万本电子书0元读

万本电子书0元读

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Second Series
Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Second Series
Lafcadio Hearn
¥8.09
According to the Preface: "...the rare charm of Japanese life, so different from that of all other lands, is not to be found in its Europeanised circles. It is to be found among the great common people, who represent in Japan, as in all countries, the national virtues, and who still cling to their delightful old customs, their picturesque dresses, their Buddhist images, their household shrines, their beautiful and touching worship of ancestors. This is the life of which a foreign observer can never weary, if fortunate and sympathetic enough to enter into it--the life that forces him sometimes to doubt whether the course of our boasted Western progress is really in the direction of moral development." According to Wikipedia: "Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (27 June 1850 – 26 September 1904), also known as Koizumi Yakum after gaining Japanese citizenship, was an author, best known for his books about Japan. He is especially well-known for his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things... The Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi adapted four Hearn tales into his 1965 film, Kwaidan. Some of his stories have been adapted by Ping Chong into his trademark puppet theatre, including the 1999 Kwaidan and the 2002 OBON: Tales of Moonlight and Rain... Hearn was a major translator of the short stories of Guy de Maupassant. In Ian Fleming's 1964 novel You Only Live Twice, James Bond retorts to his nemesis Blofeld's comment of "Have you ever heard the Japanese expression kirisute gomen?" with "Spare me the Lafcadio Hearn, Blofeld."
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Jacob Abbott
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "Jacob Abbott (November 14, 1803 – October 31, 1879) was an American writer of children's books. Abbott was born at Hallowell, Maine to Jacob and Betsey Abbott. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820; studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, 1822, and 1824; was tutor in 1824-1825, and from 1825 to 1829 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College; was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826; founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829, and was principal of it in 1829-1833; was pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded), at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834-1835; and was, with his brothers, a founder, and in 1843-1851 a principal of Abbott's Institute, and in 1845-1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City. He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He died in Farmington, Maine, where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School."
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Jacob Abbott
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "Jacob Abbott (November 14, 1803 – October 31, 1879) was an American writer of children's books. Abbott was born at Hallowell, Maine to Jacob and Betsey Abbott. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820; studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, 1822, and 1824; was tutor in 1824-1825, and from 1825 to 1829 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College; was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826; founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829, and was principal of it in 1829-1833; was pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded), at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834-1835; and was, with his brothers, a founder, and in 1843-1851 a principal of Abbott's Institute, and in 1845-1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City. He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He died in Farmington, Maine, where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School."
Is Shakespeare Dead? from My Autobiography
Is Shakespeare Dead? from My Autobiography
Mark Twain
¥8.09
From Chapter 1: "A friend has sent me a new book, from England--The Shakespeare Problem Restated--well restated and closely reasoned; and my fifty years' interest in that matter--asleep for the last three years--is excited once more. It is an interest which was born of Delia Bacon's book--away back in that ancient day--1857, or maybe 1856. About a year later my pilot-master, Bixby, transferred me from his own steamboat to the Pennsylvania, and placed me under the orders and instructions of George Ealer--dead now, these many, many years. I steered for him a good many months--as was the humble duty of the pilot-apprentice: stood a daylight watch and spun the wheel under the severe superintendence and correction of the master. He was a prime chess player and an idolater of Shakespeare. He would play chess with anybody; even with me, and it cost his official dignity something to do that. "
Notes to Shakepeare's Tragedies
Notes to Shakepeare's Tragedies
Samuel Johnson
¥8.09
From the General Introduction: "Dr. Johnson's reaction to Shakespeare's tragedies is a curious one, compounded as it is of deep emotional involvement in a few scenes in some plays and a strange dispassionateness toward most of the others. I suspect that his emotional involvement took root when he read Shakespeare as a boy--one remembers the terror he experienced in reading of the Ghost in _Hamlet_, and it was probably also as a boy that he suffered that shock of horrified outrage and grief at the death of Cordelia that prevented him from rereading the scene until be came to edit the play. Johnson's deepest feelings and convictions, Professor Clifford has recently reminded us, can be traced back to his childhood and adolescence."
Mary Queen of Scots
Mary Queen of Scots
Jacob Abbott
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "Jacob Abbott (November 14, 1803 – October 31, 1879) was an American writer of children's books. Abbott was born at Hallowell, Maine to Jacob and Betsey Abbott. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820; studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, 1822, and 1824; was tutor in 1824-1825, and from 1825 to 1829 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College; was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826; founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829, and was principal of it in 1829-1833; was pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded), at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834-1835; and was, with his brothers, a founder, and in 1843-1851 a principal of Abbott's Institute, and in 1845-1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City. He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He died in Farmington, Maine, where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School."
The Renascence of Hebrew Literature
The Renascence of Hebrew Literature
Nahum Slouschz
¥8.09
Chapters include: In Italy, In German, In Poland and Austria, in Lithuania, The Romantic Movement, The Emancipation Movement, The Conflict with Rabbinism, Reformers and Conservatives, The National Progressive Movement, The Contributors to Ha-Shahar, The Novels of Smolenskin, and Contemporaneous Literature. From the Translator's Note: "The modern chapter in the history of Hebrew literature herewith presented to English readers was written by Dr. Nahum Slouschz as his thesis for the doctorate at the University of Paris, and published in book form in 1902. A few years later (1906-1907), the author himself put his Essay into Hebrew, and it was brought out as a publication of the _Tushiyah_, under the title _Korot ha-Safrut ha-'Ibrit ha-Hadashah_. The Hebrew is not, however, a mere translation of the French book. The material in the latter was revised and extended, and the presentation was considerably changed, in view of the different attitude toward the subject naturally taken by Hebrew readers, as compared with a Western public, Jewish or non-Jewish."
The Forty-Five Guardsmen
The Forty-Five Guardsmen
Alexandre Dumas
¥8.09
Historical fiction from the time of the bitter conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in France, after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and before the reign of Henri of Navarre. According to Wikipedia: "Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to 'Senior' in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (1802 — 1870) was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. He also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a prolific correspondent."
Virgin Soil
Virgin Soil
Ivan Turgenev
¥8.09
Classic Russian novel. According to the introduction: "TURGENEV was the first writer who was able, having both Slavic and universal imagination enough for it, to interpret modern Russia to the outer world, and Virgin Soil was the last word of his greater testament. It was the book in which many English readers were destined to make his acquaintance about a generation ago, and the effect of it was, like Swinburne's Songs Before Sunrise, Mazzini's Duties of Man, and other congenial documents, to break up the insular confines in which they had been reared and to enlarge their new horizon." According to Wikipedia: "Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev 1818 - 1883) was a Russian novelist and playwright. His novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction."
Chesterton's Fiction Nine Books
Chesterton's Fiction Nine Books
G. K. Chesterton
¥8.09
This book-collection file includes 10 books: The Ball and the Cross, The Club of Queer Trades, The Innocence of Father Brown, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Man Who Was Thursday, Manalive, The Napoleon of Notting Hill, The Trees of Pride, Tremendous Trifles, and The Wisdom of Father Brown. 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." He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it." As a Christian apologist he is widely admired throughout many religious denominations, as well as by many non-Christians[citation needed]. As a political thinker, he cast aspersions on both Liberalism and Conservatism, saying, "The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.""
169 Stories
169 Stories
Guy de Maupassant
¥8.09
This book-collection file includes all 13 volumes of the collection "Original Maupassant Short Stories" Translated by ALBERT M. C. McMASTER, A. E. HENDERSON, MME. QUESADA and Others. According to Wikipedia: "Guy de Maupassant (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular 19th-century French writer and considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protégé of Flaubert, Maupassant's stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient, effortless dénouement. Many of the stories are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s and several describe the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught in the conflict, emerge changed. He also wrote six short novels."
Six Non-Fiction Books
Six Non-Fiction Books
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
¥8.09
This book-collection file includes six books. Three are on war -- The Great Boer War, The War in South Africa, and A Visit to Three Fronts, June 1916. Two are on Spiritualism -- The New Revelation and The Vital Message. And one on Medicine -- Round the Red Lamp: Facts and Fancies of the Medical Life. According to Wikipedia: "Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was an author most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction."
Adventures of a Special Correspondent
Adventures of a Special Correspondent
Jules Verne
¥8.09
Classic science fiction adventure novel. "The Exploits and Experiences of Claudius Bombarnac of the Twentieth Century". According to Wikipedia: "Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828-March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated author in the world, according to Index Translationum. Some of his books have been made into films. Verne, along with H. G. Wells, is often popularly referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction"
Troilus and Cressida, with line numbers
Troilus and Cressida, with line numbers
William Shakespeare
¥8.09
Classic Shakespearean drama. According to Wikipedia: "Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. The play (also described as one of Shakespeare's problem plays) is not a conventional tragedy, since its protagonist (Troilus) does not die. The play ends instead on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus and Cressida. Throughout the play, the tone lurches wildly between bawdy comedy and tragic gloom, and readers and theatre-goers have frequently found it difficult to understand how one is meant to respond to the characters. However, several characteristic elements of the play (the most notable being its constant questioning of intrinsic values such as hierarchy, honor and love) have often been viewed as distinctly "modern"..."
The Tempest
The Tempest
William Shakespeare
¥8.09
Classic Shakespearean romance. According to Wikipedia: "The Tempest is a play written by William Shakespeare. Many scholars believe that it was written in 1610–11,[1] although some researchers have argued for an earlier dating.[2] While listed as a comedy when it was initially published in the First Folio of 1623, many modern editors have since re-labeled the play a romance. It did not attract a significant amount of attention before the closing of the theatres in 1642 and after the Restoration it attained popularity only in adapted versions.[3] Theatre productions began to reinstate the original Shakespearean text in the mid-19th century,[4] and in the 20th century, critics and scholars undertook a significant re-appraisal of the play's value, to the extent that it is now considered to be one of Shakespeare's greatest works."
1601
1601
Mark Twain
¥8.09
Classic short humor. According to the introduction: "Mark Twain was just as irreverent as he dared be, and 1601 reveals his richest expression of sovereign contempt for overstuffed language, genteel literature, and conventional idiocies. Later, when a magazine editor apostrophized, "O that we had a Rabelais!" Mark impishly and anonymously--submitted 1601; and that same editor, a praiser of Rabelais, scathingly abused it and the sender. In this episode, as in many others, Mark Twain, the "bad boy" of American literature, revealed his huge delight in blasting the shams of contemporary hypocrisy. Too, there was always the spirit of Tom Sawyer deviltry in Mark's make-up that prompted him, as he himself boasted, to see how much holy indignation he could stir up in the world."
Tolstoy's Theory of History
Tolstoy's Theory of History
Leo Tolstoy
¥8.09
The extended essay on the role of the individual in history which Tolstoy appended to War and Peace, the result of his ruminations on the phenomenon of the the French Revolution and the Napoleonnic Wars.
The Possessed
The Possessed
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "The Possessed (Russian: Бесы, tr. Besy) is an 1872 novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Though titled The Possessed in the initial English translation, Dostoevsky scholars and later translations favour the titles The Devils or Demons. An extremely political book, Demons is a testimonial of life in Imperial Russia in the late 19th century. As the revolutionary democrats begin to rise in Russia, different ideologies begin to collide. Dostoevsky casts a critical eye on both the left-wing idealists, portraying their ideas and ideological foundation as demonic, and the conservative establishment's ineptitude in dealing with those ideas and their social consequences. This form of intellectual conservativism tied to the Slavophile movement of Dostoevsky's day is seen to have continued on into its modern manifestation in individuals like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Dostoevsky's novels focus on the idea that utopias and positivist ideas, in being utilitarian, were unrealistic and unobtainable. The book has five primary ideological characters: Verkhovensky, Shatov, Stavrogin, Stepan Trofimovich, and Kirilov. Through their philosophies, Dostoevsky describes the political chaos seen in 19th-Century Russia."
Monday or Tuesday
Monday or Tuesday
Virginia Woolf
¥8.09
Classic short story collection, first published in 1921. According to Wikipedia: "Adeline Virginia Woolf (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
Romulus
Romulus
Jacob Abbott
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders in its traditional foundation myth, although the former is sometimes said to be the sole founder. Their maternal grandfather is Numitor, rightful king of Alba Longa, a descendant of the Trojan prince, Aeneas and father to Rhea Silvia (also known as Ilia). Before their conception, Numitor's brother Amulius deposes his brother, kills his sons and forces Rhea to become a Vestal Virgin, intending to deprive Numitor of lawful heirs and thus secure his own position; but Rhea conceives Romulus and Remus by the god Mars or the demi-god Hercules. When the twins are born, Amulius has them exposed to die but they are saved by a series of miraculous interventions. A she-wolf finds them and suckles them. Then a shepherd and his wife foster them and raise them to manhood as shepherds. The twins prove to be natural leaders, and acquire many followers. When told their true identities, they kill Amulius, restore Numitor to the throne of Alba Longa and decide to found a new city for themselves."
Richard III
Richard III
Jacob Abbott
¥8.09
According to Wikipedia: "Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of an eponymous historical play by William Shakespeare. When his brother Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord protector of the realm for Edward's son and successor, the 12-year-old King Edward V... There were two major rebellions against Richard. The first, in October 1483, was led by staunch opponents of Edward IV and most notably by Richard's former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. The revolt collapsed and Buckingham was executed at Salisbury near the Bull's Head Inn. In August 1485 there was another rebellion against Richard, headed by Henry Tudor, 2nd Earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII) and his uncle Jasper. The rebels landed troops, composed mainly of mercenaries, and Richard fell in the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last English king to die in battle (and the only king to die in battle on English soil since Harold II, at the Battle of Hastings in 1066)."