#08-841: Pudd'nhead Wilson

Publicity photo from a silent film version of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1916) (Wikimedia)

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Note: We take for granted some of the most common "CSI"-type technology. But there was a time when fingerprint technology was unknown. This combines with a story of racial inequality to make one of Twain's more interesting novels.

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Get Ready: What do you think might happen when a child is raised to believe certain things about himself, and discovers in his 20s that they just aren't true?

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#08-840: The King of the Golden Mountain

The black dwarf and the merchant and son (Wikipedia)

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Note: Magic almost never delivers on its "promise"; it seems there's always a catch, as in this story. Still, an honest person can come out all right in the end!

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Get Ready: What qualities must a folk-hero have to come out on top in the end?

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#08-838: Great Expectations

Miss Havisham, Pip, and Joe (Wikipedia)

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Note: I first read Great Expectations in 8th grade, and again in adulthood; it was stunning both times.

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Get Ready: What (if anything) is the "secret of success" in this world?

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#08-837: The Great Stone Face

The Old Man of the Mountain, original of The Great Stone Face (Wikipedia)

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Note: This is a story of inspiration, and how a boy spent his life looking for genius in all the wrong places.

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Get Ready: What kind of person might inspire you to greatness: a millionaire: A general? A politician? A poet?

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#08-835: Jeeves and Wooster

Bertie and Jeeves (Wikimedia)

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Note: Like Holmes and Watson, Jeeves is a capable problem solver, and his follower Bertie writes the "adventures" down. But here, the follower is technically the boss!

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Get Ready: How do you feel about servants? Are they "second-class" citizens, or are they equal to their bosses?

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#08-833: The Silverado Squatters

At home in the bunkhouse (Gutenberg)

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Note: Quick: What did Robert Louis Stevenson write? Would you be surprised to learn he wrote about his personal travels?

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Get Ready: Have you ever visited an interesting place and then written about it--even a postcard? What sorts of things did you (or would) write about?

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#08-831: The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Holmes strikes at the speckled band (Wikipedia)

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Note: British doctor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 stories about the adventures of Sherlock Homes, and four novels. "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was his personal favorite.

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Get Ready: Have you--or anyone you know--ever kept an exotic pet? If so, what was it? If not, is there one you would like to have?

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#08-380: The Soul of a Regiment

Adventure, Feb., 1912 (Gutenberg Australia)

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Note: There was a time--before television, even before movies--when people got their entertainment from weekly and monthly magazines--stories we still read today. Here's one.

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Get Ready: How important are symbols--flags, patriotic songs, and so on--to you?

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#08-379: Finnegans Wake

A View of Howth (Wikimedia)

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Note: Ahh, James Joyce. Some of his work seems more like a puzzle or guessing game than like literature. At the top of that list is this book, Finnegans Wake.

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Get Ready: Do you think reading literature should be a struggle, or as easy as watching television?

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#08-378: The Bottle Imp

Keawe is out of spirits (Wikimedia)

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Note: This story throws some twists into the old "genie in a lamp" motif. Fascinating!

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Get Ready: The age-old question: if you could have anything, what would you wish for? And at what cost?

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#08-377: The Three Snake-Leaves

(from a German wiki)

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Note: The Grimms published over 200 stories--most of which we never hear about, even though some, like this one, are really great!

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Get Ready: What do you think of a lover who puts unfair conditions on his or her partner?

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#08-376: Captains Courageous

Harvey Cheyne Jr. is pulled into a fishing dory (Wikimedia)

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Note: Rudyard Kipling is famous for stories in exotic settings--India, for example. But this one happens mainly off the coast of Canada and New England!

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Get Ready: Within reason, do you think children should be given anything they ask for, and allowed to do anything they want to? Why or why not?

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#08-375: Monkey

Left to right: Horse, Sandy, Monkey, Tripitaka, Pigsy (Wikipedia)

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Note: Great books often lend themselves to a deeper way of reading. Let's see how that works with this popular Chinese novel.

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Get Ready: Are you familiar with the Chinese novel (or Japanese TV show) about the Monkey King?

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#08-370: Batman

Two heroes: Batman and Robin; and three villains Penguin, Riddler, and Joker (top)

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Note: The show Batman brought a whole new idea to the superhero genre: heroes could be funny!

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Get Ready: Do you like superheroes? If so, who's your favorite? If not, why not?

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#08-369: The Woman in White

Walter Hartright is accosted by the Woman in
White on a lonely road--at night (Wikimedia)

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Note: Wilkie Collins was a popular novelist, but this and The Moonstone are his two best-known works.

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Get Ready: Have you ever had someone tap you on the shoulder (or otherwise get your attention) when you thought no one was there? What happened?

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#08-368: Rebecca

Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine as Maxim and
Mrs. de Winter in the Hitchcock adaptation (Wikipedia)

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Note: The suspenseful novel Rebecca has a Hitchcockian twist at the end. No wonder Hitchcock made such a successful film of it!

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Get Ready: What would you do if you learned you had a painful, fatal illness?

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#08-367: Jacob Marley - The Forgotten Ghost

Scrooge and Marley: together again (Wikipedia)

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Note: Like any good book (or film), Dickens's A Christmas Carol never gets old, and we can find something new in it each time we read it. Let's zero in on the often-forgotten character of Jacob Marley: the fourth ghost.

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Get Ready: What would it take to convince most people to change their bad habits?

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#08-364: The Rape of the Lock

Arabella Fermor in a 19th-century print (Wikipedia)

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Note: One way to trivialize a potentially serious event is the logical technique called reductio ad absurdum--taking an idea all the way to a ridiculous conclusion. See how the poet Alexander Pope applied this to a social squabble.

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Get Ready: How big a deal would it be if someone snipped off a bit of your hair without your permission?

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#08-363: The Thirty-Nine Steps

Hannay crashes a meeting (Gutenberg)

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Note: A thrilling movie, and an even more thrilling book, featuring one of the prototypes for James Bond.

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Get Ready: Can the actions of one common man really affect the fate of nations? Can you think of examples?

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#08-362: The Turn of the Screw

The governess sees a man--Peter Quint?--on a high tower (Wikipedia)

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Note: The "unreliable narrator" is a fairly recent storytelling technique, coming into its own in the 19th century. This is an excellent example.

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Get Ready: Have you ever sworn something strange was happening--but no one else would agree, or admit they saw anything unusual?

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