Other books that might interest you

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  The Complete Short Stories of A...

  A. A. Milne, Gyles Brandreth

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  A new collection of A. A. Milne’s short stories for grown-ups. Gathered in full for the first time, they include several never published before. They show Milne’s renowned charm, concision and whimsical flair in all their brilliance. 
   
  He paints memorable scenes – from a children’s birthday party, to an accidental encounter with murder, and a case of blackmail – often with an unexpected twist. But he also deals in poignancy, from the girl who pulls the wool over her boyfriend’s eyes, to a first dance and first disappointment or family reunion and domestic dissonance. 
   
  Beguiling and evocative, Milne’s thought-provoking stories for adults will make you see his works for children in a whole new light.

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  Frankenstein

  Mary Shelley

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  Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared in the second edition, which was published in Paris in 1821.Shelley travelled through Europe in 1815, moving along the river Rhine in Germany, and stopping in Gernsheim, 17 kilometres (11 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle, where, two centuries before, an alchemist had engaged in experiments.[note She then journeyed to the region of Geneva, Switzerland, where much of the story takes place. Galvanism and occult ideas were topics of conversation for her companions, particularly for her lover and future husband Percy B. Shelley. In 1816 Mary, Percy and Lord Byron had a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After thinking for days, Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein after imagining a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made.Though Frankenstein is infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement, Brian Aldiss has argued for regarding it as the first true science-fiction story. In contrast to previous stories with fantastical elements resembling those of later science fiction, Aldiss states, the central character "makes a deliberate decision" and "turns to modern experiments in the laboratory" to achieve fantastic results. The novel has had a considerable influence on literature and on popular culture; it has spawned a complete genre of horror stories, films, and plays.Since the publication of the novel, the name "Frankenstein" has often been used, erroneously, to refer to the monster, rather than to his creator/father.

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  Sherlock Holmes: The Boscombe...

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  Immerse yourself in the suspenseful world of Sherlock Holmes with The Boscombe Valley Mystery, the fourth part of the Sherlock Holmes Short Story collection, narrated by Jake Urry. In this thrilling tale by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes and Watson are called to the countryside to investigate the murder of Charles McCarthy. With the primary suspect being McCarthy's son, the case seems straightforward, but Holmes's keen insight reveals deeper layers of intrigue. 
  Jake Urry's narration breathes life into the characters and the atmospheric setting of Victorian England. Perfect for both avid Sherlock Holmes fans and new listeners, this audiobook offers a captivating journey through one of Holmes's most challenging cases. Experience the deductive brilliance and suspense of The Boscombe Valley Mystery in this new recording.

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  Two Views of a Cheap Theatre...

  Charles Dickens

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  Charles Dickens was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
  TWO VIEWS OF A CHEAP THEATRE: As I shut the door of my lodging behind me, and came out into the streets at six on a drizzling Saturday evening in the last past month of January,
  all that neighbourhood of Covent-garden looked very desolate.

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  After the Race - From their pens...

  James Joyce

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  James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on the 2nd February 1882 in Dublin into a middle-class family, and the eldest of ten surviving siblings 
  Admired as a brilliant student he briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools of Clongowes and Belvedere.  From there he went on to attend University College Dublin from 1898, studying English, French and Italian 
  In 1902, Joyce was now in his early twenties, and went to Paris to study Medicine but soon abandoned his teachings.  Back in Dublin to attend to his dying Mother he met Nora Barnacle. They bonded immediately into a life-long match. Together they decided to emigrate to Europe.  The couple lived in Trieste, Rome, Paris, and finally Zürich where Joyce pursued a variety of jobs and ventures to supplement his literary pursuits but none of these paid off.  
  After publishing a poetry volume, ‘Chamber Music’, in 1907, his short story collection ‘The Dubliners’, in 1914, helped establish his talent in the rapidly changing world.  
  Although far from home Joyce’s literary heart and works were set in his recollections of Dublin.  Characters are close resemblances of family and friends and indeed enemies.  His landmark work ‘Ulysses’, published in 1922, is set in the streets and alleyways of the city as it parallels Homer’s Odyssey in a variety of styles including its famed stream of consciousness. 
  His pen continued to produce classics of the order of ‘A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man’ and ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ together with several volumes of poetry and a play ‘The Exiles, in 1918.   
  On the 11th January 1941, Joyce underwent surgery in Zürich for a perforated duodenal ulcer. The next day he fell into a coma. On the 13th after a brief period of lucidity in which he called for his wife and son he passed.  He was 58.

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  Father Brown: The Queer Feet...

  G. K. Chesterton

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  The Queer Feet" deals with Flambeau wanting to steal the silverware of the members of the Twelve True Fishermen having their annual club dinner at Vernon Hotel. The Vernon Hotel is an exclusive hotel and a "topsy-turvy product" (Chesterton 1994, p. 51).

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