検索キーワード： 選集・短編小説

On the storm-swollen Aisne in northeastern France, an alcoholic actor combats both his demons and nature’s tempests. Along the Main and Rhine in Germany, a kindhearted logger has but one wish: to travel with the lumber from his small Franconian hometown to the end of the river in the Netherlands, where it feeds into the majestic North Sea. In a bucolic vale in the French region of Brittany, two families, divided by religion and an unnamed stream, sustain a centuries-old feud, their resolve no match for the constantly shifting flow of water.

Illegal battering of gingernuts and conkers in a murky corner of the playground; a procession of bearers of lost property interrupting the telling of the story of Joseph; justice being firmly done on three malefactors who stole Mr Henry's eggs... Here are 40 delightful stories about life as a village schoolteacher, set against the changing seasons of the countryside.

Whatever happened to British protest? For a nation that brought the world Chartism, the Suffragettes, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and so many other grassroots social movements, Britain rarely celebrates its long, great tradition of people power. In this timely and evocative collection, 20 authors have assembled to reimagine key moments of British protest, from the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 to the anti-Iraq War demo of 2003.

Set during the dark days of World War II, Agatha Christie’s N or M? puts two most unlikely espionage agents, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, on the trail of a pair of Nazi spies who have murdered Britain’s top agent. World War II is raging, and while the RAF struggles to keep the Luftwaffe at...

In Agatha Christie’s classic mystery, Cards on the Table, the wily Hercule Poirot is on the case when a bridge night turns deadly Mr. Shaitana is famous as a flamboyant party host. Nevertheless, he is a man of whom everybody is a little afraid. So when he boasts to Hercule Poirot that he...

Ivory Shepard didn’t want to be a pirate when she grew up, but she didn’t plan on being orphaned and alone at 13 with her three cousins either. After a Spanish raid in Charles Towne left them with nothing, Ivory held her cousins together, trained them to fight for their lives, and led them to a life of quiet refuge on the banks of the Ashley River. Believing they were out of reach of the hands of unscrupulous men, they found life on the farm a tolerable substitute for the traditional alternatives life would force onto them - until the night the pirates showed up.

Murder is part of the curriculum at an exclusive school for girls in Agatha Christie’s Cat Among the Pigeons, as the intrepid Poirot sets out to bring a stealthy killer to justice. Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious flashing light in the sports pavilion while the rest of the...

With more than 120 titles still in print, Louis L'Amour is recognized the world over as one of the most prolific and popular American authors in history. Though he met with phenomenal success in every genre he tried, the form that put him on the map was the short story. Now this great...

Miss Lucy Lancester has loved her brother's best friend, Roman Alexander, for as long as she can remember. So devotedly, she's vowed never to marry anyone else. But her beloved libertine is hardly aware of her existence, and not the least deserving of her affection. Deciding her cause is lost, she makes plans to open a girls' school in Bath. There's just one thing she needs to do before she confirms her spinsterhood forever: spend one blissful night in Roman's arms.

When a mock murder game staged for charity threatens to turn into the real thing, the intrepid Hercule Poirot is called in to take part in this Dead Man’s Folly, a classic from the queen of suspense, Agatha Christie. Sir George and Lady Stubbs, the hosts of a village fete, hit upon the novel...

A classic Hercule Poirot investigation, Agatha Christie’s Elephants Can Remember has the expert detective delving into an unsolved crime from the past involving the strange death of a husband and wife. Hercule Poirot stood on the clifftop. Here, many years earlier, there had been a fatal...

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize A brilliant new work that returns Richard Ford to the hallowed territory that sealed his reputation as an American master: the world of Frank Bascombe, and the landscape of his celebrated novels The Sportswriter, the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner winning...

“Dramatic, adventurous, heroic, romantic. . . these historical chronicles, legends, myths, tall tales and fables, featuring warriors, kings, monks, explorers and clever common folk, imaginatively tell the history of Ireland.” — Philadelphia Inquirer This New York Times bestselling epic is...

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific English writer of science fiction stories and novels and is frequently credited as being the father of science fiction. The Red Room is the account of the terrifying nocturnal experiences of a young man who volunteers to spend a night in the haunted red room at Lorraine Castle.

When timber baron Reuben Burke finds himself at the seaside Hotel del Coronado - a forced vacation arranged by his siblings - he discovers he's forgotten how to relax. For the last ten years, he's been too caught up in raising his younger brother and sister and building up the family business in Seattle to have time for himself, much less romantic attachments. But a chance encounter on the beach with a young widow from San Diego puts his life on a new course.

Miss Prudence Canton loves her quiet life in the country, caring for her ailing father and their beloved horses. She's become adept at fending off the advances of gentlemen until a bold stranger named Lord Woodleigh makes a visit to the stables. For a brief moment lust takes over, but Prudence's father, and his gun, find them before things get out of hand. Now, in order to pay for those stolen kisses, Lord Woodleigh is forced to find a husband for the woman whose reputation he himself nearly ruined.

There will never be another Western writer like Louis L’Amour. A legendary author and indisputably the greatest storyteller in his genre of all time, L’Amour captivated millions of readers and has sold well over three hundred million copies of his works, which includes nearly ninety novels and countless short stories. Mistakes Can Kill You highlights an essential selection featuring nine of L’Amour’s earlier short stories, sometimes written under the pen name Jim Mayo, that exemplify the rugged morality of the best Western writing.

Le Operette Morali, il libro "più caro dei miei occhi" come lo definì lo stesso Leopardi, sono una raccolta di prose e dialoghi di carattere satirico, fantastico e filosofico, scritte tra il 1824 e il 1832, in cui lo scrittore e poeta tenta di educare un'Umanità incapace di guardare in faccia la realtà e che si culla in vane illusioni. Leopardi si sforza, a volte con spietatezza ed ironia, di "chiarirgli" quale sia il suo destino. Le Operette sono considerate uno dei capolavori della letteratura italiana di tutti i tempi.

Perché un paladino in copertina? Certamente perché il racconto, intrigante e pieno di atmosfera, è ambientato in Sicilia - ma tranquilli, di dialetto ce n'è poco. Quanto basta, "come il sale", secondo una lettrice di Parma. Ma c'è un secondo motivo. In tutti i racconti tratti da "Pilipintò - Racconti da bagno per Siciliani e non", come questo "Il mistero preistorico" che state per ascoltare dalla mia voce, troverete trame e capovolgimenti di prospettiva.

Questo è il sentimento che riempie di sé tutta l'opera leopardiana: la desolata nostalgia d'una felicità sconosciuta ed assurda, la disperata aspirazione verso un mondo migliore. Nelle più riuscite fra le "Operette", come nei "Canti", la poesia non nasce dalla brutta realtà ma dal vano bisogno di superarla... Così nelle "Operette" come nei "Canti" questa realtà grigia si disegna sul fondo luminoso di un ideale: e l'impressione dominante è quella di una delusione non rassegnata.