Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

In dull and dusty Pipalnagar, each day is like another, and 'there is not exactly despair, but resignation'. Even the dreams here are small. Adrift among them, the narrator, Arun, a struggling writer of detective novels in Urdu, waits for inspiration to write a blockbuster. Meanwhile, he seeks reassurance in love, and finds it in unusual places: with the young prostitute Kamla, wise beyond her years; and the... (more)

Ecclesiastical History of the English People With Bede's Letter to Egbert and Cuthberts Letter on the Death of Bede (Penguin Classics)

Ecclesiastical History of the English People With Bede's Letter to Egbert and Cuthberts Letter on the Death of Bede (Penguin Classics)

by Clyde Bedell, D. H. Farmer

Written in AD 731, Bede's work opens with a background sketch of Roman Britain's geography and history. It goes on to tell of the kings and bishops, monks and nuns who helped to develop Anglo-Saxon government and religion during the crucial formative years of the English people. Leo Sherley-Price's translation brings us an accurate and readable version, in modern English, of a unique historical document. This... (more)

Peek-A-Who?: Board book

by Nina Laden

Colorful pictures and simple rhyming texts help children guess what's peeking through the die-cut windows in these two fun board books. The anticipation of what's hiding on the next page and the bright, engaging illustrations will keep youngsters guessing and giggling all the way to the suprise endings.

Aesop's Fables (Penguin Popular Classics)

Aesop's Fables (Penguin Popular Classics)

by Aesop

Sardonic, wry and wise, "Aesop's Fables" are some of the most enduring and well-loved literary creations in history. In a series of pithy, amusing vignettes, Aesop created a vivid cast of characters to demonstrate different aspects of human nature. Here we see a wily fox outwitted by a quick-thinking cicada, a tortoise triumphing over a self-confident hare and a fable-teller named Aesop silencing those who mock... (more)

Lady Susan; The Watsons; Sandition

by Jane Austen

These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel "Lady Susan" depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, "The Watsons" is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine - Emma - finds her marriage opportunities... (more)

Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

Pride And Prejudice, the story of Mrs. Bennet's attempts to marry off her five daughters is one of the best-loved and most enduring classics in English literature. Excitement fizzes through the Bennet household at Longbourn in Hertfordshire when young, eligible Mr. Charles Bingley rents the fine house nearby. He may have sisters, but he also has male friends, and one of these—the haughty, and even wealthier, Mr.... (more)

Emma

by Jane Austen

New chronology and further reading; Tony Tanner's original introduction reinstated Edited with an introduction and notes by Flora Stafford.

Death and the Penguin

by Andrei?. Kurkov

Victor is depressed: his lover has dumped him, his short stories are too short, and the light has gone off in his dingy apartment. His only companion is Misha, the penguin he rescued from Kiev's Zoo, when it couldn't feed the animals anymore. Misha is the silent witness to Victor's despair, and joins in his celebration—fish and vodka—when Victor's luck seems to turn: he is commissioned to write obituaries. The... (more)

Sense and Sensibility

by Jane Austen

'Young women who have no economic or political power must attend to the serious business of contriving material security'. Jane Austen's sardonic humour lays bare the stratagems, the hypocrisy and the poignancy inherent in the struggle of two very different sisters to achieve respectability. "Sense and Sensibility" is a delightful comedy of manners in which the sisters Elinor and Marianne represent these two... (more)

When I Look at Me: What Do I See?

by Karen Farmer

What does a child really see when they look at themselves in a mirror? Do they see a smile as big as can be? What color are their eyes? Can they crinkle and wiggle their nose? There is nothing as funny to a child as when they look at themselves in the mirror. Full of clever rhyme and colorfully animated characters, When I Look At Me is sure to keep your child entertained for hours as they make their own funny... (more)

Incarceron

by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier... (more)

The Little Penguin

by A. J. Wood

A newly hatched Emperor penguin wants more than anything to look like his tall, strong father. But when his own fluffy gray feathers start to fall out, Little Penguin is sure his wish will never come true. It takes a long ocean journey and some gentle words of wisdom from his mother before he realizes that he has become what he most wanted to be after all. Nature lovers of all ages will delight in the... (more)

Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Bronte

From her childhood Jane Eyre, orphaned and poor, fights for the right to be happy. Fleeing harsh relatives and a miserable life at an Orphan's School, Jane finds peace, happiness, and unexpected love at Thornfield Hall. But Thornfield's peace is a fraud, and its master, Mr. Rochester, has secrets too terrible to tell. A vivid portrait of a young woman's struggle for survival in English society, Charlotte Bronte's... (more)

Avalon: Book 1

The Mists of Avalon

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

A Literary Guild Featured Alternate Here is the magical legend of King Arthur, vividly retold through the eyes and lives of the women who wielded power from behind the throne. A spellbinding novel, an extraordinary literary achievement, THE MISTS OF AVALON will stay with you for a long time to come....

The History of the Kings of Britain (Penguin Classics)

The History of the Kings of Britain (Penguin Classics)

by Geoffrey, Julia C. Crick, Neil Wright

Completed in 1136, "The History of the Kings of Britain" traces the story of the realm from its supposed foundation by Brutus to the coming of the Saxons some two thousand years later. Vividly portraying legendary and semi-legendary figures such as Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin the magician and the most famous of all British heroes, King Arthur, it is as much myth as it is history and its veracity was questioned by... (more)

Your Personal Penguin

by Sandra Boynton

The irrepressible, ever-original Sandra Boynton introduces a brand new Boynton board book. Your Personal Penguin is a read-aloud, listen-along favorite for young children and the grown-ups who read to them. Fun to hold, the book tells the story of a slightly bewildered hippo and the loyal penguin who wants nothing more than to be his pal: Now, lots of other penguins seem to be fine in a universe of nothing... (more)

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Penguin Classics)

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Penguin Classics)

by Anonymous

The first complete, annotated edition of this major source of Chinese mythology. Traditionally ascribed to the mythical figure Yu the Great, The Classic of Mountains and Seas (third century B.C. to second century A.D.) brings together a treasure trove of rare data and colorful fiction about the mythical figures, rituals, medicine, natural history, and ethnic peoples of the ancient world. The Classic narrates... (more)

Early Irish Myths and Sagas

by Betty Radice, Jeffrey Gantz

First written down in the eighth century AD, these early Irish stories depict a far older world part myth, part legend and part history. Rich with magic and achingly beautiful, they speak of a land of heroic battles, intense love and warrior ideals, in which the otherworld is explored and men mingle freely with the gods. From the vivid adventures of the great Celtic hero Cu Chulaind, to the stunning Exile of the... (more)

The Call of Cthulhu

by S. T. Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft

An unparalleled selection of fiction from H. P. Lovecraft, master of the American horror tale Long after his death, H. P. Lovecraft continues to enthrall readers with his gripping tales of madness and cosmic terror, and his effect on modern horror fiction continues to be felt-- Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Clive Barker have acknowledged his influence. His unique contribution to American literature was a melding... (more)

World's End (Contemporary American Fiction)

World's End (Contemporary American Fiction)

by T. Coraghessan Boyle

This multi-generational novel ranges over the history of the Hudson River Valley from the late seventeenth cenutry to the late 1960s with low humor, high seriousness, and magical, almost hallucinatory prose. It follows the interwoven destinies of families of Indians, lordy Dutch patrons, and yoemen.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: penguin

by Ruskin Bond

by Clyde Bedell, D. H. Farmer

by Nina Laden

by Aesop

by Jane Austen

by Jane Austen

by Jane Austen

by Andrei?. Kurkov

by Jane Austen

by Karen Farmer

by Catherine Fisher

by A. J. Wood

by Charlotte Bronte

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

by Geoffrey, Julia C. Crick, Neil Wright

by Sandra Boynton

by Anonymous

by Betty Radice, Jeffrey Gantz

by S. T. Joshi, H. P. Lovecraft

by T. Coraghessan Boyle