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

This second volume of the biography of Lord Cochrane deals with his fall from grace, imprisonment for debt, loss of honours, and attempts to clear his name. It has had a marked influence on naval fiction, most obviously on some of the novels by Patrick O'Brian. - Summary by Timothy Ferguson

Betty Gordon found herself an orphan at age twelve. She became the ward of her uncle, Richard Gordon. She immediately came to love her uncle dearly. Unfortunately, his job took him on travels regularly. Therefore, he decided to send Betty to spend the summer with an old friend, Agatha Peabody, at Bramble Farm. Little did Uncle Dick or Betty know, that Bramble Farm was not a welcoming or joyful place to live, as Agatha's husband was a miserly and sour man. The only bright spot in Betty's summer was her friendship with Bob, a poor orphan, bound to work tirelessly upon the farm. - Summary by ...

Twenty-four short stories by famous and not-so-famous British authors. (Summary by David Wales) Note: A shortened section 21 was replaced on Dec 30, 2014 with the full text.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course, structure, characters, and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular ...

Beowulf was composed by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet. Francis Barton Gummere translates this beautiful poem. Beowulf is an epic poem. The main character, Beowulf, proves himself a hero as he battles against supernatural demons and beasts. (Summary by Tad E.)

In 1895, Oscar Wilde was sentenced to 2 years of hard labor for acts of ‘gross indecency’. During his time at Reading Gaol, he witnessed a rare hanging, and in the three years between his release and his untimely death in 1900, was inspired to write the following poem, a meditation on the death penalty and the importance of forgiveness, even for (and especially for) something as heinous as murdering one’s spouse; for even the murderer, Wilde argues, is human and suffers more so for being the cause of his own pain, for ‘having killed the thing he loved’; for everyone is the cause of ...

A novel with some utopian elements, but primarily dystopian. A French doctor and a German professor both inherit a vast fortune as descendants of a French soldier who married the rich widow of an Indian prince. They both decide to go to America and establish their own "ideal" society. Dr. Sarrasin, the French doctor, is focused on maintaining public health. He builds Ville-France. Professor Schultze, the German scientist, is a bit of a militarist and racist. He builds Stahlstadt and devotes his city to the production of ever more powerful weapons so that he can destroy Sarrasin's city. They ...

This epic poem is about Alfred the Great's defense of Christian England against the pagan Viking invaders. The decisive battle is fought in sight of a white horse mark made on a hill, after which the poem is named. As the white horse mark must be continually maintained by weeding to be clearly seen, Chesterton sees it as a symbol of the continual struggle to maintain the Christian culture and values for which Alfred the Great fought. - Summary by Robin Lamb

Following in the vein of my Coffee-Break collections, this is a collection of short (all under 15 minutes) stories for kids. Focus is on fables and fairy tales published before 1923. (Summary by BellonaTimes)

A well off English bachelor receives a legacy from his uncle. This includes the uncle's very large library and a box containing something that used to belong to his uncle. The box has air holes in it. It is not a rat or other small mammal for his collection, but it is something still alive; something very malevolent and something very evil. - Summary by Phil chenevert

The wonderful evolution of a caterpillar, or grub, into a beautifully winged creature must inspire admiration in everyone. More marvelous still is the growth of the human soul which in many respects resembles the development of the butterfly. It is this thought which has induced the author to attempt to depict the transformation of a careless maiden into noble womanhood. - Summary by Lucy Foster Madison

Murray (1840-1904) was a sometime clergyman, journalist, and purveyor of the outdoor life. His books did much to popularize the virtues of outdoor experience, especially in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Here are stories, some humorous some serious, of the out-of-doors, of love between man and woman, man and horse, man and dog, teacher and acolyte, of wisdom and foolishness. This recording is a selection of his short stories from "The Busted Ex-Texan And Other Stories" (1889), "How Deacon Tubman And Parson Whitney Kept New Years And Other Stories" (1888) and "A Ride With A Mad ...

As we get older, many of us return to youthful memories of poems once significant to us. Outside their association with our youth, we may wonder what significance they have to us now. There were other poems we've met along the way as well: some held no appeal while others were forgotten. And there were others we never had the opportunity to meet. This selection hopes to go beyond the experience of meeting old friends and on top opening the door to new ones — poems that might relate more significantly to our current lives. Originally titled "Personal Poems for Later Years," this collection ...

"Is it true that a bee can only sting once?" I asked him, as he bent again over the crocus beds. He laughed. "What would be the good of a sword to a soldier," he said, "if only one blow could be struck with it? It is certainly true that the bee does not usually sting a second time, but that is only because you are too hasty with her. ...But now watch how the thing works naturally." A bee had settled on his hand as he was speaking. He closed his fingers gently over it, and forced it to sting. "Now," he continued, quite unconcernedly, "look what really happens..." (from The Bee-Master of ...

Phineas Pett was a Master Shipbuilder from one of England's greatest shipbuilding families of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and kept a journal of his experiences and thoughts at this important and turbulent time in the industry. Although some pages were damaged or lost, the diary was transcribed by Samuel Pepys and preserved in the British Library. It was edited and published in the form of an autobiography by William Gordon Perrin of The Council of the Navy Records Society in 1918. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

Wilde’s meditation on capital punishment, the Ballad of Reading Gaol comes after he was convicted and imprisoned under charges of gross indecency. The charges stemmed from his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the Marquis of Queensberry. It relates the story of an execution of a man who murdered his wife which Wilde witnessed during his internment. Published in 1898, it was Wilde’s last published poem as he would die in 1900 from cerebral meningitis, caused by syphilis.(Summary by John Gonzalez)

A classic ghost story of a haunted house, and the haunted man who lives in it.

Aunt Hannah's fondest wish had been that her nephew John would marry a local girl and take over the family farm. Trouble was, John was never very interested in the farm and followed his own path, first to college and then to seminary. Now he was settling into his first pastorate and as anyone could see, his wife Mattie was simply not fit to be a housekeeper or a pastor's wife in a country church. If only he had listened to his Aunt Hannah! (Summary by MaryAnn)

A selection of eight short works, chapters, or poems about Christmas. - Summary by david wales

Ring Lardner is a typical parent when his first child is born, full of wonder and the rest of the usual emotions as he watches his little son grow. He wrote a series of 29 short poems on various facets of parenthood. (Summary by Jack Thro)