see him act with restraint when openness might be more appropriate.

View

The Outsider by Albert Camus: Is it one's social duty to love one's mother, and to feel sorrow for a murder committed in passion?

View

Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood: Escape and insight into the past.

View

Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker: A play exploring the influx in the late seventeenth-century of English prisoners to Aboriginal land.

View

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons: Stella Gibbons parodies the romanticised, doom-laden accounts of rural life

View

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys: Jean Rhys’ prequel to Jane Eyre portrays Bertha and Rochester in an entirely different light

View

Stream The vault

Tags

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka