Book picks similar to
Inspirations: Selections from Classic Literature by Paulo Coelho
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Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom - 1997
Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neurone disease - Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.
Letters to a Young Poet
Rainer Maria Rilke - 1929
The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to the novice in this series of letters—an amazing archive of remarkable insights into the ideas behind Rilke's greatest poetry. The ten letters reproduced here were written during an important stage in Rilke's artistic development, and they contain many of the themes that later appeared in his best works. The poet himself afterwards stated that his letters contained part of his creative genius, making this volume essential reading for scholars, poetry lovers, and anyone with an interest in Rilke, German poetry, or the creative impulse.
A Man for All Seasons
Robert Bolt - 1960
The classic play about Sir Thomas More, the Lord chancellor who refused to compromise and was executed by Henry VIII.
Love Letters of Great Men
Ursula Doyle - 2008
However, since all of the letters referenced in the film did exist, we decided to publish this gorgeous keepsake ourselves.Love Letters of Great Men follows hot on the heels of the film and collects together some of history's most romantic letters from the private papers of Beethoven, Mark Twain, Mozart, and Lord Byron. For some of these great men, love is a delicious poison (William Congreve); for others, a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music (Charles Darwin). Love can scorch like the heat of the sun (Henry VIII), or penetrate the depths of one's heart like a cooling rain (Flaubert). Every shade of love is here, from the exquisite eloquence of Oscar Wilde and the simple devotion of Robert Browning, to the wonderfully modern misery of the Roman Pliny the Younger, losing himself in work to forget how much he misses his beloved wife, Calpurnia.Taken together, these letters show that perhaps men haven't changed all that much over the last 2,000 years--passion, jealousy, hope and longing still rule their hearts and minds. In an age of e-mail and texted i luv us, this timeless and unique collection reminds us that nothing can compare to the simple joy of sitting down to read a letter from the one you love.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (Yuasa)
Matsuo Bashō - 1702
The sketches are written in the "haibun" style--a linking of verse and prose. The title piece, in particular, reveals Basho striving to discover a vision of eternity in the transient world around him and his personal evocation of the mysteries of the universe.
Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
Shaun Usher - 2013
Kennedy, Groucho Marx, Charles Dickens, Katharine Hepburn, Mick Jagger, Steve Martin, Clementine Churchill, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut and many more.
Ishmael
Daniel Quinn - 1992
He answers an ad in a local newspaper from a teacher looking for serious pupils, only to find himself alone in an abandoned office with a full-grown gorilla who is nibbling delicately on a slender branch. "You are the teacher?" he asks incredulously. "I am the teacher," the gorilla replies. Ishmael is a creature of immense wisdom and he has a story to tell, one that no other human being has ever heard. It is a story that extends backward and forward over the lifespan of the earth from the birth of time to a future there is still time save. Like all great teachers, Ishmael refuses to make the lesson easy; he demands the final illumination to come from within ourselves. Is it man's destiny to rule the world? Or is it a higher destiny possible for him-- one more wonderful than he has ever imagined?
The Tolkien Reader
J.R.R. Tolkien - 1966
This rich treasury includes Tolkien's most beloved short fiction plus his essay on fantasy. Publisher's Note Tolkien's Magic Ring, by Peter S. Beagle The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son Tree and Leaf On Fairy-Stories Leaf by Niggle Farmer Giles of Ham The Adventures of Tom Bombadil The Adventures of Tom Bombadil Bombadil Goes Boating Errantry Princess Mee The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon The Stone Troll Perry-the-Winkle The Mewlips Oliphaunt Fastitocalon Cat Shadow-bride The Hoard The Sea-Bell The Last Ship
George Orwell Omnibus: The Complete Novels: Animal Farm, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter, Coming up for Air, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, and Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell - 1949
The complete novels of George Orwell in a single tome - a can't miss for fans and those new to Orwell alike!
Summer Pleasures
Nora Roberts - 1986
And when Hunter agrees to the interview on the condition that Lee conduct it on a camping trip, she can hardly refuse. But after spending some time alone with the seductively mysterious author, Lee discovers the only thing she wants exclusively is Hunter.
One Summer
A summer spent traveling across America with cynical, brooding photojournalist Shade Colby was not Celebrity photographer Bryan Mitchell's idea of a dream assignment. But Bryan will have to manage for an entire summer if she wants the fabulous cross-country photo shoot for a book, which they're both salivating over. However, Bryan and Shade disagree about everything�everything, that is, except the fierce attraction they have for each other….
The Dharma Bums
Jack Kerouac - 1958
Published just a year after On the Road put the Beat Generation on the map, The Dharma Bums is sparked by Kerouac's expansiveness, humor, and a contagious zest for life.
Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams: Short Stories, Prose and Diary Excerpts
Sylvia Plath - 1977
If I sit still and don't do anything, the world goes on beating like a slack drum, without meaning. We must be moving, working, making dreams to run toward; the poverty of life without dreams is too horrible to imagine."-- Sylvia Plath, from "Notebooks, February 1956"Renowned for her poetry, Sylvia Plath was also a brilliant writer of prose. This collection of short stories, essays, and diary excerpts highlights her fierce concentration on craft, the vitality of her intelligence, and the yearnings of her imaginaton. Featuring an introduction by Plath's husband, the late British poet Ted Hughes, these writings also reflect themes and images she would fully realize in her poetry. "Jonny Panic and the Bible of Dreams" truly showcases the talent and genius of Sylvia Plath.
Classic Ghost Stories by Wilkie Collins, M.R. James, Charles Dickens and Others
John GraftonFitz-James O'Brien - 1930
Wilkins' "The Lost Ghost," Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body-Snatchers," "Mrs. Zant and the Ghost," by Wilkie Collins, and other gripping works by Charles Dickens, Henry James, J. S. LeFanu, Ralph Cram, Mrs. Henry Wood, Amelia Edwards, Fitz-James O’Brien, and M. R. James.
The Greek Myths: Stories of the Greek Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold
Robin Waterfield - 2011
A highly readable and beautifully illustrated re-telling of the most famous stories from Greek mythology.