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This autobiographical work describes the author's harrowing experience caught on a small drifting piece of ice, while crossing a frozen bay by dog team on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. (Summary by Sean Michael Hogan)...

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Memoirs

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Written in 1910, this cyclopedia is full of information that was quite useful at the time. A hundred years later, its text is more humorous than practical -- although some advice never goes out of style. (Summary by Rachelellen)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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The Practice of the Presence of God is a collection of letters and transcriptions of conversations, compiled by a disciple of Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was a Carmelite monk and head cook in his monastery's kitchens. He quickly gained an international reputation as a mystic and spiritual counselor. The Practice of the Presence records his last words of advice to his friends and disciples, as he suffered from an unnamed illness which would eventually take his life. (Description written by Kirsten Ferreri.)...

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Religion

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Famous Men of Modern Times is a series of biographical sketches written for the purpose of making the study of history lively and interesting by giving insight into the men who lived during this time. Summary by Laura Caldwell...

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History

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The introduction to the KJV Bible revealed the thanks of the translators to King James I of England. It is fitting to read, as it reminds contemporary readers of the transitory nature of all Bible translations. (Summary by Sam Stinson)...

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Religion

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This short narrative book of the Old Testament contains one of the most famous Bible Stories, of “Jonah and the Whale.” The “great fish” however is only mentioned in three verses, and the true punch comes in the oft-neglected fourth chapter. “Is it right” for a person like Jonah to be vexed by God’s mercy on others? (Summary by Laura Fox)...

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Religion

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“The Books of Samuel (Hebrew: Sefer Sh’muel ספר שמואל) are part of the Tanakh (part of Judaism’s Hebrew Bible) and also of the Christian Old Testament. The work was originally written in Hebrew, and the Book(s) of Samuel originally formed a single text, as they are often considered today in Hebrew bibles. Together with what is now referred to as the Book(s) of Kings, the translators who created the Greek Septuagint divided the text into four books, which they named the Books of the Kingdoms. In the Latin Vulgate version, these then became the Books of the Kings, thus 1 and 2 Samuel were referred to as 1 and 2 Kings, with 3 and 4 Kings being what are called 1 and 2 Kings by the King James Bible and its successors.”...

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Religion

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Tobias is the 17th book of the Bible and one of the historical books in the Old Testament. In the text, Raphael, after revealing his angelic nature, commanded both father and son to tell all the wonders that God had done to them and write it in a book. It is likely that the parts of the book written in first person singular are an autobiography of Tobias the elder. It was written originally during the Babylonian Exile, in the early portion of the seventh century B.C.; and that all except the last chapter was the work of Tobias the elder and his son.The story naturally divides itself into two parts: the fidelity of Tobias the elder and of Sara to the Lord; and the fidelity of the Lord to Tobias and to Sara through the ministrations of the angel Raphael. The chief purpose of the book is to show that God is faithful to those that are faithful to Him. Tobias the elder carries out God's will through prayer, almsgiving, and his works of mercy in burying the dead. Tobias (the son) and Sara follow God's word through their chastity and prayers.(Summary by Sean McKinley)...

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Religion

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Practically nothing is known about Habakkuk's personal history, except for what can be inferred from the text of his book, which consists of five oracles about the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and a song of praise to God. Since the Chaldean rise to power is dated c. 612 BC, it is assumed he was active about that time, making him an early contemporary of Jeremiah and Zephaniah. Jewish sources, however, do not group him with those two prophets, who are often placed together, so it is possible that he was slightly earlier than they. Because the final chapter of his book is a song, it is sometimes assumed in Jewish tradition that he was a member of the tribe of Levi, which served as musicians in Solomon's Temple. According to the Zohar (Volume 1, page 8b) Habakkuk is the boy born to the Shunamite woman through Elisha's blessing. Habakkuk is unique among the prophets in that he openly questions the wisdom of God.[citation needed] In the first part of the first chapter, the Prophet sees the injustice among his people and asks why God does not take action: 1:2 Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you 'Violence!' and ...

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Religion

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Young's Literal Translation is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible and Concise Critical Comments on the New Testament. Young produced a Revised Edition of the translation in 1887. After he died on October 14, 1888, the publisher in 1898 released a new Revised Edition. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Religion

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The Hunter Thompson of the 19th Century, de Quincey is best known for his Confessions of an English Opium Eater (an activity shared with his hero, Samuel Coleridge, much to Wordsworth’s dismay). However, de Quincey’s literary genius is best captured in his essays, which, according to Wikipedia: His immediate influence extended to Edgar Allan Poe, Fitz Hugh Ludlow and Charles Baudelaire, but even major 20th century writers such as Jorge Luis Borges admired and claimed to be partly influenced by his work. (written by TTM)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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Thomas D'Arcy McGee was an Irish refugee and a father of the Canadian confederation. His work on Irish history is comprehensive, encompassing twelve books; Book 10 subtitled “From the Union of Great Britain and Ireland to the Emancipation of the Catholics”, addresses the period of the creation of the United Kingdom to the granting of religious freedom in Ireland. (Summary by Sibella Denton)...

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History

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Andrew Murray's True Vine is a thirty-one day devotional focusing on Christ's Parable of the Vine and the Branches in John 15. The devotional for each day, though short, elaborates and expounds upon John 15, providing spiritual insight along the way. Murray repeats important themes--like abiding in Christ--throughout the different days. Noticing how they develop and grow with each successive read, countless small groups and individuals have found Murray's keen spiritual teachings fruitful. An excellent devotional, True Vine is recommended for daily spiritual nourishment. (Summary by Tim Perrine)...

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Religion

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The Book of Baruch consists of exhortation to Jews in exile to accept exile, hope for the mercy of God, and resist the temptation to worship idols of the nations. The Book of Baruch, occasionally referred to as 1 Baruch, is called a deuterocanonical or apocryphal book of the Bible. Although not in the Hebrew Bible, it is found in the Greek Bible (LXX) and in the Vulgate Bible, and also in Theodotion's version.[1] There it is found among the prophetical books which also include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve minor prophets. It is named after Baruch ben Neriah, Jeremiah's scribe. Scholars propose that it was written during or shortly after the period of the Maccabees.[2] In the Vulgate, the King James Bible, and many other versions, the Letter of Jeremiah is appended to the end of the Book of Baruch as a sixth chapter. (Summary by Wikipedia, modified by Sam Stinson)...

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Religion

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The inner working of my soul, which I wish to speak of here, was not the result of a methodical investigation of doctrinal theology, or of the actual texts of the gospel; it was a sudden removal of all that hid the true meaning of the Christian doctrine – a momentary flash of light, which made everything clear to me. It was something like that which might happen to a man who, after vainly attempting, by a false plan, to build up a statue out of a confused heap of small pieces of marble, suddenly guesses at the figure they are intended to form by the shape of the largest piece; and then, on beginning to set up the statue, finds his guess confirmed by the harmonious joining in of the various pieces. (Extract from Chapter 1)...

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Religion

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The writings of J. B. Bury (1861-1927), on subjects ranging from ancient Greece to the 19th-century papacy, are at once scholarly and accessible to the layman. This work covers the period from the beginning of the Roman Empire until Gibbon begins; from Augustus through Marcus Aurelius and the Antoinine Emporers. (Summary by kmerline)...

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History

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Paul, who is apparently in prison (probably in either Rome or Ephesus), writes to a fellow-Christian Philemon and two of his associates. Paul writes on behalf of Philemon's slave, Onesimus. Beyond that, it is not self-evident as to what has transpired. Onesimus is described as having been 'separated' from Philemon, once having been 'useless' to him (a pun on Onesimus' name, which means 'useful'), and having done him wrong. (Wikipedia)...

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Religion

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Mark Twain pulls no punches while exposing the real Percy Shelley in this scathing condemnation of Edward Dowden's Life of Shelley. Even though, as Twain writes, Shelley's life has the one indelible blot upon it, but is otherwise worshipfully noble and beautiful, Twain shows how Shelley's extra-marital conduct might easily be seen to have been the cause of his wife Harriet's suicide. (Introduction by John Greenman)...

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Essay/Short nonfiction

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The necessity of a work on Snobs, demonstrated from History, and proved by felicitous illustrations:—I am the individual destined to write that work—My vocation is announced in terms of great eloquence—I show that the world has been gradually preparing itself for the WORK and the MAN—Snobs are to be studied like other objects of Natural Science, and are a part of the Beautiful (with a large B). They pervade all classes—Affecting instance of Colonel Snobley. (Summary excerpted from Prefatory Remarks from the book by W. M. Thackeray)...

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Humor

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“I knew a man once, Maurice, who was at Oxford for three years, and after that went down with no degree. At College, while his friends were seeking for Truth in funny brown German Philosophies, Sham Religions, stinking bottles and identical equations, he was lying on his back in Eynsham meadows thinking of Nothing, and got the Truth by this parallel road of his much more quickly than did they by theirs; for the asses are still seeking, mildly disputing, and, in a cultivated manner, following the gleam, so that they have become in their Donnish middleage a nuisance and a pest; while he--that other--with the Truth very fast and firm at the end of a leather thong is dragging her sliding, whining and crouching on her four feet, dragging her reluctant through the world, even into the broad daylight where Truth most hates to be.” - Hilaire Belloc...

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Essay/Short nonfiction