DescriptionA.L. Rowse, who died in 1997, was the author of a vast number of books, all of them readable and most of them fiercely arrayed against what he considered to be declining standards of manners, morals, and politics. He was more than a mere curmudgeon, though. His background was extraordinary: from a working-class family, he got a scholarship to Oxford, and from there was elected to All Souls College, the most exclusive of all faculties. He was a Shakespearean scholar who identified the Dark Lady of the sonnets, a historian of vast scope, and a biographer and memoirist, most notably of his beloved Cornwall. He never shied from controversy, and tore great chunks out of other writers in print. In short, Rowse led a fascinating life that bears reading about.
DescriptionIn this modern, stress-filled time, people face many awkward situations: the dating scene with all its pitfalls; friends going through grief and loss; job difficulties and other personal problems; the woes of love, friendship, and profession. To avoid g…
DescriptionTalk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening, the saying goes. When did the world get to be so rude? When did society become so inconsiderate? It's a topic that has been simmering for years, and Lynne Truss says that it has now reached boiling point.
DescriptionThe first of Jane Austen's novels to be published, Sense and Sensibility marked the debut of England's primary novelist of manners. Convinced that "three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work upon", Austen created a brilliant tragicomedy of flirtation and folly. Genteel dinner parties at a stately manor and romantic walks through luxuriant Devonshire draw two attractive sisters into the manipulations of landed gentry determined to marry well. But neither sense nor sensibility can guarantee happiness for either.
DescriptionOne of Jane Austen's most complex and mature works, Mansfield Park shows the writer at the top of her form, tackling the manners and customs of early 19th-century society with wit and irony that still resonate with readers two centuries after the book's initial publication. Flo Gibson's compelling narration gives perfect voice to the trials and tribulations of Fanny Price, sent at a young age to live with her rich relations.
DescriptionRule by head or rule by heart? Elinor Dashwood is a great believer in "sense, " while her exuberant younger sister Marianne feels keenly that only "sensibility" (what today we'd call passion) serves to guide the heart. Through vicissitudes and, in the case of Marianne, outright betrayal by her lover, these two women learn the value in the other's outlook, and thereby prepare themselves for later domestic bliss that is the hallmark resolution of Jane Austen's novels.
