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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.

A young woman, worn out after the birth of her baby, is taken by her husband, a doctor, to an old house rented for the summer. She is forbidden to write or work, and she spends her days in a room covered in hideous yellow wallpaper. She keeps a secret diary, and comes to believe that a figure is moving behind the pattern on the wall. Charlotte Perkins Gilman had been through such a rest cure herself, and this short story creates an unease that grows with every page. You can read it in one sitting in the language you are learning.

At twenty-nine, Valancy Stirling lives under the thumb of her mother and a family who make fun of her, in a small town in Ontario. She consoles herself by dreaming of a blue castle where she would at last be happy. The day a doctor tells her she has only a year to live, she decides to obey no one any more. At last she says what she thinks, leaves home and meets Barney Snaith, a mysterious man the whole town speaks ill of. A romantic comedy full of humour, about the courage to live for yourself at last. By the author of “Anne of Green Gables”, this radiant novel is a joy to read in the language you are learning.

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.

In a mining district in the north of Spain, la Nela, a poor orphan girl without beauty, acts as guide to Pablo, a young blind man. He loves her for her kindness and for the way she describes the world to him. One day, a famous surgeon arrives in the village, hoping to give Pablo his sight. A tender and poignant love story that asks a simple question: what will Pablo see when his eyes are opened? It is one of the best loved novels of Galdós, the great Spanish novelist. Its absorbing story and endearing characters make it enjoyable to read in the language you are learning.

This collection brings together four of Chekhov's finest stories. In “Ward No. 6”, a provincial doctor starts talking with a patient in his asylum and ends up wondering who is really mad. In “The Lady with the Dog”, a man and a woman, each married to someone else, meet in Yalta and fall into a love they had not foreseen. We also meet a bishop, alone and ill on the eve of Easter, and a young bride-to-be who decides to leave everything behind. Chekhov never judges: in a few pages, he makes you feel a whole life. You can read each of these stories in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In St Petersburg, Raskolnikov, a very poor former student, lives in a tiny room under the roof. He has convinced himself that certain exceptional men have the right to break the law, and he kills an old pawnbroker with an axe. From then on, fear and fever never leave him, while the cunning and patient magistrate Porfiry seems to read his thoughts. We know from the start who the murderer is, and yet the suspense never lets up: everything happens in his conscience. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this masterpiece by Dostoevsky in the language you are learning.

Pip, a young orphan, is brought up by his sister and her husband Joe, a kind-hearted blacksmith, in the Kent marshes. One evening in the churchyard, he comes across an escaped convict who terrifies him. Then he is invited to the house of Miss Havisham, an old lady who still wears her wedding dress, and who lives with the beautiful, cold Estella. The day an unknown benefactor offers to make him a gentleman in London, Pip's life is turned upside down. His dreams, his mistakes and his illusions make him one of Dickens's most endearing heroes. Pip tells his own story, and this great novel is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

In a quiet London suburb, twenty-one-year-old Ann Veronica Stanley is stifled by the authority of her father, who forbids her to go to a fancy-dress ball. She leaves home to live alone in London, study biology and run her own life. But money soon runs short, and a young woman's freedom has a price in those days. Wells caused a scandal with the story of this “New Woman”, who dares to claim the right to love and to choose, in the age of the suffragettes. Its lively, determined heroine makes it a gripping read in the language you are learning.

Alone in his house by the Seine, a man keeps a diary. After a fine Brazilian three-master sails past on the river, he sleeps badly, and when he wakes he finds that the water in his carafe has been drunk during the night. He becomes convinced that an invisible being is living beside him. Is he mad, or is something really there? Maupassant never decides, and that doubt is what makes it frightening. The volume also includes other stories by Maupassant. You can read each one in one sitting in the language you are learning.

On Wall Street, a lawyer takes on a new copyist, Bartleby, a pale, quiet young man who is very diligent at first. One day, when his employer asks him to check a copy with him, Bartleby simply replies: “I would prefer not to.” Then he gives the same answer to every request, without ever leaving the office. Funny and unsettling at once, this short story asks a question you do not forget: what do you do with someone who refuses everything, politely and without anger? His phrase, “I would prefer not to”, has become famous all over the world. You can read the story in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In Kentucky at the start of the twentieth century, an old mansion stands on Billy-goat Hill, a hill the town is slowly swallowing up. Colonel Bob Carsey lives there with his daughter, nicknamed Miss Lady, a free and joyful girl who has grown up out of doors. She falls in love with Donald Morley, a rich and unsteady young man whom the colonel distrusts. Part love story, part drama, this novel full of humour and tenderness is peopled with colourful characters from the poor part of town. Written with warmth and simplicity, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

Seneca, philosopher and adviser to the Emperor Nero, writes to those close to him to help them live better. The first of these six dialogues argues that life is not short, but that we waste it, busy with everything except living. The others speak of peace of mind, of the happy life and of the wise man's calm in the face of insults. His advice on the use of time and self-control still speaks to today's reader, and many of his sentences are made to be remembered. With the translation always in front of you, you can read this great classic in the language you are learning.

In Milan, in May 1831, Vittore, a former soldier of Napoleon, dies in poverty. His eldest son, Damiano, must then support his mother, his sister Stella and his young brother. Yet he dreams of being a painter, and has secretly learnt to draw from a poor old artist. Subtitled “Story of a Poor Family”, this novel brings to life the humble people of the outskirts of Milan. It speaks tenderly of duty, of poverty and of the dignity of ordinary people. This touching family story is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

Lucy Honeychurch, a young Englishwoman, is discovering Florence with her cousin, who keeps a close eye on her. At the pension, their room does not have the view they were promised. An odd old gentleman, Mr Emerson, then offers them his room and his son George's. Back in England, Lucy becomes engaged to Cecil, a cultured and very proper man, but she does not forget Italy. Part comedy, part love story, Forster gently pokes fun at convention and asks a simple question: should we listen to what is expected of us, or to what we feel? Its humorous dialogue makes it an enjoyable read in the language you are learning.

In 1908, in a seaside resort in the south of England, Ruth, a former housemaid, marries Ernie Caspar, a working man. He brings up little Alice, born before their marriage, as his own daughter. Children come along, Ernie loses his job and owes the rent to his brother Alf, who still wants Ruth. As strikes spread and war draws near, a trade unionist from the North falls in love with Ruth in his turn. It is a sensitive portrait of a working-class woman, strong and loyal, in England before 1914. Its absorbing story, close to everyday life, is easy to read in the language you are learning.

One June morning, a young man who calls himself Walker Farr is walking the roads of New England. He looks like a tramp, but he speaks like an educated man and hides his past. He stops at Marion, a cotton-mill town. Typhoid is striking its poor families, because of the water sold by Colonel Dodd's company. Dodd also controls the state's politicians. Asking nothing for himself, Farr joins the fight against him, and meets Kate Kilgour, Dodd's secretary. A lively novel about the courage of one man against a political machine. Absorbing from start to finish, this story is easy to read in the language you are learning.

John Algernon Owens tells the life of Willard Glazier, born into a modest family in New York State: his childhood on the farm, his years as a schoolteacher, then the Civil War in the Union cavalry, his capture, prison and escape. Now a successful writer, Glazier rides across the United States on horseback, then canoes down the Mississippi, whose true source he claims to have found, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. A life of adventure, told while its hero was still alive, from letters and articles of the time. Told like an adventure novel, this biography is a pleasure to read in the language you are learning.

In Vienna, Irene leads a quiet middle-class life with her husband, a lawyer, and their two children. One day, as she leaves the home of her lover, a young pianist, she is stopped by a woman she does not know. The woman accuses her of stealing this man from her, and demands money. The blackmail starts again, over and over, and the fear of being found out invades every moment of her family life. Zweig describes this anguish from the inside, with a tension that never lets the reader go. You can read this short story in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In a guesthouse on the Riviera, a married woman runs off with a young man she met the day before, and the other guests are outraged. Only the narrator defends her. Soon afterwards, an elderly Englishwoman, Mrs C., confides to him a secret she has kept for more than twenty years: a day in her life that began one evening at the Monte Carlo casino, watching the hands of a young gambler. Stefan Zweig is a master of the confession and of sudden passion: little by little we understand how twenty-four hours can turn a whole life upside down. You can read this short story in one sitting in the language you are learning.

In the Caucasus in the 1830s, an old captain tells a traveller the story of Pechorin, a young Russian officer who is brilliant, jaded and dangerous to those who love him. Then the traveller gets hold of his journal. In it we read how Pechorin seduces a princess out of sheer boredom, and how he fights a duel coldly, almost out of curiosity. Lermontov, who himself died in a duel at twenty-six, made Pechorin one of the most fascinating characters in Russian literature: a hero who is no hero. Made up of five short stories, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

In Kentucky, young Patricia Adair has to save Rosemeade, the family home where her grandfather lives. She writes a play based on her great-grandmother's love letters. In New York, the producer Godfrey Vandeford buys it without reading it. He is even counting on the play failing, to teach the star of his shows a lesson. But Patricia arrives on Broadway full of confidence, and nothing goes as planned. A love story full of humour and high spirits, between the meadows of Kentucky and the wings of the theatre. Its lively, light tone makes it an enjoyable 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.

Benjamin Franklin tells the story of his life to his son, starting from his years as an apprentice in his brother's printing shop in Boston. At seventeen he runs away and arrives in Philadelphia almost penniless, with three large loaves under his arm. There he becomes a printer, publishes a newspaper, founds a library, and sets himself thirteen virtues that he checks every day in a little notebook. It is one of the first stories of success through hard work, and many readers still find in it common-sense advice on getting organised and persuading others. Franklin writes with humour and simplicity, and his book is easy to read in the language you are learning.