Publisher: Good Press
Edward Garnett, influential English critic and publisher's reader who discovered, advised, and tutored many of the great British writers of the early 20th century. His field of interest was writing about the greatest literature authors. In this edition he ponders on Tolstoy's place in European literature and the effects of his many admired works.
A reading of a classic Christmas tale. Follow Ebenezer as he finds out the true meaning of Christmas in this timeless piece of literature.Show book
This prophetic Brothers Grimm fairytale is about the supposedly dimmest and youngest of three brothers, who due to an act of kindness, is gifted a golden goose by an old man. The parable is about not being greedy trying to pluck a golden feather will only get you stuck in a parade of shame.Show book
His New MittensAn interesting story about how a boy goes to school with new mittens his mother wants him to protect. To do so, he cannot join in a snowball fight with his friends with parents less scrupulous about clothing and the like. The boy ultimately gives in, gets in trouble with his mother, is made to eat alone, attempts to run away, but only makes it to their cold shed. He then gathers his forces to leave for California - wherever that might be. He gets to the street, trudges up in one direction, and see the butcher's shop.Here is a Winesburg, Ohio, moment: when the boy enters the store, he is lucky that the store owner, having been a boy himself, sees something is wrong. He listens to young Horace and takes him back home, where all is forgiven since losing the son was far worse than the mitten issue. In thanks, and significant for the times, the mother calls the shopkeeper by his last name, and says, "Won't you have a glass of our root beer, Mr. Stickney? We make it ourselves." Their form of champagne is shared; the neighbor feeling has worked; the world, or at least that little piece of it, is back on course. Especially appealing to those who liked O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief".Show book
An uncanny tale of madness, infanticide, and a strange supernatural panther.Show book
“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.”If you had the chance to seize great power for yourself and your family, what lengths would you go to to claim it as your own – and how would you live with yourself if you went against morality to do it? This is the question of Macbeth, a tragedy about seeking political gain above all else, and the consequences sacrificing one’s humanity for the sake of power.Macbeth is a general for Scotland who has been prophesied to be the future King of Scotland. Rather than wait for this prophecy to take hold of its own accord, and after taking the advice of his power-hungry wife, he murders the current king and takes his place. But it doesn’t take long for tremendous guilt and fear to take hold of him, and turn his reign into one of tyranny and brutality as he and Lady Macbeth commit more and more crimes to avoid the consequences coming for them. As Macbeth’s streak of brutality and war continues, he believes himself to be invulnerable, which ultimately leads to his downfall.Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s well-known tragedies, and despite superstitions about it being “cursed,” is still often performed and presented for audiences in the modern era.Show book
Violet Strange is no ordinary well-to-do young New York City debutante. Unbeknownst to her family and society friends, she leads a secret life as a professional sleuth for a private detective agency. On a mission to raise money for an undisclosed project, the determined and gutsy young debutante diligently snoops around sleepwalking widows, violent and sinister characters, whispering clocks, and concealed tombs, connecting clues to solve tales of murder, mystery, and intrigue.The quirky tales of detection included in this collection are "The Golden Slipper," "The Second Bullet," "The Intangible Clue," "The Grotto Spectre," "The Dreaming Lady," "The House of Clocks," "The Doctor, His Wife, and the Clock," "Missing: Page Thirteen," and "Violet's Own."Show book
