The War of the Worlds / Hope Amid Destruction

Author: H.G. Wells 🔗 — Source: Project Gutenberg — 2025-11-17 06:22:13 UTC

Themes: hope, despair, divine judgment, destruction, existential struggle

Plentiful hope—for all this destruction!” I began to explain my view of our position. He listened at first, but as I went on the interest dawning in his eyes gave place to their former stare, and his regard wandered from me. “This must be the beginning of the end,” he said, interrupting me. When men shall call upon the mountains and the rocks to fall upon them and hide them—hide them from the face...
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Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Desperation at Sea

Author: Jules Verne 🔗 — Source: Project Gutenberg — 2025-11-16 21:58:44 UTC

Themes: freedom, despair, exploration, nature, colonialism

But on the 11th of April it rose suddenly, and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast estuary, the embouchure of which is so considerable that it freshens the sea-water for the distance of several leagues. Twenty miles to the west were the Guianas, a French territory, on which we could have found an easy refuge; but a stiff breeze was blowing, and the furious waves would not have a...
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Gulliver's Travels / Struldbrug Society

Author: Jonathan Swift 🔗 — Source: Project Gutenberg — 2025-11-16 21:58:25 UTC

Themes: mortality, aging, societal critique, dignity, existential dread

“If a _struldbrug_ happen to marry one of his own kind, the marriage is dissolved of course, by the courtesy of the kingdom, as soon as the younger of the two comes to be fourscore; for the law thinks it a reasonable indulgence, that those who are condemned, without any fault of their own, to a perpetual continuance in the world, should not have their misery doubled by the load of a wife. “As soon...
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Greed and Deception

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle 🔗 — Source: Project Gutenberg — 2025-11-16 21:58:04 UTC

Themes: greed, love, manipulation, agency, betrayal

His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you about one of the servants’ escapade wi...
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Pride and Prejudice / Sisterly Confessions

Author: Jane Austen 🔗 — Source: Project Gutenberg — 2025-11-16 21:57:36 UTC

Themes: love, societal norms, personal growth, family bonds, emotional revelation

I am afraid you will be angry.” “My dearest sister, now be, _be_ serious. Let me know everything that I am to know without delay. Will you tell me how long you have loved him?” “It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began; but I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.” Another entreaty that she would be serious, however, produced the...
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Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Linguistic Power

Author: Jules Verne 🔗 — Source: Project Gutenberg — 2025-11-16 12:26:26 UTC

Themes: identity, communication, trust, authority, perception

After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed of breaking, “Gentlemen,” said he, in a calm and penetrating voice, “I speak French, English, German, and Latin equally well. I could, therefore, have answered you at our first interview, but I wished to know you first, then to reflect. The story told by each one, entirely agreeing in the main points, convinced me of your identity.
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Around the World in Eighty Days / Cultural Exchange

Author: Jules Verne 🔗 — Source: Project Gutenberg — 2025-11-16 12:26:09 UTC

Themes: exoticism, performance, identity, colonialism, spirituality

Batulcar, was to commence at three o’clock, and soon the deafening instruments of a Japanese orchestra resounded at the door. Passepartout, though he had not been able to study or rehearse a part, was designated to lend the aid of his sturdy shoulders in the great exhibition of the “human pyramid,” executed by the Long Noses of the god Tingou.
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