Books like 'Extracts from Adam's Diary, translated from the original ms.'
Readers who enjoyed Extracts from Adam's Diary, translated from the original ms. by Mark Twain also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy 20th century classics humor historical-fiction religion satire myths spirituality
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D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri d'Aulaire, Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsHere are the gods, goddesses, and legendary figures of ancient Greece--mighty Zeus, with his fistful of thunderbolts; gray-eyed Athena, goddess of wisdom; Helios, the sun; greedy King Midas--lavishly depicted by Caldecott winners Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century action-adventure -
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 78 ratingsThe story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior "tempter" named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as "the Patient".Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy ("Lowerarchy") of Hell, and acts as a mentor to Wormwood, the inexperienced tempter... -
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso, Tim Parks
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPresenting the stories of Zeus and Europa, Theseus and Ariadne, the birth of Athens and the fall of Troy, in all their variants, Calasso also uncovers the distant origins of secrets and tragedy, virginity, and rape. "A perfect work like no other. (Calasso) has re-created . . . the morning of our world."--Gore Vidal. 15 engravings...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century adult -
Servant of the Bones and The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor myths retellings 20th-century adult africa ancient-civilization -
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Telephone Tales by Gianni Rodari
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsReminiscent of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights, Gianni Rodari's Telephone Tales is many stories within a story. Every night, a traveling father must finish a bedtime story in the time that a single coin will buy... -
രണ്ടാമൂഴം | Randamoozham by M.T. Vasudevan Nair
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsRandamoozham is the masterpiece of Jnanpith winning writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair. It was translated into English as Second Turn in 1997. M. T. Vasudevan Nair won Vayalar Award, given for the best literary work in Malayalam, for the novel in 1985. Later, in the year 1995, Mr. Nair was awarded the highest literary award in India, Jnanpith Award, for his overall contribution to Malayalam literature...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century adult -
The House of Asterion by Jorge Luis Borges
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOne of Borges's shortest stories, The House of Asterion was written over a period of two days. The story explores themes of death, redemption, and the nature of monstrosity. Its narrative style has been referred to as a "literary puzzle", with the narrator's identity not fully revealed until the end of the story... -
Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet Ahlberg, Allan Ahlberg
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsViking is proud to reissue a special 25th anniversary hardcover edition of Each Peach Pear Plum, Janet and Allan Ahlberg's engaging and beloved adaptation of "I spy." A true classic, this book starring a cast of familiar nursery rhyme characters is the winner of the 1978 Kate Greenaway Medal (the U.K. equivalent of the Caldecott Medal) and an American Library Association Notable book... -
The Moon Under Her Feet by Clysta Kinstler
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsNarrative weaving the biblical account of Mary and Jesus, the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris, and the Sumerian story of Inanna and Dumuzi to create an exotic tale of a strong, sensual woman.From Publishers WeeklyThis feminist retelling of the conception, birth, life and death of Christ as narrated by Mary Magdalene may cause some uproar in Christian circles...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century action-adventure -
Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsTo Rilke himself the Sonnets to Orpheus were "perhaps the most mysterious in the way they came up and entrusted themselves to me, the most enigmatic dictation I have ever held through and achieved; the whole first part was written down in a single breathless act of obedience, between the 2nd and 5th of February, without one word being doubtful or having to be changed." With facing-page German... -
Manalive by G.K. Chesterton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPerhaps the most light-hearted of all Chesterton's "serious" works, Manalive pits a group of disillusioned young people against Mr. Innocent Smith, a bubbly, high-spirited gentleman who literally falls into their midst. Later accused of murder and denounced for philandering everywhere he goes, Smith prompts his newfound acquaintances to recognize an important idea in most unexpected ways...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor religion spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia by David Day
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe first encyclopedic illustrated guide to the world of Middle Earth and the Undying Lands, this book brings together every important aspect of Tolkien's vast cosmology. More than five hundred alphabetical entries cover five major subject areas: history, geography, sociology, natural history and biography... -
The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsKaren Wynn Fonstad's THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH is an essential volume that will enchant all Tolkien fans. Here is the definitive guide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in the Elder Days through the Third Age, including the journeys of Bilbo, Frodo, and the Fellowship of the Ring...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths retellings 20th-century action-adventure anthologies epic -
The Mahabharata by Jean-Claude Carrière
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA unique dramatization of India's greatest epic poem, fifteen times longer than the Bible, The Mahabharata has played to enthralled audiences throughout Europe, the Far East and America. Regarded as the culmination of Peter Brook's extraordinary research into the possibilities of theatre, the production has been hailed as the 'theatrical event of this century' (Sunday Times)... -
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O'Sullivan Stew by Hudson Talbott
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSomeone has stolen the witch of Crookhaven's horse, and there will be no peace in the village until it is returned. So bold, brassy Kate O'Sullivan takes matters into her own hands. But instead of saving the day, she manages to land herself--and her family--in trouble with the king. So Kate sets out to save their hides the only way she knows how--with a good story...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor myths retellings 20th-century action-adventure animals book -
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life by Peter J. Leithart
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the tradition of Grimm's fairytales, Peter Leithart has produced a wonderful collection of whimsical, yet meaningful, bedtime stories. The characters in each story are as varied as the biblical proverbs they reveal. Meet a chatty squirrel with a secret, or find out what happens when you run up against the Ministry of Nasty Smells... -
Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida by Robert Chandler, Various
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the reign of the Tsars in the early 19th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union and beyond, the short story has long occupied a central place in Russian culture... -
The Singer: A Classic Retelling of Cosmic Conflict by Calvin Miller
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Singer quickly became a favorite of evangelists, pastors, artists, students, teachers and readers of all sorts when it was originally published in 1975... -
Про Федота-стрельца, удалого молодца by Leonid Filatov
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings`В нашей пишущей стране пишут даже на стене. Вот и мне пришла охота быть со всеми наравне!` Так в шутливом интервью объяснил когда-то Леонид Филатов, с чего это он вдруг взял и сочинил `Про Федота`. Его сказки - блистательные, искрометные, живые - не перестают смешить и восхищать нас... -
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic by Alberto Manguel, Gianni Guadalupi
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom Atlantis to Xanadu and beyond, this Baedeker of make-believe takes readers on a tour of more than 1,200 realms invented by storytellers from Homer's day to our own. Here you will find Shangri-La and El Dorado; Utopia and Middle Earth; Wonderland and Freedonia. Here too are Jurassic Park, Salman Rushdie's Sea of Stories, and the fabulous world of Harry Potter... -
The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsrelates the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical Satan, in Eseldorf, an Austrian village in the year 1702. Twain wrote this version between November 1897 and September 1900. "Eseldorf" is German for "Assville" or "Donkeytown"... -
Croatian Tales of Long Ago by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsIn this collection of six tales, Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić masterfully fuses her original narrative plots with ancient Slavic folk mythology. The result is a rich, fantastic world often compared to those of Hans Christian Andersen or J. R. R. Tolkien... -
The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona Opie, Peter Opie
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis volume contains twenty-four of the best known fairy tales in the English language, presented here in the exact words of their first English publication or of the earliest surviving text...Categorized as:
classics myths retellings 20th-century anthologies children children-books fairy-tale -
Little Long-nose by Wilhelm Hauff
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLittle Long-nose is the mysterious tale of little Jacob, stolen from his family to serve a wicked witch for seven years. While the author, Wilhelm Hauff, is not as well known today as the Brothers Grimm, he was considered in his time to be a literary phenomenon... -
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A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFirst published in 1932, here is John Cowper Powys's masterwork, an epic novel of terrific cumulative force and lyrical intensity...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion spirituality 20th-century adult arthurian -
The White Deer by James Thurber
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHere is a Thurber world of enchanted deer and seven-headed dragons, of wizards and witches, of riddles and spells, of false love and true. It is the story of a beautiful princess, transformed from a deer, who assigns each of three princes a perilous labor to perform in order to win her hand. Drawings by the Author... -
The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAlong with I, Claudius, The Golden Fleece is considered one of Robert Graves's most exciting and transporting historical novels. The Golden Fleece was at one time the most sacred religious object of the ancient Greeks, and had been sent away as the result of a power struggle between the Greeks and earlier inhabitants of the Greek peninsula... -
Ka by Roberto Calasso, Els van der Pluym
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWith The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Calasso turned ancient legends into modern literature and created a postmodern novel out of the ancient myths of classical Greece...in Ka, Calasso attempts to do the same with the far more sprawling and elusive corpus of classical Sanskritt literature...The result is a book as brilliantly original as anything I have ever read on Hinduism..Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century adult -
A Spider Thread by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLet us suppose the Buddha Sakyamuni was taking a morning stroll in paradise one day and happened by a lotus pond whence the flowers shone brilliant white as jewels, their golden centers effusing an ineffable perfume everywhere thereabouts... -
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratings?What a sweet child,? says a newcomer in town about Goldilocks. ?That?s what you think,? a neighbor replies. For Goldilocks is one of those naughty little girls who does exactly as she pleases?even if that means sampling the three bears? porridge, breaking Baby Bear?s chair, and sleeping in his bed... -
Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsA renowned Nobel Prize-winning novelist refashions the classic tales of Scheherazade in his own imaginative, spellbinding style. Here are genies and flying carpets, Aladdin and Sinbad, Ali Baba, and many other familiar stories, made new by the magical pen of the acknowledged dean of Arabic letters... -
Mules And Men by Zora Neale Hurston
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsMules and Men is a treasury of black America's folklore as collected by a famous storyteller and anthropologist who grew up hearing the songs and sermons, sayings and tall tales that have formed an oral history of the South since the time of slavery...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century -
Sinuhé, el egipcio I by Mika Waltari
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTranslated by Naomi...Categorized as:
historical-fiction classics myths religion spirituality africa northern-africa egypt -
The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsA continuation of Homer’s epic poem, Kazantzakis’s own Odyssey finds Odysseus once again leaving Ithaca on finding that the satisfactions of home and hearth are not as he remembered them...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths retellings spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult -
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The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsBlending archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods and the feats of heroes, Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan War-reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the vanquished, their fate seen through the eyes of Kassandra-priestess, princess, and passionate woman with the...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century action-adventure -
Fairy & Folk Tales of Ireland by W.B. Yeats, Benedict Kiely
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTHE CLASSIC ONE-VOLUME INTRODUCTION TO IRELAND'S RICH FOLKLORE: WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS'S MAGICAL SELECTION OF TRADITIONAL IRISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland combines two books of Irish folklore collected and edited by William Butler Yeats -- Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, first published in 1888, and Irish Fairy Tales, published in 1892...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion retellings spirituality 20th-century action-adventure -
The Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNobel Prize laureate Anatole France's The Revolt of the Angels, often considered his most profound novel, tells the story of Arcade, the guardian angel of Maurice d'Esparvieu, who falls in love and joins the revolutionary movement of angels. Originally published in 1914... -
L'Enchanteur by René Barjavel
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsQui ne connaît pas Merlin ? Il se joue du temps qui passe, reste jeune et beau, vif et moqueur, tendre, pour tout dire Enchanteur... -
The Sibyl by Pär Lagerkvist
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratings4 K- Blackstone Exclusive This Nobel Prize-winning author here explores the meaning of divine and human love, through the characters of a wandering Jew and a sibyl of Delphi. This is a remarkable book...Lagerkvist has written a disturbing and fearful fable about human and divine love, and about the glories and disasters of both...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction myths religion spirituality 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa by Gerald McDermott
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsZomo the rabbit, a trickster from West Africa, wants wisdom. But he must accomplish three apparently impossible tasks before Sky God will give him what he wants. Is he clever enough to do as Sky God asks? “The tale moves along with the swift concision of a good joke, right down to its satisfying punch line... -
Rhinegold by Stephan Grundy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsProudly dedicated to both J. R. R. Tolkien and Richard Wagner, Rhinegold is a tour de force that will enthrall devotees of either master of magic, casting a fascinating new light on the stories they have told. What The Mists of Avalon did for Celtic culture, Rhinegold does magnificently for its Nordic counterpart... -
The Song by Calvin Miller
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Singer quickly became a favorite of evangelists, pastors, artists, students, teachers and readers of all sorts when it was originally published in 1975... -
Mythologies by W.B. Yeats
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBanshees and faeries, demons and curses, village ghosts and mystic poets work their Gaelic magic in this enthralling collection of supernatural tales from the pen of William Butler Yeats... -
Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa by Kenji Miyazawa
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe magic of Miyazawa's tales reaches out to people of all ages and lands. The sophisticated reader can savor them consciously as literature, while the younger reader can delight in them as imaginative stories that comment on and deepen his own experience. The underlying themes are universal, but the forms and treatment can be appreciated at many levels and vary subtly from piece to piece... -
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Pilgermann by Russell Hoban
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHe climbs a ladder to reach another man's wife and gives himself up to her beauty, but then Pilgermann descends into a mob of peasants inspired by the Pope to shed the blood of Jews. Alone on the cobblestones, he cries out to Israel, to the Lord his God, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He is answered instead by Jesus Christ... -
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Annisons Risk by Paul McCusker
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat if history repeated itself—with you in it? Passages takes ancient stories and retells them from a kid's perspective. Loosely based on the popular “Adventures in Odyssey” series, Passages books begin in Odyssey and take you to a fantasy land, where belief in God becomes the adventure of a lifetime! Theme: taking part in God's plan; based on the story of Esther... -
Children of the Lion by Peter Danielson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOut of the Land of Goshen and into the wilderness of Canaan the caravans of Abraham and his followers journey in a desperate search for the Promised...Categorized as:
historical-fiction religion spirituality 20th-century adult ancient-civilization book christian -
Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNot Wanted on the Voyage is the story of the great flood and the first time the world ended, filed with an extraordinary cast of remarkable characters. With pathos and pageantry, desperation and hope, magic and mythology, this acclaimed novel weaves its unforgettable spell... -
The Glory of the Empire: A Novel, a History by Jean d'Ormesson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Glory of the Empire is the rich and absorbing history of an extraordinary empire, at one point a rival to Rome...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths satire 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book
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