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

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)

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 ...

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

This book is a compilation of twenty-two addresses given by Sir William Osler in various settings. He spoke on the philosophical and moral foundations of medical science, giving instruction to the student the teacher, the physician and the nurse. In his own eloquent words, "we are here not to get all we can out of life for ourselves, but to try to make the lives of others happier... The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head. Often the best part of your work will have nothing to do with ...

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 - ...

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

The story of Billy Bunny and his friends and their adventures together. (Summary by mparker)

The hilarious diary of a young man's recruitment into, and service in a navy, which, though well equipped and disciplined, remains woefully ill prepared for his arrival and dubious contribution. (Introduction by Nigel Boydell)

Daniel Feldman was a doctor once. He made the mistake of saving a friend's life in violation of Medical Lobby rules. Now, he's a pariah, shunned by all, forbidden to touch another patient. But things are more loose on Mars. There, Doc Feldman is welcomed by the colonists, even as he's hunted by the authorities. But, when he discovers a Martian plague may soon wipe out humanity on two planets, Feldman finds himself a pivotal figure. War erupts. Earth is poised to wipe out the Mars colony utterly. A cure to the plague is the price of peace, and only Feldman can find it. (summary by Steven H. ...

Born on Christmas Day, little Carol Bird is a gentle soul who touches every life around her. Despite physical illness, Carol is loved by everyone who knows her. This year, she is going to make Christmas extra special for her family and the little Ruggles children who live nearby. (Introduction by Andrea Boltz)

In early 1907 the world of Australian rugby was rocked by the news that a professional New Zealand All Blacks team was set to tour the northern counties of Engliand, where professional rugby had been a reality for more than a decade. The professionalization of Australian rugby was unthinkable, but within a few months the unthinkable had come to pass. The professional All Blacks had played a hastily formed New South Wales team, the great Dally Messenger had joined the New Zealand tour of England, and by 1908 a professional league was formed in Sydney, with several of the teams that play in the ...

The first of 14 volumes, this book discusses ancient civilization looking primarily at religion and philosophy. Summary by KHand

The young, intelligent Mary discovers that through an act of will she can transform her appearance to make herself incredibly beautiful. But will her newfound identity be all that she hopes? This recording is from the novella’s original publication in The Savoy in August and September 1896. (Newgatenovelist)

The Adventures of Paddy Beaver is another in the long list of children’s books by the conservationist, Thornton W. Burgess. In this book, the industrious and clever Paddy Beaver, a newcomer to the Green Forest, has encounters with Sammy Jay, Jerry Muskrat, Ol’ Man Coyote and other inhabitants of the Green Forest. Along the way, we learn how Paddy builds his dam and his house, and how he stores his food. We also learn little lessons about life, such as the importance of planning before doing, caring for Nature, trusting others, the benefits of working together and how wonderful it is to ...

Bishop Pendle is the Church of England bishop in a small fictitious English cathedral town. Several years into his work, he receives a visit from a disreputable-looking visitor. The bishop is much upset. What transpired between them that has so upset the good churchman? And then there is the murder. Fergus Hume was one of the most prolific and most popular of 19th century novelists. "Mr. Hume won a reputation second to none for plot of the stirring, ingenious, misleading, and finally surprising kind, and for working out his plot in vigorous and picturesque English. In "The Bishop's Secret," ...

"Canon Spratte saw himself as he thought others might see him: mediocre, pompous, self-assertive, verbose." Maugham could have added ambitious, hypocritical, and vain. In this engrossing social satire, Theodore Spratte, a cleric, motivated by an obsessive desire to be elevated to bishop, embellishes his family history and intrudes upon his son's and daughter's courtships. A reviewer in 1906 wrote, "The whole book is an admirable blend of cynical gaiety and broadly farcical comedy; it is the smartest and most genuinely humorous novel that the season has yet given us." -- Lee Smalley