I’m looking for recommendations for books available on Project Gutenberg and I expect others would appreciate some, too. While I’m inclined towards SF, Fantasy, and science there is a wide range of stuff on there. Obscure/strange/bizarre stuff work a look? Stand outs in the various categories? Don’t make it just about me - if you have a favorite genre or topic and know of a good Gutenberg file share it with the rest of us.
Who has read what and what would you recommend from the site?
I always recommend Edgar Rice Burroughs, fast paced and entertaining pulp. I’d specifically recommend the first three Barsroom books (Princess/Gods/Warlord of Mars), the Tarzan novels (The first Tarzan of the Apes and the third The Beasts of Tarzan especially), and the Caspak trilogy (Land That Time Forgot, People That Time Forgot, and Out of Time’s Abyss.
There are a number of well regarded classics on the Gutenberg Top 100. If you’ve never read it before, the satirical Candide is hilarious. Can’t really go wrong with anything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens or Edgar Rice Burroughs. There’s also Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island and The Jungle Book.
A book that I thought was really interesting was A Lady Of Quality by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Now, there’s a reason it’s not a classic, but dang it was INTERESTING. Worth a try since it’s free.
There is a “sequel” that is the same story from the hero’s point of view. It’s much less interesting.
I got all 5 The Scarlet Pimpernell books from PG, they were entertaining.
For sci-fi, HG Wells, and Jules Verne, of course. Gulliver’s Travels is a must-read, too.
Basically any old author (published before 1923) is going to be there.
There’s a very early post-apocalyptic short novel on there called After London, which I didn’t think was amazing, but if you like sci-fi/fantasy, you might.
But basically, Project Gutenberg is HUGE. All Dickens. All Melville. All Austen. All Twain. All Jonathan Swift. All Wilkie Collins. It’s like walking into a library and asking, “What’s good?”
Oh yeah. House on the Borderland (again thinking of your preferences).
I’m fascinated by the old cookbooks.
A link, dammit, a link!
Lord Dunsany, early fantasy.
Or if you like non-fiction, I suggest Notes and Queries, a periodical. I proofed a bunch of that and loved reading it.
Check out Distributed Proofreaders if you want to help upload more books.
I just finished reading City of Endless Night. Definitely fits all of your categories, although the narrator/author is kind of annoying.
Well Broomstck, I hope you enjoy Edison’s Conquest of Mars as much as I did. Garrett Putman Serviss wrote it as a sequel to “War of the Worlds.” But instead of letting the providence of nature and god protect us from Martian invaders, Thomas Edison meets them on their own soil, drags them out their hidey-hole and whips their ass using super technology.
I’ve also discovered a couple of really old transcribed lectures/demonstrations I think a few dopers would find interesting.
Spinning Tops
The Story of the Tinderbox
I’d be glad to know if anyone has more like these.
I downloaded this one and charged through half of it this afternoon. Some bits of it remind me of Brave New World, some of 1984, and some of We, which was published in roughly the same era. I don’t find the narrator any more annoying than the typical fiction narrator of the period, but then, there is no disputing taste. I’m enjoying it, although some of the 20th and 21st Century history is way off, including WWII not occurring until the 1980’s, but hey, there hadn’t even been a second world war when it was written.
As it happens, I didn’t find any HP Lovecraft on Gutenberg, but I did find him at the HP Lovecraft Archives Finally got to read the “Colour Out of Space”. I’ve long found Lovecraft-like fiction tedious but hadn’t actually read real Lovecraft before - either that story is exceptionally good or Lovecraft did that style of writing without being as tedious as later imitators (or both).
The “Amber Series” by Roger Zelazny were removed, unfortunately. But I recommend them.
Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi” his account of being a young riverboat pilot is a fun, fascinating read.
There’s also the Complete Works of Lovecraft here, nicely edited in various formats. Combine with HP Podcraft for some good reading (and bad!).
There’s some P.G. Wodehouse on Gutenberg. Right Ho, Jeeves is a good start.
The Man Who Was Thursday is odd but a good read.
There are some excellent ghost stories by M.R. James.
Flatland, illustrated.
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper is an old favorite of mine; sadly they don’t have the sequel Fuzzy Sapiens. They do have some of his other books though.
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapeldon (although the near-future stuff can be ignored)
Star Maker by Olaf Stapeldon.
I’ve downloaded the Complete Works of Edgar Alan Poe - five volumes. Perhaps you may find some stories of interest there.
There are a number of memoirs and diaries which look interesting. Julia Ward Howe in Cuba, Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, Anon., Two Years in the Forbidden City, Princess Der Ling.
Besides the one-hundred recommended there are also book club lists.
Thanks for that, sinjin!
Literally true – Project Gutenberg has more books online than are contained in your average library!
Actually the near-future parts were the ones I enjoyed the most, considering Stapledon was not too off compared to a lot of SF writers: Mussolini gets lynched by an angry mob, a European Union gets created dominated by Germany, Germany and Russia go to war, America and China end up being the two remaining superpowers etc.
Stuff by GA Henty may interest you, they’re mostly juvenile Victorian historical adventure fiction but lots of them involve fairly obscure historical settings like the Peninsular Campaign: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1032