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Greatypedia present List of best-selling books - Latest Reviews
Today I Will Tell You Best selling Book around the worlds.
Here are lists of Books And Details:
Books: Author(s)
1. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
2. The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
3. Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
4. The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien
5. 紅樓夢/红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber) Cao Xueqin
6: And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
In Dickens' England, resurrection always sat firmly in a Christian context. Most broadly, Sydney Carton is resurrected in spirit at the novel's close (even as he, paradoxically, gives up his physical life to save Darnay's—just as in Christian belief, Christ died for the sins of the world.) More concretely, "Book the First" deals with the rebirth of Dr. Manette from the living death of his incarceration.
Resurrection appears for the first time when Mr. Lorry replies to the message carried by Jerry Cruncher with the words "Recalled to Life". Resurrection also appears during Mr. Lorry's coach ride to Dover, as he constantly ponders a hypothetical conversation with Dr. Manette: ("Buried how long?" "Almost eighteen years." ... "You know that you are recalled to life?" "They tell me so.") He believes he is helping with Dr. Manette's revival and imagines himself "digging" up Dr. Manette from his grave.
Resurrection is the main theme in the novel. In Jarvis Lorry's thoughts of Dr. Manette, resurrection is first spotted as a theme. It is also the last theme: Carton's sacrifice. Dickens originally wanted to call the entire novel Recalled to Life. (This instead became the title of the first of the novel's three "books".)
Jerry is also part of the recurring theme: he himself is involved in death and resurrection in ways the reader does not yet know. The first piece of foreshadowing comes in his remark to himself: "You'd be in a blazing bad way, if recalling to life was to come into fashion, Jerry!" The black humour of this statement becomes obvious only much later on. Five years later, one cloudy and very dark night (in June 1780), Mr. Lorry reawakens the reader's interest in the mystery by telling Jerry it is "Almost a night ... to bring the dead out of their graves". Jerry responds firmly that he has never seen the night do that.
It turns out that Jerry Cruncher's involvement with the theme of resurrection is that he is what the Victorians called a "Resurrection Man", one who (illegally) digs up dead bodies to sell to medical men (there was no legal way to procure cadavers for study at that time).
The opposite of resurrection is of course death. Death and resurrection appear often in the novel. Dickens is angered that in France and England, courts hand out death sentences for insignificant crimes. In France, peasants are even put to death without any trial, at the whim of a noble. The Marquis tells Darnay with pleasure that "In the next room (my bedroom), one fellow ... was poniarded on the spot for professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter—his daughter!"
Interestingly, the demolition of Dr. Manette's shoe-making workbench by Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry is described as "the burning of the body".It seems clear that this is a rare case where death or destruction (the opposite of resurrection) has a positive connotation, since the "burning" helps liberate the doctor from the memory of his long imprisonment. But Dickens' description of this kind and healing act is strikingly odd:
So wicked do destruction and secrecy appear to honest minds, that Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross, while engaged in the commission of their deed and in the removal of its traces, almost felt, and almost looked, like accomplices in a horrible crime.
Eight people — Lawrence Wargrave, Vera Claythorne, Philip Lombard, General John Macarthur, Emily Brent, Anthony Marston, Dr Edward Armstrong and William Blore — have been invited (some more formally than others) to a mansion on the fictional Soldier Island. Upon arriving, they are told by the butler and cook, a married couple, Thomas and Ethel Rogers, that their hosts, Mr and Mrs Owen (Ulick Norman Owen and Una Nancy Owen) are not present but will arrive soon, which the guests all find odd. Each guest finds in his or her room a framed copy of the nursery rhyme "Ten Little Soldiers" ("Niggers" or "Indians" in respective earlier editions) hanging on the wall.
After the evening meal, guests notice ten soldier figurines on the dining room table. When a victim dies as described in the rhyme, one figure will vanish. Each guest was lured by an individually tailored pretext, none can leave without the boatman, instructed to return to the mainland. As instructed by Isaac Morris, the go-to for "Mr and Mrs Owens", the manservant Rogers plays a gramophone recording (thinking it to be a piece of music) which accuses each person in the house of murder, but escaping justice.
Dr Armstrong, when much younger, operated while drunk, killing a patient during what should have been routine surgery. Marston drove recklessly, killing two children. Emily Brent dismissed her pregnant unmarried maid who then committed suicide. Soldier-of-fortune Lombard abandoned a number of indigenous African tribesmen whom he had commanded and stole their food. Blore, a policeman, framed an innocent man who died in prison. General Macarthur sent his wife's lover on a suicide mission. Thomas and Ethel Rogers withheld medicine from their former elderly employer, induced heart failure, and inherited. Wargrave is accused of being responsible for the execution of a man then widely believed to have been innocent. Vera Claythorne is accused of killing a child for whom she had been a governess. Marston and Lombard are the only guests to openly admit the charges against them.
Marston dies first from poisoning by cyanide in his drink, complying with verse — "one choked his little self". That night, Mrs Rogers overdoses on sleeping medication, chloral hydrate — "one overslept himself". At lunchtime, General Macarthur is found dead from a blow to the back of his skull — "one said he'd stay there".
Armstrong, Blore, and Lombard search the island and the house but find nowhere to hide. Their host "U.N. Owen" is a homophone for "unknown". The next morning, Rogers is found dead in the woodshed, struck in the back of the head with an axe — "one chopped himself in halves". Later that day, Miss Brent is killed in the dining room by an injection of potassium cyanide that leaves a mark on her neck — "A bumblebee stung one". The needle is found outside her window next to a smashed china figurine. Wargrave suggests locking up any potential weapons, including Armstrong's medical equipment and the judge's sleeping pills. Lombard admits to bringing a revolver to the island but is confounded to find it missing.
To stay safe, they gather in the drawing room, and only leave one at a time. Vera decides to go up to her room to retrieve a coat; after she starts screaming hysterically at fresh seaweed which someone hung in her bedroom, and the remaining men run upstairs. Noticing Wargrave's absence they head downstairs and find the judge, dressed in a mockery of a judicial wig and gown with the bright mark of a gunshot to the forehead — "one got into Chancery". Armstrong confirms the death. Lombard then finds his revolver in a drawer.
The Fellowship of the Ring:
The story begins in the Shire, where the Hobbit Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from Bilbo, his cousin[note 2] and guardian. Neither is aware of its origin and nature, but Gandalf the Grey, a wizard and old friend of Bilbo, suspects the Ring's identity. When he becomes certain, he strongly advises Frodo to take it away from the Shire. Frodo leaves, accompanied by his gardener and friend, Samwise ("Sam") Gamgee, and two cousins, Meriadoc ("Merry") Brandybuck and Peregrin ("Pippin") Took. They nearly encounter the Nazgûl while still in the Shire, but shake off pursuit by cutting through the Old Forest, where they are aided by the enigmatic Tom Bombadil, who alone is unaffected by the Ring's corrupting influence. After leaving the forest, they stop in the town of Bree where they meet Strider, who is later revealed to be Aragorn, Isildur's heir. He persuades them to take him on as guide and protector. They flee from Bree after narrowly escaping another assault, but the Nazgûl follow and attack them on the hill of Weathertop, wounding Frodo with a Morgul blade. Aragorn leads the hobbits toward the Elven refuge of Rivendell, while Frodo gradually succumbs to the wound. The Ringwraiths nearly overtake Frodo at the Ford of Bruinen, but flood waters summoned by Elrond, master of Rivendell, rise up and overwhelm them.
Frodo recovers in Rivendell under the care of Elrond. The Council of Elrond reveals much significant history about Sauron and the Ring, as well as the news that Sauron has corrupted Gandalf's fellow wizard, Saruman. The Council decides that the Ring must be destroyed, but that can only be done by returning it to the flames of Mount Doom in Mordor, where it was forged. Frodo volunteers to take on this daunting task, and a "Fellowship of the Ring" is formed to aid him: Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, and the Man Boromir, son of the Ruling Steward Denethor of the realm of Gondor.
After a failed attempt to cross the Misty Mountains via the pass below Caradhras, the company are forced to try a more perilous path through the Mines of Moria, where they are attacked by the Watcher in the Water before the gate. Inside, they discover the fate of Balin and his colony of Dwarves. After repulsing an attack, they are pursued by orcs and an ancient and powerful demonic creature called a Balrog. Gandalf confronts the Balrog, but in their struggle, both fall into a deep chasm. The others escape and take refuge in the Elven forest of Lothlórien, where they are counselled by Galadriel and Celeborn.
With boats and gifts from Galadriel, the company travel down the River Anduin to the hill of Amon Hen. Boromir succumbs to the lure of the Ring and attempts to take it from Frodo. Frodo escapes and determines to continue the quest alone, though Sam guesses his intent and comes along. The Fellowship of the Ring is broken.
The Two Towers:
Orcs sent by Saruman and Sauron kill Boromir and kidnap Merry and Pippin. After agonizing over which pair of hobbits to follow, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas pursue the orcs bearing Merry and Pippin to Saruman. In the kingdom of Rohan, the orcs are slain by a company of the Rohirrim. Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by Treebeard, the oldest of the tree-like Ents. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn, and encounter Gandalf, resurrected as the significantly more powerful "Gandalf the White" after his mutually fatal duel with the Balrog. Gandalf assures them that Merry and Pippin are safe. They then ride to Edoras, the capital of Rohan, where they free Théoden, King of Rohan, from the influence of Saruman's henchman Gríma Wormtongue. Théoden musters his fighting strength and rides to the ancient fortress of Helm's Deep, but en route Gandalf leaves to seek help from Treebeard.
Meanwhile, the Ents, roused from their customarily peaceful ways by Merry and Pippin, attack Isengard, Saruman's stronghold, and trap the wizard in the tower of Orthanc. Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden's aid. Gandalf and Rohirrim reinforcements arrive at Helm's Deep just in time to defeat and scatter Saruman's army. The Huorns dispose of the fleeing orcs. Gandalf then parleys with Saruman at Orthanc. When Saruman rejects his offer of redemption, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers. Pippin looks into a palantír, a seeing-stone that Saruman had used to communicate with Sauron and through which he was enslaved. Gandalf rides for Minas Tirith, chief city of Gondor, taking Pippin with him.
Frodo and Sam capture Gollum, who had been following them from Moria, and force him to guide them to Mordor. Finding Mordor's Black Gate too well guarded to attempt, they travel instead to a secret passage Gollum knows. Torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his desire for the Ring, Gollum eventually betrays Frodo by leading him to the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol. Frodo is felled by Shelob's bite, but Sam fights her off. Sam takes the Ring and leaves Frodo, believing him to be dead. When orcs find Frodo, Sam overhears them say that Frodo is only unconscious, and chases after them.
The Return of the King:
Sauron unleashes a heavy assault upon Gondor. Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to alert Denethor of the impending attack. The city is besieged, and Denethor, deceived by Sauron, gives up hope and commits suicide, nearly taking his remaining son Faramir with him. With time running out, Aragorn feels he has no choice but to take the Paths of the Dead, accompanied by Legolas, Gimli and the Dúnedain Rangers from the North. There Aragorn raises an undead army of oath-breakers bound by an ancient curse. The ghostly army help them to defeat the Corsairs of Umbar invading southern Gondor. Commandeering the ships of the Corsairs, Aragorn leads reinforcements up the Anduin to relieve the siege of Minas Tirith, and the forces of Gondor and Rohan defeat Sauron's army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Meanwhile, Sam rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol, and they set out across Mordor. In order to distract Sauron from his true danger, Aragorn leads the armies of Gondor and Rohan in a march on the Black Gate of Mordor. His vastly outnumbered troops fight desperately against Sauron's forces. Reaching the edge of the Cracks of Doom, Frodo is unable to resist the Ring any longer, and suddenly and fiercely claims it for himself. But Gollum suddenly reappears, struggles with Frodo and bites off his finger, Ring and all. Celebrating wildly, Gollum accidentally falls into the fire, taking the Ring with him; and so Frodo's mission is completed. With the destruction of the One Ring, Sauron is permanently shorn of his power, the Nazgûl perish, and his armies are thrown into such disarray that Aragorn's forces emerge victorious.
With the end of the War of the Ring, Aragorn is crowned Elessar, King of Arnor and Gondor, and marries his long-time love, Arwen, daughter of Elrond. Saruman escapes from Isengard and, seeking to carve out a new kingdom, enslaves the Shire through Lotho Sackville-Baggins bearing the name "Sharkey", an orc term for "Old Man". The four hobbits, upon returning home, raise a rebellion and overthrow him. Gríma turns on Saruman and kills him, and is slain in turn by hobbit archers. The War of the Ring thus comes to its true end on Frodo's very doorstep. Merry and Pippin are acclaimed heroes, while Sam marries Rosie Cotton and uses his gifts from Galadriel to help heal the Shire. He later becomes mayor of the shire. Frodo, however, remains wounded in body and spirit after having borne the spiritual weight of the One Ring so long.
Several years later, accompanied by Bilbo and Gandalf, he sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace. After Rosie's death, Sam gives his daughter the Red Book of Westmarch, containing the account of Bilbo's adventures and the War of the Ring as witnessed by the hobbits. Sam is then said to have crossed west over the Sea himself, the last of the Ring-bearers.
The narrator explains that, as a young boy, he once drew a picture of a boa constrictor with an elephant digesting in its stomach; however, every adult who saw the picture would mistakenly interpret it as a drawing of a hat. Whenever the narrator would try to correct this confusion, he was ultimately advised to set aside drawing and take up a more practical or mature hobby. The narrator laments upon adults' lack of creative understanding.
Now, as an adult himself, the narrator has become a pilot, and, one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara desert, far from civilization. Here, the narrator is suddenly greeted by a young boy or small man whom he refers to as "the little prince". The little prince asks the narrator to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him his old picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator's surprise, the prince interprets correctly. After a few failed attempts at drawing a good-looking sheep, the narrator simply draws a box in his frustration, claiming that the box holds a sheep inside. Again to the narrator's surprise, the prince exclaims that this is exactly the picture he wanted. The narrator says that the prince has a strange habit of avoiding directly answering any of the narrator's questions. The prince is described as having golden hair, a scarf, and a lovable laugh.
Over the course of eight days stranded in the desert, as the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the little prince recounts the story of his life. The prince begins by describing life on his tiny home planet: in effect, an asteroid the size of a house (which the narrator believes to be the one known as B-612). The asteroid's most prominent features are three minuscule volcanoes (two active, and one dormant or extinct) as well as a variety of plants. The prince describes spending his earlier days cleaning the volcanoes and weeding out certain unwanted seeds and sprigs that infest his planet's soil; in particular, pulling out baobab trees that are constantly trying to grow and overtake the surface. The prince appears to want a sheep to eat such undesirable plants, until the narrator informs him that a sheep will even eat roses with thorns. Upon hearing this, the prince tells of his love for a mysterious rose that suddenly began growing on the asteroid's surface some time ago. The prince says he nourished the rose and listened to her when she told him to make a screen or glass globe to protect her from the cold wind. Although the prince fell in love with the rose, he also began to feel that she was taking advantage of him, and he resolved to leave the planet to explore the rest of the universe. Although the rose finally apologized for her vanity, and the two reconciled, she encouraged him to go ahead with his journey and so he traveled onward.
Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for Thorin and his band of dwarves, who sing of reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug. When the music ends, Gandalf unveils a map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition's "burglar". The dwarves ridicule the idea, but Bilbo, indignant, joins in spite of himself.
The group travels into the wild, where Gandalf saves the company from trolls who are keen to eat the dwarfs and leads them to Rivendell, where Elrond reveals more secrets from the map, including the secret door that leads to the mountain caverns. Passing over the Misty Mountains, they are caught by goblins and driven deep underground. Although Gandalf rescues them, Bilbo gets separated from the others as they flee the goblins. Lost in the goblin tunnels, he stumbles across a mysterious ring and then encounters Gollum, who engages him in a game of riddles. As a reward for solving all riddles Gollum will show him the path out of the tunnels, but if Bilbo fails, his life will be forfeit. With the help of the ring, which confers invisibility, Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, improving his reputation with them. The goblins and Wargs give chase but the company are saved by eagles before resting in the house of Beorn.
The novel is most often titled Hóng Lóu Mèng (紅樓夢), literally "Red Chamber Dream". "Red chamber" is an idiom with several definitions; one in particular refers to the sheltered chambers where the daughters of prominent families reside.[6] It also refers to a dream in Chapter 5 that Baoyu has, set in a "red chamber", where the fates of many of the characters are foreshadowed. "Chamber" is sometimes translated as "mansion" because of the scale of the Chinese word "樓". However the word "mansion" is thought to neglect the flavour of the word "chamber" according to scholar Zhou Ruchang.
The novel's tone is both metaphysical and realistic,[8] and was constructed in a way that reality and illusion are often hinted side by side and difficult to differentiate.[8] It has been hailed as one of the most complex and psychologically penetrating works in all of world literature.[9] The novel also provides great insight in its depiction of the Chinese culture of the time, including description of the era's "manners, expectations, and consequences."Many aspects of Chinese culture, such as medicine, cuisine, tea culture, proverbs, mythology, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, filial piety, opera, music, painting, classic literature, the Four Books, are vividly portrayed. Among these, the novel is particularly notable for its grand use of poetry.
Here are lists of Books And Details:
Books: Author(s)
1. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
2. The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
3. Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
4. The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien
5. 紅樓夢/红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber) Cao Xueqin
6: And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
- A Tale of Two Cities:
In Dickens' England, resurrection always sat firmly in a Christian context. Most broadly, Sydney Carton is resurrected in spirit at the novel's close (even as he, paradoxically, gives up his physical life to save Darnay's—just as in Christian belief, Christ died for the sins of the world.) More concretely, "Book the First" deals with the rebirth of Dr. Manette from the living death of his incarceration.
Resurrection appears for the first time when Mr. Lorry replies to the message carried by Jerry Cruncher with the words "Recalled to Life". Resurrection also appears during Mr. Lorry's coach ride to Dover, as he constantly ponders a hypothetical conversation with Dr. Manette: ("Buried how long?" "Almost eighteen years." ... "You know that you are recalled to life?" "They tell me so.") He believes he is helping with Dr. Manette's revival and imagines himself "digging" up Dr. Manette from his grave.
Resurrection is the main theme in the novel. In Jarvis Lorry's thoughts of Dr. Manette, resurrection is first spotted as a theme. It is also the last theme: Carton's sacrifice. Dickens originally wanted to call the entire novel Recalled to Life. (This instead became the title of the first of the novel's three "books".)
Jerry is also part of the recurring theme: he himself is involved in death and resurrection in ways the reader does not yet know. The first piece of foreshadowing comes in his remark to himself: "You'd be in a blazing bad way, if recalling to life was to come into fashion, Jerry!" The black humour of this statement becomes obvious only much later on. Five years later, one cloudy and very dark night (in June 1780), Mr. Lorry reawakens the reader's interest in the mystery by telling Jerry it is "Almost a night ... to bring the dead out of their graves". Jerry responds firmly that he has never seen the night do that.
It turns out that Jerry Cruncher's involvement with the theme of resurrection is that he is what the Victorians called a "Resurrection Man", one who (illegally) digs up dead bodies to sell to medical men (there was no legal way to procure cadavers for study at that time).
The opposite of resurrection is of course death. Death and resurrection appear often in the novel. Dickens is angered that in France and England, courts hand out death sentences for insignificant crimes. In France, peasants are even put to death without any trial, at the whim of a noble. The Marquis tells Darnay with pleasure that "In the next room (my bedroom), one fellow ... was poniarded on the spot for professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter—his daughter!"
Interestingly, the demolition of Dr. Manette's shoe-making workbench by Miss Pross and Mr. Lorry is described as "the burning of the body".It seems clear that this is a rare case where death or destruction (the opposite of resurrection) has a positive connotation, since the "burning" helps liberate the doctor from the memory of his long imprisonment. But Dickens' description of this kind and healing act is strikingly odd:
So wicked do destruction and secrecy appear to honest minds, that Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross, while engaged in the commission of their deed and in the removal of its traces, almost felt, and almost looked, like accomplices in a horrible crime.
- And Then There Were None:
Eight people — Lawrence Wargrave, Vera Claythorne, Philip Lombard, General John Macarthur, Emily Brent, Anthony Marston, Dr Edward Armstrong and William Blore — have been invited (some more formally than others) to a mansion on the fictional Soldier Island. Upon arriving, they are told by the butler and cook, a married couple, Thomas and Ethel Rogers, that their hosts, Mr and Mrs Owen (Ulick Norman Owen and Una Nancy Owen) are not present but will arrive soon, which the guests all find odd. Each guest finds in his or her room a framed copy of the nursery rhyme "Ten Little Soldiers" ("Niggers" or "Indians" in respective earlier editions) hanging on the wall.
After the evening meal, guests notice ten soldier figurines on the dining room table. When a victim dies as described in the rhyme, one figure will vanish. Each guest was lured by an individually tailored pretext, none can leave without the boatman, instructed to return to the mainland. As instructed by Isaac Morris, the go-to for "Mr and Mrs Owens", the manservant Rogers plays a gramophone recording (thinking it to be a piece of music) which accuses each person in the house of murder, but escaping justice.
Dr Armstrong, when much younger, operated while drunk, killing a patient during what should have been routine surgery. Marston drove recklessly, killing two children. Emily Brent dismissed her pregnant unmarried maid who then committed suicide. Soldier-of-fortune Lombard abandoned a number of indigenous African tribesmen whom he had commanded and stole their food. Blore, a policeman, framed an innocent man who died in prison. General Macarthur sent his wife's lover on a suicide mission. Thomas and Ethel Rogers withheld medicine from their former elderly employer, induced heart failure, and inherited. Wargrave is accused of being responsible for the execution of a man then widely believed to have been innocent. Vera Claythorne is accused of killing a child for whom she had been a governess. Marston and Lombard are the only guests to openly admit the charges against them.
Marston dies first from poisoning by cyanide in his drink, complying with verse — "one choked his little self". That night, Mrs Rogers overdoses on sleeping medication, chloral hydrate — "one overslept himself". At lunchtime, General Macarthur is found dead from a blow to the back of his skull — "one said he'd stay there".
Armstrong, Blore, and Lombard search the island and the house but find nowhere to hide. Their host "U.N. Owen" is a homophone for "unknown". The next morning, Rogers is found dead in the woodshed, struck in the back of the head with an axe — "one chopped himself in halves". Later that day, Miss Brent is killed in the dining room by an injection of potassium cyanide that leaves a mark on her neck — "A bumblebee stung one". The needle is found outside her window next to a smashed china figurine. Wargrave suggests locking up any potential weapons, including Armstrong's medical equipment and the judge's sleeping pills. Lombard admits to bringing a revolver to the island but is confounded to find it missing.
To stay safe, they gather in the drawing room, and only leave one at a time. Vera decides to go up to her room to retrieve a coat; after she starts screaming hysterically at fresh seaweed which someone hung in her bedroom, and the remaining men run upstairs. Noticing Wargrave's absence they head downstairs and find the judge, dressed in a mockery of a judicial wig and gown with the bright mark of a gunshot to the forehead — "one got into Chancery". Armstrong confirms the death. Lombard then finds his revolver in a drawer.
- The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring:
The story begins in the Shire, where the Hobbit Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from Bilbo, his cousin[note 2] and guardian. Neither is aware of its origin and nature, but Gandalf the Grey, a wizard and old friend of Bilbo, suspects the Ring's identity. When he becomes certain, he strongly advises Frodo to take it away from the Shire. Frodo leaves, accompanied by his gardener and friend, Samwise ("Sam") Gamgee, and two cousins, Meriadoc ("Merry") Brandybuck and Peregrin ("Pippin") Took. They nearly encounter the Nazgûl while still in the Shire, but shake off pursuit by cutting through the Old Forest, where they are aided by the enigmatic Tom Bombadil, who alone is unaffected by the Ring's corrupting influence. After leaving the forest, they stop in the town of Bree where they meet Strider, who is later revealed to be Aragorn, Isildur's heir. He persuades them to take him on as guide and protector. They flee from Bree after narrowly escaping another assault, but the Nazgûl follow and attack them on the hill of Weathertop, wounding Frodo with a Morgul blade. Aragorn leads the hobbits toward the Elven refuge of Rivendell, while Frodo gradually succumbs to the wound. The Ringwraiths nearly overtake Frodo at the Ford of Bruinen, but flood waters summoned by Elrond, master of Rivendell, rise up and overwhelm them.
Frodo recovers in Rivendell under the care of Elrond. The Council of Elrond reveals much significant history about Sauron and the Ring, as well as the news that Sauron has corrupted Gandalf's fellow wizard, Saruman. The Council decides that the Ring must be destroyed, but that can only be done by returning it to the flames of Mount Doom in Mordor, where it was forged. Frodo volunteers to take on this daunting task, and a "Fellowship of the Ring" is formed to aid him: Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, and the Man Boromir, son of the Ruling Steward Denethor of the realm of Gondor.
After a failed attempt to cross the Misty Mountains via the pass below Caradhras, the company are forced to try a more perilous path through the Mines of Moria, where they are attacked by the Watcher in the Water before the gate. Inside, they discover the fate of Balin and his colony of Dwarves. After repulsing an attack, they are pursued by orcs and an ancient and powerful demonic creature called a Balrog. Gandalf confronts the Balrog, but in their struggle, both fall into a deep chasm. The others escape and take refuge in the Elven forest of Lothlórien, where they are counselled by Galadriel and Celeborn.
With boats and gifts from Galadriel, the company travel down the River Anduin to the hill of Amon Hen. Boromir succumbs to the lure of the Ring and attempts to take it from Frodo. Frodo escapes and determines to continue the quest alone, though Sam guesses his intent and comes along. The Fellowship of the Ring is broken.
The Two Towers:
Orcs sent by Saruman and Sauron kill Boromir and kidnap Merry and Pippin. After agonizing over which pair of hobbits to follow, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas pursue the orcs bearing Merry and Pippin to Saruman. In the kingdom of Rohan, the orcs are slain by a company of the Rohirrim. Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by Treebeard, the oldest of the tree-like Ents. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn, and encounter Gandalf, resurrected as the significantly more powerful "Gandalf the White" after his mutually fatal duel with the Balrog. Gandalf assures them that Merry and Pippin are safe. They then ride to Edoras, the capital of Rohan, where they free Théoden, King of Rohan, from the influence of Saruman's henchman Gríma Wormtongue. Théoden musters his fighting strength and rides to the ancient fortress of Helm's Deep, but en route Gandalf leaves to seek help from Treebeard.
Meanwhile, the Ents, roused from their customarily peaceful ways by Merry and Pippin, attack Isengard, Saruman's stronghold, and trap the wizard in the tower of Orthanc. Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden's aid. Gandalf and Rohirrim reinforcements arrive at Helm's Deep just in time to defeat and scatter Saruman's army. The Huorns dispose of the fleeing orcs. Gandalf then parleys with Saruman at Orthanc. When Saruman rejects his offer of redemption, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers. Pippin looks into a palantír, a seeing-stone that Saruman had used to communicate with Sauron and through which he was enslaved. Gandalf rides for Minas Tirith, chief city of Gondor, taking Pippin with him.
Frodo and Sam capture Gollum, who had been following them from Moria, and force him to guide them to Mordor. Finding Mordor's Black Gate too well guarded to attempt, they travel instead to a secret passage Gollum knows. Torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his desire for the Ring, Gollum eventually betrays Frodo by leading him to the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol. Frodo is felled by Shelob's bite, but Sam fights her off. Sam takes the Ring and leaves Frodo, believing him to be dead. When orcs find Frodo, Sam overhears them say that Frodo is only unconscious, and chases after them.
The Return of the King:
Sauron unleashes a heavy assault upon Gondor. Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to alert Denethor of the impending attack. The city is besieged, and Denethor, deceived by Sauron, gives up hope and commits suicide, nearly taking his remaining son Faramir with him. With time running out, Aragorn feels he has no choice but to take the Paths of the Dead, accompanied by Legolas, Gimli and the Dúnedain Rangers from the North. There Aragorn raises an undead army of oath-breakers bound by an ancient curse. The ghostly army help them to defeat the Corsairs of Umbar invading southern Gondor. Commandeering the ships of the Corsairs, Aragorn leads reinforcements up the Anduin to relieve the siege of Minas Tirith, and the forces of Gondor and Rohan defeat Sauron's army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Meanwhile, Sam rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol, and they set out across Mordor. In order to distract Sauron from his true danger, Aragorn leads the armies of Gondor and Rohan in a march on the Black Gate of Mordor. His vastly outnumbered troops fight desperately against Sauron's forces. Reaching the edge of the Cracks of Doom, Frodo is unable to resist the Ring any longer, and suddenly and fiercely claims it for himself. But Gollum suddenly reappears, struggles with Frodo and bites off his finger, Ring and all. Celebrating wildly, Gollum accidentally falls into the fire, taking the Ring with him; and so Frodo's mission is completed. With the destruction of the One Ring, Sauron is permanently shorn of his power, the Nazgûl perish, and his armies are thrown into such disarray that Aragorn's forces emerge victorious.
With the end of the War of the Ring, Aragorn is crowned Elessar, King of Arnor and Gondor, and marries his long-time love, Arwen, daughter of Elrond. Saruman escapes from Isengard and, seeking to carve out a new kingdom, enslaves the Shire through Lotho Sackville-Baggins bearing the name "Sharkey", an orc term for "Old Man". The four hobbits, upon returning home, raise a rebellion and overthrow him. Gríma turns on Saruman and kills him, and is slain in turn by hobbit archers. The War of the Ring thus comes to its true end on Frodo's very doorstep. Merry and Pippin are acclaimed heroes, while Sam marries Rosie Cotton and uses his gifts from Galadriel to help heal the Shire. He later becomes mayor of the shire. Frodo, however, remains wounded in body and spirit after having borne the spiritual weight of the One Ring so long.
Several years later, accompanied by Bilbo and Gandalf, he sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace. After Rosie's death, Sam gives his daughter the Red Book of Westmarch, containing the account of Bilbo's adventures and the War of the Ring as witnessed by the hobbits. Sam is then said to have crossed west over the Sea himself, the last of the Ring-bearers.
- Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince):
The narrator explains that, as a young boy, he once drew a picture of a boa constrictor with an elephant digesting in its stomach; however, every adult who saw the picture would mistakenly interpret it as a drawing of a hat. Whenever the narrator would try to correct this confusion, he was ultimately advised to set aside drawing and take up a more practical or mature hobby. The narrator laments upon adults' lack of creative understanding.
Now, as an adult himself, the narrator has become a pilot, and, one day, his plane crashes in the Sahara desert, far from civilization. Here, the narrator is suddenly greeted by a young boy or small man whom he refers to as "the little prince". The little prince asks the narrator to draw a sheep. The narrator first shows him his old picture of the elephant inside the snake, which, to the narrator's surprise, the prince interprets correctly. After a few failed attempts at drawing a good-looking sheep, the narrator simply draws a box in his frustration, claiming that the box holds a sheep inside. Again to the narrator's surprise, the prince exclaims that this is exactly the picture he wanted. The narrator says that the prince has a strange habit of avoiding directly answering any of the narrator's questions. The prince is described as having golden hair, a scarf, and a lovable laugh.
Over the course of eight days stranded in the desert, as the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the little prince recounts the story of his life. The prince begins by describing life on his tiny home planet: in effect, an asteroid the size of a house (which the narrator believes to be the one known as B-612). The asteroid's most prominent features are three minuscule volcanoes (two active, and one dormant or extinct) as well as a variety of plants. The prince describes spending his earlier days cleaning the volcanoes and weeding out certain unwanted seeds and sprigs that infest his planet's soil; in particular, pulling out baobab trees that are constantly trying to grow and overtake the surface. The prince appears to want a sheep to eat such undesirable plants, until the narrator informs him that a sheep will even eat roses with thorns. Upon hearing this, the prince tells of his love for a mysterious rose that suddenly began growing on the asteroid's surface some time ago. The prince says he nourished the rose and listened to her when she told him to make a screen or glass globe to protect her from the cold wind. Although the prince fell in love with the rose, he also began to feel that she was taking advantage of him, and he resolved to leave the planet to explore the rest of the universe. Although the rose finally apologized for her vanity, and the two reconciled, she encouraged him to go ahead with his journey and so he traveled onward.
- The Hobbit:
Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for Thorin and his band of dwarves, who sing of reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug. When the music ends, Gandalf unveils a map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition's "burglar". The dwarves ridicule the idea, but Bilbo, indignant, joins in spite of himself.
The group travels into the wild, where Gandalf saves the company from trolls who are keen to eat the dwarfs and leads them to Rivendell, where Elrond reveals more secrets from the map, including the secret door that leads to the mountain caverns. Passing over the Misty Mountains, they are caught by goblins and driven deep underground. Although Gandalf rescues them, Bilbo gets separated from the others as they flee the goblins. Lost in the goblin tunnels, he stumbles across a mysterious ring and then encounters Gollum, who engages him in a game of riddles. As a reward for solving all riddles Gollum will show him the path out of the tunnels, but if Bilbo fails, his life will be forfeit. With the help of the ring, which confers invisibility, Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, improving his reputation with them. The goblins and Wargs give chase but the company are saved by eagles before resting in the house of Beorn.
- 紅樓夢/红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber):
The novel is most often titled Hóng Lóu Mèng (紅樓夢), literally "Red Chamber Dream". "Red chamber" is an idiom with several definitions; one in particular refers to the sheltered chambers where the daughters of prominent families reside.[6] It also refers to a dream in Chapter 5 that Baoyu has, set in a "red chamber", where the fates of many of the characters are foreshadowed. "Chamber" is sometimes translated as "mansion" because of the scale of the Chinese word "樓". However the word "mansion" is thought to neglect the flavour of the word "chamber" according to scholar Zhou Ruchang.
The novel's tone is both metaphysical and realistic,[8] and was constructed in a way that reality and illusion are often hinted side by side and difficult to differentiate.[8] It has been hailed as one of the most complex and psychologically penetrating works in all of world literature.[9] The novel also provides great insight in its depiction of the Chinese culture of the time, including description of the era's "manners, expectations, and consequences."Many aspects of Chinese culture, such as medicine, cuisine, tea culture, proverbs, mythology, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, filial piety, opera, music, painting, classic literature, the Four Books, are vividly portrayed. Among these, the novel is particularly notable for its grand use of poetry.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Latest Yahoo unveils new logo after 30-day countdown - Tech News
Second largest search company Yahoo has adopted a new logo for the first time since shortly after the Internet company's founding 18 years ago.
The redesigned look unveiled late Wednesday is part of a makeover that Yahoo Inc. has been undergoing since the Sunnyvale, California, company hired Google executive Marissa Mayer to become Yahoo's CEO 14 months ago.
Mayer has already spruced up Yahoo's front page, email and Flickr photo-sharing service, as well as engineered a series of acquisitions aimed at attracting more traffic on mobile devices.
The shopping spree has been highlighted by Yahoo's $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, an Internet blogging service where the company rolled out its new logo.
The purple logo spells out the word Yahoo!, with no letters touching and ending with an exclamation point.
"We wanted a logo that stayed true to our roots (whimsical, purple, with an exclamation point) yet embraced the evolution of our products," a statement on the website said.
In an effort to drum up more interest in the changeover, Yahoo spent the past 30 days showing some of the proposed logos that Mayer and other executives cast aside.
The revision is the first time that Yahoo has made a significant change to its logo since a few tweaks shortly after co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo incorporated the company in 1995.
Mayer's overhaul of Yahoo has attracted a lot of attention, but so far it hasn't provided a significant lift to the company's revenue. Yahoo depends on Internet advertising to make most of its money, an area where the company's growth has been anemic while more marketing dollars flow to rivals such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.
Yahoo's stock has climbed by nearly 80 percent, but most of that gain has been driven by the company's 24 percent stake in China's Alibaba Holdings Group. Investors prize Alibaba because it has emerged as one of the fastest growing companies on the Internet.
Latest Gadget In Market Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch launched - Tech News
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled a smartwatch on Wednesday that works as an accessory to its market-leading Galaxy smartphones, with a small screen offering basic functions like photos, hands-free calls and instant messaging.
The world's top handset maker hopes the Galaxy Gear will boost the appeal of its range of Android-powered smartphones, as it battles to maintain its supremacy in the rapidly saturating high-end mobile market against arch rival Apple Inc.
Its launch, timed to coincide with the start of the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin, also signals that the South Korean giant is more than just a fast follower in innovation behind Apple, which is preparing to release a new iPhone next week but is yet to go public with any wearable devices.
"It's a companion device that will keep us constantly connected," Samsung Executive Vice President of Marketing Lee Young-hee told reporters in Seoul ahead of the smartwatch's launch. Her remarks had been embargoed until Wednesday.
"It will increase user experience with the Galaxy Note 3 and with this, we aim to create a new lifestyle trend, initially targetting young trend-setters and style icons."
The smartwatch features a 1.63-inch (4.14-cm) screen as well as a basic camera, and will connect to Samsung's latest Galaxy Note 3 smartphone via wireless Bluetooth technology. It will make calls, display messages, record videos and snap photos, all while the user's phone stays in their pocket or handbag.
The success of Samsung's latest smartwatch - clunky earlier versions in 1999 and 2009 didn't go down well with consumers - will be measured as much in how it affects sales of high-end Galaxy smartphones as in sales of the device itself.
But it is also a shot across the bows of Apple and Google Inc, which are widely believed to be working on their own wrist-worn devices in what analysts expect to be the next phase of the mobile communications boom.
"We had smartwatch-type products before, but they were mainly for making phone calls. What's different with the Gear is it's got far more useful functions. It's usability has increased significantly and design is not bulky," said J.K. Shin, Samsung's co-chief executive and head of mobile business.
Not revolutionary
The Gear, which will go on sale later this month for $299, doesn't have a flexible or curved display that some industry watchers had hoped to see on Samsung's newest products.
Instead, its OLED touch screen features half the picture quality of high-end smartphone displays and the camera nestling in the strap has only 1.9-megapixels - compared with a 13-megapixel rear camera on the Galaxy S4.
It has up to 70 dedicated applications including some basic fitness apps such as a step-counting passometer, although Samsung hopes this number will grow as developers get on board.
Battery life, a key challenge for most wearable devices, has improved to over 27 hours under Samsung's normal-use tests.
Samsung also unveiled the latest version of the Galaxy Note phone-cum-tablet at its Galaxy unpacked event in Berlin, before the opening of IFA, Europe's biggest consumer electronics trade fair.
The new phone features an even bigger 5.7-inch, high-definition screen, improved stylus functions, a 13-megapixel rear camera and faster data connection than the conventional 4G network.
Report About Microsoft's next-generation Surface Pro tablet to be powered by Intel Haswell processors - Tech News
Tab i love them, new tab in market now.
The Surface Pro might not have been received as warmly by PC enthusiasts as Microsoft would have hoped, but that apparently hasn't stopped the Redmond giant from building the next iteration of the tablet that becomes a portable computer with its special keyboard covers.
While murmurs suggesting that Microsoft was working on the next-generation Surface tablet have been around for quite some time, a new report by Neowin sheds some light on the specifications of the purported Surface 2 tablet, citing its own sources.
The website mentions that the Surface 2 will be powered by fourth-generation Intel core 'Haswell' processors, most likely an Intel Core i5. It's expected to come with an option of up to 8GB RAM, as per the report.
The site also informs that the new tablet will look similar to the current Surface Pro, however, Microsoft has "refined" the kickstand that comes with the device and helps in using the tablet as a notebook. It clarifies that while it's not aware of specific changes to the kickstand, it's speculated that the kickstand could be more robust or could offer alternative viewing angles.
It also adds that Microsoft would start a new marketing campaign to promote the new Surface Pro and that there won't be a major change in terms of the device's pricing. The site says that it does not have knowledge of the next-generation Surface's launch time frame.
Meanwhile, Paul Thurott of WindowsSite has also confirmed that the next-generation Surface Pro will indeed feature a Haswell Core i5 processor, but has clarified that Microsoft will offer a choice of RAM, most likely between 4GB and 8GB. He also added that the new Surface tablets will come with a two-position kickstand and that it will look similar to the current Surface Pro.
Microsoft had unveiled the Surface tablet in two variants, Surface RT based on ARM architecture running Windows RT, a tablet version of Windows that did not support legacy apps, and Surface Pro, an Intel-powered version that runs Windows 8, in June 2012. While the Surface RT was available in October, the Pro variant was released in February 2013.The Surface tablet has not been doing well and Microsoft is yet to make any profit on it. In fact it had to slash prices of the Surface RT tablet by $150 in the US market.
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