Showing results by narrator "Roberta Jackson" in All Categories

Antonio, a wealthy and popular merchant, is in financial difficulty. He approaches a Jewish money lender, Shylock, who agrees to provide 3000 ducats, with a very curious bond – a pound of the merchant’s flesh, to be levied if Antonio fails to make a timely repayment. Feeling confident that his argosies will arrive in time to cover the debt, Antonio agrees to this bizarre transaction.

The thesis of this story is that “because of the development of scientific knowledge, separate sovereign states and separate sovereign empires are no longer possible in the world. To attempt to keep on with the old system is to heap disaster upon disaster for [hu]mankind and perhaps to destroy our race altogether. The remaining interest of this book now is the sustained validity of this thesis and the discussion of the possible ending of war on the earth.”

This collection arguably contains some of the most charming lyrics ever written in English. Blake’s poems can be enjoyed, not only for their historical importance in an age which was fiercely proud of its genius and its traditions, but also for their simple and beautiful expression of “two contrary states of the human soul.” Songs of Innocence was originally a complete collection of twenty-three poems, first printed in 1789. In 1794, a composite collection entitled Songs of Innocence and of Experience, containing forty-seven poems, was published.

Duke Vincentino, the ruler of Vienna, fears that under his mild sovereignty, the people may have become lazy and lax. He decides to “go over cover” in the disguise of a monk and appoint his deputy, Angelo, who is a reputed paragon of virtue, as temporary ruler. On assuming power, Angelo inaugurates draconian provisions regarding sexual propriety. One of the first victims of this new regime is young Claudio, who has impregnated his lover Juliet, and is accordingly sentenced to death.

Geneticists Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast are on the verge of a revolutionary breakthrough when they are forced underground by a closed-minded world, fearful of tampering in God's domain. There in the shadows they create Dren, a hybrid born of beast and man whose potential exceeds their wildest dreams...but Dren becomes their worst nightmare when she grows too strong to contain, too smart to control, and too seductive to resist.

This collection of 35 short poems was first published in 1927, and is a sequel to When We Were Very Young, which was the first anthology of verse dealing with the domestic adventures of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh.

Emily Dickinson was one of the most reclusive of all poets. She spent much of her life in seclusion in her father’s house in Amherst, and only a handful of her 1800 poems were published in her lifetime. Credit for the posthumous publication of her work must be given to her editor and friend Thomas W. Higginson, who reported that, in spite of the voluminous correspondence which passed between himself and Dickinson, he only met her twice in person.

Sofia Clark was newly divorced and looking to restart her life. Having spent summers on beautiful Balboa Island as a young girl and teenager, the magic that she felt as a child had never left her, even after all these years. Now that her kids were grown and she found herself single, it dawned on her that she was free to move back to the place she had loved as a child. She quit her job as a principal and moved to Balboa Island to restart her life. Once on the island, things went very smoothly until her heart led her to somewhere new, to a place she’d never even considered until now.

Char thought she had a perfect life. She was married to a successful surgeon who was kind, committed, and willing to provide Char with anything that made her happy. What made her happy, besides her perfect marriage, was her dressage horse, Mystic, (never mind the cost). And now that a new trainer was moving to Blue Ribbon from Hamburg, Germany, she would have the ability to take her dressage riding to the highest level possible.