Zjednodušená četba

Bassanio wants to get married, but he has no money and a lot of debts. He asks his friend Antonio for a loan, but Antonio is waiting for his ships to return. Until then, he has nothing to lend. To help Bassanio, he borrows money from a money-lender – and agrees to an unusual condition. If Antonio cannot repay the loan in three months, the money-lender will cut a pound of flesh from his body. Will Antonio be able to repay the loan? Or wi ...

Sherlock Holmes is a great detective. There are few cases that he cannot solve. In these three stories we meet a young woman who is terrified of a mysterious ‘speckled band’, a family who think that five orange pips are a sign of death, and a banker who believes that his son is a thief. But are things really as they seem?

In London, Christmas is coming and the people in this story have love on their minds. Some have found love; some have lost it. Some accept their loneliness; others live in hope. Even the new British prime minister’s thoughts are not always on his job – because love, actually, is all around us.

In 1673 young John Ridd meets a little girl called Lorna Doone. Seven years later they meet again, and fall in love. But the Doones are a family of robbers and murderers. One of them, Carver, killed John’s father and now wants to marry Lorna. Can John save Lorna from her worst fears?

A tree full of enormous spiders, a living thing with no face, a picture that comes alive, and a boy with no heart. These are some of the frightening things in these stories by M. R. James, one of the greatest horror writers of all time.

It is 1942 in Holland and the Germans have invaded. All Jewish people are frightened for their lives, so the Frank family hide. Life is dangerous but they hope for the best – until they are finally discovered. Anne Frank was a real person, and this is her diary.

There are five stories in this book. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and ‘The Barrel of Amontillado’ are stories of madness; ‘The Maelström’ describes fear of death during a storm on the ocean; and in ‘The Murders of the Rue Morgue’ and ‘The Stolen Letter’ meet C. Auguste Dupin, Poe’s famous Parisian detective.

‘It was the seventh day of the storm. We didn’t know where we were. Everyone on the ship believed that death was very near.’ The Robinson family do not die at sea; they find their way to a small island. But what can they do now? Where will they live? What will they eat? Luckily, the father and their mother have useful skills and they can teach their four young sons. But how long will they be there, on the island?

One day Rafael was well; the next day he was completely mad. What happened to him? The story of Rafael and his gold ring is a strange story of murder, mystery and love. Many people know part of the story. But only Rafael knows the true facts. And Rafael is mad.

Anna Scott is an American film star. She is rich, beautiful and very famous. William Thacker is a shy man who has a small, unsuccessful bookshop in London. Their lives are different in every way, but they are both looking for someone special. Can a future together be more than a dream? Notting Hill is a wonderful – and very funny – love story.

Meet the Larkin family! They enjoy a wonderful country life, never worrying about money, work – or the law. But then, one day, a man arrives from the tax office. Is the taxman going to change the Larkin’s lives? Or is his life going to change forever?

Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark. His heart is filled with sadness and pain. Why? Only his two best friends, Horatio and Marcellus, know the true reason. The new king, Claudius, murdered Hamlet’s father and married the young prince’s mother. Will Hamlet be strong and brave enough to take revenge? Is he mad? Or does he have a secret plan?