The Cream from my To Read list - I
Discover a curated reading list of must-read books, from Trevor Royle's history of the Crimean War to gothic fiction by Ann Radcliffe and Alice Hoffman. Explore standout titles like The Mysteries of Udolpho and Seven Gothic Tales in this handpicked cream-of-the-crop collection for book lovers.
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Crimea: The Great Crimean War, 1854-1856
by Trevor Royle
The war was a watershed in world history and pointed the way to what mass warfare would be like in the twentieth century.
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The Day of the Locust
by Nathanael West
West fictionalizes the working class of Tinseltown, in this novel that studies several men working at the peripheral edge of the movie industry and their mutual obsession with a daydreaming girl.
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The Mysteries of Udolpho
by Ann Radcliffe
With The Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann Radcliffe raised the Gothic romance to a new level and inspired a long line of imitators. Portraying her heroine's inner life, creating a thick atmosphere of fear, and providing a gripping plot that continues to thrill readers today, The Mysteries of Udolpho is the story of orphan Emily St. Aubert, who finds herself separated from the man she loves and confined within the medieval castle of her aunt's new husband, Montoni. Inside the castle, she must cope with an unwanted suitor, Montoni's threats, and the wild imaginings and terrors that threaten to overwhelm her. This new edition includes an introduction that discusses the publication and early reception of the novel, the genre of Gothic romance, and Radcliffe's use of history, exotic settings, the supernatural, and poetry. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Seven Gothic Tales
by Isak Dinesen
Originally published in 1934, Seven Gothic Tales, the first book by "one of the finest and most singular artists of our time" (The Atlantic), is a modern classic. Here are seven exquisite tales combining the keen psychological insight characteristic of the modern short story with the haunting mystery of the nineteenth-century Gothic tale, in the tradition of writers such as Goethe, Hoffmann, and Poe.
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Illumination Night
by Alice Hoffman
A modern chronicle of a marriage and a bittersweet exploration of an extraordinary passion from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic. Beginning on the night of the Grand Illumination, a festival of lanterns held each summer on Martha’s Vineyard, Illumination Night follows the lives of a young blond giant who is as beautiful as he is frightening; an old woman at the end of her life whose last mission is to save her granddaughter’s soul; a family torn apart by a wife’s fears and a husband’s unrealized desires—and the high school girl who comes to Martha’s Vineyard against her will, who steals husbands and cars, and who will bring everyone together in a web of yearning, sin, and ultimate redemption. Both riveting and reflective, this is a story of “parenthood and friendship, self-protection and generosity, dream and disillusionment” (Newsday) that brings to light the talent that has made Alice Hoffman an acclaimed bestselling author.
