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Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice List price: $7.95
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Author: Jane Austin

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Next to the exhortation at the beginning of Moby-Dick, "Call me Ishmael," the first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice must be among the most quoted in literature. And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground.

Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree. --Alix Wilber

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A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities List price: $19.95
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Author: Charles Dickens

The "two cities" are Paris in the time of the French Revolution, and London. Dr. Manette, a French physician, having been called in to treat a young peasant and his sister, realizes that they have been cruelly abused by the Marquis de St. Evremonde and his brother. To ensure Dr. Manette's silence, the Marquis has him confined for eighteen years in the Bastille. The doctor has just been released, demented, when the story opens. He is brought to England where he gradually recovers his health and his sanity.

Charles Darnay, concealing under that false name his identity as the nephew of the cruel Marquis, has left France and renounced his heritage. He falls in love with Lucie, Dr. Manette's daughter, and they are happily married. During the Terror, he goes to Paris to save a servant condemned by the mob. Darnay himself is arrested, condemned to death, and is saved at the last moment by Sydney Carton, a reckless wastrel who acts out of devotion to Lucie. Carton smuggles Darnay out of prison and takes his place on the scaffold, declaring "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before," surely one of the most quoted lines in all the history of literature.

Just a Kiss Away

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Author: Jill Barnett

Not having seen her father since her childhood, Eulalie travels to a lush Pacific Island for a reunion and is caught in the crossfire of a violent revolution. Saved from death by battle-scarred soldier of fortune Sam Forrester, Eulalie knows that she has met the love of a lifetime.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [MP3 CD]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [MP3 CD] List price: $17.00
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Author: Lewis Carroll

Alice is wondering what to do one day, when a talking rabbit steals her attention. She is so intrigued that she follows him into his hole, and tumbles down into Wonderland. Alice soon discovers that reality and logic, as she knows them, do not apply here. In an attempt get out of the hole and into, "the loveliest garden you ever saw," she eats a cake to grow large enough to reach the key to the garden.

Source of legend and lyric, reference and conjecture, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is for most children pure pleasure in prose. While adults try to decipher Lewis Carroll's putative use of complex mathematical codes in the text, or debate his alleged use of opium, young readers simply dive with Alice through the rabbit hole, pursuing "The dream-child moving through a land / Of wonders wild and new." There they encounter the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, and the Mad Hatter, among a multitude of other characters--extinct, fantastical, and commonplace creatures. Alice journeys through this Wonderland, trying to fathom the meaning of her strange experiences. But they turn out to be "curiouser and curiouser," seemingly without moral or sense.

For more than 130 years, children have reveled in the delightfully non-moralistic, non-educational virtues of this classic. In fact, at every turn, Alice's new companions scoff at her traditional education. The Mock Turtle, for example, remarks that he took the "regular course" in school: Reeling, Writhing, and branches of Arithmetic-Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. Carroll believed John Tenniel's illustrations were as important as his text. Naturally, Carroll's instincts were good; the masterful drawings are inextricably tied to the well-loved story. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter

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Dracula

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Author: Bram Stoker

Awareness of Dracula as a masterly gothic thriller has increased ever since its publication in 1897, and the novel is regarded as one of the most seminal horror stories ever written, having inspired countless copycat tales and literary spin-offs. The tale of young Englishman Jonathan Harker's journey to Transylvania, into the very heart of Count Dracula’s evil realm, is compelling, but it is perhaps the journey of the vampire to England—and the dangers he poses to Jonathan’s beloved Mina—that is more horrifying.

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The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter List price: $7.95
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Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1871 Original Publisher: Fields, Osgood,

A Song for the Asking

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Author: Steve Gannon

The family's summver vacation should be idyllic with weeks spent at a California beach house. The time together mars the members of this family forever. Failing to meet exacating standard the children clash with their father and one another. When the harsh world touches each child, they discover they must cling together for survival.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin List price: $22.95
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Author: Benjamin Franklin

One of our most inspiring Americans comes to life in this complete and unabridged reading. Written as a letter to his son, which was never finished, Franklin's account of his life from his childhood in Boston to his years in Philadelphia ends in 1757 with his first mission to England. It includes his "Top 13" moral virtues. Fredd Wayne has toured worldwide for over 20 years with his performance as Ben Franklin. Named to the 1997 Publishers Weekly list of Best Audios. 4 cassettes.

Great Expectations (Cover to Cover Classics)

Great Expectations (Cover to Cover Classics) List price: $44.95
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Author: Charles Dickens

Great Expectations, recognized as Charles Dickens' finest novel, is told by Pip, an orphan who lives with his sister and her husband, the village blacksmith. As Pip seeks to improve his station in life, he encounters Dickens' most magnificent cast of characters including Miss Havisham, Estella, and the convict Magwitch. Savor the story of Pip and his mysterious benefactor in this outstanding reading by Martin Jarvis, named Reader of the Year by the British Spoken Word Publishers Association. A Cover to Cover Unabridged Classic. 10 cassettes.

An absorbing mystery as well as a morality tale, the story of Pip, a poor village lad, and his expectations of wealth is Dickens at his most deliciously readable. The cast of characters includes kindly Joe Gargery, the loyal convict Abel Magwitch and the haunting Miss Havisham. If you have heartstrings, count on them being tugged.

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Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (Maison Ikkoku)

Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (Maison Ikkoku) List price: $16.95
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Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Discover the classics! Beautifully designed and carefully abridged, Troll Illustrated Classics are the perfect introductions to the world’s best-loved literature.

Climb aboard for the swashbuckling adventure of a lifetime. Treasure Islandhas enthralled (and caused slight seasickness) for decades. The names Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins are destined to remain pieces of folklore for as long as children want to read Robert Louis Stevenson's most famous book. With it's dastardly plot and motley crew of rogues and villains, it seems unlikely that children will ever say no to this timeless classic. --Naomi Gesinger

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