Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

One of the earliest histories of the Cossacks to appear in English, with an emphasis on the exploits of famous Cossack leaders and Cossack struggles for political autonomy. Originally published in 1919.From the Foreword: "It is the proudest boast of the Cossacks of today -- as of their forbears of the Ukraine -- that they have never been classed as serfs nor for a moment lost their freeman's instinct for the principles of liberty. While the peasants of North Russia were bowed in shameful submission to the Great Princes of Moscow and later to the 'dark forces' of the Tsar's court and the ...

This books is a select collection of Christmas Stories in one volume. It is just that and nothing more.Each of the stories has already won the approval of thousands of children, and each is fraught with the true Christmas spirit.It is hoped that the collection will prove equally acceptable to parents, teachers, and librarians. - Summary from the preface

This is the biography of Abraham Lincoln, written by two of his private secretaries. (Summary by ashleighjane)

The Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, is a work of enormous proportions. Setting out with the simple goal of offering "American households a mass of good reading", the editors drew from literature of all times and all kinds what they considered the best pieces of human writing, and compiled an ambitious collection of 45 volumes (with a 46th being an index-guide). Besides the selection and translation of a huge number of poems, letters, short stories and sections of books, the collection offers, before each chapter, a short essay about the author or subject in question...

Seven chapters involving Christmas from different books. Plus part 8 which is twelve verses about Christmas and part 9 which is four Christmas carols by Christina Rossetti. - Summary by David Wales

Il Decamerone è una raccolta di cento novelle scritta da Giovanni Boccaccio tra il 1349 e il 1351.Le novelle sono raccontate a turno da un gruppo di 7donne e 3 uomini rifugiatisi in una villa fuori Firenze per sfuggire all'imperversare della peste.È considerata una delle opere più importanti della letteratura del Trecento europeo, ed e' la capostipite della letteratura in prosa in volgare italiano. (Riassunto di Eysiss)

The 2022 Christmas collection brings some old favourites along with some new selections, from the traditional to the bizarre. Among the selections, there's a man who revels in having been born on Christmas, and a man who believes he'll die on Christmas; wild animals who set up their own Christmas tree, and a wild town that's tamed for one Christmas celebration; the faith of two small children's prayers, and faith in the existence of Santa Claus affirmed. Enjoy! (Summary by TriciaG)"My Uncle Peter" is taken from two texts. Part 1 is listed below; Part 2 is HERE.

The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas) is a Portuguese epic poem, written in the 16th century by Luis Vaz de Camões. The poem tells the tale of the Portuguese discoveries in the 15th and 16th centuries, specially the voyage to India by Vasco da Gama. Modelled after the classic epic tradition, Camões' Lusiads are considered not only the first literary text in Modern Portuguese, but also a national epic of the same level as Vergil's Aeneid. In the 19th century, Sir Richard Francis Burton translated Camões' Lusiads, in what he considered "the most pleasing literary labour of his life". (Summary by Leni)

Sixty-two short pieces, many/most of them originally published in The Pansy, a magazine for children. The topics are many and varied, but mostly involve children and teach a moral lesson. (Summary by TriciaG)PARENTAL WARNING: A couple stories, such as "Gertie's Sober Talk" and "Old Jack", are about animals that die or are put down, and who don't have souls.

This 1913 story is far more than a Christmas tale. It is a story about spiritual wisdom; the seeking of wisdom, the getting of wisdom, even when the seeking and the getting is obscure. Henry Collinton is an 81 year old, widowed, Episcopal Church bishop. The story opens on the morning of the Bishop’s last Christmas and ends with his death that night. We see him encounter four to him important people throughout the day, three friends and the Nazarene, the Christ, he has followed all his life. “Yet these things the Bishop did not know, for God was showing him more beautiful things, even as ...

Although the Sherlock Holmes canon traditionally consists of four novels and 56 short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, there are many Sherlock Holmes stories outside the canon. Most of these noncanonical stories were written by authors other than Doyle, but there are four short stories about Holmes written by Doyle that are nonetheless excluded from the canon, for various reasons. This LibriVox album consists of these four noncanonical stories. The first story, "The Field Bazaar", was first published in 1896 in a special issue of a University of Edinburgh student newspaper called The ...

This theatrical version of A Christmas Carol was performed at the Surrey Theatre in February 1844 just weeks after the publication of the novella by Dickens in December of the previous year. (There were 7 other adaptations also being shown on stage then, with only 1 version - not this one - being sanctioned by Dickens.) - Summary by ToddHWCast list:Ebenezer Scrooge, the Miser: Greg GiordanoFrank Freeheart, his Nephew: Agnes Robert BehrMr. Cheerly: James R. HedrickMr. Heartly: Chuck WilliamsonBob Cratchit, Scrooge's Clerk: BeeswaxcandleDark Sam: Wayne CookeCharacters in the Dream: Euston, a ...

This second volume of the biography of Lord Cochrane deals with his fall from grace, imprisonment for debt, loss of honours, and attempts to clear his name. It has had a marked influence on naval fiction, most obviously on some of the novels by Patrick O'Brian. - Summary by Timothy Ferguson

“Who ever lov’d, that lov’d not at first sight?”The wonder-decade of the English drama was suddenly interrupted in 1592, when serious plague broke out in London, forcing the closure of the theatres. Leading playwrights took to penning languorously erotic poetry to make ends meet: so we have Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece - and Marlowe’s blazing masterpiece, Hero and Leander.Marlowe’s poem became more notorious than either of Shakespeare’s, due not only to its homophile provocations but also to the scandal attaching to every aspect of Marlowe’s brief life, violently ended...

These twenty-eight lectures to laymen are elementary and almost conversational. Freud sets forth with a frankness almost startling the difficulties and limitations of psychoanalysis, and also describes its main methods and results as only a master and originator of a new school of thought can do. A text like this is the most opportune and will naturally more or less supersede all other introductions to the general subject of psychoanalysis. It presents the author in a new light, as an effective and successful popularizer, and is certain to be welcomed not only by the large and growing number ...

À margem da história foi a primeira das obras póstumas de Euclides da Cunha, tentando recolher os muitos textos esparsos e inéditos do autor após sua morte inesperada e violenta. A maior parte do livro se compõe das anotações feitas pelo autor para um livro, nunca terminado, acerca da Amazônia, a ser intitulado "Paraíso Perdido", mas que foi publicado nesta coletânea sob o título "Terra Sem História". No volume encontram-se também compilados outros estudos variados sobre o Brasil. - Summary by Leni

Sketches by Boz is a collection of short pieces published by Charles Dickens in 1836 accompanied by illustrations by George Cruikshank. It consists of 56 passages divided into four sections: "Our Parish", "Scenes", "Characters", and "Tales". Of these, only the last contains fiction. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Many writers have penned studies of Mark Twain's life and work through the years. Twain authorized this biography, having met and hosted the writer, Archibald Henderson, on a few occasions. Henderson considered this work to be an homage to one of his biggest idols, who guided him through his youth and adolescence. He writes, "It is an appreciation originating in the heart of one who loved Mark Twain’s works for a generation before he ever met Samuel L. Clemens. It is an interpretation springing from the conviction that Mark Twain was a great American who comprehensively incorporated and ...

This is a little collection of short stories, written by different authors and published in 1865. It is a Christmas book, and the stories will make you feel an old-fashioned Christmas spirit. All stories relate to a key that opens something, be it a door, a box, or a heart. - Summary by Carolin

Carol Bird was born on Christmas Day. She has spent all of her 11 years putting others above herself, always finding ways to make their lives a little more special. Even when faced with her own illness, the pure goodness of her heart shines through. She vows to find a way to spread Christmas cheer and decides to give a grand Christmas Party for a poor neighbourhood family. (summary by Laura Caldwell and Sarah Jennings)