First published in 1886, “Jo’s Boys”, is considered the final book in the unofficial “Little Women” trilogy by author Louisa May Alcott. “Jo’s Boys” is chiefly concerned with the lives of the Plumfield boys, who were introduced in Alcott’s “Little Men”. “Jo’s Boys”, which takes place ten years after the events of “Little Men”, is a classic coming of age story for all of the characters and an entertaining glimpse into the different paths their li ...
“The Tain”, also known as “Tain Bo Cuailnge” or “The Cattle Raid of Cooley”, is a heroic and legendary tale from early Irish literature. Earliest manuscripts of this epic story survive from the 12th century and versions of this ancient tale have been found in Old Irish, Middle Irish, and Modern Irish translations. “The Tain” is set in a pre-Christian age of heroes in Ireland, sometime around the first century, and is the central tale in the Ulst ...
In this third installment of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom” series, “The Warlord of Mars”, we follow the extraterrestrial adventures of John Carter, an American Civil War veteran transplanted to Mars. The “Barsoom” series began as a four-part serial in “All-Story Magazine” between December 1913 through March 1914. That first story, “A Princess of Mars”, was wildly popular and resulted in numerous sequels. In the series John Carter’s encounters ...
First published serially in “St. Nicholas Magazine” from 1885 to 1886, “Little Lord Fauntleroy” was the first children’s book by the acclaimed English-American author Francis Hodgson Burnett, who would go on to write “A Little Princess” and “The Secret Garden”. “Little Lord Fauntleroy” is the story of seven-year-old Cedric Errol, who is living in poverty with his mother in New York after the death of his father, Captain Cedric Errol. Little Cedr ...
First published in 1889, “Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome is the humorous story of three Englishman who find themselves in need of a vacation and decide to take a holiday boating on the Thames. The three friends, Jerome (referred to as “J”), George, and Harris, pile into a boat with food, clothes, and a fox terrier named Montmorency, and set off from London to see the English countryside. “Three Men in a Boat” is a first-class comic mas ...
First published in Russian in 1866, “The Gambler”, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, is a gripping narrative of the dangers of gambling. As was common with Dostoyevsky’s other writings, he draws upon his own life in a semi-autobiographical way. Dostoyevksy himself suffered from a compulsion to gambling and had to complete “The Gambler” under a strict deadline to pay off his own debts. These first-hand experiences bring a depth of realism to the novel and t ...
First published in 1922, “The Enchanted April” by British author Elizabeth von Arnim is the story of four very different English women who spend a month vacationing together in Italy at the Tuscan Villa, San Salvatore. Each finding themselves in need of a holiday from their dreary lives back home, the four women rent an Italian castle on the Mediterranean coast and experience a reawakening in life through their shared realizations and experience ...
The final novel by Charles Dickens, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”, was unfinished at the time of his death in 1870. The novel revolves around John Jasper, choirmaster and opium addict, who is the guardian of his orphaned nephew Edwin Drood. Before the death of his parents, Edwin was promised to marry Rosa Bud, another orphan, but their affections have cooled upon reaching adulthood. Rosa has also attracted the affections of Jasper, her teacher, a ...
“I am glad that I am alive, if, for no other reason, because of the joy of reading this book.”—Jack London. First published in 1915, “Victory” follows the character Axel Heyst, a Swede who renounces the world and lives on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago. He is shaken from his self-imposed isolation, however, after a chance encounter with Lena, a young Englishwoman in a touring ladies’ orchestra. Axel comes to her aid when she is accoste ...
