Other books that might interest you

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  The Metamorphosis

  Franz Kafka

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  "Metamorphosis" is one of Franz Kafka's most renowned and influential works. It tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who awakens one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect-like creature. The narrative delves into the profound alienation, guilt, and absurdity experienced by Samsa, who becomes an outcast in his own home and a source of shame and revulsion to his family. Kafka's novella is a powerful exploration of human identity, the nature of existence, and societal reactions to the unfamiliar and grotesque.

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  A Very Short Romance - From...

  Vsevolod Garshin

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  Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin was born on 14th February 1855 in what is now Dnipro in the Ukraine, but then part of the Russian Empire. 
  After attending secondary school he studied at the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute.  
  Wars between and on behalf of Empires were a regular feature of the decades then.  Garshin volunteered to serve in the Russian army at the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877.  
  He began as a private in the Balkans campaign and was wounded in action.  By the end of the war, in 1878, he had been promoted to officer rank.  
  By now Garshin, having previously published some articles and reviews in newspapers, wished to devote himself to a literary career.  The decision made he resigned his army commission. 
  His time as a soldier provided rich experiences for his early stories. His first ‘Four Days’ was related as the interior monologue of a wounded soldier left for dead on the battlefield for four days, face to face with the corpse of a Turkish soldier he had killed, gained him early admiration as an author of note.  
  He wrote perhaps only 20 stories, but their influence was immense, although in these more modern times he is barely remembered and lives in the more prolific shadows of others.  His characters are superbly worked into stories that come alive in the intensity and reality of his prose.   
  Garshin’s most well-known story is ‘The Red Flower’, also known as ‘Scarlet Blossom’ and is easily amongst the first rank of stories dealing with mental health issues.  
  Despite early literary success, he himself experienced periodical bouts of mental illness.   
  In one such bout Garshin attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself down the stone stairs leading into his apartment building.  Although not immediately fatal, Vsevolod Garshin died as a result of his injuries in a St Petersburg hospital on 5th April 1888.  He was 33.

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  Daddy-Long-Legs

  Jean Webster

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  When Jerusha Abbott, an eighteen-year-old girl living in an orphan asylum, was told that a mysterious millionaire had agreed to pay for her education, it was like a dream come true. For the first time in her life, she had someone she could pretend was "family." But everything was not perfect, for he chose to remain anonymous and asked that she only write him concerning her progress in school. Who was this mysterious gentleman and would Jerusha ever meet him?

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  The Gate

  Natsume Sōseki, Pico Iyer

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  An NYRB Classics Original 
   
   
   
  A humble clerk and his loving wife scrape out a quiet existence on the margins of Tokyo. Resigned, following years of exile and misfortune, to the bitter consequences of having married without their families' consent, and unable to have children of their own, Sosuke and Oyone find the delicate equilibrium of their household upset by a new obligation to meet the educational expenses of Sosuke's brash younger brother. While an unlikely new friendship appears to offer a way out of this bind, it also soon threatens to dredge up a past that could once again force them to flee the capital. Desperate and torn, Sosuke finally resolves to travel to a remote Zen Mountain monastery to see if perhaps there, through meditation, he can find a way out of his predicament. 
   
   
         
  This moving and deceptively simple story, a melancholy tale shot through with glimmers of joy, beauty, and gentle wit, is an understated masterpiece by one of Japan's greatest writers. At the end of his life, Natsume Soseki declared The Gate, originally published in 1910, to be his favorite among all his novels. This new translation captures the oblique grace of the original while correcting numerous errors and omissions that marred the first English version.

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  Two Tales From Nathaniel...

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

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  Two Tales From Nathaniel Hawthorne includes, "The British Matron," a satirical essay, and the short story, "The Hollow of the Three Trees. Hawthorne (1804–1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Nathaniel later added a "w" to make his name "Hawthorne" in order to hide this relation. The Scarlet Letter, his most famous novel, was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels, including The House of the Seven Gables, and various other writings, including the two here. 

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  The Cask of Amontillado

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Title: The Cask of Amontillado 
  Author: Edgar Allan Poe 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1846 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Number 7 in the Timeless Terrors series 
  Description: 
  The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is a masterful tale of revenge, deception, and macabre horror. First published in 1846 in Godey’s Lady’s Book, it follows Montresor as he lures the unsuspecting Fortunato into the catacombs beneath an Italian city, promising a taste of rare Amontillado wine. 
  What begins as a seemingly friendly encounter descends into a chilling nightmare of entombment and vengeance. Poe crafts a tightly woven narrative filled with irony, tension, and the psychological darkness for which he is renowned. 
  This recording, narrated by Amazon bestselling horror author Jonathan Dunne, brings to life the Gothic atmosphere and sinister undertones of one of Poe’s most unforgettable stories. While the text is in the public domain, this performance is an original work and copyright © 2025 Jonathan Dunne. 
  Listeners should prepare for an unsettling journey into obsession and retribution that echoes long after the story ends.

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