Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

The Koran (Qur'an) is regarded by Muslims as the word of God (Allah) as revealed to the prophet Muhammad. It is divided into 114 chapters (surahs), arranged roughly by length. This version, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, is a widely used English translation of the Koran by a Muslim Englishman. Many Muslims, however, including Pickthall, believe that true translations of the Koran from the original Arabic are impossible, and see translations into other languages only as useful interpretations. (Summary by Leon Mire)

This is the story of Rose, a rich but lonely and sickly girl who has been recently orphaned and sent to live with her maiden aunts. When Rose's guardian, Uncle Alec, returns from abroad he takes over her care. Through his unorthodox theories about child-rearing and her exposure to the exploits of her seven male cousins and numerous aunts, Rose becomes happier and healthier, cured of many of her fears and prejudices. She also makes friends with Phebe, her aunts' maid of her own age, whose cheerful attitude in the face of poverty helps to illustrate to Rose her own good fortune.

L.M. Montgomery's autobiography highlighting her childhood and early literary career. Published in 1917 after she had written several novels. - Summary by Carolyn Agee

Born in Victorian London on July 28th, 1866, Beatrix Potter created some of the best-loved children’s stories of all time. Starting with Peter Rabbit and moving through the rest of these delightful tales, the Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter will warm the hearts both of those who remember her fondly from their childhoods and those who discover for the first time the magic of these timeless stories. (Summary by Chip)

The framing story concerns a man who dreams of speaking to Venus about love while she wears furs. The unnamed narrator tells his dreams to a friend, Severin, who tells him how to break him of his fascination with cruel women by reading a manuscript, Memoirs of a Supersensual Man.This manuscript tells of a man, Severin von Kusiemski, so infatuated with a woman, Wanda von Dunajew, that he requests to be treated as her slave, and encourages her to treat him in progressively more degrading ways. At first Wanda does not understand or relate to the request, but after humouring Severin a bit she ...

Little Men (published 1871) is considered the second book of the Little Women trilogy written by Louisa May Alcott. (The book Good Wives (1869) was originally the sequel to the novel Little Women (1868), however those two novels are now usually published as a single volume.) The final book of the trilogy is Jo's Boys (1886). Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at the Plumfield Estate School that she runs with her husband. The mischievous kids, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they become proper gentlemen and ladies. We ...

Necesita discernimiento, sabiduría y entendimiento? Necesita tomar una decisión y no sabe por donde empezar? El libro de Los Proverbios es una colección de dichos sabios, consejos prácticos y sentido común. Aunque fueron escritos hace miles de años, personas de cualquier edad pueden beneficiarse al aplicarlos en su vida diaria. Do you need wisdom, discernment, and understanding? Do you need to make a decision and don't know where to start? The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings, practical advice, and common sense. Although they were written thousands of years ago, people of...

"Astoria" describes the many perilous adventures, discoveries, and disasters experienced by the brave Americans who joined the 1810-1813 Astor Expedition to Oregon. The wealthy New York fur magnate John Jacob Astor masterminded an extensive enterprise with the hope of setting up a fur trading center and outpost of American colonization at the mouth of the Columbia River. Journeying by land and by sea, the intrepid travelers endured incredible hardships, utter exhaustion, and near starvation. Especially interesting and harrowing were the odysseys of Wilson Price Hunt and Robert Stuart who ...

Personal correspondence of Bohemian religious reformer John Huss (Jan Hus) from 1411 when he was exiled from Prague through his death by burning as heretic in 1415 by order of the Council of Constance. These were first published in 1536 by the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther and his introduction is included here. - Summary by Rom Maczka

Pope Leo XIII (2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, reigned from 20 February 1878 to his death in 1903. He was the oldest pope (reigning until the age of 93), and had the third longest pontificate.He is well known for his intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his famous papal encyclical Rerum Novarum and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. He issued a record eleven encyclicals on the rosary earning the moniker the "Rosary Pope". This book includes ...

The Tang Dynasty (618 to 907) was a golden age of Chinese culture: religion and philosophy, painting and calligraphy, sculpture, architecture and music all reached peaks of perfection. Poetry was the epitome of the arts: a scholastic requirement, a route to fame, a moulder of character. Nearly 50,000 poems of the Tang have survived. The collection 'Three Hundred Tang Poems' was compiled around 1763. It comprises six volumes, with poems grouped by verse form. Volume 1 covers the 'ancient verse' style in five-character lines (poems 1 to 35), and 'folk song style verse' (36 to 45). The masters Li...

Jacob Abbott wrote many historical books for children. He was careful to ensure historical accuracy, and as he said himself in the preface to this book "Whatever of interest ... these stories may possess is due solely to the facts themselves which are recorded in them, and to their being brought together in a plain, simple, and connected narrative."This is the story of Romulus, the founding of Rome and the early years of its history, written in a way both readable and enjoyable for adults and children alike. (Summary by Ruth Golding)

This book (eleven short stories) was also published under the title of “The Old Home House”. Joseph Crosby Lincoln (1870 – 1944) was an American author of novels, poems, and short stories, many set in a fictionalized Cape Cod. Lincoln's work frequently appeared in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and The Delineator.... Lincoln claimed that he was satisfied "spinning yarns" that made readers feel good about themselves and their neighbors. Two of his stories have been adapted to film. Lincoln's literary career celebrating "old Cape Cod" can partly be seen as an attempt ...

Las aventuras de Sherlock Holmes (en inglés: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) es una colección de doce cuentos escritos por Arthur Conan Doyle, en los que el personaje principal es el detective de ficción Sherlock Holmes. Se publicaron por primera vez el 14 de octubre de 1892; las historias se habían publicado individualmente en The Strand Magazine entre junio de 1891 y julio de 1892. En el libro no se presentan las historias en orden cronológico y los únicos personajes que se repiten en todos ellas son Holmes y el doctor Watson, quien los narra en primera persona - Summary by Phileas ...

Lovely book for children written by teacher and naturalist Clara Dillingham Pierson. This book in the "Among the People" series explores the animal inhabitants of a pond. The beautiful writing brings the pond creatures into being in the reader's imagination and allows them a glimpse of the mysterious lives being carried out above and below the water's surface. (Summary by Jill Engle)

This story is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War, and concerns a Huron massacre (with passive French acquiescence) of from 500 to 1,500 unarmed Anglo-American troops, who had honorably surrendered at Fort William Henry, plus some women and servants; the kidnapping of two sisters, daughters of the British commander; and their rescue by Hawkeye, the last two Mohicans, and others. Parts of the story may have been derived from the capture and death of Jane McCrea in July 1777 near Fort Edward, New York, by members of an Algonquian tribe. (Summary from ...

Strauss was an early pioneer in the ongoing 'Quest of the Historical Jesus' movement, and his Life of Jesus is one of the few landmarks in the field. The first edition of Strauss' book was published in Germany in 1835, when he was only 27 years old. He focused his attention on battling two theological fronts which were current at the time - the biblical Literalists who believed the miracles in the Gospels were to be taken as literal history, and the Rationalists, who believed that the Gospel miracles were true but could be explained by natural and rational causes. Strauss rejected both camps ...

Pollyanna visits Boston for the summer and stays with the grumpy, miserable, yet very wealthy Ruth Carew. Lonely in a big city away from her old companions and forbidden from talking to strangers, Pollyanna begins to despair of ever making new friends. Through her teenage years and into adulthood, will Pollyanna and her glad game be able to make a difference in the light of persistent grumpiness, disabilities, crippling poverty, and a major personal loss? - Summary by ElizaCast:Customer: Marie ChristianDella Wetherby: blueriveririsDr. Charlie Ames: Wayne CookeDr. Thomas Chilton: Doug ...

Real men don't take guff from snotty kids. Neither does Disko Troop, skipper of the "We're Here", a fishing schooner out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, when his crew fishes Harvey Cheyne out of the Atlantic. There's no place on the Grand Banks for bystanders, so Harvey is press-ganged into service as a replacement for a man lost overboard and drowned. Harvey is heir to a vast fortune, but his rescuers believe none of what he tells them of his background. Disko won't take the boat to port until it is full of fish, so Harvey must settle in for a season at sea. Hard, dangerous work and performing ...

The Pioneers: The Sources of the Susquehanna; a Descriptive Tale is one of the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of five novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper. The Pioneers was first of these books to be published (1823), but the period of time covered by the book (principally 1793) makes it the fourth chronologically. (The others are The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, and The Prairie.)The story takes place on the rapidly advancing frontier of New York State and features a middle-aged Leatherstocking (Natty Bumppo), Judge Marmaduke Temple of Templeton, whose life...