Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

Asgard Stories - Tales from Norse Mythology. To all our Children who have loved the hearing of these Asgard Stories. This little volume is the outcome of several years experience in telling to classes of children the classic myths, both southern and northern. "A broad simplicity, so very different from the light gracefulness of the old Greek paganism, distinguishes this Norse system. It is thought, the genuine thought of deep, rude, earnest minds, fairly opened to the things about them, - a face-to-face and heart-to-heart inspection of things, - the first characteristic of all good thought in ...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 32 recordings of Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare.This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for April 23, 2019. ------A perennial Shakespeare favorite. The sober, almost depressed beginning ends with the sun shining through. Here is a playful video performance, a visual treat, by LV member iBeScotty - https://youtu.be/5WEdVfiSoE0 (William Allan Jones)

The Dance of Death is a play in two parts by the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, written in 1900. It depicts the dissolution of a marriage between Edgar, an artillery captain, and Alice, a former actress. Increasingly isolated in their fort-like house, they manipulate and bait each other, until the unexpected arrival of Curt, Alice's cousin. His presence creates a tense triangular relationship that escalates throughout Part One, and is complicated with the introduction of two of the trio's children, Allan and Judith, in Part Two. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)CastEdgar: Bob NeufeldAlice: ...

Il Decamerone è una raccolta di cento novelle scritta da Giovanni Boccaccio tra il 1349 e il 1351.Le novelle sono raccontate a turno da un gruppo di 7donne e 3 uomini rifugiatisi in una villa fuori Firenze per sfuggire all'imperversare della peste.È considerata una delle opere più importanti della letteratura del Trecento europeo, ed e' la capostipite della letteratura in prosa in volgare italiano. (Riassunto di Eysiss)

A series of tales -- told by men, of course -- about women. Though the book first appeared in 1842, Balzac later added to it as an addenfum a tale of 1831, La Grande Bretèche. That will be read later, keeping it separate to mirror the form of the English translation here used. (More to follow) - Summary by Nicholas Clifford

The people of the small town of Tamfield are not used to exciting things happening. When millionaire Raffles Haw moves to town, rumors spread like wildfire about him. The advent of Mr. Haw, however, changes the town, and particularly the lives of the McIntyre family, in ways no one could ever have guessed. (summary by Patrick Wells)

This comprehensive anthology of English sonnets of the Nineteenth Century, edited and arranged by William Sharp, was published in 1887. It contains 270 poems by 126 different authors, ranging from the most celebrated poets, like Keats, Shelley and Wordsworth to some who are extremely obscure. Sharp outlines the purpose of the collection as follows: "For the concise expression of an isolated poetic thought an intellectual or sensuous wave keenly felt, emotionally and rhythmically the sonnet would seem to be the best medium. To bring this more clearly home to the mind of the reader unacquainted ...

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749) was the first widely-read English novel in the genre “Erotica.” It was written by John Cleland as he was serving hard time at a debtor’s prison in London. Over the centuries, the novel has been repeatedly banned by authorities, assuring its preeminent role in the history of the ongoing struggle against censorship of free expression.Until Fanny Hill, previous heroines had conducted their amorous liaisons “off-stage.” Any erotic misadventures were described euphemistically. As women who had gone astray, they always repented, which made ...

Nanda Brookenham is coming of age, and thus 'coming out' in London society - which leads to complications in her family's social set in London's fin de siècle life. James presents the novel almost entirely in dialogue, an experiment that adds to the immediacy of the scenes but also creates serious ambiguities about characters and their motives. Summary by Anna Simon, adapted from Wikipedia.

The worshipers of this ancient tentacled horror are still with us, waiting for this terrible being to awake and take vengeance again on an earth filled with nonbelievers. Lovecraft delves into this eons old cult in the greatest detail of any of his stories about Cthulhu and gives us hints about how it is worshiped and the abominable rituals involved. Creepy. Very creepy. - Summary by phil chenevert

After an unspecified family disaster, protagonist Lucy Snowe travels to the fictional city of Villette to teach at an all-girls school where she is unwillingly pulled into both adventure and romance. Summary by Wikipedia Cast list: Narrator: Mary J Lucy Snowe: Elizabeth Barr Graham/Dr. John: Robert Dixon Monsieur Paul: Herman Roskams Madame Beck: Elizabeth Klett Polly/Paulina: Amanda Friday Mrs. Bretton: Michele Eaton Ginevra Fanshawe: Libby Gohn Mr. Home/Bassompierre: tovarisch Rosine [the portress]: Leanne Mademoiselle St. Pierre [a teacher]: Kristin Gjerløw Isabelle [a student]: Arie Pere ...

The English Romantic Period in literature featured a towering group of excellent poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats. If we add in forerunners Burns and Blake, we have perhaps an unmatchable collection of writers for any era. Of these, Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the brightest and best, coupling a giant intellect with a highly emotional and impetuous nature. He was always a champion of liberty, but was largely ignored when he tried to promote political and social reform. He was wise enough, however, to realize that his efforts were ineffective, and he chose instead, not ...

This anthology of folktales, fables, and legends has been selected from twenty different books published in 1928, covering a range of European stories (ancient and modern) along with stories from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Many, but not all, of the stories are for young readers, featuring some well-known authors of children's literature, including Erick Berry, Paul Fenimore Cooper, Georgene Faulkner, and Eva March Tappan, among others. Several stories come from the "Book Trails" series, a 16-volume collection of stories and poems for children that was published in 1928 (...

"Leave it to Jeeves" was Bertie's motto, be the question one of a colour of a tie, the style of a hat, the cut of a coat. Jeeves was always right. There was no one like him to placate rich uncles or indignant mammas. He said just the right thing at just the right moment.What did it matter that Jeeves was somewhat of a tyrant, and that without his approval Bertie could not grow so much as a moustache? Was he not always there to lean on in moments of stress? And moments such as these were frequent in the life of Bertie and his friends. Jeeves service was extended to them all."Carry On, Jeeves" ...

The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Little Nell, a beautiful and virtuous young girl who lives with her grandfather in his shop of curiosities. Her grandfather loves her dearly, and Nell does not complain, but she lives a lonely existence without friends of her own age. Her only friend is Kit, an honest young lad who works at the shop, and whom she is teaching to write. Unbeknownst to Nell, her grandfather is obsessed with their precarious financial position and is attempting to make Nell a good inheritance by winning at cards. He keeps these nocturnal activities a secret, but borrows ...

Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans), was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time. The novel has remained in print ever since, and is used in university studies of 19th century English literature. The story's plot follows four characters rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around a love triangle between beautiful but thoughtless Hetty Sorrel, Captain Arthur Donnithorne, ...

Barrack-Room Ballads is a collection of poems by Rudyard Kipling which describe life in the British Army, particularly in India, in his time. The poems are written in the voice and language of soldiers of that time. The collection includes some of his best known poems. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)

Following Anne of Green Gables, the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley. Anne of Avonlea follows Anne from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at Avonlea school. It includes many of the characters from Anne of Green Gables, as well new ones like Mr Harrison, Miss Lavendar Lewis, Paul Irving, and the twins Dora and Davy. (Summary from Wikipedia.org)

The inspirational and visionary poetry of Emily Brontë will live forever in the annals of great works of creative art. Renowned as the author of the novel "Wuthering Heights", the mystically contemplative poems of Brontë are featured in this superb collection of some of her best work. These are universally appealing poems that actively examine each and everyone's place in this life of love, loss and wonderment - the wonderment of millions of magical souls on a journey whose terminus remains obscure. Brontë writes of life and exhibits a prescient insight into a mystical universal life form -...

"The Stories in this little book have been set down almost in the same words in which they were told. How the telling of them came about is a very simple matter. Having three children, each of whom loved a Fairy Tale, it somehow became the fashion, on Sunday evenings, to tell them a story.On one occasion, when the youngest member was just about to be taken to bed, his sister said; “None of the books about Fairies ever say a word about Australia! Are there any Australian Fairies, Father?”Somewhat hastily, perhaps, I answered: “Why, yes, of course! Whole tribes of them!”Instantly the ...