Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens; it is moreover a moral novel strongly concerned with themes of guilt, shame, redemption and patriotism.The plot centers on the years leading up to French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. It tells the story of two men, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look very alike but are entirely different in character.(Summary from Wikipedia)

Charles Dickens' 1854 novel opens with the philosophy of education espoused by the eminently practical Mr. Gradgrind, who prizes "facts and calculations." He raises his children, most prominently Louisa and Tom, to eschew imagination and emotion and embrace order and reason. The results are disastrous: Louisa marries out of duty to the supposed self-made man Mr. Bounderby, while Tom grows up dissolute, ultimately commits theft and blames it on an unfortunate laborer, Stephen Blackpool. Set in the fictional Coketown, a mill town in the north of England, Dickens' novel satirizes capitalism, ...

The Battle of Agincourt provided a surprise English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place in 1415 and brought a turning point in the war between France and England after failed negotiations.This romance by James begins in the lead-up to the battle, with the mysterious "Hal of Hadnock" shown hospitality by Sir Philip Beauchamp while on an unknown journey. He is befriended by young Richard of Woodville, who has suspicions regarding Hal. Gradually, we learn more of Hal and Richard as we follow their fortunes and the twists and turns surrounding Richard’s love for Mary. (Summary by ...

When orphaned Oliver Twist asks for more food, the workhouse board are horrified and immediately pack him off to work for an undertaker, who treats him badly. Oliver runs away and finds himself in the streets of London, where he meets the Artful Dodger and is lured into a gang of young pickpockets, led by the evil Fagin. Even amidst his horrible surroundings, Oliver escapes and finds his way into a loving home. But Fagin's gang are determined to steal him back to their life of crime, coming closer and closer...Dickens' classic tale of an orphan boy who has adventures with pickpockets and ...

Agnes Grey is the daughter of a minister, whose family comes to financial ruin. Desperate to earn money to care for herself, she takes one of the few jobs allowed to respectable women in the early Victorian era, as a governess to the children of the wealthy. In working with two different families, the Bloomfields and the Murrays, she comes to learn about the troubles that face a young woman who must try to rein in unruly, spoiled children for a living, and about the ability of wealth and status to destroy social values. After her father's death, Agnes opens a small school with her mother and ...

A collection of short Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Dedicated to Beth Thomas. Summary by kathrinee. Cast List: Cast Sherlock Holmes: Peter Yearsley Dr. John Watson: johnnyenglish, and Tomas Peter Various other roles read by: Larry Wilson, Beth Thomas, Amelia Chesley, Adrian Stephens, Algy Pug, Lola Janie, Leanne Yau, Max Körlinge, chuckconvr, Bernd Ungerer, Nemo, Rafe Ball, Foon, KHand, Rob Marland, TJ Burns, Zames Curran, and thestorygirl. Edited by: Peter Yearsley and johnnyenglish Proof listeners: Beth Thomas, johnnyenglish, Peter Yearsley, and Linette.

This classic tale by Lewis Carroll has delighted children for generations. Alice falls down a rabbit hole and encounters a wide variety of strange and wonderful creatures in all manner of bizarre situations. Join Alice as she journeys through Wonderland, trying to make sense of what she finds there. This version is read dramatically, with different readers voicing the different characters. (Summary by Lucy Perry) CastNarrator: David GoldfarbAlice: Miss AvariceThe White Rabbit: BellonaTimesMouse: cher0520Lory: AvailleDuck: Jessamy GloorDodo: Tim FerreiraEaglet: Dennis D.Old Crab: Joshua ...

In order to escape his cruel father, and led by a thirst for adventure, Huck Finn sets off down the Mississippi River with Jim, an escaped slave. But trouble is never far behind them, and their adventures are only beginning when they meet up with two men who claim to be a duke and a king! And that’s before Jim gets captured by none other than Tom Sawyer’s aunt and uncle… who mistake Huck for Tom. The hilarious adventures and scrapes of Huck, Jim, Tom, and others are brought to life in this dramatic reading. - Summary by Rachel Cast Huckleberry Finn: Patrick Saville Tom Sawyer: TenorBoy ...

The Age of Innocence centers on an upper-class couple's impending marriage, and the introduction of a woman plagued by scandal whose presence threatens their happiness. Though the novel questions the assumptions and morals of 1870s' New York society, it never devolves into an outright condemnation of the institution. In fact, Wharton considered this novel an "apology" for her earlier, more brutal and critical novel, The House of Mirth. Not to be overlooked is Wharton's attention to detailing the charms and customs of the upper caste. The novel is lauded for its accurate portrayal of how the ...

Growing up on the banks of the Mississippi river, a mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer spends his days getting into one scrape after another. Tom's constant cleverness, superstition, trickery, and daring make him a handful to raise, and his Aunt Polly declares that she has "never seen the beat of that boy!" Tom is essentially good-hearted, however, but when he is witness to a horrible crime, his courage and integrity are tested beyond anything he ever expected. A note to parents: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is considered a children's classic, but contains racial slurs which, although "...

Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Marcus Antonius and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Parthian War to Cleopatra's suicide. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumviri and the future first emperor of Rome. The tragedy is a Roman play characterized by swift, panoramic shifts in geographical locations and in registers,...

A fairy tale with real life consequences, All's Well That Ends Well concerns a poor physician's daughter who goes to Paris to heal the King and asks of him a husband; not himself, but the Count Rousillon, in whose house her good father had lived. He weds her but does not bed her, flees to the wars where he is followed by his wife in a pilgrimage of which he is the object. How she uses his lust for a virtuous young woman to trick him into bedding her and giving her a child is but the real life drama to which, or so it would appear, a good woman is forced to commit herself to get herself a ...

The second of ten volumes of poetry edited by Canadian poet laureate Bliss Carman (1861-1929). This collection, the second of two parts, includes a range of famous and influential love poems relating to such topics as cautions and complaints; lovers; love's power; and wedded love. Summary by Tomas Peter.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is Joyce’s semi-autobiographical first novel. It traces the early life of Stephen Dedalus and his inner struggle with the oppression of Irish society and the Catholic church, ending with his awakening as a poet and writer and self-imposed exile from Ireland.“Welcome, O life, I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.”(Description by T. Hynes, with quote from the book)

Ulysses is a groundbreaking novel in which Irish author James Joyce explores realism through stream-of-consciousness technique and shifting narrative styles. It was published in serial form between 1918-1920 and first published in book form in 1922. The story follows Leopold Bloom through Dublin during the course of one day: June 16, 1904. The events and characters of Ulysses parallel those of Homer's Odyssey, with Bloom corresponding to Odysseus. Although the book was the subject of early obscenity prosecutions, was banned in several countries, and has been considered unreadable by many, it ...

This is James Joyce's first novel, the semi-autobiographical story of a young Irish boy who struggles with family, country, and religion to become an artist and a man. (Summary by Peter Bobbe)

Exiles is a play by James Joyce, who is principally remembered for his novels. It was rejected by W. B. Yeats for production by the Abbey Theatre. Its first major London performance was in 1970, when Harold Pinter directed it at the Mermaid Theatre. The basic premise of Exiles involves a love triangle between Richard Rowan (a Dublin writer recently returned from exile in Rome), Bertha (his common law wife) and his old friend Robert Hand (a journalist). (There are obvious parallels to be drawn with Joyce's own life – Joyce and Nora Barnacle lived, unmarried, in Trieste, during the years the ...

James Joyce published three volumes of poetry during his lifetime including Pomes Penyeach. This simple booklet was published in 1927 in Paris. The poems were written over a twenty-year period beginning in 1904 and are arranged chronologically in the booklet.This thin collection reveals some of Joyce's humor. "Pomes Penyeach" plays with the French word for apples---pommes. The booklet was sold for a shilling, that is 12 pennies. (12 francs.) That the collection of poems is actually 13 in number mirrors the Irish tradition of the "tilly," something like the well-known baker's dozen. In fact, ...

Masterful short stories about life in Dublin at the turn of the century, by James Joyce. (Summary by Hugh McGuire)

This is a collection of French poems by Charles Baudelaire, originally titled "Les Fleurs du mal." It was popular in the symbolist and modernist movements of the 19th century, and the poems are about decadence and eroticism. (Summary by Assaf Koss)