Word to the Wise

"How quick come the reasons for approving what we like." Like most of her other novels, Jane Austen's Persuasion (1818) is an exploration of human relations in a society governed by family bonds,...

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Pride and Prejudice (1813) is one of the most popular novels of the English...

"I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way."Sense and Sensibility (1811) is Jane Austen's first published novel. It is a book about...

Jerome K Jerome's early life of poverty exacerbated by the death of his parents in his early teens helped to cruelly mould the young Jerome. After early stints on the railways, as an actor, a...

"I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at is for hours."Jerome K Jerome's Stage Land is a literary work of a very particular form. It consists of a number of sketches (14) each speaking...

John Buchan was born on August 26th 1875. After a brief career in the legal profession he began a twin career as writer and politician. He was a prodigious writer not just of fiction but of such...

John Buchan was born on August 26th 1875. After a brief career in the legal profession he began a twin career as writer and politician. He was a prodigious writer not just of fiction but of such...

John Buchan was born on August 26th 1875. After a brief career in the legal profession he began a twin career as writer and politician. He was a prodigious writer not just of fiction but of such...

John Buchan was born on August 26th 1875. After a brief career in the legal profession he began a twin career as writer and politician. He was a prodigious writer not just of fiction but of such...

John Galsworthy was born at Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, England, on August 14th 1867 to a wealthy and well established family. His schooling was at Harrow and New College, Oxford before training...

John Galsworthy was born at Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, England, on August 14th 1867 to a wealthy and well established family. His schooling was at Harrow and New College, Oxford before training...

John Galsworthy first published in 1897 with a collection of short stories entitled "The Four Winds". For the next 7 years he published these and all works under his pen name John Sinjohn. It was...

Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8th, 1828 on ?le Feydeau, a small artificial island on the Loire River in Nantes. His father wanted his son to take over the family law practice. Jules...

Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8th, 1828 on ?le Feydeau, a small artificial island on the Loire River in Nantes. His father wanted his son to take over the family law practice. Jules...

Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8th, 1828 on ?le Feydeau, a small artificial island on the Loire River in Nantes. His father wanted his son to take over the family law practice. Jules...

Jules Gabriel Verne was born on February 8th, 1828 on ?le Feydeau, a small artificial island on the Loire River in Nantes. His father wanted his son to take over the family law practice. Jules...

"How many things have been denied one day, only to become realities the next!" Jules Verne is a very prolific nineteenth-century French writer whose numerous works are believed to establish the...

The Underground City by Jules Verne centers around one of the most important natural resources that was behind the Industrial Revolution: Coal. The events of the story take place among the mining...

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (9th September 1828 - 20th November 1910) was born into a well known Russian family of nobility who was brought up by relatives following his parents death when he was...

"He in his madness prays for storms, and dreams that storms will bring him peace."Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (9th September 1828 - 20th November 1910) was born into a well known Russian family of...

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE, was a Scottish playwright, novelist and poet who became the first English-language author to be internationally celebrated within their own lifetime. Although he...

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court centers around one of Mark Twain's eccentric fantasies: time traveling. The novel...

Born in 1797, Mary Shelley's mother died when she was only 11 days old. Mary was then raised by her Father, who remarried when she was four, and thereafter the young Mary had a liberal but informal...

Born in 1797, Mary Shelley's mother died when she was only 11 days old. Mary was then raised by her Father, who remarried when she was four, and thereafter the young Mary had a liberal but informal...

Born in 1797, Mary Shelley's mother died when she was only 11 days old. Mary was then raised by her Father, who remarried when she was four, and thereafter the young Mary had a liberal but informal...

Charles Dickens' Mugby Junction is a compilation of short stories whose events happen mostly round a Victorian railway station. The work was written in 1866 and originally published in its entirety...

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts. His father, a sea captain died when Nathaniel was 4 and Nathaniel always a shy child spent his early years with his Mother...

Nicolo Machiavelli was born in Florence on 3rd May 1469. Over the centuries his words have become the bywords for manipulation, deception and other traits which we all feel are beneath us. But is The...

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on 31st March 1809 in present day Ukraine which was then the Russian Cossack village of Sorochyntsi. Nikolai's parents were relatively affluent; his mother's family...

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was born on August 29th 1809. Among his many talents were those of physician, poet, professor, lecturer, and author. Here we concentrate on his writing. He was regarded by...