Britain: books tagged “britain” (10/187) @ BookFinder.com

ISBN 9780812034448 (0-8120-3444-9, 0812034449)

by Charles Dickens, Polly Alison Morrice

ISBN 0812034449 (0-8120-3444-9)
Softcover, Barrons Educational Series Inc

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Book summary:

Plot synopsis of this classic is made meaningful with analysis and quotes by noted literary critics, summaries of the work's main themes and characters, a sketch of the author's life and times, a bibliography, suggested test questions, and ideas for essays and term papers. [via]

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Charles Dickens' a Tale of Two Cities: ISBN 0812034449 (0-8120-3444-9)
Softcover, Barrons Educational Series Inc

ISBN 9780385512107 (0-385-51210-4, 0385512104)

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

ISBN 0385512104 (0-385-51210-4)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christophers carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbors dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.

Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christophers mind.

And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddons choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read. [via]

More editions of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: ISBN 0385512104 (0-385-51210-4)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

ISBN 9780385509459 (0-385-50945-6, 0385509456)

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

ISBN 0385509456 (0-385-50945-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

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Book summary:

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christophers carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbors dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.

Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christophers mind.

And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddons choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read. [via]

More editions of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: ISBN 0385509456 (0-385-50945-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group

ISBN 9780140297386 (0-14-029738-3, 0140297383)

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David Copperfield

by Charles Dickens, Jeremy Tambling, H. K. Browne

ISBN 0140297383 (0-14-029738-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)

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Book summary:

David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations. In David Copperfield-the novel he described as his "favorite child"-Dickens drew revealingly on his own experiences to create one of his most exuberant and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure. This edition uses the text of the first book edition of 1850 Includes updated suggestions for further reading, a revised chronology, and expanded notes introduction discusses the novel's autobiographical elements and its central themes of memory and identity [via]

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Dracula

by Bram Stoker

ISBN 0862277493 (0-86227-749-3)
Hardcover, Grandreams

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Dracula: ISBN 0862277493 (0-86227-749-3)
Hardcover, Grandreams

ISBN 9780345375568 (0-345-37556-4, 0345375564)

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Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War

by Robert K. Massie

ISBN 0345375564 (0-345-37556-4)
Softcover, Ballantine Books

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Book summary:

"A classic [that] covers superbly a whole era...Engrossing in its glittering gallery of characters."
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Robert K. Massie has written a richly textured and gripping chronicle of the personal and national rivalries that led to the twentieth century's first great arms race. Massie brings to vivid life, such historical figures as the single-minded Admiral von Tirpitz, the young, ambitious, Winston Churchill, the ruthless, sycophantic Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow, and many others. Their story, and the story of the era, filled with misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and events leading to unintended conclusions, unfolds like a Greek tratedy in his powerful narrative. Intimately human and dramatic, DREADNOUGHT is history at its most riveting. [via]

More editions of Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War:

Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War: ISBN 0345375564 (0-345-37556-4)
Softcover, Ballantine Books

ISBN 9781585671762 (1-58567-176-2, 1585671762)

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The English: A Portrait of a People

by Jeremy Paxman

ISBN 1585671762 (1-58567-176-2)
Softcover, Overlook Press, The

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Book summary:

What is it about the English? Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or the Welsh, but the English. Why do they seem so unsure of who they are? As Jeremy Paxman remarks in his preface to The English, being English "used to be so easy". Now, with the Empire gone, with Wales and Scotland moving into more independent postures, with the troubling specter of a united Europe (and despite the raucous hype of "Cool Britannia"), the English seem to have entered a collective crisis of national identity.

Jeremy Paxman has set himself the task of finding just what exactly is going on. Why, he wonders, "do the English seem to enjoy feeling so persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy?" He ranges widely in pursuit of answers, sifting through literature, cinema, and history. It is an intriguing investigation, encompassing many aspects of national life and character (such as it is), including the obligatory visit to that baffling phenomenon, the funeral of Princess Diana. Yet Paxman finds something fresh and interesting to say about even that now rather threadbare topic. In the end, he seems to find further questions to ask instead of answers. But why not? To him it is a sign that the English are acquiring a new sense of self. And some indication of this might lie in the obvious response to his remark that the English, being top of the British Imperial tree, had nicknames for their fellow nationalities--Jock, Taffy, Paddy, and Mick--but there was no corresponding name for an Englishman. Of course, there is one now, and it comes from one of the bits of empire to which so many undesirables were exported: Whinging Pom. --Robin Davidson, Amazon.co.uk [via]

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ISBN 9781414505930 (1-4145-0593-0, 1414505930)

Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

ISBN 1414505930 (1-4145-0593-0)
Softcover, Pavilion Pr

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Book summary:

Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]

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ISBN 9780321202086 (0-321-20208-2, 0321202082)

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Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey: A Longman Cultural Edition

by Marilyn Gaull

ISBN 0321202082 (0-321-20208-2)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group

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Book summary:

Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.

Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber [via]

More editions of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey: A Longman Cultural Edition:

Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey: A Longman Cultural Edition: ISBN 0321202082 (0-321-20208-2)
Softcover, Longman Pub Group

ISBN 9780141439792 (0-14-143979-3, 0141439793)

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Northanger Abbey

by Jane Austen, Marilyn Butler

ISBN 0141439793 (0-14-143979-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:

Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.

Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber [via]

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ISBN 9780192547057 (0-19-254705-4, 0192547054)

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Northanger Abbey and Persuasion

by Jane Austen

ISBN 0192547054 (0-19-254705-4)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Book summary:

This is part of a complete set of Jane Austen's novels collating the editions published during the author's lifetime and previously unpublished manuscripts. The books are illustrated with 19th century plates and incorporate revisions by experts in the light of subsequent research. The set consists of "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility", "Mansfield Park", "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion", "Emma" and "Minor Works". [via]

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Northanger Abbey and Persuasion: ISBN 0192547054 (0-19-254705-4)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr

ISBN 9780192840820 (0-19-284082-7, 0192840827)

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Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, the Watsons, Sanditon: Lady Susan ; The Watsons ; Sanditon

by Jane Austen, James Kinsley, Claudia L. Johnson, John N. Davie

ISBN 0192840827 (0-19-284082-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Book summary:

This volume contains an epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and two unfinished works, The Watsons and Sanditon, along with the well-known Northanger Abbey. [via]

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ISBN 9780192833686 (0-19-283368-5, 0192833685)

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Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, the Watsons, Sanditon: Lady Susan ; The Watsons ; Sanditon

by Claude Rawson, Jane Austen, John Davie

ISBN 0192833685 (0-19-283368-5)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

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Northanger Abbey is the earliest of Jane Austen's great comedies of female enlightenment and combines literary burlesque - making fun of the excesses of the Gothic novel - with larger moral, philosophical, and social issues: the folly of letting literature get in the way of life, the inexcusability of not thinking for oneself, and the painful difficulties (especially for women) involved in growing up. Lady Susan and The Watsons are early compositions that reflect many of the qualities of Northanger Abbey. The first is an epistolary novel centring on the intrigues of the villainous Lady Susan; the second is an unfinished example of Jane Austen's most characteristic form - a story where the heroine is outstanding for her sense and goodness, virtues notably lacking in the other characters, who are here part of an altogether bleaker vision. Sanditon, too, is tragically incomplete, and it signals the achievement of a new depth and breadth of comic insight on the part of its author. [via]

More editions of Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, the Watsons, Sanditon: Lady Susan ; The Watsons ; Sanditon:

Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, the Watsons, Sanditon: Lady Susan ; The Watsons ; Sanditon: ISBN 0192833685 (0-19-283368-5)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr

ISBN 9780140430080 (0-14-043008-3, 0140430083)

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The Personal History of David Copperfield

by Charles Dickens, Trevor Blount

ISBN 0140430083 (0-14-043008-3)
Softcover, Penguin USA

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Book summary:

David Copperfield (1849-50) was Dickens's favorite novel: 'Of all my books', he wrote, 'I like it the best.' Strikingly autobiographical in its childhood scenes, it relates David's history from birth to young manhood, and the host of characters he meets on his journey of self-knowledge: Mr Micawber, the Peggottys, Betsey Trotwood, Steerforth and Uriah Heep among them. [via]

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ISBN 9781551111315 (1-55111-131-4, 1551111314)

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Persuasion

by Jane Austen, Linda Bree

ISBN 1551111314 (1-55111-131-4)
Softcover, Broadview Pr

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Anne Elliot, heroine of Austen's last novel, did something we can all relate to: Long ago, she let the love of her life get away. In this case, she had allowed herself to be persuaded by a trusted family friend that the young man she loved wasn't an adequate match, social stationwise, and that Anne could do better. The novel opens some seven years after Anne sent her beau packing, and she's still alone. But then the guy she never stopped loving comes back from the sea. As always, Austen's storytelling is so confident, you can't help but allow yourself to be taken on the enjoyable journey. [via]

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ISBN 9780803933682 (0-8039-3368-1, 0803933681)

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Persuasion: Theory and Research

by Daniel J. O'Keefe

ISBN 0803933681 (0-8039-3368-1)
Hardcover, Sage Pubns

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Book summary:

This volume provides a clear, straightforward introduction to theory and research in persuasion, leaving instructors free to hand-pick non-text materials to satisfy ancillary aims. It includes a discussion of research concerning the production of persuasive messages, as well as the more traditional research on the study of message effects. The text also provides a careful, comprehensive and critical treatment of the relevant research literature including examination of primary as well as secondary and tertiary sources, consideration of a wide body of published research from diverse fields, attention to avoiding premature generalizations from limited research evidence, and a thorough treatment of relevant theoretical and methodological quest [via]

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Persuasion: Theory and Research: ISBN 0803933681 (0-8039-3368-1)
Hardcover, Sage Pubns

ISBN 9781577595557 (1-57759-555-6, 1577595556)

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The Secret Garden

by Dalmatian Press Staff

ISBN 1577595556 (1-57759-555-6)
Hardcover, Dalmatian Press

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Book summary:

Product Details Reading level: Ages 5 and up Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Dalmatian Press (November 2001) Language: English [via]

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The Secret Garden: ISBN 1577595556 (1-57759-555-6)
Hardcover, Dalmatian Press

ISBN 9781402713194 (1-4027-1319-3, 1402713193)

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The Secret Garden

by Martha Hailey, Lucy Corvino, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Arthur Pober

ISBN 1402713193 (1-4027-1319-3)
Hardcover, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

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Book summary:

Following Sterling's spectacularly successful launch of its children's classic novels (240,000 books in print to date),comes a dazzling new series: Classic Starts. The stories are abridged; the quality is complete. Classic Starts treats the world's beloved tales (and children) with the respect they deserve--all at an incomparable price.

The discovery of a neglected garden transforms the life of a sullen and unloved little girl-and everyone around her, too. When the newly orphaned Mary Lennox leaves her native India and arrives at her uncle's mansion in Yorkshire, everything seems strange to her. Then Mary hears of a mysterious garden where no one has set foot in 10 years. With the help of some new friends, she plans to uncover its secrets...and make it blossom once again.

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More editions of The Secret Garden:

The Secret Garden: ISBN 1402713193 (1-4027-1319-3)
Hardcover, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

ISBN 9781402714597 (1-4027-1459-9, 1402714599)

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The Secret Garden

by Scott McKowen

ISBN 1402714599 (1-4027-1459-9)
Hardcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

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Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]

More editions of The Secret Garden:

The Secret Garden: ISBN 1402714599 (1-4027-1459-9)
Hardcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc

ISBN 9780816712045 (0-8167-1204-2, 0816712042)

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The Secret Garden : A Young Reader's Edition of the Classic Story

by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Louise Betts, Karen Prichett

ISBN 0816712042 (0-8167-1204-2)
Softcover, Troll Communications L.L.C.

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Book summary:

This kindle book also includes bonus annotations:

- information on the historical context of the book
- biography of the author
- literary critique

The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in autumn 1910; the book was first published in its entirety in 1911.

Its working title was Mistress Mary, in reference to the English nursery rhyme Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of children's literature.

The main character of this story is Mary Lennox. She has been born to rich British parents that are currently living in India. Her parents were busy with extravagent parties and left Mary with her ayah for most of the time. Orphaned by an outbreak of cholera, she is sent back to England to be cared for by her mother's sister's husband, Archibald Craven, a reclusive widower. Craven's wife, Lilian, passed away ten years earlier. He is still mourning that loss. To escape his sad memories, he constantly travels abroad, leaving the entire manor, including Mary, to be cared for by his housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock. The only person who has any time for the little girl is the chambermaid Martha Sowerby, who tells Mary about a locked up garden, surrounded by a wall that was the late Mrs. Craven's favorite place. No one has entered the garden since she died because Archibald locked its entrance and buried the key. He hasn't told anyone where it is.

Mary finds the key to the secret garden hidden in a box in the house. A robin shows her where the door is hidden beneath overgrown ivy. Once inside, she discovers that although the roses seem lifeless, some of the other flowers have survived. She decides to tend the garden herself. Mary wants to keep her new found garden a secret, but she knows she needs help tending it. She gets this help from Martha's brother Dickon. He seems to have a connection with all wild animals and plants. Mary gives him money to buy gardening implements and he shows her that the roses, though neglected, are not dead. When Mary's uncle briefly meets with her for the first time since her arrival, Mary asks him for permission to claim her own garden from any abandoned part of the grounds, and he acquiesces. Thanks to her new-found interests and activities, Mary herself begins to blossom, becoming more healthy looking and more pleasant to be around.

Some nights, Mary hears someone weeping in another part of the house. When she asks questions, the servants become evasive. They tell her that she is hearing things, like a servant with a toothache. Shortly after her uncle's visit, she goes exploring and discovers her uncle's son, Colin, a lonely, bedridden boy as petulant and disagreeable as Mary used to be. His father shuns him because the child closely resembles his mother. Mr. Craven is a mild hunchback, and both he and Colin are morbidly convinced that the boy will develop the same condition. The servants have been keeping Mary and Colin a secret from one another because Colin doesn't like strangers staring at him and is prone to terrible tantrums.

Mr. Craven has been traveling through Europe, but is inspired to rush home after hearing the voice of his dead wife in a dream and receiving a letter from Mrs. Sowerby (Martha's and Dickon's mother, who also knows the secret) telling him, "I think your lady would ask you to come if she was here." He arrives while the children are outdoors and finds himself drawn toward the secret garden. As he approaches nearer, he is astonished to hear their voices inside the walls; Colin bursts out of the garden door toward him, actually winning a footrace against Mary and Dickon. The story's heartwarming ending has Colin able to walk, Archibald smiling again, and Mary has a family and friends who love her. [via]

More editions of The Secret Garden : A Young Reader's Edition of the Classic Story:

ISBN 9781853260162 (1-85326-016-9, 1853260169)

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Sense And Sensibility

by Jane Austen

ISBN 1853260169 (1-85326-016-9)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc

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Book summary:

Though not the first novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion. Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she "loves him tenderly," she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister:

Oh! Mama, how spiritless, how tame was Edward's manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister most severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat. To hear those beautiful lines which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!

Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr. Willoughby, a new neighbor. So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous. Then Willoughby abandons her; meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart. How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel. Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired; a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure. --Alix Wilber [via]

More editions of Sense And Sensibility:

Sense And Sensibility: ISBN 1853260169 (1-85326-016-9)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc

ISBN 9780835902199 (0-8359-0219-6, 0835902196)

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Tale of 2 Cities

by Charles Dickens

ISBN 0835902196 (0-8359-0219-6)
Softcover, Globe Fearon Co

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Book summary:

The Pearson Education Library Collection offers you over 1200 fiction, nonfiction, classic, adapted classic, illustrated classic, short stories, biographies, special anthologies, atlases, visual dictionaries, history trade, animal, sports titles and more! [via]

More editions of Tale of 2 Cities:

Tale of 2 Cities: ISBN 0835902196 (0-8359-0219-6)
Softcover, Globe Fearon Co

ISBN 9781562542771 (1-56254-277-X, 156254277X)

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A Tale of Two Cities

by Charles Dickens

ISBN 156254277X (1-56254-277-X)
Softcover, Saddleback Pub

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Book summary:

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into one of historys most explosive erasthe French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the novels hero, Sydney Carton, a lazy, alcoholic attorney who, inspired by a woman, makes the supreme sacrifice on the bloodstained streets of Paris.

One of Dickenss most exciting novels, A Tale of Two Cities is a stirring classic of love, revenge, and resurrection.

Gillen DArcy Wood received his Ph.D in English from Columbia University in 2000 and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of The Shock of the Real: Romanticism and Visual Culture, 17601860.

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