The Purple Cloud

M.P. Shiel

The Purple Cloud, The Lord of the Sea (both 1901), and The Last Miracle (1906) is a trilogy of science fiction; and at least the first two are considered early masterpieces in the genre. The Purple Cloud is widely hailed as a masterpiece of science fiction and one of the best last man novels ever written. A deadly purple vapor passes over the world and annihilates all living creatures except one man, Adam Jeffson. Adam adventures to the North Pole; on returning he realizes the entire population of the world has been destroyed by a cloud of cyanogen; he tours with world as master of all he sees, reveling and destroying as he will.

History of Julius Caesar

Jacob Abbott

This is a story about a historical figure written by Abbott. The author describes in detail the youth of Caesar nd his role in the Sylla and Marius conflict. Readers learn a lot of interesting facts. One of which is revealed at the end of the book, namely the murder of Caesar on the day when he was going to be crowned King of the Roman Empire.

Doktor Murek zredukowany

Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz

Doktor praw Franciszek Murek pracuje jako urzędnik w prowincjonalnym magistracie. Pewnego dnia w wyniku bezpodstawnych oskarżeń dotyczących jego rzekomej przeszłości politycznej traci posadę. Mimo usilnych starań nie jest w stanie odzyskać utraconej pozycji społecznej. Popada w skrajną nędzę. Postanawia przyjechać do Warszawy, by tu w stolicy odmienić swój los. Kontakty z różnymi środowiskami od przedstawicieli władzy po miejscowy półświatek przynoszą mu jedynie gorzkie rozczarowania. Najbardziej bolesne z owych rozczarowań dotyczą życia osobistego. Murek lokuje swoje uczucia w osobie Niry Horzeńskiej, kobiety egocentrycznej i bezmyślnie okrutnej. Zdesperowany i pozbawiony wszelkich złudzeń bohater rzuca wyzwanie społeczeństwu... Doktor Murek zredukowany to niezwykle barwna opowieść o człowieku krystalicznie uczciwym i miłującym praworządność, któremu przyszło robić karierę w zmaterializowanym i totalnie skorumpowanym społeczeństwie. O dalszych losach bohatera opowiada książka Drugie życie doktora Murka.

Trędowata

Helena Mniszkówna

Najsłynniejszy polski melodramat, którego akcja rozgrywająca się na przełomie XIX i XX wieku. Tragiczne dzieje miłości, której spełnieniu stają na przeszkodzie przesądy społeczne i fanatyzm członków arystokratycznych rodów. Stefania Rudecka tytułowa trędowata jest niezamożną szlachcianką. Pracuje jako guwernantka w domu hrabiny Elzonowskiej, ciotki ordynata Waldemara Michorowskiego. Młody magnat zakochuje się w pięknej Stefci. Wkrótce mimo licznych przeszkód zaręcza się z dziewczyną. Wyznaczona zostaje data ślubu. Miłość tych dwojga napotyka kolosalny opór środowiska arystokratycznego. Uznają ich związek za niemożliwy do zaakceptowania mezalians. Stefcia poddawana jest niezasłużonym szykanom... Dalsze losy Waldemara opisała Helena Mniszkówna w powieści Ordynat Michorowski.

Abandoned

Jules Verne

The whaling schooner with an incomplete crew returns to America, after not very successful trades. On board is the owners wife with the child, their cousin Benedict, an analogue of Paganel and Jung Dick Send, fifteen turbulent years. Next comes the rescue of blacks from an abandoned flooded ship and a bloody scene of a whale hunt. This episode, although it did not greatly excite me as a child, having been forgotten, now seemed completely disgusting, especially the realization that the whalers had attacked a nursing mother with a kitten, who now also became doomed to die, but was already starving to death.

The Man Who Was Two

Fred M. White

Walter Pennington and Raymond Mallison were best friends. And it would seem that can prevent such a strong friendship. However, after a while a lawyer, Walter Pennington is found dead. His friend is under arrest. This news surprises their friends, because they were good friends, but before their death, they quarreled. Is Raymond Mallison to blame for the death of his friend?

Kerry

Grace Livingston Hill

Kerry Kavanaugh is a beautiful child asked to be adult, not even of age, with a spoiled childlike mother who makes terrible decisions upon the death of Kerrys father. Forced to flee with her fathers manuscript, a determined Kerry sails for New York to meet with her fathers publishers but is faced with a new challenge when a page of notes goes missing. Someone is out to steal the manuscript! But with a ship full of strangers, who cant she suspect? Then she meets Graham Mc Nair, who claims that he knew Kerrys dad years ago. Could this be the man of Kerrys dreams, or should she be suspicious of him since things are suspicious about her dads book? Unsure whom to trust, our heroine faces adversity with a great deal of courage and faith. Classic Grace Livingston Hill.

Carmens Messenger

Harold Bindloss

Jake Foster wanted to change something in his own country with small steps. To do this, he had to marry Alice, who is ready to invest in his business, in his idea. After the signing of the contract, he feels relieved because now he can increase income of his country. But is it worth the sacrifices for which he went?

The Tempest

William Shakespeare

One of Shakespeares later plays. The plot focuses on the confrontation between the Duke of Milan, the Wizard of Prospero, and his brother Antonio. The latter, with the help of the Neapolitan king, takes power from his brother. Prospero, with his little daughter Miranda, was expelled from Milan. On a dilapidated ship they were sent to the open sea.

The Permanent Husband

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

Decades later after Uncles Dream, Dostoevsky wrote The Permanent Husband, also known as The Eternal Husband (1890). It is one of Dostoevskys most perfect works. Classical in form, it presents his most profound exploration of mimetic rivalry and the duality of human consciousness. A love-affair drama that is both tragedy and comedy, that follows complicated relationships, remarriages, and unrequited love. Told from the point of view of a rich and idle man who is confronted by a younger rival, the husband of his former, and now deceased, mistress, the story portrays the interchanging hatred and love of the two men. Some critics have ranked this novella among Dostoyevskys best works because of its style and structure. Alfred Bem has called it one of the most complete works by Dostoyevsky in regards to its composition and development.

Nie-Boska komedia

Zygmunt Krasiński

Dramat romantyczny Zygmunta Krasińskiego napisany w 1833 r., a wydany w 1835 r. w Paryżu. Początkowo utwór miał nosić tytuł Mąż i być pierwszą częścią trylogii. Głównym bohaterem Nie-Boskiej komedii jest Mąż (hrabia Henryk). Pierwsza i druga część utworu przedstawia jego życie osobiste, trzecia i czwarta jego udział w wydarzeniach społecznych i historycznych. Mąż bierze ślub z kobietą, którą jak mu się wydaje kocha. Czuje się jednak poetą, pragnie tworzyć prawdziwą poezję. Żyje marzeniami, stąd tak łatwo szatanowi opętać jego duszę. Zsyła mu Dziewicę będącą dla Męża uosobieniem żywej poezji i piękna. Porzuca zrozpaczoną Żonę i rusza z Dziewicą. Ta niemal doprowadza go do zguby. Ratuje go anioł. Mąż powraca do domu, ale okazuje się, że Żona umiera w szpitalu dla obłąkanych, a syn Orcio jest poetą. Tymczasem wybucha rewolucja, a Mąż teraz już jako hrabia Henryk staje na czele arystokracji, przeciw której walczą rewolucjoniści. Henryk wybiera się do ich obozu, aby poznać przeciwnika. Widzi, że rewolucjoniści to tak naprawdę ludzie, którzy marzą o życiu arystokracji. Chcą pieniędzy, żywności, chcą się bawić. Utwierdza się w przekonaniu, że rewolucjoniści nie proponują żadnych nowych idei. Ostatecznie Henryk ginie na polu walki.

Betty Zane

Zane Grey

Zane Greys first trilogy Betty Zane, The Last Trail, and The Spirit of the Border together in one volume. Betty Zane is an Eastern real life adventure story by Zane Grey based upon diaries kept by his great grandmother, Betty Zane, describing her life and adventures after she joined her brothers family near what is now Wheeling, WV in the late 1700s. It is the story of the last battle of the American Revolution, in which the heroine was a young, spunky, and beautiful frontier girl named Betty Zane. Life along the frontier, attacks by Indians, Bettys heroic defense of the beleaguered garrison at Wheeling, the burning of the Fort, and Bettys final race for life, make up this never-to-be-forgotten story. Well written historical fiction recommended to anyone interested in the decline of the indigenous North American. The writing is beautiful, especially the descriptions that take you vividly back to a place and time. The story is suspenseful and riveting, with plenty of excitement.

Baśka. Bezimienni bohaterowie

Maria Reutt

Akcja powieści Marii Reutt Baśka. Bezimienni bohaterowie rozpoczyna się w roku 1904, o którym autorka pisze, że był rokiem wznowionych nadziei i pragnień niepodległościowych. Warszawa, wciąż pod zaborem rosyjskim, nieprzerwanie stanowi arenę nasilonych działań konspiracyjnych, prowadzonych przez bezimiennych bohaterów, dążących do wyzwolenia ojczyzny spod jarzma zaborcy.

What Men Live By and Other Tales

Leo Tolstoy

A small work describes the whole life, the meaning of all life on this Earth. The point is that people live by God, people love, they have a heart, they live not for their needs, not for their own good. And it simply struck the appearance, the rebuke of the Angel, how he watched everything, how he smiled at the hearty people who have faith. As a person blossoms after doing good, and faith becomes even stronger.

The Mystery of the Green Ray

William Le Queux

The youth in the multi-coloured blazer laughed. Youd have to come and be a nurse, he suggested. Oh, Id go as a drummer-boy. Id look fine in uniform, wouldnt I? the waitress simpered in return. Dennis Burnham swallowed his liqueur in one savage gulp, pushed back his chair, and rose from the table.

Guilty Bonds

William Le Queux

Frank Burgoyne, newly rich through inheritance, falls madly and improbably in love with a beautiful but mysterious Russian and becomes unwittingly and unknowingly embroiled in an international plot punctuated by a series of murders. Burgoyne suffers several bewildering experiences, including incarcerations in Russia and England, and he is constantly questioning his loves motivations and fealty.

A Peoples Man

E. Phillips Oppenheim

The marathon supports the radical form of general strikes to put the entire English industry on its knees and begin a long struggle for the redistribution of wealth. In many eloquent speeches, he claims the cause of poverty. Lord Foley, by contrast, believes that the enemies of England are waiting for mass actions aimed at the collapse of the country, during which they will invade and win. The marathon is obstructed from all sides by opposition forces that are trying to bring it to their side.

Aventures dAlice au pays des merveilles

Lewis Carroll

Lauteur présente aux lecteurs une fille nommée Alice, qui, par ennui, décide de suivre un lapin étrange qui passe a travers et se retrouve dans un monde magique. Dans son reve, elle rencontre de nombreuses créatures étranges. Le conte jouit dune popularité constante chez les enfants et les adultes. Le livre est considéré comme lun des meilleurs exemples de littérature dans le genre de labsurde;

Winnetou. Tom III

Karol May

Jednak Winnetou to przede wszystkim opowieść o niezwykłej przyjaźni, pokonującej granice ras i kultur. Relacja łącząca młodego indiańskiego wodza i przybysza z Europy zachwyca bezinteresownością, tolerancją, zrozumieniem dla różnic. We wspólnych przygodach ujawniają się także niezwykłe oddanie i godna podziwu wierność, które składają się na obraz przyjaźni doskonałej.

A Tangled Web

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, justly famous for her Anne of Green Gables series, wrote two novels in her career that were explicitly intended for adults. A Tangled Web centers around a community consisting mainly of two families, the Penhallows and the Darks whose collective lives are thrown into chaos by the dying wish of matriarch Aunt Becky Dark. For several generations everyone in the Penhallow family has married someone in the Dark family. Now Aunt Becky, the eccentric old matriarch of the clan, has bequeathed her prized possession: a legendary heirloom jug. But the name of the jugs new owner will not be revealed for one year. This is a charming book set in Lucy Maud Montgomerys beloved Prince Edward Island. Its colorful characters, descriptive scenery and interesting plot that employs a mixture of humor, pathos and sweet sentiment make for a comfortable read that leaves behind a pleasant sense of satisfaction at its close.

The Hour of the Dragon

Robert E. Howard

The long tapers flickered, sending the black shadows wavering along the walls, and the velvet tapestries rippled. Yet there was no wind in the chamber. Four men stood about the ebony table on which lay the green sarcophagus that gleamed like carven jade. In the upraised right hand of each man a curious black candle burned with a weird greenish light. Outside was night and a lost wind moaning among the black trees.

The Ball at Sceaux

Honoré de Balzac

Emilie de Fontaine is a spoiled and pround brat. She rejects all suitors her father proposes. Emilie has incredibly high standards for the man she will marry, and at the top of her unreasonable list of criteria is that he absolutely must be a peer of France. Leaving Paris for the summer, as all good families do, they go to Sceaux. At the local ball, Emilie falls in love with a charming, beautifully mannered, elegant young man. Is he noble? Will he bestow a title on his wife? Will it matter if he turns out to be a commoner? One of the pieces of Balzacs La Comédie Humaine, this work reflects the narrow-mindedness of the peerage of French society. The mind-set of people is presented in an elucidating manner that reflects their thinking. The whims and fancies of youthful maidens and young gentlemen and their frivolous attitudes to life are depicted in an interesting manner.

Fairy Tales

Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm

Previously, it never occurred to anyone to write down fairy tales. They were told to each other, passed down from generation to generation... and if not for scientists, such as the Grimm brothers, many stories would not have reached us. The reader is not only acquainted with the famous fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, but also learns what a fairy tale is, when it appeared and how it changed. He learns about the life of the brothers Jacob and William and about their difficult work on fairy tales.

Trylogia Saska (tom 2). Brühl. Powieść historyczna z XVIII wieku

Józef Ignacy Kraszewski

Losy Henryka von Brühla, doradcy i faworyta króla Augusta III. Brühl jest początkowo skromnym paziem na dworze Augusta II Mocnego. Jednak dzięki swym zdolnościom, pomysłowości oraz intrygom powoli wspina się po szczeblach kariery. Przy okazji niszczy bezwzględnie swoich konkurentów. Wkrótce staje się ulubieńcem Augusta II. Jego pozycja umacnia się jeszcze bardziej, kiedy królem zostaje August III. Ponieważ nowy monarcha słabo angażuje się w sprawy państwowe, Brühl faktycznie zajmuje jego miejsce i rozpoczyna własne rządy w Saksonii. Powieść stanowi drugą część tzw. Trylogii Saskiej Kraszewskiego i jest bezpośrednią kontynuacją Hrabiny Cosel.