Unabridged: Classics, Adventure, Suspense
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| | (Single books On Sale For up to 60% -OFF MSRP) | | AUTHOR | TITLE | Unabr | SALE | New | Media |
| BOX 70B |
| ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING | SELECTED POEMS -
This collection contains poems Elizabeth Browning wrote in her early days as well as the last poems she wrote before her death at fifty-five: ballads, such as "Lady Geraldine's Courtship" along with her religious, social-reforming, and political verse. Included are: "The Dream," "The Image of God," "A Sea-Side Meditation," "The Tempest," "Night and the Merry Man," "The Romaunt of Margret," "The Romance of the Ganges," "The Lost Bower," "Rime of the Duchess May," "Catarina to Camoens," "The Romance of the Swan's Nest," "A Man's Requirements," "A Woman's Shortcomings," "A Curse Before a Nation," "Christmas Gifts," "My Heart and I," "A Musical Instrument," and several others, all of which demonstrate Browning's astonishing versatility and mastery of the English language.
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(5T,7.5H) | $16 | No | T |
| ROBERT BROWNING | SELECTED POEMS -
Robert Browning was a deeply religious man who wrestled to obtain and keep his Christian faith. His conviction was that life in this world is so riddled with evil and sorrow that only a future life can make sense of it. He viewed life as a training ground that God provided in His divine love and sovereign will. To Browning, the most dreaded fate would be to live a "ghastly smooth life, dead at heart."
Given Browning's intensely romantic love affair with Elizabeth Barrett, it is characteristic that he should view love as the key to the meaning of life and life's animating force. This view of life is projected throughout his poetry.
Included in this collection are "Johannes Agricola in Meditation," "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," "Fra Lippo Lippi," "A Toccata of Galuppi's," "The Lost Leader," "The Statue and the Bust," "How it Strikes a Contemporary," "The Patriot," "Memorabilia," "James Lee's Wife," "Confessions," "Youth and Art," "A Likeness," "Mr. Sludge," "The Medium," "House," "St. Martin's Summer," "The Names," "Beatrice Signorini," "Spring Song," and others.
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(4T,6H) | $16 | No | T |
| LORD BYRON | SELECTED POEMS -
Although denounced on moral grounds and attacked by critics, Byron's poetry was extremely popular in 19th-century England and in Europe, where he traveled widely. Bertrand Russell wrote, "As a myth his importance, especially on the continent, was enormous." Romanticism was profoundly influenced by Byron's writings.
Byron's poetry is replete with witticisms, surprise rhymes, and editorial comment. In "Don Juan" he admits, "I must own,/If I have any fault, it is digression;/ Leaving my people to proceed alone,/While I soliloquize beyond expression." Gracefully constructed yet chatty, even earthy, Byron's work reminds us that serious poetry need not be solemn.
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(2T,3H) | $10 | No | T |
| EMILY DICKINSON | SELECTED POEMS -
Unpublished in her lifetime and unknown at the time of her death, Emily Dickinson today is gaining her deserved place alongside Walt Whitman as one of the two greatest American poets of the nineteenth century. The subjects of these poems are as wide-ranging as their author's life was constrained: beginning always with particulars of personal experience, her poems encompass life and death, love and longing, joyfulness and sorrow. With sparce, precise language, she conveyed a penetrating vision of the natural world and an acute understanding of the most profound human truths.
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(4T,6H) | $10 | No | T |
| JOHN DONNE | SELECTED POEMS -
The status of John Donne (1572-1631) as one of the greatest poets in the English language is firmly established. He strongly influenced writers of the 17th century, and modern poets such as T.S. Eliot have praised and imitated Donne's work. His poetry is characterized by dramatic, witty, and bold language; by strikingly original imagery; and rhythms based on everyday speech. His thought is complex, but his poems unfold in a logical way. Like Shakespeare, Donne was a genius at making common words yield up rich, poetic meaning.
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(2T,3H) | $10 | No | T |
| JOHN KEATS | SELECTED POEMS -
One of the most distinctive periods in poetry occurred in England early in the 1800s. This is now referred to as the age of Romanticism, a movement which rebelled against the neo-classical poetic forms and traditions. John Keats was a prominent shaper of this movement and, as such, he was not without his critics. The Tory Blackwood's Magazine reviled him as an "ignorant and unsettled pretender to culture and a bantling who has already learned to lisp sedition."
Unlike Shelly, however, Keats was not a political poet. Indeed, his prime passion was for art and beauty. His muse was the goddess of Beauty and Truth. His worship of her found its finest expression in his immortal odes, which stand unique in literature, unexcelled in perfection.
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(2T,3H) | $10 | No | T |
| FRANCOIS MAURIAC (1932) | VIPER'S TANGLE -
Winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Viper's Tangle is the supreme example of Mauriac's art. In all of literature there can be few more astounding studies of a soul devoured by pride and avarice, corroded by hatred. The theme of this remarkable novel is the most exciting in the world - the battle for the human soul.
Louis, the central figure, all but personifies evil. He is a millionaire many times over, yet wretchedly unhappy. Toward the end of his life, seeking to uncover the cause of his unhappiness, he commits to paper his whole bitter story: a childhood smothered with indulgence by his mother but starved of any other affection... his love for Isa, and how it thawed his frozen heart... the trivial misunderstanding that festered until it poisoned their entire married life and the lives of their children... the old miser's struggle to disinherit his family... and the final powerful climax, with divine grace vying to the very end to pierce the evil encrusting louis' soul.
The fascination of this book lies in Mauriac's extraordinary talent for making people live. probing to the inmost core of human character, he gets inside his subjects. His genius consists of seeing beneath the surface, down to the depths of the soul, where our deepest selves subsist, where the battle of good and evil wages, where man's eternal destiny is decided. Subtlety of mind, clear vision, a sound philosophy of man, and unshakable honesty in the face of human frailty-these are the sources of Mauriac's astonishing gift for laying bare the human heart.
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(4T,6H) | $16 | No | T |
| H.H. MUNRO | SHORT STORIES BY SAKI -
Hector Munro, writing under the pseudonym of Saki, is justly renowned for his urbane and witty short stories. His eccentric characters, humorous dialogue and engaging domestic situations all reveal a penetrating and sometimes disturbing insight into human nature. As a quixotic tour guide, Saki leads the reader from garden party to pig sty to political convention with the ease of one who is intimately familiar with the cares and foibles of the human condition, showing us this vista of life through the well tempered lens of his gentle, british irony. In this definitive collection of stories we can browse and sightsee at our leisure, cross borders of fresh insight, admire and enjoy each whimsical tale as we journey through the imaginative landscape of a truly artful writer.
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(8T,12H) | $28 | No | T |
| ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER | AN ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER READER -
This collection by Singer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1977, contains 13 short stories, 4 memoirs and the complete novel "The Magician of Lublin," a "tale about Yasha Mazur, who makes a living in the circuses and theaters of 19th century Poland. He can skate on the high wire, eat fire and, above all, charm any woman."
Short stories included are: "Gimpel the Fool," "The Mirror," "The Unseen," "The Man who Came Back," "Short Friday," "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy," "Blood" "The Fast," "The Seance," "The Slaughterer," "The Lecture," "Getzel the Monkey," and "A Friend of Kafka."
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(10T,15H) | $36 | No | T |
| JACK LONDON | WHITE FANG -
Jack London's tales are more than epics of hardship and survival -- they are morality plays in which good wins over evil.
In WHITE FANG, virtue takes shape in a young prospector and his fiercely loyal wolf-dog. It's a timeless tale of courage and survival as well as a touching friendship between man and animal.
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(7T,7H) | $20 | No | T |
| GEORGE ORWELL | ANIMAL FARM -
It is clear from the beginning that this is not going to be a simple story about animals. Animal Farm is an allegory of the glory of collectivist revolution followed by the inevitable totalitarian dictatorship of the revolutionaries themselves. Farm animals rebel against their drunken human master. But when the pigs assert their superiority over the rest of the animals, appending to the idealist principle that "all animals are equal" the insidious coda that "some animals are more equal than others," the farm is headed for disaster. The pigs' cynical grab of power eventually leads to the liquidation of those who believed most in the revolution, and the cycle of desolation comes full-circle. The specifics of who allegorically represents Trotsky, who Stalin are unimportant; the conclusion is real.
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(3T,3H) | $10 | No | T |
| SIR WALTER SCOTT (1817) | ROB ROY -
A favorite among Scott's "Waverly" books,ROB ROY follows the adventures of Francis Osbaldistone, a businessman's son who falls out of favor with his father and is sent to stay in the Scottish Highlands. At the house of his uncle he meets Rashleigh, the greedy and malicious youngest son, and Diana Vernon, Rashleigh's beautiful, young cousin. Seeing that Diana is attracted to Francis, Rasleigh determines to destroy him. What Rasleigh does not realize, is that Francis will seek the help of Rob Roy MacGregor, a powerful and enigmatic outlaw who courageously fights for justice and dignity for the Scottish people.
Strong plot and superb period detail combine to makeRob ROY a captivating tale-and an extraordinary portrait of the haunted highlands and the glorious Scottish past. | Y
(14T,21H) | $36 | No | T |
| ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON | DR. JEKYLL And MR. HYDE -
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is the story of a wealthy physician who, with the help of chemical formulations, as a young man begins to live a double life. Yet in completing this transformation Dr. Jekyll unleashes the dark, evil side of his nature, as manifested in Mr. Hyde. Alas, the alter ego is not only hideous and compelling, but ultimately fatal.
THE TURN OF THE SCREW is a story of evil more refined. Two children see apparitions; these visions corrupt them but leave the question...are the apparitions evil, or the children themselves?
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(7T,7H) | $20 | No | T |
| HARRIET BEECHER STOWE | UNCLE TOM'S CABIN -
An immediate international sensation, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN was the first American novel to sell over a million copies. It has been translated into thirty-seven languages and has never gone out of print. Its political impact was and is immense, and its emotional influence immeasurable.
Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in June, 1811, and was raised in strict accord with the precepts of the Congregational Church. Her father was a minister, as were her two brothers. Her devotion to equality among men led her to champion the cause of freedom for slaves, and her book probably did as much as any pronouncement by politicians to hasten the demise of "the peculiar institution."
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(14T,21H) | $44 | No | T |
| HARRIET BEECHER STOWE | UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (Blackstone) -
"So this is the little lady who made this big war." While Abraham Lincoln's legendary comment upon meeting Mrs. Stowe may be questioned, few will deny that this work fueled the passions of many. Uncle Tom's Cabin is an overwhelmingly powerful novel that was hailed by Tolstoy as "one of the greatest productions of the human mind." Furthermore, notwithstanding its contribution to the abolitionist movement, the book offers a balanced treatment-there is admiration for the best of Southern gentility and the villain is a Vermonter.
The book is set in Kentucky and Louisiana. Uncle Tom is a high-minded, devoutly Christian black slave in a humane family, the Shelbys. Beset by financial difficulties, the Shelbys sell Tom to a slave trader. Young George Shelby promises to someday redeem him. The story relates Uncle Tom's trials, suffering, and religious fortitude.
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(14T,21H) | $40 | No | T |
| LEO TOLSTOY | WAR AND PEACE - BBC Dramatization
For the first time, Tolstoy's famous classic is produced in a masterful, full-cast dramatization from the BBC.
Chronicling one of the most turbulent eras in Russian history, Napoleon's advance on Moscow and his troops' eventual desvastation, War and Peace captures the essence of nineteenth-century Russia, and encompasses all the drama and intensity of life at that time.
But it is also a complex story of love and society, full of Tolstoy's profound insights into human nature, and his reflecitons on the concepts of history and war... it is a brilliant tale of the aristocracy and the military, and of romance, betrayal, courage, and suffering. (Although 22 at the time of my first reading, it opened my own mind to adulthood, and life.)
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(10T,9H) | $16 | No | T |
| H.G. WELLS | THE WAR OF THE WORLDS / THE TIME MACHINE -
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is H.G. Wells' classic chiller about a Martian attack on the Earth. It inspired Orson Welles' 1938 radio dramatization that threw the country into a widespread panic. It remains a singular and entertaining example of early science fiction.
THE TIME MACHINE is the first science fiction story dealing with time travel. It is masterfully thought out and filled with a fascinating wealth of inventiveness.
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(7T,7H) | $20 | No | T |
| EDITH WHARTON (© 1911) | ETHAN FROME -
Considered to be the finest of Edith Wharton's many novels and short stories, ETHAN FROME departs from her usual milieu of fashionable turn-of-the-century society to evolve, in its author's words, "the lonely lives in half-deserted New England villages, before the coming of the motor and the telephone."
This is the tragic story of three such lives: those of the young farmer, Ethan Frome; his wife, Zenobia (Zeena); and Mattie Silver, Zeena's cousin, whom Ethan loves. The grim irony of their fate is unraveled by way of flashback, which illustrates for us a tragedy of misspent lives and wasted talent. Ethan Frome, with his 19th century values, is slowly being crushed by a 20th century which has no use for him.
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(4T,4H) | $14 | No | T |
| WALT WHITMAN (1855) | LEAVES OF GRASS -
G.K. Chesterton argued that Walt Whitman is the greatest American. Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855 and augmented every few years until the poet's death in 1892, is his masterpiece. It was greeted by Ralph Waldo Emerson as "the wonderful gift... the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed."
Whitman succeeded in his ambition: to create something uniquely American. His poems have been woven into the very fabric of the American character. From his solemn dirges "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "O Captain! My Captain!" to the joyous freedom of "Song of Myself," "I Sing the Body Electric," and "Song of the Open Road," Leaves of Grass lives on, providing inspiration to the people and poets of generations to come.
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(13T,19.5H) | $36 | No | T |
| WORDSWORTH | SELECTED POEMS -
With Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wordsworth launched the English Romantic movement. His subjective and impassioned verse, free from clichT, gradually won over the reading public, and he became poet laureate in 1843, near the end of his life. "Few poets, Shakespeare alone apart, can give more to the twentieth century," declares an eminent critic.
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(2T,3H) | $10 | No | T |
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