万本电子书0元读

万本电子书0元读

Dubliners
Dubliners
James Joyce
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. The fifteen stories were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of the Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were written at the time when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences. They centre on Joyce's idea of an epiphany: a moment where a character has a special moment of self-understanding or illumination. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appear in minor roles in Joyce's novel Ulysses. The initial stories in the collection are narrated by children as protagonists, and as the stories continue, they deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This is in line with Joyce's tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence and maturity."
Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839
Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839
Frances Anne Kemble
¥8.09
Autobiographical journal, with first-hand account of slavery in Georgia, first published in 1863. According to Wikipedia: "Frances Anne Kemble (27 November 1809 - 15 January 1893), was a famous British actress and author in the early and mid nineteenth century… In 1834, she retired from the stage to marry an American, Pierce Butler, grandson of the Founding Father Pierce Butler, and heir to a large fortune founded on cotton, tobacco and rice... Butler squandered a fortune estimated at $700,000, but was saved from bankruptcy by the March 2–3, 1859 sale of his 436 slaves at Ten Broeck racetrack, outside Savannah, Georgia—the largest single slave auction in American history. Following the American Civil War, he tried to make his plantations profitable with free labor, but was unsuccessful. Butler died in Georgia, of malaria, in 1867. Neither he nor Fanny ever remarried... In 1877, Fanny returned to England, where she lived using her maiden name till her death. During this period, Fanny Kemble was a prominent and popular figure in the social life of London. She became a great friend of and inspiration for Henry James during her later years. His novel Washington Square (1880) was based upon a story Fanny had told him concerning one of her relatives... Her various volumes of reminiscences contain much valuable material illuminating the social and dramatic history of the period. Her elder daughter Sarah married a doctor, Owen Jones Wister, and they had one child, Owen Wister (b. 1860), the popular American novelist and author of the 1902 western novel, The Virginian."
The Forest Runners, A Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky
The Forest Runners, A Story of the Great War Trail in Early Kentucky
Joseph Altsheler
¥8.09
Historical novel from the Young Trailers series. According to Wikipedia: "Joseph Alexander Altsheler (1862 - 1919), was an American author of popular juvenile historical fiction. Altsheler was born in Three Springs, Kentucky to Joseph and Louise Altsheler. In 1885, he took a job at the Louisville Courier-Journal as a reporter and later, an editor. He started working for the New York World in 1892, first as the paper's Hawaiian correspondent and then as the editor of the World's tri-weekly magazine. Due to a lack of suitable stories, he began writing children's stories for the magazine.
Free Rangers, A Story of the Early Days Along the Mississippi
Free Rangers, A Story of the Early Days Along the Mississippi
Joseph Altsheler
¥8.09
Historical novel from the Young Trailers series. According to Wikipedia: "Joseph Alexander Altsheler (1862 - 1919), was an American author of popular juvenile historical fiction. Altsheler was born in Three Springs, Kentucky to Joseph and Louise Altsheler. In 1885, he took a job at the Louisville Courier-Journal as a reporter and later, an editor. He started working for the New York World in 1892, first as the paper's Hawaiian correspondent and then as the editor of the World's tri-weekly magazine. Due to a lack of suitable stories, he began writing children's stories for the magazine.
The Lion of the North, A Tale of the Times of Gustavus Adolphus
The Lion of the North, A Tale of the Times of Gustavus Adolphus
G. A. Henty
¥8.09
Historical novel set during the Thirty Years War. According to the Preface: "You are nowadays called upon to acquire so great a mass of learning and information in the period of life between the ages of twelve and eighteen that it is not surprising that but little time can be spared for the study of the history of foreign nations. Most lads are, therefore, lamentably ignorant of the leading events of even the most important epochs of Continental history, although, as many of these events have exercised a marked influence upon the existing state of affairs in Europe, a knowledge of them is far more useful, and, it may be said, far more interesting than that of the comparatively petty affairs of Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes." According to Wikipedia: "George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 - 16 November 1902), referred to as G. A. Henty, was a prolific English novelist, special correspondent, and Imperialist born in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, England. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. His works include Out on the Pampas (1871), The Young Buglers (1880), With Clive in India (1884) and Wulf the Saxon (1895)."
A Short History of England
A Short History of England
G. K. Chesterton
¥8.09
History as seen by a famous novelist and essayist. The Introduction begins: "It will be very reasonably asked why I should consent, though upon a sort of challenge, to write even a popular essay in English history, who make no pretence to particular scholarship and am merely a member of the public. The answer is that I know just enough to know one thing: that a history from the standpoint of a member of the public has not been written. What we call the popular histories should rather be called the anti-popular histories. They are all, nearly without exception, written against the people; and in them the populace is either ignored or elaborately proved to have been wrong." According to Wikipedia: "Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." Time magazine, in a review of a biography of Chesterton, observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."
Learning to Fly
Learning to Fly
Claude Grahame-White
¥8.09
How to fly an airplane, first published in 1916, with 10 photographs. Helps you understand the challenges of flying WWI era aircraft. According to the Author's Note, "This book is written for the novice—and for the novice who is completely a novice. We have assumed, in writing it, that it will come into the hands of men who, having determined to enter this great and growing industry of aviation, and having decided wisely to learn to fly as their preliminary step, feel they would like to gain beforehand—before, that is to say, they take the plunge of selecting and joining a flying school—all that can be imparted non-technically, and in such a brief manual as this, not only as to the stages of tuition and the tests to be undergone, but also in regard to such general questions as, having once turned their thoughts towards flying, they take a sudden and a very active interest."
Practical Mechanics for Boys
Practical Mechanics for Boys
J. S. Zerbe
¥8.09
Instruction in practical household technology, first published in 1914. 60 black-and-white illustrations. "In language which every boy can understand and so arranged the he may readily carry out any work form the instructions given... This book takes the beginner through a comprehensive series of practical shop work, in which the uses of tools, and the structure and handling of shop machinery are set forth; how they are utilized to perform the work, and the manner in which all dimensional work is carried out. Every subject is illustrated, and model building explained. It contains a glossary which comprises a new system of cross references, a feature that will prove a welcome departure in explaining subjects."
The Keepers of the Trail
The Keepers of the Trail
Joseph Altsheler
¥8.09
Historical novel, part of the Young Trailers series. According to the original publisher "Two boys, Henry Ware and Paul Cotter, and three scouts are the chief characters in these books dealing with frontier life and adventures with the Indians about the time of the Revolutionary War. Each story is complete in itself, full of excitement, and historically accurate." In the Keepers of the Trail, "In this book the boys and their comrades defeat a great Indian army and save Kentucky from invasion." According to Wikpedia, "Joseph Alexander Altsheler (April 29, 1862 - June 5, 1919), was an American author of popular juvenile historical fiction."
The Mantle and Other Stories
The Mantle and Other Stories
Nikolai Gogol
¥8.09
This collection includes: The Mantle (AKA The Cloak), The Nose, Memoirs of a Madman, A May Night, and The Viy. According to Wikipedia: "Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (31 March 1809[4] – 4 March 1852[5]) was a Ukrainian-born Russian humorist, dramatist, and novelist. He is considered the father of modern Russian Realism, but, at the same time, his work is very much in the genre of Romanticism. His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were heavily influenced by Ukrainian culture and folklore. His more mature writing satirised political corruption in the Russian Empire, leading to his exile. After briefly flirting with conversion to Roman Catholicism while in Italy, on his return to Russia Gogol immersed himself in the Russian Orthodox Church. The novels Taras Bul'ba (1835; 1842 [revised edition]) and Dead Souls (1842), the play The Government Inspector (1836, 1842), and the short stories "Diary of a Madman", "The Nose", and "The Overcoat" (1842) are among his best-known works. With their scrupulous and scathing realism, ethical criticism, as well as philosophical depth, they remain some of the most important works ever written."
A Monk of Fife
A Monk of Fife
Andrew Lang
¥8.09
Novelized retelling of a medieval romance. According to Wikipedia: "Andrew Lang (March 31, 1844, Selkirk - July 20, 1912, Banchory, Kincardineshire) was a prolific Scots man of letters. He was a poet, novelist, and literary critic, and contributor to anthropology. He now is best known as the collector of folk and fairy tales."
A Little Tour in France
A Little Tour in France
Henry James
¥8.09
Observations by Henry James from travel in France. According to Wikipedia: "Henry James, (1843 – 1916), son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an American-born British author. He is one of the key figures of 19th century literary realism; the fine art of his writing has led many academics to consider him the greatest master of the novel and novella form. He spent much of his life in England and became a British subject shortly before his death. He is primarily known for a series of major novels in which he portrayed the encounter of America with Europe. His plots centered on personal relationships, the proper exercise of power in such relationships, and other moral questions. His method of writing from the point of view of a character within a tale allowed him to explore the phenomena of consciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionist painting."
Eugenie Grandet
Eugenie Grandet
Honore de Balzac
¥8.09
One of Balzac's finest novels. According to Wikipedia: "Honore de Balzac (May 20, 1799 - August 18, 1850) was a nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comedie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Due to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities."
Father Goriot
Father Goriot
Honore de Balzac
¥8.09
One of Balzac's finest novels. According to Wikipedia: "Honore de Balzac (May 20, 1799 - August 18, 1850) was a nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Comedie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Due to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities."
Romola
Romola
George Eliot
¥8.09
One of George Eliot's seven classic novels. She is best known for Middlemarch, Silas Marner, and The Mill on the Floss. According to Wikipedia: "Mary Ann (Marian) Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity. She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure that her works were taken seriously. Female authors published freely under their own names, but Eliot wanted to ensure that she was not seen as merely a writer of romances. An additional factor may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes."
Mock Gothic Novels: Northanger Abbey and Nightmare Abbey
Mock Gothic Novels: Northanger Abbey and Nightmare Abbey
Jane Austen, Thomas Love Peacock
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "Northanger Abbey is fundamentally a parody of Gothic fiction. Austen turns the conventions of eighteenth-century novels on their head, by making her heroine a plain and undistinguished girl from a middle-class family, allowing the heroine to fall in love with the hero before he has a serious thought of her, and exposing the heroine's romantic fears and curiosities as groundless." "Nightmare Abbey is a Gothic topical satire in which the author pokes light-hearted fun at the romantic movement in contemporary English literature, in particular its obsession with morbid subjects, misanthropy and transcendental philosophical systems. Most of the characters in the novel are based on historical figures whom Peacock wishes to pillory."
Daphnis and Chloe
Daphnis and Chloe
Longus
¥8.09
One of the greatest love stories of all time. According to Wikipedia: "Daphnis and Chloe is the only known work of the 2nd century AD Greek novelist and romancer Longus. It is set on the isle of Lesbos during the 2nd century AD, which is also assumed to be the author's home... Daphnis and Chloe, two children found by shepherds, grow up together, nourishing a mutual love which neither suspects. The development of their passion forms the chief interest, and there are few incidents. Chloe is carried off by a pirate, and ultimately regains her family. Rivals trouble Daphnis' peace of mind; but the two lovers are recognized by their parents, and return to a happy married life in the country." (Cf. the movie The Blue Lagoon). Translated by George Thornley in 1657.
Five Little Peppers at School
Five Little Peppers at School
Margaret Sidney
¥8.09
Originally published in 1902, from the Five Little Peppers series. According to Wikipedia: "The Five Little Peppers book series was created by Margaret Sidney from 1881 to 1916. It covered the lives of five children with the surname Pepper. The series began with the Peppers in impoverished straits which they were eventually rescued from by a wealthy gentleman who took an interest in the family...Margaret Sidney was the pseudonym of Harriett Mulford Stone (June 22, 1844–August 2, 1924). She was an American author, born in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1878, at the age of 34, she began sending short stories to Wide Awake, a children's magazine in Boston. Two of her stories, "Polly Pepper's Chicken Pie" and "Phronsie Pepper's New Shoes", proved to be very popular with readers. Daniel Lothrop, the editor of the magazine, requested that Stone write more. The success of Harriett's short stories prompted her to write the now-famous Five Little Peppers series. This series was first published in 1881, the year that Stone married Daniel Lothrop. Daniel had founded the D. Lothrop Company of Boston, who published Harriett's books under her pseudonym, Margaret Sidney."
Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War
Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War
Herman Melville
¥8.09
Poems by the author of Moby Dick. He explains, "With few exceptions, the Pieces in this volume originated in an impulse imparted by the fall of Richmond. They were composed without reference to collective arrangement, but being brought together in review, naturally fall into the order assumed. The events and incidents of the conflict--making up a whole, in varied amplitude, corresponding with the geographical area covered by the war--from these but a few themes have been taken, such as for any cause chanced to imprint themselves upon the mind. The aspects which the strife as a memory assumes are as manifold as are the moods of involuntary meditation--moods variable, and at times widely at variance. Yielding instinctively, one after another, to feelings not inspired from any one source exclusively, and unmindful, without purposing to be, of consistency..."
Underwoods
Underwoods
Robert Louis Stevenson
¥8.09
Poetry. According to Wikipedia: "Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson ( 1850 - 1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, and a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. He was the man who "seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins", as G. K. Chesterton put it. He was also greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov, and J. M. Barrie. Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their definition of modernism. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson's popularity and allow him a place in the canon."
The Adventures of Maya the Bee (Illustrated)
The Adventures of Maya the Bee (Illustrated)
Waldemar Bonsels
¥8.09
Acccording to Wikipedia: "The Adventures of Maya the Bee is a German book ... written by Waldemar Bonsels and published in 1912. The book has been published in many other languages. The stories revolve around a little bee named Maya and her friends Willy the bee, Flip the grasshopper (referred to as "Maja", "Willi" and "Philip" respectively in some versions), Mrs. Cassandra (Maya's teacher), and many other insects and other creatures. The book depicts Maya's development from an adventurous youngster to a responsible adult member of bee society."