Die Vorgeschichte zum Leserliebling „Das Haus der vergessenen Bücher“: Bevor Büchernarr Roger Mifflin sich dem stationären Buchhandel in Brooklyn zuwendet, ist er als fahrender Buchhändler mit seinem Planwagen in New England unterwegs. Dort trifft er auf die resolute Helen McGill, die gemeinsam mit ihrem Bruder eine Farm bewirtschaftet. Kurz entschlossen kauft sie Mifflin, der das Vagabundendasein gründlich satt hat, den Bücherwagen samt Pferd und Hund ab und entdeckt die wunderbare Welt der Literatur und die Liebe.
New York, 1919. Roger Mifflin hat seine größte Leidenschaft, das Lesen, zum Beruf gemacht. In seinem Antiquariat in Brooklyn findet man ihn dort, wo der Tabakrauch am dichtesten ist. Unterstützt wird er von seiner ebenso patenten wie resoluten Ehefrau und seinem Hund Bock - Bock wie Boccacio. Bücher sind Mifflins Leben. Von Werbemaßnahmen für sein Geschäft will er allerdings nichts wissen, und so lässt er den jungen Aubrey Gilbert, angestellt bei der Grey Matter Agency, ziemlich abblitzen, als der ihm seine Dienste anbietet. Dennoch freunden sich die beiden an, und bald kommt Gilbert täglich ins Geschäft. Was auch an Mifflins neuer Hilfskraft liegen mag - der schönen Titania Chapman, deren Leben in Gefahr zu sein scheint. Und das gilt nicht nur für ihr Leben ...
Shakespeare requires no introduction -- he is "the Bard," the most imposing playwright and storyteller in the English language. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is acknowledged as the greatest dramatist of all time. He excels in plot, poetry and wit, and his talent encompasses the great tragedies of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth as well as the moving history plays and the comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It with their magical combination of humour, ribaldry and tenderness. This volume presents all the plays in chronological order in which they were written. It also includes Shakespeare's Sonnets, as well as his longer poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. This complete and unabridged edition contains every word that Shakespeare wrote — all 37 tragedies, comedies, and histories, plus the sonnets. You'll find such classics as The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare's "Complete Works" is a must-have for anyone who loves the English language -- his writing was unparalleled, and even his lesser plays are a cut above the rest. Not only a pleasure to read, but an altogether new experience in reading!!!
It is more than a century since the ascetic, gaunt and enigmatic detective, Sherlock Holmes, made his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet. From 1891, beginning with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the now legendary and pioneering Strand Magazine began serialising Arthur Conan Doyle's matchless tales of detection, featuring the incomparable sleuth patiently assisted by his doggedly loyal and lovably pedantic friend and companion, Dr Watson. The stories are illustrated by the remarkable Sydney Paget from whom our images of Sherlock Holmes and his world derive and who first equipped Holmes with his famous deerstalker hat. The literary cult of Sherlock Holmes shows no sign of fading with time as each new generation comes to love and revere the penetrating mind and ruthless logic which were the undoing of so many Victorian master criminals.
Set in the early 20th century, the narrative follows Roger Mifflin, a traveling bookseller, and Helen McGill, an aging spinster who seeks independence by purchasing his mobile business. Their adventures lead to a sequel where Roger operates a traditional bookstore, "The Haunted Bookshop." Here, he becomes engrossed in his work, oblivious to the espionage and threats surrounding him. Christopher Morley's works blend charm with mystery, captivating readers with timeless tales of adventure and intrigue.
Even if James Boswell hadn't written the The Life of Johnson, he would be famous for this memoir of eighteenth-century London life. Boswell arrived in the great metropolis from his native Edinburgh in 1762, and he kept a daily journal of his nine-month sojourn. Bawdy, witty, and brimming with fascinating details, the accounts range from his illicit encounters with prostitutes to his momentous meeting with Samuel Johnson. Boswell's London diary disappeared for 150 years, finally turning up in the 1920s as the literary find of the twentieth century. Unlike his other journals, it escaped nineteenth-century bowdlerization, allowing the author's voice to emerge with strikingly modern candor. Boswell writes frankly of his struggles with depression and his sexual obsessions. His painstaking records of the lively repartee of his mentor's literary circle formed the backbone of The Life of Johnson, and just as that book proved him a worthy biographer, so this one shows him an equally captivating subject.
Christopher Morley, an American journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet, made significant contributions to literature and theater. He also engaged in producing stage productions and sharing his insights through college lectures. His diverse talents reflect a multifaceted career that spans various forms of writing and performance, showcasing his impact on American culture during his lifetime.
I imagined him in his beloved Brooklyn, strolling in Prospect Park and preaching to chance comers about his gospel of good books. "When you sell a man a book," says Roger Mifflin, the sprite-like book peddler at the center of this classic novella, "you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue—you sell him a whole new life." In this beguiling but little-known prequel to Christopher Morley's beloved Haunted Bookshop, the "whole new life" that the traveling bookman delivers to Helen McGill, the narrator of Parnassus on Wheels, provides the romantic comedy that drives this charming love letter to a life in books. The Art of The Novella Series Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.
Parnassus on Wheels traces a middle-aged woman's winsome adventures as a traveling bookseller. Its sequel, The Haunted Bookshop, unfolds in a Brooklyn store that attracts a nefarious plot as well as a budding romance.
Christopher Morley, an American journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet, made significant contributions to literature and the arts from the early to mid-20th century. In addition to his writing, he was involved in stage productions and shared his insights through college lectures, showcasing his versatility and passion for storytelling and communication. His diverse talents reflect a rich engagement with both literary and theatrical worlds.
