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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.

To escape their obligations, two young men from London society lie with great aplomb. Jack invents a brother called Ernest, and goes by that name whenever he goes off to enjoy himself in town. Algernon invents a sick friend to escape boring dinners. Things get complicated when two young women declare that they will only marry a man named Ernest. It is Oscar Wilde's funniest comedy, in which every line sparkles with wit. Written in short, lively dialogue, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

After the Trojan War, Odysseus wants to return home to his island of Ithaca. But it will take him ten years of wandering: he faces the Cyclops, escapes the song of the Sirens and resists the charms of the enchantress Circe. Meanwhile, his wife Penelope fends off the suitors who have overrun her palace. It is the greatest adventure in literature, so much so that its title has become a word: an odyssey. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great tale 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.

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 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.

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.

After years in Paris, Lyubov Ranevskaya returns to her country estate, which is riddled with debt. A decision must be made about the cherry orchard, the garden of her childhood. Around her gather her brother, her daughters, the old manservant, an eternal student and a merchant whose father was a serf of the family. It is Chekhov's last play, which he himself called a comedy: it blends laughter and melancholy in a gentle farewell to a world that is fading away. Written entirely in dialogue, this short play is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Gustav von Aschenbach, a famous ageing writer worn out by work, goes to Venice to rest. In his grand hotel on the Lido, he is fascinated by a young Polish boy, Tadzio, whose beauty seems perfect to him. Meanwhile, an epidemic is secretly spreading through the city. This short novel is about the fascination of beauty, and about a very self-controlled man who little by little loses all control. It is one of the most famous stories of the twentieth century. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this masterpiece in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together nine fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. A golden statue and a swallow help the poor of the town, a nightingale wants to give a red rose to a student in love, and a selfish giant sees his garden stay locked in winter. We also meet a young king, an Infanta and a fisherman ready to give up his soul. Written for children as much as for adults, these poetic and ironic tales still move readers more than a century later. You can read each tale in one sitting in the language you are learning.

On a fine June morning in London, Clarissa Dalloway is preparing the party she is giving that evening. As the day goes by, marked by the chimes of Big Ben, she thinks back to her youth and to Peter Walsh, the man she did not marry. Elsewhere in the city, Septimus, a former soldier, still carries the war inside him. The whole novel takes place in a single day, and we move from one character to another as if we could hear them think. Its first line, in which Mrs Dalloway says she will buy the flowers herself, has become famous. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great classic 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.

In the Spain of old legends, a hunter finds a woman with green eyes beside a hidden spring. A young poet runs through the night after an unknown woman who may be nothing but a moonbeam. Elsewhere, a blind organist plays music that lives on after death. This collection brings together six of these tales, somewhere between dream and shiver. Bécquer, a great poet of Spanish Romanticism, tells them as if by the fireside, in a simple, musical style. Each tale is short and can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Perdican, who has just taken his doctorate, returns to the family castle, where his father wants him to marry his cousin Camille, who has only just left the convent. Camille rejects him. To sting her, Perdican pretends to court Rosette, a young peasant girl, and the game of pride between the two cousins grows more and more dangerous. Between laughter and tears, this play by Musset holds one of the finest speeches about love, and its title has become a saying in French: you do not trifle with love. Written in short, lively dialogue, it can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Silvia is to marry Dorante, whom she has never seen. To observe him without being recognised, she takes the place of her maid Lisette. But Dorante has had exactly the same idea, and arrives disguised as a manservant. Each then falls in love with someone they believe to be a servant, and no longer knows what to do with their heart. It is Marivaux's most famous comedy, a very subtle game of masks and feelings. Its author even gave a word to the French language: marivaudage. Written in short, lively dialogue, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Tonio Kröger, son of a respected family in Lübeck, grows up feeling different. He admires his schoolfellow Hans Hansen, blond and sure of himself, then falls in love with blonde Inge, who does not notice him. Once he becomes a writer, he feels at home neither among artists nor among the “normal” people he secretly envies. Thomas Mann put a great deal of himself into it: it is a book for everyone who has ever felt like an outsider. This short story reads well in the language you are learning, with the translation always in view.

In 1845, Henry David Thoreau builds a cabin with his own hands beside Walden Pond, in the woods of Massachusetts, and lives there alone for two years. He grows beans, watches the seasons and the animals, and reduces his needs to the bare essentials. A book that invites you to ask what you really need in order to live. It has become a touchstone for everyone seeking a simpler, freer life, closer to nature. With the translation always in front of you, you can read it chapter by chapter, at your own pace, in the language you are learning.

This collection retells six great tragedies by Shakespeare in prose. Here are Prince Hamlet, who wants to avenge his father, Macbeth, driven to crime by his wife, Othello, the jealous Moor, and old King Lear, betrayed by his daughters. Romeo and Juliet, the lovers of Verona, are here too, with the fabulously rich Timon of Athens. Written in 1807 for young readers, these tales keep Shakespeare's own words in the most famous passages. It is the simplest way into his work. Simply told, these stories are easy 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.

Eight years ago, on the advice of those close to her, Anne Elliot gave up marrying Frederick Wentworth, a young naval officer with no fortune. Now her father, ruined by his vanity, has to let the family estate. And Wentworth returns, now a captain, rich and much sought after. Anne sees him again and again, but nothing is ever said openly. Jane Austen's last completed novel tells of a second chance at love, with the subtlety and irony that made her famous. Its witty dialogue and endearing heroine make it an enjoyable read 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.

Settled in an old windmill in Provence, Daudet writes to his Parisian readers with stories from the region. We meet Monsieur Seguin's goat, who dreams of freedom in the mountains, the priest of Cucugnan, who makes his parishioners tremble with a sermon about hell, and Father Gaucher, whose elixir makes his monastery's fortune. Part farce, part legend, part melancholy, these tales are known to generations of children, and you can feel the sun and the mistral on every page. Short and written in a simple, musical style, they can be read one by one in the language you are learning.