This is one of the best-known stories by Australian poet and writer, Henry Lawson. It takes place in the late 1800s and involves three men and their big, lovable retriever pup. The men are working together digging for gold and like to go fishing in their free time. When the fish stop biting, they decide to catch them by making a bomb and exploding it in the water. The pup picks up the bomb, accidentally lights the fuse as he runs past the campfire, and has great fun chasing the men around the gold fields trying to give it back. More…
Slaughter House
Although highly regarded as a classic, chilling ghost story, die-hard Richard Matheson fans may find Slaughter House somewhat disappointing. Matheson deliberately changes his normal crisp, easy to read writing style to experiment with the formality of mid-Victorian writing. The result: some extremely obscure vocabulary and very long, pompously formal sentences that are sometimes disjointed and confusing. The story itself is captivating. Two brothers, whose described relationship suggests a little more than brotherly love, fall for the lustful ghost of a young woman that enchants, has its way with, and then tries to kill them. Only one of the three survives! More…
The Encyclopedia of the Dead
The legendary Encyclopedia in this story by Danilo Kiš records minute details of the lives of all people not famous enough to have a published biography. Readers encounter two sets of themes: those related to the book, and those arising from the protagonist’s dream about her father’s entry in the book. For the book we have egalitarianism (equality in eternity), individuality (each person is a star unto himself) and singularity (nothing in the history of mankind is ever repeated). For the protagonist’s dream, which ends with a supernatural twist, we have memories, love, aging, and coming to terms with death. More…
Animal Farm
Given events taking place in modern-day Russia, it is timely to revisit this classic political satire from George Orwell. Included in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 best English language novels, the story is an allegory of the 1917 Russian Revolution and rise of Stalinism. Major themes (and the reasons for its relevance today) are the lust for and corrupting effect of power, and how an unenlightened populace can be manipulated into continued acceptance of a failed/corrupt political system. Other themes: idealism, political transition (autocracy→ socialism→ communism→ autocracy), class, animal cruelty (= exploitation of the working class). More…
The Shell Collector
In this story by Anthony Doerr, the life of a blind shell expert living alone with his dog on an island off the coast of Kenya is thrown into chaos. The aging man becomes world famous when two people suffering from malaria are cured by the venom of a deadly cone snail. Ailing people from all over the world converge on his tiny island, causing him to lose his privacy, much of his collection, the life of his son, and almost his own life. Themes include isolation, the dangers and benefits of the natural world, media power, desperation, hope. More…