Towards the end of the year, many people like to stay at home, relax, and do a bit of soul-searching. Get some inspiration with 10 gems from our catalog.
“I think, therefore I am” is probably the best starting point for deep thoughts. A good portion of scepticism will also be useful. Read René Descartes’ famous work Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth.
Monday or Tuesday is a collection of eight short stories by Virginia Woolf. They are an example of her stream-of-consciousness writings and centre around what people may or may not think.
Also Blaise Pascal, a famous French mathematician, has his thoughts – or Penseés – about things. His contemplations about philosophical paradoxes ultimately led him to the formulation of Pascal’s wager.
The Death of Ivan Ilyitch is imminent, and the judge has but a short time to look back at his life. He wondes whether it was truly a moral one. Read Leo Tolstoy’s novella to find out to what conclusion he is coming.
Probably nobody has a completely Untroubled Mind. In the book by Herbert J. Hall, part self-help, part religion, the physician tries to treat the mind of his patients in order to heal their bodies as well.
It would be interesting to know whether that book would have helped the protagonist of Notes From the Underground. In the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, a civil servant writes his ranting memoirs in a poor part of St. Petersburg. This book is also available in the original Russian.
Maybe it would have been good for him to talk to somebody. After all, Everybody’s Lonesome, as Mary Alice discovers when sent to her godmother in New York. The book by Clara E. Laughlin describes what the old lady has to tell.
Maybe the secret is love? At a drinking party, each of the illustrious guests are invited to give speeches in praise of that highest of all emotions. Read our dramatic version of The Syposium by Plato.
Love and destiny, life, death, and God are only some of the feelings and thoughts that Omar Khayyam poured into his Rubaiyat. This is a bilingual Persian-English recording of the famous ancient poem from the Middle East.
What is the secret of The Little Gray Lady? For the last 20 years she has spent Christmas alone in front of a candle, thinking about the one huge mistake she has made. But, this year is different… Find out why, in the short story by Francis Hopkinson Smith.
Enjoy – and have peaceful holidays!