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From the reading desk
Reading notes, reviews and guides to the collection — written here, about books you can open here.
Astoria: Irving's Chronicle of a Fur-Trade Venture
Washington Irving's account of John Jacob Astor's attempt to plant a trading empire beyond the Rocky Mountains — long on hardship, short on hurry.
Dracula: A Novel Told Entirely in Documents
Bram Stoker's horror story is assembled from journals, diaries and news cuttings, and reads slower and stranger than its reputation suggests.
The Mysterious Island: Survival by Method
Jules Verne's castaway novel treats a Pacific island as a workshop, and its patience is both its subject and its price.
Robert Louis Stevenson: A Reader's First Steps
An introduction to the Scottish writer's shorter and lesser-known works held in this library, and where a newcomer might sensibly begin.
Seven Books from the Poetry Shelf
A reading list of seven poetry collections and long poems from the XtreamFm Library, from Shakespeare's narrative verse to Eliot's fragmented modern city.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Reader's Review
A dream-logic children's book whose talking animals and shifting sizes still read as strange, though its Victorian schoolroom jokes have faded.