The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a real classic. You should grab it and read it to experience it yourself. Here's a simple plot to The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin". He initially considers the transformation to be temporary and slowly ponders the consequences of this metamorphosis. Unable to get up and leave the bed, Gregor reflects on his job as a traveling salesman and cloth merchant, which he characterizes as an exhausting and never-ending traffic. He sees his employer as a despot and would quickly quit his job were he not his family's sole breadwinner and working off his bankrupt father's debts. While trying to move, Gregor finds that his office manager, the chief clerk, has shown up to check on him, indignant about Gregor's unexcused absence. Gregor attempts to communicate with both the manager and his family, but all they can hear from behind the door is incomprehensible vocalizations. Gregor laboriously drags himself across the floor and opens the door. The manager, upon seeing the transformed Gregor, flees the apartment. Gregor's family is horrified, and his father drives him back into his room under the threat of violence. With Gregor's unexpected incapacitation, the family is deprived of their financial stability. Although Gregor's sister Grete now shies away from the sight of him, she takes to supplying him with food, which they find he can only eat rotten. Gregor begins to accept his new identity and begins crawling on the floor, walls and ceiling. Discovering Gregor's new pastime, Grete decides to remove some of the furniture to give Gregor more space. She and her mother begin taking furniture away, but Gregor finds their actions deeply distressing. He desperately tries to save a particularly-loved portrait on the wall of a woman clad in fur. His mother loses consciousness at the sight of Gregor clinging to the image to protect it. As Grete rushes to assist her mother, Gregor follows her and is hurt by a medicine bottle falling on his face. His father returns home from work and angrily tosses apples at Gregor. One of them is lodged into a sensitive spot in his back and severely wounds him. Gregor suffers from his injuries for several weeks and takes very little food. He is increasingly neglected by his family and his room becomes used for storage. To secure their livelihood, the family takes three tenants into their apartment. The cleaning lady alleviates Gregor's isolation by leaving his door open for him on the evenings that the tenants eat out. One day, his door is left open despite the presence of the tenants. Gregor, attracted by Grete's violin-playing in the living room, crawls out of his room and is spotted by the unsuspecting tenants, who complain about the apartment's unhygienic conditions and cancel their tenancy. Grete, who has by now become tired of taking care of Gregor and is realizing the burden his existence puts on each one in the family, tells her parents they must get rid of "it", or they will all be ruined. Gregor, understanding that he is no longer wanted, dies of starvation before the next sunrise. The relieved and optimistic family take a tram ride out to the countryside, and decide to move to a smaller apartment to further save money. During this short trip, Mr. and Mrs. Samsa realize that, in spite of going through hardships which have brought an amount of paleness to her face, Grete appears to have grown up into a pretty and well-figured lady, which leads her parents to think about finding her a husband. ... ... The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis

Henry James' The Turn of the Screw has frightened and enchanted readers for generations thanks to its unreliable narrator and unnerving ambiguity. It has been the chilling inspiration for multiple feature films and, most recently, the Netflix horror series "The Haunting of Bly Manor," a follow-up to "The Haunting of Hill House."An imaginative young woman moves to Bly to take care of the two strange children living there, but this house is haunted by more than just its occupants' secrets....The story is presented here with a brief synopsis for each chapter to guide modern readers through James' opaque prose.

The Turn of the Screw [Annotated]

The greatest haunted house story ever written—the inspiration for the hit Netflix horror series! First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

The Haunting of Hill House

"Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams. But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate ... with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end. In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale's mysterious disappearance. Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale's web of lies slowly unravels. And then Tricia reaches the final cassette. The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth"--Back cover.

Never Lie

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • 2 MILLION+ COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE “Workers looking for more fulfilling positions should start by identifying their ikigai.” ―Business Insider “One of the unintended—yet positive—consequences of the [pandemic] is that it is forcing people to reevaluate their jobs, careers, and lives. Use this time wisely, find your personal ikigai, and live your best life.” ―Forbes Find your ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) to live longer and bring more meaning and joy to all your days. “Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.” —Japanese proverb According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—where what you love, what you’re good at, what you can get paid for, and what the world needs all overlap—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy. In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day? What’s your ikigai?

Ikigai

'Hilarious, confronting and damn refreshing . . . A good kick in the arse!' Chris Hemsworth 'An in-your-face guide to living with integrity and finding happiness in sometimes-painful places.' Kirkus 'Hilarious, vulgar, and immensely thought-provoking. Only read if you're willing to set aside all excuses and take an active role in living a f*cking better life.' Steve Kamb, bestselling author of Level Up Your Life and founder of nerdfitness EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN TOLD ABOUT HOW TO IMPROVE OUR LIVES IS WRONG. NOW SUPERSTAR BLOGGER MARK MANSON TELLS US WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO GET IT RIGHT. For decades, we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. Drawing on academic research and the life experience that comes from breaking the rules, Mark Manson is ready to explode that myth. The key to a good life, according to Manson, is the understanding that 'sometimes shit is f*cked up and we have to live with it.' Manson says that instead of trying to turn lemons into lemonade, we should learn to stomach lemons better, and stop distracting ourselves from life's inevitable disappointments chasing 'shit' like money, success and possessions. It's time to re-calibrate our values and what it means to be happy: there are only so many things we can give a f*ck about, he says, so we need to figure out which ones really matter. From the writer whose blog draws two million readers a month and filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humour, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a welcome antidote to the 'let's-all-feel-good' mindset that has infected modern society.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth ... ? Delve into this complete collection of the award-winning Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy in this addictive, spine-tingling slipcase set.

Holly Jackson Box Set

A jealous psychopath hunting another serial killer to regain lost limelight. A feisty young detective caught in the crossfire. Can she end the carnage before she joins the body count? Simone Singh, assistant superintendent of police, would rather spend her days locking up criminals than apologizing for her lack of social skills. And she refuses to let anyone stand in the way of her pursuit of the Doll Maker, a ruthless serial killer who dresses up little kids as Barbie dolls and displays their bodies in glass cases. But Simone knows that time is running out to piece together the clues as the Doll Maker has made it clear that the killings have only just begun . . . Another serial killer, the Clipper, who enjoyed nine years of infamy as India's most notorious butcher, erupts into an all-consuming rage when he is cast aside by the media in favour of the sick new slayer-the Doll Maker. The Clipper turns his fury into blood-soaked revenge to capture the top spot. As corpses start to pile up, Simone fights to maneuver the Doll Maker into a clever trap. But the Clipper is hell-bent on striking first and regaining the crown with his most grisly murder yet. Can Simone take down the two serial killers and stop the psychotic competition before it gets out of hand? The Girl in the Glass Case is a jaw-dropping psychological crime thriller. If you like determined heroines, nail-biting twists and chilling serial murderers, then you'll love this rollercoaster ride. Read The Girl in the Glass Case today to step into the arena of deadly competition!

Shifa Siddiqui

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