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Hot Pick
1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
What if freedom was a thoughtcrime—and your own mind betrayed you? In a suffocating world of perpetual war and omnipresent surveillance, Winston Smith dares to keep a forbidden diary, cling to forbidden love, and whisper the ultimate rebellion: 2 + 2 = 4. But as the Thought Police close in and reality itself bends to the Party’s will, one question chills the bone: If even your memories can be rewritten, what becomes of truth—and does defiance doom you, or make you human?
- Originally Published: June 8, 1949
- Publisher: Penguin Books, 2008
- Genre: Science fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Social science fiction, Political fiction
- Pages: 1231
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0241969694
- Access: Members
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Hot Pick
Animal Farm
What if freedom became just another cage? When the oppressed animals of Manor Farm overthrow their human masters, they vow to create a world of equality—only to watch their revolution devoured by cunning pigs who rewrite history and enforce tyranny with iron hooves. But as ideals crumble and loyal comrades vanish, one chilling truth echoes: All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others… How far would you go to believe the lie?
- Originally Published: August 1945
- Genre: Novella, Political Satire
- Pages: 101
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780451526342
- Access: Members
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Hot Pick
Anna Karenina
What if the greatest love of your life could destroy everything you hold dear? In Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, a radiant aristocrat defies the suffocating rules of Russian high society, torn between a love that ignites her soul and the gilded cage of duty—but as whispers of scandal unravel her world and a parallel search for meaning unfolds in the shadows, can liberation ever outweigh the cost of burning it all down… or is the heart’s truth the most dangerous lie of all?
- Originally Published: 1873
- Publisher: Penguin Books, 2002
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 880
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0140449174
- Access: Members
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Hot Pick
Brave New World
What if your deepest desires were manufactured—and your free will, a flaw to be erased? In Brave New World, a society thrives on engineered harmony, its citizens numbed by pleasure and oblivious to the chains of their perfection—until one man dares to question the void behind the smiles. But as his rebellion unearths the rot beneath utopia’s gleaming surface, will awakening to the truth save humanity… or doom it to collapse? Is a world without pain worth living in if it means losing your soul—or have we already surrendered ours?
- Originally Published: 1932
- Publisher: Vintage Classics, 2004
- Genre: Novel, Science fiction, Dystopian Fiction
- Pages: 229
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0099477464
- Access: Members
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Hot Pick
Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth
What if the “happiest” nation on Earth harbored a secret so dark it could devour its soul? Dr. Kighare Menka, a surgeon haunted by the mutilated bodies of his patients, stumbles upon a grisly conspiracy trading in human flesh—a scheme entwined with the country’s most revered leaders. When his closest friend becomes the next target, Menka must unravel the lies before his own name joins the missing… but in a world where power wears a saint’s mask, can truth survive—or will it be buried with the bones?
- Originally Published: 2021
- Publisher: Vintage, 2022
- Genre: Fiction
- Pages: 464
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780593314470
- Access: Members
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Hot Pick
Crime and Punishment
What if the perfect crime could redeem your life—but only by damning your soul? In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov, a brooding ex-student teetering on despair, gambles his morality to prove a chilling theory: that some men deserve to transcend guilt. But as paranoia claws at his sanity and a cunning detective circles closer, he’s forced to confront the true cost of his philosophy. Can a murderer outrun his conscience… or does redemption demand a punishment far worse than death?
- Originally Published: 1866
- Publisher: Dover Publications, 2001
- Genre: Fiction, Psychological
- Pages: 448
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0486415871
- Access: Members
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Death of a Salesman
What if everything you believed about success was a lie? Arthur Miller’s tragic masterpiece follows Willy Loman, a salesman clinging to fraying illusions of success and family loyalty as age and failure close in. But when pride collides with delusion, and love battles bitter resentment, the cracks in his fragile world widen—how much of your soul would you trade for a lie everyone else has already stopped believing?
- Originally Published: 1949
- Publisher : Fingerprint Classics, 2017
- Genre: Tragedy
- Pages: 136
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-8175994300
- Access: Members!
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Hot Pick
Devil on the Cross
What if the devil wasn’t a myth, but a tyrant in a tailored suit, auctioning your future to the highest bidder? In Devil on the Cross, Wariinga, a defiant young woman stripped of hope, confronts a grotesque underworld where greed is gospel and her people’s suffering is a spectator sport. But as she uncovers the rot festering in her nation’s soul, will her rebellion ignite liberation—or bind her to the very evil she fights? The cross awaits… and no one escapes unscathed.
- Originally Published: 1980
- Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2017
- Pages: 320
- Genre: Novel
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780143107361
- Access: Members
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Hot Pick
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
What if the monster you fear most is the one you’ve locked inside yourself? In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a brilliant but tormented scientist unleashes a dangerous experiment to split his soul—only to find his darkest impulses taking violent, uncontrollable form. But as the line between man and monster dissolves, will his final act save humanity… or prove that the true horror was hiding in the mirror all along?
- Originally Published: 1886
- Publisher: Vintage Classics Library, 2016
- Genre: Gothic, Horror
- Pages: 240
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781784871604
- Access: Members
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Frankenstein
What if the spark of life you ignited turned into a nightmare you couldn’t control? In Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but tormented scientist, shatters the boundaries of nature to breathe life into his darkest ambition—only to unleash a haunting force that mirrors humanity’s deepest fears. As obsession twists into terror and creation confronts creator, one question remains: Is the true monster born of flesh… or the ruin of a soul that dared to play God?
- Originally Published: 1818
- Publisher: Wordsworth Classics, 1992
- Genre: Fiction
- Pages: 174
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781853260230
- Access: Members
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Hamlet
What if avenging your father’s death meant unraveling your own soul? Prince Hamlet is consumed by grief—until a spectral revelation demands he confront a kingdom’s rot of betrayal and murder. As masks of sanity slip and blades glint in shadows, every choice bleeds into treachery, love, and the crushing weight of existence itself. But in a court where lies taste like truth, can vengeance ever heal—or will it devour the avenger alive?
- Originally Published: 1623
- Publisher: Wordsworth Classics, 1992
- Genre: Tragedy, Shakespearean tragedy
- Pages: 200
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781853260094
- Access: Members
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Hard Times
What if the cost of building a perfect society is the crushing of every fragile, human heart? In Hard Times, a rigid industrialist enforces a world of cold facts and suffocated dreams—until his own children, starved of compassion and wonder, begin to crack under the weight of his soulless logic. But when rebellion sparks in the unlikeliest corners, can a single flame of hope survive a storm of greed… or will the machinery of progress grind even love to dust?
- Originally Published: August 12, 1854
- Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1985
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 328
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0140430424
- Access: Members
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Heart of Darkness
What if the greatest darkness you must face isn’t the wilderness—but the abyss inside yourself? In Heart of Darkness, a steamboat captain’s quest to find a rogue ivory trader spirals into a harrowing voyage upriver, where the jungle’s suffocating grip mirrors the rot of greed and imperialism. As whispers of the enigmatic Kurtz unravel into a nightmare, one chilling truth emerges: the line between civilization and savagery is as thin as a shadow… and what stares back from the void might wear your own face.
- Originally Published: April, 1899
- Publisher: Collins Classics, 2016
- Genre: Fiction, Novella
- Pages: 130
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780007368624
- Access: Members
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Jude the Obscure
What if the price of defying society’s chains is your own destruction? In Thomas Hardy’s searing novel, Jude Fawley—a stonemason with a scholar’s heart—battles cruel class barriers and a forbidden love that ignites and consumes. But as every dream crumbles under the weight of prejudice and desire, one question remains: Can the human spirit endure when the world conspires to extinguish its light?
- Originally Published: 1895
- Publisher : Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1993
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 376
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-1853262616
- Access: Members
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Little Women
What if the bonds of sisterhood were the only thing standing between you and a world determined to define your destiny? In Little Women, the March sisters defy crumbling fortunes, societal constraints, and their own clashing dreams as they forge paths in a nation torn by war and transformation. But when love and ambition collide with a devastating choice, how much can one family sacrifice before the life they’ve fought for unravels forever?
- Originally Published: 1868
- Publisher: Aladdin, 2019
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 530
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-1534462205
- Access: Members
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Hot Pick
Lolita
What if the most seductive love story was really a confession of crimes? In Lolita, a scholar’s intellectual charm veils a perilous obsession with Dolores Haze, a girl ensnared in a gilded prison of manipulation and forbidden desire. As their cross-country odyssey spirals into darkness, her laughter masks silent rebellion—but when obsession eclipses morality, can love ever justify ruin? Prepare to confront a narrative so haunting, you’ll wonder if turning the page is an act of complicity.
- Originally Published: 1955
- Publisher: Penguin, 2011
- Genre: Novel
- Pages: 368
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0241953242
- Access: Members