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The War of the World
English Sci-Fi
H. G. Wells
CHAPTERS 27 VIEWS 10590
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.
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The Gods of Mars
English Sci-Fi
Edgar Rice Burroughs
CHAPTERS 22 VIEWS 9991
Twelve years had passed since I had laid the body of my great-uncle, Captain John Carter, of Virginia, away from the sight of men in that strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond.
Often had I pondered on the odd instructions he had left me governing the construction of his mighty tomb, and especially those parts which directed that he be laid in an open casket and that the ponderous mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault's huge door be accessible only from the inside.
Twelve years had passed since I had read the remarkable manuscript of this remarkable man; this man who remembered no childhood and who could not even offer a vague guess as to his age; who was always young and yet who had dandled my grandfather's great-grandfather upon his knee; this man who had spent ten years upon the planet Mars; who had fought for the green men of Barsoom and fought against them; who had fought for and against the red men and who had won the ever beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, for his wife, and for nearly ten years had been a prince of the house of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. -
The Island of Dr. Moreau
English Sci-Fi
H. G. Wells
CHAPTERS 22 VIEWS 9447
On January the Fifth, 1888—that is eleven months and four days after—my uncle, Edward Prendick, a private gentleman, who certainly went aboard the Lady Vain at Callao, and who had been considered drowned, was picked up in latitude 5° 3′ S. and longitude 101° W. in a small open boat of which the name was illegible, but which is supposed to have belonged to the missing schooner Ipecacuanha. He gave such a strange account of himself that he was supposed demented. Subsequently he alleged that his mind was a blank from the moment of his escape from the Lady Vain. His case was discussed among psychologists at the time as a curious instance of the lapse of memory consequent upon physical and mental stress. The following narrative was found among his papers by the undersigned, his nephew and heir, but unaccompanied by any definite request for publication.
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A Story For Lovers
English VH Miền Nam Trước 75
Nhã Ca
VIEWS 8757
In 1976 both Nha Ca and her husband were placed in re-education camps by the Communists. After nine months Nha Ca was freed, but her husband remains in confinement as of this writing. Nha Ca returned to Ho Chi Minh City to be with her children.
The following story takes place in the city of Hue at the time of the 1968 Communist offensive. It begins as a typical New Year's celebration-with ceremonies and prayers for the ancestors, games and visits with relatives, young love, and dreams of the future. Then the war comes and changes all these things forever. -
The Thien Ly Flower
English VH Miền Nam Trước 75
Duyên Anh
VIEWS 8634
Vu Mong Long was outspoken in his criticism of Vietnamese of all rank and station. For this he won himself many enemies. An unsuccessful attempt on his life in 1971 brought him to reassess his career and he spent the next four years writing for young people. Duyen Anh was one of the most prolific writers in his country with more than fifty titles to his credit Even in America his stories and novels remain popular and he is perhaps the most re-published Vietnamese author in the United States. The Communist regime in Vietnam hoped to crush the intellectuals in the South by arresting them and holding them in concentration camps. Duyen Anh spent several years in such camps until his release in 1982. He later escaped Vietnam by boat, reaching Malaysia and the refugee camps. Eventually he was permitted to settle in France with his wife.
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A Lady From “R”
English
Đào Hiếu
CHAPTERS 29 VIEWS 8310
It was the first time I left the city for the war zone. Before 1975 in South Vietnam there was nothing strange about it, because thousands of young women as I, also had to do so. They fought, were wounded, died, were imprisoned or won back in Ho Chi Minh campaign as my case.
So my story would have nothing worth to say if I hadn’t met that “old man” in the war zone. He was not a normal person. He was a powerful character of the “R”. -
The Man Who Would Be King and Other Stories
English GT Nobel Văn Học
Rudyard Kipling
CHAPTERS 6 VIEWS 7761
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Demian
English GT Nobel Văn Học
Hermann Hesse
CHAPTERS 8 VIEWS 7741
I shall begin my story with an experience I had when I was ten and attended our small town's Latin school.
The sweetness of many things from that time still stirs and touches me with melancholy: dark and well-lighted alleys, houses and towers, chimes and faces, rooms rich and comfortable, warm and relaxed, rooms pregnant with secrets. Everything bears the scent of warm intimacy, servant girls, household remedies, and dried fruits. -
Warlord of Mars
English Sci-Fi
Edgar Rice Burroughs
CHAPTERS 16 VIEWS 7534
In the shadows of the forest that flanks the crimson plain by the side of the Lost Sea of Korus in the Valley Dor, beneath the hurtling moons of Mars, speeding their meteoric way close above the bosom of the dying planet, I crept stealthily along the trail of a shadowy form that hugged the darker places with a persistency that proclaimed the sinister nature of its errand.
For six long Martian months I had haunted the vicinity of the hateful Temple of the Sun, within whose slow-revolving shaft, far beneath the surface of Mars, my princess lay entombed—but whether alive or dead I knew not. Had Phaidor's slim blade found that beloved heart? Time only would reveal the truth.
Six hundred and eighty-seven Martian days must come and go before the cell's door would again come opposite the tunnel's end where last I had seen my ever-beautiful Dejah Thoris. -
Chi Pheo and Other Stories
English
Nam Cao
CHAPTERS 9 VIEWS 6546
He swore while walking. It was his habit to swear after drinking. He cursed Heaven. Never mind.
Heaven belongs to nobody. Then he cursed life. That is of no importance. Life means everybody but no one in particular. He raged against the whole population of Vu Dai village. But people said to themselves: "May be he spares me !" Nobody answered him. How vexing indeed ! Vexing enough to make you fume ! Sons of bitches, those who did not answer him ! No reply. Gang of asses ! Had he drunk for nothing ? Isn't it a great pity for him ? Who is that idiot who fathered him so that he was so Unhappy ? Ah ! He had got it ! Let him come, the rascal who begot him ! He ground his teeth and insulted the scoundrel who sired Chi Pheo. God knows who he was ! Chi Pheo himself did not know and in Vu Dai village nobody knew either... -
Madame Bovary
English
Gustave Flaubert
CHAPTERS 35 VIEWS 4586
When Emma Rouault marries dull, provincial doctor Charles Bovary, her dreams of an elegant and passionate life crumble. She escapes into sentimental novels but finds her fantasies dashed by the tedium of her days. Motherhood proves to be a burden; religion is only a brief distraction. She spends lavishly and embarks on a series of disappointing affairs. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, Emma takes drastic action with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter. When published in 1857, Madame Bovary was embraced by bourgeois women who claimed it spoke to the frustrations of their lives.