There was once upon a time a couple of folks who had a son called Halvor. Ever since he had been a little boy he had been unwilling to do any work, and had just sat raking about among the ashes. His parents sent him away to learn several things, but Halvor stayed nowhere, for when he had been gone two or three days he always ran away from his master, hurried off home, and sat down in the chimney corner to grub among the ashes again...

Dmitri Olenin, a privileged disenchanted nobleman joins the army as a cadet, in the hopes of escaping the superficiality of his daily life. In his quest to find completeness, he naively hopes to find serenity among the simple people of the Caucasus. The novel is partially based on Tolstoy's own experiences in the Caucasus during the Caucasian War.

The dreary succession of randomly selected Kings of England is broken up when Auberon Quin, who cares for nothing but a good joke, is chosen. To amuse himself, he institutes elaborate costumes for the provosts of the districts of London. All are bored by the King's antics except for one earnest young man who takes the cry for regional pride seriously – Adam Wayne, the eponymous Napoleon of Notting Hill.

Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti-anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him at a party and they debate the meaning of poetry. Gregory argues revolt is the basis of poetry. Syme demurs, insisting the essence of poetry is not revolution, but rather law. He antagonizes Gregory by asserting the most poetical of human creations is the timetable for the London Underground.

An officer by the name of Jilin served in the army in the Caucasus. One day he received a letter from home. It was from his mother, who wrote, 'I am getting old now, and I want to see my beloved son before I die. Come and say good-bye to me, and when you have buried me, with God’s grace, you can return to the Army. I have found a nice girl for you to marry; she is clever and pretty, and has some property of her own. If you like her perhaps you will marry and settle down for good.'

It once occurred to a King that if he knew the right moment when to begin on any work and the right kind of people to have or not to have dealings with and the thing to do that was more important than any other thing, he would always be successful. And he proclaimed throughout his kingdom that he would give a great reward to any one who could tell him what was the right moment for any action, and who were the most essential of all people, and what was the most essential thing of all to do.

This book will show you how the simplest foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains and herbs can be used to cure many common illnesses and disorders. This guide also contains strategies for healthy eating, fasting and dieting using simple tested methods and recipes. Discover the important medicinal properties of many simple foods and eat your way to health and happiness.

Sherlock, one of the greatest detectives of all time. This Fractal Press edition features complete collection of the four Sherlock Holmes novels, including: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear.

Charles Pooter and his wife Caroline have just moved to a new home. Mr Pooter is a City of London clerk with Perkupps. The couple have a 20-year-old son, Lupin, who works as a bank clerk in Oldham. From the beginning a pattern is set whereby the small vexations of the Pooters' daily lives are recounted, many of them arising from Pooter's unconscious self-importance and pomposity. Trouble with servants, tradesmen and office juniors, together with minor social embarrassments and humiliations, occur regularly.

Father Brown is a short, stumpy Roman Catholic Church priest, formerly of Cobhole in Essex, and now working in London, with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella, and an uncanny insight into human evil.

Join Dickens on his night walks through London and discover the hidden night life of Victorian society. Dickens often suffered from insomnia and used his night-time wanderings to collect impressions and ideas giving him an insight into some of the hidden aspects of Victorian London. He incorporated these discoveries into many sketches and stories of this book.

A young wealthy gentleman looses everything in speculation and is forced into a humble life of a grocer. He finds his circumstances tragic at first and keeps his fate secret from all his friends and family. He re-considers his attitudes only when the woman with whom he is falling in love discovers he is a grocer, and throws him over.

The story follows a young man named Dayne mirroring author's own life experiences in bohemian art scene of emerging Parisian impressionism. These true confessions are often described as the most significant documents of the passionate revolt of English literature against the Victorian tradition. It is in a sense the history of an epoch. It represents one of the great discoveries of English literature —the discovery of human nature.

The original 'banana republic' stories which explore aspects of life in a paralytically sleepy Central American town, each advancing some aspect of the larger plot and relating back one to another in a complex structure. The larger, overriding plot slowly explicates its own background, even as it creates a town which is one of the most detailed literary creations of the period.

Roderigo, a rich and dissolute gentleman, complaining to Iago, an ensign, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He is upset by this development because he loves Desdemona and had asked her father for her hand in marriage.

Jack Minot and Janey Pecq are best friends who live next door to each other. They are always seen together, so Janey gets the nickname of Jill, to mimic the old rhyme. The two do go up a hill one winter day— and then suffer a terrible accident. Seriously injured in a sledding accident, they recover from their physical injuries, while learning life lessons along with their many friends. They are helped along their journey to recovery by various activities created by their mothers.

The book is unusually divided into four seasons instead of chapters and represents a semi-fictional autobiographical work by George Gissing in which the author casts himself as the editor of the diary of a deceased acquaintance, selecting essays for posthumous publication. Observing how suitable many of the reflections were to the month with which they were dated.

Three wishes are granted to the owner of the monkey's paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.

Geo Vasile ne propune o selec?ie riguroas? de 100 de prozatori ?i esei?ti ale?i din ?ntreaga istorie a literaturii. Elementul inedit, provocator ?i inevitabil ?n acest context este selectarea ?i plasarea, evident, justificat?, a unor redutabili prozatori ?i esei?ti rom?ni ?n contextul generos ?i selectiv deopotriv? al concertului universal al litera?ilor. Astfel, al?turi de autori precum Paul Auster, Saul Bellow, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, Henri Miller, Philip Roth etc., sunt a?eza?i Nicolae Breban, Augustin Buzura, Petru Cimpoe?u ?i mai tinerii s?i colegi, argumenta?ia adus? ?n arena de litere de istoricul ?i criticul literar Geo Vasile fiind una perfect justificat?, iar criteriul de selec?ie – unul atotputernic: valoarea.

Debut?nd cu volumul Mandala (Editura Vinea, 2005), Oana C?t?lina Ninu n-a ratat aproape niciunul dintre premiile care i-au ie?it in cale. O recunoa?tere, f?r? ?ndoial?, meritat?, ?ntruc?t vorbim despre cel mai semnificativ debut liric din anul respectiv. [...] Oric?t de rebele, reprezent?rile se topesc ?ntr-o sintax? aluvionar?, corodat? prin dialogism ?i nivelat? prin directe?e. De altfel, ?n Mandala, fracturat nu e at?t discursul, care se deruleaz? lent ?i f?r? intersti?ii vizibile, c?t universul reprezent?rilor, care suport? o macera?ie organizat? din partea unei viziuni schizoide. Poemele C?t?linei Ninu descriu, cu o fervoare incandescent?, cele mai diverse forme de mutilare, ?n slujba c?rora eul liric pune la b?taie un arsenal impresionant (foarfece, ace, ?urubelni?e, col?i, unghii, bricege, lame, epilatoare, v?traie etc.), care l-ar face s? p?leasc? de invidie pe un anumit conte austriac. ?i nu e de mirare, de vreme ce figura central? a Mandalei se prezint?, ?nc? din primul text al volumului, drept ?femeia foarfec?“. (Andrei Terian, ?n Ziarul de duminic?)?Fuga de feminitate“, exorcizarea umorilor feminine ?i a corporalit??ii maligne devine miza actului poetic, prin care femeia real? e ?nlocuit? prin ?femeia inscrip?ionat?“. El are ?ns? caracterul unei vivisec?ii, presupune scormonirea nemiloas? a fibrelor ?i a ?esuturilor, e o autotortur? aproape cu neputin?? de ?ndurat, astfel ?nc?t privirea introspectiv?, care scormone?te ca un bisturiu ?n profunzimea plasmei organice cunoa?te momente de relaxare, deplas?ndu-se (ca in ciclul Nu e timpul,fato) de la spectacolul visceralit??ii ?n criz? la filmul cotidianului. Acum, Oana C?t?lina Ninu abordeaz? reportajul autenticist, care cap?t? ?ns? aspectul ?picturilor metafizice“, unde realul e ?textualizat“, realc?tuit, devenind suportul reveriei thanatice, c?ci poeta descrie ?cet??i ale mor?ilor“, evoc? ritualuri funerare grote?ti sau sortilegii sanguinare. (Octavian Soviany ?n Luceaf?rul)Mandala este ?i una dintre figurile ini?ierii. Poezia se scrie ?mpotriva limbajului dat, ?mpotriva sensului uzat, cu sufletul, dar ?mpotriva lui, cu trupul, dar ca mortificare a trupului, cu durere, ca singur vaccin al durerii prin smulgerea ei din trup ?i a?ezarea ei ?n pagin?. (Alex Matei ?n Observator cultural)Poemele se sus?in unele pe altele ?ntr-o ordine nu mecanic?, de domino, ci subversiv?: ?povestea“ ?nainteaz? exclusiv de la un ciclu la altul. ?n interiorul secven?elor, numai discurs: fragmentele narative sunt sincopate ori deturnate. O anume urgen?? a durerii, o panic? reverberat? fiziologic ?n prima parte a volumului (mandala) cedeaz? locul unei aluviuni de repro?uri distante mim?nd refrenul (nu te mai preface ana), apoi unei terapii solitare, cu oscila?ii ?i indecizii (nu e timpul fato). Iat? o radiografiere par?ial? a zonelor liminare. P?n? aici, nu de pu?ine ori scabrosul corporal (sexual sau nu, dup? caz) conserv? atmosfera co?maresc?, comparabil? aceleia din Capriciile lui Goya. (Cosmin Ciotlo? ?n Rom?nia literar?).

S?nge albastru nu mai exist? pe pia?a de carte de zeci de ani. De fapt, de la debut, din 1969. C?nd scriu aceste r?nduri, ?nc? nu mi-am rev?zut ?i recitit cartea. Aproape c? pot spune c? nu am habar ce am scris ?n S?nge albastru. ?i nici nu cred c? a? putea fi obiectiv? fa?? de valoarea estetic? a c?r?ilor mele de ?nceput. Nu-mi amintesc s? fi scris cineva, vreun critic, c?t ar fi fost el de neverosimil, despre carte. E?ecul a fost total. To?i colegii de v?rsta mea debutaser? deja, cu brio. Pentru ei ?ncepuser? vremurile recunoa?terii ?i ale privilegiilor. Eu s?pam, ca o c?rti?? kafkian?, bolnav? ?i oarb?, prin p?m?ntul poeziei din capul meu. ?tiu, doar, c? n-am putut dintr-o pudoare (ne)verosimil? s?-mi exhib sentimentele legate de boala care nu m? l?sa s? respir. Aveam tuberculoz? pulmonar? sever?. Am fost inocent?. S?nt ?i acum, dar altfel. A venit Alex Goldi?, un t?nar critic de aproximativ treizeci de ani, care a readus ?n scen? S?nge albastru, un gest exorbitant ?i riscant din partea lui, pentru care ?i mul?umesc. (Angela Marinescu)De peste patru decenii, Angela Marinescu a r?mas una dintre cele mai excentrice figuri ale poeziei rom?ne?ti, de ne?ncadrat ?n nici o poetic? genera?ionist?. ?n S?nge albastru, excelentul volum de debut din 1969 (care m? face s? m? ?ntreb unde s?nt str?lucitele debuturi de alt?dat?), t?n?ra poet? r?sturna abstractismul panteist ?i livresc à la Nichita St?nescu sau Ana Blandiana ?ntr-un imaginar dens ?i grav, ?nc?rcat de fantasme sexuale ?i funerare. Simbolurile ascensiunii, ale tinere?ii ?i ale purit??ii, tipic ?aizeciste, f?ceau loc unui con?inut poetic ponderabil ?i impudic. Ce ?mp?rt??ea poezia Angelei Marinescu cu versurile colegilor de genera?ie era, poate, doar o anumit? calofilie barbian? a formei, la care va renun?a pe parcurs. Cu optzeci?tii are autoarea Blindajului final ?i mai pu?ine lucruri ?n comun, c?ci formula ei poetic? e tot ce poate fi mai str?in ?nscen?rilor textuale. E explicabil, a?adar, faptul c? tocmai postura de outsider o recomand? pe Angela Marinescu drept mam? absolut? a autenticismului rom?nesc. (Alex Goldi?)