Maison d'édition: Bu Classics Books
In the soot-stained city of Coketown, a rigid educator raises his children on a diet of pure fact, forbidding all imagination. When the vibrant world of the circus crashes into their gray lives, the devastating failure of a loveless philosophy is revealed. A sharp social commentary on the dehumanizing effects of industrialization.
In this quietly ironic and warmly reflective tale, Hans Christian Andersen turns his attention from fairy kingdoms to the everyday theater of human character. A Cheerful Temper is the story of a man who inherits from his father not wealth, nor status, but something far rarer — a disposition inclined toward good humor. The father, a hearse driver who led funeral processions with a round, sunlike face that discouraged despair, leaves behind a legacy of perspective rather than property. The narrator wanders between two companions: the newspaper and the churchyard. In the pages of the Intelligencer, he observes the bustling vanities of society. Among the gravestones, he studies the quiet conclusions of human folly — the irritable critic, the ornamental aristocrat, the miser, the gossip, the dreamer who died clutching an idea no one ever heard. With gentle satire and philosophical calm, Andersen invites the listener to view life from a steadier vantage point. What irritates in the moment fades in the long view. What seems monumental shrinks with time. Good temper, the narrator suggests, is not naïveté — it is wisdom practiced daily. Narrated with warmth and clarity by Mike Polischuk, this timeless meditation blends humor and reflection in a way only Andersen can achieve. This audiobook is presented as a Certified Human Voice™ production, performed entirely by a human narrator with full consent and without artificial voice generation.Voir livre
In this captivating tale, a scientist pioneers a rejuvenation technique, transforming an older woman into a stunning but heartless young beauty. As her exterior radiates youth, her newfound coldness raises moral quandaries. The narrative delves into the consequences of tampering with nature and the complex interplay between external allure and internal virtue. Marie Corelli's story unfolds as a cautionary exploration of the human desire for eternal youth, questioning the true cost of cosmetic perfection and the enduring importance of a compassionate heart.Voir livre
Do not look over your shoulder, for the night is dark, the woods are deep, and the Galloping Hessian rides again. In the quiet, secluded valley of Tarry Town lies a bewitched enclave where superstitions thrive and the restless dead still wander. Enter Ichabod Crane, a lanky, neurotic schoolmaster who arrives with his eyes set on the beautiful and wealthy Katrina Van Tassel. But winning her hand will not be easy. Crane must first outwit his fierce rustic rival, Brom Bones, and survive the shadowy roads of the hollow after sunset. As the autumnal winds howl and the old wives spin their grim winter tales, Ichabod is thrust into a pulse-pounding, midnight race for his very life against the region's most feared apparition—the Headless Horseman. Why you will love this: Fans of Gothic Fiction will be spellbound by this classic haunting tale. It brilliantly weaves atmospheric tension, dark rural folklore, and a creeping sense of supernatural dread. Brimming with iconic horror tropes, eerie world-building, and a desperate climax that has terrified audiences for over a century, this is the definitive ghost story perfect for a cold, stormy night. About the Author: Washington Irving was a pioneering American short story writer, essayist, and historian. As one of the first authors from the United States to earn international acclaim, he forever shaped the nation's literary landscape with his masterful blend of local myth, dark romance, and enduring gothic imagination.Voir livre
Stephen P H Butler Leacock FRSC was born on 30th December 1869 in Swanmore, near Southampton, England. He was the third of eleven children. The family emigrated to Canada in 1876, settling on a 100-acre farm in Sutton, Ontario. There Leacock was home-schooled until, funded by his grandfather, he was enrolled into the elite private school Upper Canada College in Toronto. Academically he was very strong. In 1887, at age 17, he became head boy and then proceeded on to the University of Toronto to study languages and literature. Despite completing two years of study in only one, he was obliged to leave the university because his father, an alcoholic, had abandoned the family and finances could not be stretched to continue his attendance. Leacock now enrolled in a three-month course at Strathroy Collegiate Institute to become a qualified high school teacher with a regular income. He worked at Upper Canada College from 1889 through 1899 and later resumed his studies part-time at the University of Toronto, graduating with a B A in 1891. It was during this period that he was first published in The Varsity, a campus newspaper. But his passion was now economics and political theory. In 1899 he enrolled for postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago and earned his PhD in 1903. Leacock had married Beatrix Hamilton in 1900 and 15 years later the couple had their only child, Stephen. In time father and son developed a love-hate relationship, partially caused by his son’s diminutive stature of only four feet. Accepting a post at McGill University Leacock would remain there until he retired in 1936. In 1906, he wrote ‘Elements of Political Science’, quickly adopted as a standard textbook for the next two decades and his most profitable book. He also began public speaking and lecturing, and took a year's leave of absence in 1907 to speak throughout Canada on the subject of national unity. Leacock had submitted humourous articles to the Toronto magazine Grip in 1894, and was soon published in other Canadian and US magazines. In 1910, he printed privately a collection of these as ‘Literary Lapses’. Acquired by the British publisher, John Lane, it was released in London and New York. He was now a commercially successful writer. There soon followed ‘Nonsense Novels’ (1911) and the sentimental favourite, ‘Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town’ (1912). His ‘Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich’ (1914) is a darker collection that satirizes city life. Collections of sketches continued to be published almost annually, filled with a mixture of light-hearted whimsy, parody, nonsense, and satire. In later life, he wrote on the art of humour writing and published biographies on Twain and Dickens. Together with continued speaking tours he also added to his non-fiction with many well-regarded and award-winning volumes on Canada. Politically Leacock was a social conservative and a partisan Conservative. He opposed women’s right to vote and had a varied record on non-English immigration. He was a champion of Empire but an advocate of social welfare legislation and wealth redistribution, but he often caused friction with his racist views towards blacks and Indigenous peoples. Leacock has for some time been forgotten as an economist, but it’s often quoted that in 1911 more people had heard of him than had heard of Canada. For the decade after 1915 Leacock was the most popular humorist in the English-speaking world. Stephen Leacock died on 28th March 1944 of throat cancer in Toronto, Canada. He was 74. He was buried in the St George the Martyr Churchyard, Sutton, Ontario.Voir livre
In the quiet countryside near an ancient family estate, a solitary young man becomes irresistibly drawn to a long-sealed tomb hidden among the trees. Obsessed with forgotten lineage and strange dreams of another time, he begins to feel an unsettling connection to the crypt and the life it once held. What begins as curiosity slowly deepens into something darker—an eerie pull toward secrets that perhaps were never meant to be awakened. What would you do if a place long forgotten seemed to call your name… as if it already knew you? By the warmth of a campfire, let's enjoy the reading of The TombVoir livre
Ella D'Arcy was born on 23rd August 1857 in London, one of nine children. Her education spanned London, Germany, France and the Channel Islands. A student of fine art, her poor eyesight meant a switch to literature was needed and with this she had hopes to be an author. She worked as a contributor and unofficial editor, alongside Henry Harland, to The Yellow Book, Aubrey Beardsley’s sensational quarterly magazine that combined art, stories, poetry, essays and much else besides. D'Arcy wrote several stories for the magazine and her stories have an undeniable psychological and realist style through her engagement with various themes from marriage, the family, imitation through to deception. Recognition of her talents grew after the publication of ‘Irremediable’, in the Yellow Book, where it received much praise from critics. She also wrote and published in the Argosy, Blackwood's Magazine, and Temple Bar. However, D’Arcy’s canon was small and, apart from her magazine stories, her book publishing was limited to ‘Monochromes’ (1895), ‘Modern Instances’ and ‘The Bishop’s Dilemma’ (1898). She also translated André Maurois's biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley entitled ‘Ariel’ (1924). Her diligence with work aside she was notorious for her inability to maintain relationships with friends. When she did appear to them it was often unannounced. This earned her the sobriquet 'Goblin Ella.' D'Arcy spent much of her life living alone, though she had a constant urge to travel, but usually she resided on the edge of poverty. Her writing was often motivated by this need. Much of her later life was spent in Paris before returning to London in 1937, where she died, in hospital, on 5th September 1937.Voir livre
