Barnes Noble: 2826 books

In this classic of the supernatural, a physician puzzles over seventeen-year-old Elsie’s neurosis and fiery temper—only diagnosing her when he learns that the girl’s mother, while pregnant, was bitten by a poisonous snake. Exploring themes of original sin and redemption in the footsteps of Hawthorne, this 1861 novel coined the term “Boston Brahmin.”

In this 1885 novelette, Ouida tells the story of a couple honeymooning in England during a particularly rainy June. The wife, a simple English girl, and her volatile Italian husband soon discover they have very different ideas about marriage. Told in the form of letters, A Rainy June is engaging and entertaining.

This 1922 collection—dedicated to the memory of Theodore Roosevelt, "a man of action in love with books"—is a sort of literary and bibliographic autobiography, tracing the origins of the author's love of reading and books, as well as giving a number of sharp critical judgments of such authors as Twain, Dickens, and Thackeray.

The difference between a short story and a novel is more than one of length, Matthews argues in this influential 1901 work. The short story carries a “unity of impression,” a totality, that the novel cannot, and requires more precise language. Matthews peppers the volume with examples from Boacaccio, Poe, Hawthorne, de Maupassant, Stevenson, Henry James, and others.

A collection of essays about nine poets and writers who were working during Shakespeare’s lifetime. Gathered here are insightful portraits of Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, Thomas Dekker, John Marston, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, Thomas Heywood, George Chapman, and Cyril Tourneur.

Widely considered the greatest American poet, Walt Whitman was initially deemed by the literary establishment an egomaniac, a charlatan, and a poet whose verse lacked any sense of rhyme or meter. James Thomson’s engaging study of the author of Leaves of Grass is a vigorous defense of the poet, whom he admired and held in the same high regard as Shelley.

This 1900 biography of Francis Parkman (1823-1893), the great American historian, was written by Parkman's personal secretary and friend.  Farnham claims, “The main attraction of [his] subject lies in [Parkman’s] picturesque, manly character, his inspiring example of fortitude and perseverance,...

This 1921 critical study seeks to rescue Poe from his reputation as a creepy eccentric, “to suggest his humanity and his sanity.” Including a brief biography, the author considers Poe the man alongside his world reputation, as well as Poe the critic, poet, and writer of short stories and hybrid fiction-essays like “Shadow—A Parable.”

This 1892 melodrama features an elderly bookseller ruined by the ambitions of his thoughtless son.  The old man is a victim of the greed of others, despite the sacrifices of his saintly daughter, who falls in love with a struggling young artist.

At the New York City gentlemen’s club known as the Turkish Room, members gathered to tell stories of psychic phenomena and the supernatural. This 1903 departure for the “Dean of American Realism” includes three novellas: “His Apparition,” “The Angel of the Lord,” and “Though One Rose from the Dead.”

Books and Persons was previously published as articles under Bennett’s pseudonym, Jacob Tonson in the magazine The New Age.  He wrote these essays in Paris, London, Switzerland and the Forest of Fontainebleau, covering such topics as “Ugliness in Fiction,” “The Novel of the Season,” “German Expansion,” and “Joseph Conrad.”

This 1893 collection of essays represents a Victorian freethinker’s attempts to infuse literary criticism with modern, logical thinking on the level of science, law, philosophy, and medicine. Includes the long essay “Science in Criticism,” as well as “Mr. Howell’s Novels,” “The Fable of the Bees,” and “The Art of Tennyson.”

This 1897 collection of essays discusses veteran authors, schools of fiction, and criticizes two then-rising authors: Stephen Crane and Arthur Morrison. Chapters include “The Political Novel,” “The Politics of Literature,” “Matthew Arnold,” and “The Future of Humour,” among others.

Praised for the masterfully drawn protagonist, Jeff Durgan, The Landlord at Lion’s Head—considered one of Howells’s best novels for its expert characterization—follows Durgin from his impoverished childhood on a New England farm, to his unsuccessful career at Harvard, and finally to success at his fashionable hotel on the old farm’s site.