Agatha Christie - And then there were none

And Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Niggers which was changed by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 to Ten Little Indians, as the former title, which originally derived from antiquated English terminology, from whence the nursery rhyme dates, was seen as racist by 20th century U.S. standards. In the novel, ten people, who have previously been complicit in the deaths of others but have escaped notice or punishment, are tricked into coming onto an island. Although the guests are the only people on the island, each is murdered one by one, in a manner paralleling, inexorably and sometimes grotesquely, the old nursery rhyme, ”Ten Little Niggers”. The UK edition retailed at sevenshillings and sixpence and the U.S. edition at $2.00. It was republished in May 2001, by St Martin’s Paperback Editions as And Then There Were None, due to controversy over the former title, which originally derived from antiquated English terminology, from whence the nursery rhyme dates, but was seen as racist by 20th century standards. The novel was made into several films (Ten Little Indians).

It is Christie’s best-selling novel with 100 million sales to date, making it the world’s best-selling mystery ever, and one of the best-selling books of all time (Publications International lists it as 7th best-selling). It has been adapted into several plays, films, and a video game.

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Download ebook: Agatha Christie – And then there were none

J. R. R. Tolkien - The Hobbit

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children’s book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in children’s literature.

Set in a time “Between the Dawn of Færie and the Dominion of Men”, The Hobbit follows the quest of home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Bilbo’s journey takes him from light-hearted, rural surroundings into darker, deeper territory. The story is told in the form of an episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature, or type of creature, of Tolkien’s Wilderland. By accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey and adventurous side of his nature and applying his wits and common sense, Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, competence and wisdom. The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict.

Themes of personal growth and forms of heroism figure in the story. Along with conflict, these themes lead critics to cite Tolkien’s own experiences, and those of other writers who fought in World War I, as instrumental in shaping the story. The author’s scholarly knowledge of Anglo-Saxon literature and interest in fairy tales are also often noted as influences.

Due to the book’s critical and financial success, Tolkien’s publishers requested a sequel. As work on The Lord of the Rings progressed, Tolkien made retrospective accommodations for it in one chapter of The Hobbit. These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien’s changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled. The work has never been out of print. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, board games and video games. Some of these adaptations have received critical recognition of their own, including a video game that won the Golden Joystick Award, a scenario of a war game that won an Origins Award, and an animated picture nominated for a Hugo Award.

Characters

Bilbo Baggins, the titular protagonist, is a respectable, conservative hobbit. During his adventure, Bilbo often refers to the contents of his larder at home and wishes he had more food. Until he finds a magic ring, he is more baggage than help. Gandalf, an itinerant wizard introduces Bilbo to a company of thirteen dwarves. During the journey he disappears on side errands dimly hinted at, only to appear again at key moments in the story. Thorin Oakenshield, the proud, pompous head of the company of dwarves and heir to the destroyed dwarven kingdom under the Lonely Mountain, makes many mistakes in his leadership, relying on Gandalf and Bilbo to get him out of trouble, but he proves himself a mighty warrior. Smaug is a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarven kingdom of Thorin’s grandfather and sleeps upon the vast treasure.

The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of the company; two types of elves: both puckish and more serious warrior types; men (humans); man-eatingtrolls; boulder-throwing giants; evil cave-dwelling goblins; forest-dwelling giant spiders who can speak; immense and heroic eagles who also speak; evil wolves, or wargs, who are allied with the goblins; Elrond the sage; Gollum, a strange creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn, a man who can assume bear form; and Bard the Bowman, a grim but honourable archer of Lake-town.

Plot

Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for Thorin and his band of twelve dwarves, who sing of reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug. When the music ends, Gandalf unveils a map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition’s “burglar”. The dwarves ridicule the idea, but Bilbo, indignant, joins despite himself.

The group travel into the wild, where Gandalf saves the company from trolls and leads them to Rivendell, where Elrond reveals more secrets from the map. Passing over the Misty Mountains, they are caught by goblins and driven deep underground. Although Gandalf rescues them, Bilbo gets separated from the others as they flee the goblins. Lost in the goblin tunnels, he stumbles across a mysterious ring and then encounters Gollum, who engages him in a game of riddles for the path out of the tunnels, or his demise. With the help of the ring, which confers invisibility, Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, improving his reputation with them. The goblins and Wargs give chase but the company are saved by eagles before resting in the house of Beorn.

The company enter the black forest of Mirkwood without Gandalf. In Mirkwood, Bilbo first saves the dwarves from giant spiders and then from the dungeons of the Wood-elves. Nearing the Lonely Mountain, the travellers are welcomed by the human inhabitants of Lake-town, who hope the dwarves will fulfil prophecies of Smaug’s demise. The expedition travel to the Mountain and find the secret door; Bilbo scouts the dragon’s lair, stealing a great cup and learning of a weakness in Smaug’s armour. The enraged dragon, deducing that Lake-town has aided the intruder, sets out to destroy the town. A noble thrush who overheard Bilbo’s report of Smaug’s vulnerability reports it to Bard, who slays the Dragon.

When the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, an heirloom of Thorin’s dynasty, and steals it. The Wood-elves and Lake-men besiege the Mountain and request compensation for their aid, reparations for Lake-town’s destruction, and settlement of old claims on the treasure. Thorin refuses and, having summoned his kin from the mountains of the North, reinforces his position. Bilbo tries to ransom the Arkenstone to head off a war, but Thorin is intransigent. He banishes Bilbo, and battle seems inevitable.

Gandalf reappears to warn all of an approaching army of goblins and Wargs. The dwarves, men, and elves band together, but only with the timely arrival of the eagles and Beorn do they win the climactic Battle of Five Armies. Thorin is fatally wounded and reconciles with Bilbo before he dies. Bilbo accepts only a small portion of his share of the treasure, having no want or need for more, but still returns home a very wealthy hobbit.

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Antoine de Saint-Exupery -The Little Prince

The Little Prince (French: ”Le Petit Prince”), first published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of the French aristocrat writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944, Mort pour la France).

The novella is both the most read and translated book in the French language, and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France, maintaining sales of over one million copies per year worldwide. Translated into more than 250 languages and dialects, and selling more than 200 million copies worldwide, it has become one of the best-selling books ever published.

Saint-Exupéry, a laureate of France’s highest literary awards and a reserve military pilot at the start of the Second World War, both wrote and illustrated the manuscript while exiled in the United States after the fall of France. He had traveled there on a personal mission to convince its government to quickly enter the war against Nazi Germany. In the midst of personal upheavals and failing health he produced almost half of the writings he would be remembered for, including a tender tale of loneliness, friendship, love and loss, in the form of a young prince fallen to Earth.

An earlier memoir by the author recounted his aviation experiences in the Sahara desert. He is thought to have drawn on those same experiences for use as plot elements in The Little Prince. Saint-Exupéry’s novella has been adapted to various media over the decades, including audio recordings, stage, screen, ballet andoperatic works.

Plot

The reader is introduced to the narrator who, as a young boy, drew a boa constrictor eating an elephant. However, he is discouraged from drawing when all adults who look at his picture see a hat, instead. The narrator attempts to explain what his first picture depicts by drawing another one clearly showing the elephant, disturbing the adults as a result. As such, he decides to become a pilot, which eventually leads to a crash in the Sahara desert.

In the desert, the narrator meets the little prince, who asks him to draw a sheep. Not knowing how to draw a sheep, the narrator shows him the picture of the elephant in the snake. To the narrator’s surprise, the prince recognizes the drawing for what it is. After a few failed attempts at drawing a sheep, the narrator draws a box in his frustration, claims that the box holds a sheep inside. Again to the narrator’s surprise, the prince is delighted with the result.

The little prince’s home asteroid, or “planet”, is introduced. The asteroid is the size of a house, has three volcanoes (two active, and one dormant) and a rose, among various other objects. The narrator believes this asteroid to be called B-612. The Prince spends his days caring for the asteroid, pulling out the baobab trees that are constantly trying to take root there. The Prince falls in love with the rose, who appears not to return his love due to her vain nature. The Prince loses his trust in the rose after she lies to him, and grows lonely.

After he reconciles with his rose, the prince leaves to see what the rest of the universe is like. He visits six other asteroids, each of which is inhabited by a foolish adult. The sixth asteroid is inhabited by a geographer, who asks the prince to describe his home. When the prince mentions the rose, the geographer explains that he does not record roses, calling them “ephemeral”. The prince is shocked and hurt by this revelation. The geographer recommends that he visit the Earth.

On the Earth, the prince meets a snake that claims to have the power to return him to his home planet, though the prince refuses this offer. The prince then meets a desert flower, who tells him that there are only a handful of men on Earth and that they have no roots, letting the wind blow them around and living hard lives. The prince climbs the highest mountain he has ever seen, in hopes of seeing the whole planet and finding people. However, he only sees a desolate landscape. When the prince calls out, his echo answers him, and he mistakes it for the voices of other humans.

Eventually, the prince comes upon a whole row of rosebushes, and becomes downcast because he thought that his rose was unique. He begins to feel that he is not a great prince at all, as his planet contains only three tiny volcanoes and a flower he now thinks of as common. He lies down in the grass and weeps.

As the prince cries, a fennec fox comes across him. The prince tames the fox, who explains to him that his rose really is unique and special, because she is the one whom the prince loves. The fox also explains that, in a way, the prince has tamed the flower, and that this is why the prince now feels responsible for her.

The prince then comes across a railway switchman and a merchant. The switchman tells the Prince how passengers constantly rush from one place to another aboard trains, never satisfied with where they are and not knowing what they are after. Only the children amongst them bother to look out of the windows. The merchant tells the prince about his product, a pill which eliminates thirst and is very popular, saving people fifty-three minutes a week. The prince replies that he would use the time to walk and find fresh water.

Back in the present, the narrator is dying of thirst, but finds a well with the help of the prince. The narrator later finds the prince discussing his return home with the snake. The prince bids an emotional farewell to the narrator and states that if it looks as though he has died, it is because his body is too heavy to take with him to his planet. The prince warns the narrator not to watch him leave, as it will make him sad. The narrator, realizing what will happen, refuses to leave the prince’s side. The prince allows the snake to bite him, and falls without making a sound.

The next morning, the narrator tries to look for the prince, but is unable to find his body. The story ends with a portrait of the landscape where the prince and the narrator met and where the snake took the prince’s life. The narrator makes a plea that anyone encountering a strange child in that area who refuses to answer questions should contact the narrator immediately. [Source]

Download ebook: Antoine de Saint-Exupery – The Little Prince

Download ebook: Antoine de Saint-Exupery – The Little Prince

Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature.

The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events. The most notable are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Carton is a dissipated British barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay’s wife, Lucie Manette.

The 45-chapter novel was published in 31 weekly installments in Dickens’ new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859, Dickens also republished the chapters as eight monthly sections in green covers. Dickens’ previous novels had appeared only as monthly installments. The first weekly installment of A Tale of Two Cities ran in the first issue of All the Year Round on 30 April 1859. The last ran thirty weeks later, on 26 November. [Source]

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Download ebook: Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities

Lewis Carroll - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under thepseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (Wonderland) populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsensegenre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre.

Synopsis

Chapter 1 – Down the Rabbit Hole: Alice is feeling bored while sitting on the riverbank with her sister, when she notices a talking, clothed White Rabbit with a pocket watch run past. She follows it down a rabbit hole when suddenly she falls a long way to a curious hall with many locked doors of all sizes. She finds a small key to a door too small for her to fit through, but through which she sees an attractive garden. She then discovers a bottle on a table labelled “DRINK ME”, the contents of which cause her to shrink too small to reach the key which she has left on the table. A cake with “EAT ME” on it causes her to grow to such a tremendous size her head hits the ceiling.

Chapter 2 – The Pool of Tears: Alice is unhappy and cries as her tears flood the hallway. After shrinking down again due to a fan she had picked up, Alice swims through her own tears and meets a Mouse, who is swimming as well. She tries to make small talk with him in elementary French (thinking he may be a French mouse) but her opening gambit “Ou est ma chatte?” offends the mouse.

Chapter 3 – The Caucus Race and a Long Tale: The sea of tears becomes crowded with other animals and birds that have been swept away. Alice and the other animals convene on the bank and the question among them is how to get dry again. The mouse gives them a very dry lecture on William the Conqueror. A Dodo decides that the best thing to dry them off would be a Caucus-Race, which consists of everyone running in a circle with no clear winner. Alice eventually frightens all the animals away, unwittingly, by talking about her (moderately ferocious) cat.

Chapter 4 – The Rabbit Sends a Little Bill: The White Rabbit appears again in search of the Duchess’s gloves and fan. Mistaking her for his maidservant, Mary Ann, he orders Alice to go into the house and retrieve them, but once she gets inside she starts growing. The horrified Rabbit orders his gardener, Bill the Lizard, to climb on the roof and go down the chimney. Outside, Alice hears the voices of animals that have gathered to gawk at her giant arm. The crowd hurls pebbles at her, which turn into little cakes. Alice eats them, and they reduce her again in size.

Chapter 5 – Advice from a Caterpillar: Alice comes upon a mushroom and sitting on it is a blue Caterpillar smoking a hookah. The Caterpillar questions Alice and she admits to her current identity crisis, compounded by her inability to remember a poem. Before crawling away, the caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other side will make her shorter. She breaks off two pieces from the mushroom. One side makes her shrink smaller than ever, while another causes her neck to grow high into the trees, where a pigeon mistakes her for a serpent. With some effort, Alice brings herself back to her usual height. She stumbles upon a small estate and uses the mushroom to reach a more appropriate height.

Chapter 6 – Pig and Pepper: A Fish-Footman has an invitation for the Duchess of the house, which he delivers to a Frog-Footman. Alice observes this transaction and, after a perplexing conversation with the frog, lets herself into the house. The Duchess’s Cook is throwing dishes and making a soup that has too much pepper, which causes Alice, the cook, the Duchess, and her baby (but not the grinning Cheshire Cat) to sneeze violently. Alice is given the baby by the Duchess and to her surprise, the baby turns into a pig. The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree, directing her to the March Hare’s house. He disappears but his grin remains behind to float on its own in the air prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat.

Chapter 7 – A Mad Tea-Party: Alice becomes a guest at a “mad” tea party along with the March Hare, the Hatter, and a sleeping Dormouse who remains asleep for most of the chapter. The other characters give Alice many riddles and stories, including the famous ‘Why is a raven like a writing desk?’. The Hatter reveals that they have tea all day because Time has punished him by eternally standing still at 6 pm (tea time). Alice becomes insulted and tired of being bombarded with riddles and she leaves claiming that it was the stupidest tea party that she had ever been to.

Chapter 8 – The Queen’s Croquet Ground: Alice leaves the tea party and enters the garden where she comes upon three living playing cards painting the white roses on a rose tree red because the Queen of Hearts hates white roses. A procession of more cards, kings and queens and even the White Rabbit enters the garden. Alice then meets the King and Queen. The Queen, a figure difficult to please, introduces her trademark phrase “Off with his head!” which she utters at the slightest dissatisfaction with a subject. Alice is invited (or some might say ordered) to play a game of croquet with the Queen and the rest of her subjects but the game quickly descends into chaos. Live flamingos are used as mallets and hedgehogs as balls and Alice once again meets the Cheshire Cat. The Queen of Hearts then orders the Cat to be beheaded, only to have her executioner complain that this is impossible since the head is all that can be seen of him. Because the cat belongs to the Duchess, the Queen is prompted to release the Duchess from prison to resolve the matter.

Chapter 9 – The Mock Turtle’s Story: The Duchess is brought to the croquet ground at Alice’s request. She ruminates on finding morals in everything around her. The Queen of Hearts dismisses her on the threat of execution and she introduces Alice to the Gryphon, who takes her to the Mock Turtle. The Mock Turtle is very sad, even though he has no sorrow. He tries to tell his story about how he used to be a real turtle in school, which The Gryphon interrupts so they can play a game.

Chapter 10 – Lobster Quadrille: The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon dance to the Lobster Quadrille, while Alice recites (rather incorrectly) “‘Tis the Voice of the Lobster”. The Mock Turtle sings them “Beautiful Soup” during which the Gryphon drags Alice away for an impending trial.

Chapter 11 – Who Stole the Tarts?: Alice attends a trial whereby the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the Queen’s tarts. The jury is composed of various animals, including Bill the Lizard, the White Rabbit is the court’s trumpeter, and the judge is the King of Hearts. During the proceedings, Alice finds that she is steadily growing larger. The dormouse scolds Alice and tells her she has no right to grow at such a rapid pace and take up all the air. Alice scoffs and calls the dormouse’s accusation ridiculous because everyone grows and she can’t help it. Meanwhile, witnesses at the trial include the Hatter, who displeases and frustrates the King through his indirect answers to the questioning, and the Duchess’s cook.

Chapter 12 – Alice’s Evidence: Alice is then called up as a witness. She accidentally knocks over the jury box with the animals inside them and the King orders the animals be placed back into their seats before the trial continues. The King and Queen order Alice to be gone, citing Rule 42 (“All persons more than a mile high to leave the court”), but Alice disputes their judgement and refuses to leave. She argues with the King and Queen of Hearts over the ridiculous proceedings, eventually refusing to hold her tongue. The Queen shouts her familiar “Off with her head!” but Alice is unafraid, calling them out as just a pack of cards; just as they start to swarm over her. Alice’s sister wakes her up for tea, brushing what turns out to be some leaves and not a shower of playing cards from Alice’s face. Alice leaves her sister on the bank to imagine all the curious happenings for herself. [Source]

Download ebook: Lewis Carroll – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Download ebook: Lewis Carroll – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (original title in Swedish: Luftslottet som sprängdes, in English: The castle of air that (was) exploded) is the third and final novel in the best-selling “Millennium series” by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. The novel is the sequel to The Girl Who Played with Fire. It was published posthumously in Swedishin 2007 and in English in the UK in October 2009.

The US and Canadian editions, published on May 25, 2010, are titled The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, with “hornet” in the singular form.

Background

Like the first two books in the Millennium series, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest was written by Stieg Larsson before being shown to a publisher, and published posthumously after his fatal heart attack in 2004.

Plot

The book begins as Lisbeth Salander is flown to Sahlgrenska Hospital. It picks up where The Girl Who Played With Fire left off.

In the hospital

After surgery, she is moved to an intensive care ward under guard, accessible only to police, doctors, nurses, and her lawyer, Annika Giannini (who is also Mikael Blomkvist’s sister). Zalachenko, whom Salander injured with an axe, is two rooms away. Niedermann is on the run from the police after murdering a police officer andcarjacking and kidnapping a woman during his escape. Niedermann seeks help from his old friends at Svavelsjö M.C., kills the treasurer and steals 800,000 kronor before disappearing.

Evert Gullberg, the founder and former chief of “the Section”, a secret division of Säpo that harbored and protected Zalachenko, asks former Section associate Frederik Clinton to become acting head of the Section and plots to deflect attention away from the Section by silencing Salander, Blomkvist and Zalachenko.

They first form a working alliance with the unsuspecting Prosecutor of Salander’s case, Richard Ekström. Dr. Peter Teleborian, a member of The Section and the psychiatristwho supervised Salander when she was previously institutionalized, provides Ekstrom with a false psychiatric examination and recommends that she be reinstitutionalized, preferably without a trial.

Gullberg, who has terminal cancer, murders Zalachenko in his hospital bed and then commits suicide. Section operatives stage a suicide for Gunnar Björck, the junior Säpo officer who had handled Zalachenko after the latter’s defection, and who was Blomkvist’s source of information about the Section. Other Section operatives burgle Blomkvist’s apartment, mug Annika Giannini, and plant bugs in the homes and phones of Millennium staff. Undeterred, Blomkvist continues to investigate the Section for a Millennium exposé.

Counterattack

Blomkvist hires Dragan Armansky’s Milton Security to handle counter surveillance. Armansky informs Säpo Constitutional Protection Director Torsten Edklinth about the constitutional violations. Edklinth, along with his assistant Monica Figuerola, begins a clandestine investigation into the Section. After Figuerola confirms the allegations, Edklinth contacts the Justice Minister and the Prime Minister who approve a full investigation by Constitutional Protection, and later invite Blomkvist to a confidential meeting in which they are to share information. They agree to Blomkvist’s deadline—he intends to publish his findings about the state’s manipulation of Salander’s constitutional rights at the beginning of her trial. Meanwhile, Figuerola and Blomkvist have an affair.

Blomkvist convinces Salander’s doctor, Dr. Anders Jonasson, to return her Palm Tungsten T3. Blomkvist arranges to have a phone placed in a duct leading to Salander’s room, allowing her to access the Internet and communicate.

Berger subplot

Erika Berger leaves Millennium to be editor-in-chief at Sweden’s largest daily paper, the fictional Svenska Morgon-Posten. Meanwhile, Henry Cortez, a reporter at Millennium, uncovers a story about a Swedish company manufacturing toilets that engages child labour in Vietnam. After a while he discovers that the boss of the firm is Magnus Borgsjö, who is also the major shareholder of S.M.P. and therefore Berger’s boss. Blomkvist gives a copy of the story to Berger, and she decides to confront him. Berger also begins receiving graphic emails and threats. The stalker even breaks into Berger’s home and steals scandalous private materials belonging to Berger. Berger engages Milton Security to help secure her home, and hires a Milton employee named Susanne Linder to help protect her home. With the help of Lisbeth, Berger’s stalker is exposed as a fellow employee at S.M.P. and high school classmate of Berger, Peter Fredriksson. Linder confronts Fredriksson and recovers Berger’s things. However, Fredriksson also stole the story that Blomkvist gave Berger, and anonymously e-mailed Borgsjö the story. Borgsjö orders Berger to suppress the story at Millennium. Berger decides to print the story in S.M.P. in Cortez’s name, and then resigns from S.M.P. and returns to Millennium. Borgsjö and Fredriksson are forced to resign.

On the eve of Salander’s trial, the Section, desperate to silence Blomkvist and destroy his credibility, hire two members of the Yugoslav mafia to murder him and Berger, while planting cocaine in his apartment. Figuerola and her fellow agents are able to intercept and foil their plans. Blomkvist and Berger go to a Milton safehouse until the trial. Berger intuits Figuerola’s and Blomkvist’s affair, and promises Figuerola to stay clear of Blomkvist as long as they are together.

Meanwhile, Salander is transferred to prison to start her trial.

Trial

On the third day of Salander’s trial, Giannini systematically destroys Teleborian’s testimony, proving: that the Section and Teleborian had conspired to commit Salander at age 12 to protect Zalachenko, that Salander’s rights had been repeatedly violated, and that they were once again conspiring against her. During this time, Millennium’s exposé of Zalachenko and his abuses against Salander and her family, along with a book entitled “The Section” are released, becoming the story of the year. The same day, teams from Edklinth’s unit arrest the ten members of the Section. Blomkvist and Edklinth provide evidence proving that Teleborian’s recent “psychiatric assessment” of Salander was fabricated and that he was working with the Section to silence her. Teleborian is later arrested for possession of child pornography, which was found on his computer by Salander and her hacker friends, Plague and Trinity.

Aftermath

With the evidence and credibility of the prosecution shattered, the prosecutor drops all charges against Salander. Freed, Salander embarks on an overseas trip to forget the events. She spends several months atGibraltar, among other things to pay a visit to the man managing the billions she had stolen from Hans-Erik Wennerström in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. She also tracks down Miriam Wu, who is studying at a university in Paris.

As Zalachenko’s daughter, Salander inherits half of his properties and wealth, which she has no choice but to accept; the other goes to her twin sister Camilla. Suspicious about an abandoned factory in her father’s estate, she goes there to investigate and finds two dead women and Niedermann, who had been hiding there from the police. After a brief struggle and chase, Salander outwits Niedermann by nailing his feet to the plankfloor with a nail gun. She is tempted to kill him herself, but instead leaves the warehouse and reports his location to the head of the Svavelsjö biker gang, who had previously attacked Salander. After the gang arrives, Salander directs the police to the warehouse with Niedermann and the bikers; she then watches as the police arrive and begin a stand-off with the bikers. She leaves before it is over, satisfied that both Niedermann and the biker have received payback. She later learns that Niedermann was killed by the bikers and that the head biker was shot by the police while resisting arrest.

Back at her apartment in Stockholm, Salander receives a visit from Blomkvist. The story, as well as the Millennium trilogy, ends with her reconciling with him, finally welcoming him into her apartment and life. [Source]

Download ebook: Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Download ebook: Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish: Flickan som lekte med elden) is the second novel in the best-selling “Millennium series” by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009.

The book features many of the characters that appeared in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, among them the title character, Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant computer hackerand social misfit, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of Millennium magazine.

Widely seen as a critical success, The Girl Who Played with Fire was also (according to The Bookseller magazine) the first and only translated novel to be number one in the UK hardback chart.

Synopsis

Mikael Blomkvist, the publisher of Millennium magazine, is approached by Dag Svensson, a young journalist who has written a meticulously researched thesis about sex trafficking in Sweden and the abuse of underage girls by high-ranking figures. Blomkvist immediately throws himself into the investigation, planning to run Svensson’s story in an upcoming issue of Millennium. However, shortly before the printing of the story, Svensson and his partner are shot dead in their Stockholm apartment.

Lisbeth Salander becomes the prime suspect in Svensson’s murder when the police discover incriminating evidence at the crime scene. The next day, Salander’s guardian, Nils Bjurman, is found dead in his bedroom, shot with the same weapon. Lisbeth discovers a connection between Bjurman and a man named Zala, and breaks into Bjurman’s home to read his files on her. She realizes that none of the police reports state the reason for her institutionalization when she was thirteen. She tells Blomvkist that she is innocent and gives him information on the case.

Blomkvist tries to clear Lisbeth’s name, but is unable to find her. Lisbeth has moved out of her old apartment — given to her friend and sometime-lover, Mimmi — and into a secret apartment so that no one could locate her. Niedermann, a looming henchman working for Zala, shows up at the old apartment and abducts Mimmi in an attempt to force Lisbeth out of hiding. Niederman takes Mimmi to a secret warehouse that serves as his lair, but Mimmi escapes and is taken to the hospital.

We find out later that Zala is Lisbeth’s father, and she had tried to kill him when she was 13 with fire because he abused her mother so badly she was put in a mental hospital. Lisbeth locates Zala and shows up at his home to kill him, but Niedermann is there and she is told he is her half-brother. Zala shoots Lisbeth in the hip, shoulder and head with a Browning .22, which is a very weak gun that doesn’t kill her. Niedermann buries her alive, but she digs herself out and again attempts to kill Zala with an axe. Blomvkist, who had done extensive research, along with Lisbeth’s computer hacking skills, arrives in time to attend to Lisbeth and call 911. It’s revealed the Niedermann was the killer of Bjurman, Svensson and Svensson’s partner, and a search is put out for him since he fled the scene once Lisbeth tried to murder Zala with the axe.

Characters

Main Characters

• Mikael Blomkvist – A journalist and publisher at Millennium magazine.
• Lisbeth Salander – An antisocial private investigator, hacker, and accused triple-murderer.
• Alexander Zalachenko (Zala) a.k.a. Karl Axel Bodin  – A former Soviet spy who turns out to be deeply involved in Salander’s dark past.
• Ronald Niedermann a.k.a. The Giant  – Zalachenko’s henchman who is connected to Salander in way which she herself does not realize.
• Carl-Magnus Lundin  – The President of Svavelsjö Motorcycle Club (Svavelsjö MC). Sells drugs and is commissioned to kidnap Salander for Zala.

[Source]

Download ebook: Stieg Larsson – The Girl Who Played With Fire

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Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is a writer and biographer. He is the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. He has been the Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of TIME. He was appointed by President Obama to be the Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and the other international broadcasts of the U.S. government. He has also been known for writing several biographies including the biography of the diplomat Benjamin Franklin, the physicist Albert Einstein and his latest biography about late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs.

Early life

Walter Isaacson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating from New Orleans’ Isidore Newman School and a summer at Deep Springs College as a participant in the Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP), Isaacson attended Harvard College and earned a B. A. in history and literature. While at Harvard, Isaacson was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. He then attended the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar at Pembroke College and read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

Career

Walter Isaacson began his career in journalism at The Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined TIME in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine’s fourteenth editor in 1996. He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.

He is the author of American Sketches (2009), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and he is the co-author, with Evan Thomas, of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986). He is the editor of Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Elusive Quality of Greatness (2010, W. W. Norton).

On October 24, 2011, Isaacson’s authorized biography of Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs was published by Simon & Schuster. Because of Jobs’ death just weeks earlier (on October 5, 2011), Steve Jobsbecame an instant international best-seller, breaking all records for sales of a biography. The book was based on over forty interviews with Jobs over a two year period right up until shortly before his death. Isaacson also drew on conversations with friends, family members, and even business rivals of the entrepreneur whose vision revolutionized computing, music, phones, animated films, and even publishing.

He is the chairman of the board of Teach for America and of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He is on the boards of United Airlines, Tulane University, Overseers of Harvard University, the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and the Society of American Historians.

In October 2005, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco appointed Isaacson vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a thirty-three-member policymaking board that oversaw spending on the recovery fromHurricane Katrina. In December 2007, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, which seeks to create economic and educational opportunities in the Palestinian territories. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed him vice-chair of the Partners for a New Beginning, which encourages private-sector investments and partnerships in the Muslim world. He also serves as the cochair of the U.S.-Vietnamese Dialogue on Agent Orange, which in January 2008 announced completion of a project to contain the dioxin left behind by the U.S. at the Da Nang air base and plans to build health centers and a dioxin laboratory in the affected regions.

Isaacson had been working on a biography of Apple CEO Steve Jobs since 2005, the first biography of Jobs written with his full cooperation, with Jobs granting extensive interviews of himself, friends, enemies, and family members, wanting nothing to be kept from the public. Pre-orders of the book skyrocketed to the number one position at Amazon.com after news of Jobs’ death broke. Steve Jobs was published on October 24, 2011 by Simon & Schuster. [Source]

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Sophie Kinsella - Can you keep a secret

Believing she is about to perish in a plane wreck, Emma Corrigan babbles out her secrets, desires and idiosyncrasies to the handsome and reassuring man seated next to her. Having survived (Emma, with her own jangled mind, was doubtful of this), she shows up for work the next day only to be introduced to that seatmate. He’s the CEO of the U.S.-based Panther Cola she’s been marketing.

As she tries to recover her professional stature with her boss Emma finds herself enmeshed in a tangled web of her own weaving as she tries to get to know more about Jack. It should be noted that Emma has considerable help at her crazy loom from her flatmates Lissy and Jemima. At the same time Jack is trying to get to know Emma, but his thoughts are more business-based than romance-based. Emma to him is a fine marketing specimen of a young working woman in her twenties. This part of the plot wears thin.

The early chapters, in which Emma’s flight from Glasgow begins a precipitous plunge and she begins her ill-considered true confessions, are quite engaging and spring out of a genuinely sympathetic perspective: so many people are prone to chatter when in shock. And the comic element of having Emma’s business-class seatmate wind up being her boss is classic stuff.

But Jack’s “betrayal” of Emma does not seem genuine. Perhaps it’s a cultural divide, but it’s difficult to believe that any television show, even one on “Business Inspirations,” would allow a CEO to go on and on about the tiny details Jack reveals, from Emma’s Barbie bedspread to her borrowing her roommate’s shoes (not to mention the other information about her roommate — mortification alert!) Jack uses the elements of Emma’s character that have made her so believable as a business ploy — but what ensues feels like forced farce.

Kinsella previously gave us the light, bright and laugh-out-loud funny Shopaholic books (CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, SHOPAHOLIC TAKES MANHATTAN and SHOPAHOLIC TIES THE KNOT). Kinsella’s “shopaholic,” Becky Bloomwood, is a fictional descendant of both Thackeray’s Becky Sharp and Austen’s Emma Woodhouse, living by her wits but also living for others (in Becky Bloomwood’s case, the suave Luke). She is known as one of the quintessential Chick Lit characters along with Bridget Jones and the Nanny Diaries nanny. Those books set a really high bar. Those books were really funny; this new one is just fun. However, one has to think if the writer were not Kinsella would we be judging CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET in the same way? And there are times where just fun is just fine.

One thing we know. After reading CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? you will use an edit chip when talking to your seatmate on airplanes, trains or other mass transit and think twice about what you share. [Source]

Download ebook: Sophie Kinsella – Can You Keep A Secret?

George R. R. Martin - A Game Of Thrones

A Game of  Thrones is the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on 6 August 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award, and was nominated for both the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award. The novella Blood of the Dragon, comprising the Daenerys Targaryen chapters from the novel, won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella. In January 2011 the novel became a New York Times bestseller and reached #1 on the list in July 2011.

In the novel, presenting various points of view and plot-lines, Martin introduces the noble houses of Westeros, the Wall, and the Targaryen plot-line. The novel has lent its name to several spin-off items based on the novels, including a trading card game, board game, and roleplaying game. The novel comprises the first season of a television series of a similar name created by HBO, which premiered on April 17, 2011.

Plot summary

A Game of Thrones follows three principal storylines simultaneously.

In the Seven Kingdoms

The novel begins with Lord Eddard Stark (Ned) in Winterfell, ancestral home of House Stark, a noble house of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and rulers of the North. Ned executes a deserter of the Night’s Watch, with his sons among the witnesses. On the return to Winterfell, Eddard’s sons discover six direwolf pups, which are entrusted to Eddard’s six children. The direwolf is the sigil of House Stark and is integral to the Stark family. King Robert Baratheon visits Eddard at Winterfell, with the Queen and Court. Because he trusts him, King Robert asks Eddard to become the Hand of the King. Eddard agrees, against his instincts, and at the same time promises his wife, LadyCatelyn Stark to investigate the death of the previous Hand, Lord Jon Arryn, who may have been the victim of political intrigue involving King Robert’s wife, Queen Cersei and her powerful family of House Lannister.

Before the Starks leave for King’s Landing in the South, Eddard’s young son Bran Stark is gravely injured when Jaime Lannister tries to kill him because Bran accidentally witnesses incest between Jaime and his twin Cersei. Bran survives but remains in a coma and becomes a paraplegic, causing him to stay behind. During his recuperation, an assassin attempts to murder Bran, but his direwolf saves his life as well as his mother’s. Catelyn realizes her husband faces danger in King’s Landing, so she travels there by ship to warn him, leaving the eldest son Robb Stark to rule as the Lord of Winterfell. Not long after Catelyn’s departure from Winterfell, Bran awakens from his coma and names his direwolf Summer. Upon Catelyn’s arrival in King’s Landing, she is brought to a meeting with Petyr Baelish, or Littlefinger, a childhood admirer, who identifiesTyrion Lannister as the owner of the dagger used in the attempt on Bran’s life. Littlefinger then brings Ned to see Catelyn in secret. While traveling back to Winterfell, Catelyn encounters Tyrion and takes him captive. She changes her destination and takes him to the remote Eyrie, where her sister Lady Lysa Arryn, widow of Lord Arryn, rules as Lady of the Vale. Lysa blames the Lannisters for Jon’s death and is eager to execute Tyrion, but he demands trial by combat and regains his freedom when his unlikely champion, Bronn, wins the duel.

Meanwhile, Lord Eddard travels toward King’s Landing, the capital, taking with him his daughters Sansa and Arya. Eleven year-old Sansa is betrothed to King Robert’s twelve year-old son Joffrey, the heir apparent. At King’s Landing, Eddard assumes the duties of the Hand and the ruling of Westeros as Robert is uninterested in bureaucracy. Eddard learns that Robert’s heirs are in fact Jaime Lannister’s children by his sister. He contacts Cersei and offers her a chance to escape before he tells Robert the truth, but Robert is killed on a hunt before Eddard tells him. Robert’s youngest brother Renly suggests that Eddard should use their combined household guardsmen to detain Cersei and her children and take control of the throne before the Lannisters can act. Eddard refuses on the grounds that it would be dishonorable. Instead he recruits Littlefinger to have the city guards arrest and charge Cersei, but is betrayed. Eddard is arrested, Sansa made a captive, and Arya escapes.

Cersei’s and Jaime’s eldest son, Joffrey, is crowned as Robert’s heir, and he immediately has Eddard imprisoned and ultimately executed. Prior to Eddard’s death, Lord Tywin Lannister wages war against Houses Stark and Tully and their supporters in retaliation for Tyrion’s abduction by Catelyn. As the news of Eddard’s execution spreads, a civil war, later dubbed the War of the Five Kings, erupts. Robb Stark leads an army of northmen to rescue his father and sisters in King’s Landing, but upon learning of Eddard’s death, goes to the Riverlands to raise support from his maternal grandfather Lord Hoster Tully. Jaime Lannister leads the siege of Riverrun, while Lord Tywin holds a large army south of the river Trident to prevent Robb from advancing to King’s Landing. In a bold move, Robb covertly detaches his cavalry toward Riverrun while his infantry carries on toward Tywin’s army. Tywin, joined by the liberated Tyrion, repulses the Stark footmen but discovers too late that they were a decoy. Shortly afterward, Robb’s forces surprise and destroy the Lannister camp besieging Riverrun, capturing Jaime in the process. Renly Baratheon proclaims Joffrey’s illegitimacy and with the support of House Baratheon and House Tyrell, declares himself King of Westeros, becoming the second of the war’s five kings. Robb Stark becomes the third when the Stark and Tully bannermen proclaim him King in the North.

On the Wall

The Prologue of the novel introduces the out-kingdom northern wilderness beyond the Wall, an ancient 700-foot-high, 300-mile-long barrier of ice and magic fortifying the Seven Kingdoms, manned by the Brotherhood of the Night’s Watch. In the lawless lands north of the Wall, a small patrol of Rangers from the Night’s Watch encounter the Others; with all except a single survivor killed. Jon Snow, the bastard son of Lord Eddard and despised by Catelyn, is inspired by his uncle Benjen Stark, the First Ranger of the Night’s Watch, to join the Brotherhood and go to the Wall. Jon travels north to the Wall with the Queen’s brother, Tyrion Lannister and other members of the Night’s watch. He becomes disillusioned when he discovers that it is little more than a penal colony meant to keep wildlings in check.

At the Wall, Jon unites the recruits against their harsh instructor, and protects cowardly but good-natured Samwell Tarly. Jon hopes that his combat skills will earn him assignment to the Rangers, the military arm of the Brotherhood. Instead he is assigned as steward to the Lord Commander of the Watch, Jeor Mormont. He arranges for his friend Samwell Tarley to be made steward to elderly Maester Aemon. Meanwhile, Benjen Stark leads a small party of Rangers on patrol beyond the Wall but fails to return. Nearly six months later, the dead bodies of two of the rangers from Benjen’s party are recovered from beyond the Wall, and their corpses re-animate as wights in the night. Undeterred by sword wounds, they kill six men while Jon and his direwolf Ghost save Lord Commander Mormont by destroying a wight with fire. For saving his life, Mormont presents Jon with the Valyrian-steel bastard sword “Longclaw”, an heirloom of the Lord Commander’s house. The Old Bear Lord Mormont then gives him a pommel for the sword in the shape of a white direwolf’s head, representing both House Stark and Jon’s direwolf, Ghost.

When word of his father’s execution reaches Jon, he attempts to desert the Night’s Watch and join his half-brother Robb’s war against the Lannisters. His friends among the Brotherhood convince him to return. Mormont convinces Jon that his place is with his new brothers, and that the war for the throne does not compare to the evil that winter is about to bring upon them from the north.

In the East

Across the sea in the Free City of Pentos, Viserys Targaryen lives in exile with his thirteen year-old sister Daenerys. He is the son and only surviving male heir of Aerys II, “the Mad King”, who was overthrown by Robert Baratheon during the War of the Usurper. Viserys arranges to sell his sister in marriage to Khal Drogo, warlord of nomadic Dothraki horse warriors, planning to use Drogo’s army to reclaim the Iron Throne of Westeros for House Targaryen. The wealthy merchant, Magister Illyrio, who has been hosting Viserys and Daenerys, gives as his wedding gift three petrified dragon eggs. A knight exiled from Westeros, Ser Jorah Mormont, joins Viserys as an advisor.

Unexpectedly, Daenerys finds trust and love with her barbaric husband, and they conceive a child who is prophesied to unite and rule the Dothraki. Drogo shows little interest in conquering Westeros, which provokes the temperamental Viserys to lash out at his sister. Initially, Drogo endures Viserys and punishes his outbursts with public humiliation. But when Viserys publicly threatens Daenerys, Drogo executes him by pouring a pot of molten gold on his head. As the last Targaryen, Daenerys takes up her brother’s quest to reclaim the throne of Westeros.

An assassin unsuccessfully attempts to poison Daenerys and her unborn child. Enraged, Drogo agrees to invade Westeros to seek revenge. While sacking villages to fund the invasion, Drogo is wounded. The wound festers, and Daenerys commands a captive maegi to use blood magic to save him; however, the treacherous maegi sacrifices Daenerys’ unborn child to power the spell, which keeps Drogo alive in a vegetative state. As the leaderless Dothraki horde disbands, Daenerys takes pity on her once-proud husband and smothers him. Eager for revenge, she orders the maegi tied to Drogo’s funeral pyre and places her three dragon eggs on the pyre with Drogo. While she watches it burn, Daenerys is seduced by the beauty of the flames and walks into the inferno. Instead of perishing in the flames, she emerges unscathed and with three newly-hatched dragons draped around her. The few remaining Dothraki and Ser Jorah swear their allegiance to her. [Source]

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