Reading Essentials: 322 books

The Pony Express was a mail service delivering messages, newspapers, and mail. Presently, "Pony Express" is a trademark for postal services in the US (by the United States Postal Service). "This little volume has but one purpose - to give an authentic, useful, and readable account...

Who killed solo violinist Lucy Carless during a concert by the Markshire Orchestra? Was it her first husband? Or her second? Womanizer Bill Ventry? Or perhaps the clarinetist and fellow Polish émigré, Zbartorowski, with whom she'd had a violent argument? "A plot compounded of musical knowledge,...

England is in the grip of the Second World War and the Blitz has forced the evacuation of various government offices from London. Francis Pettigrew, an unsuccessful barrister and amateur detective, accompanies his ministry to the distant seaside resort of Marsett Bay where the civil servants must...

The celebrated author of the Hornblower series presents the biography of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, the victor of the naval battle of Trafalgar.

Napoleon and His Court is a well-researched, comprehensive and delightfully written biography by the celebrated author of the Hornblower series and other great novels.

Lord Alverley is an exiled English nobleman. The only two people he likes are his ill-fated cousin, Katte, whom he looks on as a brother, and Dorothea Ritter, with whom he falls in love, but can't marry because he already has a wife in England. 

In this witty classic short story Babette’s Feast, a mysterious French housekeeper, who is taken in by two Danish sisters, wins the lottery and as a gesture of gratitude prepares an extravagant and sumptuous feast for a gathering of religious, ascetic, aging villagers and, in doing so, introduces them to the true essence of charity and grace.  

Mother Bear has a secret (actually, two of them) and their names are Boxer and Woof-Woof. Young readers will find out how the young cubs get even with Peter Rabbit, what happens when the bears meet their father, why Mother Bear has to rescue her youngsters, and much more in an engaging tale.

Thornton W. Burgess' little nature stories are as delightful in adulthood as in childhood, which is, as C. S. Lewis said, proof of a good children's book. Visit The Green Meadows, the Green Forest, the Briar Patch, or the Smiling Pool and find Peter Rabbit, Grandfather Frog (the wise old storyteller),...

The Double Traitor deals with events leading up to World War 1 and a man who becomes a spy by accident. Francis Norgate is perhaps not quite an amateur spy though. He is a junior British diplomat, stationed in Berlin in 1914. His espionage career comes about as a result of two accidents. This is a wonderful little gem of British spy fiction!

This powerful novel was written late in the career of Sinclair Lewis, it explores themes of love, marriage, heartache, trust and redemption in a small Minnesota town.

Autobiography written by a genuine Western Trail cattle driver, the story of a Texas cowboy who becomes a wealthy and influential cattleman. This author Andy Adams was responsible for some of the best and most realistic accounts of cowboy life in literature! 

In The Skeleton Men of Jupiter, John Carter is abducted by the skeleton men (or Morgors) and is brought to the planet Jupiter. There he learns about their plans to invade Barsoom. The Skeleton Men got the idea of abducting John Carter from Multis Par, the prince of the kingdom of Zor. When John...

This volume is a collection of the most important essays written by Franz Boas on the science of anthropology. "Franz Boas is the father of American anthropology and one of the founders of the field of modern anthropology. The book, Race, Language, and Culture, is a collection of some...