Recommendations based on Five Weeks in a Balloonby Jules Verne

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Journey to the Center of the Earth

    by Jules Verne
    Explorers embark on an incredible subterranean adventure, uncovering the secrets of a lost world.

    Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high ... (Barnes & Noble)

  2. The Mysterious Island

    by Jules Verne
    A group of castaways survive and escape their strange island through ingenuity and exploration.

    During the American Civil War , five Northern prisoners of war escape during the Siege of Richmond, Virginia , by hijacking a hydrogen-filled observation balloon. The escapees are Cyrus Smith , a ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Around the World in Eighty Days

    by Jules Verne
    An epic journey of adventure and exploration, pushing the boundaries of the known world.

    The story starts in London on Wednesday, 2 October 1872. Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman living a solitary life. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Three Musketeers

    by Alexandre Dumas
    An adventurous tale of friendship, courage, and battle in 17th century France.

    In 1625 France, d'Artagnan leaves his family in Gascony and travels to Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guard . At a house in Meung-sur-Loire , an older man derides d'Artagnan's horse. Insulted, ... (Wikipedia)

  5. White Fang

    by Jack London
    A wolfdog's journey from wild to domestication, navigating the complexities of human civilization.

    The story begins before the wolf-dog hybrid is born, with two men and their sled dog team on a journey to deliver the coffin of Lord Alfred to a remote town named Fort McGurry in the higher area of ... (Wikipedia)

  6. The Lost World

    by Arthur Conan Doyle
    An expedition to a remote region of South America, filled with prehistoric creatures and danger.

    Edward Malone, a young reporter for the Daily Gazette , asks his editor for a dangerous assignment to impress the woman he loves, Gladys, who wishes for a great man capable of brave deeds and ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Rosemary's Baby

    by Ira Levin
    A woman's descent into darkness as she is unknowingly forced to carry a child of the Devil.

    The book centers on Rosemary Woodhouse, a young married woman who has just moved into the Bramford, a historic Gothic Revival-style New York City apartment building, with her husband, Guy, a ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Treasure Island

    by Robert Louis Stevenson
    A thrilling adventure of a young boy and a crew of rogues in search of buried treasure.

    An old sailor named Billy Bones comes to lodge in the rural Admiral Benbow Inn on the Bristol Channel , in England. He tells the innkeeper's son, Jim Hawkins , to keep a lookout for "a one-legged ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Nobody's Boy

    by Hector Malot
    A young boy's journey of survival, relying on his own resourcefulness to make his way in the world.

    A compelling story in which orphaned Remi gets hired out to a traveling street entertainer when his foster parents fall on hard times. Going from village to village with its act, ‘nobody’s boy’ has ... (Goodreads)

  10. 2001: A Space Odyssey

    by Arthur C. Clarke
    An interstellar journey of exploration, confronting humanity's place in the universe.

    A mysterious alien civilization uses a tool with the appearance of a large crystalline monolith to investigate worlds across the galaxy and, if possible, to encourage the development of intelligent ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Planet of the Apes

    by Pierre Boulle
    Three astronauts land on a planet where apes are the dominant species and humans are primitive. A thought-provoking commentary on society and humanity.

    In a frame story , a rich couple sailing alone in space, Jinn and Phyllis, rescue and translate a manuscript from a floating bottle. , The manuscript was written by journalist Ulysse Mérou, who in ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Brothers Karamazov

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A philosophical exploration of morality, faith, and family dynamics among a group of brothers.

    The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich ... (Goodreads)

  13. The Unbearable Lightness of Being

    by Milan Kundera
    A story of love and loss in a politically turbulent Czechoslovakia.

    In The Unbearable Lightness of Being , Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Prince and the Pauper

    by Mark Twain
    A story of two boys who switch places, revealing the harsh realities of life in a monarchy.

    Tom Canty , youngest son of a poor family living in Offal Court located in London, has always aspired to have a better life, encouraged by the local priest, who has taught him to read and write. ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Purloined Letter

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A detective searches for a stolen letter that contains compromising information. The solution is hidden in plain sight.

    The unnamed narrator is with the famous Parisian amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin when they are joined by G-, prefect of the Paris police. The prefect has a case he would like to discuss with ... (Wikipedia)

  16. The Hound of the Baskervilles

    by Arthur Conan Doyle
    A thrilling detective story of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they investigate a mysterious murder on the moor.

    Dr James Mortimer calls on Sherlock Holmes in London for advice after his friend Sir Charles Baskerville was found dead in the yew alley of his manor on Dartmoor in Devon . The death was attributed ... (Wikipedia)

  17. The Silmarillion

    by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Epic saga of the history of Middle-Earth, a world filled with mythical creatures.

    The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of ... (Goodreads)

  18. The Exorcist

    by William Peter Blatty
    A priest's battle against a powerful demon possessing a young girl.

    An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and is studying ancient relics. After discovering a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an ... (Wikipedia)

  19. The Tale of the Unknown Island

    by José Saramago
    A tale of a nameless man's journey to an unknown island in search of a better life.

    A man requests the king of his country to give him a boat so he can go in search for "the unknown island". The king questions him about the existence of such an island and tries to convince the man ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Time Machine

    by H.G. Wells
    A scientist travels through time, discovering the future of mankind.

    The book's protagonist is a Victorian English scientist and gentleman inventor living in Richmond , Surrey , identified by a narrator simply as the Time Traveller . Similarly, with but one exception ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Don Quixote

    by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
    An aging knight's adventures and misadventures, filled with chivalry, honor, and satire.

    Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in ... (Goodreads)

  22. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

    by Ambrose Bierce
    A man is about to be hanged, but escapes and experiences a surreal journey before his inevitable fate.

    The condemned man stands on a bridge, his hands bound behind his back. A noose is tied around his neck. In a moment he will meet his fate: DEATH BY HANGING. There is no escape. Or is there? Find out ... (Goodreads)

  23. Steppenwolf

    by Hermann Hesse
    The inner struggles of a tortured soul as he searches for redemption.

    The book is presented as a manuscript written by its protagonist , a middle-aged man named Harry Haller, who leaves it to a chance acquaintance, the nephew of his landlady. The acquaintance adds a ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The War of the Worlds

    by H.G. Wells
    A Martian invasion of Earth, exploring the limits of human resilience.

    The narrative opens by stating that as humans on Earth busied themselves with their own endeavours during the mid-1890s, aliens on Mars began plotting an invasion of Earth because their own resources ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Hadji Murád

    by Leo Tolstoy
    Epic tale of a Chechen warrior's struggle against the Russian Empire.

    The narrator prefaces the story with his comments on a crushed, but still living thistle he finds in a field (a symbol for the main character), after which he begins to tell the story of Hadji Murat, ... (Wikipedia)

  26. The Paul Street Boys

    by Ferenc Molnár
    A group of boys navigate their way through the streets of Budapest, facing their fears and learning about friendship.

    The war between two groups of Hungarian boys living in Budapest. One with Hungarian national colours (red, white, green) is defending the square from redshirts (from Garibaldi's redshirts), who want ... (Goodreads)

  27. Foundation and Empire

    by Isaac Asimov
    A quest to save the Galactic Empire from destruction, featuring advanced science and politics.

    The first half of the book, titled "The General", tells how the enterprising General Bel Riose of the Galactic Empire launches an attack against the Foundation. The Empire still retains far more ... (Wikipedia)

  28. The Island of Dr. Moreau

    by H.G. Wells
    A shipwrecked man's encounters with a mad scientist's experiments in animal-human hybridization.

    The Island of Doctor Moreau is the account of Edward Prendick, an Englishman with a scientific education who survives a shipwreck in the southern Pacific Ocean. A passing ship called Ipecacuanha ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Uncle Tom's Cabin

    by Harriet Beecher Stowe
    An anti-slavery novel exploring themes of morality, faith, and justice.

    The book opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife Emily Shelby believe that they have a benevolent relationship with ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Childhood's End

    by Arthur C. Clarke
    Human race is transformed by an alien presence, leading to the dawn of a new age.

    The novel is divided into three parts, following a third-person omniscient narrative with no main character. , In some editions, the short first chapter is a separate prologue rather than the ... (Wikipedia)