Showing results by narrator "Jim Killavey" in All Categories

James Allen wrote this little book eight years after the phenomenal success of As a Man Thinketh. His forward gives an apt description of the book "We cannot alter external things, nor shape other people to our liking, nor mould the world to our wishes but we can alter internal things - our desires, passions, thoughts,- we can shape our liking to other people, and we can mould the inner world of our own mind in accordance with wisdom, and so reconcile it to the outer world of men and things.

William Dean Howells was born in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, of Welch, Irish, and German forebears. Along with Mark Twain, he was one of the great novelists of his time. This book, the realisic saga of the rise and redemptive fall of an American tycoon, is considered to be his best novel.

While portraying life in a new settlement on New York's Lake Otsego in the final years of the 18th century, Cooper deftly explores the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of the American experience. He contrasts the natural codes of the hunter and woodsman, Natty Bumppo, and his Indian friend John Mokegan with the more rigid structure of law required by a more complex society.

The story concerns a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who conducts a great experiment to see if he can create a living being from the body parts of corpses. Only whe the experiment is successful does he begin to think of the ethics and consequences of what he has done. The creature he created becomes embittered when he finds that no one will love him becuase of his appearance.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic in which Verne prophesized many modern uses of the submarine. The story concerns the now famous fictional character Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus, as seen by one of his passengers, Professor Pierre Aronnax. Over the years there have been many film, TV, and theatrical adaptations and variations of the book.

In its oppressive atmosphere of fog, mist, and mud, nothing conjures up the dreary days of November and its "implacable" weather like the celebrated opening of Bleak House. The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (Jarndyce and Jarndyce) that has far-reaching consequences for all involved. Dickens' assault on the flaws of the British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk.

The novel is a profound exploration of imitative rivalry and the duality of human consciousness. Told from the point of view of a rich and idle man who is confronted by a rival, the husband of his former, and now deceased, mistress, the story concerns the interchanging hatred and love of the two men.

James Fenimore Cooper wrote five "leather-stocking" tales. This is the second and most famous. It comes between The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder. Here the white frontiersman, Hawkeye (aka Natto Bumppo and Leather Stocking) is nobly matched with Uncas, the Indian of the title.

Stephen wrote astonishingly realistic stories of men under the stress of battle, the most famous being The Read Badge of Courage. He also wrote a number of very insightful stories with the same theme. This is considered one of his best.

Sir Walter Scott gathered a popular audience, larger than any audience before. A great innovator,he created one of the outstanding literary forms of the past 200 years - the historical novel. In Ivanhoe, Scott brings to life 12th century England.

Daisy Miller is one of Henry James' shorter and earlier novels. It was written in 1878. It portrays the confused courtship of a headstrong American girl by Winterbourne, a compatriot of hers who is much more sophisticated. His pursuit of her is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates they meet in Switzerland and Italy.

The Four Million was written in 1906 when roughly four million people lived in New York City. It opens with a reference to Ward McAllister's "assertion that there were only "400" people in New York City who were really worth noticing.

The American Civil War had ended, and the members of the American Gun Club tried to think of something else to interest them. At last they came up with the extraordinary idea of building the greatest cannon the world had ever seen and using it to launch a man-made "bullet" to the moon!

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American philosopher, lecturer, essayist, and poet, who is best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was a a champion of individualism and wrote dozens of essays. Most criics consider "Self-Reliance" his best. It has the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's repeating themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 science fiction novel. As a satire, Flatland offered pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the book's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. In a foreword to one of the many publications of the book, noted science fiction author Isaac Asimov described Flatland as “The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions.”

Carlo Collodi, whose real name was Carlo Lorenzini,was a Florentine children's writer most famous for this world-renowned fairytale novel. The name "Pinocchio" is a Tuscan word meaning "pine nut." The story concerns a puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. The book has appeared in many adaptations including the famous 1940 Disney movie.

Guy de Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story as well as one of the form's finest writers. His stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements

Known for his comic sense, Earl Derr Biggers was one of the foremost writers of mystery and detective stories in this country. To his friends he was known for his comic sense. Seven Keys to Baldpate was his first novel and became extremely popular. In it, a famous author visits a closed summer resort at Baldpate Mountain in the middle of winter. He is looking for peace and quiet so that he can write his next book.

Brand Whitlock was an American attorney, author, elected official and diplomat in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He wrote this excellent little life of Lincoln but recognized that his book could serve only as an introduction to the great man's life when he wrote, "To compress between the covers of a little book like this the whole story of AbrahamLincoln, to present within such limitations a life so epical, a character so original and yet so universal, is obviously impossible."

This essay by Thoreau first published in 1849, argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule their consciences. It goes on to say that individuals have a duty to avoid allowing the government to make them the agents of injustice. The quote: "That government is best which governs least," sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Paine, actually was first found in this essay. Thoreaus' thoughts were motivated by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War but they are still relevant and resonate today.