Satire
Lucia in London
In the third book in the Mapp and Lucia series, provincial snob and social climber Mrs. Emmeline Lucas, known to her friends as Lucia, and h…
The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce is a sharp and witty exploration of language and human nature, presented in the form of a satirical…
Castle Rackrent
"One of the most inspired chronicles written in English" was the verdict of William Butler Yeats on the novel Castle Rackrent by M…
Dangerous Connections
A translation of 'Les Liaisons dangereuses' alternative title 'Dangerous Liasons'Everyone probably has Glenn Close and John Malkovich in mi…
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray that satirizes society in early 19th-century England. Like man…
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle follows the life of its titular character, an egotistical dandy navigating the complexities of 18th-centu…
The Gentle Grafter
If Jefferson "Parleyvoo" Pickens had appeared in print just a few years later, he might have been the "Gentle Grifter" i…
The Autobiography of Methuselah
The Autobiography of Methuselah offers a unique and humorous perspective on biblical history through the eyes of its most ancient figure. Me…
Miss Mapp
E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia series, consists of six novels and three short stories. The novels are: Queen Lucia, Lucia in London, Miss Map…
Knickerbocker's History of New York
Washington Irving, an author, biographer, historian, and diplomat, completed his first major work, a satire of contemporary local history an…
Zadig or the Book of Fate
Zadig, ou La Destinée, ("Zadig, or The Book of Fate") (1747) is a famous novel written by the French Enlightenment philosop…
The Way of All Flesh
The Way of All Flesh (1903) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler which attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 an…
Hard Times
Hard Times, the shortest of Dickens's full-length novels, is set in the fictitious Victorian-England city of Coketown, where facts are the r…
The Unbearable Bassington
The Unbearable Bassington was the first novel written by Saki (H. H. Munro). It also contains much of the elegant wit found in his short sto…
Still Untouched by Human Hands
Long before Douglas Adams, Robert Sheckley pioneered the sub-genre of satirical science fiction. When space operas ruled, Robert Sheckley sa…
Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Thea…
The Blazing World
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish is, all at once, a satire, a treatise on natural philosophy, a work of proto-science fiction, and a …
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker was the last of the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett, and is considered by many to be his best and fun…
The Relentless City
A satiric novel of manners written in Benson's classic style of gently poking fun at class structures and the people who fill them. This tim…
Self and Self-management
Bennett's essays always provide food for thought and bring a wry smile to the lips. Human nature, it appears, changes little over the ages, …