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  KNOW ABOUT "RUMI" - A Persian...

  Saurabh Singh Chauhan

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  This is a small part of introduction of the book : Welcome to a journey through the life and legacy of a remarkable soul whose words have traversed time and touched hearts across the globe. In the following chapters, we will delve into the captivating tale of Rumi, a name that resonates with wisdom, love, and mysticism. 
  Rumi, whose full name is “Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī”, was not just a poet or a scholar; he was a beacon of light in the realm of human understanding. His story, spanning the 13th century, stretches far beyond the borders of his birthplace, leaving a trail of inspiration that remains as vibrant today as it was centuries ago. 
  Born on September 30, 1207, in Balkh, a city in what is now Afghanistan, Rumi's journey began in a land rich with cultural heritage and spiritual traditions. His early years were marked by a thirst for knowledge and a heart open to the mysteries of existence. Little did he know that his path would lead him to become one of the most celebrated poets and thinkers in history.

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  The Queen of Spades - The...

  Alexander Puschkin

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  Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born on 26th May 1799 in Moscow into a family of Russian nobility. 
   
  Raised by nursemaids and French tutors in French he learnt Russian only via the household staff. 
   
  He graduated from the prestigious Imperial Lyceum, near St Petersburg and plunged into the vibrant and raucous intellectual youth culture of what was then the capital of the Russian Empire.  
   
  In 1820, he published his first long poem, ‘Ruslan and Ludmila’, with much controversy about both subject and style.  Pushkin was heavily influenced by the French Enlightenment and gravitated, with other literary radicals, towards social reform angering the Government. 
   
  His early literary work and reputation was poetic and written as he travelled around the Empire or engaged himself in various rebellions against the Ottoman Empire.  A clash with his own government after his poem, ‘Ode to Liberty’, was found among the belongings of the Decembrist Uprising rebels meant two years of internal exile at his mother's rural estate.  His friends and family continually petitioned for his release, sending letters and meeting with Tsar Alexander I and then Tsar Nicholas I.   
   
  In 1825, whilst at his Mother’s estate, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama ‘Boris Godunov’.  
   
  Upon meeting with Tsar Nicholas I, Pushkin obtained his release and began work as the Tsar's Titular Counsel of the National Archives.  However, because of the earlier problems the tsar retained control of everything Pushkin published, and he was banned from travelling at will. 
   
  Around 1828, Pushkin met the 16-year-old Natalia Goncharova, one of the most talked-about beauties of Moscow.  After much hesitation, Natalia accepted his marriage proposal after she received assurances that the government had no intentions to persecute the libertarian poet.  When the Tsar gave Pushkin the lowest court title, Gentleman of the Chamber, he became enraged, feeling that the Tsar intended to humiliate him. 
   
  In the year 1831, during Pushkin's growing literary influence, he met Nikolai Gogol.  Recognising his gifts Pushkin supported him and published his short stories in his own magazine ‘The Contemporary’. 
   
  By the autumn of 1836, Pushkin was falling into greater and greater debt and facing scandalous rumours that his wife was having an affair.  
   
  In January 1837, Pushkin sent a ‘highly insulting letter’ to his wife’s pursuer, Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès.  The only answer could be a challenge to a duel. 
   
  It took place on 27th January.  D'Anthès fired first, critically wounding Pushkin; the bullet entered at his hip and penetrated his abdomen.  Two days later Alexander Pushkin died of peritonitis.  He was 37. 
   
  One of Pushkin’s most lauded stories ‘The Queen of Spades’ takes on gambling and the need for just a tiny piece of information that will turn the game in his favour and take life to a level that is sure to be both deserved and his by right.

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  But You Seemed So Happy - A...

  Kimberly Harrington

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  In this tender, funny, and sharp companion to her acclaimed memoir-in-essays Amateur Hour, Kimberly Harrington explores and confronts marriage, divorce, and the ways love, loss, and longing shape a life. 
  Six weeks after Kimberly and her husband announced their divorce, she began work on a book that she thought would only be about divorce — heavy on the dark humor with a light coating of anger and annoyance. After all, on the heels of planning to dissolve a twenty-year marriage they had chosen to still live together in the same house with their kids. Throw in a global pandemic and her idea of what the end of a marriage should look and feel like was flipped even further on its head. 
  This originally dark and caustic exploration turned into a more empathetic exercise, as she worked to understand what this relationship meant and why marriage matters so much. Over the course of two years of what was supposed to be a temporary period of transition, she sifted through her past—how she formed her ideas about relationships, sex, marriage, and divorce. And she dug back into the history of her marriage — how she and her future ex-husband had met, what it felt like to be madly in love, how they had changed over time, the impact having children had on their relationship, and what they still owed one another. 
  But You Seemed So Happy is a time capsule of sorts. It’s about getting older and repeatedly dying on the hill of being wiser, only to discover you were never all that dumb to begin with. It’s an honest, intimate biography of a marriage, from its heady, idealistic, and easy beginnings to it slowly coming apart and finally to its evolution into something completely unexpected. As she probes what it means when everyone assumes you’re happy as long as you’re still married, Harrington skewers engagement photos, Gen X singularity, small-town busybodies, and the casual way we make life-altering decisions when we’re young. Ultimately, this moving and funny memoir in essays is a vulnerable and irreverent act of forgiveness—of ourselves, our partners, and the relationships that have run their course but will always hold profound and permanent meaning in our lives.

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  Alexander the Great: General...

  Christopher M. Bellitto

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  Who was Alexander the Great? Was he a brilliant, ambitious conqueror or a self-obsessed leader who put his men in harm’s way? A divine figure or a god in his own mind? In this audio course, join acclaimed historian Christopher Bellitto to explore this famously complex figure.Alexander the Great (ca. 356-323 BCE) was a Macedonian general who brought Greekcivilization to the edge of modern-day India. After studying the Iliad, he believed himself to be Achilles reincarnated, imitating the hero of the epic poem in his own military campaigns. Even before he died barely into his thirties, the legends surrounding him were larger than life. In this compelling new audio course, you’ll explore the history and lore surrounding this real man and mythic figure, often by consulting the ancient sources themselves.With Prof. Bellitto, you’ll trace Alexander’s conquests from Macedonia to Asia, assessing his military prowess and leadership skills along the way. You’ll also explore questions about his alleged divinity, his ideas for mixing Greek culture with peoples he overwhelmed, and whether or not he planned to build an empire. Analyzing primary sources as well as context from contemporary historians, you’ll discover wildly different accounts of the same events in Alexander’s life.This course is part of the Learn25 Collection.

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  The Souvenir - A Daughter...

  Louise Steinman

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  Louise Steinman has published essays and articles in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and Salon. She has also led writing workshops and curates literacy programs. The Souvenir, a powerful, best-selling book, was a featured selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, and others. Growing up, Louise Steinman never understood the private hell that tormented her father. Years later, among her late parents' belongings, she discovers a metal ammo box. In it are almost 500 letters written by her father to her mother during World War II. It also contains a silk Japanese flag inscribed to Yoshio Shimizu. When she reads the letters, Steinman begins to see what her father experienced in the endless days of combat. She also embarks on a decade-long search to find out who Shimizu was-a search which culminates in a trip to Japan to return his flag. The result is a powerful story of discovery, connection, and reconciliation. Weaving together her father's letters, historical details and the political propaganda of both sides, Steinman creates a narrative that is a unique examination of the personal and universal costs of war.

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  Short Stories by Katherine...

  Katherine Mansfield

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  A Collection of Katherine Mansfield's best loved Short Stories including "Miss Brill", "The Garden Party", "The Singing Lesson" and "Bank Holiday".

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