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Why do we read literature and how do we judge it? C. S. Lewis' classic An Experiment in Criticism springs from the conviction that literature exists for the joy of the reader and that books should be judged by the kind of reading they invite. He argues that "good reading", like moral action or religious experience, involves surrender to the work in hand and a process of entering fully into the opinions of others: "in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself."

Life is an unscripted adventure where the impossible lingers around every corner and the magical waits to be discovered. The joy lies in the journey. Verses Versus Verses is an exploration of what it means to truly be alive, and to connect to your lived experience; to experience new sensations and to enjoy those subtle moments that flee too quickly. Filled with experiences and observations from Kevin McCormack’s time on Earth thus far, this is a poetry collection unlike any other.

Darcy's got the wealth and wit, but Elizabeth's heart is already spoken for. Cue the romance and shenanigans, because the game of love is about to get serious. **Elizabeth Bennet** It was supposed to be simple: come back to Derbyshire, see childhood friends, maybe fall in love. But that was before I realized George Darcy, the boy I’d set my heart on when I was just thirteen, was engaged to Lady Lucilla.

What is it like to be old? Diana Athill, born in 1917, made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs. In Somewhere Towards the End she reflects frankly on the losses and occasionally the gains that old age brings, and on the wisdom and fortitude required to face death. This is a lively narrative of events, lovers and friendships: the people and experiences that have taight her to regret very little, to resist despondency and to question the beliefs and customs of her own generation.

Nurse Gemma Tate is heartbroken when she hears that one of her young charges at the Foundling Hospital has been killed. She knows that police inspector Sebastian Bell will work tirelessly to uncover the truth, but obstructed by the curt matron, he’ll need her help navigating the cloistered world of the orphanage.

Dans ce roman, on découvre une société dominée par le plaisir et l'argent, le milieu du théâtre parisien au 19ème siècle et de la prostitution, celui de l'aristocratie et de la grande bourgeoisie.À travers le personnage de Nana, jolie fille du ruisseau, prostituée et comédienne sans talent devenue célèbre courtisane, Zola décrit la déchéance d'une femme, et celle de la bonne société qui lui apporte ses amants, mais aussi la fin du Second Empire, qui se rue avec insouciance vers la guerre et la débâcle.

Life in the windswept village of Rantum in the North Sea is fraught with peril and hardship. Most families must rely on arranged marriage just to survive. But free-spirited Maren Luersen doesn't care for riches - her heart belongs to handsome but poor Thies Heinen. He may not have prospects or fortune to offer, but Maren knows their intense love can overcome any obstacle, and she is determined to be his bride.

Mrs Gereth, a wealthy widow, is dreading the day that her son, Owen, gets married. She hopes that he will marry a woman who will appreciate their home and all of its treasures as she does. So she enlists the help of Fleda Vetch to try to corrupt the impending marriage of her son and Mona Brigstock - a philistine who is determined to marry Owen in order to inherit Mrs Gereth’s valuable possessions and home by any means. Meanwhile, Fleda hides her real feelings towards Owen. Even when he ends up feeling the same way, Fleda cannot bring herself to marry him as this would force him to break his engagement to Mona, and thus betray all of her own ideals.

Paul Temple, the creation of Francis Durbridge, was one of radio's most popular sleuths. He and his glamorous wife Steve inhabit a sophisticated world where they sip well-chilled cocktails, where Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard always sends for Paul when the going gets tricky, and where Paul's incisive mind picks up every one of the carefully strewn clues.

The beautiful Miss Alison Brooke is the envy of London's 18th-century royal society. When villainy occurs, an unexpected hero comes to her aid. But rumors result, and Miss Brooke finds herself in the center of tawdry gossip. Her rescuer, Robert Anderson, Viscount Charmaine, is preoccupied with troubled finances, an ill father, and defense of the Crown. Problematically, Charmaine's best friend, Marquis Anthony Farrington, is clandestinely helping fund the American Revolution. Miss Brooke's large dowry tempts both men. Her father, however, wants his daughter to marry for love, not money.

Christopher Marlowe's play about a man who sells his soul to the devil is not only one of the first of many works to explore this theme but also one of the most startling. Eschewing the usual division of the drama into acts, it presents the story of Faustus' fall in a series of apparently disconnected scenes. However, the integrity of the drama is maintained by the remorseless unraveling of Faustus' fortunes as he approaches his inevitable damnation.

The brilliant conclusion to the Palliser novels, this touching story follows the elderly Duke of Omnium, the former prime minister of England, as he struggles to overcome his grief at the loss of his beloved wife, Lady Glencora. To complicate matters, he must also deal with the willfulness of his three adult children as he tries to guide and support them - his plans for them are quite different from their own. While his two sons, sent down from university in disgrace, rack up gambling debts, the duke’s only daughter yearns to marry the poor son of a country squire.

For students of Middle English, Andrew and Waldron's The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript has been the key edition of the four Pearl poems for over 30 years. With the changing needs of today's students in mind, the editors produced a complete prose translation of the four poems - the best known of which is "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The near-literal translations are intended to facilitate understanding of the four poems - to lead readers to, rather than away from, the original texts.

Vom frühen Welterfolg des "Werther" bis zu den nach dem Tode veröffentlichten "Maximen und Reflexionen" bietet das Hörbuch einen wunderbaren Querschnitt durch alle Phasen und Genres, an denen sich das Universalgenie Goethe versucht hat.

"Comprendrait-elle la déraison, le Grandiose destructeur que j'avais vécu et qui m'avait changée à jamais ?" Une femme aux portes de la mort. Un homme incapable d'en finir avec la vie. Leurs deux voix s'élèvent tour à tour pour nous confier leur histoire, leurs maux, leurs démons, et plus que tout l'amour fou.

Here is a very funny, very silly collection of questions and answers taken from this column, none of which has any basis whatsoever in fact. This is a must for all those who relish a heady mixture of shaggy-dog stories, toilet humour, and utter lack of insight.

"The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits)" is a poem written by English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorized as a nonsense poem. Written from 1874 to 1876, the poem borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight portmanteau words from Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" in his children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

Que celui qui pourrait écrire un tel livre serait heureux, pensais-je, quel labeur devant lui ! Pour en donner une idée, c'est aux arts les plus élevés et les plus différents qu'il faudrait emprunter les comparaisons ; car cet écrivain, qui d'ailleurs pour chaque caractère en ferait apparaître les faces opposées, pour montrer son volume, devrait préparer son livre, minutieusement, avec de perpétuels regroupements de force, comme une offensive, le supporter comme une fatigue.

Arriving at the port of New York in 1882, a 27-year-old Oscar Wilde quipped he had "nothing to declare but my genius." But as this sparkling narrative reveals, Wilde was, rarely for him, underselling himself. A chronicle of his sensational eleven-month speaking tour of America, Declaring His Genius offers an indelible portrait of both Oscar Wilde and the Gilded Age. Neither Wilde nor America would ever be the same.

Dylan Thomas is one of the 20th century's most celebrated poets. His rich rhetoric created poems of magical imagery; nowhere is language more rich and fantastic than in his best-known work, Under Milk Wood. He was also a popular radio entertainer and the BBC Archives contain a wealth of material featuring Dylan Thomas, not only readings of his own work, but also dramatic readings of other work such as Dr Faustus.