Publisher: KtoCzyta.pl
Herbert George Wells
Mr. Parham is a university academic of the traditional, classical sort, very much a snob and unhappy with many of the social trends of the time. Sir Bussy Woodcock is a self-made millionaire of sharp intelligence and great energy but lowly beginnings and no cultural education. This unlikely pair meet by chance and form an intermittent relationship. In an attempt to foster this acquaintance that goes on for six years, Mr. Parham finds himself involved in séances that summon a Master Spirit from the beyond. This entity occupies Mr. Parhams body, and commences to inspire a political movement (the League of Duty Paramount) that overthrows the British government in a coup détat. This is an intriguing tale which Wells uses to explore opposing social and political views of the period, with the fantasy element a vehicle for so doing. On the way, he creates a couple of memorable characters.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Yet another collection of linked short stories from Oppenheim. By chance a young man and woman meet and set up an agency to aid Scotland Yard, but is romance in the air? This story deals with a young man and a young woman who make an informal partnership in criminal investigation. This whodunit murder mysteries collection brings to you some of Oppenheims finest murder mysteries to keep you at your toes: The Evil Shepherd Murder at Monte Carlo, or Wolves Amongst the Honey, The Glenlitten Murder and others. Phillips Oppenheim was an internationally renowned author of mystery and espionage thrillers. His novels and short stories have all the elements of blood-racing adventure and intrigue and are precursors of modern-day spy fictions.
Edgar Wallace
Over a period of time, men disappear, and later their heads are found. Meanwhile a young actress in a small part in a film on location, is disturbed by the actions of the owner of the place where they are filming. A detective comes to investigate, and finds many puzzling things going on. Several of the characters are suspicious, in one way or another, and as the plot unfolds, it grips you. Edgar Wallaces The Avenger is a perfectly fine example of what a page-turning thriller looked like, early in the last century. What Edgar Wallace has over modern writers is the willingness to insert a girl-snatching, sapient orangutan in his plot. Surely the seeds for his King-Kong screenplay can be found here.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories
Kate Chopin
Awakening is one of the greatest works in American literature. Brilliant beauty Edna Pontellier, together with her husband and two wonderful kids, spend the summer in the resort town of Grand Isle. Ednas unexpected meeting with Robert, a charming young man, suddenly changes the calm and measured life of a woman. Awakening was recognized only many years later.
Henry James
The Aawkward age nonetheless analyzes the English character with great subtlety. The Awkward Age, which is highly praised for its natural dialogue and the subtlety of the sensation that it conveys, illustrates Conrads remark that James never dwells in deep darkness or in strong sunlight. But he feels deep and bright every gentle shade.
E.F. Benson
The story Babe, B. A. contains a large amount of wit, brightness and a sharp charm. All characters have a strong family resemblance to each other. Although the story seems so easy and relaxed, in short frivolous. However, readers will be able to see a really difficult choice for the main character, so young but brave. He faced the criminal world. He has a choice: to betray his friend or not.
Max Brand
One of the greatest western authors of all time, superstar pulpsmith Max Brand, the pen name of Frederick Faust, was an incredibly proficient author who wrote many books, stories, and even poetry. His Westerns were always different, with complex plots and characters, and uncertain endings... But his historical adventures rank among the best stories he ever wrote. These seven stories of 16th Century Italian Renaissance swashbuckling swordsman Tizzo are tightly-plotted, action-packed adventures which were rarely equaled in quality by Brands contemporaries. It collects the final four stories: The Cat and the Perfume, Claws of the Tigress, The Bait and the Trap and The Pearls of the Bonfadini.
G.K. Chesterton
A very good Christian book, which, nevertheless, speaks not so much about Christianity in itself, as about humanity, as the principle of life in general. If there were such a category as social Christian romance, then this book would be one of the most remarkable examples. The book is attractive and not only because of the description of a non-ideal world, but also because of the authors attitude to his characters. There are no heroes in principle, there are only images. Very bright and understandable.
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.
Robert W. Chambers
This is the story of what happened to a dozen malcontents who could no longer tolerate dirty business in Europe and politicians at home. This is an exciting story that will keep you in suspense until the end of the story.
Rex Beach
Many men were indebted to the trader in Flambeau, and many considered him a friend. The latter never explained why, other than that he did them a favor, and in the North that matters a lot.
Ethel M. Dell
Avery Denys, the novels heroine, lost her husband and her blind daughter. But in response to these tragic events, Avery simply reflects that she was left with nothing to do, and finds a job that allows her to act out the mother role she now misses. A rock to her female friends, Avery is rational yet caring, but also submissive in the face of her eventual second husbands violence towards her and others. There are many characters with the usual misunderstandings that result in separation for the couple. Healing and reconciliation come with the intervention of two special friends and the children of the minister. The Bars of Iron (1916) is an excellent bestsellers book in the United States in 1916 for individuals who are looking for the best one to read. A contemporary classic. Full of passion and love.
The Battle of Basinghall Street
E. Phillips Oppenheim
The story of a young man, Lord Sandbrook, who takes revenge against the directors of a company he holds responsible for the deaths of his father and mother. The battlefield is Basinghall Street, where the offices of Woolito, Limited, are situated. A textile business is the center of strange machinations suicides, failures, conflagrations, disaster to various directors, finally a raid on the stock, and the president is a ruined man. In this story Mr. Oppenheim takes a vacation from international intrigue in a Monte Carlo setting and devotes himself to describing a big business battle in London. The story is told with the usual Oppenheim flourish, a great deal of action, many details of personality and adventures.
The Battle of Life. A Love Story
Charles Dickens
While The Battle of Life is one of Charles Dickens Christmas Books his annual release of a story just before Christmas this one breaks the tradition by not being concerned with Christmas. Rather, its subtitle, A Love Story, reveals more of the plot. The setting is an English village that stands on the site of a historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title. This novel basically depicts the battles one faces in life and winning them. Grace and Marion are sisters, saying goodbye to their childhood friend, Alfred, who has just come of age after growing up as a ward to the girls father, Dr. Jeddler. Alfred promises to come back someday to marry Marion when he has finished medical school and made his fortune. The years pass, but their happy plans take a sorrowful turn, and it will take all their courage to survive the battle of life...
Henry James
At the reception in the rich manor there are not the first youth mister and also not a young lady anymore. Both belong to the same circle of birth, but the financial affairs of a man are in somewhat better condition. It all seems to him that he is meant for something great and terrible that will destroy his own life and the lives of loved ones like a sudden fit of madness or, yes, how many anything can be options. It is like seeing yourself as a thicket in which the beast is hiding for the time being.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgeralds second novel, first published in 1922, which brilliantly satirizes a doomed and glamorous marriage of would-be Jazz Age aristocrats Anthony and Gloria Patch: they are beautiful, shallow, pleasure-seeking, and vain. As they await the inheritance of his grandfathers fortune, their reckless marriage sways under the influence of alcohol and avarice and disintegrates under the weight of their expectations, dissipation, jealousy and aimlessness...
Guy Boothby
This novel, filled with lots of action and romance, talks about the exploits of an attractive criminal mastermind who steals the heart of the main character of a fairy tale. The heroine is a first class woman. She is smart, beautiful, commanding and respected. She is all that a leader should be, demonstrates courage in the face of danger, and has never even been portrayed in any way not ideal.
The Beauty of the Purple. A Romance of Imperial Constantinople Twelve Centuries Ago
William Stearns Davis
There are typical characters in this book: the villains are very evil, while the heroes and heroines are beautiful, brave and wise. However, there is romance, adventure and suspense in this book, all against the backdrop of Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire.
J.S. Fletcher
The main character in the story is a detective story. He is investigating a mysterious murder. Detective and young Richard Marchmont soon discover that there is a triangle of financial intrigue that needs to be unraveled before the truth can be found out, and that in the hour of crime, not one suspicious person was hiding near the Marchmont house, but several.
S.S. Van Dine
The Benson Case is the first case, the first detective from the Philo Vens series. Again, we are dealing with an amateur detective who has his own Watson and Lestrade, a first-person narrator who is present at all events and a good acquaintance of Vance, the New York City Police Attorney Markham. In this book, he still does not particularly believe in Vances ability to psychologically unwind potential victims of murder suspects.
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Guy Ducaine is a recent graduate of Oxford University. Through a series of unfortunate events he is penniless and starving in the rural town of Brasters. Seeking to make a few shillings, he schedules a lecture on local history. On the same time, Lord Rowchester invites the officer and explorer Colonel Mostyn Ray to the village to speak. Ducaines lecture fails and he returns to his small house and collapses from hunger. Found there by Ray, and Rowchesters lovely daughter, Lady Angela, they revive him and set in motion a complicated, entertaining, and devious plot. With many twists and turns Ducaine eventually works as secretary to a War Preparations Committee which is chronically leaking plans to the enemy and saves the nation!
Edgar Wallace
Best remembered for penning the screenplay for the classic film King Kong, author Edgar Wallace was an astoundingly popular luminary in the action-adventure genre in the early twentieth century. The Big Four is a story packed with intrigue, treachery, assassinations, and machinations, and it highlights Wallaces unmatched skill in setting a pulse-pounding pace. Wallace was an extremely prolific writer who wrote over 175 novels, plus numerous plays, essays and journalistic articles. During the peak of his success during the 1920s, it was said that a quarter of all books read in England were written by him. Many of his novels were made into films and TV dramas.
Eimar ODuffy
Eimar Ultan ODuffy (29 September 1893 21 March 1935), born in Dublin in 1893, was a novelist, poet, playwright and satirist. The Irish Theatre Company produced two of his plays, and a later play Bricrius Feast was published, though not produced, in 1919. His other publications include The Wasted Island (1919), King Goshawk and the Birds (MacMillan, 1926) and a series of mystery novels including The Bird Cage, Asses in Clover and The Secret Enemy. In The Bird Cage, a murdered man is discovered in a bedroom at the Grand Hotel in Spurn Cove, an English seaside resort... This is the first American edition of a mystery novel by an Irish writer. Eimar ODuffys mysteries give you just enough information to get you drawn into the story and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Highly recommended for fans of mysteries!
E. Phillips Oppenheim
Mr. Hamer Wildburn, a young American, graduate of Harvard is wintering on the Mediterranean coast of France in his newly purchased yacht The Bird of Paradise, and is puzzled by the desire he finds in visitors coming aboard at different times to buy the vessel from him. One night he is awoken at 3 am by the cries of a beautiful, and wearing priceless emeralds, woman swimming alongside. She comes aboard and offers to buy the yacht for twice what he paid. The next day, the foreign minister of France also makes an offer to buy the yacht at an outrageous price. Soon a known terrorist develops a bomb to utterly destroy the boat and all its inhabitants. And so on, and with the material of conspiracies, French politics, love and adventure the story is woven around the yacht.