Geoffrey Howard
A Masterpiece of Satire on Hell's Latest Novelties and Heaven's Unanswerable Answer
C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the unique vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below." At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence
...Black Beauty (1877) is the classic children's book by English author Anna Sewell. A cripple for most of her life, Sewell developed an early love of horses, and the story intended to teach her readers about treating horses (and allegorically all living things) with kindness, patience and sympathy. The story is narrated first-person by Black Beauty, recounting his journey from a farm to the hard life pulling cabs in London to his eventual
...The Metamorphosis begins almost comically. A man wakes up to find he has turned into an insect. But the claustrophobic, dirty room and the increasingly distressed narrator soon turn this into a tale of slow horror. Most horrifying of all is his family's reaction to his metamorphosis and their final solution to the problem.
Thomas Hardy's novel of seduction and abandonment introduced his most memorable tragic heroine, the unworldly maiden Tess. On her morning journey to earn money for her impoverished family, Tess' horse has an accident, forcing her to seek assistance from some newly rich relatives. There, she is vigorously pursued by Alec, who corners her in a field one night and takes advantage of her. After bearing a child who quickly dies, Tess meets and falls
...6) High Stakes
Dick Francis, Edgar Award–winning master of mystery and suspense, takes you into the thrilling world of horse racing.
Steven Scott may have been a successful, wealthy inventor with no experience in horse racing,...
Since Doyle created the immortal Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson, no other mystery writer has come close to eclipsing him as the standard bearer in crime fiction. A brilliant London-based "consulting detective," Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess and renowned for his skillful use of astute observation, deductive reasoning, and inference to solve difficult cases. This collection includes twelve of Holmes' most famous cases:
...The four stories contained in Within the Tides are linked by Conrad's treatment of loyalty and betrayal. They range in setting from the Far East to eighteenth-century Spain to England. The tone shifts from the tragic inevitability of "The Planter of Malata" and the pathos of "Because of the Dollars" to the gothic atmosphere of "The Inn of the Two Witches" and the grim humor of "The Partner." Experimental in form, these stories represent yet another
...9) Perelandra
Perelandra is a planet of pleasure, an unearthly, misty world of strange desires, sweet smells, and delicious tastes, where beasts are friendly and naked beauty is unashamed, a new Garden of Eden, where the story of the oldest temptation is enacted in an intriguingly new way. Here, in the second part of C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Ransom Trilogy, Dr. Ransom's adventures continue against the backdrop of a religious allegory that, while it may seem quaint
...This is the final book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Ransom Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. A classic work of fantasy as much for the wonder of its storytelling as for its insights into the human condition, the trilogy stages an epic battle between forces of light and darkness across a canvas of other worlds.
In That Hideous Strength, the brave philologist Dr. Ransom (modeled after Lewis's friend J. R. R. Tolkien)
...In one of his most enlightening works, C. S. Lewis shares his ruminations on both the form and the meaning of selected psalms. In the introduction he explains, "I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself." Consequently, he takes on a tone of thoughtful collegiality as he writes on one of the Bible's most elusive books.
Characteristically graceful and lucid, Lewis cautions us that the psalms were originally written
...An unprecedented and original history of intellectual life throughout the past century
Thinking the Twentieth Century is the final book of unparalleled historian and indomitable public critic Tony Judt. Where Judt's masterpiece Postwar redefined the history of modern Europe by uniting the stories of its eastern and western halves, Thinking the Twentieth Century unites the century's conflicted intellectual history into a single soaring narrative.
...Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel in Lewis's Ransom Trilogy (also known as the Cosmic or Space Trilogy), which is considered his chief contribution to science fiction. A planetary romance with elements of medieval mythology, the trilogy concerns Dr. Elwin Ransom, a professor of philology who, like Christ, is offered as a ransom for mankind. On a walking tour of the English countryside, Ransom falls in with some slightly shady characters
...Selected from sermons delivered by C. S. Lewis during World War II, these nine addresses show the beloved author and theologian bringing hope and courage in a time of great doubt. Addressing some of the most difficult issues we face in our day-to-day lives, Lewis' ardent and timeless words provide an unparalleled path to greater spiritual understanding. "The Weight of Glory," considered by many to be Lewis' finest sermon of all, is an incomparable
...A succinct statement of Christian doctrine from one of Christianity's most beloved thinkers
Master storyteller and essayist C. S. Lewis here tackles the central questions of the Christian faith: Who was Jesus? What did he accomplish? What does it mean for me?
In these classic essays, which began as talks on the BBC during World War II, Lewis creatively and simply explains the basic tenets of Christianity. Taken from the core section
...19) The Good Soldier
The Good Soldier is a story about the complex social and sexual relationships between two couples—one English, one American—and the growing awareness of American narrator John Dowell of the intrigues and passions behind their orderly Edwardian façade. It is Dowell's attitude—his puzzlement, uncertainty, and the seemingly haphazard manner of his narration—that makes the book so powerful and mysterious. In Ford's brilliantly
...These delightful stories of the famous hawkeyed detective are told by his friend and foil, Dr. Watson. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle draws us into nineteenth-century London—hansom cabs, train rides, and foggy nights—where Holmes astutely solves the most complex and perplexing cases of the day. Among the short stories included in this collection is "The Gloria Scott," an account of Holmes' very first case, and"The Greek Interpreter," in which
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