Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

A dragon who flies out of a magical book; one whose purr quiets a fussy baby; another who eats an entire pack of tame hunting-hippopotomuses: These eight dragon tales are filled with the imaginative wit of children's author Edith Nesbit. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)

The Egoist is a tragi-comical novel by George Meredith published in 1879. The novel recounts the story of self-absorbed Sir Willoughby Patterne and his attempts at marriage; jilted by his first bride-to-be, he vacillates between the sentimental Laetitia Dale and the strong-willed Clara Middleton. More importantly, the novel follows Clara's attempts to escape from her engagement to Sir Willoughby, who desires women to serve as a mirror for him and consequently cannot understand why she would not want to marry him. Thus, The Egoist dramatizes the difficulty contingent upon being a woman in ...

After a number of deaths in his close family, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle turned to spiritualism in hope of finding proof of the afterlife. Being open in this way, he wanted to believe that spirits and other supernatural being including fairies were real. Because of this he believed the photographs of fairies taken by the Cottingley girls were proof of the existence of such beings. In this book he presents his stance on the issue. Eventually it was proven that the photographs were indeed a hoax. (Summary by Amy Gramour)

Alcott in 1862 served as a nurse in Georgetown, D.C during the Civil War. She wrote home what she observed there. Those harrowing and sometimes humorous letters compiled make up Hospital Sketches. (Summary by Aaron Elliott)

Le Père Goriot est un roman d’Honoré de Balzac, écrit en 1834, dont la publication débute dans la Revue de Paris et qui paraît en 1835 en librairie. Il fait partie des Scènes de la vie privée de la Comédie humaine. Le Père Goriot établit les bases de ce qui deviendra un véritable édifice : la Comédie humaine, construction littéraire unique en son genre, avec des liens entre les volumes, des passerelles, des renvois. (Résumé par Wikipédia)Le Père Goriot (English: Father Goriot or Old Goriot) is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), ...

Samuel L. Clemens' (Mark Twain) journey to Europe and the Holy Land in 1866. Reportedly his best selling book.

Charlotte Brontë was a British author, the eldest of the three famous Brontë sisters who have become standards of English literature. She is best known for her novel Jane Eyre, one of the greatest classics of all time. Just two years after Charlotte's death, her friend Elizabeth Gaskell wrote her biography. Want to know more about Charlotte Brontë? If you do, please read this biography. Summary by Stav Nisser. A recording of Volume 2 of this work is also available.

Esta es una colleccion de poemas de Ruben Darío. (Summary by Arturo)

Uncle Remus tells these 11 stories but to the son of the original "little boy" who is visiting his grandmother on the plantation. As always Uncle Remus can be relied upon to provide funny and pointed insight into human personalities through his story telling. These were all published in the Uncle Remus magazine from 1905 and 1906 and gathered together in this book by the author. (Summary by Phil Chenevert)

The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers, as Dumas's most popular work. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting ...

George Eliot's own favorite among her novels, this novel tells the story of Romola, the intelligent daughter of a blind scholar, who is falling in love with a man who is going to change her life and the politics of Florence in a way she doesn't like. Set in 15th century Florence, it is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view". Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia.

Personal correspondence of Bohemian religious reformer John Huss (Jan Hus) from 1411 when he was exiled from Prague through his death by burning as heretic in 1415 by order of the Council of Constance. These were first published in 1536 by the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther and his introduction is included here. - Summary by Rom Maczka

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania is a series of essays written by the Pennsylvania lawyer and legislator John Dickinson (1732–1808) and published under the name "A Farmer" from 1767 to 1768. The twelve letters were widely read and reprinted throughout the thirteen colonies and were important in uniting the colonists against the Townshend Acts. (Wikipedia)

Born in Scotland, Alexander Dunlop Lindsay was a teacher of philosophy at a number of universities in England in the early 1900s. This brief commentary on Kant's philosophy is a work that focuses solely on some of the main ideas Kant put forth in the three Critiques. Although not comprehensive, the narrative style of this volume makes it a pleasant read and will be a valuable "break-in" point (or introduction to) the complex philosophy of Immanuel Kant. (Summary by SKwanlada)

The Tang Dynasty (618 to 907) was a golden age of Chinese culture: religion and philosophy, painting and calligraphy, sculpture, architecture and music all reached peaks of perfection. Poetry was the epitome of the arts: a scholastic requirement, a route to fame, a moulder of character. Nearly 50,000 poems of the Tang have survived. The collection 'Three Hundred Tang Poems' was compiled around 1763. It comprises six volumes, with poems grouped by verse form. Volume 1 covers the 'ancient verse' style in five-character lines (poems 1 to 35), and 'folk song style verse' (36 to 45). The masters Li...

Organized by week, this devotional has a morning and evening meditation for every day of the year. Although these devotions are short in length, they are filled with spiritual goodness. In just a few sentences, Spurgeon is able to convey the wisdom of Scripture with eloquence and purpose. These daily messages provide Christians with the spiritual energy they need to begin and end each day. Spurgeon weaves a verse of Scripture into each devotion, helping readers draw deeper meaning out of the selected passages. This powerful devotional provides Christians with the spiritual nourishment required...

In a rundown farmhouse near isolated, rural Dunwich, a bizarre family conjures and nurtures an evil entity from another realm, with the purpose of destroying the world and delivering it to ancient gods to rule, and only an aged university librarian can stop them. The Dunwich Horror was first published in 1929 in Weird Tales. (Summary by Mark Nelson)

Volume 3 of The d'Artagnan Romances is divided into three parts. The first begins in 1660, ten years after Volume 2, with d’Artagnan as Lieutenant of the King’s Musketeers. In this post, he is very near to achieving his dream (becoming Captain) and even nearer to his King, being young Louis XIV’s personal guard. Seeing first-hand how powerless the child King was, d’Artagnan resigns his illustrious, but dull, post to turn his sharp wit and sword toward another ambitious aim: restoration of the English monarchy. To the joy of France, Cardinal Mazarin dies, leaving a power vacuum that ...

The Pearl of Great Price is a selection of choice materials touching many significant aspects of the faith and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These items were translated and produced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and most were published in the Church periodicals of his day.The first edition was published in 1851. It became a standard work of the Church in 1880. It was divided into chapters and verses in 1902. The version being read is the 1920 edition. (Summary by Glenn O'Brien)

The Dance of Death is a play in two parts by the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, written in 1900. It depicts the dissolution of a marriage between Edgar, an artillery captain, and Alice, a former actress. Increasingly isolated in their fort-like house, they manipulate and bait each other, until the unexpected arrival of Curt, Alice's cousin. His presence creates a tense triangular relationship that escalates throughout Part One, and is complicated with the introduction of two of the trio's children, Allan and Judith, in Part Two. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)CastEdgar: Bob NeufeldAlice: ...