Adapted from the story by Susan Coolidge
A classic 1950s children’s book for girls. A little marked up and obviously well read.
Whitcome and Tombs. 1950s. 88p.
By Rudyard Kipling
FROM THE COVER: "Once upon a Time O Best Beloved," and so begins one of the best loved and most respected collections of stories for children, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. This edition includes the author's own unique illustrations. Kipling's bold linear fantasies, in the style of art nouveau, as well as his attention to realistic detail, create an intriguing and strikingly different interpretation. The first tale, "How the Whale Got Its Throat," a tall tale of a big whale, sets the tone for these wild "venturesome adventures," to use Kipling's words. One glance at the table of contents will reveal that the Just So Stories appeal most to inquisitive and fantasy-loving minds. These are stories which tell us of the Time of Very Beginnings;…”
London. Crown Publishers.. 1978. Originally published 1937. 211p. USED BOOK
By The Author Of "Grumbling Tommy," Etc.
Late 19th century morality story for young persons.
London: S. W. Partridge & Co. 1884. 110p. USED BOOK
By Jorge Luis Borges
From the cover: ". unquestionably the most brilliant South American writing today. . .one of the genuine prose talents of our pe- riod. Written with a classical economy of means and under the control of a mind of wide culture and deep sensitivity, his stories will continue echoing in the minds of his readers as do those of Franz Kafka." -Herald Tribune Books
NY. Grove Press. 1962. 164p. USED BOOK. CONTAINS MARK-UP.
By Malcolm Bradbury
FROM THE COVER: Howard Kirk is the trendiest ofradical tutors at a fashionable campus university. Timid Vice- Chancellors pale before his threats of disruption; reactionary colleagues are crushed beneath his merciless Marxist logic; women are drawn by his progressive promiscuity. A self-appointed revolutionary hero, Howard always comes out on top. And Malcolm Bradbury dissects him in this savagely funny novel that has been universally acclaimed as a comic masterpiece. 'Malcolm Bradbury has come up with a novel that simply must be read' — THE TIMES.
London Arrow Books. 1975. 233p. USED BOOK. COMNGAINS MARK-UP
By Jorge Luis Borges. Edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby
FROM THE PREFACE: Jorge Luis Borges is a great writer who has composed only little essays or short narratives. Yet they suffice for us to call him great because of their wonderful intelligence, their wealth of invention and their tight, almost mathematical, style. Argentine by birth and temperament, but nurtured on univer- sal literature, Borges has no spiritual homeland. He creates, outside time and space, imaginary and symbolic worlds. It is a sign of his importance that, in placing him, only strange and perfect works can be called to mind. He is akin to Kafka, Poe, sometimes to Henry James and Wells, always to Valéry by the abrupt projection of his paradoxes in what has been called 'his private metaphysics'.
London. Penguin. 1964. 276p. USED BOOK. CONTAINS MARK-UP
By Anthony Trollope
From Wikipedia: When neither the Whigs nor the Tories are able to form a government on their own, a fragile compromise coalition government is formed, with Plantagenet Palliser, the wealthy and hard-working Duke of Omnium, installed as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Duchess, formerly Lady Glencora Palliser, attempts to support her husband by hosting lavish parties at Gatherum Castle in Barsetshire, the family's largest country house, barely used until now. Palliser, initially unsure that he is fit to lead, grows to enjoy his high office, but becomes increasingly distressed when his government proves to be too weak and divided to accomplish anything. His own inflexible nature does not help.
London. Chapman & Hall. 1876. 807p.
By Anthony Trollope
Barchester Towers is a novel by English author Anthony Trollope published by Longmans in 1857. It is the second book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, preceded by The Warden and followed by Doctor Thorne. Among other things it satirises the antipathy in the Church of England between High Church and Evangelicaladherents. Trollope began writing this book in 1855. He wrote constantly and made himself a writing-desk so he could continue writing while travelling by train. "Pray know that when a man begins writing a book he never gives over", he wrote in a letter during this period. "The evil with which he is beset is as inveterate as drinking – as exciting as gambling". In his autobiography, Trollope observed "In the writing of Barchester Towers I took great delight. The bishop and Mrs. Proudie were very real to me, as were also the troubles of the archdeacon and the loves of Mr. Slope". When he submitted his finished work, his publisher, William Longman, initially turned it down, finding much of it to be full of "vulgarity and exaggeration".[1
London. Longmans. 1857. 559p.
By Mark Twain
From Wikipedia: The Prince and the Pauper is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States.[1] The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547, it tells the story of two young boys who were born on the same day and are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper who lives with his abusive, alcoholic father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London, and Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII of England. Plot: Tom Canty, the youngest son of a very poor family living in Offal Court located in London, has been abused by his father and grandmother, but is encouraged by the local priest, who taught him to read and write. Loitering around the palace gates one day, he sees Edward Tudor, the Prince of Wales. Coming too close in his intense excitement, Tom is caught and nearly beaten by the Royal Guards. However, Edward stops them and invites Tom into his palace chamber. There, the two boys get to know one another and are fascinated by each other's life. They have an uncanny resemblance to each other and learn they were even born on the same day, so they decide to swap clothes “temporarily". The Prince hides an item, which the reader later learns……
By Franz Kafka. Translated by David Wyllie
From Wikipedia: Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect (German: ungeheueres Ungeziefer, lit. "monstrousvermin") and subsequently struggles to adjust to this new condition. The novella has been widely discussed among literary critics, with differing interpretations being offered. In popular culture and adaptations of the novella, the insect is commonly depicted as a cockroach.
With a length of about 70 printed pages over three chapters, it is the longest of the stories Kafka considered complete and published during his lifetime. The text was first published in 1915 in the October issue of the journal Die weißen Blätter under the editorship of René Schickele. The first edition in book form appeared in December 1915 in the series Der jüngste Tag, edited by Kurt Wolff.[1]
Leipzig. Kurt Wolff Verlag . 1915. 49p. CONTAINS MARK-UP
By Franz Kafka. : Willa and Edwin Muir, Tania and James Stern
This is a 1971 collection of all Kafka’s finished works. It contains all the amazing, weird and wonderful unsettling stories from Metamorphisis to In the Penal Colony.From Wikipedia: “In 1912, Kafka wrote Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis, or The Transformation),[150] published in 1915 in Leipzig. The story begins with a travelling salesman waking to find himself transformed into an ungeheures Ungeziefer, a monstrous vermin, Ungezieferbeing a general term for unwanted and unclean pests, especially insects. Critics regard the work as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century.[151][152][153] The story "In der Strafkolonie" ("In the Penal Colony"), dealing with an elaborate torture and execution device, was written in October 1914,[82] revised in 1918, and published in Leipzig during October 1919. The story "Ein Hungerkünstler" ("A Hunger Artist"), published in the periodical Die neue Rundschau in 1924, describes a victimized protagonist who experiences a decline in the appreciation of his strange craft of starving himself for extended periods.[154] His last story, "Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse" ("Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk"), also deals with the relationship between an artist and his audience.[155]
NY. Schoken. 1971. 487p. CONTAINS MARK-UP
By Charles Dickens
From Wikipedia: “In 1859 Dickens founded a new journal called All the Year Round, and the "Uncommercial Traveller" articles would be among his main contributions. He seems to have chosen the title and persona of the Uncommercial Traveller as a result of a speech he gave on 22 December 1859 to the Commercial Travellers' School in London,[1] in his role as honorary chairman and treasurer. The persona sits well with a writer who liked to travel, not only as a tourist, but also to research and report what he found visiting Europe, America and giving book readings throughout Britain. He did not seem content to rest late in his career when he had attained wealth and comfort and continued travelling locally, walking the streets of London in the mould of the flâneur, a "gentleman stroller of city streets". He often suffered from insomnia and his night-time wanderings gave him an insight into some of the hidden aspects of Victorian London, details of which he also incorporated into his novels.”
London: Chapman & Hall, Ld. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1905. 370p.
By Charles Dickens
From Wikipedia. Nicholas Nickleby, or The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, is the third novel by Charles Dickens, originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839. The character of Nickleby is a young man who must support his mother and sister after his father dies.
London. Chapman and Hall. 1839. 954p.
By Jane Shemilt
London. Penguin. 2014. 342p.
"The Daughter" is a novel by Australian author Jane Shemilt, first published in 2014. The book tells the story of a successful doctor named Jenny, whose daughter Naomi disappears one day without a trace. As Jenny searches for her daughter and tries to unravel the mystery of her disappearance, she must confront the painful secrets and hidden truths that have been simmering beneath the surface of her seemingly perfect family.
The novel is a gripping psychological thriller that explores themes of loss, grief, and the complexities of family relationships. Shemilt's skill as a writer is evident in her deft handling of the novel's multiple narrative threads, as well as her ability to create a sense of tension and unease that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish.
By William Handel Richardson
'The Getting of Wisdom' is a compelling and frank account of a young girl's coming of age. It tells the story of Laura Rambotham and her struggle to be accepted by her peers at a new school.
Henry Handel was the pseudonym of Ethel Florence Lindsay Richardson. She was born in 1870 in Victoria. Her family was fairly well-off in the early days, but fell on hard times, after her father died. She attended the Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Melbourne from age 13 – 17.
The Getting of Wisdom was written in 1910, but was set in 1890’s Melbourne & loosely followed Richardson’s own experiences at boarding school. Curiously none of the girls (or women) in The Getting of Wisdom are very likeable. They’re mean, snobbish, selfish & bitchy. Even Laura, who you empathise with at the start, never learns from her mistakes. And in fact, her self-deception, lying, cheating & self-absorption at the expense of others grew worse with time. At the end, while wondering “wisdom, what wisdom?”, Richardson did have some interesting things to say about conformity, creativity, moderation, honesty, integrity & the status of women in Victorain society, via her characters.
London. Heinemann. 1910. 209p.
By Markus Zusak
The Dunbar boys bring each other up in a house run by their own rules a family of ramshackled tragedy their mother is dead their father has fled they love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world. It is Clay, the quiet one, who will build a bridge; for his family, for his past, for his sins. He builds a bridge to transcend humanness. To survive A miracle and nothing less. Markus Zusak makes his long-awaited return with a profoundly heartfelt and inventive novel about a family held together by stories, and a young life caught in the current: a hoy in search of greatness, as a cure for a painful past. “‘Brilliant and hugely ambitious...the kind of book that can be life changing.” The New York Times. “‘Unsettling, thought-provoking, life affirming, triumphant and tragic, this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told.” Guardian. ‘Zusak’s novel is a highwire act of inventiveness and emotional suppleness’ The Australian.
Australia. Picador Macmillan. 2018. 581p.
By Woody Allen
From the cover. In Getting Even Woody Allen revenges himself upon such significant subjects as death, obesity, organized crime, the invention of the sandwich, adult education, laundry lists of famous people, and Latin American revolutionaries. Here is Woody Allen at his philosophical deepest: • "... Death is an acquired trait.'' • "If man were immortal, do you realize what his meat bills would be?" • "Why pork was proscribed by Hebraic law is still unclear, and some scholars believe that the Torah merely suggested not eating pork at certain restaurants." • "Eternal Nothingness is OK if you're dressed for it." • "My mind can never know my body although it has become quite friendly with my legs."
NY. Random House. 1978. 124p.
By Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Translated from the Russian by Michael Guybon. “*The First Circle asks to be compared to Dostoevsky. Solzhenitsyn is in the great story-telling tradition. When he introduces a character, he fills in the complete background. His portrait of a Soviet prosecutor and his family circle is unforgettable. So are chapters devoted to the brooding Stalin. A future generation of Russians will be able to come to terms with their history through books like Dr. Zhivago and The First Circle.'“ David Pryce-Jones, Financial Times.
London Collins. Fontana Books. 1970. 680P.