Better Dead

J.M. Barrie

Scottish-born author and playwright Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 19 June 1937) first established himself in the public eye as a writer of childrens books and humorous plays. He is best remembered for creating Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn Davies boys. According to historians of Barries life and work, Better Dead is one of his earliest pieces, it is a novel about the challenges of finding ones place in the world. It combines sly humor with a compelling plot with elements of mystery and romance. The main character Andrew is a young Scotsman who heads to London after university because the job prospects are so poor back home. He finds himself as a probationary member of a secret society which engages in the murder of those in society it deems would be, as the title suggests, Better Dead.

Dzieci

Bolesław Prus

Powieść Dzieci to utwór poświęcony rewolucji 1905-07. Autor przedstawił schyłkowy okres rewolucji i towarzyszące przegranej rozprzężenie. Kazimierz Świrski, 18-letni uczeń, organizuje tajny związek Rycerzy Wolności o programie niepodległościowym i niesprecyzowanych celach rewolucyjnych. Związek staje się wkrótce terenem działalności prowokatorów, bandytów i psychopatów. Inicjatorom ruchu pisarz nie odmawia ideowego zaangażowania, oskarża ich jednak o brak orientacji politycznej i działanie pod wpływem impulsu, bez rozeznania w rzeczywistości. Autora interesuje raczej problematyka moralna działań rewolucyjnych niż ich aspekt praktyczny.

Stella Fregelius. A Tale of Three Destinies

H. Rider Haggard

This is another of Haggards eternal love stories. This novel tells of intersecting fates, the triangle: scholarly Morris Monk, inventor; his first cousin, Mary Porson; and the daughter of the new church rector, Stella Fregelius. The story at one point plays with the idea that love cannot exist between man and woman without lust, which implies a rare power to Morris and Stellas bond. The moral of this story is: love that lives after death, and that spiritual connection is much more important than physical and temporary.

The Ranch at the Wolverine

B.M. Bower

The Ranch at the Wolverine follows an intrepid group of settlers who made a home in the land now known as Idaho. Billy Louise has given up her childhood play and her schooling in order to run the ranch near the Wolverine River after her father dies in an accident. One winter she takes Ward, a young cowboy with mysterious past, to her ranch to work as hired man. After Ward shares his secret with Billy, strange events start to occur. Adventure, danger and a beautifully detailed description of life in the Old West fill out the story, which, as with most B.M. Bower novels, has a sad/happy ending. From one of Americas most loved novelists in the western genre this is a classic and a great addition to the collection.

The First Part of King Henry the Sixth

William Shakespeare

This historical chronicle spans a period of thirty years in English history. Starting from the death of King Henry the Fifth in 1422 and ending with the Battle of Castillon in 1453. Lancaster pays for the usurpation of power and the death of the real king. British troops are defeated in battles with France. In England, civil strife and civil war begin.

The Evil Shepherd

E. Phillips Oppenheim

Welcome to 1922 and E. P. Oppenheims The Evil Shepherd. A businessman is found stabbed through the heart, the obvious suspect his partner: Oliver Hilditch, a cold-eyed fellow with a paper-thin alibi. Francis Ledsam is a defense barrister and is congratulating himself on a brilliant performance which has just seen Oliver Hilditch acquitted of murder. His ego is pricked by Margaret Hilditch confessing to him that Hilditch was guilty of crimes far more monstrous than murder. Ledsam vows never again to defend a guilty man. But when his newfound principles run up against the harsh reality of real-world justice, he finds himself trapped between his love for a beautiful woman and a powerful desire to do the right thing no matter the cost.

Martin Eden

Jack London

Martin Eden is one of the most famous novels of the famous American writer Jack London. The novel is largely autobiographical the writer, like his hero, emerged from the bottom of society and achieved outstanding success in literature exclusively by his own efforts. Martin Eden, who comes from the very bottom of the social ladder of American society at the beginning of the 20th century, falls in love with a young girl, Ruth, who belongs to the bourgeois class. Seeing in her the exact opposite of the base dirt and rudeness that surrounded him from birth, Martin somewhat idealizes her image and from that moment, the only goal in his life is to become worthy of her hand. To do this, not sparing literally a minute, he begins to transform himself from an illiterate sailor into a man who looked no worse than the middle class.

Wiersze. Wybór

Jan Andrzej Morsztyn

Tom zawiera wybór utworów poetyckich Jana Andrzeja Morsztyna, polityka i poety, czołowego przedstawiciela polskiego baroku dworskiego. Utwory Morsztyna odznaczają się niezwykłym kunsztem. Znane motywy potrafił autor przetworzyć w niebanalny sposób. Jego zdolność do odświeżania utartych figur stylistycznych, zabawy słowem, tworzenia nieoczekiwanych point czy zaskakiwania kunsztownymi konceptami decydowały o oryginalności tej poezji. W erotykach, które dominują w jego twórczości, korzystał z kontrastów wynikających z przejścia od wzniosłości do potoczności, od rozbudowanych komplementów do żartów i złośliwości. Przy opisywaniu kobiecej urody wykorzystywał motywy włosów, oczu wypowiadających wojnę zalotnikowi, kwiatów wyrastających u stóp kobiety czy słońca blednącego w porównaniu ze spojrzeniem kochanki.