Great Literature

康熙八岁即位，由顺治遗命，以索尼、苏克萨哈、遏必隆和鳌拜四人为辅臣。其中鳌拜居功自傲，专横跋扈，待老臣索尼病死后，他拉拢遏必隆，处死了不与他合作的苏克萨哈，更是朝政独揽，经常咆哮金殿，强制康熙屈从他的意愿。…… 康熙八歲即位，由順治遺命，以索尼、蘇克薩哈、遏必隆和鰲拜四人為輔臣。其中鰲拜居功自傲，專橫跋扈，待老臣索尼病死後，他拉攏遏必隆，處死了不與他合作的蘇克薩哈，更是朝政獨攬，經常咆哮金殿，強制康熙屈從他的意願。

On Christmas Day, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev delivered a ten-minute televised speech announcing his resignation as Soviet president. Moments later, with little pomp and less circumstance, the red flag was lowered from its floodlit perch atop the Kremlin, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Into the vacuum—before a new democracy had time to put down roots—surged the Russian mafia, supplying what the new state could not: krysha, or “roof”—protection for the privately owned businesses sprouting across the country.

The Great Gatsby, the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, follows a cast of characters on Long Island in the summer of 1922. It is considered a classic of the Jazz Age or Roaring Twenties. The story is told by Nick Carraway, a Yale University graduate from the Midwest who has moved to New York to pursue a stock-market career. Recounting the events of a summer he spent on Long Island, his narrative emerges as a series of flashbacks.

In the 1930s, photographer Dorothea Lange traveled the American West documenting the experiences of those devastated by the Great Depression. She wanted to use the power of the image to effect political change, but even she could hardly have expected the effect that a simple portrait of a worn-looking woman and her children would have on history.

March 4, 1918. An army cook at Fort Riley, Kansas reported to the infirmary with a temperature of 103.1 degrees fahrenheit. Within two days, another 521 men became sick. It is one of the first recorded outbreaks of what came to be known as the Spanish flu. Living in the country, we fared better than those who lived in crowded conditions in the big cities. We were like one big, happy family, living in different houses. We held barn raisings, outdoor festivals, and church picnics. But at last, the plague of 1918 found us too, and that silent killer was about to drag us into hell.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) and Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) were both regarded as the female poet laureates of their time, and between them their writings spanned almost the entire Victorian age, from the end of Romanticism to the beginnings of Modernism. This selection of their shorter works contains all the major themes that animated them - social justice, faith, love and mortality - and some of the best-loved poetry in English, including "In The Deep Midwinter" and "How Do I Love Thee?"

This inspiring anthology collects enduring and entertaining stories that have enthralled young and old, by the cherished authors whose tales have captivated children for generations. Perfect for the family car trip or at-home listening, these recordings sparkle with the wit and wonder of time-tested storytelling.

The Earl of Frome gets a shock when a gaggle of nosy bird watchers gang up on him. When one of them winds up dead, it doesn't look good for the Earl. Amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson gets embroiled in yet another murder mystery. It's a good thing she's got witchy powers as she has to solve a murder, try and learn more about her own mysterious beginnings, and turn out a winning cake, because it's cake week in the competition tent.

A Christmas charity contest leads to murder! Amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson agrees to be a celebrity contestant in a charity gingerbread house competition in Bath, England. She can support a good cause while promoting the long running TV reality show in which she’s a contestant — The Great British Baking Contest. However, beneath the gingerbread walls and behind the lollipop trees swirl bad feelings, jealousy, and murder. Good thing Poppy is also a witch and a talented amateur sleuth.

The white cat, famous for being a spokes-cat for Beautiful Buffet Cat Food, is making a TV appearance at a supermarket opening, with Madison playing cat wrangler to the stars! The TV people want Walt, too, and everyone is excited for her to reach celebrity status—except Walt. Unfortunately for the felines' television debut, two cats loose in a supermarket is a recipe for disaster. Chaos erupts at the grand opening, and when the dust settles, the white cat and Walt are nowhere to be seen. They've been catnapped!

A propulsive and ambitious novel as electrifying as The Wire, from a writer hailed as the West Coast's Richard Price—a mesmerizing epic of crime and opportunity, race, revenge, and loyalty, set in the chaotic streets of South Central L.A. in the wake of one of the most notorious and incendiary...

After her mother's sudden death, Melaney Carter travels hundreds of miles to deal with the inherited property while seeking solace from her obsessed ex-boyfriend and her dreaded upcoming college exams. The neglected house, a result of her mother's hoarding, demands major work, but Mel is determined to clean it so she can sell it and move on.

Competition is hotter than the pre-heated ovens as The Great British Baking Competition moves into cake week. Amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson has a lot to deal with, from learning she has talents she never knew about, to trying to keep cool and bake under pressure. She’s also trying to track down the secrets of her parentage. Meanwhile, she’s saved from death by a local Border collie who seems to think she’s part of his flock and herds her out of danger.

London, 1905: Law student and military veteran Balvinder dev Singh has found an extralegal way to fund his studies. As friend and accomplice to the infamous gentleman thief AJ Raffles, he rubs shoulders with the upper crust—and steals their valuables. That is, until their next mark, an imperialist general, is grotesquely murdered in the library of his Mayfair mansion. Bal and Raffles find themselves implicated in a series of killings that soon attracts the attention of Scotland Yard—and the aging Sherlock Holmes himself.

For students of Middle English, Andrew and Waldron's The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript has been the key edition of the four Pearl poems for over 30 years. With the changing needs of today's students in mind, the editors produced a complete prose translation of the four poems - the best known of which is "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The near-literal translations are intended to facilitate understanding of the four poems - to lead readers to, rather than away from, the original texts.

Nichole Nichols has done it again with her no nonsense audiobook on how to give a blow job. Ever feel like pleasuring your male partner is more like a job than it should be? Well, Nichols pushes out old taboos and gives you the ultimate tools to make it work in your favor. Giving pleasure to your man should be an exciting and intimate journey as you give into pleasure and allow your man to feel what it's like to be in heaven.

When Daniel arrives at the school bus stop sporting a salmon-coloured hat, Zeke is shocked. Don’t only birds wear hats? As if this isn’t strange enough, the school suddenly has a new student – a fish of all things – and a mysterious new Guidance Counsellor. Meanwhile, Zeke’s friends seem to have ditched him, and even his old nemesis won't give him the time of day. So when somebody melts his house with the Death Ray of Death – twice – Zeke has had enough. Just who is sabotaging his life – and why?

Jasper the squirrel is always ready for an adventure, especially when it’s with his best friends: Luna, a wise-beyond-her-years owl, and Barnaby, a clumsy (and constantly hungry) bear cub. Their latest discovery is the perfect secret spot: a steamy, colorful geyser basin, humming with a strange, warm energy. They can't wait to explore the bubbling mud pots, see the shimmering turquoise pools, smell the strange, rotten-egg scent of sulfur, and feel the warm, vibrating ground beneath their paws.

At the heart of each of these great classic stories is an adoptee with an indomitable spirit who becomes the heroine (or hero) of her own life. "The bravery it takes for an unwanted orphan to forge their own path in life was as great when these stories were written as it is today," says narrator Alison Larkin, who draws on her own adoption experience to bring these stories to authentic new life.

Mason and his brother Blake have so far survived the Great Game, and even thrived. But for how much longer? Blake defeated the orc tyrant made just to kill him, and now settles into the 'White Tower' with the beautiful orc ruler he installed. With charm, and an army of constructs, he intends to make the once-enemies into allies. And that's just the start of his ambitions...