Essential Classics

Raconteurs Audio has created this collection to include Dickens' two Christmas novellas, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth, as well as some of his lesser-known short stories with a Christmas theme.

Throughout his life Kipling never stopped writing. Greatly revered during his own lifetime and recipient of the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature The Essential Kipling celebrates a truly prolific and varied career; with his poetry and stories interpreted vividly by wonderful actors.

Do you love food and/or cooking? Do you like to keep things simple and fun? Do you have a curious appetite and appreciate being taught new techniques so that you can do things on your own? If you answered yes to any of these questions, put on your apron, and get ready to learn how to cook simple and tasty meals with these easy-to-follow classic recipes!

最も努力した人こそ、最も才能のある人だ　一世紀半以上にわたって世界中で読み継がれる永久不変の成功の真理

知識は武器だ!激動の17世紀、学問と技術の革新をリードした大思想家による思い込みを打ち破る名言集

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread the undead curse. It then relates the epic battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

One of the most universally loved and admired English novels, Pride and Prejudice was penned as a popular entertainment. But the consummate artistry of Jane Austen (1775 -1817) transformed this effervescent tale of rural romance into a witty, shrewdly observed satire of English country life that is now regarded as one of the principal treasures of the English language.

This is Dorothy's original adventure in Oz, when she's carried away from her Kansas farm by the fateful tornado. Together with her friends the Tin Woodsman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow, Dorothy overcomes the Wicked Witch of the West and befriends the amazing and wonderful Wizard of Oz. Those familiar only with the movie will find many more adventures in this book - adding to the delight and wonder. First published in 1900, L. Frank Baum's classic children's tale is one of the world's most beloved, enduring fantasy classics - and perhaps not as recognized as it ought to be for establishing a new, wholly American sort of mythology.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - The fictional character's name may have been derived from a jolly and flamboyant fireman named Tom Sawyer with whom Twain was acquainted in San Francisco, California, while Twain was employed as a reporter.

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby, she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo.

Jane Austen's first novel, Northanger Abbey, published posthumously in 1818, tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen's fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature. The satirical Northanger Abbey pokes fun at the Gothic novel while earnestly emphasizing caution to the female sex.

Herodotus wrote the first history book in the world. That is why he is sometimes called the "Father of History". He lived about 2500 years ago in the fifth century BC. He was born at a place called Halicarnassus in Asia Minor. The modern names for these places are Bodrum in Turkey. Herodotus was a keen traveler who went all over the ancient world and was interested in everything he saw and heard.

As the Napoleonic Wars come to an end in 1814, admirals and captains of the Royal Navy are put ashore, their work done. Anne Elliot meets Captain Frederick Wentworth after seven years, by the chance of his sister and brother-in-law renting her father's estate, while she stays for a few months with her married sister, living nearby. They fell in love the first time, but she broke off the engagement.

Supernatural short story written especially for the young Anne (Nannie) Wynne. It was originally published as "The Ghost's Touch" in The Irish Fireside, 30 September-14 October 1885; Harper's Weekly, 23 October 1885; and in The Ghost's Touch and Other Stories (with "My Lady's Money" and "Percy and the Prophet", Harper's Handy Series, no. 30, 1885).

Few creatures of horror have seized imaginations and held them for so long as the anguished monster of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The story of Victor Frankenstein's terrible creation and the havoc it caused has enthralled generations of readers and listeners and inspired countless writers of horror and suspense.

Billy Budd, Sailor is the final novel by American writer Herman Melville, first published posthumously in London in 1924 as edited by Raymond M. Weaver, a professor at Columbia University. Other versions were later published. Melville had begun writing the original work in November 1888, but left it unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by British critics as a masterpiece when published in London, it quickly took its place as a classic literary work in the United States.

This collection includes theatrical audio versions major plays that are not typically considered part of the Shakespeare cannon, but are plays in which Shakespeare may made material contributions. These are the plays Sir Thomas More, The Spanish Tragedy, and Thomas of Woodstock. Additional expert commentary from Hazel Jeffs provides insight into the potential authorship and major themes of each of these three classic plays of the Elizabethan period.

The tragic poem, dominated by the themes of lust, crime, and revenge, tells the story of soldiers Tarquin and Collatine, and Collatine's wife Lucrece. It is believed to have been written in 1594. It is set just prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic. It is a poem with some similarity to Shakespeare's tragic revenge play, Titus Andronicus, and features aspects of other great Shakespearian works.