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One morning, Gregor Samsa, a humble travelling salesman, wakes up transformed into an enormous insect. Shut in his room, he can no longer work, and his family, who depended on his wages, have to learn to live with him. This short story, unsettling and shot through with dark humour, shows what is left of a man when his family sees him only as a burden. Kafka writes in simple, precise sentences: an ideal text for a first read in the language you are learning.

Alice, a curious little girl, follows a white rabbit in a great hurry and falls down a rabbit hole that leads her to a strange land. There she grows, shrinks, and meets the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and a queen who wants to cut off everyone's head. Between dream and nonsense, this tale plays endlessly with words and logic, and is just as enjoyable at any age. Its simple sentences and lively dialogue make it an ideal first classic to read 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.

In a small village in the Hudson Valley, people say that a headless horseman gallops along the roads at night. Ichabod Crane, a thin and very superstitious schoolmaster, courts the daughter of a rich local farmer, under the eye of a rival far brawnier than he is. Both funny and eerie, this short tale is one of America's most famous ghost stories, perfect for an autumn evening. You can read it in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, King Agamemnon takes from Achilles the captive woman who was his prize. Furious, the greatest warrior of the Greeks withdraws to his tent and refuses to fight. Without him, the Greek army falls back, and the Trojan Hector leads his men right up to the wall that protects the ships. The poem opens with the “wrath” of Achilles, and the whole story flows from it. It is the first great story of European literature, and some scenes, such as Hector's farewell to his wife Andromache, are still moving today. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great poem 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.

A forbidden play is circulating under the title “The King in Yellow”. The first act seems innocent, but whoever reads the second falls into madness. In this collection of stories, a man believes he is destined to rule America, a sculptor discovers a liquid that turns living things into marble, and a painter is haunted by the watchman of a nearby church. Here we discover Carcosa and the Yellow Sign, mysteries that fascinated H. P. Lovecraft and many writers after him. The fear comes from what is never quite said. The stories can be read one by one, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

One winter evening, Alice climbs through the drawing-room mirror and finds a house where everything is reversed. Outside, the countryside forms a huge chessboard, which Alice must cross square by square to become a queen. On the way she meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty sitting on his wall, and a Red Queen who keeps running just to stay in the same place. In this sequel to “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, the games with words and logic are even more plentiful. It is here that the famous poem “Jabberwocky” appears. Its simple sentences and lively dialogue make it an ideal classic to read in the language you are learning.

This little collection brings together Zhu Ziqing's most famous prose pieces. In “The Sight of Father's Back”, a clumsy father crosses the tracks at a station to buy oranges for his son. Elsewhere, the author walks at night around a lotus pond under the moon, or glides in a boat along the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. Studied in every school in China, these texts have made this father seen from behind one of the most moving memories in Chinese literature. Short, tender and very musical, they can be read one by one, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

Hank Morgan, a foreman in a Connecticut arms factory, gets a blow on the head and wakes up in King Arthur's England, in the sixth century. Sentenced to be burnt at the stake, he saves himself by announcing an eclipse of the sun whose date he knows, and is at once taken for a magician more powerful than Merlin. Now known as “the Boss”, he brings the telegraph, newspapers and schools to the Knights of the Round Table. Mark Twain has fun with this clash between two eras, in one of the very first time-travel novels. Full of humour and lively dialogue, the novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

The Trojans have reached the Greek ships, and fire threatens the fleet. Patroclus, Achilles' friend, is allowed to wear his armour to drive them back, but he falls at Hector's hands. Mad with grief, Achilles returns to battle, with armour forged by the god Hephaestus, and seeks out Hector beneath the walls of Troy. This second volume contains the most famous pages of the poem, those of mourning, of vengeance and of the pity an enemy can still inspire. Nearly three thousand years later, they have lost none of their force. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great tale in the language you are learning.

Louise Guiney paints portraits of six people from old England who have stayed in the shadow of the great names, among them a friend of the poet John Donne and two friends of Samuel Johnson. From 1561 to 1830, she follows their families, their friendships and their work. These lively portraits, full of true detail, take us into three centuries of English life by the side door, the door of friendship and everyday life. Each portrait can be read on its own, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.