Audio Books Podcasts

Librivox: Under the Greenwood Tree by Hardy, Thomas show

Librivox: Under the Greenwood Tree by Hardy, ThomasJoin Now to Follow

This novel is subtitled The Mellstock Quire, A Rural Painting of the Dutch School. The Quire is the group of musicians who accompany the hymns at the local church and we follow the fortunes of one member, Dick Dewy, who falls in love with the new school mistress, Fancy Day. Another element of the book is the battle between the traditional musicians of the Quire and the local vicar, Parson Maybold, who installs a church organ. This battle illustrates the developing technology being introduced in the Victorian era and its threat to traditional country ways. The novel was published anonymously in 1872 and is often seen as Thomas Hardy's most gentle and pastoral novel. In 2005 Under the Greenwood Tree was adapted for a television version by Ashley Pharoah. (Summary by Rachel Lintern)

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Librivox: Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems by Smith, Charlotte Turner show

Librivox: Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems by Smith, Charlotte TurnerJoin Now to Follow

Charlotte Turner Smith (1749 – 1806) was an English poet and novelist. She initiated a revival of the English sonnet, helped establish the conventions of Gothic fiction, and wrote political novels of sensibility. It was in 1784, in debtor's prison with her husband Benjamin, that she wrote and published her first work, Elegiac Sonnets. The work achieved instant success, allowing Charlotte to pay for their release from prison. Smith's sonnets helped initiate a revival of the form and granted an aura of respectability to her later novels. Stuart Curran, the editor of Smith's poems, has written that Smith is "the first poet in England whom in retrospect we would call Romantic". She helped shape the "patterns of thought and conventions of style" for the period. Romantic poet William Wordsworth was the most affected by her works. He said of Smith in the 1830s that she was "a lady to whom English verse is under greater obligations than are likely to be either acknowledged or remembered". By the second half of the nineteenth century, however, Smith was largely forgotten.

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Librivox: Uller Uprising by Piper, H. Beam show

Librivox: Uller Uprising by Piper, H. BeamJoin Now to Follow

Uller Uprising is the story of a confrontation between a human overlord and alien servants, with an ironic twist at the end. Like most of Piper's best work, Uller Uprising is modeled after an actual event in human history; in this case the Sepoy Mutiny (a Bengal uprising in British-held India brought about when rumors were spread to native soldiers that cartridges being issued by the British were coated with animal fat. The rebellion quickly spread throughout India and led to the massacre of the British Colony at Cawnpore.). Piper's novel is not a mere retelling of the Indian Mutiny, but rather an analysis of an historical event applied to a similar situation in the far future. (Summary from John F. Carr's introduction)

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Librivox: In the Desert by Crane, Stephen show

Librivox: In the Desert by Crane, StephenJoin Now to Follow

LibriVox volunteers bring you 11 recordings of In the Desert by Stephen Crane. This was the weekly poetry project for December 7th, 2008.

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Librivox: Supreme Personality by Croft, Delmer Eugene show

Librivox: Supreme Personality by Croft, Delmer EugeneJoin Now to Follow

Life is self-realization. Every birth is divine. We are born anew every morning. My wish is that you may catch the gleam, be freed from limitations and enter upon your boundless possibilities. To bring you into the throne-room of your being, that you may awaken in self-realization, is why I have prepared this course of lessons. Should you give five minutes a day to them, in a year you will know the joy there is in Life, in Power, and in Service. (from the text)

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Librivox: Anne of the Island (version 2) by Montgomery, Lucy Maud show

Librivox: Anne of the Island (version 2) by Montgomery, Lucy MaudJoin Now to Follow

Anne is off to Redmond College! She will spend the next four years

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Librivox: Summa Theologica - 01 Pars Prima, Initial Questions by Aquinas, Thomas, Saint show

Librivox: Summa Theologica - 01 Pars Prima, Initial Questions by Aquinas, Thomas, SaintJoin Now to Follow

The Summa Theologica (or the Summa Theologiae or simply the Summa, written 1265–1274) is the most famous work of Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) although it was never finished. It was intended as a manual for beginners as a compilation of all of the main theological teachings of that time. It summarizes the reasonings for almost all points of Christian theology in the West, which, before the Protestant Reformation, subsisted solely in the Roman Catholic Church. The Summa's topics follow a cycle: the existence of God, God's creation, Man, Man's purpose, Christ, the Sacraments, and back to God.(Summary adapted from the Wikipedia) This is part one of six parts of the Pars Prima, consisting of the Initial Questions.

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Librivox: Puisi dari Indonesia by Various show

Librivox: Puisi dari Indonesia by VariousJoin Now to Follow

Puisi dari Indonesia is a collection of poems, in several languages, from Indonesia. Among these poems are ancient literature and contemporary verse.(Summary by Varra Unreal)

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Librivox: Dombey and Son by Dickens, Charles show

Librivox: Dombey and Son by Dickens, CharlesJoin Now to Follow

Charles Dickens the author of Dombey and Son, originally wrote the book in installments which were published from October 1846 to April 1848 under the title Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation. The story centers around Paul Dombey, the stern owner of the Firm. He is totally immersed in having his newly born son continue the business, and entirely neglects his daughter Florence. Tragedy occurs, and Florence’s plight worsens. As the years go by, Mr. Dombey sees to it that the man she loves, his employee, is sent far away. Mr Dombey remarries, but his marriage is eventually destroyed, his fortune gone, he becomes destitute. Finally he accepts help from his daughter, and life changes for him. Many wonderful characters interweave the tale, as in all Dickens literary masterpieces. (Summary by Mil Nicholson)

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Librivox: Short Poetry Collection 073 by Various show

Librivox: Short Poetry Collection 073 by VariousJoin Now to Follow

This is an open collection of poems for the month of November 2008.

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