The Scarlet Pimpernel/The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/The Good Earth/The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Fülszöveg

i am supposed to be gifted with an excellent memory. But there is one thing I can't remember: when I began to read. It really seems to me that I have been reading all my life, that I was born with a good book in my hand.
I have always pictured myself with that good book; and it has always taken upon itself the name and the shape of David Copperfield, my copy of which was red, and so well worn from hours of fascinated reading that it seemed a part of me rather than merely a possession, just as Uriah Heep, and Miss Betsey Trotwood, and Mr. Micawber were as real to me as members of my family. Or often, I may say, far more real, surely far less critical and expectant.
Imagine, then, my delight on discovering by a careful comparison of my old red David with its condensation in Volume One of Best Loved Books that all my own best loved people an4 events have been carefully preserved: Uriah, Betsey, Micawber, Peggotty, Barkis. Here they are, and so carefully presented that they do not... Tovább

Fülszöveg

i am supposed to be gifted with an excellent memory. But there is one thing I can't remember: when I began to read. It really seems to me that I have been reading all my life, that I was born with a good book in my hand.
I have always pictured myself with that good book; and it has always taken upon itself the name and the shape of David Copperfield, my copy of which was red, and so well worn from hours of fascinated reading that it seemed a part of me rather than merely a possession, just as Uriah Heep, and Miss Betsey Trotwood, and Mr. Micawber were as real to me as members of my family. Or often, I may say, far more real, surely far less critical and expectant.
Imagine, then, my delight on discovering by a careful comparison of my old red David with its condensation in Volume One of Best Loved Books that all my own best loved people an4 events have been carefully preserved: Uriah, Betsey, Micawber, Peggotty, Barkis. Here they are, and so carefully presented that they do not seem lacking in anything whatsoever. Even the crocodiles are here, and Peggotty's bursting buttons; even Barkis is as willing as ever.
Whoever condensed David Copperfield for The Reader's Digest has done a marvelous job. I should have loved it in this form quite as deeply as I still love my old red copy. Indeed, there is little difference between them, and that little of no importance at all.
And this is entirely true of all the other condensations in the first volume.
Having been permitted an advance look at some of the other titles that will be condensed in the next eleven volumes of Best Loved Books, I envy the young readers who will be fortunate enough to have the entire set. For they have in store a series of the most exciting experiences that childhood can provide: first encounters with great books.
-MARY ELLEN CHASE, AUTHOR AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS. SMITH COLLEGE
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL by Baroness Orczy
THE NARROW Channel was all that separated the elegant pageantry of eighteenth-century England from the Terror of the French Revolution. Across it in the dark of night ventured a man of mystery known only as the Scarlet Pimpernel, risking his life to save whole families from the guillotine. His skill at matching wits and weapons with his enemies —just for the sport of it—has placed him among the celebrated heroes of English fiction. Who was he really? His secret is well kept until the very end of this enthralling story.
m
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER by Mark Twain
ST. PETERSBURG, Missouri, would have been a quiet village but for Tom Sawyer and his carefree companion, Huck Finn. Together they schemed to play pranks on the townsfolk. Their dreams of ghosts and river pirates and hidden gold came true in exciting, unexpected wa.ys. And their escapades, recounted by a great humorist, are wonderful fun to read.
THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl S. Buck
A STRONG and beautiful novel about a young Chinese farmer and his fierce love for the soil he tilled. We first meet Wang Lung on his wedding day, and we follow his struggle to keep his land and make it prosper. We leave him in the fullness of his years, and we know him to the core—him and his family and the small world they inhabit. Translated into many languages, The Good Earth is one of the world's most widely read books, and its author has been honored with both the Nobel Prize and the Pulitzer Prize.
THE MERRY ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD by Howard Pyle
in sherwood forest, according to legend, lived Robin Hood and his faithful band. Outlaws all, they survived by their ingenuity and their trusty longbows. To the pompous Sheriff of Nottingham and all other rogues they were fearsome enemies. But to downtrodden yeomen and to ladies in distress they were gay and courageous friends. Howard Pyle retells their most famous feats in a book of lasting popularity. Vissza