Classics World Literature

Set in Venice at the close of World War II, Across the River and into the Trees is the bittersweet story of a middle-aged American colonel, scarred by war and in failing health, who finds love with a young Italian countess at the very moment when his life is becoming a physical hardship to him.

From Snuff: Vimes looked at the cover. The title was The World of Poo. When his wife was out of eyeshot he carefully leafed through it. Well, okay, you had to accept that the world had moved on and these days’ fairy stories were probably not going to be about twinkly little things with wings. As he turned page after page, it dawned on him that whomever had written this book, they certainly knew what would make kids like Young Sam laugh until they were nearly sick. The bit about sailing down the river almost made him smile.

Повести, составившие знаменитую трилогию, были написаны Львом Николаевичем Толстым в 1852 - 1856 годах и впервые опубликованы в журнале "Современник". В замысел молодого прозаика (а в год создания "Детства" юнкеру Толстому исполнилось двадцать четыре) входило еще одно произведение - "Молодость", но эту повесть он так и не написал.

Written some 40 years after Moby Dick, Melville's Billy Budd is a moving tale of good versus evil. Set aboard a British navy ship at the end of the eighteenth century, a young, innocent sailor's charm and good nature put the men around him at ease. Ship life agreed with Billy. He made friends quickly and was well liked, which infuriated John Claggart, the ship's cold-blooded superior officer.

He was named "Sham" for the sun, this golden red stallion born in the Sultan of Morocco's stone stables. Upon his heel was a small white spot, the symbol of speed. But on his chest was the symbol of misfortune. Although he was as swift as the desert winds, Sham's proud pedigree would be scorned all his life by cruel masters and owners.

Un soir de juin 1940, lorsqu'il se retrouve face à un peloton d'exécution improvisé, un garçon de six ans découvre la guerre. Il sait que, désormais, plus rien ne sera comme avant. Ce livre audio dit la misère, la faim, la fuite, les exactions vues par les yeux d'un enfant, puis l'interminable voyage dans le train qui l'emmène dans un camp. Ce récit est écrit comme il a été vécu: avec les tripes, par un gamin de la guerre qu'on a amputé de sa jeunesse. C'est aujourd'hui un classique étudié dans des écoles.

Set at the outbreak of World War II, Lady Sophia Garfield dreams of becoming a beautiful spy but manages not to notice a nest of German agents right under her nose. Until the murder of her maid and the kidnapping of her beloved bulldog force them on her attention, with heroic and absurd results. One of Mitford's earliest novels and written before Christmas 1939, Pigeon Pie is delivered with a touch lighter than that of her later masterpieces but no less entertaining. This comedy combines glamour, wit and a fiendishly absurd plot into an irresistible literary confection.

Danger from the vampires below. Turmoil in the city above. Nowhere is safe and every day is a battle. After being left for dead on the surface, Alex and the GMT are itching to take down the man who sabotaged their mission. Little do they know, an even more pressing threat is waiting just outside their door. With treachery in the skies and a blood-thirsty army on the surface, Alex and her friends have nowhere to run. That leaves them only one option: fight. The stage is set. The lines have been drawn. The battle for the future of humanity is underway.

مرداد‬ يُحكى أنّ نوح، بعد الطوفان، سأل ابنه أن يبني هيكلًا يشبه الفلك، في وسطه مذبح تشتعل فيه نار لا تنطفئ، وأن يجمع فيه تسعة رجال يسمّون "رفاق الفلك". نفّذ الابن الوصيّة، ومضت السنوات والفلك على حالها، إنّما رفاق الفلك على تغيّر: فبدل أن يكتفوا بما هو ضروريّ، جمعوا أملاكًا، وذهبًا، ومالًا، وتحوّلوا كهنة منكبّين على حماية قشور الدين وسطحية كهنوته.

Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy. Bok leaves his village to try his luck in Kiev and, after denying his Jewish identity, finds himself working for a member of the anti-Semitic Black Hundreds Society. When the boy is found nearly drained of blood in a cave, the Black Hundreds accuse the Jews of ritual murder.

Smooth Stones Taken from Ancient Brooks is a collection of sentences and quaint sayings from this renowned Puritan. Gathered by Spurgeon from the six-volume set of Brooks' Works, it remains an excellent introduction to both the man and his writing.

This varied, well-chosen selection brings onto one audiobook the best of Dylan Thomas. Here is the legendary recording of "Under Milk Wood", with Richard Burton and Richard Bebb as narrators; but here also are two radio productions he wrote before that great classic, and though interesting in their own right, they show how "Under Milk Wood" grew gradually in his imagination.

David Hume (1711-1776) was the most important philosopher ever to write in English as well as a master stylist. This volume contains his major philosophical works. A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–1740), published while Hume was still in his twenties, consists of three books on the understanding, the passions, and morals.

Sur le point d'épouser la plus belle fille de Babylone, jouissant de tous les privilèges de la jeunesse et de la fortune, vertueux de surcroît, Zadig se demande s'il est possible de vivre heureux ici-bas. Sa fiancée ne tarde pas à la trahir, des fanatiques le traînent en justice, on le menace du bûcher, on le vend comme esclave en Egypte et c'est par miracle qu'il retrouve sa patrie et triomphe de la laideur et de la bassesse du monde.

La suite du grand roman "La Grève : Atlas Shrugged" d'Ayn Rand, qui s'est vendu à 10 millions d'exemplaires ! Ce best-seller international est un des livres préférés des hommes d'affaires, et pour cause, puisque beaucoup de personnages héroïques sont des entrepreneurs qui aiment profondément leur métier et excellent dans leur travail. La liberté de penser, de s'aventurer dans le nouveau et l'inconnu, de gagner, d'échanger, de réussir et d'échouer et de poursuivre son propre bonheur individuel est le signe de l'État florissant pour les grands penseurs du pays.

Little Dorrit is Amy, born in debtor’s prison, the youngest child of debtor William Dorrit, an inmate of the Marshalsea. The two are befriended by a man whose wife hires Little Dorrit as a seamstress. When William Dorrit inherits a fortune, he escapes the Marshalsea. The family, assuming a station befitting their wealth, travel to Italy.

Anne Shirley, the mischievous, carrot-topped waif of Anne of Green Gables, has grown into a lovely young woman who leaves the security of Prince Edward Island to enroll at Redmond College. There, she discovers a professor who believes education is wasted on women, ponders the security offered in marriage proposals, and a host of other questions of young adulthood.

The story girl of the title is the 14-year-old Sara Stanley who weaves spellbinding tales that enchant her audience that comes from near and far. These 32 stories range from the humorous and satirical to exotic romances, Scottish folk tales, retellings of Greek myths and poems by Tennyson, to ghost stories. They include the scary "Tale of the Family Ghost", and the bittersweet "The Blue Chest of Rachel Ward".

When Prince Oroonoko's passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko's noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn's visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the author's romantic view of native peoples as noble savages in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin'.

Le narrateur habite une belle demeure en bord de Seine. Sa vie s'écoule, sereine, semblable aux bateaux qui défilent devant ses fenêtres. Mais il semble gagné peu à peu par une maladie étrange... Est-ce seulement la solitude qui pèse sur son âme ? Est-il en train de sombrer dans la folie ? Y a-t-il réellement un être invisible qui rôde autour de lui ?