Audio Podcast Directory - Podcasts with only audio episodes
Children's Books podcastJoin Now to Follow
Leading children's authors discuss their work with young readers and the Guardian literary team
By guardian.co.uk
Special Event: Bear GryllsJoin Now to Follow
Bear Grylls has climbed Mount Everest, served in the Special Forces and been named the UK's Chief Scout. At the Apple Store, Regent Street he talked about his adventures, shared some of his survival knowledge and gave us a look at his new app, The Bear Essentials.
By Apple Inc.
Librivox: Odyssey, The by HomerJoin Now to Follow
The Odyssey is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems (the other being the Iliad), attributed to the poet Homer. The poem is commonly dated to between 800 and 600 BC. The poem is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, and concerns the events that befall the Greek hero Odysseus in his long journey back to his native land Ithaca after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to return to his native land of Ithaca after ten years of war; during his 20-year absence, his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope must deal with a group of unruly suitors who have moved into Odysseus' home to compete for Penelope's hand in marriage, since most have assumed that Odysseus has died. The poem is a fundamental text in the Western canon and continues to be read in both Homeric Greek and translations around the world. (Summary from Wikipedia
By LibriVox
Librivox: Moby Dick, or the Whale by Melville, HermanJoin Now to Follow
Few things, even in literature, can really be said to be unique — but Moby Dick is truly unlike anything written before or since. The novel is nominally about the obsessive hunt by the crazed Captain Ahab of the book’s eponymous white whale. But interspersed in that story are digressions, paradoxes, philosophical riffs on whaling and life, and a display of techniques so advanced for its time that some have referred to the 1851 Moby Dick as the first “modern” novel. (Summary by Stewart Wills)
By LibriVox
Librivox: Dubliners by Joyce, JamesJoin Now to Follow
Masterful short stories about life in Dublin at the turn of the century, by James Joyce. (Summary by Hugh McGuire)
By LibriVox
Librivox: War of the Worlds, The (version 2) by Wells, H. G.Join Now to Follow
War of the Worlds by Herbert George Wells (H.G. Wells) was published in 1898 at a time when he wrote a series of novels related to a number of historical events of the time. The most important of these was the unification and militarization of Germany. The story, written in a semi-documentary style, is told in the first person by an unnamed observer. It tells of the events which happen mostly in London and the county of Surrey, England, when a number of vessels manned by aliens are fired from Mars and land on Earth. (Summary by Rebecca)
By LibriVox
Librivox: Little Women by Alcott, Louisa MayJoin Now to Follow
Little Women is the classic story of The March family, which consists of Mr. and Mrs. March and their four girls--Practical, yet fashion conscious Meg, who longs for the nice things they used to have. Rambunctious, book worm, Jo, who wants to become a writer and wishes she were born a boy. Shy and quiet, home-loving Beth, who loves to play the piano and play with her kitties. Finally, the youngest, artistic Amy, who longs for an aristocratic nose! The story takes place during the American Civil War, and begins with Mr. March away from home as a chaplain to the Union army, while his wife and daughters remain at home to work and wait for his safe return. This book follows their joys and sorrows and scrapes along the path to the girl's becoming grown up "little women". Many of the scrapes they get into include Laurie--their harum scarum next door neighbor, who becomes their adopted brother. The two families, The March's and the Laurence's strike up a lasting friendship, despite their differences in material belongings. (Summary by Mary Anderson)
By LibriVox
Librivox: Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, FyodorJoin Now to Follow
Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished St. Petersburg student who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of evil. Crime and Punishment is considered by many as the first of Dostoevsky's cycle of great novels, which would culminate with his last completed work, The Brothers Karamazov, shortly before his death. (Summary from Wikipedia)
By LibriVox
Librivox: Waste Land, The by Eliot, T. S.Join Now to Follow
The Waste Land is a highly influential 433-line modernist poem by T. S. Eliot. It is perhaps the most famous and most written-about long poem of the 20th century, dealing with the decline of civilization and the impossibility of recovering meaning in life. Despite the alleged obscurity of the poem—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its elegiac but intimidating summoning up of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures—the poem has nonetheless become a familiar touchstone of modern literature. Among its famous phrases are “April is the cruelest month” (its first line); “I will show you fear in a handful of dust”; and “Shantih shantih shantih” (its last line). The title is sometimes mistakenly written as “The Wasteland”. (Summary from wikipedia.org)
By LibriVox
Librivox: Raven, The by Poe, Edgar AllanJoin Now to Follow
Perhaps Edgar Allen Poe's most famous poem, the "Raven" is a macabre exploration of a man, his memories of Lenore, and the black bird that interrupts his studies on a dark December night, with tap-tap-tapping at his chamber door. (Summary by Hugh)
By LibriVox
