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In the America of the Roaring Twenties, the mysterious Jay Gatsby throws huge parties every weekend at his mansion by the water. His young neighbour gradually discovers what lies behind all this luxury: a youthful love that Gatsby has never forgotten. Beyond the love story, this short novel by Fitzgerald paints a critical portrait of a society fascinated by money and appearances. Fitzgerald writes with elegance and clarity, and his novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Marlow, an English sailor, agrees to take a steamboat up a great river in Africa, for a company that trades in ivory. All the way upriver, he hears about Kurtz, the company's most brilliant agent. Kurtz, who has settled in the depths of the forest, sends back more ivory on his own than all the others put together. But no one really knows what has become of him out there. This short tale takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the heart of colonisation, where power no longer has any limits. With the translation always in front of you, you can discover this story in the language you are learning.

Sunzi, also known as Sun Tzu, a Chinese general and strategist, sets out in thirteen short chapters the principles of war and victory. His central idea is still surprising: the best strategist wins without fighting, by knowing the enemy, knowing himself and choosing the right moment. These principles apply far beyond the battlefield. Today they are used in business, negotiation, sport and everyday life, to anticipate, decide and persuade more effectively. Its short, clear maxims can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

Epictetus, a former slave who became a philosopher, starts from a simple distinction. There are things that are up to us: our judgements, our desires and our choices. And there are things that are not: the body, money, other people's opinions. In short maxims, he teaches how to stop worrying about what is beyond our control, and to act on what is within our power. His advice helps us stay calm in the face of difficulties and feel less at the mercy of events. Many readers keep it close at hand all their lives. Its brief, clear sentences can be read one by one, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

In the sixteenth century, Machiavelli, a Florentine diplomat pushed out of power, writes this little treatise to explain how a prince seizes power and, above all, how he keeps it. He draws on examples from antiquity and from the Italy of his day, and gives blunt advice: is it better to be feared or loved, to keep your word or to know how to lie? It shows how those who govern, lead or negotiate think: his lessons on power held true then and still do today. The book is so clear-sighted that it gave rise to a word: “Machiavellian”. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great classic in the language you are learning.

Attributed to the Chinese sage Lao Tzu, this little book gathers eighty-one short poems about the Tao, the way that guides all things. It praises water, which overcomes stone through its softness, and emptiness, which makes a vessel useful. For more than two thousand years, its readers have learnt from it how to act without forcing, to stay simple and to find calm. Its very short texts can be read one by one, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

Victor Frankenstein, a young man from Geneva with a passion for science, succeeds in giving life to a being made of dead matter. Horrified by what he has created, he flees, and the creature, abandoned, has to find its own way in a world whose people reject it. This is the novel that gave birth to the most famous of all monsters. It asks a question that is still with us: what responsibility do we have towards what we create? A great novel to discover in the language you are learning, with the translation always in view.

In the midst of wars and the cares of power, Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, wrote notes for himself alone, to stay calm and just. In them he reminds himself of what really matters: doing your duty, accepting what you cannot change, and not letting others disturb you. These thoughts help us step back from everyday difficulties, and keep calm when everything around us is in turmoil. Short and clear, they can be read one by one, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

In London, a painter makes a portrait of Dorian Gray, a young man of extraordinary beauty. In front of the picture, Dorian makes a wish: to stay young for ever, and for the portrait to grow old in his place. Under the influence of the cynical Lord Henry, he throws himself into a life of pleasure, and each of his sins leaves a mark on the canvas. Dorian then hides the picture from everyone. A fascinating story about beauty, evil and the price of eternal youth, sparkling with Oscar Wilde's wit. Its witty dialogue makes it a captivating read in the language you are learning.

In Athens, the poet Agathon is celebrating his victory in the tragedy contest. His guests, Socrates among them, decide to spend the evening taking turns to praise Love. The comic poet Aristophanes tells how humans were once double, and how, cut in two by Zeus, they have been looking for their other half ever since. The expression “Platonic love” comes from this dialogue. Its questions still speak to everyone: why do we love, and what are we really looking for in another person? Written like a conversation between friends, with the translation always in front of you, this short dialogue reads easily in the language you are learning.

In 1848, on the eve of the revolutions, Marx and Engels publish this short text, which opens with a famous line: “A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of communism.” They describe history as a struggle between classes, trace the rise of the bourgeoisie and call on workers to unite. Whether or not you share its ideas, few texts have changed the world so much. Its last line, “Workers of the world, unite!”, is known everywhere, and reading it helps you understand a large part of the twentieth century. Written as a call to action, and with the translation always in front of you, it can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

After ten years alone in the mountains, the sage Zarathustra comes down among men to bring them news: “God is dead”. He urges them to stop following the values they have been taught, and to create their own. This book brought the idea of the Übermensch into our culture. Many readers still find in it a powerful call to become fully themselves. With the translation always in front of you, you can read these speeches, short and rhythmic like poems, in the language you are learning.

Back from Europe, Dr Simão Bacamarte settles in Itaguaí, a small town in Brazil, and opens an asylum there, the Green House, to study madness methodically. First he locks up a few slightly odd inhabitants, then respected people, then so many that the asylum ends up housing four fifths of the town. With biting irony, Machado de Assis, Brazil's greatest writer, asks a question that makes us smile and think: who decides what is normal? Full of humour, this short story can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Brought up in a castle in Westphalia, young Candide learns from his tutor Pangloss that “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”. Thrown out for kissing the lovely Cunégonde, he makes his way through war, the Inquisition, the Lisbon earthquake and the American colonies. At every disaster, Candide repeats his master's lesson, and Voltaire mocks, with fierce humour, those who want to explain everything. His phrase about “the best of all possible worlds” has stayed in everyone's memory. Its very short chapters and biting irony make it a tale that is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Fyodor Karamazov, a miserly and dissolute father, quarrels with his eldest son Dmitri over money and over the same woman. His two other sons take opposite paths: Ivan, tormented by the existence of evil, and gentle Alyosha, a novice in a monastery. One evening, the old man is murdered, and all suspicion falls on Dmitri. Both a murder investigation and a great family novel, it is Dostoevsky's last book, and for many readers his greatest. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this masterpiece in the language you are learning.

Ishmael, a young sailor, signs on at Nantucket aboard the Pequod, a whaler commanded by Captain Ahab. Ahab lost a leg to a white sperm whale, Moby Dick, and has only one idea left: to find it and kill it. This novel made the white whale the symbol of every obsession, and its first line, “Call me Ishmael”, is one of the most famous in literature. With the translation always in front of you, you can experience this great sea adventure in the language you are learning.

Descartes tells how, disappointed by everything he learnt at school, he decided to start again from scratch. He sets himself four simple rules for thinking well, and doubts everything, until he finds the one thing he cannot doubt: “I think, therefore I am”. A little book that changed the way we reason. Even today, it helps us think for ourselves, with method and a critical mind. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this founding text in the language you are learning.

Fifteen stories about Dublin around 1900, from childhood to adulthood. A schoolboy dreams of going to a grand bazaar, a young woman hesitates to leave everything behind for a sailor, an office clerk drowns his anger in drink, a family gathers for its annual dance at Christmas time. Joyce portrays ordinary people, caught in routine, at the moment their lives tip slightly. The collection ends with “The Dead”, one of the finest stories ever written. The stories are short and can be read one by one in the language you are learning.

In Cranford, a small country town, almost every house is kept by ladies, often poor, who never talk about money. The narrator, Mary Smith, spends long stays there with Miss Matty, the shy and very kind daughter of the late rector. Along the way we meet a cow dressed in flannel, a love turned down long ago and a fear of burglars that spreads through the whole town. Elizabeth Gaskell tells of these small lives with gentle humour. A funny, touching book about quiet kindness and helping one another. Made up of short scenes, like so many visits, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

One morning, Josef K., a senior bank official, is arrested at home without knowing why. Yet he is left free to go to work. The court trying him sits in suburban attics cluttered with files, and no one can tell him what he is accused of. Kafka had asked his friend Max Brod to burn this novel after his death, along with his other manuscripts. Max Brod refused. The word “Kafkaesque”, for any absurd situation where you get lost in rules and offices, comes largely from this book. With its strange, sometimes almost comic scenes, and the translation always in front of you, the novel reads well in the language you are learning.

In Ireland, young Stephen Dedalus grows up in a Catholic family that is slowly growing poorer. A pupil of the Jesuits, terrified for a time by a sermon on hell, he is even invited to become a priest. But he feels another calling growing inside him: the call of art. Joyce tells, barely disguised, the story of his own youth: how a sensitive boy becomes a writer who wants to think for himself. His hero bears the name of Daedalus, the figure from Greek mythology who made himself wings to escape. With the translation always in front of you, you can discover this great novel by Joyce in the language you are learning.

At the start of the twentieth century, Emma Goldman, who came from Russia to the United States at sixteen, travels the country defending anarchism, the dream of a society without masters. In these essays she attacks prisons, patriotism, loveless marriage and Puritan hypocrisy, and defends women's right to decide their own lives. Born from her lectures, her writing is direct and hard-hitting. Even today it makes us think about what makes each of us truly free. With the translation always in front of you, you can read these committed texts in the language you are learning.

After a shipwreck, Gulliver, a ship's surgeon, wakes up on a beach, tied to the ground by tiny cords: he is among the Lilliputians, a people six inches tall. On later voyages, he in turn becomes tiny in the land of the giants, then discovers a flying island and a country ruled by horses gifted with reason. Behind its fairy-tale air, it is a humorous satire of mankind and its quarrels. The book even left a word in the dictionary: “Lilliputian”. Gulliver tells of his travels like a ship's log, and this great classic is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Ivan Ilyich is a respected judge who has built himself a comfortable, honourable and well-ordered life. One day, after an ordinary fall, a strange pain appears in his side, and never leaves him. Little by little he realises that his illness is serious, and that his family would rather pretend to see nothing. Facing death, he wonders whether he has really lived. This short story by Tolstoy has lost none of its force: it asks the question everyone ends up asking, about what really matters. Written in a simple, direct style, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.