Literatura piękna
Charles Dickens
The Chimes - a novella by Charles Dickens, an English writer who is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. On New Year's Eve, Trotty, a poor elderly "ticket-porter" or casual messenger, is filled with gloom at the reports of crime and immorality in the newspapers, and wonders whether the working classes are simply wicked by nature. His daughter Meg and her long-time fiancé Richard arrive and announce their decision to marry next day.
Charles Dickens
The Cricket on the Hearth - a novella by Charles Dickens, an English writer who is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days.
Jack London
“The Cruise of the Dazzler” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The Cruise of the Dazzler is an early novel by Jack London, set in his home city of San Francisco. It is considered a boy's adventure novel. In the novel, Joe Bronson, dissatisfied with his dull life at school, runs away and joins the crew of a sloop he sees in San Francisco Bay. He finds the captain is involved in criminal activities.
Jack London
“The Cruise of the Snark” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The Cruise of the Snark is a non-fictional book by Jack London chronicling his sailing adventure in 1907 across the south Pacific in his ketch the Snark. Accompanying London on this voyage was his wife Charmian London and a small crew. London taught himself celestial navigation and the basics of sailing and of boats during the course of this adventure and describes these details to the reader. He visits exotic locations including the Solomon Islands and Hawaii, and his first-person accounts provide insight into these remote places at the beginning of the 20th century.
James Fenimore Cooper
The Deerslayer - a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, an American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances depicting frontier and Native American life created a unique form of American literature. This novel introduces Natty Bumppo as "Deerslayer": a young frontiersman in early 18th-century New York, who objects to the practice of taking scalps, on the grounds that every living thing should follow "the gifts" of its nature, which would keep European Americans from taking scalps. Two characters who actually seek to take scalps are Deerslayer's foil Henry March and the former pirate 'Floating Tom' Hutter, to whom Deerslayer is introduced en route to a rendezvous with the latter's lifelong friend Chingachgook. Shortly before the rendezvous, Hutter's residence is besieged by the indigenous Hurons, and Hutter and March sneak into the camp of the besiegers to kill and scalp as many as they can.
Jack London
“The Faith of Men” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The Faith of Men is a series of short stories by Jack London. It consists of eight moving and thrilling stories such as: The Faith of Men, Too Much Gold or The Marriage of Lit-lit.
The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe
The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - a novel by Daniel Defoe, an English trader, writer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. The book starts with the statement about Crusoe's marriage in England. He bought a little farm in Bedford and had three children: two sons and one daughter. Our hero suffered a distemper and a desire to see "his island." He could talk of nothing else, and one can imagine that no one took his stories seriously, except his wife. She told him, in tears, "I will go with you, but I won't leave you." But in the middle of this felicity, Providence unhinged him at once, with the loss of his wife.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Gambler - a short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature. The first-person narrative is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family living in a suite at a German hotel. The patriarch of the family, The General, is indebted to the Frenchman de Grieux and has mortgaged his property in Russia to pay only a small amount of his debt. Upon learning of the illness of his wealthy aunt, "Grandmother", he sends streams of telegrams to Moscow and awaits the news of her demise. His expected inheritance will pay his debts and gain Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges's hand in marriage.
Jack London
“The Game” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The Game is a novel by Jack London about a twenty-year-old boxer Joe, who meets his death in the ring. London was a sports reporter for the Oakland Herald and based the novel on his personal observations.
Sinclair Lewis
“The Ghost Patrol” is a book by Sinclair Lewis an American writer. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. “The Ghost Patrol” is a short story by Sinclair Lewis. “Donald Patrick Dorgan had served forty-four years on the police force of Northernapolis, and during all but five of that time he had patrolled the Forest Park section. Don Dorgan might have been a sergeant, or even a captain, but it had early been seen at headquarters that he was a crank about Forest Park. For hither he had brought his young wife, and here he had built their shack; here his wife had died, and here she was buried. It was so great a relief in the whirl of department politics to have a man who was contented with his job that the Big Fellows were glad of Dorgan, and kept him there where he wanted to be, year after year, patrolling Forest Park.” Preview.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
“The Girl from Farris's“ is a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, an American fiction writer, who created such great characters as Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. „JUST what Mr. Doarty was doing in the alley back of Farris’s at two of a chill spring morning would have puzzled those citizens of Chicago who knew Mr. Doarty best. To a casual observer it might have appeared that Mr. Doarty was doing nothing more remarkable than leaning against a telephone pole, which in itself might have been easily explained had Mr. Doarty not been so palpably sober; but there are no casual observers in the South Side levee at two in the morning—those who are in any condition to observe at all have the eyes of ferrets. This was not the first of Mr. Doarty’s nocturnal visits to the vicinage of Farris’s. For almost a week he had haunted the neighborhood between midnight and dawn, for Mr. Doarty had determined to “get” Mr. Farris.”
Edgar Rice Burroughs
“The Girl from Hollywood“ is a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, an American fiction writer, who created such great characters as Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. The story alternates between the all-American Pennington family on their remote California ranch and a young Hollywood actress. The Penningtons have a beautiful estate, and affectionate relationships with their children, Custer and Eva. Custer has had an "understanding" with neighbor and childhood friend Grace Evans for a long time, but she finally confides that she wants to try being an actress before she agrees to settle down on the ranch.
Jack London
“The God of His Fathers: Tales of the Klondyke” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The God of His Fathers: Tales of the Klondyke is a series of short stories by Jack London. It consists of eleven moving and thrilling stories such as: The God of His Fathers, The Great Interrogation, Grit of Women or Where the Trail Forks.
The Haunted Man and the Ghost\'s Bargain
Charles Dickens
The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain - a novella by Charles Dickens, an English writer who is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Redlaw is a teacher of chemistry who often broods over wrongs done him and grief from his past. He is haunted by a spirit, who is not so much a ghost as Redlaw's phantom twin and is "an awful likeness of himself...with his features, and his bright eyes, and his grizzled hair, and dressed in the gloomy shadow of his dress..." This spectre appears and proposes to Redlaw that he can allow him to "forget the sorrow, wrong, and trouble you have known...to cancel their remembrance..." Redlaw is hesitant at first, but finally agrees.
Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles - a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle, a British writer and medical doctor. He created the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. Dr James Mortimer calls on Sherlock Holmes in London for advice after his friend Sir Charles Baskerville was found dead in the yew alley of his manor on Dartmoor in Devon. The death was attributed to a heart attack, but according to Mortimer, Sir Charles's face retained an expression of horror, and not far from the corpse the footprints of a gigantic hound were clearly visible. According to an old legend, a curse runs in the Baskerville family since the time of the English Civil War, when Hugo Baskerville abducted and caused the death of a maiden on the moor, only to be killed in turn by a huge demonic hound. Allegedly the same creature has been haunting the manor ever since, causing the premature death of many Baskerville heirs. Sir Charles believed in the plague of the hound and so does Mortimer, who now fears for the next in line, Sir Henry Baskerville.
Jack London
“The House of Pride” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The House of Pride is a series of short stories by Jack London. It consists of seven moving and thrilling stories such as: The House of Pride, Good-bye, Jack or The Sheriff of Kona.
Jack London
“The Human Drift” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. "The Human Drift" is a collection of essays and short sketches by Jack London, also including a number of plays. The collection consists of these titles: The Human Drift, Small-Boat Sailing, Four Horses and a Sailor, Nothing that Ever Came to Anything, That Dead Men Rise up Never, A Classic of the Sea, A Wicked Woman (Curtain Raiser), The Birth Mark (Sketch)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Idiot - a novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a Russian novelist, philosopher and short story writer. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychological novelists in world literature. The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince (Knyaz) Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man.” The novel examines the consequences of placing such a unique individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society, both for the man himself and for those with whom he becomes involved.
Jack London
“The Iron Heel” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The Iron Heel is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack London. The novel is told via the framing device of a manuscript found centuries after the action takes place and footnotes by a scholar, Anthony Meredith, circa 2600 AD. Jack London writes at two levels, sporadically having Meredith correcting the errors of Avis Everhard through his own future prism, while at the same time, exposing the often incomplete understanding of this distant future perspective. Meredith's introduction also reveals that the protagonist's efforts will fail, giving the work an air of foreordained tragedy.
George Bernard Shaw
“The Irrational Knot” is a novel by George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright who became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. An Unsocial Socialist is George Bernard Shaw's second novel. Shaw wrote five novels early in his career and then abandoned them to pursue politics, drama criticism, and eventually playwriting.
Sinclair Lewis
“The Job” is a book by Sinclair Lewis an American writer. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Job is an early work by American novelist Sinclair Lewis. It is considered an early declaration of the rights of working women. The focus is on the main character, Una Golden, and her desire to establish herself in a legitimate occupation while balancing the eventual need for marriage.
Sinclair Lewis
“The Kidnaped Memorial” is a book by Sinclair Lewis an American writer. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. “The Kidnaped Memorial” is a short story by Sinclair Lewis. “Wakamin is a town with a soul. It used to have a sentimental soul which got thrills out of neighborliness and “The Star–Spangled Banner,” but now it wavers between two generations, with none of the strong, silly ambition of either. The pioneering generation has died out, and of the young men, a hundred have gone to that new pioneering in France. Along the way they will behold the world, see the goodness and eagerness of it, and not greatly desire to come back to the straggly ungenerous streets of Wakamin.” Preview.
James Fenimore Cooper
The Last of the Mohicans - a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, an American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances depicting frontier and Native American life created a unique form of American literature. The novel is set primarily in the area of Lake George, New York, detailing the transport of the two daughters of Colonel Munro, Alice and Cora, to a safe destination at Fort William Henry. Among the caravan guarding the women are the frontiersman Natty Bumppo, Major Duncan Heyward, and the Indians Chingachgook and Uncas, the latter two being the novel's title characters. These characters are sometimes seen as a microcosm of the budding American society, particularly with regard to their racial composition.
The Little Lady of the Big House
Jack London
“The Little Lady of the Big House” is a book by Jack London, an American novelist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. The Little Lady of the Big House is a novel by American writer Jack London. It was his last novel to be published during his lifetime. The story concerns a love triangle. The protagonist, Dick Forrest, is a rancher with a poetic streak. His wife, Paula, is a vivacious, athletic, and sexually self-aware woman, who falls in love with Evan Graham, an old friend of her husband.