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  A Midsummer Night's Dream |...

  Jeanette Vigon

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  In an age when the enchanting tales of Shakespeare might feel remote, Jeanette Vigon offers a bridge to these classics with her adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the Simple Shakespeare series. Her contemporary retelling injects new life into the whimsical journey of love, magic, and transformation, making the convoluted interplay of romance, mischief, and dreams accessible and captivating for today's audience. Vigon retains the play's charm and fantastical elements while translating its poetic dialogue into language that speaks directly to the modern reader. 
  Ideal for both Shakespeare novices and long-time enthusiasts seeking a novel perspective, this version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" delves into the complex dynamics and emotional depths of its characters amidst a setting that feels both timeless and immediate. Vigon elegantly unfolds the themes of love’s capriciousness, the blurring of reality and illusion, and the enchanting interferences of the fairy world, ensuring the story’s perpetual themes resonate anew. 
  This adaptation stands out as an indispensable companion for anyone looking to navigate the magical realm of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, without stumbling over the barriers of Elizabethan English. It serves as an invaluable asset for students being introduced to Shakespeare for the first time and for educators in search of compelling literature for their syllabus. Jeanette Vigon’s "A Midsummer Night's Dream" presents a delightful and profound journey that significantly bridges the gap between contemporary readers and Shakespeare’s vision. Immerse yourself in the entangled narratives of lovers, fairies, and craftsmen, reenvisioned through Vigon’s masterful storytelling. Step into a story where every line magnetizes you closer to the whimsical fate of characters who have never felt more vibrant or relatable.

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  The Viy

  Nikolai Gogol

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  "The Viy" is a horror novella by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol, first published in the first volume of his collection of tales entitled Mirgorod (1835). The title is also the name of the demonic entity central to the plot.
  Every summer, there is usually a large procession of all the students moving around the area as they travel home. However, the group is reduced to three students: the theologian Khaliava, the philosopher Khoma Brut, and the rhetorician Tibery Gorobets.
  As the night draws in, the students hope to find a village near the main road where they can find some rest and food. However, they become lost in the wilderness, eventually coming upon two small houses and a farm. An older woman there tells them she has a little room and cannot accommodate any more travelers, but she eventually agrees to let them stay.
  At night, the woman comes to Khoma. At first, he thinks she is trying to seduce him, but then she draws closer and he sees that her eyes are glowing strangely. She leaps on his back, and he reluctantly finds himself galloping with her all over the countryside with a strength he previously never knew. He eventually slows the witch by chanting exorcisms out loud, and then rides on her back and later picks up a piece of wood and beats her as punishment. The older woman later collapses, and he discovers she has turned into a beautiful girl.
  Khoma runs away to Kyiv and resumes his easy life, when a rumor reaches his dean that a rich cossack's daughter was found crawling home near death, her last wish being for Khoma the philosopher to come and read psalms over her corpse for three nights after her death.

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  Sevastopol Sketches

  Leo Tolstoy

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  In the winter of 1854 Tolstoy, then an officer in the Russian army, arranged to be transferred to the besieged town of Sebastopol. Wishing to see at first hand the action of what would become known as the Crimean War, he was spurred on by a fierce patriotism, but also by an equally fierce desire to alert the authorities to appalling conditions in the army.
  
  The three Sebastopol Sketches - 'December', 'May' and 'August' - re-create what happened during different phases of the siege and its effect on the ordinary men around him. Writing with the truth as his utmost aim, he brought home to Russia's entire literate public the atrocities of war. In doing so, he realized his own vocation as a writer and established his literary reputation.

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  Les Misérables: Volume 4: The...

  Victor Hugo

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  Victor-Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 - 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote abundantly in an exceptional variety of genres: lyrics, satires, epics, philosophical poems, epigrams, novels, history, critical essays, political speeches, funeral orations, diaries, and letters public and private, as well as dramas in verse and prose.
  BOOK 6: LITTLE GAVROCHE: Since 1823, when the tavern of Montfermeil was on the way to shipwreck and was being gradually engulfed, not in the abyss of a bankruptcy, but in the cesspool of petty debts, the Thénardier pair had had two other children; both males. That made five; two girls and three boys.

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  Anton Chekhov - Six of the Best...

  Anton Chekhov

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  Six has always been a number we group things around – Six of the best, six of one half a dozen of another, six feet under, six pack, six degrees of separation and a sixth sense are but a few of the ways we use this number. 
   
  Such is its popularity that we thought it is also a very good way of challenging and investigating an author’s work to give width, brevity, humour and depth across six of their very best. 
   
  In this series we gather together authors whose short stories both rivet the attention and inspire the imagination to visit their gems in a series of six, to roam across an author’s legacy in a few short hours and gain a greater understanding of their writing and, of course, to be lavishly entertained by their ideas, their narrative and their way with words. 
   
  These stories can be surprising and sometimes at a tangent to what we expected, but each is fully formed and a marvellous adventure into the world and words of a literary master. 
   
   1 - Six of the Best - Anton Chekov - An Introduction 
  2 - Anton Chekhov - An Introduction 
  3 - The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov 
  4 - The Kiss by Anton Chekhov 
  5 - Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov 
  6 - Misery by Anton Chekhov 
  7 - The Student by Anton Chekhov 
  8 - Volodya by Anton Chekhov

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  First and Last Things - Book 2:...

  H. G. Wells

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  Herbert George "H. G." Wells (1866 - 1946) was an English writer.
  He was prolific in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is called a "father of science fiction"
  BOOK 2: OF BELIEFS: And now having stated my conception of the true relationship between our thoughts and words to facts, having distinguished between the more accurate and frequently verified propositions of science and the more arbitrary and infrequently verified propositions of belief, and made clear the spontaneous and artistic quality that inheres in all our moral and religious generalizations, I may hope to go on to my confession of faith with less misunderstanding.

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