One Basket

Ferber, Edna, 1885-1968Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 271K words
Chapters: 28

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.One Basket by Edna FerberAuthor: Ferber, Edna, 1885-1968,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Apr 1, 1996

Editor's review

One Basket is a collection of short stories by Edna Ferber, reissued as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Ferber was known for her portrayals of American social life and character; the stories here are relatively compact and well suited to reading one at a time in spare moments. The electronic edition is easy to search and carry, so readers can enjoy a story or two on the commute, at lunch, or before bed, taking in the everyday texture and character work of twentieth-century American narrative prose. For readers curious about Ferber's range who are not ready to commit to a full-length novel, this collection offers an accessible entry point. Note that this is an English-language public-domain original; its language and period setting bear the marks of their time, and Chinese readers may best treat it as a window onto American literary life rather than a plot-driven page-turner.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy modern American short stories and character portraits
Readers who want to encounter Edna Ferber's work in the original English
Commuters and bedtime readers looking for material in short bursts
Literature lovers interested in American social life as a subject

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a Chinese translation or detailed cultural notes
Readers who prefer strongly plotted, fast-paced genre fiction
Beginners unfamiliar with early twentieth-century American English

Reading tips

Read story by story; there is no need to finish in one sitting, and after each story take a few minutes to reflect on the characters' situations
Keep brief notes on character relationships and period details across stories for easy cross-reference
Mark unfamiliar expressions while reading English and look them up together after finishing a story
Read alongside other works by Ferber to appreciate her character work and narrative style

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a short-story collection?

According to the source material, this is One Basket by Edna Ferber, a collection of her short stories. For the specific contents and length, refer to the eBook text itself; it is suited to reading story by story rather than as a continuous novel.

Will readers with modest English find this book difficult?

This is an English-language public-domain original with early twentieth-century phrasing, which poses some challenge for beginners. Try a shorter story first, use an electronic dictionary to mark new words, and focus on understanding characters and plot rather than reading word by word.

What reading devices suit the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg offers free eBooks that can usually be read on computers, tablets, phones, or e-readers. This English public-domain resource works well with search and font-adjustment features, letting you read story by story at your own pace.

Comments

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About the author

Ferber, Edna, 1885-1968 Author

Edna Ferber (1885–1968) was an American writer. Public information about her life and education is limited, but the eleven works held in this collection show the main outlines of her writing. Her work combines a light, humorous tone of urban life with close observation of ordinary people's circumstances. Representative titles such as One Basket, Cheerful—By Request, Half Portions and Buttered Side Down: Stories are mostly short stories and sketches that present warmth and irony in everyday life. Her Emma McChesney series, including Roast Beef, Medium, Emma McChesney and Co. and Personality Plus, follows a woman making her way in business and her family, and was notably fresh for its time. Overall, her writing is brisk and her characters vivid, leaving a lively record of early twentieth-century American popular literature.