Got a new Amazon Kindle for Christmas, but spent all your cash on pressies for your friends and family? Fear not. The incredible Project Gutenberg is absolutely chock full of freebies: 36,000 to be precise. And among those thousands of gratis reads are some of the greatest classics ever written. So what are you waiting for? Dive in and we’ll take you through six stunning titles that you should download and read now.
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
One of the Victorian period’s most beguiling and stunning pieces of literature. When it was published in 1847, its ambiguity and controversial approach to marital relationships caused a critical storm. Dismissed at the time as “vulgar”, it’s a stunning, evocative piece of literature, decades ahead of its time.
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On The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin
Darwin’s masterpiece and one of the most important pieces of science ever. If you’ve been indulging in Frozen Planet or watching Attenborough’s natural history back catalogue on Eden, download this and learn about how it all came about. Darwin’s prose is accessible and you’ll be able to impress your pals with some top scientific knowledge.
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Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
You could kick back and watch Auntie’s all-star adaptation of Great Expectations this Christmas. Or you could snag the book for free and give the boobtube a break. Great Expectations, with classic characters including Miss Havisham, Magwitch and Estella, and its story of Victorian excess is one of Dickens’ finest achievements.
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Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre offers a dark, melancholy look at romance in Victorian England. That said, Emily’s sister Charlotte’s tome is a very different tale, albeit with many of the same kind of damaged, yet alluring characters. This is one of the 19th century’s finest pieces of fiction and should take pride of place on your eReader, Kindle, Kobo or other.
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The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This dark, evocative detective story is Conan Doyle’s third to feature Sherlock Holmes and is perhaps his most well-known. Set mostly on the bleak moors or Dartmoor, this is crime writing at its taut, brilliant best. Forget those trashy airport thrillers, if you want tension and pacy action, this is where it’s at.
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Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
Brutal, uncompromising and occasionally a slog, Tess is one of the greatest, most-rewarding books in English literature. Originally censored when it was first released in 1891, Tess is a story of class, envy and death, arguably Hardy’s best work. It’ll take you the whole Christmas holiday to read, but we promise it’ll be worth every minute.
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