A Daughter of Astrea

E. Phillips Oppenheim

BEHOLD! cried Sabul Ahmid, with an upward sweep of his bare, brown arm, behold the Sacred Temple of the people of Astrea! I stood up in the boat, my portfolio under my arm. High on the mountains side, crowning a thick mass of laurel undergrowth, and flanked by a grove of deep, cool, byana trees, was the building to which my servant was pointing. The material whereof it was fashioned I could not at that distance determine. Only in the broad, tropical sunlight it flashed forth, a glorious and spotless white, as flawless and perfect as the purest marble or alabaster. Little minarets rose from the flat roof; and flowering shrubs, planted along the mountain terrace above, drooped about it, a brilliant scintilla of purple coloring. My fingers began to crave for my pencil. I turned to my guide with beaming face.

The Greater Inclination

Edith Wharton

This is Edith Whartons earliest published collection of 8 short stories (1899). A selection consists: Muses Tragedy: Unrequited love between a poet and his muse. The Journey: A woman journeys with her ailing husband. The Pelican: A woman supports her son. Souls Belated: The pressure put on couples to marry. A Coward: A man recounts his cowardice past. The Twilight of the God: Past lovers meet under a husbands eye. A Cup of Cold Water: Redemption song. The Portrait: One of Whartons earliest short stories, when a painter paints your flaws. Like much of Whartons later work, they touch on themes of marriage, male/female relationships, New York society, and the nature and purpose of art. Give yourselves a treat, and read this short but unforgettable diverse collection!

Lato leśnych ludzi

Maria Rodziewiczówna

Trójka przyjaciół Rosomak, Pantera i Żuraw spędza lato w leśnej głuszy. Swój czas poświęcają pomocy zwierzętom i podziwianiu piękna krajobrazu. Doświadczonym leśnym ludziom towarzyszy młody praktykant. Jest to chłopak z miasta, który u ich boku nabiera doświadczenia i zdobywa zaszczytne miano Orlika. Lato leśnych ludzi to opis życia w głuchej puszczy jest pretekstem do ukazania piękna i siły natury. Bohaterowie doskonalą się poprzez życie w naturze i wspólną pracę.

Przygody Sindbada żeglarza

Bolesław Leśmian

Poetycka opowieść dla dzieci autorstwa Bolesława Leśmiana nawiązuje do postaci Sindbada Żeglarza z arabskiej Księgi tysiąca i jednej nocy. Jednak na kanwie wątków wschodnich poeta napisał całkiem nową historię mieszkający w Bagdadzie Sindbad za namową Diabła Morskiego udaje się w obfitującą w przygody podróż, która odmieni jego życie. Wydarzenia na granicy jawy i snu wzbudzają zachwyt w czytelnikach w każdym wieku.

Семейное счастье (Szczęście rodzinne)

Лев Николаевич Толстой, Lew Nikołajewicz Tołstoj

Роман Льва Толстого, посвященный теме любви и брака. Что важнее: страсть или верность любимому человеку, семейное счастье или прожигание жизни в утехах? История любви молодой девушки к другу своего покойного отца, её опекуну, их женитьбы и первых нескольких лет супружеской жизни, включающих некоторое охлаждение и ссоры.

Rekin w kajucie. Opowiadania

Paweł Staśko

Fabuła powieści charakterystyczna dla końcowej fazy twórczości Staśki. Romans pełen klasycyzmu i romantycznych uniesień. Wpisany w kanony literatury dwudziestolecia międzywojennego.

Jack and Jill. A Village Story

Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott, more famously known for her Little Women series, takes a familiar nursery rhyme and creates a whole novel out of it in one of her last books Jack and Jill: A Village Story. The story follows the lives of two 13-year-old neighbors, Jack and Jill, in the fictional Harmony Village. They go sledding on the first day of the season whereupon their adventurous natures and competitiveness get the better of them. After sledding down a particularly treacherous slope, both are seriously injured. Patience and sweetness of temperament arent Jack and Jills strong suits, and both struggle at times to control their tempers. Luckily they have the influence of their sweet mothers and a group of steadfast friends to show them the virtues of patience and fill their days with the joys of Christmas preparations, a theatrical production and many other imaginative events. As an early forerunner of the tough love philosophy of child rearing, Jack and Jill is indeed an interesting and entertaining read.

The Bishops Jaegers

Thorne Smith

If youre in the mood for a wildly hilarious comic romp, give Thorne Smiths The Bishops Jaegars a read. Mad, hilarious, degenerate, or simply fun fantasy? Only the reader can decide. Adrift and listless, a wealthy coffee heir Peter Van Dyke is searching for meaning in life. His young secretary Jo decides to shake things up and help him get back on track. Although he is engaged to another, she has far from given up. Laughter ensues as they go from one mishap to another along with fiancée Yolanda Wilmont, a pickpocket, a bishop who is desperately attached to his jaegers, and Aspirin Liz. Before long, they find themselves at the center of a bizarre coterie of characters who invade a nudist colony. The Bishops Jaegers was published in 1932.

The Rescue. A Romance of the Shallows

Joseph Conrad

Rescue is not just muscular descriptions of a boiling sea or some kind of intrigue or action. Konrad decisively decides things like lengthy / nuanced conversations. But, as in all his books, Rescue is darkly intense, much more happening under the surface than even the characters think. This is not an easy book to concentrate on. Tension, uncertainty about what will happen next, a gloomy atmosphere all this is alive and overwhelming.

Michał Strogow. Kurier carski od Moskwy do Irkucka

Juliusz Verne

Odważny i inteligenty kurier carski musi przemierzyć całą Rosję, aby ostrzec brata cara przed zemstą buntownika. Po drodze napotyka Tatarów, którzy opanowali Syberię. Sprawa się komplikuje, ale kurierowi z pomocą przychodzą mieszkańcy surowej krainy i piękna Nadia.

Queen of the Black Coast

Robert E. Howard

Hoofs drummed down the street that sloped to the wharfs. The folk that yelled and scattered had only a fleeting glimpse of a mailed figure on a black stallion, a wide scarlet cloak flowing out on the wind. Far up the street came the shout and clatter of pursuit, but the horseman did not look back. He swept out onto the wharfs and jerked the plunging stallion back on its haunches at the very lip of the pier.

The Lady in the Car. In Which the Amours of a Mysterious Motorist are Related

William Le Queux

The Prince broke open a big box of choice Petroffs, selected one, lit it slowly, and walked pensively to the window. He was in a good mood that morning, for he had just got rid of a troublesome visitor.

The Adventures of Martin Hewitt

Arthur Morrison

Who else could have so quickly connected a partial sheet of music wrapped around a rock and tossed through a sitting room window with an infamous decades-old robbery? Would anyone else have taken seriously the fears of an eccentric old woman who swore thieves were after her most prized possession: a snuffbox fashioned from the actual wood of Noahs Ark? Englands greatest crime-solver Martin Hewitt uses his superior intellect and genial charm to unmask thieves, murderers, and dangerous fanatics. The Adventures of Martin Hewitt stories are well written with the usual detective story tropes a sidekick narrator, baffled police, all the clues within the narrative, the announcement followed by the detective explaining his brilliance.

Записки из подполья (Notatki z podziemia)

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fiodor Michajłowicz Dostojewski

«Записки из подполья» 2013 повесть точно поставленных вопросов и точно найденных интонаций. Уйдя в психологическое подполье и презрев мир живых людей, главный герой задается вечными вопросами: что есть человек и каково его предназначение? Он протестует против отождествления добра и знания, против безоговорочной веры в прогресс науки и цивилизации и получает удовольствие от того, что мучает себя и других. Ярко и выразительно описывая состояние героя, оттенки и движения его мысли, доводя до крайности сумбурность идей подпольного человека, Достоевский раскрывает глубокие противоречия в его душе.

Gangster in London. Roman

Edgar Wallace

Zwei Gangsterbanden terrorisieren die Reichen Londons. Die Gesellschaft zur Sicherung wohlhabender Bürger garantiert den Reichen Londons Sicherheit vorausgesetzt, sie bezahlen dafür. Wer der Aufforderung nicht nachkommt oder gar die Polizei verständigt, wird ermordet. Auch Elias Tanner, ein wohlhabender Bürger, wird erpresst. Seine Sekretärin Lilian Ranger findet dies heraus und verständigt die Polizei. Kurze Zeit später wird Tanner ermordet...

Mindowe. Król litewski. Obraz historyczny w pięciu aktach

Juliusz Słowacki

Poeta ukazuje konflikt religii pogańskiej, uosabianej przez Litwę, oraz chrześcijańskiej, wyznawanej przez Krzyżaków. Krytykuje dominującą pozycję Kościoła katolickiego, natomiast pogaństwo przedstawia jako wartościowy kult przyrody.