Global Last ebooks – Rows

Lewis, Sinclair – Babbitt –
Language: English, Novel – Format: ePub, iSilo

In this sardonic portrait of the up-and-coming middle class during the prosperous 1920s, Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) perfectly captures the sound, the feel, and the attitudes of the generation that created the cult of consumerism. (More) With a sharp eye for detail and keen powers of observation, Lewis tracks successful realtor George Babbitt’s daily struggles to rise to the top of his profession while maintaining his reputation as an upstanding family man.
On the surface, Babbitt appears to be the quintessential middle-class embodiment of conservative values and enthusiasm for the well-to-do lifestyle of the small entrepreneur. But beneath the complacent facade, he also experiences a rising, nameless discontent. These feelings eventually lead Babbitt into risky escapades that threaten his family and his standing in the community.

Mitchell, Margaret – Gone with the Wind –
Language: English, Novel – Format: iSilo

Gone with the Wind is a novel written by Margaret Mitchell, first published in 1936. The story is set in Clayton County, Georgia, and Atlanta during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. It depicts the experiences of (More) Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to come out of the poverty she finds herself in after Sherman’s March to the Sea. A historical novel, the story is a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story, with the title taken from a poem written by Ernest Dowson.
Gone with the Wind was popular with American readers from the onset and was the top American fiction bestseller in the year it was published and in 1937. As of 2014, a Harris poll found it to be the second favorite book by American readers, just behind the Bible. More than 30 million copies have been printed worldwide.
Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the book in 1937. It was adapted into a 1939 American film. The book is often read or misread through the film. Gone with the Wind is the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime.

Orwell, George – Animal’s Farm –
Language: English, Novel – Format: iSilo

Orwell, George – Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) –
Language: English, Novel – Format: iSilo

Nineteen Eighty-Four, sometimes published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by George Orwell published in 1949. The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of (More) perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public manipulation, dictated by a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (or Ingsoc in the government’s invented language, Newspeak) under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking as “thoughtcrimes”. The tyranny is epitomised by Big Brother, the quasi-divine Party leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality, but who may not even exist. The Party “seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power.” The protagonist of the novel, Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party who works for the Ministry of Truth (or Minitrue), which is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism. His job is to rewrite past newspaper articles so that the historical record always supports the current party line. Smith is a diligent and skillful worker, but he secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion against Big Brother.

Pushkin, Alexander – The Queen of Spades –
Language: English, Short Stories – Format: iSilo

Saki (H. H. Muhro) – Beasts and Super-Beasts –
Language: English, Short Stories – Format: iSilo

Saki (December 18, 1870 – November 14, 1916) was the pen name of British author Hector Hugh Munro. Saki’s world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward (More) life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end.

Scott, Walter – Ivanhoe –
Language: English, Novel – Format: iSilo

Follows the fortunes of the son of a noble Saxon family in Norman England as he woos his lady, disobeys his father, and is loved by another. Set in late 12C England and in Palestine with Richard Cœur-de-Lion at the Crusades, it’s (More) another ripping historical yarn by Scott

Scott, Walter – Quentin Durward –
Language: English, Novel – Format: ePub, iSilo

El libro se desarrolla en el siglo XV durante el reinado de Luis XI de Francia y en pleno enfrentamiento con Carlos el temerario, duque de Borgoña. Quentin Durward es un joven escocés que busca fortuna en Francia junto a su tío, (More) capitán de la guardia de arqueros escoceses que custodian al rey. Al mismo tiempo, y escapando de la custodia del Duque, que en un arreglo político quiere casarla contra su voluntad, llega a la corte la bella y joven condesa Isabel de Croye.
Las complicadas relaciones entre ambos monarcas no mejoran cuando la linda condesita pide asilo al rey francés.

Scott, Walter – Rob Roy –
Language: English, Novel – Format: iSilo

Rob Roy is a historical novel by Walter Scott. It is narrated by Frank Osbaldistone, the son of an English merchant who travels first to the North of England, and subsequently to the Scottish Highlands to collect a debt stolen (More) from his father. On the way he encounters the larger-than-life title character of Rob Roy MacGregor. Though Rob Roy is not the lead character (in fact the narrative does not move to Scotland until half way through the book) his personality and actions are key to the development of the novel.

Shackleton, Sir Ernest – Endurance Expedition –
Language: English, History & Biography – Format: iSilo