Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest: what to read next?
Books close in genre, era, author or reading level, to read in bilingual editions.
Oscar WildeThe Canterville GhostThe Otis family, American and practical, buys an English manor said to have been haunted for three centuries. The ghost of Sir Simon multiplies apparitions, chains and bloodstains, without drawing from the newcomers the terror he expects. Humiliated by tenants who scrub away…By the same authorSame 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 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 genre
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
Alphonse DaudetLetters from My WindmillSettled in an abandoned windmill in Provence, the narrator sends his Parisian readers stories of the country and its people. Among them are Monsieur Seguin's goat, the priest of Cucugnan, Corsican lighthouse keepers and an old couple forgotten in their village. The pieces move…Same genreSame era
E. F. BensonMiss MappMiss Mapp, a central figure in a small town, observes and comments on her neighbors’ lives with obsessive attention. Through subtle rivalries, social strategies, and minor manipulations, she seeks to maintain her influence. Every interaction becomes a quiet power game where…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 genre
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
Horacio QuirogaJungle TalesA giant tortoise saves the man who once nursed it, the youngest of three coati cubs disobeys his mother, and a flamingo pays dearly for its vanity. These eight tales give a voice to the animals of the Paraná, who work, quarrel and learn the hard way. People pass through them,…Same era
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 genre
Lewis CarrollAlice in WonderlandAlice, a curious young girl, follows a white rabbit and falls into a strange world where the rules of reality disappear. She meets absurd and unpredictable characters, each defying logic and common sense. As her adventures unfold, she must adapt to a constantly shifting…Same era