Showing results by author "Beauty_23" in All Categories

This exciting historical adventure depicts the last stand of the Gordons - God's "outlaws" - fighting for their Catholic Faith in the early days of the Protestant Revolution in seventeenth-century Scotland.Written for the children but enjoyed by young and old alike, this intriguing novel is filled with courageous heroes, cowardly villains, secrets and even secret passages! (Summary by Maria Therese)Reader's Note: A new (and hopefully improved) recording of this book was uploaded in June, 2013.

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to Vyasa. With more than 74,000 verses, Mahabharata is said to be the longest poem. Mahabharata tells the story of the epic Kurukshetra War and the fates of the cousin brothers Kauravas and the Pandavas. But more than that the Mahabharata contains much philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or 'purusharthas'. The latter are enumerated as dharma (right action), artha (purpose), kama (pleasure), and moksha (...

Personality Plus is an early novel by American author Edna Ferber. Originally published in 1914, Personality Plus is the second of three volumes chronicling the travels and events in the life of Emma McChesney. Ferber achieved her first successes with a series of stories centering around this character, a stylish and intelligent divorced mother who rises rapidly in business. ( Summary by Wikipedia )

A story for boys who want to know of the thrills and joys of Aviation. It is written by a war flyer who was a pilot with a squadron at the front and who there learned to know how he and other young men reacted to those dangerous moments when lightning-quick decisions were necessary. - Summary by EDITOR

William Weekley was graduate of Asbury Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, and a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. From the author’s preface, “It was not my purpose, in the preparation of this little volume, to make it an autobiography, but rather a narration of incidents connected with the twenty years of humble service which I tried to render the United Brethren Church among the mountains of West Virginia. These incidents present an all-round view, in outline, of the real life and labors of the itinerant preacher, a third of a century ago, in an isolated section, where the ...

Three little kittens unwisely leave their mittens on the bank of the pond when they go ice-skating one day, and they return to find the mittens have vanished. What follows is the exciting tale of how the kittens finally retrieve their mittens. - Summary by Rachel Tevis

This is a collection of public domain science fiction stories which were turned into half-hour plays for the classic mid-1950's American radio series, X Minus One. All of these stories were added to Project Gutenberg via Greg Weeks and crew at Distributed Proofreaders.(Summary by BellonaTimes)

Before he wrote the Oz books, L. Frank Baum wrote this book which was the best selling book of 1897. Taking 22 beloved nursery rhymes, he explains their meaning and fascinating history. What is the true story of Little Boy Blue? Why was Mary contrary?As he says in the introduction, "Many of these nursery rhymes are complete tales in themselves, telling their story tersely but completely; there are others which are but bare suggestions, leaving the imagination to weave in the details of the story. Perhaps therein may lie part of their charm, but however that may be I have thought the children ...

As the butterfly is drawn by instinct over thousands of miles to its mate, so the man Hudson is drawn to a deadly island of terrors to the woman of his dreams. Hudson is found adrift on a sampan, seemingly drawn forth by a cloud in the riggings that suddenly lifts and soars off against the wind. We hear bits and pieces of Hudson's tale in fits and starts, his earlier life in a doomed long-distance romance, his eventual adventure on the China Seas. Written by Melville Davisson Post, noted author of primarily detective fiction including the long-running Uncle Abner series, The Revolt of the ...

Viviette is a headstrong young girl who is pursued by two brothers: Austin, a headstrong man of the world and a barrister in London, and Dick, who is much quieter and who has remained at the family home to look after the estate and his mother. This short story follows the twists and turns of the relationships of the three, leading to a surprising ending. - Summary by Simon Evers

Fisher’s treatment of the history of Finland, in the context of its relations with Russia, was released in 1899—at the start of the first attempted wave of Russification. At this time, it seems, many Finns regarded it as a misunderstanding. A mistake. Not a contrivance of Nicholas II, but a villainy emanating instead, fen-sucked, from the sinister Russian state machinery—the fief of a myopic and obdurate cadre of supremacists and absolutists. Men like the rabid anti-semite Konstantin Pobedonostsev who, by the camera's harsh testimony, seems to have died long before he stopped coming in ...

Incredibly prolific author Oscar Schisgall, who contributed over 4,000 stories to publications like Reader's Digest and Colliers, published two thrilling stories in Weird Tales magazine, "The Death Pit" ("a novelette of grim tragedy") in November of 1923 and "In Kashla's Garden ("a tale of hypnotism") in May of 1927. Enjoy this pair of macabre tales sure to bring tingles to the spine! - Summary by Ben Tucker

My dear friends... Do you find that you suffer from the condition known as ARACHNOPHOBIA? Do you cower in fear at the feeling of those hairy little legs as they crawl slowly up your leg, a wisp of webbing in their wake? Do you spend sleepless nights shivering in horror at the idea of their sharp fangs sinking into your tender, soft flesh? Boy, do we have a collection of stories for you! From those madcap maniacs at Weird Tales magazine, we bring you eleven spine-tingling tales of arachnid terror that is sure to give you goosebumps! - Summary by Ben Tucker

A collection of three translated diaries written during the latter part of the Heian Period (11th century A.D.). The original authors, Sugawara no Takasue no musume, Murasaki Shikibu, and Izumi Shikibu, were all women of the Japanese court; the latter two known also for their novels and poetry, respectively. - Summary by Wikisource

The first chapter of a book is often the hook to draw a reader in. It could make you eager for more or realize it isn't for you. Here we offer the sixth First Chapter Collection" in which readers share the first chapters of a variety of fiction and non-fiction works.

The poem begins with the beloved god Balder, thought to be invulnerable, dead at the hands of the inoffensive blind god Hoder, in a game. Loki, whose deceit brought about this catastrophe, is promptly punished with exile, and Odin, Balder's father, sponsors a heroic quest to rescue his son from the land of the dead. This desperate venture unexpectedly meets with partial success, a conditional agreement to release Balder if everyone in the land of the living mourns his death. And even though over every hope hangs the threat of the ultimate end of the reign of the Norse gods, the mother of the ...

"Balder Dead" is a beautiful epic poem by Matthew Arnold. It draws from Norse mythology to retell the story of the the death of Odin's son, Balder, instigated by the treacherous jealousy of Loki. (Summary by Nathan)

Heart of Darkness tells the story of an English seaman, Charles Marlow, who embarks on a voyage up the Congo River and into the African wilderness. He soon becomes obsessed with the success of an ivory trading commander, Kurtz. Little does he know, Kurtz has been consumed with darkness and has begun his descent into madness... Summary by cadastra.

Set in a time of oppressive colonisation, when large areas of the world were still unknown to Europe, and Africa was literally on maps and minds as a mysterious shadow, Heart of Darkness famously explores the rituals of civilisation and barbarism, and the frighteningly fine line between them. We get the tale through a classic unreliable narrator, relating as Marlow, a ship’s captain, tells how he was sent by the Company to retrieve the wayward Kurtz, and was shaken to discover the true depths of darkness in that creature’s, and in his own, soul. Conrad based the work closely on his own ...

Crime and Punishment is the second of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his return from 5 years of exile in Siberia, and is considered the first great novel of his "mature" period of writing. The novel focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov, in an attempt to defend his actions, argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime while ridding the world of a vermin, ...