William Shakespeare 1 hr 55 min read

Lovers, fairies, and a troupe of bumbling amateur actors collide one enchanted night in the woods outside Athens.

Shakespeare's beloved comedy tangles four young lovers, the feuding fairy monarchs Oberon and Titania, the mischievous Puck, and a band of tradesmen rehearsing a play, all under the spell of a love-potion flower. Its dream-logic, magic, and transformations have made it a perennial touchstone of the fantastic. Read it for the most magical of Shakespeare's comedies, pure enchantment, four centuries strong.

In its time

Published in 1600, during the Pre-1800, voyages to the moon, subterranean worlds, and philosophical utopias, the deep roots of the imaginative tradition, from kepler and cyrano to the enlightenment.

Reading it

1 hr 55 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).