Barnes Noble: 2826 books

In 1919-20, Maugham journeyed up the Yangtze River, making detailed notes as he went.  Those notes formed the basis for the fifty-eight short sketches included in this volume, each of which is a finely chiseled gem of observation and character.  Some are humorous, some poignant, some scathing, but all contain the warm humanistic genius of Maugham.    

Upon publication of this 1913 account of the Irish Literary Revival, the New York Times called it "the record of an enthusiasm . . . almost like finding one's self in a fairy tale."  Yeats, Synge, and other luminaries of the Irish literary fundament appear in Lady Gregory's detailed history.

Published in 1922, this collection of plays features, in addition to The Image, Hanrahan's Oath, Shanwalla, and The Wrens.  A contemporary review in The Atlantic praised The Image as "a finely spun comedy" and complimented Gregory's "complete understanding of the Irish people."

Published in 1909, this collection of seven plays consists of Spreading the News, Hyacinth Halvey, The Rising of the Moon, The Jackdaw, The Workhouse Ward, The Travelling Man, and The Gaol Gate, along with a chapter containing music for the songs featured in the plays.

This 1912 collection of plays by Lady Gregory, dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt, contains three tragedies:  Grania, Kincora, and Dervorgilla.  Many critics believe that Grania, in which she takes a traditional myth glorifying female self-sacrifice and gives it a feminist reinterpretation, is her masterpiece.

In this charming collection of stories written for and about children, Ouida displays her instinctive understanding of children and how they view the world. The heartwarming stories are filled with the imagination, humor, and sadness that are all a part of childhood. The selections include, “The Ambitious Rose Tree,” “The Child of Urbino,” and “The Little Earl.”

W. H. Hudson “rambled” around England for many years; those travels were captured in his delightful narrative Afoot in England. He finally came upon Cornwall, and the visit resulted in the captivating Land’s End, a portrait of the region and the people who live there—and a must-read for anyone passionate about traveling in the United Kingdom.

“The book is rich in anecdote, but richer in self-revelation.” So wrote one reviewer about W. H. Hudson’s A Hind in Richmond Park, one of his finest volumes of nature writing.  Brimming with beauty and wisdom, Hudson’s keen observations about plants, trees, insects, birds, and wild beasts continues to enthrall readers passionate about the natural world.

This 1911 volume was written by Hudson for use in schools.  Part of the Poetry and Life series, it combines a biography with a selection of James Russell Lowell's poetry. Hudson created the series because he believed students’ interests would be piqued by the theory that personality informs poetry—he based this volume on Lowell’s conservative opinions.

In the wake of several books about the birds of South America, the eminent ornithologist turns his eye in this 1893 work to the fauna of a small village in his adopted country, England,. He catalogues fifty-nine different species of birds, and also records the lengths he went to (or heights he climbed) to observe the jay and the magpie, the wryneck and the cuckoo.

Renowned naturalist William Henry Hudson became an expert on birds and wrote a number of eloquent and popular books about them. In British Birds, he turns his superbly observant eye to the appearance, language, and life of all the birds of the British Isles (and to the few vacationers).

Author of such masterfully constructed novels as A Crystal Age and Green Mansions, Hudson stepped away from nature writing in 1910 to pen this unique volume. Included are the essays, "Some Ways of Studying Literature," "The Study of Poetry," "The Study of Prose Fiction," "The Study of Drama," "On Personality in Literature," and "The Study of the Short Story," among others.

These Twain (1916) is the third novel in the Clayhanger series. Edwin Clayhanger, having saved Hilda from destitution by marrying her, must now not only accept her son by a former lover, but also her outspokenness. Bennett’s title for this novel suggests the complexity of how Hilda and Edwin attempt to compromise their divergent attitudes for the sake of their marriage.

“There was something beyond the white peaked ranges...” Zane Grey did not merely write about the West. He lived it, too. This 1922 bounty of true travel tales brings together some of the master storyteller’s most exciting Western adventures, including “Colorado Trails,” “Death Valley,” “Tonto Basin,” “Nonnezosme,” and “Roping Lions in the Grand Canyon.”