Fiction & Literature - Books

The Jungle

Fiction & Literature

The Jungle is one of the most famous muckraking novels in modern history. Set in Chicago at the dawn of the 20th century, it tells the story of an immigrant Lithuanian family trying to make it in a new world both cruel and full of opportunity. Their struggles are in part a vehicle for Sinclair to shine a spotlight on the monstrous conditions of the meatpacking industry, to expose the brutal exploitation of immigrants and workers, and to espouse his more socialist worldview.The novel is in part responsible for the passage of the revolutionary Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, and thus the establishment of the modern-day Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. Its impact is in no small part due to the direct and powerful prose Sinclair employs: the horrors of commercial meat production are presented in full and glistening detail, and the tragedies and misfortunes of the Rudkus family are direct and relatable even today.

Moby Dick

Fiction & Literature

“Call me Ishmael” says Moby Dick’s protagonist, and with this famous first line launches one of the acclaimed great American novels. Part adventure story, part quest for vengeance, part biological textbook and part whaling manual, Moby Dick was first published in 1851. The story follows Ishmael as he abandons his humdrum life on shore for an adventure on the waves. Finding the whaler Pequod at harbour in Nantucket, he signs up for a three year term without meeting the Captain of the ship, a mysterious figure called Ahab. It is only well into the voyage that Ahab’s thirst for vengeance against the eponymous white whale Moby Dick—and the consequences—become clear.The novel is semi-autobiographical: Herman Melville had had his own experience of whaling, having spent a year and a half aboard a whaling ship and further years travelling the world in the early 1840s. Herman used the knowledge gained from his experiences and wide reading on the subject to furnish Moby Dick with an almost encyclopaedic quality at times. The literary style varies widely, veering from soliloquies and staged scenes to dream sequences to comprehensive lists of ships provisions, but everything serves to further detail the world that’s being painted.Presented here is the New York edition, which was published later than the London edition and reverted numerous changes the original publishers had made, as well as including the initially omitted epilogue.

Der Tannenbaum des Todes

Fiction & Literature

Geschenkejagd, ein Rentierschlitten mit Startproblemen und verfluchte Christbaumkugeln – mehr als 24 schaurig-schöne Kurzgeschichten für ein rabenschwarzes Fest der LiebeBestsellerautor Markus Heitz erzählt in dieser ganz besonderen Weihnachts-Anthologie von einem Mädchen, das nicht nur den Nikolaus das Fürchten lehrt, weil sie statt dem gewünschten X-Mas-House-Of-Horror einen rosafarbenen Pullover bekommt, vom Treiben der Unheiligen drei Könige oder dem egoistischen Weihnachts-Muffel Quentin, dem eine Kita-Theater-Truppe mit einer ganz besonderen Vorstellung die Ehrfurcht vor dem Fest einbläut. In "Der Tannenbaum des Todes" wird das Beste aus zehn Jahren eines einmaligen Weihnachts-Live-Events erstmals in einem Buch versammelt!Von bitter-böse über gruselig bis fies & witzig: Mit diesen Kurzgeschichten von Bestsellerautor Markus Heitz werden nicht nur Fantasy-Fans ihren Spaß haben, sondern alle, die zum Fest mal eine Pause von allzu viel Besinnlichkeit brauchen. Aber sagen Sie nicht, wir hätten Sie nicht gewarnt!

Mr. Spaceship

Fiction & Literature

"Mr. Spaceship" is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1953 in Imagination, and later in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. It has since been republished several times, including in Beyond Lies the Wub in 1988.

The history of the adventures of Joseph Andrews and his friend Mr. Abraham Adams

Fiction & Literature

The history of the adventures of Joseph Andrews and his friend Mr. Abraham Adams, Henry Fielding. Revised version of http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/1816 . Joseph Andrews / edited by Martin C. Battestin Fielding, Henry, 1707-1754 Battestin, Martin C. ii-xlvii, 389 p. : facsim. ; 24 cm. Clarendon Press Oxford 1967 The Wesleyan edition of the works of Henry Fielding First published in 1742 under title: The history of the adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his friend Mr. Abraham Adams

Mademoiselle Fifi

Fiction & Literature

The story takes place in Normandy in the winter of 1870, in a fictional chateau which is being used as a headquarters by Prussian officers. The main characters of the story are quickly introduced: the Major, a dignified and cultured German aristocrat; his Captain, a boorish and lecherous minor Prussian landowner; two lieutenants from the Prussian bourgeoisie; and the title character, a handsome but arrogant and extremely unpleasant German captain known to his comrades as 'Mademoiselle Fifi' due to his effeminate manner. The officers have been quartered in the chateau for several weeks, and as they are far away from the fighting and do not want to go out due to the endless rain, the officers are desperately bored. They have been spending their days drinking, gambling, and destroying the chateau's paintings, furniture and other fine objects. After a boring lunch, the aristocratic captain suggest a dinner party, and sends an army transport wagon to the local town to bring back some prostitutes to keep the officers company. In the evening, the party begins, and soon the officers and prostitutes are drunk and in high spirits. The officer known as Fifi, who has taken a Jewish prostitute called Rachel, starts smashing things and making violent sexual advances on Rachel. The party-goers start telling dirty jokes in bad French and the officers make a variety of slurred speeches praising German military prowess, which makes Rachel increasingly angry. When Fifi makes a speech proclaiming that France is crushed and that all of France, including all French women, are now Prussian property.

Mrs. Dalloway

Fiction & Literature

Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf's fourth novel, offers the reader an impression of a single June day in London in 1923. Clarissa Dalloway, the wife of a Conservative member of parliament, is preparing to give an evening party, while the shell-shocked Septimus Warren Smith hears the birds in Regent's Park chattering in Greek. There seems to be nothing, except perhaps London, to link Clarissa and Septimus. She is middle-aged and prosperous, with a sheltered happy life behind her; Smith is young, poor, and driven to hatred of himself and the whole human race. Yet both share a terror of existence, and sense the pull of death. The world of Mrs Dalloway is evoked in Woolf's famous stream of consciousness style, in a lyrical and haunting language which has made this, from its publication in 1925, one of her most popular novels.

N****r of the ‘Narcissus’

Fiction & Literature

N****r of the ‘Narcissus’, Joseph Conrad. Revised version of http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/1780 . First edition published in 1897. Originally transcribed, deposited and tagged in TEI compatible format by Jeffrey Triggs..

Whodunnit? Murder on Mystery Island

Fiction & Literature

A grand mansion. An elegant dinner party. One grisly murder after another. When guests arrive at the manor, they expect a lavish retreat, but what was supposed to be a promising week soon turns into a horrific nightmare when they discover that a killer is among them. As the guests are picked off one by one, the killer toys with the remaining guests by leaving riddles, inviting them to use forensic science to solve the crimes. The party soon dwindles until there are only three remaining guests: the winner, the loser, and the killer. It’s a true survival of the fittest as they scramble to find the killer first… before it’s too late.

No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save our Planet

Fiction & Literature

These 24 stories are written by a variety of authors, with the aim to inspire readers with positive visions of what a sustainable society might look like and how we might get there.The stories are diverse in style, ranging from whodunnits to sci-fi, romance to family drama, comedy to tragedy, and cover a range of solution types from high-tech to nature-based solutions, to more systemic aspects relating to our culture and political economy.Reviews'These tremendous and inspirational stories paint far better pictures of what we need to do to save Planet Earth, than any number of facts, figures and graphs.' Bill McGuire, Author, Hothouse Earth: an Inhabitant's Guide. 'If we are to build a future fit for the next generation, we must show a positive vision of what that future looks like. And this anthology of compelling, solution-focused climate fiction does exactly that. A better world is possible – and literature like this can help make it happen.' Caroline Lucas MP 'There's an abundance of imagination in these stories; they'll make you think again, and in new ways, about the predicament of the planet and its people.' Bill McKibben, author, climate activist, and founder of 350.org. 'Today's Climate Crisis is down to a lack of imagination, blinding us to the horror story bearing down on us today. We now need to use our collective imagination to avert that nightmare – and 'No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet' shows us exactly how to do that.' Jonathon Porritt, author and campaigner. 'We make sense of our world not through data but through stories. That's why we need more narratives like the ones here in this brilliant, evocative collection. Read, enjoy and share.' Owen Gaffney, Author, optimist, global sustainability analyst at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Whodunnit? Murder in Mystery Manor

Fiction & Literature

British butler Giles has taken a job for three times his usual salary. He is soon to find out that he will forever be cursed and faced with allowing a group of unknowing people to meet a killer so maniacal and twisted that the murders are virtually motiveless. Giles welcomes ten guests to a luxurious estate where they will be embarking on a diabolical game of life and death. Giles, while on the guests' side, is a leader who will get out of the way of the killer and stand by as one person in each chapter is murdered in an outrageous manner. For example, one murder is a choreographed shark where the guests have to retrieve the victim's head from the shark's body. Another murder will be at the hands of a driverless car a la Stephen King's Christine. After each murder, the rest of the guests will have their choice of investigating the crime scene, the body or the last known whereabouts. They then must present their account of the details of the murder. The two whose assessments are least accurate will not sleep easy, knowing one of them will be killed shortly and painfully. In the end, we will be left with the winner, the loser and the killer. The epilogue will set up Giles's continued journey and Book 2.

The Deep Blue Good-By

Fiction & Literature

From a beloved master of crime fiction, The Deep Blue Good-bye is one of many classic novels featuring Travis McGee, the hard-boiled detective who lives on a houseboat. Travis McGee is a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He’s also a knight-errant who’s wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is He’ll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half. “John D. MacDonald was the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King McGee isn’t particularly strapped for cash, but how can anyone say no to Cathy, a sweet backwoods girl who’s been tortured repeatedly by her manipulative ex-boyfriend Junior Allen? What Travis isn’t anticipating is just how many women Junior has torn apart and left in his wake. Enter Junior’s latest victim, Lois Atkinson. Frail and broken, Lois can barely get out of bed when Travis finds her, let alone keep herself alive. But Travis turns into Mother McGee, giving Lois new life as he looks for the ruthless man who steals women’s spirits and livelihoods. But he can’t guess how violent his quest is soon to become. He’ll learn the hard way that there must be casualties in this game of cat and mouse.

Someone Else's Shoes

Fiction & Literature

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!“Very few authors have the power to make you laugh on one page and cry on the next. Moyes is one of them.” —The New York TimesA story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of StarsWho are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.That’s because Sam Kemp – in the bleakest point of her life – has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag--she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.Full of Jojo Moyes’ signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.

PEN America 11: Make Believe

Fiction & Literature

Make Believe examines—through fiction, poetry, drama, essays, and conversations—the question of belief in all (or many) of its forms. Alesksandar Hemon, Cynthia Ozick, Lynne Tillman, and others imagine books they wish they (or someone else) had written; Sigrid Nunez invents an orphanage full of “rapture children”; and Rivka Galchen pretends to be Lydia Davis and Peter Altenberg. Plus new fiction from Brian Evenson and Roxana Robinson; poetry by Reza Baraheni, Marie Ponsot, and Liu Xiaobo; notes from a manifesto by David Shields—and much, much more. PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers is published by PEN American Center. Featuring fiction, poetry, conversation, criticism, and memoir, PEN America champions international authors and provides first-hand insight into the minds of contemporary writers through provocative symposia. In 2000, PEN America was named one of the Ten Best New Magazines by Library Journal. PEN America has been a finalist for the Utne Independent Press Award for international coverage, and work from recent issues has been selected for Best American Essays, Best American Stories, and the Pushcart Prize. ----- PEN American Center is the largest of the 141 centers of International PEN, the world's oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 to dispel national, ethnic, and racial hatreds and to promote understanding among all countries. PEN American Center, founded a year later, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. Its 3,400 distinguished members carry on the achievements in literature and the advancement of human rights of such past members as James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Arthur Miller, Marianne Moore, Eugene O'Neill, Susan Sontag, and John Steinbeck. To learn more about PEN American Center, please visit: www.pen.org. PEN American Center welcomes readers and writers from all walks of life to join us in our mission to protect free expression and celebrate literature. To learn how to become a Professional or Associate Member of PEN, please visit: pen.org/join.

A Perfect Christmas Surprise

Fiction & Literature

After a nomadic childhood, dependable rancher, Caleb Sutton, loves his quiet, simple life in Kringle, Texas. That is until his footloose ex-fiancée, the only woman he's ever loved blows back into town. Globe-trotting, freelance photographer, Ava Miller has come home for the holidays to help her parents with their animals rescue, but she's not about to stay in Kringle, no matter how hot the old embers for salt-of-the-earth Caleb still burn. The town is simply too staid for her restless ways and nothing exciting ever happens here.Nothing that is, except spending time with Caleb. And when they share one special Christmas night together, Ava gets the biggest surprise of her life…

Guarding the Witness

Fiction & Literature

A beautiful bodyguard is on the run through the Alaskan wilderness with the only man she can trust in this inspiring romantic suspense novel.After two months of protective custody, bodyguard Arianna Jackson is days away from testifying at a murder trial when the unthinkable happens—her Alaska safe house is attacked. Now Arianna must go on the run with US Marshal Brody Callahan.Arianna is used to issuing orders, not taking them. But now she has only one hope of staying alive—the handsome protector by her side. Out in the wild, with a bounty on her head and a killer on her heels, Brody is determined to keep close to Arianna until she testifies . . . and perhaps forever.

The Man from Skibbereen

Fiction & Literature

Crispin Mayo was a reckless young brawler who’d left his tiny fishing village for the vast American frontier. Headed west to join a railroad construction crew, he came upon an isolated station—and a mystery. The shack was abandoned, but fresh blood spattered the floor, and the telegraph was clicking away unattended. When Mayo stepped inside and put a hand on the telegraph key, he had no way of knowing the course of his life would change forever—and that he would become entangled with a band of Civil War veterans with a score to settle against the government…and a feisty young woman who’d risk anything to save the people she loved. Cris Mayo, who had never backed away from a fight in his life, was about to have his courage put to the ultimate test.

Questi adulti

Fiction & Literature

««Uno splendido romanzo sul diventare adulti, sorretto da uno sguardo unico e una verve fuori dal comune». »«The New York Times»««Caustico più che semplicemente divertente, intessuto di melanconia e di un costante stupore, Questi adulti è bellissimo». »«Kirkus Reviews»««Uno dei libri più appassionanti che abbia mai letto… La bravura di Alison Espach sta nel raccontare la crescita della sua protagonista in parallelo alla crescita del suo pungente umorismo». »«The Wall Street Journal»««Intenso, arguto, limpido». »«The New York Times Book Review»Romanzo di formazione insolito e ironico, Questi adulti ci racconta in prima persona la storia di Emily, a partire da quando, quattordicenne, partecipa alla festa per i cinquant’anni del padre nella loro bella casa in un quartiere residenziale del Connecticut, per poi svilupparsi nel corso di oltre dieci anni, e attraverso due continenti. La voce irriverente e lo sguardo acuto e lucidissimo di Emily ci raccontano il suo modo di vedere gli adulti, attraverso snodi fondamentali che capovolgeranno il suo mondo: la separazione dei genitori, il trasferimento del padre a Praga, il suicidio di un vicino di casa, la gravidanza della madre di un amico di cui il padre di Emily è indubbiamente responsabile.Ma, nonostante il passare del tempo, anche Emily sente di soffrire di un disturbo interiore che le impedisce di definirsi un’adulta a tutti gli effetti: la sfrontatezza e i timori dell’adolescenza, la stupefatta sicurezza di fronte all’ignoto, il terrore e insieme la distaccata compassione nei confronti della morte e delle miserie dell’età adulta sopravvivono allo scorrere degli anni.E Alison Espach – straordinaria autrice di Appunti sulla tua scomparsa improvvisa – con la sua voce fresca è bravissima a rendere questa compresenza di ricordo e presente, comprimendo e mescolando la cronologia, e restituendoci con amara ironia, genialità e acume ogni momento della lotta di una giovane donna per crescere in un mondo dove adulti e bambini sono a volte pericolosamente indistinguibili e i loro comportamenti troppo spesso considerati alla stessa stregua.

The Texas Renegade Returns

Fiction & Literature

A Texas Cattleman's Club tale of second chances from USA TODAY bestselling author Charlene Sands Having recovered from amnesia, Alex del Toro has a new mission—expose his kidnapper, and regain his fiancée's love. Though he moved to Royal, Texas, under false pretenses, there's nothing false about his feelings for the ravishing Cara Windsor—who also happens to be his business rival's daughter. Cara's instincts tell her to stay away from a man who lied to her, who tried to steal her family's company. Except she has a secret, too—she's pregnant with his child.

Dark Christmas Collection: 30+ Supernatural Thrillers, Mysteries & Ghost Stories

Fiction & Literature

Musaicum Books presents to you a meticulously edited Christmas Mysteries collection. This ebook has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Content: The Silver Hatchet (Arthur Conan Doyle) What the Shepherd Saw: A Tale of Four Moonlight Nights (Thomas Hardy) Markheim (Robert Louis Stevenson) The Wolves of Cernogratz (Saki) Mustapha (Sabine Baring-Gould) The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance (M.R. James) The Christmas Banquet (Nathaniel Hawthorne) The Ghost's Touch (Fergus Hume) Glámr (Sabine Baring-Gould) The Ghosts at Grantley (Leonard Kip) A Terrible Christmas Eve (Lucie E. Jackson) Ghosts and Family Legends (Catherine Crowe) The Ghost: A Christmas Story (William Douglas O'Connor) Thurlow's Christmas Story (John Kendrick Bangs) The Mystery of My Grandmother's Hair Sofa (John Kendrick Bangs) The Abbot's Ghost; or Maurice Treherne's Temptation (Louisa M. Alcott) Old Applejoy's Ghost (Frank R. Stockton) Wolverden Tower (Grant Allen) The Christmas-Eve Vigil (James Bowker) Told After Supper (Jerome K. Jerome) The Box with the Iron Clamps (Florence Marryat) Joseph: A Story (Katherine Rickford) The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton (Charles Dickens) The Ghost of Christmas Eve (J. M. Barrie) The Dead Sexton (Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu) Uncle Cornelius His Story (George MacDonald) The Grave by the Handpost (Thomas Hardy) Number Ninety (Bithia Mary Croker) At Chrighton Abbey (Mary Elizabeth Braddon) The Haunted Man (Charles Dickens) Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions (Charles Dickens) The Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) The Black Bag Left on a Door-Step (Catherine L. Pirkis) Between the Lights (E. F. Benson) Transition (Algernon Blackwood) The Kit-Bag (Algernon Blackwood)

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