Little Dorrit, Ljudbok
Little Dorrit is a serial novel by Charles Dickens, originally published between 1855 and 1857. It is a work of satire on the shortcomings of the government and society of the period. Much of Dickens's ire is focused upon the institutions of debtors' prisons, in which people who owed money were imprisoned, unable to work, until they repaid their debts. The representative prison in this case is the Marshalsea, where the author's own father had been imprisoned. Most of Dickens's other critiques in this particular novel concern the social safety net; industry and the treatment and safety of workers; the bureaucracy of the British Treasury and the separation of people based on the lack of interaction between the classes.The novel begins in Marseilles "thirty years ago" (i.e., c. 1826), with the notorious murderer Rigaud telling his cell mate how he killed his wife. Arthur Clennam is returning to London to see his mother after the death of his father, with whom he had lived for twenty years in China. On his deathbed, his father had given him a mysterious watch murmuring "Your mother," which Arthur naturally assumed was intended for Mrs. Clennam, whom he and everyone else believed to be his mother…Audiobook running time: 36 hours. Unabridged version - 342,582 words - 940 pages in the printed edition.Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, is one of the most influential works ever written, and it remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Set in London and Paris, his 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is the best selling novel of all time. His creative genius has been praised by fellow writers, from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton, for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism.
Victory, Ljudbok
Victory is a science fiction novella by American author Lester del Ray first published in 1955.It seemed Earth was a rich and undefended planet in a warring, hating galaxy. Things can be deceptive though; children playing can be quite rough--but that ain't war, friend!Victory is the story of an undefended Earth in a warring galaxy. An interesting story that starts out gritty then turns philosophical. A human captain returns to the planet he fought years to protect, and discovers it devastated, despite winning the war.The humanoid aliens across the galaxy resent Earth's constant neutrality in their wars with hostile alien lifeforms. The captain shares their bitterness and can't wait to ship out to another war to escape the cowardice of his home planet.Victory first appeared in the August 1955 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 38 min.Lester del Rey (1915 - 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of Ballantine Books.Del Rey was awarded the 1972 E. E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (for the Skylark) by the New England Science Fiction Association and a special 1985 Balrog Award for his contributions to fantasy, voted by fans and organized by Locus Magazine. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him its 11th SFWA Grand Master in 1990.
Unwise Child, Ljudbok
Unwise Child is a science fiction novel by Randal Garrett, first published in 1962.When a super-robot named Snookums discovers how to build his own superbombs, it becomes obvious that Earth is by no means the safest place for him to be. And so Dr. Fitzhugh, his designer, and Leda Crannon, a child psychologist acting as Snookums’ nursemaid, agree to set up Operation Brainchild, a plan to transport the robot to a far distant planet.But the space ship becomes the scene of some frightening events--the medical officer is murdered, and Snookums appears to be the culprit…Total Running Time (TRT): 5 hours, 49 min.Randall Garrett (1927-1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about Earth bringing civilization to an alien planet.
The Last Letter, Ljudbok
The Last Letter is a science fiction short story by Fritz Leiber published in 1958.It was a day like any other, except for that one letter in the mail - a hand written letter that paralyzed the postal service.“Who or what was the scoundrel that kept these couriers from the swift completion of their handsomely appointed rondos?”The Last Letter was first published in Galaxy Science Fiction June 1958.Total Running Time (TRT): 30 min.Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. (1910-1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright and chess expert. With writers such as Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Leiber can be regarded as one of the fathers of sword and sorcery fantasy, having in fact created the term. Moreover, he excelled in all fields of speculative fiction, writing award-winning work in fantasy, horror, and science fiction.
Washington Square, Ljudbok
Originally published in 1880 as a serial in Cornhill Magazine and Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Washington Square is a structurally simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father. The plot of the novel is based upon a true story told to James by his close friend, British actress Fanny Kemble. The book is often compared to Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. James was not a great fan of Washington Square itself. Other readers, though, have sufficiently enjoyed the book to make it one of the more popular works of the Jamesian canon.
Mr. Spaceship, Ljudbok
Mr. Spaceship is a science fiction novella by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1953.Humanity is at war with "Yuks," an alien life form which does not use mechanical spaceships nor constructions. Instead, it relies on life forms.The war with the Yuks from Proxima Centauri was claimed to be a stalemate but they were really winning. The mine belts they laid seemed to propagate themselves and were slowly strangling Terran planets.How did they do that? What was their secret? The answer was baffling and the best human minds could only conclude that their ships and mines were somehow alive.So, the next desperate step was to ask "If they are using organic ships, why can't we do the same?". Thus Mr. Spaceship was conceived and carried out. But will a conscious warship do what the generals wish?Mr. Spaceship was first published in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy, January 1953. Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 11 min. Philip Kendrick Dick (1928-1982) was an American science fiction author. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states.In addition to 44 published novels, Dick wrote approximately 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his lifetime.Although Dick spent most of his career as a writer in near-poverty, ten popular films based on his works have been produced, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau.In 2005, Time magazine named Dick one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. In 2007, Dick became the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series.
The Eagle’s Shadow: A Comedy of Purse-Strings, Ljudbok
The Eagle’s Shadow: A Comedy of Purse-Strings is a romantic fantasy comedy novel by James Branch Cabell.The Eagle’s Shadow is a historic novel taking place in the Middle Ages. The novel paints an intricate portrait of romance and power, immersing its reader into a fiction more real than they would like to admit. The Eagle’s Shadow is at times tragic and comedic, and is a brilliant social critique masquerading as romance, a literary work for all time.The Eagle’s Shadow: A Comedy of Purse-Strings was first published in 1904. Audiobook read by Jon M. Wilson, running time 5 hours, 2 min. Unabridged full version. James Branch Cabell (1879 - 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. Although escapist, Cabell's works are ironic and satirical. Mencken disputed Cabell's claim to romanticism and characterized him as "really the most acidulous of all the anti-romantics. His gaudy heroes ... chase dragons precisely as stockbrokers play golf."
Tarrano the Conqueror, Ljudbok
Tarrano the Conqueror is a science fiction novel by American author Ray Cummings first published in 1930."In Tarrano the Conqueror is presented a tale of the year 2430 A.D. - a time somewhat farther beyond our present-day era than we are beyond Columbus' discovery of America. My desire has been to create for you the impression that you have suddenly been plunged forward into that time--to give you the feeling Columbus might have had could he have read a novel of our present-day life.To this end I have conceived myself a writer of that future time, addressing his contemporary public. You are to imagine yourself reading a present day translation of my original text - a translation so free that a thousand little colloquialisms will have crept into it that could not possibly have their counterparts in the year 2430. Apart from the text, you will occasionally find brief explanatory footnotes. Conceive them as having been put there by the translator. If you find parts of this tale unusual or bizarre, please remember that we are living now in a comparatively ignorant day. The tale is not intended to be fantastic or full of new and strange ideas. I have used nothing but those developments of our present-day civilization to which we are all looking forward as logical probabilities—woven them into a picture of what life in America very probably will be five hundred years from now. To that extent, the tale itself is intended to be only a love story of adventure and romance—written, not for you, but for that future audience."// Ray CummingsTotal Running Time (TRT): 8 hours, 32 min. Reading by Tony Oliva.Ray Cummings (1887-1957) was an American author of science fiction, rated one of the "founding fathers of the science fiction pulp genre".Having worked for Thomas Alva Edison, Ray Cummings was inspired by science’s possibilities and began to write science fiction. His most highly regarded work was the novel The Girl in the Golden Atom published in 1922. His career resulted in some 750 novels and short stories, using also the pen names Ray King, Gabrielle Cummings, and Gabriel Wilson.
Brigands of the Moon, Ljudbok
Brigands of the Moon is a science fiction novel by American author Ray Cummings first published in 1931.Brigands of the Moon is one of Cummings’ classic novels – a thrilling novel of the clash of two planets in the fight super-power ore, an adventure in interplanetary piracy, and a prediction of the mining and colonization of the moon that is still as timely as the day it was written.Gregg Haljan was aware that there was a certain danger in having the giant spaceship Planetara stop off at the moon to pick up Grantline's special cargo of moon ore. For that rare metal--invaluable in keeping Earth's technology running--was the target of many greedy eyes. But nevertheless he hadn't figured on the special twist the clever Martian brigands would use.So when he found both the ship and himself suddenly in their hands, he knew that there was only one way in which he could hope to save that cargo and his own secret--that would be by turning space-pirate himself and paying the Brigands of the Moon back in their own interplanetary coin. Total Running Time (TRT): 7 hours, 52 min.Ray Cummings (1887-1957) was an American author of science fiction, rated one of the "founding fathers of the science fiction pulp genre".Having worked for Thomas Alva Edison, Ray Cummings was inspired by science’s possibilities and began to write science fiction.His most highly regarded work was the novel The Girl in the Golden Atom published in 1922. His career resulted in some 750 novels and short stories, using also the pen names Ray King, Gabrielle Cummings, and Gabriel Wilson.
The City at World's End, Ljudbok
The City at World's End is a classic science fiction novel by American author Edmond Hamilton first published in 1951.This is the story of a present-day town and its people – a small Midwestern city whose fifty thousand inhabitants are suddenly flung into an unprecedented and terrifying situation.When a strange scientific cataclysm strikes, Middletown and all its people find themselves hurled out of their own time into the far future of Earth – an Earth grown old and alien and dying, an Earth long ago abandoned by man.And when, at last, these people of the present meet the folk of the far future, the folk whose civilization stretches across the worlds of a thousand stars – then the present and the future clash in dramatic conflict on the dying forgotten Earth.Total Running Time (TRT): 7 hour, 2 min. Reading by Mark Nelson.Edmond Moore Hamilton (1904-1977) was a popular science-fiction author during the "Golden Age" of American science fiction.Hamilton’s career began as a regular and frequent contributor to Weird Tales magazine. The first hardcover publication of Science Fiction stories was a Hamilton compilation, and he and E.E. “Doc” Smith are credited with the creation of the Space Opera type of story. Hamilton worked for DC Comics authoring many stories for their Superman and Batman characters. Hamilton was instrumental in the early growth of the Legion of Super-Heroes feature, as one of its first regular writers.
Star Surgeon, Ljudbok
Star Surgeon is a 1960 science fiction novel by Alan E. Nourse.Born on a planet of a distant star, Dal Timgar is the first alien to attempt to become a qualified physician of Hospital Earth.Dal Timgar had always wanted to be a doctor. As a Garvian and the first non-human to study medicine on Hospital Earth, he must face enormous adversity from classmates, professors, and some of the highest ranking physicians on all of Earth.Will his efforts be enough to earn him the Silver Star of a Star Surgeon?Part of this book was published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories.Total Running Time (TRT): 5 hours, 25 min. Reading by Scott D. Farquhar.Alan Edward Nourse (1928-1992) was an American science fiction author and physician. He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about medicine and science. His SF works generally focused on medicine and/or psionics. Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche.His novel The Bladerunner lent its name to the Blade Runner movie, but no other aspects of its plot or characters, which were taken from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Cozy Cabin. A Sleep Story for Adults, Ljudbok
In The Cozy Cabin you are guided through a beautiful winter landscape to a little cabin. There is a fire burning in a fireplace, making the cabin feel nice and sleepily warm. Besides wood, the fire is fed by thoughts and emotions. With the help of your imagination, you surrender stress and other difficult emotions to the fire, which will turn them all into ash and smoke. After this, you will lie down in a bed that is so comfortable that it is easy for your body to relax. The relaxed feeling in your body makes you sleepier and sleepier. So sleepy that you eventually (hopefully) fall asleep.The Cozy Cabin is meant to help listeners fall asleep. Since both the language and the music are very relaxing and are meant to make you sleepy, you should not listen to this sleep story around anyone operating a vehicle. Should you want to listen on a night bus or road trip, please use headphones.This sleep story is written to suit adults but can also be used by older children (10+) and teenagers. Read by the author. Background music: Pure Relaxation, by Chris Collins.The Cozy Cabin is also available in Swedish, the author’s native language. Swedish title: Den mysiga stugan. En sömnsaga för vuxna. The author’s pseudonym in Swedish is Sophie Grace Meditationer.
Pursuit, Ljudbok
Pursuit is a science fiction novella by American author Lester del Ray, first published in 1952.A man wakes with no memory of the last seven months. He only knows he's in danger. No sooner does he leave his apartment than it explodes in flames. He sets off running through New York.A nicely done paranoid sci-fi story of heat rays, disintegrating men, exploding cats, and trips to the moon. Aliens must be involved--what other explanation can there be?Pursuit was first published in Space Science Fiction May 1952. Audiobook read by Dale Grothman, running time 2 hours. Unabridged full version.Also available as E-Book: ePUB, 18,900 words, average reading time 1 hour, 35 min. Lester del Rey (1915 - 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint of Ballantine Books. Del Rey was awarded the 1972 E. E. Smith Memorial Awardfor Imaginative Fiction (for the Skylark) by the New England Science Fiction Association and a special 1985 Balrog Awardfor his contributions to fantasy, voted by fans and organized by Locus Magazine. The Science Fiction Writers of Americanamed him its 11th SFWA Grand Masterin 1990.
The Decay of Lying, Ljudbok
The Decay of Lying – An Observation is an essay by Oscar Wilde included in his collection of essays titled Intentions, published in 1891. Wilde presents the essay in a Socratic dialogue between with Vivian and Cyril, two characters named after his own sons. Their conversation, though playful and whimsical, promotes Wilde's view of Romanticism over Realism. Vivian tells Cyril of an article he has been writing called "The Decay of Lying: A Protest". According to Vivian, the decay of Lying "as an art, a science, and a social pleasure" is responsible for the decline of modern literature, which is excessively concerned with the representation of facts and social reality. He writes, "if something cannot be done to check, or at least to modify, our monstrous worship of facts, Art will become sterile and beauty will pass away from the land."Vivian briefly summarizes the doctrines of the "new aesthetics" in the following terms:- Art never expresses anything but itself.- All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals.- Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life. - Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.Audiobook read by Martin Geeson, running time 1 hour, 42 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book, ePUB, length 12,700 words, average reading time 1 hour, 5 min.
The Dunwich Horror, Ljudbok
The Dunwich Horror is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos.In a rundown farmhouse near isolated, rural Dunwich, a bizarre family conjures and nurtures an evil entity from another realm, with the purpose of destroying the world and delivering it to ancient gods to rule, and only an aged university librarian can stop them. The Dunwich Horror was first published in 1929 in Weird Tales. Kingsley Amis praised The Dunwich Horror in New Maps of Hell, listing it as one of Lovecraft's tales that "achieve a memorable nastiness". Lovecraft biographer Lin Carter calls the story "an excellent tale...A mood of tension and gathering horror permeates the story, which culminates in a shattering climax". In his list of "The 13 Most Terrifying Horror Stories", T.E.D. Klein placed The Dunwich Horror at number four.Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy, poetry and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction. Audiobook read by Mark Nelson, running time 1 hour, 55 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book.
The Monster Men, Ljudbok
The Monster Men is a science fiction novel by american author Edgar Rice Burroughs.Dr. Arthur Maxon has a dream: to create an artificial human being! So the Doctor and his assistant, Carl von Horn begin their experiments, growing several living creatures in chemical vats, humanoid but mindless and ugly. But, the first twelve experiments have resulted only in grotesque, subhuman monsters.But Number Thirteen is perfect, and will make an ideal mate for Virginia, Dr. Maxon’s only daughter. But his monstrous plan goes awry when it is disrupted by pirates and Maxon’s duplicitous assistant.Experiment Number Thirteen indeed appears to result in a physically perfect man, but as soon as the scientists discover this an emergency distracts them. Experiment Number One has escaped and abducted Virginia…From original Dust Jacket:Men or monsters? What were those thirteen hulking brutes Professor Maxon had created in his laboratory? Soulless, malformed, brainless they were, nevertheless composed of flesh and blood and endowed with the spark of Life. Only Number 13 was the redeeming feature of this gruesome experiment for he was a perfect specimen of a man but he, too, was soulless. Unconsciously he was the cause of the most diabolic plan Professor Maxon had yet concocted – his beautiful daughter Virginia was to marry this monster! Were he in America the mad professor’s plan might have been thwarted but what could a poor girl do, away off in savage Borneo?Very effectively has Mr Burroughs used the age old quest for the secret of Life as the theme of this remarkable story. And he has also created a powerful new character, Bulan the Mighty. You’ll like him.As is usual in Burroughs’ books, Action is the keynote of THE MONSTER MEN. Pirate raids, native uprisings, abductions, the savage fights of Maxon’s monsters, forced flights through unknown jungle country, are but a small portion of the “big doings”. Here’s a book that anyone, young or old, can heartily enjoy.The Monster Men first appeared in print under the title of A Man Without a Soul in the November, 1913 issue of All-Story Magazine, and was first published in book form in hardcover in1929 under the present title. It has been reissued a number of times since by various publishers.Total running time (TRT): 5 hours, 59 min. Reading by Mark Nelson.Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875 - 1950) was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.
Dombey and Son, Ljudbok
Dombey and Son is a novel by Charles Dickens, published in monthly parts from October 1846 to April 1848 and in one volume in 1848. Its full title is: Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation.The story concerns Paul Dombey, the wealthy owner of the shipping company of the book's title, whose dream is to have a son to continue his business. The book begins when his son is born, and Dombey's wife dies shortly after giving birth. Following the advice of Mrs Louisa Chick, his sister, Dombey employs a wet nurse named Mrs Richards. Dombey already has a daughter, Florence, whom he neglects. One day, Mrs Richards, Florence and her maid, Susan Nipper, secretly pay a visit to Mrs Richard's house in Staggs's Gardens so that she can see her children. During this trip, Florence becomes separated and is kidnapped…As with most of Dickens' work, a number of socially significant themes are to be found in this book. In particular the book deals with the then-prevalent common practice of arranged marriages for financial gain. Other themes to be detected within this work include child cruelty (particularly in Dombey's treatment of Florence), familial relationships, and as ever in Dickens, betrayal and deceit and the consequences thereof. Another strong central theme, which the critic George Gissing elaborates on in detail in his 1925 work The Immortal Dickens, is that of pride and arrogance, of which Paul Dombey senior is the extreme exemplification in Dickens' work.Audiobook running time: 40 hours. Unabridged version - 366,519 words - 1,009 pages in the printed edition. Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, is one of the most influential works ever written, and it remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Set in London and Paris, his 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is the best selling novel of all time. His creative genius has been praised by fellow writers, from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton, for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism.
Anna Karenina, Ljudbok
Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published 1878. Widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina his first true novel, when he came to consider War and Peace to be more than a novel. Fyodor Dostoyevsky declared it to be "flawless as a work of art". The novel is currently enjoying popularity, as demonstrated by a recent poll of 125 contemporary authors by J. Peder Zane, published in 2007 in "The Top Ten" in Time, which declared that Anna Karenina is the "greatest novel ever written".Anna Karenina is the tragic story of a married aristocrat/socialite and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. The story starts when she arrives in the midst of a family broken up by her brother's unbridled womanizing — something that prefigures her own later situation, though she would experience less tolerance by others.The novel explores a diverse range of topics throughout its approximately thousand pages. Some of these topics include an evaluation of the feudal system that existed in Russia at the time -- politics, not only in the Russian government but also at the level of the individual characters and families, religion, morality, gender and social class.Tolstoy's style in Anna Karenina is considered by many critics to be transitional, forming a bridge between the realist and modernist novel. Also of significance is Tolstoy's use of real events in his narrative, to lend greater verisimilitude to the fictional events of his narrative. Characters debate significant sociopolitical issues affecting Russia in the latter half of the nineteenth century, such as the place and role of the Russian peasant in society, education reform, and women's rights. The broad array of situations and ideas depicted in Anna Karenina allows Tolstoy to present a treatise on his era's Russia, and, by virtue of its very breadth and depth, all of human society.The novel has been adapted into various media including opera, film, television, ballet, and radio drama.Audiobook total running time: 36 hours. Unabridged version. 349,686 words - ca 900 pages in the printed edition.Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy; (1828-1910), also known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Tolstoy was a master of realistic fiction and is widely considered one of the world's greatest novelists. He is best known for two long novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877).Tolstoy is one of the giants of Russian literature. His contemporaries paid him lofty tributes. Fyodor Dostoyevsky thought him the greatest of all living novelists. Later critics and novelists continue to bear testament to Tolstoy's art. Virginia Woolf declared him the greatest of all novelists. James Joyce noted that, "He is never dull, never stupid, never tired, never pedantic, never theatrical!". Thomas Mann wrote of Tolstoy's seemingly guileless artistry: "Seldom did art work so much like nature".
Eugénie Grandet, Ljudbok
Eugénie Grandet, first published in 1833, is one of Honoré de Balzac's finest novels, and one of the first works in what would become his large novel series titled La Comédie Humaine.Set in a provincial town in post-Revolutionary France, the story deals with money, avarice, love, and obsession.A wealthy old miser must manage the passion of his innocent daughter, who later has to navigate on her own the treacherous ways of a world in which money is "the only god."Balzac's meticulous use of psychological and physical detail influenced the development of 19th-century literary realism, in the hands of writers such as Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, and Henry James. Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories, La Comédie humaine. Many of Balzac's works have been made into or have inspired films, and they are a continuing source of inspiration for writers, filmmakers and critics.Before and during his career as a writer, he attempted to be a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician; he failed in all of these efforts. La Comédie humaine reflects his real-life difficulties, and includes scenes from his own experience.
The Titan, Ljudbok
The Titan is a novel by American author Theodore Dreiser.After his release from prison, Frank Cowperwood invests in stocks subsequent to the Panic of 1873, and becomes a millionaire again. He decides to move out of Philadelphia and start a new life in the West. He moves to Chicago and decides to take over the street-railway system. He bankrupts several opponents with the help of John J. McKenty and other political allies. Meanwhile, Chicago society finds out about his past in Philadelphia and the couple are no longer invited to dinner parties…The Titan is a sequel to Dreiser’s 1912 novel The Financier. The Titan is the second part of Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire, a saga of ruthless businessman Frank Cowperwood (modeled after real-life streetcar tycoon Charles Yerkes). The third part of the trilogy, The Stoic, was Dreiser's final novel, published in 1947 after his death.Theodore Dreiser (1871 - 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency. Audiobook read by Richard Kilmer, running time 22 hours, 18 min. Unabridged full version.
...Or Your Money Back, Ljudbok
...Or Your Money Back is a science fiction novella by Randal Garrett, first published in 1951, under the pen-name David Gordon.There are lots of things that are considered perfectly acceptable ... provided they don't work. And of course everyone knows they really don't, which is why they're acceptable....Total Running Time (TRT): 51 min.Randall Garrett (1927-1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about Earth bringing civilization to an alien planet.
Two On A Tower, Ljudbok
Two on a Tower (1882) is a novel by English author Thomas Hardy, classified by him as a romance and fantasy and now regarded as one of his minor works. The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, set in a parallel version of late Victorian Dorset.The plot concerns two – literally starcrossed – lovers: Swithin St. Cleeve, a very young amateur astronomer, and Viviette Constantine, an unhappily married and abandoned woman 10 years his senior.Each night Swithin climbs the old tower of the title, in the grounds of the Constantine estate. Lady Constantine, whose husband has been absent some years on an extended hunting and exploring journey to Africa, joins the young man in his stargazing, and supports his astronomical ambitions by buying him equipment, though his dreams of scientific renown are disappointed. Their relationship then deepens and takes several twists and turns.This is Hardy's most complete treatment of the theme of love across the class and age divide and the fullest expression of his fascination with science and astronomy.Because the book defied the social norms of the day, upon release the book was called shocking, repulsive, and one critic called it Hardy's "worst yet." Hardy wrote in a letter to Edmund Gosse on 10 Dec 1882, “I get most extraordinary criticisms of T. on a T. Eminent critics write & tell me in private that it is the most original thing I have done...while other eminent critics (I wonder if they are the same) print the most cutting rebukes you can conceive—show me (to my amazement) that I am quite an immoral person...”Total Running Time (TRT): 9h, 15 min.Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist, in the tradition of George Eliot, he was also influenced both in his novels and poetry by Romanticism, especially by William Wordsworth.Charles Dickens is another important influence on Thomas Hardy. Like Dickens, he was also highly critical of much in Victorian society, though Hardy focused more on a declining rural society.Initially he gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). However, since the 1950s Hardy has been recognized as a major poet, and had a significant influence on The Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s, including Phillip Larkin.The bulk of his fictional works, initially published as serials in magazines, were set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex and explored tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances. Hardy's Wessex is based on the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom and eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire, and much of Berkshire, in south west England.
Empire, Ljudbok
Empire is a science fiction novel by Clifford D. Simak, first published in 1951.In a future time, the solar system is powered by one energy source, controlled by one huge organisation, which has plans to use this control to dominate the planets. Unknown to them, a couple of maverick scientists accidentally develop a completely new form of energy supply and threaten the corporation's monopoly. Naturally, the corporation can't allow this to happen...A stunning story about the manipulation of pure energy, climaxing in interstellar conflict.Total Running Time (TRT): 4 hours, 55 min. Reading by Kevin Green.Clifford Donald Simak (1904 -1988) was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo Awards and by colleagues with one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Something About Eve - A Comedy of Fig-leaves, Ljudbok
Something About Eve: A Comedy of Fig-leaves is a humorous fantasy novel by James Branch Cabell. This is the story of how Gerard Musgrave, a young Southern gentleman of the early nineteenth century, went out of his natural body to journey toward the goal of all the gods; of how too he became a god, and rode upon the Silver Stallion; of the women who waylead him, less plurally than singularly; of the Two Truths which he found to be enduring; and of his disastrously happy marriage, and his collapse into an honorable career.The Drama of this you American’s life is produced with a strong supporting cast of not wholly unfamiliar characters, which includes God, and the emperor Nero, and King Solomon and Merlin, and the Sphinx, and Francois Villon, And Satan, and Odysseus, and Tannhauser, and – somewhat prominently – Eve.James Branch Cabell, author of the notorious Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice, brings to us another bawdy and bizarre fantastical comedy of gods and men sure to amuse as much as confound! Robert E. Howard wrote: “I suggest that you read SOMETHING ABOUT EVE. It is perhaps the crowning achievement of a man who is undoubtedly the ablest writer of the present age.”Something About Eve: A Comedy of Fig-leaves was first published in 1927. Audiobook read by Ben Tucker, running time 7 hours, 23 min. Unabridged full version. James Branch Cabell (1879 - 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. Although escapist, Cabell's works are ironic and satirical. Mencken disputed Cabell's claim to romanticism and characterized him as "really the most acidulous of all the anti-romantics. His gaudy heroes ... chase dragons precisely as stockbrokers play golf."
The Big Fix, Ljudbok
The Big Fix is a science fiction novella by George O. Smith first published in 1959. Anyone who holds that telepathy and psi powers would mean an end to crime quite obviously underestimates the ingenuity of the human race.Now consider a horserace that had to be fixed...In a future world where everyone can read minds (somewhat), Wally Wilson (cardsharp, bookie) is better than most.Joe Barcelona wants the Kentucky Derby fixed, and leans hard on Wally to do it. But how?The Big Fix was first published in Astounding Science Fiction December 1959.Total Running Time (TRT): 57 min.George Oliver Smith (1911-1981) (also known by the pseudonym Wesley Long) was an American science fiction author. He is not to be confused with George H. Smith, another American science fiction author.Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957). Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.
The Heel of Achilles, Ljudbok
The Heel of Achilles is another great novel by the beloved author of the Diary of a Provincial Lady and over 40 novels, English author E. M. Delafield. In this novel the life and interactions of young women during World War I in England, are described. After a difficult childhood, Lydia Raymond, a lower middle-class girl, decides to explore her own individuality and climbs the social ladder. Yet, like everything in life, this has a price. This book tells about her childhood, her quest to find herself, and her relationship with her daughter, Jane, who rebels against her. This is a fairytale turned upside down. A fairy-tale—in which Cinderella does all the scheming for herself—with a unique gaiety and sparkle!The Heel of Achilles was first published in 1920. Audiobook read by CJ Plogue, running time 13 hours, 19 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-book: ePUB, 124,800 words, average reading time 10 hours, 25 min.
Lorelei of the Red Mist, Ljudbok
Lorelei of the Red Mist is a science fiction novella by Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett.Ray Starke, a small time criminal, crashes his shuttle while trying to escape pursuit after robbing a payroll worth millions of credits. When he comes to there is an alien woman telling him he's dying but she will put his consciousness in another body and help him escape using telepathy. Published in Planet Stories in 1946, this story is a great mix of Golden Age Sci Fi and Swords & Sorcery. The first half was written by Brackett and when she was pulled away by other commitments the publisher gave it to a new writer, Ray Bradbury, to finish. It is a sort of prequel to the Stark character developed by Brackett where a weak puny man is transferred into the body of a Conan like superman and then cruses through adventure after adventure, always rescuing damsels who are tough and feisty. The publisher blurb says "He died—and then awakened in a new body. He found himself on a world of bizarre loveliness, a powerful, rich man. He took pleasure in his turn of good luck ... until he discovered that his new body was hated by all on this strange planet, that his soul was owned by Rann, devil-goddess of Falga, who was using him for her own gain."Lorelei of the Red Mist was first published in Planet Stories magazine in 1946. Reading by Kirk Ziegler, total running time (TRT): 2 hours, 51 min. Also available as e-book (ePUB).Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012) was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and for the science fiction and horror stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951), Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers. Many of Bradbury's works have been adapted into comic books, television shows and films. Leigh Douglass Brackett (1915-1978) was an American author, particularly of science fiction, and has been referred to as the Queen of Space Opera. She was also a screenwriter, known for her work on such films as The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959) and The Long Goodbye (1973). She was the first woman shortlisted for the Hugo Award.
Breathing Anchor , Ljudbok
The Breathing Anchor Meditation A powerful tool for stress reduction This mindfulness meditation uses your breath as an anchor. It will help you to reduce stress and improve your concentration. The more often you practice this meditation the better your powers of concentration, focus and awareness will become. Our minds are full of thoughts and we often have regrets about the past or worries about the future. Our brain has the ability to change and adapt as the result of practice. We can exercise our brain by meditating just as we exercise the muscles in our body at the gym. This meditation provides the opportunity for you to give yourself a new change, a new moment to focus on your breath and to be in the present moment - a powerful and simple tool for stress reduction. This meditation can be done sitting or lying down.
The Odyssey, Samuel Butler translation, Ljudbok
The Odyssey, Samuel Butler translation, is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other Homeric epic. The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage. Many of these stories are familiar to us, Ulysses and the Sirens, Circe turning his crew to swine and their escape from the Cyclops on the bellies of his sheep, to name a few.The Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon; it is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature, while the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia. Homer was supposedly a blind poet thought to have lived in the Greek colonies in Asia Minor, possibly at Smyrna.This edition of the Odyssey was translated by Samuel Butler and first published in 1900. Audiobook read by Mark Nelson, running time 11 hours. Also available as E-Book, ePUB, length 123,700 words, average reading time 10 hours 10 min.Homer (c. 8th cen) In the Western classical tradition, Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey and is revered as the greatest of ancient Greek epic poets. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.
Against the Grain or Against Nature, Ljudbok
Against The Grain, or Against Nature is a novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans.“THE BOOK THAT DORIAN GRAY LOVED AND THAT INSPIRED OSCAR WILDE”. Such is the enticing epigraph of one early translation of Huysmans’ cult novel of 1884, which is also routinely called the Bible of Decadence. Accurate descriptions, both, of this bizarre masterpiece which has reverberated ever since through high and popular culture.Its narrative concentrates almost entirely on its principal character and is mostly a catalogue of the tastes and inner life of Jean des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive aesthete and antihero who loathes 19th-century bourgeois society and tries to retreat into an ideal artistic world of his own creation. À rebours contains many themes that became associated with the Symbolist aesthetic. In doing so, it broke from Naturalism and became the ultimate example of "decadent" literature. “Against Nature” (or in this version “Against The Grain”) explores to the furthest limit the life of the world-rejecting aesthete living a reclusive existence devoted entirely to artificial paradises of his own devising. This is no solemn tract, however: the book’s anti-hero Duc Jean Floressas Des Esseintes spectacularly fails to achieve his life’s work, as all his attempts to create worlds of perverse experience through synaesthesia and interior decoration prove ludicrously unsatisfying and injurious to health. An innocent tortoise also falls casualty to his theories, in the wonderful fifth chapter.Against The Grain, or Against Nature was originally published in 1884 and this edition is translated by John Howard. However, this translation lacks a chapter, and two brief incidents are also suppressed on account of their sexual perversity. Enjoy what remains. Audiobook read by Martin Geeson, running Time 9 hours, 5 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book: ePUB, 60,000 words, average reading time 5 hours.Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (1848-1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans. He is most famous for the novel À rebours (1884, published in English as Against the Grain or Against Nature.)
Penguin Island, Ljudbok
Penguin Island is a satire novel by French Nobel laureate Anatole France, first published in 1908. The Novel is written in the style of a sprawling 18th- and 19th-century history book, concerned with grand metanarratives, mythologizing heroes, hagiography and romantic nationalism.It is about a fictitious island, inhabited by great auks, that existed off the northern coast of Europe (it was a flightless bird of the alcid family that became extinct in the mid-19th century, resemling a penguin). The history begins when a wayward Christian missionary monk lands on the island and perceives the upright, unafraid auks as a sort of pre-Christian society of noble pagans. Mostly blind and somewhat deaf, having mistaken the animals for humans, he baptizes them.This causes a problem for The Lord, who normally only allows humans to be baptized. After consulting with saints and theologians in Heaven, He resolves the dilemma by converting the baptized birds to humans with only a few physical traces of their ornithological origin, and giving them each a soul.Once baptized, the birds have no choice but to become human. They take on human traits (build civilizations, go to war, etc.). The book is very funny and powerful.Anatole France, (1844-1924), was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.He was a member of the Académie française, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize for Literature "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament".
A Plague of Pythons, Ljudbok
A Plague of Pythons is a science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl. It was originally published in 1962 in Galaxy magazine and in book form in 1965, it was republished in 1984 under the title Demon in the Skull.The title derives from the words "Domina Pythonis" used as part of an exorcism ritual performed in the first chapter to scare away the "demons" that seem to possess people in the novel.In a post-apocalyptic world where every government in the world has been overrun by its own military machinery, only to see that military machinery self-destruct, people are randomly being affected by a plague that seemingly takes over their brains and forces them to commit heinous crimes.Chandler is one of these unfortunate victims, the perpetrator of rape and murder. He is driven out of his community as a Hoaxer (someone who feigns being a victim of the plague), branded on his forehead with the letter H. But he is not feigning.In his travels, he finds the source of the plague, and it's not what people think. It's up to him to deal with it, and he does. But to what end?A Plague of Pythons was first published in Galaxy Magazine in October and December 1962.Total Running Time (TRT): 4 hours, 15 min. Reading by Nick Bulka.Frederik George Pohl, Jr. (1919-2013) was an American science fiction writer and editor, with a career spanning more than seventy-five years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy and its sister magazine If; the latter won three successive annual Hugo Awards as the year's best professional magazine. He won four Hugo and three Nebula Awards.The Science Fiction Writers of America named Pohl its 12th recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award in 1993 and he was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1998.
A Columbus of Space, Ljudbok
A Columbus of Space is a science fiction novel by Garrett P. Serviss first published in 1909.A classic science fiction adventure in the style of and dedicated to the readers of Jules Verne.The hero of this tale of scientific wonder is called "A Columbus of Space" because he is the first to take advantage fo the power of "inter-atomic energy," which enables him to navigate the Ocean of Ether and sail to the shores of another world than ours.He constructs a curious spool-shaped machine and "sets sail" into space, arriving with his companions on the planet Venus.On Venus they discover the dwellers of the dark side, incredible floating cities, and peril at every turn.This is first story ever written about an atomic powered spacecraft. Intrepid explorers from Earth journey to the planet Venus, which always has one side facing the Sun.The night side is a frozen polar wasteland inhabited by Neanderthal like hominids, while the light side has an advanced, Greco-Roman classical type civilisation.Total Running Time (TRT): 7 hours, 20 min. Reading by Mark Nelson.Garrett Putnam Serviss (1851-1929) was an American astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer. Serviss showed a talent for explaining scientific details in a way that made them clear to the ordinary reader.Serviss' favorite topic was astronomy, and of the fifteen books he wrote, eight are devoted to it. He unquestionably was more widely read by the public on that topic than anyone prior to his time. He also wrote six works of fiction in his lifetime, all of which would today be classified as science fiction.
Thuvia, Maid of Mars, Ljudbok
Thuvia, Maid of Mars is a science fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth of the Barsoom series. The principal characters are the Son of John Carter of Mars, Carthoris, and Thuvia of Ptarth, each of whom appeared in the previous two novels. While typical in many ways of Burrough's Barsoom novels, it also includes some inventive elements. In this novel the focus shifts from John Carter, Warlord of Mars, and Dejah Thoris of Helium, protagonists of the first three books in the series, to their son, Carthoris, prince of Helium, and Thuvia, princess of Ptarth. Helium and Ptarth are both prominent Barsoomian city state/empires, and both Carthoris and Thuvia were secondary characters in the previous novel. Its plot devices are similar to the previous Martian novels, involving the kidnapping of a Martian princess. This time John Carter's son Carthoris is implicated. It does however have some inventive and original ideas, including an autopilot and collision detection device for Martian fliers, and the creation of the Lotharians, a race of ancient martians who have become adept at telepathic projection, able to create imaginary warriors that can kill, and sustain themselves through thought alone. The story was first published in All-Story Weekly as a serial in three parts in April 1916. It was later published as a complete novel by A. C. McClurg in October, 1920.Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as Under the Moons of Mars in 1912, and published as a novel as A Princess of Mars in 1917. Ten sequels followed over the next three decades, further extending his vision of Barsoom and adding other characters.The world of Barsoom is a romantic vision of a dying Mars. Writers and science popularizers like Camille Flammarion, who was convinced that Mars was at a later stage of evolution than Earth and therefore much more dry, took the ideas further and published books like Les Terres du Ciel (1884), which contained illustrations of a planet covered with canals. Burroughs gives credits to him in his writings, and goes as far as to say that he based his vision of Mars on that of Flammarion. John Carter is transported to Mars in a way described by Flammarion in Urania (1889), where a man from earth is transported to Mars as an astral body where he wakes up to a lower gravity, two moons, strange plants and animals and several races of advanced humans. In The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds and Lumen, he further speculates about plant people and other creaturs on far away planets, elements that would later appear in the Barsoom stories.The Barsoom series, where John Carter in the late 1800s is mysteriously transported from Earth to a Mars suffering from dwindling resources, has been cited by many well-known science fiction writers as having inspired and motivated them in their youth, as well as by key scientists involv...
Sleep Now - Deep Relaxation , Ljudbok
Sleep Now – Deep relaxation Sleep is an essential part of our lives. We spend at least a third of it just sleeping, and scientific research about sleep and its impact on our health has brought to light just how important regular, healthy and restful sleep really is. A simple and effective method for deep, healthy and thus better sleep is hypnosis."Sleep Now” has been developed by well-known Swedish hypnotherapist Ulf Sandström to help you sleep better at night, which, as a result, makes you energetic and productive during your waking hours. Before you begin, remember to, first of all, find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Secondly, find a comfortable position lying down and when you’re ready, press play. Once the meditation session is over, you will be asleep and will wake up in the morning bright as a button, fully awake and ready to start your day About the author: Ulf SandtrömImagine the cutting edge of mental training and then take one more step. Efficient and sustainable results rely on science, experience, individual adaption and key skills. Ulf's results speak for themselves with thousands of clients, football teams, Olympic athletes, artists, corporate leaders and individuals on a quest to find their true potential. Ulf works with hypnosis as a coaching and therapeutic intervention, using the tools of Neuro Linguistic Programming combined with his experiences from working with hypnosisThis is a part of the series called 'Next level Hypnosis'. .
Boyhood , Ljudbok
Boyhood is a novel first published in 1854 by Russian author Leo Tolstoy.It is the second in Tolstoy's trilogy of three autobiographical novels, including Childhood and Youth, published in a literary journal during the 1850s. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy; (1828-1910), also known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Tolstoy was a master of realistic fiction and is widely considered one of the world's greatest novelists. He is best known for two long novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877).Tolstoy is one of the giants of Russian literature. His contemporaries paid him lofty tributes. Fyodor Dostoyevsky thought him the greatest of all living novelists. Later critics and novelists continue to bear testament to Tolstoy's art. Virginia Woolf declared him the greatest of all novelists. James Joyce noted that, "He is never dull, never stupid, never tired, never pedantic, never theatrical!". Thomas Mann wrote of Tolstoy's seemingly guileless artistry: "Seldom did art work so much like nature".
Faery Lands of the South Seas, Ljudbok
James Norman Hall (USA, 1887-1951) and Charles Nordhoff (USA, 1887-1947) Faery Lands of the South Seas (1920) Reader: Mike Vendetti Returning from the horrors of World War I James Hall and Charles Nordhoff follow a dream to tour the South Pacific. They later co-authored “Mutiny on the Bounty”. This is a love story. A travelogue and an adventure rolled into one.
The age of innocence, Ljudbok
Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this 1920 novel about Old New York society. Newland Archer is wealthy, well-bred, and engaged to the beautiful May Welland. But he finds himself drawn to May's cousin Ellen Olenska, who has been living in Europe and who has returned following a scandalous separation from her husband.
Roderick Hudson, Ljudbok
Originally published in 1875 as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly, Roderick Hudson is a bildungsroman that traces the development of the title character, a sculptor. Roderick Hudson is James's first important novel. The theme of Americans in Europe, so important in much of James's work, is already central to the story. Hudson is a young law student in Northampton, Massachusetts, who shows such surprising ability as a sculptor that the rich Rowland Mallett, visiting a cousin in Northampton, decides to stake him to several years of study in Rome, then a center of expatriate American society. The story has to do not only with Roderick's growth as an artist and the problems it brings, but also as a man susceptible to his new environment, and indeed his occasional rivalries with his American friend and patron.
The Letters of Jane Austen, Ljudbok
The Letters of Jane Austen was published in 1892. This collection includes a selection of Jane Austen's letters, collected by Austen's great-nephew, Edward, Lord Brabourne. The letters are mostly addressed to Austen's sister Cassandra, with whom she was very close.There are also some letters written to two of her nieces, Anna Austen Lefroy and Fanny Knight. They include some references to her published work, including Sense and Sensibility (abbreviated "S and S"), Pride and Prejudice (also called First Impressions, or P and P), Mansfield Park ("MP") and Emma.They are also replete with details about her family life, including the extended families and careers of her brothers, James, Edward, Frank, Henry, and Charles.Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818.In 1994, American literary critic Harold Bloom placed Austen among the greatest Western Writers of all time. In a 2002 poll to determine whom the UK public considers the greatest British people in history, Austen was ranked number 70 in the list of the "100 Greatest Britons". In 2003, Austen's Pride and Prejudice came second in the BBC's The Big Read, a national poll to find the "Nation's best-loved book."