Showing results by author "Mentor New York" in All Categories

This is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories by Washington Irving. Irving lived at the Alhambra Palace while writing some of the material for his book. In 1828, Washington Irving traveled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain. At first sight, he described it as "a most picturesque and beautiful city, situated in one of the loveliest landscapes that I have ever seen." He immediately asked the then-governor of the historic Alhambra Palace as well as the archbishop of Granada for access to the palace, which was granted because of Irving's celebrity status. ...

Raoul des Sablières, a French parole prisoner in England during the Napoleonic Wars, becomes enmeshed in a complicated tangle where his honour conflicts with his parole, and is sent to prison. Juliana Forrest, for whose sake he broke his parole, does her utmost to save him, and in his adventures and misfortunes, Raoul eventually also finds help from an unlikely source. This is a fun adventure story and romance, written in a style similar to Georgette Heyer. (Summary by Elin) - Summary by Elin

On the occasion of Walt Whitman's 70th Birthday a "Committee of Citizens" in Camden, NJ held a special commemoration in his honor. This slim collection includes a autobiographical note by Whitman and his response to those present as well as a full record of the the speeches and appreciations offered, along with the letters and telegrams that poured in from all over the world. Contributors include: Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Ernest Rhys, Horace Traubel, Hallam Tennyson, William Rossetti, Gabriel Sarazin, William Morris, Rudolf Schmidt, William Sloane Kennedy, John G Whittier, John Addington ...

Seventeen poems about the sea or in which the sea plays an important role. - Summary by david wales

This is the third of Burrough's Tarzan novels. Originally serialized in All-Story Cavalier magazine in 1914, the novel was first published in book form by A. C. McClurg in 1916. In the previous novel Tarzan reclaimed his name and title as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke. In this novel he finds that proper society is just as vicious as the jungle when greedy men threaten him and his new family. Jane and her infant son Jack are kidnapped by Tarzan's enemies, Nikolas Rokoff and Alexis Paulvitch, who then trap Tarzan himself and attempt to exile him forever on a primitive island, bereft of all those ...

William Booth, together with his wife Catherine founded a small mission in London which eventually expanded to become a global movement, carrying the Christian gospel message of salvation and holiness under the banner of the Salvation Army. While never losing his sharp focus on personal transformation that saved men and women from the depths of despair, Booth put faith into action by caring for the temporal needs of society wherever the Army gained a foothold. George Scott Railton was the first Commissioner in the Salvation Army and second in command, working closely and intimately with Booth,...

A comic dialogue written in John Collier's idiosyncratic version of the 18th century South Lancashire dialect together with a collection of 19th century texts on Collier and his work. Egged on by Meary (Mary), Tummus (Thomas) recounts the series of misadventures that ensue when he makes a trip to Rochdale on an errand for his master. First published in 1746, the text grew over subsequent editions as Collier expanded the story, added a preface in which he berates publishers who had pirated his work, and inflated and amended his glossary. The text read here is the final version of the preface, ...

I met the ex-pickpocket and burglar whose autobiography follows soon after his release from a third term in the penitentiary. For several weeks I was not particularly interested in him. He was full of a desire to publish in the newspapers an exposé of conditions obtaining in two of our state institutions, his motive seeming partly revenge and partly a very genuine feeling that he had come in contact with a systematic crime against humanity. But as I continued to see more of him, and learned much about his life, my interest grew; for I soon perceived that he not only had led a typical thief's ...

Boule de Suif (1880) is a short story by the late-19th century French writer Guy de Maupassant. It is arguably his most famous short story, and is the title story for his collection on the Franco-Prussian War, entitled "Boule de Suif et Autres Contes de la Guerre" ("Boule de Suif and Other Stories of the War"). John Ford said that his film Stagecoach was in many ways a western rewrite of Boule de Suif. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (commonly known as Madame Guyon) (April 13, 1648 - June 9, 1717) was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism. Quietism was considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, and she was imprisoned from 1695 to 1703 after publishing a book on the topic, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer. This translation is by Thomas Taylor Allen was first published in 1897. Allen's dates are unknown. (Summary from Wikipedia.)

This "as told to" autobiography of Jules Turnour is based on a popular article that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1909. Turnour relates through Marcosson his personal history and that of the circus, both in Europe and the United States. By recounting touching, amusing, and heartbreaking events that he experienced or witnessed, he demonstrates his love of circus life and his craft. "As soon as I hear the music of the band...and the indescribable movement of the crowd toward the big tent...I am stirred to action, the weariness falls away like magic, and I am young again." Photographs ...

Just about every confidence gag had been tried on old Vachti, except the Elixir of Youth. Only this was different—Professor Barr had a unique pitch on it, but Buck had the real goods! (Summary by Paul Hampton)

Jesse Harding Pomeroy was only 12 years old when he was arrested for the assault of 7 boys near his home in the South Boston area of Massachusetts. He was sent to reform school for a year and released. Shortly after his release, the body of a young boy was found mutilated almost beyond recognition. Then the body of a young girl was discovered in the basement of the building which Jesse's mother had rented to run her small dressmaking shop. Jesse would be tried and found guilty of the two murders when he was but 14 years of age, and thus has been referred to as "America's youngest serial killer...

"Baby's Own Aesop" presents the fables as one-stanza limericks, each "pictorially pointed" by Walter Crane, the noted painter and illustrator. He apprenticed to master wood-engraver, William James Linton, who furnished the draft of the book's poems for Crane to edit. "Baby's Own Aesop" is available in a beautiful facsimile edition of colored engravings from the International Children's Digital Library, with which your child can read along while listening to the recording. (Summary by Denny Sayers)

A collection of fiction, non-fiction and poetry on travels in Lancashire, England, with occasional sorties into adjacent counties. - Summary by Phil Benson

These are three of the strangest stories I could find by the very talented Fritz Leiber. And by strange I mean odd, weird, kinda creepy and yet wonderful. Not your normal Science Fiction here but then Leiber had an amazing imagination and these certainly made me stretch mine.

Humorist Bill Nye was the first editor of the daily paper in Laramie, Wyoming, and named it the Laramie Boomerang in honor of his mule. As Nye’s son Frank said, something about the word “boomerang” piqued Nye’s imagination, as it described the "eccentricity of his orbit". “His mule, his mine, his newspaper, his [first] book [Bill Nye and Boomerang], all bore the trademark.” The book, according to Nye, includes "some little epics and ethereal flights of fancy..." and said "it affords me great pleasure...to know what a feeling of blessed rest and childlike confidence and assurance - ...

I first read this little book when I was in the fifth grade, and now more than fifty years later, I still find it fascinating. Ernest Thompson Seton was a man with a concern for nature her creatures and an excellent story teller. I could almost feel Wahb, the great grizzly’s pain and frustration as he tried to avoid contact with humans and just be left alone to carry out his bear business. Listening to this audio book will be an hour and a half well spent. Summary by Mike Vendetti, Narrator.

Neither the name of Shakespeare nor that of Stratford appears directly in this short piece by James, and yet both are absolutely central to his plot. The story has to do with Mr. and Mrs. Gedge, tempted away from a dreary northern town library, which he runs, to become the wardens – caretakers and tour guides – of the house where the greatest writer of the English language was born, and in which he grew up. Or did he? There is, after all, a paucity of facts about His life (in James's text, that pronoun is always capitalized, as befits a deity) and only the slenderest of historical evidence...

Volume 4 discusses some of the key leaders of the ancient world, including Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius and Constantine, as well as important religious figures such as Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine. Summary by KHand