Chill Out June

It’s June and hence time to prepare for summer with the following 10 gems of easy reading from our catalog.

During holidays, many people spend more time reading. To make sure this time is well spent, we recommend Literary Taste: How to form it, with lighthearted advice by Arnold Bennett to help you choose once you finished all our books.

This point will be far in the future, though maybe not quite as far as the year 2000 was for George Sutherland. He shares his 1901 predictions of the future in Twentieth Century Inventions: A forecast. Some of his glimpses into the future were quite a failure, some of them were spot on! Find out which ones…

Taking a plunge into the ocean is a wonderful way to cool down on a hot summer’s day. You’re stuck in the city? How about reading Ballads of Lost Haven: A Book of the Sea, containing a wonderful collection of poetry about the sea by Bliss Carman?

If the beach is too far away, a cool bath can be just as refreshing. or a stimulating conversation with a stranger. What happens if you combine those two and add a serious case of mistaken identities, is described in Porcelain and Pink, a delightful 1-act comedy by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Another case of mistaken identities… well, not really. After all, both Mr. Bultitude and his son Dick know perfectly well who they are. It’s just that they happen to occupy the other’s body… More details are given in the novel by F. Anstey, Vice Versa.

Both the young and the old cannot escape the fascination of circuses, adventure parks and the like. Neil Boyton packs his own childhood memories about growing up in the world of amusement parks into Killgloom Park, a book for boys and girls of all ages.

More recollections, namely the Memoirs of Jacques Casanova are on our list now. Written by Casanova himself in old age, we hear about his life of young age – and his numerous conquests of course – in the first of five volumes.

Instead of writing his memoirs, Mr. Fulton, a millionaire, is busy worrying about whom to leave all his money once he dies. Of course, he could simply pass (it) on, but he wants to make sure the money gets into the right hands. And so he goes undercover in E. H. Porter’s novel Oh Money, Money.

The prospect of heaps of money attracts distant relatives and other shady creatures. But who is this Arsène Lupin, a new Robin Hood, an undercover policeman, or just an ordinary misfit? Maurice Leblanc’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar tells 9 of his stories. A recording in the original French is also available.

Manasseh da Costa has no doubts where he’s standing. After all, he is The King of Schnorrers. His adventures in the ghetto, involving Jews and other people alike can be found in Israel Zangwill’s novel.

Enjoy – and have a relaxing June!