The Diary of a Nobody is so unassuming a work that even its author, George Grossmith, seemed unaware that he had produced a masterpiece. For more than a century this wonderfully comic portrayal of suburban life and values has remined in print, a source of delight to generations of readers, and a major literary influence, much imitated but never equalled. If you don't recognise yourself at some point in The Diary you are probably less than human. If you can read it without laughing aloud you have no sense of humour.
‘I am writing to a rhythm and not to a plot’,Virginia Woolf stated of her eighth novel,The Waves。 Widely regarded as one of her greatest and most original works,it conveys the rhythms of life in synchrony with the cycle of nature and the passage of time。 Six children-Bernard,Susan,Rhoda,Neville,Jinny and Louis-meet in a garden close to the sea,their voices sounding over the constant echo of the waves that roll back and forth from the shore。 The subsequent continuity of these six main characters,as they develop from childhood to maturity and follow different passions and ambitions,is interspersed with interludes from the timeless and unifying chorus of nature。 In pure stream-of-consciousness style,Woolf presents a cross-section of multiple yet parallel lives,each marked by the disintegrating force of a mutual tragedy。 The Waves is her searching exploration of individual and collective identity,and the observations and emotions of life,from the simplicity and sur
The unforgettable story of Heathcliff and Catherine, whose doomed love torments them in a tempest of madness, vengeance, and redemption. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: A concise introduction that gives readers important background information A chronology of the author's life and work A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations Detailed explanatory notes Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full pot
They were just kids when they stumbled upon the hidden horror oftheir hometown. Now, as adults, none of them can withstand theforce that has drawn them all back to Derry, Maine, to face thenightmare without end, and the evil without a name.
Read on to catch up with more gossip-licious pleasure from the anonymous narrator who made her catty debut with "Gossip Girl" and has enthralled readers in the juicy sequels, "You Know You Love Me" and "All I Want is Everything". In "Because I'm Worth It", Gossip Girl dishes up more doses of hefty dirt on all her friends - New York's wealthiest private school teens. In fact, wintertime has never been hotter in NYC as things steam up all over Fifth Avenue. Sharp wit, intriguing characters, and high-stakes melodrama drive the action of this wildly popular series.
Widely regarded as one of Edith Wharton"s greatest achievements, The Age of Innocence is not only subtly satirical, but also a sometimes dark and disturbing comedy of manners in its exploration of the‘eternal triangle" of love. Set against the backdrop of upper-class New York society during the 1870s, the author"s combination of powerful prose combined with a thoroughly researched and meticulous evocation of the manners and style of the period, has delighted readers since the novel"s first publication in 1920. In 1921 The Age of Innocence achieved a double distinction - it won the Pulitzer Prize and it was the first time this prestigious award had been won by a woman author.
Gaskell's last novel,widely considered her masterpiece,follows the fortunes of two families in nineteenth century rural England.At its core are family relationships-father,daughter and step-mother,father and sons,father and step-daughter-all tested and strained by the romantic entanglements that ensue. Despite its underlying seriousness.the prevailing tone is one of comdy.Gaskell vividly portrays the world of the late 1820's and the forces of change within it ,and her vision is always humane and progressive. The story is full of acute observation and sympathetic character-study:the feudal squire clinging to old values,his naturalist son welcoming the new world of science,the local doctor and his scheming second wife,the two girls brought together by their parents'marriage……
Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. The action of the story is chaotic and unremittingly violent, but the accomplished handling of a complex structure, the evocative de*ions of the lonely moorland setting and the poetic grandeur of vision combine to make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.
In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in thewilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, andhis magnificent Irish wolfhound, Merlin, step from shadow intolight...and into an encounter with mystery. That night, a pair ofsingular animals will watch Grady's isolated home, waiting to maketheir approach. A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, beginsto unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring to her door allthe forces of a government in peril. At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come togetherto begin a descent into darkness...In Las Vegas, a specialist inchaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable...On a Seattlegolf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements formurder...Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the pastbegins a trek toward his destiny. In a novel that is at once wholly of our time and timeless,fearless and funny, Dean Koontz takes readers into the momentbetween one turn of the world and the next, acros
Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, research Professor of English, University of Sussex Julius Caesar is among the best of Shakespeare's historical and political plays. Dealing with events surrounding the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., the drama vividly illustrates the ways in which power and corruption are linked. The cry 'Peace, freedom and liberty!' is used to exculpate brutal realities, while personal ambitions taint public actions. Rich in characterisation and replete with eloquent rhetoric, Julius Caesar remains engrossing and topical: a play for today.
After U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack is forced down in Russiaand later escapes from a Soviet prison camp, he calls upon theskills of his Sioux Indian forebears to evade Alekhin, the Yakutnative and legendary tracker, on his trail.
Des employés de ministère étriqués, une jeunesse bruyante quedistrait le canotage sur la Seine, des petits boutiquiers qui nerêvent que pêche à la ligne, des paysans ?pres au gain de laHaute-Normandie : c'est l'univers familier de Maupassant que nousretrouvons ici dans sa diversité. Et cependant, un thème unit cescontes : la destruction de l'individu. C'est en effet la mort quir?de dans ces quatre récits de la cruauté ordinaire que Maupassantfait para?tre de 1881 à 1883. Mais cette dureté n'empêche pas lagaieté, ni que la farce se mêle au tragique. Séduisante etgrin?ante tour à tour, la réalité que mettent en scène ceshistoires de la vie quotidienne n'est donc banale qu'en apparence.L'inquiétante étrangeté n'est jamais très loin et, dans ces contessi réalistes, Maupassant nous conduit aux frontières où s'effacentles explications les plus naturelles
His love was wild... his soul untamed... his touch forbidden....From acclaimed author Susan Krinard comes the second novel in amagnificent trilogy of a powerful clan whose sensual legacy iscloaked in secrecy-and a beautiful woman kidnapped by an outlawwhose forbidden embrace could reveal her true identity.... Once aWolf In the unspoiled expanses of the American West, Toma sAlejandro Randall was called El Lobo, the desperado and sworn enemyof powerful financier Cole MacLean. Few humans knew his trueidentity: heir to a wolf bloodline that made him as much an exoticbeast as a devastatingly attractive man. It was Toma s's plan tolure Cole MacLean's elegant fiance e, Lady Rowena Forster, from herNew York mansion to the wild frontier. There he planned to seducethe golden-haired beauty as revenge for the destruction of hisfamily at MacLean's hands. But once she was in his possession, ElLobo found himself unable to resist the call of his own untamedpassion-a passion that would claim the beauty for his own. As forLad
Welcome to New York City's Upper East Side, where Gossip Girl and her friends are the biggest stars ...whether or not the cameras are rolling. Lights, camera, scandal! Hollywood is invading New York and Serena is set for her big screen debut. She's already having an off-screen romance with her onscreen lover, Thaddeus. What will that mean for Hamptons-bound Nate? And if Nate is free, what about Blair? Sure, she's off to London to spend time with her royal boytoy, but Nate will always be Prince Charming in her eyes...
The Brothers Grimm rediscovered a host of fairy tales, telling of princes and princesses in their castles, witches in their towers and forests, of giants and dwarfs, of fabulous animals and dark deeds. This selection of their tales was made and translated by Lucy Crane, and includes firm favourites such as Rapunzel, The Goose Girl, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White. It is Illustrated throughout by Walter Crane's charming line drawings.
Frankenstein: A Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Classic features: *The complete tale of the classic novel, Frankenstein *More than 600 vocabulary words frequently tested on the SAT highlighted throughout the text *Definitions for each highlighted word on the facing page *A word-pronunciation guide *An index for easy reference
Barrie Mayer, a beautiful Washington literary agent, finds hertrip to Budapest cut short -- when her body turns up dead. But herbest friend, Colette Cahill, a CIA agent, knows that Barrie wascarrying something else in her briefcase, and she suspects theworst. When the Agency instructs her to investigate, Colette couldlose her own life in the high-stakes search.... "Smooth...seductive." ASSOCIATED PRESS
Macbeth is one of Shakespeares greatest tragedies: a drama of crime and punishment, of temptation, guilt, remorse and retribution. The portrayals of Macbeth himself and his wife are memorably persuasive in the rendition of the psychology of ambition,rationalised treachery and eventual disillusionment. Repeatedly the rich and often sinuously complex verse gives general resonance to the particular situation, so that some of the speechesprovide enduring epitomes of states of being which many of us,intermittently, may experience. Inner division, pangs of conscience, the sense of being ambushed by events, and desperatedefiance: they are there; but so too is a vitality of expression and enactment which offsets the plays sombre atmosphere.
After falling in love with handsome Rook Galloway, Lady ArianeBurke-Marchand finds herself pitted against Rook when their homeplanets go to war, but she is unable to overcome her feelingsdespite the newfound conflict.
Quasimodo, the hunchback bellringer of Notre-Dame Cathedral, is devoted to the beautiful gypsy dancer, La Esmerelda. When the demented archdeacon Frollo hatches a devilish plot to abduct La Esmerelda, Quasimodo will go to any lengths to protect the woman he loves.
Thomas Hardy's richly evocative novel opens with the arrival of Bathsheba in the village of Weatherbury to work the large, dilapidated farm that is her inheritance. The plot turns on her sentimental education, her infatuation for Sergeant Troy, a dazzling young cavalry officer, and her relationship with the shepherd-farmer, Gabriel Oak. Gabriel's strong presence permeates a drama of temptation,treachery and passion in which Bathsheba achieves a painful but necessary self-knowledge.
ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP Alexandre Dumas's thrilling adventure of one man's quest for freedom and vengeance on those who betrayed him. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: * A concise introduction that gives readers important background information * A chronology of the author's life and work * A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context * An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations * Detailed explanatory notes * Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work * Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction * A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest
This Mill on the Floss, based on George Eliot's own experiences of provincial life, is a masterpiece of ambiguity in which moral choice is subjected to the hypocrisy of the Victorian age. As the headstrong Maggie Tulliver grows into womanhood, the deep love which she has for her brother Tom turns into conflict, because she cannot reconcile his bourgeois standards with her own lively intelligence. Maggie is unable to adapt to her community or break free from it, and the result, on more than one level, is tragedy.
Probably the most popular horse story of all time, Black Beauty tells the story of one horse's long and varied life. On the one hand, a fully engaging novel and on the other hand, a strong statement against animal maltreatment. Anna Sewell's classic novel has enthralled readers since it was first published in 1877.