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Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff discover the perils of love, assumed identities, and telling the truth in Oscar Wilde's classic play. (Summary by Toby Paradis)...

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Play, Comedy

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Play

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Guido Ferranti, a young man, travels to Padua with his friend Ascanio after receiving a mysterious letter from a stranger, claiming to know the true secret of Guido's birth. His plan of revenge goes awry, however, when he falls in love with his enemy's beautiful wife, the Duchess of Padua. (Summary by Wikipedia and wildemoose)...

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Play, Romance, Tragedy

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This collection of ten one-act dramas features plays by James M. Barrie, Hereward Carrington, Marjory Benton Cooke, Alice Gerstenberg, Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook, St. John Hankin, George Middleton, David Pinski, Frederik Pohl, and an unknown Japanese author. The plays were coordinated by Arielle Lipshaw, Availle, Chuck Williamson, Todd, Peter Yearsley, Caprisha Page, Charlotte Duckett, and Amanda Friday. (Summary by Arielle Lipshaw)...

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Play

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Lady Windermere's Fan: A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, published in 1893. As in some of his other comedies, Wilde satirizes the morals of Victorian society, and attitudes between the sexes. The action centres around a fan given to Lady Windermere as a present by her husband, and the ball held that evening to celebrate her 21st birthday. (Summary by Ruth Golding)...

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Comedy, Mystery, Satire

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First released in 1893, Coffee And Repartee is a collection of breakfast chats at a gentlemans boarding house run by a Mrs. Smithers. Here these fellows repeatedly face questions and proclaimations of an inhabitant they call The Idiot. The discussions sound friendly under pretense, but are really sly battles of ribald wit and cunning charm, as well as rather offensive remarks during a time period considered by many to favour a height of refined etiquette. The Idiot spars well, but will the other residents get the better of him? (Summary by Morlock)...

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Fiction, Humor

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While aimed at youths, this series of tales of the just-opening West makes a rollicking good story for adults, too. Three teen-age boys, trained as telegraphers, manage to get themselves in and out of a wide variety of harrowing circumstances. Using their knowledge of Morse code, the science of telegraphs, and the operation of railroads, the boys stir in native resourcefulness, quick-thinking, and when the occasion demands it, raw courage - to effect rescues, thwart thieves, and solve mysteries. If Tom Swift had lived in the nineteenth century, he could not have had more exciting escapades! (Summary by Mark F. Smith)...

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Teen/Young adult, Fiction, Adventure

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”The Fisherman and his Soul” is a fairy tale first published in November of 1891 in Wilde’s “A House of Pomegranates”. It tells of a fisherman who nets and falls in love with a mermaid. But to be with her he must shed his soul, which goes off to have adventures of its own. Will forbidden love endure? -- This reader has also recorded the three other tales in “A House of Pomegranates” which can be found in the Short Story Collections, volumes 37, 38, and 39. (Summary by Gregg Margarite)...

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Fairy tales

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Starters, main courses and desserts from around the world, one dish for every day of the year. From Turkey to China, from India to England, from Austria to Egypt, a wide variety of mouth-watering cuisines are represented. Each recipe is described in one short paragraph, making this book perfect for dipping into when you’re seeking inspiration on what to cook. (Summary by Lucy Perry)...

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Cookery, Advice, Instruction

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This short work of Wilde's was written during his two year incarceration for gross indecency. This work is a letter which sorts out his life, and his love toward Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde wrote this as a farewell letter to Douglas. (summary by Aaron Elliott)...

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Memoirs, Essay/Short nonfiction

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The classic vampire story by Bram Stoker revolves around a struggle between good and evil, tradition and modernity, and lust versus chastity. The author didn’t invent vampires, but his novel has so captured the public’s imagination that he is rightly considered their popularizer. Listen and you will meet not only the Count himself, but heroes Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, plus an array of madmen, psychiatrists, and fair maidens who cross paths with the fanged menace. (Summary by Paula)...

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Horror/Ghost stories

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The Old Wives' Tale is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1908. It deals with the lives of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their stories from their youth, working in their mother's draper's shop, into old age. It is generally regarded as one of Bennett's finest works. It covers a period of about 70 years from roughly 1840 to 1905, and is set in Burslem and Paris. (Summary by Andy)...

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Fiction

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This is a collection of public domain works either published in 1912, or written in 1912 and published before 1923. The accent is on non-fiction but I will include short stories, poems, one-act plays, as well. (Summary by Bellona Times)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's famous tragedy of two star-crossed lovers from rival houses. Romeo and Juliet meet at a party and fall instantly in love, realizing too late that their families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are mortal enemies. Braving parental opposition, the teenage lovers marry in secret, with the aid of the well-intentioned Friar Lawrence. Yet, as Shakespeare has often observed, the course of true love does not run smoothly, and Romeo and Juliet must risk death to be together. (summary by Elizabeth Klett) Cast: Escalus: David Muncaster Paris: mb Montague: Chris Hughes Capulet: Andy Minter Old Man: Alan Davis Drake Romeo: Simon Taylor Mercutio: Andrew Lebrun Benvolio: David Nicol Tybalt: Joshua B. Christensen Friar Lawrence: Alan Davis Drake Friar John: Sean McKinley Balthasar: Scott D. Farquar Sampson: Esther Gregory: David O'Connell Peter: Gesine Abraham: Caliban Apothecary: Lucy Perry First Musician: Laurie Anne Walden Second Musician: om123 Third Musician: Aaron Walden Chorus: ancilla Page: C. J. Nowak Lady Montague: Christie Nowak Lady Capulet: Cori Samuel Juliet: Elizabeth Klett Nurse: K...

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Tragedy

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Two short fragments: an unfinished and a lost play. A Florentine Tragedy, left in a taxi (not a handbag), is Wilde’s most successful attempt at tragedy – intense and domestic, with surprising depth of characterisation. It was adapted into an opera by the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky in 1917. La Sainte Courtisane, or The Woman Covered in Jewels explores one of Wilde’s great idées fixes: the paradox of religious hedonism, pagan piety. Both plays, Wildean to their core, revel in the profound sadness that is the fruit of the conflict between fidelity and forbidden love. Written towards the end of his tragic life, these fragments give us a glimpse of a genius at his best: visceral, passionate, personal, poetic. (Summary by Simon Larois)...

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Play

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The passengers in the sleeping car of the Rome Express were just woken and informed that they will reach Paris soon, and a bustle ensues. Only one passenger cannot be awoken by the porter, no matter how loudly he knocks. At last, when the door is forced open, the occupant of the compartment is found dead - stabbed to the heart. The murderer must be found among the passengers... (Summary by Carolin)...

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Travel, Mystery

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This book is a parody of the famous swashbuckling novel, She, by H. Rider Haggard. (summary by Neeru Iyer) You will not think, therefore, that the respectful Liberty we have taken with your Wondrous Tale... indicates any lack of Loyalty to our Lady Ayesha. Her beauties are beyond the reach of danger from Burlesque, nor does her form flit across our humble pages. (taken from the Dedication)...

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Humor, Fiction

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An autobiographical short story written in 1898 and included as the first story in the 1902 volume Youth, a Narrative , and Two Other Stories. This volume also includes Heart of Darkness and The End of the Tether, which are concerned with maturity and old age, respectively. Youth is narrated by Charles Marlow who is also the narrator of Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim and Chance. Youth depicts his first journey to the East. (summary from wikipedia)...

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Literature

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The Importance of Being Earnest is a classic comedy of manners in which two flippant young men, in order to impress their respected beloveds, pretend that their names are “Ernest,” which both young ladies believe confers magical qualities on the possessor. It was first performed for the public on February 14, 1895 at the St. James’ Theatre in London, and is regarded by many critics and scholars as being the wittiest play in the English language. (Summary from Wikipedia.org)...

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Comedy, Play

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Romeo and Juliet is an early tragedy by William Shakespeare about two teenage star-cross'd lovers whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding households. The play has been highly praised by literary critics for its language and dramatic effect. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Its influence is still seen today, with the two main characters being widely represented as archetypal young lovers. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Tragedy, Romance