Showing results by narrator "Lawrence Skinner" in All Categories

"Captains Courageous" is an adventure novel. The book's title comes from the ballad "Mary Ambree", which starts, "When captains courageous, whom death could not daunt". Protagonist Harvey Cheyne, Jr., is the son of a wealthy railroad magnate and his wife, in San Diego, California. Washed overboard from a transatlantic steamship and rescued by fishermen off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Harvey can neither persuade them to take him quickly to port, nor convince them of his wealth.

"Triplanetary" is a science fiction novel by E. E. Smith. The novel covers several episodes in an eons-long human breeding project by the super-intelligences of the Arisians. This alien race is breeding two genetic lines to become the ultimate weapon in Arisia's cosmic war with their archenemies, the Eddorians. The story cover the Kinnison genetic line during the fall of Atlantis, Nero's reign in Rome, World Wars One, Two, and Three.

"Over the Top" (1917) is a World War I memoir by Arthur Guy Empey. From the Foreword: During sixteen years of "roughing it", knocking around the world, I have had ample opportunity of studying, at close range, many different peoples, their ideals, their hopes and principles. Through this I have become convinced of the nobility, truth, and justice of the Allies' cause, and know their fight to be our fight, because it espouses the principles of the United States of America, democracy, justice, and liberty.

"The Battle of Life: A Love Story" is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in 1846. It is the fourth of his five "Christmas Books". The setting is an English village that stands on the site of an historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title. "The Battle of Life" is the only one of the five Christmas Books that has no supernatural or explicitly religious elements. (One scene takes place at Christmas time, but it is not the final scene.)

The story begins in fictional St. Petersburg, Missouri, on the shore of the Mississippi. Huckleberry "Huck" Finn and his friend, Tom Sawyer, have each come into a considerable sum of money as a result of their earlier adventures. Huck is placed under the guardianship of the Widow Douglas, who, together with her stringent sister, Miss Watson, are attempting to "sivilize" him and teach him religion. Finding civilized life confining, his spirits are raised somewhat when Tom Sawyer helps him to escape one night past Miss Watson's slave Jim, to meet up with Tom's gang of self-proclaimed "robbers."

Abel, a young man of wealth, fails at a revolution and flees Caracas into the uncharted forests of Guyana. Surviving fever, failing at journal-keeping and gold hunting, he settles in an Indian village to waste away his life: playing guitar for old Cla-Cla, hunting badly with Kua-kó, telling stories to the children. After some exploring, Abel discovers an enchanting forest where he hears a strange bird-like singing. His Indian friends avoid the forest because of its evil spirit-protector, "the Daughter of the Didi".

"The Poison Belt" is a science fiction novella by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about Professor Challenger. Challenger sends telegrams asking his three companions from The Lost World - Edward Malone, Lord John Roxton, and Professor Summerlee - to join him at his home outside London, and instructs each of them to 'bring oxygen'. On arrival, they are ushered into a sealed room, along with Challenger and his wife.

"This Side of Paradise" (1920) is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald about the lives and morality of post-World War I youth, written in three parts: "Book One: The Romantic Egotist", "Interlude", "Book Two: The Education of a Personage". The book ends with Amory's iconic lament, "I know myself, but that is all".

"Treasure Island" is an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". Treasure Island is traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is also noted as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality unusual for children’s literature. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels.

"The First Men in the Moon" tells the story of a journey to the moon undertaken by the two protagonists, a businessman narrator, Mr. Bedford, and an eccentric scientist, Mr. Cavor. Bedford and Cavor discover that the moon is inhabited by a sophisticated extra-terrestrial civilisation of insect-like creatures they call "Selenites".

"The Lone Star Ranger" is a Western novel that takes place in Texas, the Lone Star State, and several main characters are Texas Rangers, a famous band of highly capable law enforcement officers. It follows the life of Buck Duane, a man who becomes an outlaw and then redeems himself in the eyes of the law.

This light-hearted volume argues in a humorously dictatorial tone that "The jolliest indoor games for boys and girls demand a floor." The book is based on Wells' experience of playing such games with his two sons, George Philip "Gip" Wells (1901-1985) and Frank Richard Wells (1903-1982), identified here only by their initials.

The book, written by Arnold Bennett in 1910, is part of a larger work entitled "How to Live". In this volume, he offers practical advice on how one might live (as opposed to just existing) within the confines of 24 hours a day. The book includes the following chapters: The Daily Miracle, The Desire to Exceed One's Programme, Precautions before Beginning, The Cause of the Trouble, Tennis and the Immortal Soul, Remember Human Nature, Controlling the Mind, The Reflective Mood, Interest in the Arts, Nothing in Life is Humdrum, Serious Reading, Dangers to Avoid.

A young boy discovers an erudite, poetry-loving dragon living in the Downs above his home. The two become friends, but soon afterwards the dragon is discovered by the townsfolk, who send for St George to rid them of it. The boy introduces St George to the dragon, and the two decide that it would be better for them not to fight. Eventually, they decide to stage a fake joust between the two combatants.

"White Fang" (1906) is a novel by Jack London and the name of the book's eponymous character, a wild wolfdog. The story takes place in Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush and details White Fang's journey to domestication. Much of "White Fang" is written from the viewpoint of the titular canine character, enabling London to explore how animals view their world and how they view humans. "White Fang" examines the violent world of wild animals and the equally violent world of humans.

"The Call of the Wild" is an adventure novel by Jack London. It was published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named Buck. The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara Valley, California, when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska. He becomes progressively feral in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs. By the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization, and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.

Artist Bio Author:
Jack London (1876-1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist, one of the first fiction writers obtaining celebrity and a fortune. His most famous novel is "The Call of the Wild".

"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1892) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a collection of twelve short stories. The stories are related in first-person narrative from Watson's point of view. In general the stories in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holme"s identify, and try to correct, social injustices. Holmes is portrayed as offering a new, fairer sense of justice.

"The Communist Manifesto" (originally "Manifesto of the Communist Party") is an 1848 political pamphlet by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London just as the revolutions of 1848 began to erupt, the Manifesto was later recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts.

"Kidnapped" is a historical adventure, a "boys' novel" by Robert Louis Stevenson. The full title of the book gives away major parts of the plot and creates the false impression that the novel is autobiographical.

"The Young Railroaders" (1910) is a collections of "Tales of Adventure and Ingenuity" by Francis Lovell Coombs. Excerpt: When, after school that afternoon, Alex Ward waved a good-by to his father, the Bixton station agent for the Middle Western, and set off up the track on the spring's first fishing, he had little thought of exciting experiences ahead of him. Likewise, when two hours later a sudden heavy shower found him in the woods, with but three small fish, it was only with feelings of disappointment that he wound up his line and ran for the shelter.