DailyLit: Adventure Books

The Odyssey

by Homer

Description

The Trojan War is over. A hero longs for home. And his wife, ever faithful, longs for his return. So begins The Odyssey, Homer's epic tale of the warrior Odysseus's journey home. Although the fighting at Troy has finished, Odysseus's battles are far from over. More than anything he wishes to return to Ithaca, where his wife Penelope has been waiting for him—and fending off suitors—for many years. But separating Odysseus from that happy reunion is a vast sea, full of otherworldly creatures and untold dangers. It is the realm of gods and heroes, where the monsters of myth and legend may lie just around any bend. Lured by the song of the Sirens and threatened by the menacing Cyclops Polyphemus, mighty Odysseus must draw on all his strengths to elude catastrophe and make his way back, finally, to what he treasures most—home.

Sample Installment

Whatever You Do, Don't Run

by Peter Allison

Description

Whatever You Do, Don't Run is a hilarious collection of true tales from top safari guide Peter Allison. In a place where the wrong behavior could get you eaten, Allison has survived face-to-face encounters with big cats, angry elephants, and the world's most unpredictable animals—herds of untamed tourists and foolhardy guides whose outrageous antics sometimes make them even more dangerous than a pride of hungry lions!

Join Allison as he faces down charging lions—twice; searches for a drunk, half-naked tourist who happens to be a member of the British royal family; drives a Land Rover full of tourists into a lagoon full of hippos; and adopts the most vicious animal in Africa as his "pet." Full of lively humor and a genuine love and respect for Botswana and its rich wildlife, Whatever You Do, Don't Run takes you to where the wild things are and introduces you to a place where every day is a new adventure!

Extended Copyright Information

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to The Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

Previously published by The Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Cover photos by IndexOpen.
Cover design by Jane Sheppard.

Please note that this book does not contain the images found in the paperback version.

Sample Installment

Fieldwork

by Mischa Berlinski

Description

A National Book Awards finalist and a Barnes and Noble Discover Great Writers Winter 2007 Selection

Vivid, passionate, funny, deeply researched, and page-turningly plotted, Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski is about fascination and taboo—scientific, religious, and sexual. It introduces an assured and captivating new voice in American fiction.

How does Mischa Berlinski end up in Thailand in the middle of a clash between an anthropologist and missionaries? The Internet start-up he works for goes bust in San Francisco. He's bored, with no job in sight, until his girlfriend gets a job as a schoolteacher in northern Thailand. Mischa goes along and finds work with an English-language newspaper. One evening a fellow expatriate tips him off to a story. A charismatic American anthropologist, Martiya van der Leun, has been found dead—a suicide—in the Thai prison where she was serving a fifty-year sentence for murder.

Motivated first by simple curiosity, then by deeper and more mysterious feelings, Mischa searches relentlessly to discover the details of Martiya's crime. His search leads him to the origins of modern anthropology—and into the family history of Martiya's victim, a brilliant young missionary whose grandparents left Oklahoma to preach the Word in the 1920s and never went back. Finally, Mischa's obsession takes him into the world of the Thai hill tribes, whose way of life becomes a battleground for two competing, and utterly American, ways of looking at the world.

Praise for Fieldwork

"A great story. It has an exotic locale, mystery, and a narrative voice full of humor and sadness...You can't stop reading until midnight...and you don't hate yourself in the morning...A story that cooks."
—Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly

"A really, really good story...An intricate whodunit, both disturbing and entertaining...An intoxicating journey."
—Terry Hong, The Washington Post

"An impressive feat of literary acrobatics...An inspired and courageous book."
—Kevin Smokler, San Francisco Chronicle

"Fieldwork, is that rare thing—an entertainingly readable novel of ideas."
—Tim Rutten, Los AngelesTimes

"Berlinski's methodical account of the factors that led a rational intellectual to commit such a heinous crime is air-tight and intensely gripping. But equally notable is his ability to conjure such an elaborate portrait of the fictional Dyalo, and his treatment of both religious missionary and anthropological fieldwork is subtle and insightful...Impeccable research and a juicy, intricate plot pay off in this perfectly executed debut."
—Kirkus Reviews starred review

"Mischa Berlinski brings a wealth of vivid detail to his narrative, and writes with real authority. Fieldwork is as fascinating as an ethnographer's private journal, as entertaining as a finely plotted thriller."
—John Wray, author of Canaan's Tongue

Extended Copyright Information

CAUTION: Users are warned that the Work appearing herein is protected under the copyright laws and reproduction of the text, in any for for distribution is strictly prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the Work via any medium must be secured with the copyright owner.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

Description

Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are back for another rip-roaring adventure on the mighty Mississippi River. Feeling the call of life outside of his comfortable but ordinary home, Huck boldly fakes his own death to run away to the River. There, he meets up with the escaped slave Jim, and the two band together to seek their liberation. Their journey will test them at every turn. In addition to the dastardly con men and thieves who travel the River, there are more sinister dangers that lie in wait for Huck and Jim. While Huck is seeking to return to the more freewheeling life he knew before being adopted by a kindly widow, Jim's quest is for a personal freedom that he has never known. As Tom Sawyer enters the story, Huck is faced with a difficult choice between returning home and risking his life to grant Jim his freedom. A controversial book for many years, Twain's novel contrasts indulgent childhood dreams with stark and cruel realities, bringing out essential American historical themes of human rights, equality, and justice.

Sample Installment

Around the World in 80 Days

by Jules Verne

Description

Around the World in Eighty Days is a rip-roaring tale of adventure on a global scale. On a high-stakes bet from his friends, wealthy Phileas Fogg enlists his trusty butler Passepartout to travel the railroads around the world. The goal? To return to London in no more than eighty days. Of course, no adventure so grand could ever go according to plan. The two men find themselves in one scrape after another, moving from country to country all the while. Bombay, Shanghai, San Francisco, and New York—all of these legendary locations play host to Phileas and Passepartout as they make their way around the globe. Can they make it back to London in time to win the huge wager? Or will a world of trouble prevent them from completing their ambitious quest?

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A Voyage to the South Sea

by William Bligh

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The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

by Daniel Defoe

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Ulysses

by James Joyce

Description

Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom through the course of an ordinary day in Dublin, Ireland, in 1904. While the novel is structured after Homer's Odyssey, this is not a mythic journey of classical proportions. Bloom is a modern everyman, and Joyce's Dublin is populated by a cast of average townspeople—rich and poor, scholars and drunks, priests and prostitutes. Joyce's frank treatment of such themes as sexuality and religion is matched with plenty of word play, complex references, and stylistic tricks. By no means easy, this important novel is a literary black belt for any reader.

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Treasure Island

by Robert Louis Stevenson

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The Swiss Family Robinson

by Johann David Wyss

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DailyLit: Adventure Books

The Odyssey

Description

Whatever You Do, Don't Run

Description

Extended Copyright Information

Fieldwork

Description

Praise for Fieldwork

Extended Copyright Information

Related Links

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Description

Around the World in 80 Days

Description

A Voyage to the South Sea

The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Ulysses

Description

Treasure Island

The Swiss Family Robinson