Candide is about a man who believes in the philosophy that: "what happens, happens for the best in the end." that was taught to him by his personal philosopher Dr. Panlosss. Candide goes through many, many trials and everyone he meets has had something terrible happen to them. He searches the world over for his love Cundgonde. And in the end finds that the simplest things in life: love, friends, and health are all that matters.

The adventures of an eccentric Spanish country gentleman and his companion who set out as a knight and squire of old to right wrongs and punish evil.

The loves and laughs of two professional rodeo artists, Cody and Lick. It seems that on the rodeo circuit loving a woman can be even more dangerous than riding a bull. On a bull you might suffer a broken collar bone, but a gal can easily take you to the cleaners. Or how about having your private parts stabbed with porcupine quills?

Tom, a foundling, is discovered one evening by the benevolent Squire Allworthy and his sister Bridget and brought up as a son in their household; when his sexual escapades and general misbehavior lead them to banish him, he sets out in search of both his fortune and his true identity. Amorous, high-spirited, and filled with what Fielding called the glorious lust of doing good, but with a tendency toward dissolution, Tom Jones is one of the first characters...

Humorous antics of Don and his fat buddy, Sancho Panza.

As Moll Flanders rises from the infamous Newgate Prison to fame, wealth, and respectability, Moll comes to embody all the excess and vitality of an era

Reminiscent of another debut Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest this powerful first novel by short story writer Udall (Letting Loose the Hounds) is constructed around grotesque set pieces; black humor drives the plot. Set in the late '60s, Udall's story begins when seven-year-old Edgar Mint, the half-Apache, half-white narrator, is run over by the mailman's car, his head crushed. Abandoned by his grandmother and alcoholic mother after his...

Presents two short novels that focus on the adventures of two young delinquent boys who live among beggars, prostitutes, thieves, and murderers.

"With a rare blend of naive and sophisticated candor the hero, Augie March, described as a "runner after good things, servant of love, embarker on schemes, recruit of sublime ideas and good-time Charlie" takes the reader with him on his "campaign after a worthwhile fate." A picaresque twentieth-century adventure tale with an amazingly real assortment of characters, a vast number of episodes ranging in location from Chicago to Mexico, to shipwreck...

The story of Henry Holyoak Lightcap's uncertain advance through life, recounted during a 3,500 mile journey from Arizona to West Virginia.