Get started

Search results for null

Books

Page 36 of 51

The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character

Thomas Hardy

In a drunken stupor, Michael Henchard auctions off his own wife Susan and their daughter for a pittance to a sailor named Newsom. The following morning, hung over and unwell, Henchard realizes only too late that he can't find where they were taken.

Eighteen years after that fateful day, Newsom dies, and Susan goes in search of her first husband, and finds that his sobriety has created new opportunities for him. But her re-emergence has severe and unintended consequences not just for the couple, but for the entire town of Casterbridge.

The Mayor of Casterbridge, among Hardy's greatest works, made its effect known even to the author as he was writing it: he once confided to a friend that it was "the only tragedy that made [me] weep."

The Deerslayer

James Fenimore Cooper

From Wikipedia:

The Deerslayer, or The First War-Path (1841) was James Fenimore Cooper's last novel in his Leatherstocking Tales. Its 1740–1745 time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero of the Leatherstocking tales, Natty Bumppo. The novel's setting on Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, is the same as that of The Pioneers, the first of the Leatherstocking Tales to be published (1823). The Deerslayer is considered to be the prequel to the rest of the series. Fenimore Cooper begins his work by relating the astonishing advance of civilization in New York State, which is the setting of four of his five Leatherstocking Tales.

In Search of the Castaways

Jules Verne

From Wikipedia

In Search of the Castaways (FrenchLes Enfants du capitaine Grantlit.'The Children of Captain Grant') is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–68. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Édouard Riou. In 1876, it was republished by George Routledge & Sons as a three volume set titled A Voyage Round The World. The three volumes were subtitled South AmericaAustralia, and New Zealand. As often with Verne, English translations have appeared under different names; another edition has the overall title Captain Grant's Children and has two volumes subtitled The Mysterious Document and Among the Cannibals.

Jude the Obscure

Thomas Hardy

From Wikipedia:

Jude the Obscure is a novel by Thomas Hardy, which began as a magazine serial in December 1894 and was first published in book form in 1895 (though the title page says 1896). It is Hardy's last completed novel. The protagonist, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man; he is a stonemason who dreams of becoming a scholar. The other main character is his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who is also his central love interest. The novel is concerned in particular with issues of class, education, religion, morality and marriage.

Kim

Rudyard Kipling

Kimball "Kim" O'hara, orphaned son of a poor Irish soldier and his wife, spends his days in Lahore scraping a living together by running errands for local merchants. One of his clients, a horse trader by the name of Mahbub Ali, is secretly a member of the British intelligence.

Despite his white skin, Kim's ability to blend into the local environment is seen as an asset by Ali, who enlists the boy as a spy for the crown. At the same time, Kim's interest in helping a Tibetan lama fulfill a quest broadens the youth's horizons, and acts as the perfect cover for Kim to complete his missions.

Though perhaps better known for other works, Kim is considered Kipling's masterpiece, and is referred to as "the apotheosis of the Victorian cult of childhood."

Oliver Twist, or the Parish Boy’s Progress

Charles Dickens

From Wikipedia:

Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family.

Oliver Twist unromantically portrays the sordid lives of criminals, and exposes the cruel treatment of the many orphans in London in the mid-19th century. The alternative title, The Parish Boy's Progress, alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, as well as the 18th-century caricature series by painter William HogarthA Rake's Progress and A Harlot's Progress.

In an early example of the social novel, Dickens satirises child labourdomestic violence, the recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street children. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of working as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own experiences as a youth contributed as well, considering he spent two years of his life in the workhouse at the age of 12 and subsequently, missed out on some of his education.

Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous adaptations, including a 1948 film of the same title, starring Alec Guinness as Fagin; a highly successful musical, Oliver! (itself adapted into a multiple Academy Award-winning 1968 motion picture), and Disney's 1988 animated feature film Oliver & Company.

The Man Who Would Be King

Rudyard Kipling

From Wikipedia:

The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) is a story by Rudyard Kipling about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The story was first published in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales (1888); it also appeared in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories (1895) and numerous later editions of that collection. It has been adapted for other media a number of times.

Persuasion

Jane Austen

From Wikipedia:

Persuasion is the last novel completed by the English author Jane Austen. It was published on December 20, 1817, along with Northanger Abbey, six months after her death, although the title page is dated 1818.

The story concerns Anne Elliot, an Englishwoman of 27 years, whose family moves to lower their expenses and reduce their debt by renting their home to an admiral and his wife. The wife's brother, Captain Frederick Wentworth, was engaged to Anne in 1806, but the engagement was broken when Anne was persuaded by her friends and family to end their relationship. Anne and Captain Wentworth, both single and unattached, meet again after a separation lasting almost eight years, setting the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second, well-considered chance at love and marriage for Anne.

The novel was well received in the early 19th century, but its greater fame came later in the century and continued into the 20th and 21st centuries. Much scholarly debate on Austen's work has since been published. Anne Elliot is noteworthy among Austen's heroines for her relative maturity. As Persuasion was Austen's last completed work, it is accepted as her most maturely written novel, showing a refinement of literary conception indicative of a woman approaching 40 years of age. Her use of free indirect speech in narrative was in full evidence by 1816.

Persuasion has been the subject of several adaptations, including four made-for-television adaptations, theatre productions, radio broadcasts, and other literary works.

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen

From Wikipedia:

Northanger Abbey (/ˈnɔːrθæŋər/) is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by the English author Jane AustenNorthanger Abbey was completed in 1803, the first of Austen's novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion, although the title page is dated 1818.[2] The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination.

The Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

Contemporary audiences may call to mind The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when they think of Mark Twain, but it was Innocents Abroad that both predated and outsold both of them, and also inspired Twain to publish Roughing It, a travelogue from a previous trip he had taken across America.

The Innocents Abroad details a five-month voyage aboard a retired Civil War ship and its expedition of Europe and the Holy Land. Twain, though self-deprecating in things pertinent to himself, explores the theme of conflict between history and the emerging modern world. He identifies—and lampoons—things that may be all too familiar to travelers today: the outright profiteering of historical and cultural artifacts, or the over-infusion of meaning or story in areas where there isn't any.

One might argue that it was Twain's own observations of these themes—and how they are repeated by institutions—that laid the groundwork for his famed aforementioned miscreants.

The Missing Will

Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot returns in this short story from Agatha Christie, in which a woman named Violet must abide by the terms her uncle has set for her in his will. In order to claim her inheritance, she must spend a month at hi estate and "prove her wits." But as her stay lengthens, a mystery emerges: is this all there is, or did Violet's uncle leave behind something else?

The Canterville Ghost

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde is one of Ireland's most celebrated authors, and The Canterville Ghost offers a quirky glimpse into his genius.

Playing with tropes familiar to the emergent horror genre, Wilde sets a stage familiar to most of us in the modern era: a family moves into a new house, but they are warned of its haunting by a dead English nobleman fro centuries past. But instead of telling us a Victorian-flavored version of The Amityville Horror, Wilde instea has his protagonists harass and humiliate the resident ghost.

This brilliant short story is vintage Wilde, as it is punctuated by humor and profundity in equal measure.

Page 36 of 51