Rogues in the House

Robert E. Howard

Rogues in the House is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in January 1934. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan inadvertently becoming involved in the power play between two powerful men fighting for control of a city. It was the seventh Conan story Howard had published.

The Silent Bullet

Arthur B. Reeve

Enter an American Sherlock Holmes solving crimes in the early twentieth century. Craig Kennedy is a Columbia University chemistry professor by day and New Yorks premier sleuth by night. With the help of his roommate and partner in detection, newspaper reporter Walter Jameson, Kennedy uses his mastery of technology to solve the most puzzling of mysteries. It is interesting to see the different cases they take on and how they solve them. Originally published in 1910, these twelve short stories are as follows: The Scientific Cracksman, The Bacteriological Detective, The Deadly Tube, The Seismograph Adventure and others. The Silent Bullet is a first volume in the Arthur B. Reeve Detective Series.

The Professor

Charlotte Brontë

Written two years before Jane Eyre, The Professor was Charlotte Brontes first novel and was based on her experiences in Brussels. The story is one of love and doubt, as the hero, William Crimsworth, seeks his fortune as a teacher in Brussels and finds his love for the good Anglo-Swiss girl, Frances Henri, severely tested by the sensuously beguiling and manipulative headmistress, Zoroade Reuter. On the other hand, the social protest sounded distinctly in this novel that is typical for mature works of Charlotte Bronte. In particular, this protest is expressed in the image of a soulless, prudent businessman, the factory owner Edward Crimsworth who devoided of basic humanity in dealing with workers and their families.

When the Sleeper Wakes

Herbert George Wells

This book was written in 1899, and is one of the last science-fiction books Wells wrote before his turn towards social realism in his writing. In this dystopian novel, Graham falls into a coma-like sleep, a sleep that he wakes from some 203 years in the future. But times have changed. Due to the wise investments of a board of trustees, Grahams money has compounded into the greatest fortune the world has ever seen, and the trustees have used it to virtually enslave the entire planet. But when he comes out of his trance he is horrified to discover that the money accumulated in his name is being used to maintain a hierarchal society in which most are poor, and more than a third of all people are enslaved. This struggle is the main focus of the larger part of the novel. The novel proposes that whatever is done officially for the good of society, individual ambition is unlikely to address the failure of capitalist structures to create a good standard of living for those whose work supports the system.

Raison et Sensibilité, ou les Deux Manieres dAimer

Jane Austen

Le destin des soeurs Dashwood est au centre du roman. Marianna, lincarnation de la sensibilité. Elle tombe passionnément amoureuse dun gentilhomme charmant mais frivole. Et sa sour sensible Elinor tombe amoureuse dun jeune homme tout a fait sur. Quelle est la clé du bonheur?

LArchipel en feu

Jules Verne

Le livre nous emmene dans le premier quart du XIXe siecle, peu avant la libération de la Grece du pouvoir des Turcs. Les Grecs se battent avec les esclaves turcs pour leur liberté. En cela, ils sont aidés par ceux qui chérissent la liberté et lindépendance du pays. Mme les pirates de la mer leur viennent en aide.

Castle Gay

John Buchan

Castle Gay is the second of Buchans three Dickson McCunn books and is set in south west Scotland in the Dumfries and Galloway region in the 1920s. The plot revolves around the self-discovery of a media mogul named Craw, who is firstly the subject of mistaken identity and then the target of Balkan extremists who wish to use his newspapers to influence their political cause. Mr. Craws journey is overseen by Jaikie Galt, one of the young scamps in Huntingtower, who is now a Cambridge undergraduate and international rugby player. Jaikie and Craw embark on life-changing travels around the Scottish wilderness, where they both re-evaluate their values and choices in life although they arrive at very different conclusions. There is appreciation of the wilds and the simple lives of the shepherds along with the politics and international intrigue. There is the threat of violence, which is averted through quick thinking, which make the story exciting.

The Moonstone

Wilkie Collins

A diamond is stolen from the English country estate of Lady Verinder and the renowned Sergeant Cuff is brought in from London to help solve the case. The diamond, said to bring bad luck to its owner because it was stolen from a temple in India, was given to Lady Verinders daughter, Rachel, on her 18th birthday. It was bequeathed to Rachel from her uncle (who stole it when he was a young soldier) on his death. The story unfolds through several narrators, all of whom know a piece of what happened. As each of them writes his or her side of the story, the reader gets just a little more information that helps to solve the mystery. You can see things invented here that were directly borrowed by future writers: Holmes overconfidence (and his use of London urchins as agents); Agatha Christies exploration of narrative reliability.