Lewis Carroll (1832 - 1896) is best known for 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. It is less widely known that he worked as a lecturer for mathematics at Christ Church college, Oxford for 27 years. 'A tangled tale' merges his two talents as storyteller and mathematician. It consists of 10 short humorous stories which present one or more mathematical problems. The 10 'knots' as they are called, were first published in 'The Monthly Packet' magazine between April 1880 and March 1885, where readers were invited to solve the problems, and the solution was discussed in a later issue. (Summary by Availle)...

Fiction, Instruction

Botchan is the story of a young math teacher from Tokyo whose first assignment takes him to a middle school in the country side. His arrival there is not very lucky: The pupils are bound to test his perseverance and cheerily comments every one of his perceived missteps. In the teacher's room, he soon finds himself in the middle of an intrigue between the jovial Porcupine and the fat Hubbard Squash on one side, and the effeminate Red Shirt and his follower Clown on the other. Will Botchan choose the right side in the end? Botchan - with morality as the main theme - is one of the most popular novels in Japan. Sōseki Natsume bases the story on his own experiences as teacher in Matsuyama, his first assignment away from Tokyo. (Summary by Availle)...

Literature, Fiction

Marion Park, the daughter of missionaries, is sent to Miss Ashton's boarding school. There she meets with many young girls and together they learn not just lessons in German, Logic, Arithmetic, Latin and Rhetoric, but also life lessons of study habits, lady like manners, self control, thoughtfulness of others, truthfulness, and many other character traits. Join these girls of Montrose Academy as they plunge into the adventures of a secret society, fall into a scrape with the boys of Atherton Academy, and plan many Holiday festivities. (Summary by Abigail Rasmussen)...

Fiction, Children, Teen/Young adult

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 science fiction novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. As a satire, Flatland offered pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions; in a foreword to one of the many publications of the novella, noted science writer Isaac Asimov described Flatland as The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions. As such, the novella is still popular amongst mathematics, physics and computer science students....

Fiction, Science fiction, Satire

The Bab Ballads are a collection of light verse by W. S. Gilbert, illustrated with his own comic drawings. Gilbert wrote the Ballads before he became famous for his comic opera librettos with Arthur Sullivan. In writing the Bab Ballads, Gilbert developed his unique topsy-turvy style, where the humour was derived by setting up a ridiculous premise and working out its logical consequences, however absurd. The Ballads also reveal Gilbert's cynical and satirical approach to humour. They became famous on their own, as well as being a source for plot elements, characters and songs that Gilbert would recycle in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Bab Ballads take their name from Gilbert's childhood nickname, and he later began to sign his illustrations Bab. (summary from wikipedia)

Poetry, Humor

Nine original and, yes, unlikely fairy-tales, which include stories of the arithmetic fairy, the king who became a charming villa-residence and the dreadful automatic nagging machine. All are classic-Nesbit: charming, novel and not afraid to squeeze in a moral or two -- told with proper fairy-tale style. Summary by Cori...

Children, Fairy tales, Short stories

Mr Robert Grell, millionaire and socialite, is found murdered in his study on a stormy evening. It's up to Heldon Foyle, the detective, to unravel the mystery. (Summary by Christine Blachford - to be expanded)...

Mystery

In The Four Pools Mystery the tyrannical plantation owner is deemed responsible for his own murder because of his mistreatment of the former slaves who continued in his employment after the war. Jean Webster (pseudonym for Alice Jane Chandler Webster) was born July 24, 1876 and died June 11, 1916. She was an American writer and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. (Wiki)...

Fiction, Mystery

Carl Stanton is an invalid suffering from an unusual bout of rheumatism. His fiancee is gone for the winter and though he begs her to write to help ease his boredom and pain she is stingy with her letters. She sends him what she calls a 'ridiculous circular' which she states is very apropos of his sentimental passion for letters. In a sudden fit of mischief, malice and rheumatism, Carl decides to respond to the circular which results in bringing about the necessary distraction in a flurry of letters that do ease Carl's boredom and pain but also bring him something else that he never quite expected. (summary by Kehinde)...

Teen/Young adult

Het episch dierdicht Van den Vos Reynaerde, geschreven in het Middelnederlands in de 13e eeuw, geldt als een hoogtepunt in de Nederlandse middeleeuwse literatuur. Het epos verhaalt van de schurkenstreken van Reinaert de Vos, die zo listig is dat hij iedereen weet beet te nemen. Deze vertaling uit 1885 is van Julius de Geyter. Uit zijn inleiding: Reinaart de Vos, dat meesterstuk onzer Letterkunde, bestaat uit twee deelen: het eene, dat men gewoonlijk het eerste boek noemt, is omtrent den jare 1250 in Vlaanderen geschreven door een man van genie; het zoogenaamde tweede boek , ongeveer 150 jaren later waarschijnlijk ook door een Vlaming opgesteld, is nauwelijks het werk van een man van talent. De eerste onzer beide dichters, zooals d'eposschrijvers immer deden, had al d'avonturen van zijnen held bijeengezameld, er met een meesterhand de grondstof uitgegrepen, en ze tot een kunstjuweel verwerkt. Naar zijn eigen oordeel, was zijn gedicht gansch de geschiedenis van Reinaart, wat er dan ook over dezen nog meer was geschreven of in den mond des volks voortleefde. Onze tweede schrijver, anderhalv' eeuw nadien, heeft nu juist dat overtollig g...

Poetry, Myths/Legends, Animals, Fiction, Literature, Satire