Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

• 

  God Sees the Truth But Waits -...

  Leo Tolstoy

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Russian province of Tula to a wealthy noble family. As a child, he had private tutors but he showed little interest in any formal education. When he went to the University of Kazan in 1843 to study oriental languages and law, he left without completing his courses.  Life now was relaxed and idle but with some writing also taking place.  Gambling debts forced an abrupt change of path and he joined the army to fight in the Crimean War.  He was commended for his bravery and promoted but was appalled at the brutality and loss of life.  He recorded these and other earlier experiences in his diaries which formed the basis of several of his works. 
  In 1852 ‘Childhood’ was published to immediate success and was followed by ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Youth’. 
  His experience in the army and the horrors he witnessed resulted in ‘The Cossacks’ in 1862 and the trilogy ‘Sevastopol Tales’. After the war he travelled around Europe, visiting London and Paris and meeting such luminaries as Victor Hugo and Charles Darwin.  
  It was now that Tolstoy began his masterpiece, ‘War and Peace’. Published in 1869 it was an epic work that changed literature. He quickly followed this with ‘Anna Karenina’.  
  These successes made Tolstoy rich and helped him accomplish many of his dreams but also brought problems as he grappled with his faith and the lot of the oppressed poor. These revolutionary views became so popular that the authorities now kept him under surveillance.  
  He led a life of asceticism and vegetarianism and put his socialist ideals into practice by establishing numerous schools for the poor and food programmes. He also believed in giving away his wealth, which caused much discord with his wife.  
  His writing continued to bring forth classics such as ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ and many brilliant and incisive short stories such as ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need’.  
  In 1901 Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Church and controversially deselected for the Nobel Prize for Literature. 
  Whilst undertaking a pilgrimage by train in October 1910 with his daughter Aleksandra he caught pneumonia in the nearby town of Astapovo.  Leo Tolstoy died on November 9th, 1910, he was 82.

  Mostra libro

• 

  The Premature Burial

  Edgar Allan Poe

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Edgar Allan Poe's "A Premature Burial" is a chilling tale of a man's intense fear of being buried alive. The narrator, haunted by the possibility of waking up entombed, becomes obsessed with the idea of being buried prematurely. 
  After a series of near-death experiences, the narrator's fear intensifies. He devises elaborate precautions to prevent such a fate, including a secret bell system connected to his bed and a will stipulating that his body be kept in a specially constructed vault for three days after his apparent death. 
  Despite his precautions, the narrator's worst nightmare comes true. He is mistakenly declared dead and buried. Trapped in a coffin, he must fight for his survival against the encroaching darkness, the cold, and the terrifying realization that he may never escape.

  Mostra libro

• 

  A Saga of the Seas - From their...

  Kenneth Grahame

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Kenneth Grahame was born on 8th March 1859 in Edinburgh. 
  At age 5 his mother succumbed to puerperal fever.  His father, who had a drinking problem, now sent his 4 children to live with their grandmother at her large house in Cookham, Berkshire. Here the children lived in large open grounds next to the river.  These early experiences would in later years, be retold in his writing through a myriad of characters. 
  Grahame loved being a pupil at St Edward's School, Oxford and wanted to enroll at the university there but his guardian demurred on account of the cost. 
  Instead, a banking career was chosen for him, starting in 1879 at the Bank of England, where he rose steadily to the rank of its Secretary until retiring, with a pension, in 1908 due to ill health. 
  Alongside his commercial career Grahame had written and published various stories and essays in several periodicals. Some were anthologized as ‘Pagan Papers’ in 1893, and two years later ‘The Golden Age’ and later still ‘Dream Days’ and its masterpiece ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ became part of many home libraries.  His ability to view life through the lens of a young and curious child was superb, enabling the reader to easily identify with the character.   
  Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899 and they had one child; Alastair, born semi-blind and plagued by health problems.  In a heart-rending tragedy he would later take his own life whilst attending Oxford University in 1920.   
  In 1908 Grahame reworked many of the bedtime stories he had fashioned for his son into the enduring favourite; ‘The Wind in the Willows’, describing the heart-warming adventures of Mr Toad and his friends.   
  Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire, on 6th July 1932.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Puppy Love Holiday Collection

  C. Coal

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Sometimes we just need to believe in love and things working out without conflict or drama. In this quartet of contemporary romance short stories from the Puppy Love collection, that's exactly what happens. Each story involves a puppy helping their person find love. And sometimes community, too.Includes the stories Puppy Love Thanksgiving, Puppy Love Holiday Surprise, Puppy Love Christmas Kiss, and Puppy Love Valentine.

  Mostra libro

• 

  The Masque of The Red Death

  Edgar Allan Poe

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  As a deadly plague, the "Red Death", ravages the land, Prince Prospero seeks refuge in his luxurious abbey, sealing himself off with a thousand nobles for a decadent masquerade ball. The festivities unfold across seven vibrantly colored chambers, each decorated with a different color.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Porch Swings Parlors & Pryin’...

  Anne Warner, Edna Ferber, Booth...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In the towns where the porch lights glow late, the screen doors creak often, and no secret stays secret for long, life unfolds with charm, chatter, and more than a touch of mischief. 
  Porch Swings, Parlors & Pryin’ Eyes invites you into parlors both prim and peculiar, where romances are whispered behind teacups, rivalries simmer at choir practice, and widows form committees with suspicious speed. Within these sixteen short stories, you’ll find aging sopranos and checker champions, tangled telegrams and moonlit deacons, poker parties gone sideways and gossip spun tighter than a handmade scarf. 
  Each tale captures the distinct rhythms of small-town American life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—with all its humor, heartbreak, and sly subversion of social norms. These are stories not just of people, but of places—of communities that cradle, confine, and sometimes surprise those who call them home. 
  Pull up a chair, pour something sweet, and don’t be surprised if someone starts talkin’ about you next. 
  Featuring the work of renowned authors and some hidden gems of classic American fiction, including: 
  The Gay Old Dog, by Edna Ferber 
  Melinda's Humorous Story, by May McHenry 
  Friends in San Rosario, by O. Henry 
  The Associated Widows, by Katharine M. Roof 
  The Tale of the Tangled Telegram, by Wilbur D. Nesbit 
  A Village Singer, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 
  A New England Nun, by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 
  The Scarf, by Madeline Yale Wynne 
  The Champion Checker-Player of Ameriky, by James Whitcomb Riley 
  How The Widow Won The Deacon, by William James Lampton 
  Evan Anderson's Poker Party, by Benjamin Stevenson 
  A Rivermouth Romance, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich 
  Not According to Schedule, by Mary Stewart Cutting 
  A Reward of Merit, by Booth Tarkington 
  Sand Flat Shadows, by Carl Sandburg 
  Mrs. Lathrop's Love Affair, by Anne Warner

  Mostra libro