Homer
The Iliad (Volume 2): what to read next?
Books close in genre, era, author or reading level, to read in bilingual editions.
HomerThe Iliad (Volume 1)In the tenth year of the siege of Troy, Agamemnon takes from Achilles the captive awarded to him, and the best of the Achaeans withdraws to his tent. Without him the Greek army fights on the plain: the duel of Paris and Menelaus, the feats of Diomedes, Hector's farewell to…By the same authorSame genreSame era
HomerThe OdysseyOdysseus, king of Ithaca, tries to return home after the Trojan War, but his journey turns into a long wandering full of trials. He faces mythical creatures, capricious gods, and temptations that slow his return. Meanwhile, Penelope, his wife, resists the suitors invading their…By the same authorSame genre
Thomas MaloryKing Arthur and the KnightsThe legends of King Arthur, retold in modern English by Rupert S. Holland (1919) from the work of Thomas Malory. The secret son of King Uther, Arthur is raised by the knight Ector without knowing anything of his birth. At fifteen he draws from a stone the sword that no lord has…Same genre
Stephen CraneThe Red Badge of CourageHenry Fleming, an inexperienced young soldier, goes to war with idealized notions of courage and glory. Confronted with the violence of combat, he doubts, flees, and struggles against his own fear. Gradually, he seeks to understand what it truly means to be brave. His inner…Same genre
G. A. HentyThe Dash for KhartoumAn English adventure novel from 1892. In India, two babies are mixed up: the son of a captain and the son of a sergeant. Unable to tell which one is his own, Captain Clinton raises both boys as twins, Rupert and Edgar. At sixteen, Edgar is told by a stranger that she is his…Same genre
G. P. R. JamesForest DaysAn English historical novel. In the mid-1260s, England is torn between King Henry III and the barons led by Simon de Montfort. Between Pontefract and Nottingham, Hugh de Monthermer, a young knight and nephew of an old earl who has sided with the barons, loves Lucy de Ashby,…Same genre
James GrantOne of the Six HundredAt the end of 1853, Newton Norcliff, a young lieutenant in a British lancer regiment, learns that his regiment will leave in the spring for war in the East. He spends his last leave in Scotland, at his uncle’s house, near Lady Louisa, whom he loves and who is also courted by…Same genre
Jonathan SwiftGulliver's TravelsGulliver, a doctor and traveler, journeys through extraordinary lands inhabited by beings of radically different sizes and customs. With each voyage, he discovers societies that mirror and criticize the vices of the real world. Among giants, miniature peoples, and strange…Same genre
Stefan ZweigThe World of Yesterday (Volume 1)Stefan Zweig begins with the Vienna of his youth, what he calls the world of security: a city that believed in progress and cared more for the theatre than for politics. He recalls an Austrian schooling, the discovery of literature, then travels to Paris, Berlin, London and…Same genre
Victor HugoThe Hunchback of Notre-DameParis, 1482: the gypsy Esmeralda dances on the Place de Grève while the city keeps the Feast of Fools. Quasimodo, the cathedral's misshapen bell-ringer, and Claude Frollo, the archdeacon who raised him, are both overcome by her. Between cloister, Court of Miracles and pillory,…Same genre
Stefan ZweigThe World of Yesterday (Volume 2)The second volume opens in the first hours of August 1914, with cheering crowds and the loneliness of those who refuse. Zweig describes his work in the war archives, his stay in Switzerland near Romain Rolland, then the collapse of Austria and the inflation that emptied…Same genre
Leo TolstoyWar and PeaceIn 1805 Russia goes to war against Napoleon, and the salons of Petersburg discuss it in French. The novel follows Pierre Bezukhov, an awkward heir seeking meaning, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who joins the army to escape his life, and Natasha Rostov, whose childhood ends between…Same genre