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By: Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) | |
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Kashtanka
"Kashtanka," a shaggy-dog story penned by Anton Chekhov in seven parts and first published in 1887, relates the experiences of its eponymous heroine, a fox-faced, reddish dachshund-mix, whose name means 'little chestnut.' After her detestation of music causes her to become separated from the carpenter with whose family she had been living, Kashtanka finds herself taken up by an unusual vaudevillian and goes to live among an assortment of other intelligent animals, each of whom is observed with the characteristic empathy and humor that stamp Chekhov's work. | |
Ivanov
Nicolai (anglicised Nicholas in this translation) Ivanov, a middle-aged public servant, is unhappy. His wife Anna, disinherited by her family after converting from Judaism, is dying of tuberculosis. He is deeply in debt. And his best friend’s daughter is infatuated with him. Comedy and tragedy ensue in truly Chekhovian fashion. An example of the young Chekhov’s maturing style, Ivanov is an early harbinger of themes that would recur throughout his work. | |
Note-Book of Anton Chekhov | |
Love | |
Schoolmaster and Other Stories
Anton Chekhov, perhaps better known as a world famous classical playwright for works such as "Uncle Vanya" and "The Cherry Orchard" was also a prolific short story writer. "The Schoolmaster and Other Stories" is one of several of his collections. It's a compilation of 30 short stories. Some bizarre, some comical but all very interesting. | |
The Party | |
The Slanderer 1901 | |
Steppe
Little Yegorushka goes off to school for the first time, setting out on the journey in the company of his Uncle Ivan, the local priest Father Christopher, and the fun-loving servant Deniska. Along the way they meet an extraordinarily colorful array of characters, named and nameless: the innkeeper Moisey Moisevitch, the beautiful Countess Dranitsky, the mysterious Varlamov, Emelyan the voiceless singer, Tit the steppe waif, and many more. But the most colorful and extraordinary character of all is the Steppe itself in every mood and weather, painted stroke-by-masterly-stroke by Chekhov in all its wild, musical, redolent, flowering, chirruping, infuriating exuberance. (Expatriate) | |
Duel (version 2)
Known for his plays and short stories, Anton Chekhov also wrote a series of novellas, astonishing for their psychological complexity and compelling human portraiture. In The Duel, the wastrel and libertine Laevsky absconds to the Caucasus with another man's wife, Nadyezhda Fyodorovna. While there, he forms several acquaintanceships with a colorful array of characters: Von Koren the zoologist, Samoylenko the doctor, and Pobyedov the giddy deacon. Before long, both Laevsky and his mistress succeed in offending local society by their dissolute lifestyles, leading to the inevitable insult, challenge, and duel... | |
Three Years
Laptev, the rich but unattractive scion of a merchant, renounces his independent-minded, intelligent, devoted, but equally unattractive mistress Polina in order to marry the beautiful young gold-digger Yulia. Their life together quickly deteriorates into a loveless agony, Laptev seeking some sort of meaning in his life while Yulia whiles away her youth with the sparkling young Moscow social scene. The compelling question of the story is whether or not Laptev and Yulia can redeem something of lasting value from what seems to be a hopelessly empty relationship... | |
Bet and Other Stories
Thirteen short stories by the master. Summary by david wales | |
Anonymous Story
In "An Anonymous Story," Chekhov continues to explore his favorite themes of superfluous men, ironic rakes, exploited women, and the dangers of social conventions to human happiness. The Anonymous Narrator is a feckless, would-be revolutionary who gets himself hired on as a flunkey in the household of the young useless aristocrat Orlov, hoping to spy out some useful information for the Cause. Orlov seduces the beautiful Zinaida Fyodorovna away from her husband but quickly tires of her. The Narrator, another in the long line of Russian literary superfluous men, allows Orlov to use him to deceive Zinaida Fyodorovna, hating himself for it all the while... | |
My Life: The Story of a Provincial
A provincial youth of wealth and noble status refuses to employ himself in the typical occupations of the higher classes, thus acquiring a reputation as a lazy good-for-nothing. In reality, he is intensely sensitive to the injustices perpetrated by his social class upon the working classes of town and country, and resolves to become a common laborer, taking employment as a house painter and ikon gilder. All classes of society around him respond to this revolutionary action with bewilderment and ridicule, even the lowest workmen feeling threatened by this insolent shaking of the cosmic structure... | |
Black Monk
Aspiring academic Andrei Kovrin, while summering in the countryside per the advice of a physician, is haunted by the apparition of a black monk that appears only to him and encourages him in his intellectual pursuits. Although Kovrin is the only one who can see the apparition, the monk assures him that, even if he were a creation of the imagination, he would still be a thing of nature and consequently real. Chekhov uses this vehicle for a gothic exploration into scholarly obsession and madness. - Summary by Daniel Davison |
By: Antonia Isola (1876-) | |
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Simple Italian Cookery |
By: Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma (d. 17th century) | |
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Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke
The Author sings the praises of Chocolate. “By the wise and Moderate use whereof, Health is preserved, Sicknesse Diverted, and Cured, especially the Plague of the Guts; vulgarly called _The New Disease_; Fluxes, Consumptions, & Coughs of the Lungs, with sundry other desperate Diseases. By it also, Conception is Caused, the Birth Hastened and facilitated, Beauty Gain’d and continued.” |
By: Antonio de Morga (1559-1636) | |
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History of the Philippine Islands |
By: Antonio de Solís (1610-1686) | |
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One Fool Makes Many
"I will discuss this matter in an allegory: ... There was once upon a time a man, and he had a sister; and this said sister, she had a brother; and so this sister fell in love with another brother, and he had another sister; and one day what should she do, but take it into her head to run away with him? So then, after that, the brother, from whom the sister had been stolen, stole the sister of the thief. Now will you be pleased to tell us whether it would be best, in such a case, that each man should... |
By: Antonio Fogazzaro (1842-1911) | |
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The Saint | |
The Patriot Piccolo Mondo Antico |
By: Antonio Labriola (1843-1904) | |
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Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History |
By: Antony Bluett | |
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With Our Army in Palestine |
By: Aphra Behn (1640-1689) | |
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Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave
Aphra Behn was the first woman writer in England to make a living by her pen, and her novel Oroonoko was the first work published in English to express sympathy for African slaves. Perhaps based partly on Behn’s own experiences living in Surinam, the novel tells the tragic story of a noble slave, Oroonoko, and his love Imoinda. The work was an instant success and was adapted for the stage in 1695 (and more recently by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1999). Behn’s work paved the way for women... | |
Rover (Part One) | |
Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister |
By: Apicius | |
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Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome |
By: Apolinario Mabini (1864-1903) | |
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Mabini's Decalogue for Filipinos |
By: Aquinas Thomas (1225?-1274) | |
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On Prayer and The Contemplative Life |
By: Arabella B. Buckley (1840-1929) | |
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Birds of the Air
Arabella Buckley had a great love of nature and wished to impart that love to children. Birds of the Air will encourage children to observe birds in their natural environment and notice the habits of each particular bird they encounter. | |
Wild Life in Woods and Fields
Wild Life in Woods and Fields by Arabella B. Buckley is a collection of stories that will encourage children to become little naturalists and explore the majesty of the great outdoors. This is science taught in such a charming, delightful way that children will learn without even realizing it! | |
By Pond and River
In By Pond and River, another of Arabella Buckley’s wonderful science books for children, she explains the habitats of ponds and rivers, exposing children to the animals and plant life that are found there. |
By: Arabella Buckley (1840-1929) | |
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The Fairyland of Science
“I have promised to introduce you today to the fairy-land of science — a somewhat bold promise, seeing that most of you probably look upon science as a bundle of dry facts, while fairy-land is all that is beautiful, and full of poetry and imagination. But I thoroughly believe myself, and hope to prove to you, that science is full of beautiful pictures, of real poetry, and of wonder-working fairies…” (From the Introduction to The Fairyland of Science) |
By: Arabella M. Willson | |
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Lives of the Three Mrs. Judsons
This book follows the three amazing stories of Adoniram Judson's wives, Ann, Sarah, and Emily. Each wife went through incredible hardships, but each hardship only proved to make them strong women of faith, who despite all difficulties and illnesses, selflessly gave their strength to the sick and needy. Ann Judson followed Her husband from prison to prison, bribing guards so that she could see him and make his condition a little better. They sacrificed lives of ease, with loving families and friends... |
By: Arachne | |
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Cobwebs of Thought |
By: Archduke of Austria Ludwig Salvator (1847-1915) | |
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The Caravan Route between Egypt and Syria |
By: Archer Butler Hulbert (1873-1933) | |
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The Niagara River | |
The Paths of Inland Commerce; a chronicle of trail, road, and waterway | |
The Future of Road-making in America |
By: Archibald Alexander (1874-1942) | |
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Day at a Time and Other Talks on Life and Religion
This book [was] written in war-time to minister comfort and, if it may be, to reinforce hope and faith. | |
Glory in the Grey
It sometimes happens, when we are dispirited, that God's gracious gift of reviving comes to us along a very ordinary channel--in the form, perhaps, of some tonic, heartening passage found in reading, or the "morning face" and cheerful greeting of a friend. That is often all that we need--when our hurt is not serious-- to send us back with a new zest and courage to our tasks; and that is the sort of usefulness which is desired for this book.It does not pretend to deal with the great themes or the great hours of the religious life, but only with some of its simple encouragements and ideals for everyday... |
By: Archibald B. D. (Archibald Browning Drysdale) Alexander (1855-1931) | |
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Christianity and Ethics A Handbook of Christian Ethics |
By: Archibald Forbes (1838-1900) | |
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The Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80, Part 1
The First Anglo–Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company. | |
Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places | |
Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80, Part 2
This Part 2 of "The Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80" discusses the 1878-80 war, which was one of the major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst setbacks inflicted on British power in the region after the consolidation of British Raj by the East India Company. - Summary by Lynette Caulkins and Phil Griffith |
By: Archibald Geikie (1835-1924) | |
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Scottish Reminiscences
Archibald Geikie was a geologist in Scotland by profession, and a writer. While most of his writings were professional, this is a more personal book telling some of the history of Scotland, Archibald's memories, experiences and recollections there as well as stories he was told by people he met. He has a good sense of humour which shines through. - Summary by Jmbau13 |
By: Archibald Gracie (1858-1912) | |
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Truth about the Titanic
Colonel Archibald Gracie was the first survivor of the sinking of the Titanic to die, and this first-hand account was published posthumously. He attempts to dispel some of the rumors surrounding the tragic event and gives his personal observations and an account of his survival clinging to the hull of an overturned collapsible lifeboat after helping many others to escape safely. A large portion of the book is given to personal accounts of other survivors from both the American and British boards of inquiry, boat by boat. - Summary by Larry Wilson |
By: Archibald Grimké (1849-1930) | |
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William Lloyd Garrison, the Abolitionist
"THE author of this volume desires . . . to say . . . that it is his earnest hope that this record of a hero may be an aid to brave and true living in the Republic, so that the problems knocking at its door for solution may find the heads, the hands, and the hearts equal to the performance of the duties imposed by them upon the men and women of this generation. William Lloyd Garrison was brave and true. Bravery and truth were the secret of his marvelous career and achievements. May his countrymen and countrywomen imitate his example and be brave and true, not alone in emergent moments, but in everyday things as well." |
By: Archibald Henderson (1877-1963) | |
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The Conquest of the Old Southwest; the romantic story of the early pioneers into Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, 1740-1790 |