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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
By Mark Twain
In his introduction, E.L. Doctorow rightly points out that “ever since its publication in 1876, children have been able to readThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer with a sense of recognition for the feelings of childhood truly rendered: how Tom finds solace for his unjust treatment at the hands of Aunt Polly by dreaming of running away; or how he loves Becky Thatcher, the sort of simpering little blond girl all boys love, and how he does the absolutely right thing in lying and taking her punishment in school to protect her; or how he and his friends pretend to be pirates or the Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, accurately interrupting their scenarios with arguments about who plays what part and what everyone must say and how they must fight and when they must die.” Tom Sawyer is surely among America’s undisputed contributions to the world’s cast of unforgettable characters.
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Treasure Island By Robert Louis Stevenson
One of the best-loved adventure stories ever written, Treasure Island’s timeless tale of pirates, lost treasure maps, mutiny and derring-do has appealed to generations of readers ever since Robert Louis Stevenson penned it in 1881 with the claim: “If this don’t fetch the kids, why, they have gone rotten since my day.” But more than just a children’s classic, the novel is considered to be one of the greatest feats of storytelling in the English language, with characters such as the unforgettable Long John Silver becoming part of the cultural consciousness. Treasure Island is a coming-of-age story that will captivate both adults and children for as long as stories are told.
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The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the “roaring twenties”, and a devastating expose of the “Jazz Age”.
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Robinson Crusoe By Daniel Defoe
By Daniel Defoe
Robinson Crusoe was first published in 1719 and is sometimes considered to be the first novel in English. The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character-a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela, encountering Native Americans, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
By Mark Twain
All American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”” Ernest Hemingway To escape from his violent and drunken father, a 13-year-old boy from the wrong side of the tracks, Huckleberry Finn, fakes his own death and floats away on a raft down the Mississippi with Jim, a runaway slave.
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Little Women By Louisa May Alcott
By Louisa May Alcott
For generations, children around the world have come of age with Louisa May Alcott’s March girls: hardworking eldest sister Meg, headstrong, impulsive Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. With their father away at war, and their loving mother Marmee working to support the family, the four sisters have to rely on one another for support as they endure the hardships of wartime and poverty. We witness the sisters growing up and figuring out what role each wants to play in the world, and, along the way, join them on countless unforgettable adventures.
Readers young and old will fall in love with this beloved classic, at once a lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life and a feminist novel about young women defying society’s expectations.
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Great Expectations
By Charles Dickens
Considered by many to be Dickens’ finest novel, Great Expectations traces the growth of the book’s narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dickens’ most memorable characters.
Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Haversham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip’s good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the pompous Pumblechook.
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Secrecy World By Jake Bernstein
Secrecy World By Jake Bernstein shows how shell companies operate, how they allow the superwealthy and celebrities to escape taxes, and how they provide cover for illicit activities on a massive scale by crime bosses and corrupt politicians across the globe.
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Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love
By Brad Gooch
Ecstatic love poems of Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi mystic born over eight centuries ago, are beloved by millions of readers in America as well as around the world. He has been compared to Shakespeare for his outpouring of creativity and to Saint Francis of Assisi for his spiritual wisdom. Yet his life has long remained the stuff of legend rather than intimate knowledge.
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A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness
A year-long leadership development course, divided into short, weekly lessons, based on Peter Drucker’s personal coaching program, previously unpublished material, and selected readings from the management guru’s classic works, compiled by his longtime collaborator Joseph A. Maciariello.
A Year with Peter Drucker distills the essence of Peter Drucker’s personal mentorship program into an easy-to-follow 52-week course, exploring the themes Drucker felt were most important to leadership development, including.
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Good Poems for Hard Times By Garrison Keillor
Good Poems for Hard Times By Garrison Keillor. Here, readers will find solace in works that are bracing and courageous, organized into such resonant headings as “Such As It Is More or Less” and “Let It Spill.”