Arts Podcasts

Librivox: Shakespeare Monologues Collection vol. 08 by Shakespeare, WilliamJoin Now to Follow
LibriVox readers present the eighth collection of monologues from Shakespeare’s plays. Containing 20 parts. William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) remains widely to be considered the single greatest playwright of all time. He wrote in such a variety of genres - tragedy, comedy, romance, &c - that there is always at least one monologue in each of his plays. Some of these teach a lesson, some simply characterize Shakespeare at his best, some are funny, some sad, but all are very moving. Each monologue will touch everybody differently. Some people will be so moved by a particular monologue that they will want to record it. (summary by Shurtagal)
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Librivox: Join Now to Follow
1862 Anna Leonowens accepted an offer made by the Siamese consul in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching, to teach the wives and children of Mongkut, king of Siam. The king wished to give his 39 wives and concubines and 82 children a modern Western education on scientific secular lines, which earlier missionaries' wives had not provided. Leonowens sent her daughter Avis to school in England, and took her son Louis with her to Bangkok. She succeeded Dan Beach Bradley, an American missionary, as teacher to the Siamese court. Leonowens served at court until 1867, a period of nearly six years, first as a teacher and later as language secretary for the king. Although her position carried great respect and even a degree of political influence, she did not find the terms and conditions of her employment to her satisfaction, and came to be regarded by the king himself as a rather difficult woman. In 1868 Leonowens was on leave for her health in England and had been negotiating a return to the court on better terms when Mongkut fell ill and died. The king mentioned Leonowens and her son in his will, though they did not receive the legacy. The new monarch, fifteen-year-old Chulalongkorn, who succeeded his father, wrote Leonowens a warm letter of thanks for her services. By 1869 Leonowens was in New York, and began contributing travel articles to a Boston journal, Atlantic Monthly, including 'The Favorite of the Harem', reviewed by the New York Times as 'an Eastern love story, having apparently a strong basis of truth'.She expanded her articles into two volumes of memoirs, beginning with The English Governess at the Siamese Court (1870), which earned her immediate fame but also brought charges of sensationalism. In her writing she casts a critical eye over court life; the account is not always a flattering one, and has become the subject of controversy in Thailand; she has also been accused of exaggerating her influence with the king.”
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Librivox: Decameron, The by Boccaccio, GiovanniJoin Now to Follow
The Decameron (subtitle: Prencipe Galeotto) is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic. Many notable writers such as Shakespeare and Chaucer are said to have borrowed from The Decameron. (from Wikipedia)
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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: Sammlung deutscher Gedichte 006 by VariousJoin Now to Follow
Eine Sammlung 20 deutscher Gedichte für LibriVox.
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Librivox: Short Science Fiction Collection 012 by VariousJoin Now to Follow
Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi with varying punctuation and case) is a broad genre of fiction that often involves sociological and technical speculations based on current or future science or technology. This is a reader-selected collection of short stories that entered the US public domain when their copyright was not renewed. Summary by Cori Samuel, with Wikipedia input.
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Librivox: Nachtstücke by Hoffmann, E.T.A.Join Now to Follow
Die "Nachtstücke" sind eine Sammlung von unheimlichen Geschichten, die der Romantik zuzuordnen sind. Die einzelnen Titel dieser Sammlung sind: "Der Sandmann", "Ignaz Denner", "Die Jesuitenkirche in G.", "Das Sanctus", "Das öde Haus", "Das Majorat", "Das Gelübde" und "Das steinerne Herz". (Summary by Rainer)
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Librivox: Metal Monster, The by Merritt, AbrahamJoin Now to Follow
The Metal Monster is an Abraham Merritt fantasy novel. Dr. Goodwin is on a botanical expedition in the Himalayas. There he meets Dick Drake, the son of one of his old science acquaintances. They are witnesses of a strange aurora-like effect, but seemingly a deliberate one. As they go out to investigate, they meet Goodwin's old friends Martin and Ruth Ventnor, brother and sister scientists. The two are besieged by Persians as Darius III led when Alexander of Macedon conquered them more than two thousand years ago. The group is saved by a magnificent woman they get to know as Norhala. She commands the power of lightning and controls strange metal animate Things, living, metallic, geometric forms; an entire city of sentient cubes, globes and tetrahedrons, capable of joining together and forming colossal shapes, and wielding death rays and other armaments of destruction. They are led to a hidden valley occupied by what they name "The Metal Monster", a strange metal city occupied by the metal animate Things Norhala commands This city is governed by what they call the Metal Emperor, assisted by the Keeper of the Cones. Ruth is slowly being converted by Norhala to become like her; her little sister. Martin, her brother, tries shooting the Metal Emperor, who retalliates with a ray blast, putting Martin in a comatose state. Closed in between the Metal Monster and the Persians, it falls to Goodwin and Drake to find a way to escape their predicament. (Summary Wikipedia)
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Librivox: Bible (KJV) 09: 1 Samuel by King James VersionJoin Now to Follow
The life of Samuel, and the life of Saul.
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Bollywood BasementJoin Now to Follow
Non-Stop Bollywood dance hits remixed by DJK-dar