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Fantastic Tales: Visionary And Everyday (Penguin Modern Classics Ser.)
By Italo Calvino. 1983
"The true theme of the nineteenth-century fantastic tale is the reality of what we see: to believe or not to…
believe in phantasmagoric apparitions, to glimpse another world, enchanted or infernal, behind everyday appearances." -- from Calvino's introduction to Fantastic Tales Vampires, ghosts, and other horrors abound in this collection of nineteenth-century fantastic literature, selected and edited by Italo Calvino, a twentieth-century master of the speculative. This posthumously published anthology of enchanting, uncanny, terrifying, and immortally entertaining short stories includes E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Sandman," Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose," Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp," and many more, each with an introduction by Calvino. Fantastic Tales is a delight for the mind and a feast for the senses. "Impressive and utterly pleasing . . . Each story [Calvino] picks is absorbing, unique, and continually surprising." -- Los Angeles TimesWeird Tales: Best Of The Early Years 1923-25
By Jonathan Maberry, Justin Criado, Harry Houdini, Otis Adelbert Kline, Seabury Quinn, Greye La Spina. 1923
First hitting newsstands in 1923, Weird Tales magazine quickly became a literary monster in discovering and publishing the best horror,…
sci-fi and fantasy writers of its day. The pulp magazine was one of the earliest publications, if not the first, to feature strange tales of occultism and alien invasions that simply didn&’t fit into any other magazine at that time. The stories struck a chord with those early audiences, and as a result,Weird Tales created asubgenre as &“weird&” could be attached itself to various genres. Marquee names like master magician Harry Houdini and cosmic horror creator H.P. Lovecraft graced the magazine&’s pages during those early years with several debut stories, alongside authors who were already giants in their own right—Otis Adelbert Kline, Seabury Quinn, and Greye La Spina. Maybe lesser known, but no less influential, writers like Frank Belknap Long Jr., Mary S. Brown, Lyllian Huntley Harris, Hasan Vokine, Arthur J. Burks, and H. Warner Munn turned out disturbing yarns that have stood the test of time only to be resurrected nearly a century later. From the macabre and morbid to unexplainable stories of theoccult, this collection features those early authors across thirteen tales of terror from the impactful years of 1923 to 1925 that are best enjoyed at the witching hour. Reading ritual aside, you've been warned.Fables and Fairy Tales: Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and The Blue Fairy Book
By Andrew Lang, Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop, The Brothers Grimm. 2017
Four timeless anthologies of cherished fables, fairy tales, and bedtime stories from Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and…
Andrew Lang. The most enchanting stories of childhood are included in this sweeping collection. These are the classic tales—of princes and princesses, monsters and magic, enchanted forests and fantastic creatures—that have thrilled readers around the world for generations. Aesop’s Fables: In ancient Greece, a storyteller named Aesop captivated his listeners with tales both beautiful and instructive. From “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” to “The Tortoise and the Hare,” his fables retain the power to guide and entertain. Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Inspired by ancient Danish legends as well as Arabian Nights, Andersen’s classic stories—including “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and “The Snow Queen” (the basis for Frozen)—are composed with a directness that children and adults still find refreshing. The Brothers Grimm: From “Rapunzel” to “Hansel and Gretel” to “Little Red Riding Hood,” the German folktales the Brothers Grimm brought to the world’s attention have become part of the very fabric of our culture. The Blue Fairy Book: Originally published in 1889, this first volume of Andrew Lang’s renowned Fairy Books includes such favorites as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Puss in Boots,” “Aladdin,” and “Jack the Giant-Killer.” To read these stories is to be transported to a realm of imagination. Here, the most important life lessons are imparted through the irresistible magic of storytelling.The Daily Charles Dickens: A Year of Quotes (A Year of Quotes)
By Charles Dickens, James R. Kincaid. 2018
A charming memento of the Victorian era’s literary colossus, The Daily Charles Dickens is a literary almanac for the ages.…
Tenderly and irreverently anthologized by Dickens scholar James R. Kincaid, this collection mines the British author’s beloved novels and Christmas stories as well as his lesser-known sketches and letters for “an around-the-calendar set of jolts, soothings, blandishments, and soarings.” A bedside companion to dip into year round, this book introduces each month with a longer seasonal quote, while concise bits of wisdom and whimsy mark each day. Hopping gleefully from Esther Summerson’s abandonment by her mother in Bleak House to a meditation on the difficult posture of letter-writing in The Pickwick Papers, this anthology displays the wide range of Dickens’s stylistic virtuosity—his humor and his deep tragic sense, his ear for repetition, and his genius at all sorts of voices. Even the devotee will find between these pages a mix of old friends and strangers—from Oliver Twist and Ebenezer Scrooge to the likes of Lord Coodle, Sir Thomas Doodle, Mrs. Todgers, and Edwin Drood—as well as a delightful assortment of the some of the novelist’s most famous, peculiar, witty, and incisive passages, tailored to fit the season. To give one particularly apt example: David Copperfield blunders, in a letter of apology to Agnes Wickfield, “I began one note, in a six-syllable line, ‘Oh, do not remember’—but that associated itself with the fifth of November, and became an absurdity.” Never Pecksniffian or Gradgrindish, this daily dose of Dickens crystallizes the novelist’s agile humor and his reformist zeal alike. This is a book to accompany you through the best of times and the worst of times.A Very Russian Christmas: The Greatest Russian Holiday Stories of All Time (Very Christmas)
By Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Teffi, Lev Tolstoy, Mikhail Zoshchenko. 2016
Running the gamut from sweet and reverent to twisted and uproarious, and with many of the stories appearing in English…
for the first time, this is a collection that will satisfy every reader. Dostoevsky brings stories of poverty and tragedy, Tolstoy inspires with his fable-like tales, Chekhov's unmatchable skills are on full display in a story about a female factory owner and the wretched workers, Klavdia Lukashevitch delights with a sweet and surprising tale of a childhood in White Russia, and Mikhail Zoshchenko recounts madcap anecdotes of Christmas trees and Christmas thieves. There is no shortage of vodka or wit on display here, in a collection that proves, with its wonderful variety and remarkable human touch, that Nobody Does Christmas Like the Russians.My Last ChristmasOn this festive day, because of somebody's sin, it is we who must sit here like the wretched of the earth . . ."The passengers looked at the fussy figure of the little old man with displeasure and irritation."Yes," the old man continued, "because of somebody's sins . . . We are used to watching our little children jump in indescribable delight around the Christmas tree . . . Out of human weakness, dear Sirs and Madams, we enjoy gobbling up ham with green peas and sausages one after another, and a slice of goose, and a tipple tipple of the you know what . . .""Tfu!" said the fishmonger, looking at the wee old man with disgust.The passengers slid forward on their chairs . . .Mao Zedong and Workers: The Labour Movement in Hunan Province, 1920-23 (Routledge Revivals)
By Lynda Shaffer. 1982
Angela Carter's Book Of Wayward Girls And Wicked Women
By Angela Carter. 1986
This bestselling collection of stories extols the female virtues of discontent, sexual disruptiveness and bad manners Here are subversive tales…
- by Ama Ata Aidoo, Jane Bowles, Angela Carter, Colette, Bessie Head, Jamaica Kincaid and Katherine Mansfield among others - all have one thing in common: the wish to restore adventuresses and revolutionaries to their rightful position as models for all womenReflecting the wide-ranging intelligence and deliciously anarchic taste of Angela Carter, some of these stories celebrate toughness and resilience, some of them low cunning: all of them are about not being nice.The Siren’s Lament: Essential Stories (Essential Stories)
By Jun'Ichiro Tanizaki. 2023
Lavishly opulent stories of sensual obsession, cultural heritage, and mythological creatures—translated into English for the first time—from a classic Japanese…
writerFeaturing &“The Qilin,&” &“The Siren&’s Lament,&” and the novella Killing O-Tsuya, this gorgeous new edition of 3 classic works translated by Bryan Karetnyk distills the essence of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's shorter fiction: the co-mingling of Japanese and Chinese mythologies, the chillingly dark side of desire, and the paper-thin line between the sublime and the depraved. &“The Qilin&”: The sage Confucius travels to a kingdom ruled by a struggling duke, whose pursuit of virtue is threatened by his consort's obsession desire for pleasure.Killing O-Tsuya: A naïve servant elopes with his master's daughter, only to be plunged headlong into a world of murder and corruption.&“The Siren&’s Lament&”: Exhausted by a lifestyle of never-ending debauchery, a young prince finds himself in possession of a dazzling, beguiling mermaid.The essential short works of one of the most important and widely-read figured in modern Japanese literature, author of hugely popular works including In Praise of Shadows, The Makioka Sisters, and Naomi; renowned for his investigations of family dynamics, eroticism, and cultural identity.The mysterious power of dreams has always fascinated humanity. Theories of interpretation, meaning, and symbolism have varied, yet their intrigue…
remains eternal. This captivating anthology of dreams represents the experiences of great authors and characters as well as their nighttime wanderings, awakened through passages from the Bible, classical Greek literature, novels, memoirs, essays, philosophy, psychology, and poetry. It explores perspectives both critical and in awe of dreaming’s incredible narrative potential, offering readers an enlightening glimpse into timeless nocturnal musings that can reveal a writer’s most intimate self through nightmare and comedy alike! This original collection contains selections from Louisa May Alcott, the Brontë sisters, G. K. Chesterton, Cicero, René Descartes, Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sigmund Freud, Homer, Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Sophocles, Robert Louis Stevenson, and other dreamers.The Professor and Other Writings
By Terry Castle. 2010
“[Terry Castle is] the most expressive, most enlightening literary critic at large today.” —Susan Sontag From one of America’s most…
brilliant critics and cultural commentators, Terry Castle, comes The Professor and Other Writings: a collection of startling, gorgeously-written autobiographical essays and a new, long-form piece about the devastation and beauty of early love. James Wolcott, contributing writer to Vanity Fair, calls Terry Castle a “Jedi knight of literary exploration and lesbian scholarship,” and The Professor and Other Writings “a greatest-hits package of show-stopping monologues and offhand-genius riffs.” The Professor and Other Writings is a hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of gender, identity, and sexuality in the grand tradition of such feminist luminaries as Susan Sontag, Camille Paglia, and Joan Didion.South Sea Tales
By Jack London.
Set against the natural beauty of south sea islands and alive with the hazards of headhunters, sharks, storms and disease,…
these 8 powerful short stories include "Mauki," which tells of a young Melanesian sold into slavery; as well as "The Terrible Solomons," "The House of Mapuhi," "The Whale Tooth," "Yah! Yah! Yah!," "The Heathen," "The Inevitable White Man," and "The Seed of McCoy." Pure entertainment for lovers of adventure tales and Jack London fans.A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems
By Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Louisa Alcott, L. Montgomery. 2018
This beautiful, giftable Christmas collection features old-fashioned works from classic authors who invite you to a feast of holiday nostalgia.Filled…
with stories that have been part of the Christmas season for generations, A Vintage Christmas is a unique collection of lesser-known Christmas tales, reflections, and poems from beloved authors across the centuries and makes the perfect gift for the reader in your life. This beautiful treasury will take you back to firesides, simple gifts, and warm family moments of Christmases past as you cherish the timeless truths and joys of the season.Discover a charming story from L. M. Montgomery about love and sacrifice in a little log house. See Christmas through the eyes of a child in a New England colonial village with Harriet Beecher Stowe. Remember the reason Christ came to earth in the poetry of Anne Brontë. Share with your family the delightful letter Mark Twain wrote as Santa Claus to his three-year-old daughter.A Vintage Christmas includes stories from Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, Ralph Henry Barbour, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, L. M. Montgomery, and William Dean Howells, as well as poems from Eliza Cook, Christina Rossetti, William Makepeace Thackeray, Joyce Kilmer, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.A Vintage Christmas is a timeless reminder that the heart of the holiday never changes.Hardcover, giftable size Perfect as a stocking stuffer and host or hostess gift Filled with hopeful and encouraging Christmas stories Makes a lovely keepsake companion to A Classic Christmas and A Timeless ChristmasScout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird
By Mary Murphy. 2010
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s beloved classic To Kill a Mockingbird, filmmaker Mary Murphy has interviewed prominent…
figures—including Oprah, Anna Quindlen, and Tom Brokaw—on how the book has impacted their lives. These interviews are compiled in Scout, Atticus, and Boo, the perfect companion to one of the most important American books of the 20th Century. Scout, Atticus, and Boo will also feature a foreword from acclaimed writer Wally Lamb.Dragula
By Ma'Am Stoker. 2018
In a land where the wolves howl 'yassss kween' and Bloody Marys are the only cocktail on offer, Jonathan Harker…
(a most basic b*tch) makes a series of horrifying discoveries at the House of Dragula. A battle between old queens draws fresh blood as the VAMPageant grudge match looms closer. Will Dragula defeat the infamous Van High Heelsing? Will a new protege werk the cape? Will the old bat ever learn to contour? It's all to play for as these classic characters step out of the shadows and into the shade for a tale of unflinching death drops and the ultimate lip sync for your (after) life."To buy books would be a good thing," observed Arthur Schopenhauer, "if we also could buy the time to read…
them." All devoted readers long for more time to spend with their books, and the next best thing to buying time is making the most of the available moments. Great Short Short Stories: Quick Reads by Great Writers offers that opportunity. An outstanding collection of 30 brilliant short stories, each just six or fewer pages in length, it provides the chance to absorb an entire story (or two or three) in just one sitting.Well-known tales from masters of the short-story genre include: Mark Twain, "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"; Franz Kafka, "A Country Doctor"; Edgar Allan Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado"; Guy de Maupassant, "A Piece of String"; Stephen Crane, "The Veteran"; Kate Chopin, "A Pair of Silk Stockings"; plus works by Dickens, O. Henry, Chekhov, Wilde, and many others. Includes 2 selections from the Common Core State Standards Initiative: "A White Heron" and "Cask of Amontillado."The fifth and final volume of a celebrated translation of the classic Chinese novelThis is the fifth and final volume…
in David Roy's celebrated translation of one of the most famous and important novels in Chinese literature. The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P’ing Mei is an anonymous sixteenth-century work that focuses on the domestic life of Hsi-men Ch’ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines. The novel, known primarily for its erotic realism, is also a landmark in the development of the narrative art form—not only from a specifically Chinese perspective but in a world-historical context.This complete and annotated translation aims to faithfully represent and elucidate all the rhetorical features of the original in its most authentic form and thereby enable the Western reader to appreciate this Chinese masterpiece at its true worth.The Portable Charles W. Chesnutt
By Charles W. Chesnutt. 2008
A collection from one of our most influential African American writers An icon of nineteenth-century American fiction, Charles W. Chesnutt,…
an incisive storyteller of the aftermath of slavery in the South, is widely credited with almost single-handedly inaugurating the African American short story tradition and was the first African American novelist to achieve national critical acclaim. This major addition to Penguin Classics features an ideal sampling of his work: twelve short stories (including conjure tales and protest fiction), three essays, and the novel The Marrow of Tradition. Published here for the 150th anniversary of Chesnutt's birth, The Portable Charles W. Chesnutt will bring to a new audience the genius of a man whose legacy underlies key trends in modern Black fiction.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.A Different Sound: Stories by Mid-Century Women Writers (Pushkin Press Classics)
By Elizabeth Bowen, Daphne Du Maurier, Elizabeth Taylor. 2023
Elegant, timeless, and riveting: an exciting anthology of short stories by mid-century women writers from Britain and Ireland—many being published…
in America for the first timeThese remarkable short stories from the 1940s and 50s depict women and men caught between the pull of personal desires and profound social change. From a remote peninsula in Cornwall to the drawing rooms of the British Raj, domestic arrangements are rewritten, social customs are revoked and new freedoms are embraced.Selected and introduced by writer and critic Lucy Scholes, Senior Editor at McNally Editions, this collection places works from renowned women writers alongside recently rediscovered voices.Contains:&“The Cut Finger&” by Frances Bellerby &“Summer Night&” by Elizabeth Bowen &“The Birds&” by Daphne du Maurier &“The Land Girl&” by Diana Gardner&“Listen to the Magnolias&” by Stella Gibbons&“Shocking Weather, Isn&”t It?&” by Inez Holden&“The First Party&” by Attia Hosain&“Three Miles Up&” by Elizabeth Jane Howard &“The Skylight&” by Penelope Mortimer&“The Thames Spread Out&” by Elizabeth Taylor&“Scorched Earth Policy&” by Sylvia Townsend WarnerSuffused with tension and longing, the captivating stories collected here from acclaimed as well as lesser-known women writers form a window onto a remarkable era of writing.Continental Crimes (British Library Crime Classics #0)
By Martin Edwards. 2017
A man is forbidden to uncover the secret of the tower in a fairy-tale castle by the Rhine. A headless…
corpse is found in a secret garden in Paris – belonging to the city’s chief of police. And a drowned man is fished from the sea off the Italian Riviera, leaving the carabinieri to wonder why his socialite friends at the Villa Almirante are so unconcerned by his death. These are three of the scenarios in this new collection of vintage crime stories. Detective stories from the golden age and beyond have used European settings – cosmopolitan cities, rural idylls and crumbling chateaux – to explore timeless themes of revenge, deception, murder and haunting. Including lesser-known stories by Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, J. Jefferson Farjeon and other classic writers, this collection reveals many hidden gems of British crime.Impossible crime stories have been relished by puzzle-lovers ever since the invention of detective fiction. Fiendishly intricate cases were particularly…
well suited to the cerebral type of detective story that became so popular during the ‘golden age of murder’ between the two world wars. But the tradition goes back to the days of Edgar Allan Poe and Wilkie Collins, and impossible crime stories have been written by such luminaries as Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham. This anthology celebrates their work, alongside long-hidden gems by less familiar writers. Together these stories demonstrate the range and high accomplishment of the classic British impossible crime story over more than half a century.