Ruskin, John
"Sésame et les lys: des trésors des rois, des jardins des reines" by John Ruskin is a collection of two lectures published in 1865. The first lecture explores the importance of reading as a form of conversation with minds greater than those we meet by chance. The second advocates for women's education and examines female characters in Shakespeare and Walter Scott. Marcel Proust's 1906 French translation includes a famous preface challenging Ruskin's views, arguing that reading is fundamentally a solitary intellectual experience. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
These books are free to read. Each is in the public domain in the United States; check your own country's rules before you copy or share one.
