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In Naples, while their fathers are away, Octave and Léandre have fallen in love. But these two miserly old men would never accept their sons' choice. The valet Scapin gets them out of trouble by inventing trick after trick to fool the fathers, even shutting one of them in a sack to give him a beating. Farce and wit mix in this comedy, in which Molière wrote one of his most famous lines: “What the devil was he doing in that galley?” Written in short, lively dialogue, it is easy to read 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.

This collection retells fourteen of Shakespeare's comedies and romances in prose. We meet the exiled magician of The Tempest on his island, the fairies who sow confusion in the wood near Athens, the merchant of Venice facing his moneylender, twins who are forever being mistaken for each other and a young woman disguised as a boy. Written in 1807 by Mary Lamb for young readers, these stories full of mix-ups, disguises and happy endings are a very gentle way into Shakespeare. Short and clear, each tale can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together nineteen comic stories. In the first, in Chelsea, Annette Brougham, a young pianist who is composing a waltz, goes upstairs to complain to her neighbour, a painter who bangs on the floor whenever she plays. The other stories range from English country houses to New York. We meet awkward lovers, a dreaded butler, an outstanding swimmer and even a Knight of the Round Table, from the pen of P. G. Wodehouse, one of the great masters of English humour. You can read each story in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In New York at the start of the twentieth century, William Destyn, a penniless young man, makes a living from magic tricks with mice dyed every colour. One of them, a green one, escapes into the flat of his neighbour, Ethelinda, a young painter. Now her husband, William invents a device that picks up “psychic currents” and links two people made for each other. With Ethelinda and her sister-in-law Sacharissa, he sets up a company called The Green Mouse to make his fortune. But every test leads to unexpected and comic encounters, in a light fantasy that has fun with science and love. Its lively dialogue makes it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

James diGriz, known as “Slippery Jim”, is a former master swindler, forcibly recruited by the Special Corps, a secret police force that operates among the stars. He is bored filing records when he discovers that a small, peaceful planet, Cittanuvo, is secretly building a giant battleship of a type that vanished a thousand years ago. Disguised as an admiral, he sets off to investigate alone. A humorous science fiction adventure, told by a hero who is as clever as he is cheeky. Lively and ironic, this short story can be read in one sitting in the language you are learning.

Rejected by his family and penniless, young Roderick Random leaves his native Scotland to seek his fortune in London, with his faithful friend Strap, a barber. Robbed, deceived and press-ganged into the navy, he becomes a surgeon's mate on a warship and lives through the Battle of Cartagena. Smollett had himself served as a naval surgeon, and his scenes on board are strikingly true to life. Full of hard knocks and satire, this adventure novel delighted Charles Dickens as a child. With the translation always in front of you, its humorous adventures are a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

In the little town of Tilling, nothing escapes Miss Mapp. From her window she watches the street, notes her neighbours' comings and goings, and spins a story out of every detail, often a false one. Between games of bridge, tea invitations and petty jealousies, she wages a quiet war to remain queen of the town. E. F. Benson gently mocks these tiny lives, where the smallest trifle becomes an affair of state. Miss Mapp has become a cult figure of British humour. With its sharp dialogue and light tone, this novel is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Frank to the point of bluntness, a young man from Tokyo accepts a post as a maths teacher in a small town on Shikoku. On his very first night on duty at the school, his pupils slip grasshoppers into his bed. His colleagues turn out to be even more devious, and he gives them nicknames, such as “Red Shirt”. As incapable of lying as of scheming, he takes sides and makes enemies. It is one of the best loved novels in Japan: its author, Natsume Sōseki, taught in Matsuyama himself, and the town has made the novel's hero its own. Told by the hero himself, with humour and plain speaking, this short novel is easy to read 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.

In London, Lionel Mortimer, a young barrister with no clients and a writer with no publisher, can no longer pay his rent. One day he stops a runaway horse and saves a young woman, Beatrice Blair. She tells him about a secret treaty coveted by several governments, and asks him to help her burgle a house to get it back. Lionel gladly agrees. Others join in, including Tony Wild, a rich idler in search of thrills. A light English comedy full of humour, in which a penniless hero becomes a burglar out of gallantry. Written with gusto, this novel will make you smile as you read it in the language you are learning.

Philipp, known as Pitt, is secretive and ironic, and nothing really excites him. His younger brother Fox, a fat, vain boy, boasts all the time and thinks he is destined for a great future. Sons of a small-town manufacturer, the two brothers go off to study and meet very different young women: a pianist from a good family, a future schoolmistress, the daughter of a rich banker. A subtle and slightly melancholy comedy about two opposite characters, and about their ways of loving. Its ironic tone makes it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

Chichikov arrives in a provincial town, charms all of polite society and pays visits to the landowners round about. He offers them a strange deal: to buy their dead serfs. These peasants have died since the last census, but they are still on the registers, and their masters still pay tax on them. From estate to estate come the miser, the boor, the suspicious widow and the dreamer: Gogol draws from them a gallery of irresistible portraits, and one of the funniest novels in Russian literature. With the translation always in front of you, this humorous novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Once a red-haired office boy, Torchy has become private secretary to the president of a big New York company. Married to Vee and a young father, he lives in the suburbs at the end of the First World War. At the office as at home, he meddles in the affairs of his colleagues, his neighbours and his friends, especially when love is involved. Seventeen linked comic stories, told by Torchy himself, with his New York straight talk and plenty of humour. Short and lively, they are easy to read in the language you are learning.