Fikcja
Joseph Conrad
Być może najbardziej aktualna powieść Josepha Conrada! Jeśli zamach za pomocą bomby ma wywrzeć wpływ na opinię publiczną, musi być czymś efektowniejszym niż akt zemsty lub terroryzmu. Musi dążyć tylko do zniszczenia. Zniszczenie i nic innego, każdy inny cel musi być wykluczony. Wy, anarchiści, powinniście dowieść czarno na białym, że jesteście bezwzględnie zdecydowani zmieść z oblicza ziemi cały ustrój społeczny. Ale jak wbić ten przerażający absurd w głowy klasy średniej, tak aby go jasno pojęła? Oto jest pytanie! Odpowiedź brzmi: trzeba skierować zamach niszczycielski przeciw czemuś, co jest poza obrębem zwykłych ludzkich namiętności. Londyn na przełomie XIX i XX wieku. Vladimir, diaboliczny sekretarz ambasady wrogiego mocarstwa, nakłania Verloca, pospolitego prowokatora, leniwego anarchistę i policyjnego donosiciela, do zorganizowania zamachu terrorystycznego, który zatrzęsie potęgą Imperium Brytyjskiego. Akcja ma być na tyle krwawa i absurdalna, żeby zszokowała opinię publiczną i przyćmiła rozpoczynającą się właśnie międzynarodową konferencję na temat „powstrzymania przestępczości politycznej”. Celem zamachu będzie więc wysadzenie symbolu brytyjskiej dominacji w świecie nauki i międzynarodowego systemu pomiaru czasu – Królewskiego Obserwatorium w londyńskim Greenwich.
Tales from Longpuddle - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library
Hardy, Thomas
A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett. Tony Kytes is a favourite with the girls but he's not terribly clever. If you meet an old girlfriend and she asks for a ride home in your wagon, do you say yes? And then if you meet the girl you are planning to marry, what do you do? Very soon, Tony is in a great muddle, and does not know how to escape from it. These stories are set in an English country village of the nineteenth century, but Hardy's tales of mistakes and muddles and marriages belong in any place, at any time.
Tales from Longpuddle Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library
Hardy, Thomas
A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Retold for Learners of English by Jennifer Bassett Tony Kytes is a favourite with the girls but he's not terribly clever. If you meet an old girlfriend and she asks for a ride home in your wagon, do you say yes? And then if you meet the girl you are planning to marry, what do you do? Very soon, Tony is in a great muddle, and does not know how to escape from it. These stories are set in an English country village of the nineteenth century, but Hardy's tales of mistakes and muddles and marriages belong in any place, at any time.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination - With Audio Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library
Poe, Edgar Allan
A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Margaret Naudi. The human mind is a dark, bottomless pit, and sometimes it works in strange and frightening ways. That sound in the night . . . is it a door banging in the wind, or a murdered man knocking inside his coffin? The face in the mirror . . . is it yours, or the face of someone standing behind you, who is never there when you turn round? These famous short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, that master of horror, explore the dark world of the imagination, where the dead live and speak, where fear lies in every shadow of the mind . . .
Tales of Mystery and Imagination Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library
Poe, Edgar Allan
A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Margaret Naudi The human mind is a dark, bottomless pit, and sometimes it works in strange and frightening ways. That sound in the night . . . is it a door banging in the wind, or a murdered man knocking inside his coffin? The face in the mirror . . . is it yours, or the face of someone standing behind you, who is never there when you turn round? These famous short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, that master of horror, explore the dark world of the imagination, where the dead live and speak, where fear lies in every shadow of the mind . . .
Stephen King, Peter Straub
Jack Sawyer, dwunastoletni syn chorej na raka aktorki, wyjeżdża wraz z nią z Kalifornii do opustoszałego miasteczka letniskowego w New Hampshire. Jack nie chce dopuścić do świadomości choroby matki. Poznaje starego Murzyna, dozorcę wesołego miasteczka, który ujawnia mu zdumiewającą prawdę. W równoległym do naszego świecie, zwanym Terytoriami, Dwójniczka jego matki, Laura DeLoessian, również jest śmiertelnie chora. Tylko Jack może uratować obydwie kobiety - jeśli pójdzie na drugi koniec kontynentu, gdzie w groźnym, pełnym zła czarnym hotelu znajduje się Talizman o uzdrawiającej mocy. Jack rusza więc na heroiczną wyprawę przeskakując między dwoma światami, przeżywając niesamowite przygody, poznaje wrogów i przyjaciół. Przede wszystkim jednak dorasta i staje się godnym Talizmanu. Jego wyprawa ma jeszcze bardziej doniosłe znaczenie, niż sobie pierwotnie wyobrażał. Stephen King jest autorem ponad 60 światowych bestsellerów. Ostatnio ukazały się m.in. "Instytut", "Outsider", "Śpiące królewny" (napisana wspólnie z synem, Owenem Kingiem) oraz Trylogia o Billu Hodgesie "Pan Mercedes" (nagrodzona Edgar Award dla najlepszej powieści), "Znalezione nie kradzione" i "Koniec warty". Za zasługi dla literatury amerykańskiej w 2018 roku otrzymał nagrodę PEN America Literary Service Award, a w 2014 roku państwowe odznaczenie National Medal of Arts. Mieszka w Bangor w stanie Maine ze swoją żoną, pisarką Tabithą King.
Suah Bae
Bohaterka utrzymuje całą rodzinę, chwytając się dorywczych prac. Jej matka jest alkoholiczką, brat - emigruje, a młodsza siostra z trudem radzi sobie w szkole. Przelotna znajomość z Cheolsu urywa się, gdy ten znika na obowiązkową służbę wojskową. Pewnego dnia dziewczyna wyrusza, by odwiedzić Cheolsu na poligonie, a jej podróż staje się pościgiem za ulotnym cieniem tego, którego szuka. Koreańska pisarka Bae Suah wciąga czytelnika w gęstą opowieść o przytłaczającej codzienności, od której ucieczką mogą być jedynie wyobraźnia lub całkowita apatia. Ale wyobraźnia, jeśli tylko wymknie się spod kontroli, potrafi przeobrazić senny, znany świat w niepokojącą, nieznaną przestrzeń. Bae snuje opowieść, której wydźwięk zmienia się z każdą kolejną lekturą. Pomiędzy wersami pyta nas: czy o tym, kim jesteśmy, decyduje to, jak widzi nas świat, czy może to, jak sami siebie postrzegamy?
Tess of the d'Urbervilles - With Audio Level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library
Hardy, Thomas
A level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. A pretty young girl has to leave home to make money for her family. She is clever and a good worker; but she is uneducated and does not know the cruel ways of the world. So, when a rich young man says he loves her, she is careful - but not careful enough. He is persuasive, and she is overwhelmed. It is not her fault, but the world says it is. Her young life is already stained by men's desires, and by death.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles Level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library
Hardy, Thomas
A level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. A pretty young girl has to leave home to make money for her family. She is clever and a good worker; but she is uneducated and does not know the cruel ways of the world. So, when a rich young man says he loves her, she is careful - but not careful enough. He is persuasive, and she is overwhelmed. It is not her fault, but the world says it is. Her young life is already stained by men's desires, and by death.
Selma Lagerlöf
Niezwykła książka o miłości ojcowskiej, o sile więzi ojca z córką, o tęsknocie i próbie uczucia. Oto, nie można przecież uważać za człowieka jak należy tego, którego serce nie bije żywym tętnem, ani z bólu, ani też z radości. Selma Lagerlöf – pierwsza kobieta nagrodzona literacką Nagrodą Nobla – w pełnej emocji książce pokazuje nie tylko niesamowitą relację rodzinną, ale również obraz życia na szwedzkiej wsi XIX-tego wieku. Głównym bohaterem jest Jan, ojciec Klary. Dziewczynka od chwili narodzenia staje się najważniejszą osobą w jego życiu. Przychodzi jednak moment, kiedy ukochana córka musi opuścić dom rodzinny. Jan, przeżywając wyjazd dziecka, tworzy własny mit o jej postaci… Poza bardzo silnym wątkiem emocjonalnym, książka ta niesie interesujący obraz ówczesnych obyczajów Szwecji. Dowiadujemy się na przykład, że poważnym nietaktem jest obecność rodziców w czasie chrztu dziecka… O oddziaływaniu tej powieści na innych twórców świadczyć może fakt, że Tętniące serce aż trzykrotnie zostało sfilmowane.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library
Twain, Mark
A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Nick Bullard. Tom Sawyer does not like school. He does not like work, and he never wants to get out of bed in the morning. But he likes swimming and fishing, and having adventures with his friends. And he has a lot of adventures. One night, he and his friend Huck Finn go to the graveyard to look for ghosts. They don't see any ghosts that night. They see something worse than a ghost - much, much worse . . .
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library
Twain, Mark
A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Nick Bullard Tom Sawyer does not like school. He does not like work, and he never wants to get out of bed in the morning. But he likes swimming and fishing, and having adventures with his friends. And he has a lot of adventures. One night, he and his friend Huck Finn go to the graveyard to look for ghosts. They don't see any ghosts that night. They see something worse than a ghost - much, much worse . . .
The Bront Story Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library
Vicary, Tim
A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Tim Vicary On a September day in 1821, in the church of a Yorkshire village, a man and six children stood around a grave. They were burying a woman: the man's wife, the children's mother. The children were all very young, and within a few years the two oldest were dead, too. Close to the wild beauty of the Yorkshire moors, the father brought up his young family. Who had heard of the Bronts of Haworth then? Branwell died while he was still a young man, but the three sisters who were left had an extraordinary gift. They could write marvellous stories - Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall . . . But Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bront did not live to grow old or to enjoy their fame. Only their father was left, alone with his memories.
The Call of the Wild - With Audio Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library
London, Jack
A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Nick Bullard. When men find gold in the frozen north of Canada, they need dogs - big, strong dogs to pull the sledges on the long journeys to and from the gold mines. Buck is stolen from his home in the south and sold as a sledge-dog. He has to learn a new way of life - how to work in harness, how to stay alive in the ice and the snow . . . and how to fight. Because when dog falls down in a fight, he never gets up again.
The Call of the Wild Level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library
London, Jack
A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Nick Bullard When men find gold in the frozen north of Canada, they need dogs - big, strong dogs to pull the sledges on the long journeys to and from the gold mines. Buck is stolen from his home in the south and sold as a sledge-dog. He has to learn a new way of life - how to work in harness, how to stay alive in the ice and the snow . . . and how to fight. Because when dog falls down in a fight, he never gets up again.
The Canterville Ghost - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library
Wilde, Oscar
A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by John Escott. There has been a ghost in the house for three hundred years, and Lord Canterville's family have had enough of it. So Lord Canterville sells his grand old house to an American family. Mr Hiram B. Otis is happy to buy the house and the ghost - because of course Americans don't believe in ghosts. The Canterville ghost has great plans to frighten the life out of the Otis family. But Americans don't frighten easily - especially not two noisy little boys - and the poor ghost has a few surprises waiting for him.
The Canterville Ghost Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library
Wilde, Oscar
A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by John Escott There has been a ghost in the house for three hundred years, and Lord Canterville's family have had enough of it. So Lord Canterville sells his grand old house to an American family. Mr Hiram B. Otis is happy to buy the house and the ghost - because of course Americans don't believe in ghosts. The Canterville ghost has great plans to frighten the life out of the Otis family. But Americans don't frighten easily - especially not two noisy little boys - and the poor ghost has a few surprises waiting for him.
The Cat Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library
Escott, John
A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by John Escott. The Cat steals things from houses in Hollywood. He steals from movie stars and nobody can stop him. Or can they? Natalie is a movie star. Nathan is her stand-in. Nathan does all Natalie's stunts in the movie. But when Natalie and Nathan see The Cat driving away from Zak Wakeman's Hollywood home, they both go after him. Natalie drives fast. 'Be careful,' Nathan tells her. 'You have a movie to finish!'
The Fifteenth Character - With Audio Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library
Border, Rosemary
A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Written for Learners of English by Rosemary Border. 'It's an interesting job,' says Sally about her work at Happy Hills. And today is a very exciting day because Zapp the famous singer is coming. Everybody is having a wonderful time. But suddenly something goes wrong - very wrong.
The Fifteenth Character Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library
Border, Rosemary
A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Rosemary Border. 'It's an interesting job,' says Sally about her work at Happy Hills. And today is a very exciting day because Zapp the famous singer is coming. Everybody is having a wonderful time. But suddenly something goes wrong - very wrong.
The Girl with Green Eyes Starter Level Oxford Bookworms Library
Escott, John
A Starter level Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by John Escott. Greg is a porter at the Shepton Hotel in New York. When a girl with beautiful green eyes asks him for help, Greg can't say no. The girl's name is Cassie, and she says she is an artist. She tells Greg that her stepfather has her sketchbooks, and now she wants them back. Cassie says her stepfather is staying at Greg's hotel ...so what could go wrong?
The Great Gatsby - With Audio Level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
A level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. This version includes an audio book: listen to the story as you read. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. Gatsby's mansion on Long Island blazes with light, and the beautiful, the wealthy, and the famous drive out from New York to drink Gatsby's champagne and to party all night long. But Jay Gatsby, the owner of all this wealth, wants only one thing - to find again the woman of his dreams, the woman he has held in his heart and his memory for five long years. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, is one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. It captures perfectly the Jazz Age of the 1920s, and goes deep into the hollow heart of the American Dream.
The Great Gatsby Level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
A level 5 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Retold for Learners of English by Clare West. Gatsby's mansion on Long Island blazes with light, and the beautiful, the wealthy, and the famous drive out from New York to drink Gatsby's champagne and to party all night long. But Jay Gatsby, the owner of all this wealth, wants only one thing - to find again the woman of his dreams, the woman he has held in his heart and his memory for five long years. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, is one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. It captures perfectly the Jazz Age of the 1920s, and goes deep into the hollow heart of the American Dream.
Iwona Gajda
And what if it is true? If we are merely a projection of some deeper order, the order where time does not exist? Where past, present and future exist at once? What then? Some scientists believe that the Universe is a gigantic hologram and all information about us and about our reality are written down on a flat, two-dimensional plane. They deem that what we see, hear and feel, is merely a mirage. An illusion. Even the existence of time and the force of gravity.