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A framing story is told in the first person by Darrell Standing, a university professor serving life imprisonment in San Quentin State Prison for murder. Prison officials try to break his spirit by means of a torture device called the jacket, a canvas jacket which can be tightly laced so as to compress the whole body, inducing angina. Standing discovers how to withstand the torture by entering a kind of trance state, in which he walks among the stars and experiences portions of past lives. The jacket itself was actually used at San Quentin at the time and Jack London's descriptions of it were based on interviews with a former convict named Ed Morrell, which is also the name of a character in the novel. For his role in the Sontag and Evans gang which robbed the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1890s, Morrell spent fourteen years in California prisons (1894-1908), five of them in solitary confinement. London championed his pardon. After his release, Morrell was a frequent guest at London's Beauty Ranch....

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Adventure, Fiction, Short stories

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Three trees, known as the Peacock trees, are blamed by the peasants for the fever that has killed many. Squire Vane scoffs at this legend as superstition. To prove them wrong, once and for all, he takes a bet to spend the night in the trees. In the morning he has vanished. Is he dead, and if so who has killed him? The poet? The lawyer? The woodsman? The trees? (Summary by Maria Therese)...

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Adventure, Fiction, Mystery, Short stories

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Ayesha, the return of She, is set 16 years after the previous novel She. Horace Holly and Leo Vincey have spent the years travelling the world looking for Ayesha, along the way they experience many adventures, including avalanches, glaciers and even death-hounds before finally arriving in the court of Kaloon. At the court, they hear tell of a woman who Leo suspects to be Ayesha, however things are never simple and conflict soon follows them to Ayesha’s court. (Summarised from Wikipedia)...

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Fiction, Adventure

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The Country Beyond, subtitled A Romance In the Wilderness, is a story of Jolly Roger McKay, an outcast on the run from the law; Nada, the girl he falls in love with; and Peter, the devoted mixed-breed dog who links the two together as no human could, as action, adventure, and romance take them through the Northwest Canadian wilderness in search of The Country Beyond. (Summary by Roger Melin)...

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Adventure, Romance

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A tale of mystery, romance, and honor, as David Carrigan must choose between his duty as an officer of the law and a girl who holds him captive; a girl who Carrigan thinks he may have fallen in love with no less! Who is this strange girl Jean-Marie, and why won't she give him his freedom? And who are the people that she surrounds herself with along the great Canadian rivers and wilderness barrens and forests of the northwest? Summary by Roger Melin....

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Adventure, Mystery, Romance

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Fun stories of Miss Lois Cayley, independent young woman, as she, beginning with only twopence in her pocket, travels the world. (Summary by kristin) Miss Lois Cayley, a smart, strong and independent woman, is traveling around the world. However, her beloved is in trouble. He is accused of a crime which he didn't commit. But who did? And would she be able to save him from 14 years in prison? And would an independent woman let herself, finally, fall in love and live quietly? (Summary by Stav Nisser)....

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Fiction, Adventure

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Alaska has only been a state since 1959, and the breathtaking terrain remains mostly unspoiled and natural. In modern times, many of us have had the pleasure of visiting Alaska via a luxurious cruise ship, where we enjoyed gourmet meals, amazing entertainment, and a climate-controlled environment. It's easy to also book a land package that enables you to see more of the country by train. Imagine what it was like to visit the same wild, untamed countryside in 1899. Instead of boarding a sleek, stylish cruise ship, you travel for weeks on a steamer. You wait 2 weeks for the open, flat cars of the new railrod just to assure yourself it can travel safely through the dangerous mountain pass. No stately cabin or grand hotel awaits you at the end of your journey; you'll spend your time in rough mining camps. Such is the case in May Kellogg Sullivan's spellbinding and vivid account of her Alaskan adventures, which occurred over 18 months during 2 solo trips covering 12,000 miles. This is the perfect travel narrative to enjoy on your Alaskan cruise or in the comfort of your own home. (Introduction by Karen Commins)...

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Adventure, Memoirs, Nature, Travel

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Beautiful Jean Briggerland is the epitome of evilness in this twisting and turning thriller. She plots many different ways to steal her new victim's riches including lies and murder. Only Jack Glover the lawyer of Jean's most recent victim, is aware of her true nature. Can he stop her crime spree and bring her to justice before she murders her way to wealth and happiness? Don't count on it! Page after page offers action, new twists, and unexpected surprises that will keep the reader listening for more! (Summary by Allyson Hester)...

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Adventure, Fiction, Mystery

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Yee-hawww! The Pony Rider Boys are on the trail again! In the second book of this series, Professor Zepplin has taken the young men to San Diego, Texas, to experience the life of a cowboy. The cattle drive will take them across the great state of Texas, where they will meet many dangers and adventures. (Summary by Ann Boulais)...

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Adventure, Children, Westerns

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Jack Hare is a young cowboy who was rescued from sure death by an old settler by the name of August Naab. Hare learns that Naab's ranch is a dangerous place and is challenged by cattle thieves and a corrupt rancher who is after Naab's water rights. The greatest danger Hare faces though, is over Mescal, a half-Navajo shepherdess who is already promised in marriage to Naab's first-born son. Hare must stop the marriage, but can't kill the son of his benefactor, August Naab...until a gun battle with rustlers brings the two face-to-face over drawn pistols. (Summary by Jerry James)...

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Adventure, Romance, Westerns

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It was published in 1893–1894 by Century Magazine in seven installments, and is a detective story with some racial themes. The plot of this novel is a detective story, in which a series of identities — the judge's murderer, Tom, Chambers — must be sorted out. This structure highlights the problem of identity and one's ability to determine one's own identity. Broader issues of identity are the central ideas of this novel. Twain's multiple plots and thrown-together style do serve to inform a central set of issues, with the twins, Pudd'nhead, and Tom and Chambers all serving as variations on a theme. The themes are slavery, tradition, and nature vs. nurture. To a lesser extent, Southern society and first impressions are also touched upon, and the novel is one of the first to use fingerprints as a means of unique identification, as it was not until 1897 that the world's first Fingerprint Bureau opened in Calcutta. One of Twain's major goals in this book was to exploit the true nature of Racism at that period. Twain used comic relief as a way to divulge his theme. The purpose of a comic relief is to address his or her opinion in a less s...

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Humor, Adventure, Historical Fiction

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Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1903 publication, it appeared as a three-part series (1899) in Blackwood's Magazine. It was classified by the Modern Library website editors as one of the 100 best novels and part of the Western canon. The story centres on Charles Marlow, who narrates most of the book. He is an Englishman who takes a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a river-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the dark side of European colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters: the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the Europeans' cruel treatment of the African natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. In the story, Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trade...

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Adventure, Fiction, Literature

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The 13th century Icelandic Völsungasaga is usually read by people studying the Poetic Edda or Wagner's Ring - which obscures the fact it is a much better story than practically everything derived from it. A riddle-telling dragon, a broken sword, a hooded mysterious wanderer - cannibalism, incest, mutilation, and sensitive hearts. This is R-rated Tolkien - and the unashamedly archaic Magnússon-Morris translation is up for the adventure. Passages spoken in Old Norse are taken from the edition of Sophus Bugge, Berlin, 1891. (Summary by Corpang)...

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Adventure, Fantasy, Ancient Texts

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Angèle, une jeune fille orpheline recueillie par deux charmants Québecois, rentre chez elle un soir et tombe sur un jeune homme ensanglanté qui s'est évadé de prison. Jacques Bourgeot, qui est amoureux d'Angèle, soupconne quelque chose. Angèle et Alphonse parviendront-ils à échapper aux policemen et à trouver le bonheur ensemble? Angèle, a young orphan, adopted by two lovely French Canadians, comes home one night and finds a young man covered in blood on her doorstep. He has escaped from jail. Jacques Bourgeot, who is in love with Angèle, is getting suspicious of something fishy. Will Angèle and Alphonse manage to escape the policemen and find happiness together? (résumé par Nadine Eckert-Boulet)...

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Adventure, Romance

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Scaramouche is a romantic adventure and tells the story of a young aristocrat during the French Revolution. His successive endeavors as a lawyer, politician, actor, lover, and buffoon lead his enemies to call him Scaramouche (also called Scaramuccia, a roguish character in the commedia dell'arte), but he impresses many with his elegant orations and precision swordsmanship. The later film version includes one of the longest, and many believe, best swashbuckling sword-fighting scenes ever filmed.The novel has a memorable start (Book I: The Robe, Chapter I, 'The Republican'): He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. And that was all his patrimony. His very paternity was obscure, although the village of Gavrillacs had long since dispelled the cloud of mystery that hung about it. (Summary by Gord)...

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History, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Romance

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We meet Miss Lucretia Lane as she is dressing for her marriage to Captain Francis Reynolds of the British Merchant Service. Though he loves her truly, she has severe misgivings. She goes through with the wedding in spite of this, but refuses to live with her new husband, and cannot be enticed or cajoled to do so. Then on the day the Captain is scheduled to ship out, she receives word that he has been gravely injured and his dying request is to see his wife. She flies to his side... and thus begins an adventure spanning eight years - love, loathing, shipwreck, love lost, and redemption. (Summary by P. Cunningham and Nadine Eckert-Boulet)...

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Adventure, Sea stories, Fiction

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It would be pleasant indeed to gather the characters of this book together and listen to the conversation of wholly different but interested couples—for this is a book of contrasts and has been written as such. Lives of the most dramatic and adventurous quality have been gathered from all corners of the earth, and from every age in history, in such a way that they may cover the widest possible variety of human experience. The publishers believe that such a book would not be complete without some characters that are no less real because they have lived only in the minds of men. No explanation is needed for semi-historical characters like King Arthur, Robin Hood and William Tell, while Don Quixote, the Prince of Madness, and Rip Van Winkle, the Prince of Laziness, have been included, not because they were essentially heroic in themselves (although Don Quixote might well have claimed the laurel) but because they became heroes in the opinion of others through the very qualities that brought about their downfall. As involuntary heroes, they furnish a pleasant contrast to the more serious, actual and transcendental figures of saints, mart...

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Adventure, Biography, Children

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The Lure Of The Labrador Wild is a account of a expedition by Leonidas Hubbard, an adventurer and journalist to canoe the system Naskaupi River - Lake Michikamau in Labrador and George River in Quebec. His companions on this journey were his friend, New York lawyer Dillon Wallace and an Indian guide from Missannabie, George Elson. From the start, the expedition was beset with mistakes and problems. Instead of ascending the Naskaupi River, by mistake they followed the shallow Susan Brook. After hard long portaging and almost reaching Lake Michikamau, with food supplies running out, on September 15 at Windbound lake, they decided to turn back. On October 18, Wallace and Elson went in a search of cached store of flour, leaving Hubbard behind in a tent. Hubbard died of exhaustion and starvation on either same or next day. Wallace got lost in the snowstorm, while Elson, after a week of bushwhacking, building raft to cross swollen rivers (with no ax), reached the nearest occupied cabin. A search party found Wallace alive on October 30, 1903.( Summary from Wikipedia )...

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Adventure, Memoirs, Nature, Travel, History

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The timeless story of the Wizard Of Oz. Follow Dorothy as she leaves Kansas for Oz on a cyclone. She meets many strange, and wonderful people and creatures along the way. Enjoy it again with your children and family. (Summary by J. Hall) Characters:

• Aunt Em: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2895 jenny
• Dorothy: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=1401 Sibella
• The Scarecrow: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=204 Kaffen
• The Tin Woodman: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=26 DSayers
• The Cowardly Lion: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2588 padraigo
• The Witch of the North: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2895 jenny
• Munchkin 1: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2748 Annoying Twit
• Munchkin 2: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2911 aradlaw
• Munchkin 3: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2301 Iowajones
• The Wizard of Oz: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=94 earthcalling
• Guardian of the Gates: /newcatalog/people_public.php?peopleid=2825 Ernst Pattynama
• Soldier: /newcatalog/people...

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Adventure, Children, Fantasy, Fiction, Literature

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Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803-1873) was an English novelist, poet, playright, and politician. Lord Lytton was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as the great unwashed, pursuit of the almighty dollar, the pen is mightier than the sword, and the infamous incipit It was a dark and stormy night. Despite his popularity in his heyday, today his name is known as a byword for bad writing. San Jose State University holds an annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for bad writing in which contestants have to supply terrible openings of imaginary novels, inspired by his novel Paul Clifford, which opens with the famous words: “It was a dark and stormy night”. The Coming Race drew heavily on his interest in the occult and contributed to the birth of the science fiction genre. Unquestionably, its story of a subterranean race of men waiting to reclaim the surface is one of the first science fiction novels. The novel centres on a young, independently wealthy traveler (the narrator), who accidentally finds his way into a subterranean world occupied by beings who seem to resemble angels, who c...

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Science fiction, Adventure, Fantasy