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Joseph Conrad
This is both mystery and romance; the latter creates one of the recurring difficulties in Conrad: it preserves the Victorian histrionic element, which sometimes may seem a little attractive. But overall, it is well read and much less burdensome than some of his novels.
T.C. Bridges
Short and stout as he was, Pip could handle a boat with any man, and the speed with which he got the sail up and tied down the reef points was worth watching. As he finished, the great arch of cloud swept over the sun, wiping, out its bright light. Then with a roar the wind was on them.
The Point of Honor. A Military Tale
Joseph Conrad
Conrad stresses that the narrative clearly shows that the duel really benefited two. Combat competitions made every job and strive a little harder, forced the will to survive and win in a personal fight as seriously as the desire to survive the bloody years of the Napoleonic war. Both are officers in Napoleons army, and both are to the core.
Arthur Conan Doyle
The Poison Belt, a novella by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is remarkable in that we, with the central characters, are permitted to witness what seems to be a global apocalypse, while enduring only minimal emotional fall out. Professor Challenger urgently summons his fellow explorers (Professor Summerlee, Lord John Roxton, and reporter E.D. Malone) to a meeting. Oddly, he requires each to bring an oxygen cylinder with him. The mysterious substance suddenly becomes a deadly threat as the Earth passes through a belt in the ether, a belt of poisonous ether. To Professor Challenger it is clear that no animal or human life can possibly survive this encounter. Shutting themselves tightly up in Challengers house, they start to consider what may be done. But as their countrymen start to drop, will their oxygen last long enough to determine and implement a solution?
Arthur B. Reeve
The second collection of 12 of the early Craig Kennedy mysteries, written by Arthur Benjamin Reeve and published in 1912. His Craig Kennedy stories, of which these are early examples, earned their main character the nickname the American Sherlock Holmes, both for his highly rational and analytical detective work as well as for his ever-present Dr. Watson-like companion Walter Jameson. They solve crimes using cutting-edge technology of the early twentieth century with varying degrees of plausibility. This volume includes The Germ of Death, The White Slave, The Confidence King, The Invisible Ray, and eight more. Each story features a fascinating look at life in the early 20th century, and even includes some action along the way.
Robert E. Howard
The Pool of the Black One is one of the original short stories starring the sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan becoming the captain of a pirate vessel and encountering a remote island with a mysterious pool that has powers of transmutation.
Otis Adelbert Kline
When Vernia, empress of Reabon, mightiest land of all Venus, was kidnapped by the strange marauders of the sea and was taken to their hidden port, it presented the Earthman, Robert Grandon, with his greatest challenge. Grandon goes on a quest to save her, a quest that will put him on challenges, and against enemies beyond everything he had came across before. And out of this comes a tale of action in which event follows event at unparalleled speed, and always against a background of the most fantastic creatures and horrible men. The Port of Peril, Otis Adelbert Klines concluding novel of Venusian adventure, amply demonstrates his high skill with fast-action science-fiction. It continues the fantastic adventures of Robert Grandon as he encounters the Huitsenni, a weird, buccaneering race.
Henry James
Isabel, the main character of the story, knows the charm of marriage with a worthless person. Her fate the confluence of fatal circumstances. Being a dowry and finding herself in Europe, she refuses to quite worthy applicants for a hand, and having received a fortune, she links life with the rogue Osmond, who married her only to provide a bastard daughter, Pansy, born of a courtesan, a decent existence. Illusions are crumbling, there is no hope for happiness, but Isabelle, with stoic courage, endures all the misfortunes that have fallen to her lot.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
The Possessed (also known in English as The Devils and The Demons) is the greatest novel ever written about the politics of revolution. It is a social and political satire, a psychological drama, and large scale tragedy. Published in 1871, Fyodor Dostoevskys novel foretold with uncanny prescience events that would occur almost fifty years later during the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist tyranny that followed. Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russians in 1869, Dostoevsky conceived of Demons as a novel-pamphlet in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. The novels relevance, however, is not limited to Russia and its revolution. With its cast of idealistic murderers and suicides, seductive madmen and glamorous fanatics, The Possessed is a novel for our time as well.
The Postmaster of Market Deignton
E. Phillips Oppenheim
This early work from the prince of storytellers E. Phillips Oppenheim published as a novel in 1897. Mr. Norman Scott is a young, hardworking, distinguished physician with a busy practice in London. He is called to visit a patient, Mr. Humphrey Deignton, who suffers from gout and who is murdered later. Dr. Scott is suspected. Two years later, we meet Mr. John Martin, postmaster and chemist in Market Deignton. A lonely, bitter, impoverished man. He is living near the home of Lady Deignton, seeking revenge upon the person who killed Lord Deignton, and ruined his name and career. There are lots of unexpected turns and twists to the adventure of poor John and the local color of the setting is extremely charming.
The Pot of Gold and Other Stories
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
This novel is for those who are looking for a quick and easy read. The Flowers family lived in a small house in a wide grassy meadow that descended a few branches from the front door to a gentle silvery river. Directly across the river stood a lovely dark green mountain, and when a rainbow fell, as it often did, nothing could look more charming than it rose from the opposite bank of the stream against the backdrop of a wet, shady mountain.
The Power of Darkness. A Drama in Five Acts
Leo Tolstoy
The very concept of The Power of Darkness for Tolstoy corresponds to the Gospel, where darkness is identified with the concept of hell and death, and light with hope and paradise. The Power of Darkness expresses not only religious, but also philosophical ideas of the great Russian writer. Darkness is the moral blindness of people who commit a crime in order to satisfy the most base motives. The power of The Power of Darkness for Tolstoy is the tragedy of hopelessness, a heavy chain of sins that entangle a person. But The Power of Darkness is also the path to moral regeneration through repentance.
Max Brand
One of Max Brands greatest gifts as a storyteller is his ability to create unforgettable, larger-than-life characters. Frederick Schiller Faust (May 29, 1892 - May 12, 1944) was an American author known primarily for his thoughtful and literary Westerns under the pen name Max Brand. This is one of his novels. "The Power of Prayer" (1922) is an unusual and vexing Christmas story in which Gerald Kern, gentleman, gunman and fortune-hunter, must make a fateful choice when his cold-blooded nature and his love of a woman collide. Neatly plotted and briskly told, it illustrates Brands remarkable gift for storytelling. Another great read by Max Brand.
John Buchan
Edward Leithen is a young British lawyer who learns that one of his Oxford contemporaries, Charles Pitt-Heron, has just disappeared. Leithen learns from Pitt-Herons wife that he has been forced to flee. But a series of strange events that follow Pitt-Herons disappearance convinces Leithen that he is dealing with a sinister secret society. His suspicions begin to center on a wealthy, well-known, and intelligent businessman, who reveals himself to Leithen as an ardent anarchist. The barrister finds himself the target of many watchers, and then, as his understanding of the conspiracy involving the Power House grows, he is trapped and chased unrelentingly. The Author, despite being very busy in Public Service, wrote over fifty books during his life but his particular talent was for writing fast-moving adventure stories. The Power-House, a good example of this genre, was published in 1916.
James Fenimore Cooper
The Prairie: A Tale (1827) is a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, the 3rd novel written by him featuring Natty Bumppo. Civilization drives old hunter Natty Bumppo (Leatherstocking) west of the Mississippi to the prairies, where he becomes a trapper and helps a band of emigrants in their conflicts with Indians, miscreants, and the harsh environment. We find Hawkeye removed to the uncharted territory which would become Wyoming and the Dakotas. Having fled the relentless sound of axes hewing down his beloved forests in the east, the Leatherstocking is now in his eighties and has isolated himself in the land of the Pawnee, the Sioux and countless herds of buffalo. Culminating in a magnificently written death scene, The Prairie brings the old hunter full circle with images of his youth and reminiscences of the remarkable life which made him the prototype of the American Hero.
Hugh Walpole
This is the story of a Cambridge student, Olva Dune, who commits murder. Ironically, the moment he commits his crime, he feels the presence of God. Perhaps a hundred years ago, March Square could boast of such excellent ignorance, but fashion is changing to prevent, perhaps, our own being too easily annoyed.
Edgar Wallace
Dr. Beechington knew how difficult it was to live in genteel poverty. He was determined his daughter Mary should marry a wealthy man but Mary wasnt so sure. Should she obey her father or follow her heart? 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 Price a Woman Pays is a story packed with great fun and Wallace keeps the action moving along swiftly, as he always did, and it highlights Wallaces unmatched skill in setting a pulse-pounding pace. Wonderful entertainment and highly entertaining.
Fred M. White
Sir Wilton Oakes was a man of about five and forty years of age, although he looked younger, he didnt feel like it. He had all the attributes of his ancient race the face of a hawk, a short upper lip, and the easy manner of one who was born to be the commander of people. He recently took over the beautiful Elizabethan house that was his legacy. And now the old baronet was dead, and the man sitting at the library table reigned in his stead.
Niccol Machiavelli
The Prince is a treatise by statesman Niccolo Machiavelli. It was written in the Middle Ages, and published only after the death of the author. In it, Niccolo Machiavelli combines all the experience of managing the state, sharing his thoughts with readers. Although this book is largely instructive, it is not perceived as such. When you read, there is no feeling of boredom or the fact that an opinion is imposed on you with which you do not agree. The author enables readers to draw conclusions themselves. In the book you can see discussions about power and how to achieve it; these thoughts are concise and simple. In just a few theses, the author provides arguments confirming his point of view, drawing on the experience of past years.
Mark Twain
Tom Canty is a poor boy in the London slums. His birth only brings more poverty to his already dirt poor family. Edward VI is the long awaited heir to the English throne. They are born on the same day and look so alike they cant believe it. They exchange clothes and Edward VI ends up being thrown out of the palace by guards who think he is the poor boy he looks to be. Both boys have difficulty fitting into the others lives. After many adventures, matters are set right again, with one of the boys resuming his rightful, royal position and the other boy accepting a position that recognizes his innate intelligence and good heartedness.The bulk of the books is the mad life of the poor boy during which Edward VI learns how many of his subjects live. He resolves to change things if he can get back to the palace and be restored to his rightful place.
The Prince of India. Or Why Constantinople Fell
Lewis Wallace
On the pages of the works of Lewis Wallace characters lived, fell in love, fought and died, influencing the structure of public affairs. This novel tells about the events that led to the fall of Constantinople. Legendary wandering Jew under the guise of the Prince of India helps save the city. A wandering Jew served as the basis for several stories, and this is one of the best.
Otis Adelbert Kline
The second of the three Grandon of Venus novels. When the man who was Harry Thorne on Earth offered to swap bodies with a native of Venus, it was because he was bored with comfort and security, and craved excitement. And that was what he got more than he would have bargained for when he found that he had taken over the assassin-haunted role of a prince of a beleaguered throne in a land of ferocious beasts and inhuman foemen. With the help of the fellow interplanetary traveler Vorn Vangal he got to know the planet and the rules of it. Otis Adelbert Kline, whose work is often compared to that of Edgar Rice Burroughs, has created in The Prince of Peril another interplanetary swordplay and fantastic adventure to stand alongside his fast-selling The Planet of Peril and The Swordsman of Mars.
The Prison-Breakers and Other Stories
Edgar Wallace
A collection of short stories from the British Mysteries master Edgar Wallace, directly from the Golden Era of the genre. This includes the following The Prison-Breakers, Findings Are Keepings, The Jewel Box, The Undisclosed Client, Via Madeira, The Complete Criminal, Red Beard, Bulfox Asleep. Have a lot of fun! Edgar Wallace was a British novelist, playwright, and journalist who produced popular detective and suspense stories and was in his time the king of the modern thriller. Wallaces literary output 175 books, 24 plays, and countless articles and review sketches have undermined his reputation as a fresh and original writer. In England, in the 1920s, Wallace was said to be the second biggest seller after the Bible.
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.