Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

The Last of the Mohicans is an epic novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in January 1826. It was one of the most popular English-language novels of its time, and helped establish Cooper as one of the first world-famous American writers.The story takes place in 1757 during the French and Indian War, when France and Great Britain battled for control of the American and Canadian colonies. During this war, the French often allied themselves with Native American tribes in order to gain an advantage over the British, with unpredictable and often tragic results.(Wikipedia Excerpt)

One of the most renowned of all Protestant Christian missionaries, Amy Carmichael is remembered most for the fifty-five years she spent doing evangelistic and philanthropic work in India. She began her missions career, however, with fifteen months in Japan before falling ill, returning to Ireland, and then returning to Asia with her focus on India. This collection of letters is a record of that time in Japan, and is fascinating not only for its biographical interest but also for its insights into the rapidly-changing life of fin de siècle Japan and the status of its small unpopular handful of...

The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Little Nell, a beautiful and virtuous young girl who lives with her grandfather in his shop of curiosities. Her grandfather loves her dearly, and Nell does not complain, but she lives a lonely existence without friends of her own age. Her only friend is Kit, an honest young lad who works at the shop, and whom she is teaching to write. Unbeknownst to Nell, her grandfather is obsessed with their precarious financial position and is attempting to make Nell a good inheritance by winning at cards. He keeps these nocturnal activities a secret, but borrows ...

"David Copperfield" or "The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery" was first published in 1850. Like all except five of his works, it originally appeared in serial form. Many elements within the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of all of his novels. It is also Dickens' "favorite child." (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, better known as The Pickwick Papers, is the first novel by Charles Dickens. Written for publication as a serial, The Pickwick Papers consists of a sequence of loosely-related adventures. Its main literary value and appeal is formed by its numerous unforgettable heroes. Each personage in The Pickwick Papers (just as in many other Dickens' novels) is drawn comically, often with exaggerated features of character. (Wikipedia)

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)

The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories is a 1906 collection of 30 comic short stories by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. Published just 4 years before his death, this was the last time he chose works from throughout his career, in an effort to show the diversity of his style and the breadth and depth of his interests. (Introduction by John Greenman & Wikipedia )

The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk is another in the long list children's books by the conservationist, Thornton W. Burgess. In this book, Jimmy Skunk has encounters with Reddy Fox, Peter Rabbit, Unc’ Billy Possum and other acquaintances of his in the Green Meadows and Green Forest. Along the way, we learn some of the habits of Jimmy and his friends and we learn little lessons about life such as the importance of always keeping one's temper, keeping promises and not playing practical jokes. We are also treated to a philosophical discussion by Jimmy Skunk on the advantages of defensive weaponry. (...

In an era before the advent of electric lights, telephones or motor vehicles, there exists a small cluster of aristocratic "old revolutionary stock" families that rule New York's social life. Under the rules of this society, "being things" is better than "doing things" and reputation and outward appearances come at the exclusion of everything else. In this Gilded Age, when America’s expansion and increased industrialism produce a group of newly wealthy robber barons and financiers, the patient, time-honored values of the old ruling class, and century, are giving way to the expediencies of ...

There are certain names which are familiar, as names, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in their characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extended a fame. Consequently, great historical names alone are selected; and it has been the writer's aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple ...

The Holy Sonnets—also known as the Divine Meditations or Divine Sonnets—are a series of nineteen poems by the English poet John Donne (1572–1631). The sonnets were first published in 1633—two years after Donne's death. Summary from Wikipedia.

Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this 1920 novel about Old New York society. Newland Archer is wealthy, well-bred, and engaged to the beautiful May Welland. But he finds himself drawn to May's cousin Ellen Olenska, who has been living in Europe and who has returned following a scandalous separation from her husband. (Introduction by Elizabeth Klett)Proof listened by Stav Nisser & Betty M.

"The Stories in this little book have been set down almost in the same words in which they were told. How the telling of them came about is a very simple matter. Having three children, each of whom loved a Fairy Tale, it somehow became the fashion, on Sunday evenings, to tell them a story.On one occasion, when the youngest member was just about to be taken to bed, his sister said; “None of the books about Fairies ever say a word about Australia! Are there any Australian Fairies, Father?”Somewhat hastily, perhaps, I answered: “Why, yes, of course! Whole tribes of them!”Instantly the ...

Miriam Winthrop doesn't know what to do when she realizes her beloved husband Claude, the father of her children, has become infatuated with another woman. Her marriage vows were made to be kept, and not just as empty words that now echo from room to room in her lonely home. Is there a way for love to triumph? Miriam determines to fight for him, and she will fight fire with fire! - Summary by LikeManyWaters

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, better known as H.P. Lovecraft, was an American author of horror, fantasy, poetry and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction and many feel he is the acknowledged master of creepy, weird and unsettling stories. These are seven stories by Lovecraft that literally span his career; some being written when he was barely a teenager and one (The Shunned House) only published after he had died. Each story is unique and strange in it's own way but all of them come from the same mind that gave us the Cult of Cthulhu and other wonderful tales that ...

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 ...

The history of the first return of exiles, in the first year of Cyrus the Great (536 B.C.), till the completion and dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem, in the sixth year of Darius (515 B.C.). The history of the second return under Ezra, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and of the events that took place at Jerusalem after Ezra's arrival there. The book thus contains memorabilia connected with the Jews, from the decree of Cyrus to the reformation by Ezra (456 B.C.), extending over a period of about eighty years. (Summary by Wikipedia)

The Book of Job (American Standard Version) is presented in forty-two chapters and is one of the Old Testament Wisdom Books. The narrative chronicles the trials of Job as he is brought low from a comfortable and exalted position in his community to face loss of his fortune, children and health. Joined by three friends who initially commiserate and sympathize with him, there ensues a lengthy argument about the fate of the wicked and the just and much questioning about the character of God and the justice He metes out to his creations.A quite lively and poetic discussion ensues among these wise ...

The Books of Samuel (Hebrew: Sefer Sh'muel ספר שמואל) are part of the Tanakh (part of Judaism's Hebrew Bible) and also of the Christian Old Testament. The work was originally written in Hebrew, and the Book(s) of Samuel originally formed a single text, as they are often considered today in Hebrew bibles. Together with what is now referred to as the Book(s) of Kings, the translators who created the Greek Septuagint divided the text into four books, which they named the Books of the Kingdoms. In the Latin Vulgate version, these then became the Books of the Kings, thus 1 and 2 Samuel were...

During the time of the Judges when there was a famine, an Israelite family from Bethlehem - Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilion - emigrate to the nearby country of Moab. Elimelech dies, and the sons marry two Moabite women: Mahlon marries Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah. Then Mahlon and Chilion also die. Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem. She tells her daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers, and remarry. Orpah reluctantly leaves; however, Ruth says, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. ...