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  Leda

  Aldous Huxley

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  “Their Ethiop wives—sleek wineskins of black silk, Jellied and huge from drinking asses’ milk Through years of tropical idleness, to pray For offspring (whom he ever sent away With prayers unanswered, lest their ebon race Might breed and blacken the earth’s comely face.”? Aldous Huxley, LedaThough he gained recognition for his later essays and novels, Aldous Huxley started his writing career as a poet. Published in 1920, Leda is his fourth compilation of poetry. It begins with the passionate and slightly erotic poem "Leda", which recalls the love affair between Queen Leda, the mother of Helen of Troy, and her swan, Zeus in disguise. Some short poems follow. The book ends with two long sections. The first, "Beauty," is a short collection of vignettes where the author reflects on the concept of beauty through an ideal model of physical desire, Helen of Troy. The second, "Soles Occidere et Redire Possunt," or "Suns Can Set, and Suns Can Rise Again," is another long poem that reflects a day in the life of John Ridley, a deceased friend of Huxley's, who was mentally challenged throughout his entire life. Author Aldous Huxley was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly fifty books, both novels and non-fiction works—as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Oxford, with an undergraduate degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. Huxley spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time.

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  As You Like It

  William Shakespeare

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  “All the world's a stage, 
  And all the men and women merely players; 
  They have their exits and their entrances; 
  And one man in his time plays many parts, 
  His acts being seven ages.” 
  As You Like It follows the lives of men and women who have been banished from their home after ruler, Duke Senior, was usurped by his younger brother. Duke Senior’s companions begin living in the forest outside of the duchy, where they encounter a man named Orlando, who has been secretly in love with the Duke’s daughter Rosalind. 
  Orlando journeys to win Rosalind’s heart, while not knowing where Rosalind actually is in the aftermath of the usurpation. Rosalind, her best friend (who is also the daughter of the Duke’s younger brother), and the court’s jester have also resigned to the forest, but are fully disguised to keep their identities hidden. They encounter interesting characters of all sorts, such as a melancholy man named Jacques, a shepherdess who accidentally falls in love with Rosalind’s male disguise, and many more. 
  Obviously, this play is centered on a cast that keeps secrets, subtly deceives one another, dons disguises of all sorts, and above all else desires to find true love in the forest. This play is well known for the cast of entertaining characters, as well as being the origin of some of Shakespeare’s most well-known passages.

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  Wuthering Heights

  Emily Brontë

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  Wuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent relationships with Earnshaw's adopted son, Heathcliff. It was influenced by Romanticism and Gothic fiction. 
   
  Wuthering Heights is now considered a classic of English literature, but contemporaneous reviews were polarized. It was controversial for its depictions of mental and physical cruelty, and for its challenges to Victorian morality, and religious and societal values. Emily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature.

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  Worries of the Father of the...

  Franz Kafka

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  The Odradek is an imaginary creature that appears in the short story The Concerns of a Family Man by Franz Kafka . The physical description of the Odradek shows it as a flat, star-shaped spool of thread, with the addition of a few other appendages.
  Later in the story, Kafka gives the Odradek more human characteristics, being able to stand on two legs and speak. The narrator even gets to have a few conversations with the Odradek, during which the creature's nomadic and possibly immortal nature is emphasized.

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  Shawl straps

  Louisa May Alcott

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  Shawl-Straps by Louisa May Alcott is a part of the Aunt Jo’s Scrap Bag series. The book follows the real exploits of Louisa May Alcott and her sister May as they travel through Europe in 1870-71, unencumbered by any male solicitude or patronage, along with their sidekick, Alice Bartlett. The story involves a mysterious lady in green velvet with many diamonds, and a shabby, speechless companion, who sailed about the ship, regardless of the rumors told of her.

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  Loss of the Royal George The...

  W.H.G. Kingston

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  William Henry Giles Kingston writer of tales for boys, William Henry Giles Kingston was born in London, but spent much of his youth in Oporto, where his father was a merchant.
  His first book, The Circassian Chief, appeared in 1844. His first book for boys, Peter the Whaler, was published in 1851, and had such success that he retired from business and devoted himself entirely to the production of this kind of literature, in which his popularity was deservedly great; and during 30 years he wrote upwards of 130 tales.
  THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE: I am not likely to forget that next morning, the 28th of August, (17). It was a fine summer's morning, and there was just a little sea on, with a strongish breeze blowing from the eastward, but not enough to prevent boats coming off from Portsmouth. I counted forty sail-of-the-line, a dozen frigates and smaller ships of war, and well-nigh three hundred merchant vessels, riding, as of course we were, to the flood with our heads towards Cowes.

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