While examining a golden ring under a microscope, a chemist discovers a sub-atomic world. During his examination of this world he sees a beautiful young girl. After developing chemicals that will allow him to either shrink or grow larger in size, he and three friends journey to this small world. (Summary by Richard Kilmer)
Science fiction
Sylvia Fulton is a ten-years-old girl from Boston who stayed in Charleston, South Carolina, before the opening of the civil war. She loves her new home, and her dear friends. However, political tensions are rising, and things start to change. Through these changes, Silvia gets to know the world better: from Estrella, her maid, she starts to understand what it is to be a slave, from her unjust teacher she learns that not all beautiful people are perfect, and from the mess...
Children, Historical Fiction, Teen/Young adult, War stories
This is the story of a voyage of a merchant sailing ship from Bombay to England, set in the very late 19th century. “It was a bad winter off the Cape that year.” From Wikepedia: “The novel is seen as an allegory about isolation and solidarity, the ship's company serving as a microcosm of a social group.” As to the title, one can only ask, “What WERE you thinking?” (Introduction by Tom Crawford)
Adventure, Fiction, Literature, Sea stories
This essay of Kant’s on copyright argues that the unlicensed copying of books cannot possibly be permissible, due to the fact that it assumes a consent on the part of the author which it is logically impossible for the author to give. The argument is dependent upon an assumption that the writings be commodified, for the reason why the author is unable to possibly give consent to multiple publishers is due to the author’s will – to communicate with the public – necessitat...
Philosophy
A tale of the quaint and old English traditions of celebrating Christmas. Irving travels to the English countryside and meets an old schoolmate, who invites him home to spend Christmas at the family estate. (Summary written by Gesine)
Holiday
An expedition to Mars discovers the remains of an advanced civilization, which died out many thousands of years ago. They recovered books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Would the team find their “Rosetta Stone” that would allow them to unlock the Martian language, and learn the secrets of this long-dead race? (Summary by Mark Nelson)
Peterchens Mondfahrt ist ein Märchen für Kinder von Gerdt von Bassewitz. Es handelt von den Abenteuern des Maikäfers Herr Sumsemann, der zusammen mit den Menschenkindern Peter und Anneliese zum Mond fliegt, um von dort sein verlorengegangenes sechstes Beinchen zu holen. 1911 erschien die Geschichte zuerst als Theaterstück, 1915 dann als Buch mit Illustrationen von Hans Baluschek. Die Geschichte gilt heute als ein Klassiker der deutschen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur. - Zus...
Children
Pride and Prejudice is the most famous of Jane Austen’s novels, and its opening is one of the most famous lines in English literature - “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Its manuscript was first written between 1796 and 1797, and was initially called First Impressions , but was never published under that title. Following revisions it was published on 28 January 1813 by the same Mr. Ege...
Romance
Short stories, Poetry
John Clare (1793 - 1864) was a farm labourer in the village of Helpstone, Northamptonshire, who became arguably England’s greatest nature poet. He rose to fame when his ‘Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery’ was published in 1820. His language preserves many local dialect words in a mixture of classical forms and heart-felt love of country life and nature. The poems in this collection are from his early career, and are largely free of pointers to his later mental ...
Poetry
This is the first of three novels which Edith Somerville and her cousin Violet Martin wrote about the English Major Sinclair Yates who leaves the army to take up a position of Resident Magistrate in the West of Ireland in about 1895. The tales tell in a humorous way of his struggles with a new job, new culture, and with his landlord and neighbour Mr. ‘Flurry’ Knox whose prime, if not only, interest is in hunting, which forms the background to all the stories. Miss Somerv...
Comedy
Charles Spurgeon was a popular Baptist minister in London in mid-Victorian times; his ministry was highly influential and had a significant effect on many families in London and further afield. It was difficult to find a hall large enough to accommodate the crowd who wished to hear him. At times the Royal Surrey Gardens' Music Hall was hired to accomodate the Sunday congregation; this could seat 10,000 but large numbers were unable to gain admittance. His world-wide heri...
Religion
Let's continue the D'Artagnan Romances that we've already started with The Three Musketeers.
Romance, Adventure, Humour
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray that satirizes society in early 19th-century England. Like many novels of the time, Vanity Fair was published as a serial before being sold in book form; it was printed in 20 monthly parts between January 1847 and July 1848.Thackeray meant the book to be not only entertaining but also instructive; this is shown both by the narrator of the book and in Thackeray's private correspondence. The nove...
Satire
Typee is Herman Melville's first book, recounting his experiences after having jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands in 1842, and becoming a captive of a cannibal island tribe. It was an immediate success in America and England, and was Melville's most popular work during his lifetime. It was not until the end of the 1930's that it was surpassed in popularity by Moby Dick, more than thirty years after his death. The story provoked harsh criticism for its condemnation of m...
Adventure, Sea stories
Although Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a wealthy landowner, in his later life he had what was considered a “religious awakening.” This experience went on to inform his writing and his lifestyle in profound ways. His views transcended the specifics of religion, as known in his day - so much so he came to be a helpful guide both to Mohandas Gandhi and to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The four stories in this collection ask profound questions and gently supply helpful, non-dogma...
Short stories
Various influential religious texts in audio eBook format. Audio files received from Brother Scott. Added February 6, 2009.
The Golden Bough attempts to define the shared elements of religious belief to scientific thought, discussing fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat and many other symbols and practices which have influenced the 20th century. Its thesis is that old religions were fertility cults that revolved around the worship of, and periodic sacrifice of, a sacred king. Specifically, that mankind progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought.
A book of short stories and humorous anecdotes by Mark Twain, published together in 1906. (Summary by Tricia G)
Fiction, Short stories, Humor
9/11 Commission Report, formally titled Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was prepared by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (informally sometimes known as the 9/11 Commission or the Kean/Zelikow Commission) at the request of the President of the United States and Congress. The commission convened on Nov...
History, Politics
As usual, gentleman thief Arsène Lupin finds himself wrongfully accused of murder, and must find the real killer to clear his coloured name. (Summary by Cathy Barratt)
Adventure, Fiction, Mystery