Literature Podcasts

Librivox: Saint Distaffs day, or the morrow after Twelfth day by Herrick, Robert show

Librivox: Saint Distaffs day, or the morrow after Twelfth day by Herrick, RobertJoin Now to Follow

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 different recordings of Saint Distaff's Day, or the Morrow After Twelfth Day, by Robert Herrick. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of January 6th, 2008. What is St. Distaff's Day? Historically, it was the day after the Christmas festivals ended (the 12 days of Christmas), and most women went back to work with their spinning… but it was also a day of pranks and horsing around. Additional information can be found in Chambers' Book of Days .

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Librivox: War and Peace, Book 04: 1806 by Tolstoy, Leo show

Librivox: War and Peace, Book 04: 1806 by Tolstoy, LeoJoin Now to Follow

War and Peace (Russian: Война и мир, Voyna i mir; in original orthography: Война и миръ, Voyna i mir") is an epic novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published from 1865 to 1869 in Russki Vestnik, which tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic Era. It is usually described as one of Tolstoy's two major masterpieces (the other being Anna Karenina) as well as one of the world's greatest novels. War and Peace offered a new kind of fiction, with a great many characters caught up in a plot that covered nothing less than the grand subjects indicated by the title, combined with the equally large topics of youth, age and marriage. While today it is considered a novel, it broke so many novelistic conventions of its day that many critics of Tolstoy's time did not consider it as such. Tolstoy himself considered Anna Karenina (1878) to be his first attempt at a novel in the European sense. (Summary by Wikipedia)

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Librivox: Bulemanns Haus by Storm, Theodor show

Librivox: Bulemanns Haus by Storm, TheodorJoin Now to Follow

Nach dem Tod seines Vaters kehrt Herr Bulemann nach in Übersee verbrachten Jahren in seine Heimatstadt zurück und zieht in das Haus seines Vaters. Seine Frau und seine Kinder hat er auf der Überfahrt an Sklavenhändler verkauft – so erzählt man sich. Stattdessen hat sich Herr Buhlemann zwei große Katzen mitgebracht. In seinem Vaterhaus findet er allerlei Pfandgüter – sein Vater war Pfandleiher – vor, die er widerrechtlich verkauft. In den folgenden Jahren suchen ihn Pfandgläubiger auf, welche ihre Pfandgüter auslösen wollen und die er bestechen muss, damit sie sein widerrechtliches Handeln nicht ausplaudern. Er wird immer unleidlicher und menschenscheuer, bis sein einziger Kontakt zur Außenwelt seine Haushälterin ist, die ihn verachtet. Schließlich weist er schroff seine Halbschwester zurück, als sie ihn wegen ihres kränklichen Sohnes um Hilfe anfleht und verschuldet letztlich den Tod seines Neffen. Seine Schwester verflucht ihn, woraufhin sich die beiden Katzen nach und nach schauerlich verwandeln und ihn für immer in seinem Haus festhalten, aus dem die Haushälterin inzwischen geflohen ist. (Summary by Wikipedia)

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Librivox: Solitude by Pope, Alexander show

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LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 different recordings of Solitude by Alexander Pope. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of February 17th, 2008.

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Librivox: Elusive Isabel by Futrelle, Jacques show

Librivox: Elusive Isabel by Futrelle, JacquesJoin Now to Follow

Elusive Isabel is a novel by Jacques Futrelle (April 9, 1875 - April 15, 1912) first published in 1909. Set in Washington, D.C., it is a spy novel about an international conspiracy of the "Latin" countries against the English-speaking world with the aim to take over world control. Plot summary: The eponymous heroine, Isabel Thorne, is a young woman, half British, half Italian, who works for the Italian secret service and who has been commissioned to bring about the signing of the secret contract right in the capital of the enemy by representatives of all countries involved, both European and American. Her brother, an inventor, has devised a secret weapon by which missiles can be fired from submarines which will, it is hoped, secure military dominion over the rest of the world. Members of the U.S. Secret Service, who have been alerted, are assigned to prevent the signing of this "Latin compact" and bring to justice those involved who have no diplomatic immunity. One young representative by the name of Grimm, however, although absolutely loyal to his government, falls in love with the beautiful foreign agent. In the end Isabel Thorne, who reciprocates her admirer's love, becomes estranged from her employer, the Italian government, because she does not want Grimm, who has been captured by the conspirators and knows all their secrets, to be murdered. Stripped of all her power and possessions, she unites with him at the end of the novel, no longer elusive. A trivial novel in its time, Elusive Isabel has been completely forgotten but can now be easily accessed via the Project Gutenberg web site. (Summary from wikipedia)

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Librivox: Long Poems Collection 005 by Various show

Librivox: Long Poems Collection 005 by VariousJoin Now to Follow

Long Poems Collection 005: a collection of 10 public-domain poems longer than 5 minutes in length.

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Librivox: Mirror of the Sea, The by Conrad, Joseph show

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The Mirror of the Sea (collection of autobiographical essays first published in various magazines 1904-6 ), 1906 (Summary from Wikipedia)

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Librivox: That Affair Next Door by Green, Anna Katharine show

Librivox: That Affair Next Door by Green, Anna KatharineJoin Now to Follow

The dead body of a woman was found under a large cabinet. But she had been dead four hours before the cabinet fell upon her. The owners of the house had been on vacation and the place empty. Who was she and why was she in the empty house all alone? Summary by Dawn L.

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Librivox: Key Out of Time by Norton, Andre show

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This is Book 4 in the Time Traders Series, In this book Ross Murdock and Arthur Ashe continue their adventures in Time and Space on the World of Hawaika. Hawaiian and Polynesian settlers help Ross and Ashe discover the way the world has changed from the data tape to present time. Helped by a girl (Karara) and her two trained dolphins (Tino-rau and Taua) (Summary by R. J. Davis)

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Librivox: Short Poetry Collection 061 by Various show

Librivox: Short Poetry Collection 061 by VariousJoin Now to Follow

LibriVox's New Short Poetry Collection 061: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

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