A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream is perhaps Shakespeare's most popular play, particularly as a first introduction to Shakespeare for children--filled as it is with a marvelous mixture of aristocrats, workers, and fairies. For this edition, Peter Holland's introduction looks at dreams and dreamers, tracing the materials out of which Shakespeare constructs his world of night and shadows....Read More...Hide Pages: 124
Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook Life after divorce for Sarah Hurlihy consists of juggling her job as a preschool teacher and the demands of her interfering family. Then her bossy big sister decides to place a personal ad for her, and the unexpected becomes a daily event. Everybody wants Sarah to put the past behind her and take a bold step towards a fresh start. But when Sarah winds up with a lot of new men and rambunctious dogs in her life, along with plenty of awkward situations, unexpected emotions, and not-so-easy decisions, she wonders whether those mindless evenings sitting alone and watching The Brady Bunch were really all that bad.Read More...Hide Pages: 292
Parineeta by Sarachandra Chattopadhyay Lalita, an orphaned girl who lives with her uncle considers herself betrothed to Shekhar, her benefactor and guardian. After several failed attempts, Lalita finally gets the egotistical Shekhar to admit that he reciprocates her feelings. However, tensions erupt between Shekhar's prosperous father and Lalita's poor but principled uncle, and the situation is further complicated by the arrival on the scene of Girin, a mild-mannered and eligible bachelor, who is attracted to Lalita. The lover's world is turned upside down, and Shekhar and Lalita find themselves estranged. Years later, they meet again, and the story takes another unexpected turn.Read More...Hide Pages: 112
Devdas by Sarachandra Chattopadhyay First published in Bengali in 1917, Saratchandra Chattopadhyay's tragic tale of Devdas has become synonymous with a passionate, intense love that does not find consummation.
It is the story of Devdas and Paro, childhood sweethearts who are torn apart when Devdas is sent away to Calcutta by his father, the local zamindar. When Devdas returns to his village, now a handsome lad of nineteen, Paro asks him to marry her. But Devdas is unable to stand up to parental opposition to the match and rejects the proposition. Stunned, Paro agrees to marry an elderly widower. Devdas returns to Calcutta, but every waking hour of his is now filled with thoughts of Paro and his unfulfilled love for her. Desperate to resolve the situation somehow, he runs to Paro who is now married and asks her to elope with him, but she refuses.
Heartbroken, he seeks solace in alcohol and in the company of the courtesan Chandramukhi. Chandramukhi falls in love with Devdas, but even when he is with her he can only think of Paro. It is now his destiny to hurtle on relentlessly on the path to self-destruction. Devdas?s tortured life ends when, dying of a liver ailment brought on by alcoholism, he journeys to Paro?s house to see her one last time. Arriving in the middle of the night, he dies unknown, untended, on her doorstep. Paro comes to know of his death only the following morning.Read More...Hide Pages: 128
Just Like Heaven by Marc Levy What do you do when you find a stranger in your closet; particularly when she's surprised that you can even see her -- and she can disappear and reappear at whim? What if she then tells you that her body is actually in a coma on the other side of town? Should you have her see a psychiatrist or should you consult one yourself? Or do you take a chance and believe in her, and allow yourself to be swept up in an extraordinary adventure?
This is the beginning of the dilemma that Arthur, a young San Francisco architect, is faced with when he discovers Lauren in his apartment.
Arthur is the only man who can share Lauren's secret, the only one who can see her, hear her, and talk to her when no one else so much as senses her presence. So when doctors prepare to end Lauren's physical care -- which would destroy the magical bond she and Arthur cherish -- he must find a way to save her. For, after all, it is only her love that can save him.Read More...Hide Pages: 229
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Tom Ripley is chosen by the wealthy Herbert Greenleaf to retrieve Greenleaf's son, Dickie, from his overlong sojourn in Italy. Dickie, it seems, is held captive both by the Mediterranean climate and the attractions of his female companion, but Mr. Greenleaf needs him back in New York to help with the family business. With an allowance and a new purpose, Tom leaves behind his dismal city apartment to begin his career as a return escort. But Tom, too, is captivated by Italy. He is also taken with the life and looks of Dickie Greenleaf. He insinuates himself into Dickie's world and soon finds that his passion for a lifestyle of wealth and sophistication transcends moral compunction. Tom will become Dickie Greenleaf--at all costs.Read More...Hide Pages: 290
Ice-Candy-Man by Bapsi Sidhwa The story of the upheaval of the 1974 partition of India seen through the eyes of a Parsee girl growing up in Lahore. Through her relationships with her Hindu Ayah, the Muslim cook, the Sikh zoo attendant and the ice candy man, she shows how ordinary citizens reacted to the horrific turmoil...Read More...Hide Pages: 276
On a desperate journey, two runaways meet and join forces. Though they are only looking to escape their harsh and narrow lives, they soon find themselves at the center of a terrible battle. It is a battle that will decide their fate and the fate of Narnia itself.Read More...Hide Pages: 270
Narnia ... where a dragon awakens ... where stars walk the earth ... where anything can happen.A king and some unexpected companions embark on a voyage that will take them beyond all known lands. As they sail farther and farther from charted waters, they discover that their quest is more than they imagined and that the world's end is only the beginning.Read More...Hide Pages: 270
Through dangers untold and caverns deep and dark, a noble band of friends are sent to rescue a prince held captive. But their mission to Underland brings them face-to-face with an evil more beautiful and more deadly than they ever expected.Read More...Hide Pages: 265
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2 States: The Story Of My Marriage
2 States: The Story Of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat
Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.
Welcome to 2 States, a story about Krish and Ananya. They are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of course, their parents don?t agree. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince. Will they make it? From the author of blockbusters Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center and The 3 Mistakes of My Life, comes another witty tale about inter-community marriages in modern India.
Death Comes As the End
Death Comes As the End by Agatha Christie
Newly widowed Renisenb comes to her father's house, and at first it seems as if she's never been away. But sudden death is waiting to strike someone in the landowner's large household.An exciting -- and unusual -- mystery set in ancient Egypt.
The Tristan Betrayal
The Tristan Betrayal by Robert Ludlum
Moscow-a city under siege by hardcore Communists threatening to plunge the country back into Stalinist darkness. Into the heart of the firestorm, American ambassador Stephen Metcalf has been summoned to find the one man who controls the levers of power in absolute secrecy-an official known only as the Dirizhor. His support of the bloody coup will bring the entire world to the brink of nuclear war. Metcalfe is the only man with the cunning to reach him and to convince him to resist. It's up to Metcalf to change the course of history. He's done it before.
For Metcalf, returning to Russia is also a personal mission that will stretch across three continents and fifty years into his past where the loyalties of a former love-a woman both impossibly beautiful and possibly treacherous-were tested; where the shadow of a Nazi assassin still haunts; a debauched German aristocrat manipulated the destiny of everyone he touched. Now, as past and present converge, Metcalf braces himself for a new trial of trust and betrayal, one with chilling implications that could threaten what remains of the free world.