Alphonse Daudet
Letters from My Windmill: what to read next?
Books close in genre, era, author or reading level, to read in bilingual editions.
Jane AustenEmmaEmma Woodhouse, young, rich and sure of her judgement, has made a pastime of arranging the marriages around her. Convinced she is working for the happiness of others, she guides a friend of no fortune and reads everyone's intentions in her own way. Her arrangements slowly turn…Same genre
Jane AustenPride and PrejudiceElizabeth Bennet, the second of five sisters, belongs to a family of minor English gentry where marriage decides a daughter's future. The arrival of a wealthy neighbour and of his friend Darcy, thought haughty, unsettles the whole neighbourhood. Between gossip and hasty…Same genre
Nikolai GogolDead SoulsChichikov arrives in a provincial town, charms everyone who matters, and calls on the landowners nearby. He offers them a peculiar bargain: to buy the serfs who have died since the last census but still stand on the registers and are taxed to their owners. From estate to estate…Same genreSame era
Miguel de CervantesDon QuixoteA gentleman of La Mancha has read so many books of chivalry that he sets out as a knight errant under the name Don Quixote. On a broken-down horse, with Sancho Panza, a talkative and practical farmer, he takes inns for castles and windmills for giants. His expeditions end in…Same genre
Henry ThoreauWaldenThoreau, seeking simplicity, settles alone near Walden Pond to live in self-sufficiency. He observes nature, reduces his needs to the bare essentials, and reflects on modern society. Through his experience, he questions work, consumption, and dominant values. This text blends…Same genreSame era
Oscar WildeThe Importance of Being EarnestTwo young men of high society lie to escape their obligations. Jack, a serious guardian in the country, has invented a younger brother whose name he takes when he goes to London to enjoy himself; Algernon has invented a sick friend, Bunbury, whom he claims to visit whenever a…Same genreSame era
Machado de AssisThe AlienistBack from Europe, Dr. Simão Bacamarte settles in the small town of Itaguaí, in Brazil, and later founds an asylum there, the Green House, to study madness scientifically. His criteria widen week by week: first a respected citizen, then so many residents that the asylum ends up…Same genreSame era
VoltaireCandide, or OptimismRaised in a Westphalian castle, Candide learns from his tutor Pangloss that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Driven out for kissing Cunégonde, he passes through war, the Inquisition, the Lisbon earthquake and the colonies of the Americas. Each disaster…Same countrySame genre
Jules VerneAround the World in 80 DaysPhileas Fogg, a methodical gentleman, bets that he can travel around the world in eighty days. Accompanied by Passepartout, his resourceful servant, he moves from one mode of transport to another while facing unforeseen events across several continents. But a police inspector…Same countrySame genreSame era
Nikolai GogolThe Overcoat · The NoseThese two Petersburg stories each follow a minor official whom the capital overwhelms. Akaky Akakievich, a copying clerk mocked by his colleagues, goes without for months to pay for the new overcoat that finally earns him some regard. Collegiate assessor Kovalyov wakes up with…Same genreSame era
Natsume SōsekiBotchanAn unloved younger son, blunt to the point of rudeness, a young man from Tokyo takes a post as a mathematics teacher in a small town on Shikoku. His pupils put him to the test from his very first weeks, in class and then during his first night on duty at the school, and the…Same genre
H. De Vere StacpooleThe Blue LagoonIn the nineteenth century, on the Pacific Ocean, the sailing ship carrying two eight-year-old cousins, Dick and Emmeline, towards San Francisco catches fire at sea. The children escape in a small boat with Paddy Button, an old Irish sailor, and the fog separates them from the…Same genre