Showing results by author "Lina" in All Categories

The Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, is a work of enormous proportions. Setting out with the simple goal of offering "American households a mass of good reading", the editors drew from literature of all times and all kinds what they considered the best pieces of human writing, and compiled an ambitious collection of 45 volumes (with a 46th being an index-guide). Besides the selection and translation of a huge number of poems, letters, short stories and sections of books, the collection offers, before each chapter, a short essay about the author or subject in question...

New York-born John Kendrick Bangs was associate editor and then editor of Life and Harper magazines, eventually finding his way into the Humour department. Here he began to write his own satire and humour. Ghosts I Have Met and Some Others is a delightfully humourous collection of short tales relating encounters with ghosts. (Summary by Cathy Barratt)

"The Lark" has all the charm and freshness which have made Miss Nesbit's former novels so justly popular, and yet the story ts entirely new and original. Two girls, Jane and Lucilla, are led by Jane's guardian to entertain high hopes. The fortune, however, which Jane was to have inherited, has been lost by unlucky speculations, and the two girls have to set about earning their own livings. They experience many adventures and ups and downs of fortune before they meet with the two men who ensure their happiness and prosperity. A delightful story, well worth reading. - Summary by (from 1922 ...

Mark Ashburn is a young teacher at St. Peter's Public School for boys, although he isn't particularly fond of boys. His dream is to make his name in the literary world but mediocrity and rejection meet him at every turn. Dejected, he meets up with Vincent, an old friend, who is about to travel to his father's plantation in Ceylon and asks a favor of Mark. Mark makes a rash promise to help, never suspecting anything would ever be required of him. Backed into a corner, he makes a decision that affects his and others' lives forever.

Jim, an axe-man for a sawmill, who is a hard-knuckled, two-fisted fighting man when he has to be, but is shy around women, longs to find a wife and settle down. Two women, one a mercenary widow of the country town, the other a classy city girl, both set their caps for Jim. Will true love triumph? Will Jim's dog ever get his dinner? Will Jim ever get his tongue untied? These and other questions are answered in this story in rhyme. - Summary by Son of the Exiles

Mr. Bensington and Professor Redwood have invented a substance that causes living things to grow - and grow - and grow! As their experiments progress, the substance quickly gets out of control and the fun begins as insects and plants receive the benefit of the Food of the Gods. Surely nobody would dream of feeding such a thing to a human child… would they?In this little-known science fiction satire, Wells takes potshots at every member of society: scientists, ministers, charitable heiresses, revolutionaries, and everyone in between. Yet in the end, Wells shows his faith both in humanity and ...

The Enchanted Typewriter is a collection of short stories by the American author John Kendrick Bangs, written in 1899 in the style that has become known as Bangsian fantasy. Bangs attributes many of the stories to the late (and invisible) James Boswell, who has become an editor for a newspaper in Hades, and who communicates with the author by means of an old typewriter. The fantasy stories in this book are part of the author's Hades series, named for the stories' setting. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Der Roman aus der Epoche des russischen Realismus gibt einen tiefgründigen Einblick in das Leben und die Lebensanschauungen der russischen Aristokratie des 19. Jahrhunderts. Mehr noch begeistert er durch die bis ins kleinste Detail mit großer Menschenkenntnis dargestellten Charaktere, deren Wesen Tolstoi uns weitestgehend durch ihre Art zu sprechen, denken, handeln und ihre "Kreise" auszuwählen näher bringt.Seitensprünge sind in der besseren Gesellschaft durchaus üblich, jedoch nicht solche von der Art, wie Anna Karenina ihn begeht. Auch gelten für Ehebruch bei Frauen andere Maßstäbe ...

Phineas Pett was a Master Shipbuilder from one of England's greatest shipbuilding families of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and kept a journal of his experiences and thoughts at this important and turbulent time in the industry. Although some pages were damaged or lost, the diary was transcribed by Samuel Pepys and preserved in the British Library. It was edited and published in the form of an autobiography by William Gordon Perrin of The Council of the Navy Records Society in 1918. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

Titelheld Oliver Twist startet in dem zweiten Roman von Charles Dickens, damals seinen Leserinnen und Lesern auch unter seinem Pseudonym „Boz“ bekannt, seinen Lebensweg als Waisenkind in einem für das 19. Jahrhundert typischen britischen Armenhaus. Als er es - von den anderen Waisen ausgelost - wagt, gegen die menschenunwürdigen Lebensumstände zu protestieren, wird er an wechselnde Handwerker verkauft, flieht und landet in der Obdachlosen-Szene von London. Er findet Unterschlupf bei einer jugendlichen Diebesbande, die für den Organisator und Hehler Fagin arbeitet. Oliver Twist wird von...

This is a story of the English moneyed class and its eternal struggle for creating “sense and sensibility” in its world. A potential marriage prospect must make “sense” by bringing with it enough assets and income to permit the couple to continue to live in happy, idle leisure, complete with servants and a prestigious address. Provided one can find such a match among the eligible persons of the opposite sex, one then hopes for “sensibility”, or capacity for emotion, so that if love is not immediately to hand, it might come around later. And while these gentlemen and ladies make ...

The classic Christmas story of an old miser and the astonishing effect a series of ghostly visitors has upon him. This version has been read in a whisper and is perfect for night-time listening in a quiet room. The low volume is intentional! - Summary by Cori Samuel

A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. ( Summary by Wikipedia )

The prophet Al Mustafa, before leaving the city where he has been living twelve years, stops to address the people. They call out for his words of wisdom on many sides of the human condition, and he addresses them in terms of love and care. He has much to offer from his observations of the people, and he illustrates with images they can relate to.The author, Gibran, was influenced by the Maronites, the Sufis, and the Baha’i. His philosophy, though deist, is primarily aimed at the good within ourselves, and the common-sense ways in which we can unlock it. An illustration from his chapter on ...

Titelheld Oliver Twist startet in dem zweiten Roman von Charles Dickens, damals seinen Leserinnen und Lesern auch unter seinem Pseudonym „Boz“ bekannt, seinen Lebensweg als Waisenkind in einem für das 19. Jahrhundert typischen britischen Armenhaus. Als er es - von den anderen Waisen ausgelost - wagt, gegen die menschenunwürdigen Lebensumstände zu protestieren, wird er an wechselnde Handwerker verkauft, flieht und landet in der Obdachlosen-Szene von London.Er findet Unterschlupf bei einer jugendlichen Diebesbande, die für den Organisator und Hehler Fagin arbeitet. Oliver Twist wird von ...

Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four spirits on Christmas Eve, and it changes his life forever. - Summary by W. Blaine Dowler

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. The text is composed of 13 chapters, each devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly considered to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time. It has been the most famous and influential of China's Seven Military Classics, and "for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name." It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, ...

After hearing Mr. Enfield's account of a distressing event involving Edward Hyde, the heir of his friend, Henry Jekyll, John Utterson is convinced that Jekyll's relationship with Hyde is built on something sinister. Utterson's concern for his friend is not unfounded but the reasons aren't quite what he, at first, believes. (Summary by Kristin Hughes)

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other Homeric epic. The Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon; it is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, while the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia. The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to...

Beowulf was composed by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet. Francis Barton Gummere translates this beautiful poem. Beowulf is an epic poem. The main character, Beowulf, proves himself a hero as he battles against supernatural demons and beasts. (Summary by Tad E.)