Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: hesperus classics

• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  The Way of the Kings

  by André Malraux

  One of Malraux's most exotic novels, The Way of Kings is a perfect companion to Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Foreword by Rachel Seiffert. When Claude and Perken meet on a ship heading for Indochina, they decide to throw in their lots to form a dual expedition into the perilous jungles of Cambodia. Claude, a young Frenchman, is seeking adventure, fame, and fortune. Perken, a veteran Dutch explorer, is returning... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book
  Novelas ejemplares

  The Dialogue of the Dogs

  by Miguel de Cervantes

  The Dialogue of the Dogs is an inspired work of psychological observation by the master of the picaresque novel. In it, Cervantes displays all the clarity and warmth that marks the rich prose of Don Quixote. Given the gift of speech for a day, two dogs set about satirizing humans, their supposed superiors. In an exchange reminiscent of the ancient Greek Dialogues, they recount their experiences under their... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  The Touchstone

  by Edith Wharton

  Also published as: A Gift from the GraveThe Touchstone was Edith Wharton's first published novella, and it's spare, perhaps even underwritten. Even so, this Faustian tale of a man who stoops to publish love letters for money has mesmerizing, even dangerous qualities -- it has betrayals, greed, and consequences faced: hidden meanings emerge in places where we do not expect to find them. Perhaps, like Stephen... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Carlyle's House and Other Sketches

  by Virginia Woolf, David Bradshaw

  Carlyle’s House and Other Sketches marks the first publication of one of Virginia Woolf’s very earliest notebooks. Recently unearthed from a collection of private papers, it contains a series of six striking and semi–autobiographical sketches, each transcribed and edited by Dr. David Bradshaw. From the cold formality of London town–houses with their rows of austere portraits, to the dull chaos of the... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  The Scarlet Plague

  by Jack London

  Considered by many to be America's finest author, Jack London, had little formal schooling. Initially, he attended school only through the 8th grade, although he was an avid reader, educating himself at public libraries, especially the Oakland Public Library under the tutelage of Ina Coolbrith, who later became the first poet laureate of California. In later years (mid-1890s), Jack returned to high school in... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  The Pilgrims (Hesperus Classics)

  by Mary Shelley

  In the title story, a knight living alone in his isolated mountain fortress shows hospitality toward two pilgrims who appear from the mountains seeking shelter. Entreated to tell them of his sorrow, the knight unburdens himself and relates a tragic tale of love and loss. Resigned to the bitter fate that life has dealt him, the knight is unaware of the true nature of the two young people’s pilgrimage, until a... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  A Tale Told by Moonlight (Modern Voices)

  by Leonard Woolf

  An after-dinner walk in the moonlight leads to a series of confessions of first loves, each one sentimental and romantic. That is until Jessop takes his turn and decries the very notion of love. He tells of a tragic affair between an old school friend and an innocent Sinhalese girl, and so introduces the central motif of these three stories—the incompatibility of East and West. Based on Woolf's own experiences in... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book
  Professor Challenger: Book 2

  The Poison Belt

  by Arthur Conan Doyle

  The legendary Professor Challenger hits the headlines once again. In a letter to The Times, he asserts that a change in the earth's cosmic surroundings is resulting in the poisoning of the planet. He claims that seemingly unconnected worldwide disasters prove that the earth has swum into a poison belt of ether - and towards inevitable destruction. Ed Malone, the dynamic young journalist, is then invited to visit... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Jonathan Wild

  by Henry Fielding

  The real-life Jonathan Wild, gangland godfather and self-styled "Thieftaker General", controlled much of the London underworld until he was executed for his crimes in 1725. Even during his lifetime his achievements attracted attention; after his death balladeers sang of his exploits, and satirists made connections between his success and the triumph of corruption in high places. Fielding built on these narratives... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  The Double

  by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  The Double charts the psychological collapse of Yakov Golyadkin, an awkward, angst-ridden office-worker in St Petersburg. Golyadkin suddenly becomes aware that his office contains a Double of himself, a creature who floats effortlessly through life, well respected and surrounded by admiring friends. Disturbingly, no one but Golyadkin seems aware of this startling state of affairs, further straining the troubled... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Somebodys Luggage

  by Charles Dickens

  "The writer of these humble lines being a Waiter, and having come of a family of Waiters, and owning at the present time five brothers who are all Waiters, and likewise an only sister who is a Waitress, would wish to offer a few words respecting his calling; first having the pleasure of hereby in a friendly manner offering the Dedication of the same unto _Joseph_, much respected Head Waiter at the Slamjam... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Poetic Lives: Dickinson

  by Rebecca Swift

  By the end of her life, Emily Dickinson lived in virtual isolation in her family’s home, refusing any contact with strangers. Though she attracted local renown as a recluse, her reputation as one of America’s finest and most original poets was established only posthumously; her works, numbering nearly two thousand, were virtually all unpublished at the time of  her death. Displayed here is an insightful and... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Prelude

  by Katherine Mansfield

  One of Katherine Mansfield's most important works, Prelude established her reputation as a master of short fiction. Accompanied here by its continuation pieces At the Bay and The Doll's House. Foreword by William Boyd. A large, seemingly loving family, the Burnells lead an idyllic life, with the children free to play at will, and with enough adults on hand to lavish love upon them. Yet alongside this... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  The Fox

  by D. H. Lawrence

  Sharply observed and expertly crafted, D.H. Lawrence’s The Fox is a captivating work exploring the dual themes of power and supremacy in the aftermath of the First World War. With a Foreword by Doris Lessing. Banford and March live and work together on their meager farm, surviving hardship only by sheer determination and dedicated labor. The farm is their world, a place of safety—that is, until a young... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus

  by Alexander Pope, J. Arbuthnot, J. Gay, T. Parnell, Jonathan Swift

  Rich with hilarious episodes, Scriblerus is an ingenious satire of false learning and bad taste that has much to say to the pseudo-intellectual world of today. By taking one ambitious father and his determination to do everything in his power to produce a child of genius, Pope exposes the true folly of the men of his age and their absurd veneration of the ancients. As this hallowed child grows into a man, it... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  For a Night of Love (Hesperus Classics)

  by Émile Zola

  In these three short stories, Emile Zola presents characters in search of fulfillment—romantic, religious, and financial. Read together, they give us an extraordinary depiction of sexual mores. When the apparently angelic Thérèse commits murder, she offers sexual favors to a petty clerk if he will dispose of the body; the pregnant Flavie manipulates a neighbor’s interest in her dowry to arrange a shotgun... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Love and Friendship

  And Other Early Works

  by Jane Austen

  "Love and Friendship" collects Jane Austen's earliest writings, the "Juvenilia," not published in her lifetime. Immensely funny and remarkably sophisticated, their unerring accuracy has not diminished in 200 years.
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Incest

  by Marquis de Sade

  Incest is a chilling tale of sexual experimentation and philosophical exploration carried to its most logical—and devastating—extreme. Foreword by Janet Street–Porter. Marquis de Sade’s semi–autobiographical protagonist, Monsieur de Franval, is rich, handsome, intelligent, and thoroughly immoral. When he marries a pious woman and fathers a daughter, he is determined to educate his progeny to be “free.” The... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  Words Are Stones: Impressions of Sicily (Hesperus Modern Voices Series)

  by Carlo Levi

  Winner of the prestigious Italian literary prize, Premio Vareggio, Words Are Stones offers an insightful and authentic portrait of Sicily and its people. Foreword by Anita Desai. Over a number of years, Italian writer Carlo Levi made three journeys to Sicily. He went on to chronicle his travels, penning a series of short essays that capture in miniature the essence of Sicilian life: its traditions, culture, and... (more)
• 

  

  • plan to read
  • reading now
  • I’ve read it
  • favorite
  • want to own
  • own it
  • remove book

  The Diaries of Adam and Eve

  by Mark Twain

  The most complete edition of Twain's two stories, it uses Mark Twain's preferred text and includes passages not previously included--and not available in any other version. The editor's afterword tells how Twain came to write the "Diaries," which are recognized today as his most personal works of fiction.