Publisher: Serapis Classics
A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the restrained culture of Edwardian era England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century. Merchant-Ivory produced an award-winning film adaptation in 1985.
Three brilliant novels from a #1 New York Times–bestselling author. Navigating friendship, sex, careers, and the challenges of adulthood, the characters of Mary McCarthy’s novels remain instantly relatable, whether they’re living in 1930s New York City or 1960s Paris. Here, three of her most outstanding works are collected in one volume. The Group: This “witty . . . brilliant” blockbuster bestseller follows eight privileged girls from their youthful friendship at Vassar through their complicated journeys into womanhood (Cosmopolitan). The Company She Keeps: A “clever, witty, polished” novel about a young bohemian’s daring political and romantic explorations among an intellectual Manhattan social circle (TheNew York Times). Birds of America: In 1964, a shy young student and birdwatcher arrives in Paris to study at the Sorbonne and finds himself disoriented by the rapidly changing world around him. This “endlessly fascinating novel” (San Francisco Chronicle) is “in the same class as Henry James’s The American and Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer” (Esquire). Known for her satirical wit and blending of autobiographical detail from her own colorful life into her fiction, McCarthy was a literary icon whose books provide a rich glimpse of mid-twentieth-century America and a psychologically astute, timeless reading experience.Show book
Professor Aronnax, a French naturalist, begins an extremely hazardous voyage to pursue a little-known and terrifying sea monster. However, the ‘monster’ turns out to be a giant submarine, the Nautilus, which is commanded by the enigmatic Captain Nemo. They explore underwater marvels, and find the ruins of Atlantis but Nemo has a hidden desire for revenge, which will not be ignored. ‘Unbearably thrilling and romantic... full of Verne's gentle humour’ DAILY MAILShow book
The Bride Comes to Yellow SkyThis is the third of the best Stephen Crane short stories, with The Open Boat and The Blue Hotel being the other two. The story starts in an interesting way as the older sheriff has gone to another town to marry a not so young and not so beautiful woman who he is obviously devoted to. They have a kind of grown up love not common in American fiction. They are on the train ride back to their new home, the Sheriff's house. The Sheriff is concerned he didn't let the locals know. But he has a far bigger problem in front of him.Scratchy Wilson, an OK man when sober, but riled up and dangerous when drunk which he is when the Sheriff and his new bride arrive in town. Alcohol here, as in The Blue Hotel, drives people to dangerous spots. The moment occurs when the Sheriff and the bride come upon Scratch who is pointing his gun at the Sheriff. In traditional westerns, and as in The Blue Hotel, the scene is set for the Sheriff to die and the bride abandoned. Instead, the Sheriff points out he has no gun, Scratchy considers this through his alcoholic haze, and decides this isn't fair and walks away. Not what one expects. Yet, the danger, immediacy of death at any moment, and the fear remain after Scratchy walks away. A stunning reversal of expectation. As with The Blue Hotel, Scratch walking away has all the importance of a key moment in people's lives that Sherwood Anderson describes in Winesburg, Ohio and Edgar Lee Masters in Spoon River, all written within a few years of each other.Keywords: Stephen Crane, The Open Boat, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, Winesburg, Ohio, Spoon River, Sherwood Anderson, Edgar Lee Masters.Show book
Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author? The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme. Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made. If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. As the Century staggers to a close under the burdens of its expansive history authors, freed from many constraints, are exploring new ideas on a more intimate scale but on a wider landscape. Their now everyday names and reputations are forged in these stories. 1 - The Top 10 - The 1890's - The Men - An Introduction 2 - Youth - Part 1 by Joseph Conrad 3 - Youth - Part 1 by Joseph Conrad 4 - About Love by Anton Chekhov 5 - Twenty-Six Men and a Girl by Maxim Gorky 6 - B24 by Arthur Conan Doyle 7 - Lost Hearts by M R James 8 - The Burial of the Rats by Bram Stoker 9 - An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce 10 - The Inconsiderate Waiter by J M Barrie 11 - Hide And Seek or Pliatki by Fyodor Sologub 12 - The Repairer of Reputations - Part 1 by Robert W Chambers 13 - The Repairer of Reputations - Part 2 by Robert W ChambersShow book
