Tag Archives: free books on Amazon for Kindle
Domestic Peace by Balzac
“Calm and smiling faces and placid brows covered sordid interests, expressions of friendship were a lie, and more than one man was less distrustful of his enemies than of his friends.” Domestic Peace (La Paix du Ménage) is another gem … Continue reading
A Second Home by Balzac
“The fatal blunder of mistaking the enchantment of desire for that of love.” Balzac’s novella A Second Home (Une Double Famille) begins in 1815 with an impoverished mother and daughter slaving away as embroiderers and barely making ends meet. They live in … Continue reading
At the Sign of the Cat and Racket by Balzac
“This is what comes of sight-seeing,” exclaimed Monsieur Guillaume, “a headache.” When I saw the title At the Sign of the Cat and Racket, my first thought was that this Balzac novel concerned a pub. No, the sign of the … Continue reading
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
“He talked non-stop about my beauty, as all men do. If a woman were hump-backed, and had only one eye, they wouldn’t be ashamed to tell her she was a Venus.” I have a backlog of reviews–something I’m never that … Continue reading
Filed under Fiction, Trollope, Anthony
Gobseck by Balzac
“I like to leave mud on a rich man’s carpet; it is not petty spite; I like to make them feel a touch of the claws of necessity.” The lawyer Derville is one of the most fascinating characters I’ve met … Continue reading
The Ball at Sceaux by Balzac
“Only the poor are generous as a rule; the rich have always excellent reasons for not handing over twenty thousand francs to a relation.” The Ball at Sceaux (Le bal de Sceaux), published in 1830, is one of the novels in … Continue reading
Vendetta by Balzac
“The tradition of the Vendetta will long prevent the reign of law in Corsica.” Vendetta, a short story from Balzac, came free via Amazon for the kindle, and my copy is translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley. While I am a … Continue reading
An Episode Under the Terror by Balzac
An Episode Under the Terror, according to my copy, was published in 1831. This story takes place in January 1793 in Paris, and you don’t need to be a student of French history to know that this was a time of … Continue reading
The Kindle so far….
My Kindle arrived about a week or so ago, and I’ve been playing with it ever since. I had one moment of frustration (accompanied by some swearing), but apart from that, using the Kindle has been fairly intuitive. It’s actually … Continue reading
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