The bestselling tale of Romanov intrigue from the author of"The Kitchen Boy" Book groups and historical fiction buffs havemade Robert Alexanderas two previous novels word-of-mouth favoritesand national bestsellers. Set against a backdrop of ImperialRussiaas twilight, "The Romanov Bride" has the same enduringappeal. The Grand Duchess Elisavyetaas story begins like a fairytaleaa German princess renowned for her beauty and kind heartmarries the Grand Duke Sergei of Russia and enters the Romanovaslavish court. Her husband, however, rules his wife as he doesMoscowawith a cold, hard fist. And, after a peaceful demonstrationbecomes a bloodbath, the fires of the revolution link Elisavyetaasdestiny to that of Pavelaa young Bolshevikaforever.
在线阅读本书 The original American satirist Cracked on the head by a crowbar in nineteenth-century Connecticut,Hank Morgan wakes to find himself in King Arthur's England. Brandedby Twain's aptitude for broad comedy and biting social satire, thegrim truths of Twain's Camelot-fear, injustice, ignorance-resoundas clearly now as when it was written
This 100th Anniversary Edition presents the timeless tale ofHumphrey Van Weyden, pressed into service aboard the seal-huntingGhost, led by the brutal, enigmatic captain Wolf Larsen. Thisvolume also includes four of London's acclaimed short stories.
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Though James Joyce began thesestories of Dublin life in 1904 when he was twenty-two and completedthem in 1907, their unconventional themes and language led torepeated rejections by publishers and delayed publication until1914. In the century since, his story "The Dead" has come to beseen as one of the most powerful evocations of human loss andlonging that the English language possesses; all the other storiesin "Dubliners" are as beautifully turned and as greatly admired.They remind us once again that James Joyce was not only modernism'schief innovator but also one of its most intimate and poeticwriters. In this edition the text has been revised in keeping withJoyce's wishes, and the original versions of "The Sisters,""Eveline," and "After the Race" have been made available in anappendix, along with Joyce's suppressed preface to the 1914 editionof "Dubliners."
The masterpiece of Joseph Conrad's later years, theautobiographical short novel "The Shadow-Line "depicts a young manat a crossroads in his life, facing a desperate crisis that marksthe "shadow-line" between youth and maturity. This brief butintense story is a dramatically fictionalized account of Conrad'sfirst command as a young sea captain trapped aboard a becalmed,fever-wracked, and seemingly haunted ship. With no wind in sightand his crew disabled by malaria, the narrator discovers that themedicine necessary to save the sick men is missing and its absencehas been deliberately concealed. Meanwhile, his increasinglyfrightened first mate is convinced that the malignant ghost of theprevious captain has cursed them. Suspenseful, atmospheric, anddeceptively simple, Conrad's tale of the sea reflects the complexthemes of his most famous novels, "Lord Jim "and "Heart ofDarkness. "
(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) Introduction by JohnBayley
The complexity and range of Robert Louis Stevenson's shortfiction reveals his genius perhaps more than any other medium.Here, leading Stevenson scholar Barry Menikoff arranges andintroduces the complete selection of Stevenson's brilliant stories,including the famed masterpiece "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde," as well as "The Beach of Falesa" and Stevenson's previouslyuncollected stories. Arthur Conan Doyle has written that "Stevenson's] short stories are certain to retain their position inEnglish literature. His serious rivals are few indeed." This ModernLibrary Paperback Classics edition includes explanatory notes, aScots' Glossary, and a unique appendix dedicated to Stevenson'sinfluence on the "Oxford English Dictionary."
A national bestseller, Snobbery examines the discriminatingqualities in all of us. With dishy detail, Joseph Epstein skewersall manner of elitism in contemporary America. He offers his archobservations of the new footholds of snobbery: food, fashion,high-achieving children, schools, politics, being with-it,name-dropping, and much more. Clever, incisive, and immenselyentertaining, Snobberyexplores the shallows and depths of statusand taste -- with enviable results.
These controversial epic poems demonstrate Milton's genius forfusing sense and sound, classicism and innovation, narrative anddrama in profound explorations of the moral problems of God'sjustice-and what it truly means to be human.
Roth's award-winning first book instantly established itsauthor's reputation as a writer of explosive wit, mercilessinsight, and a fierce compassion for even the most self-deluding ofhis characters. Goodbye, Columbus is the story of Neil Klugman andpretty, spirited Brenda Patimkin, he of poor Newark, she ofsuburban Short Hills, who meet one summer break and dive into anaffair that is as much about social class and suspicion as it isabout love. The novella is accompanied by five short stories thatrange in tone from the iconoclastic to the astonishingly tender andthat illuminate the subterranean conflicts between parents andchildren and friends and neighbors in the American Jewishdiaspora.
High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background—average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn’t believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be his father’s boss’s daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy—and Tyler’s secret crush. And that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in the school, in his family, and in the world. In Twisted, the acclaimed Laurie Halse Anderson tackles a very controversial subject: what it means to be a man today. Fans and new readers alike will be captured by Tyler’s pitchperfect, funny voice, the surprising narrative arc, and the thoughtful moral dilemmas that are at the heart of all of the author’s award-winning, widely read work.
In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestsellingauthor of "Atonement, "follows an ordinary man through a Saturdaywhose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perowne-aneurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife andgrown-up children-plans to play a game of squash, visit his elderlymother, and cook dinner for his family. But after a minor trafficaccident leads to an unsettling confrontation, Perowne must setaside his plans and summon a strength greater than he knew he hadin order to preserve the life that is dear to him.
Socrates' ancient words are still true, and the ideas found inPlato's Dialogues still form the foundation of a thinking person'seducation. This superb collection contains excellent contemporarytranslations selected for their clarity and accessibility totoday's reader, as well as an incisive introduction by Erich Segal,which reveals Plato's life and clarifies the philosophical issuesexamined in each dialogue. The first four dialogues recount thetrial and execution of Socrates-the extraordinary tragedy thatchanged Plato's life and forever altered the course of Westernthought. Other dialogues create a rich tableau of intellectual lifein Athens in the fourth century b.c., and examine such timeless-andtimely-issues as the nature of virtue and love, knowledge andtruth, society and the individual. Resounding with the humor andastounding brilliance of Socrates, the immortal iconoclast, thesegreat works remain powerful, probing, and essential.
At the beginning of Amy Tan's fourth novel, two packets ofpapers written in Chinese calligraphy fall into the hands of RuthYoung. One bundle is titled Things I Know Are True and the other,Things I Must Not Forget. The author? That would be theprotagonist's mother, LuLing, who has been diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease. In these documents the elderly matriarch, bornin China in 1916, has set down a record of her birth and familyhistory, determined to keep the facts from vanishing as her minddeteriorates. A San Francisco career woman who makes her living by ghostwritingself-help books, Ruth has little idea of her mother's past or trueidentity. What's more, their relationship has tended to be an angryone. Still, Ruth recognizes the onset of LuLing's decline--alongwith her own remorse over past rancor--and hires a translator todecipher the packets. She also resolves to "ask her mother to tellher about her life. For once, she would ask. She would listen. Shewould sit down and not be in a hurry or have
Masterfully crafted, Treasure Island is a stunning yarn ofpiracy on the fiery tropic seas--an unforgettable tale of treacherythat embroils a host of legendary swashbucklers from honest youngJim Hawkins to sinister, two-timing Israel Hands to evil incarnate,blind Pew. But above all, Treasure Island is a complex study ofgood and evil, as embodied by that hero-villain, Long John Silver;the merry unscrupulous buccaneer-rogue whose greedy lust for goldcannot help but win the heart of every one who ever longed forromance, treasure, and adventure. Since its publication in 1883,Treasure Island has provided an enduring literary model for sucheminent writers as Anthony Hope, Graham Greene, and Jorge LuisBorges. As David Daiches wrote: "Robert Louis Stevenson transformedthe Victorian boys' adventure into a classic of its kind."
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Introduction by CatherinePeters
Dickens's classic morality tale of a starving orphan caughtbetween opposing forces of good and evil is a powerful indictmentof Victorian England's Poor Laws. Filled with dark humor and anunforgettable cast of characters Oliver Twist, Fagin, Nancy, BillSykes, and the Artful Dodger, to name a few Dickens's second novelis a compelling social satire that has remained popular since itwas first serialized in 1837-39. The text for this Modern LibraryPaperback Classic is taken from the 1846 New Edition, revised andcorrected by the author. It includes new explanatory notes and anappendix, "A Brief History of the English Poor Laws."
The Jungle Book meets Not Wanted On the Voyage in a triumph of storytelling and originality: a novel, as onecharacter puts it, to make you believe in God. Piscine Molitor Patel, nicknamed Pi, lives in Pondicherry, India,where his family runs a zoo. Little Pi is a great reader. Hedevours books on Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, and to thesurprise of his secular parents, becomes devoted to all threereligions. When the parents decide to emigrate to Canada, thefamily boards a cargo ship with many of the animals that are goingto new zoological homes in North America, and bravely sets sail forthe New World. Alas, the ship sinks. A solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on thesurface of the wild blue Pacific. In it are five survivors: Pi, ahyena, a zebra, an orang-utan and a 450-pound Royal Bengaltiger. With intelligence, daring and inexpressible fear, Pi manages tokeep his wits about him as the animals begin to assert their placesin the foodchain; it is the tiger, Richard Parker, with whom hemust develop an inviol
An immediate bestseller when it was first published in December1843, A Christmas Carol has endured ever since as a perennialYuletide favorite. Charles Dickens's beloved tale about the miserlyEbenezer Scrooge, who comes to know the meaning of kindness,charity, and goodwill through a haunting Christmas Eve encounterwith four ghosts, is a heartwarming celebration of the spirit ofChristmas. This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition alsoincludes two other popular Christmas stories by Dickens: "TheChimes," in which a man, persuaded by hypocritical cant that thepoor deserve their misery, is shown what his pessimisticresignation might lead to in a vision conjured by the pealing ofbells, and "The Haunted Man," Dickens's last Christmas tale, whichfeatures one of his great comic families, the Tetterbys.
Key Features: Study methods Introduction to the text Summaries with critical notes Themes and techniques Textual analysis of key passages Author biography Historical and literary background Modern and historical critical approaches Chronology Glossary of literary terms --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
For Christmas, Charley Mason's father granted him a trip toParis, all expenses paid. It should have been a lark, but on hisfirst night Charley meets a woman whose story will forever changehis life. For Lydia has seen tragedy. The Russian Revolution displaced herfamily, left her homeless, fatherless. And for reasons that eludeCharley, Lydia pines for a man half a world away--a dope dealer andmurderer whose sins Lydia seeks to absolve through her own self-destruction. Haunting, erotic, deeply effecting, Christmas Holidayexplores two souls capsized by compassion--and the confusion thatengulfed a generation in the days between the Great Wars.
