Publisher: JH
“Tommy and Co." is the nickname of the staff of a Fleet Street newspaper called Good Humour. Jerome's witty tale relates the highly unceremonious way in which the paper's various staff members drifted under the employment of Mr. Peter Hope, its editor in chief, and what they did or didn't do to render their services invaluable.
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade was the last major novel by Herman Melville, the American writer and author of Moby-Dick. Published on April 1, 1857 (presumably the exact day of the novel's setting), The Confidence-Man was Melville's tenth major work in eleven years. The novel portrays a Canterbury Tales-style group of steamboat passengers whose interlocking stories are told as they travel down the Mississippi River toward New Orleans. The novel is written as cultural satire, allegory, and metaphysical treatise, dealing with themes of sincerity, identity, morality, religiosity, economic materialism, irony, and cynicism. Many critics have placed The Confidence-Man alongside Melville's Moby-Dick and "Bartleby the Scrivener" as a precursor to 20th-century literary preoccupations with nihilism, existentialism, and absurdism.Show book
Two Gentlemen Of Verona is believed to be one of Shakespeare’s early comedies and as a result provides us with the first examples of a number of themes and devices that are further explored in many of his plays. These include loyalty, friendship and the nature of love. Also women dressing up as men is introduced by one of the central characters, Julia, dressing up as the page, Sebastian, to serve her loved one, Proteus, who has betrayed her. Although fewer characters than most of Shakespeare’s other plays, they are interesting ones and Ghizela Rowe in her reading, captures the story of this intriguing play with clarity.Show book
Alexander Belyaev's rare foray into a bit of mysticism, The Witches' Castle is a reminder how careful must be wandering around the woods, especially when mysterious strangers and spooky buildings might be involved.Show book
A sinister tale of grotesque vengeance. At carnival, the tipsy wine buff Fortunato is lured into a deadly snare by the man he considers to be his friend. The listener is at the same time horrified and yet fascinated. The audio equivalent of watching a train wreck.Show book
Classic tales of changing lives and loves from one of Russia’s greatest playwrights, a master of the modern short story. Morality, philosophy, and science merge in “The Duel,” the classic tale of transformation in which educated Russian aristocrat Ivan Andreitch Laevsky falls in love with the married Nadya Fyodorovna and runs off to the Black Sea with her. As their passion wanes, Nadya turns to other men for comfort, while Ivan indulges in heavy drinking and gambling. When he receives word that Nadya’s husband has died, freeing them to marry, Ivan hides it. He knows he cannot marry a woman he no longer loves but struggles with the idea of leaving Nadya penniless and alone. Soon Ivan’s conundrum becomes the topic of conversation around a doctor’s dinner table. When their discussion touches on evolution, one of the doctor’s boarders—a zoologist—states that someone with Ivan’s moral failings should not be allowed to reproduce. As events unfold, setting Ivan and the zoologist on a path to confrontation, the character of each man will be revealed—for better and for worse. Other short stories collected in this volume include “Excellent People,” “Mire,” “Neighbours,” “At Home,” “Expensive Lessons,” “The Princess,” and “The Chemist’s Wife.”Show book
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment Crime and Punishment is Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel about the nature of law and morality, told through the eyes of a murderer and his internal conflict.Show book
