Podcast Directory
Librivox: Moving Picture Girls, The by Hope, Laura LeeJoin Now to Follow
Ruth and Alice DeVere and their father Hosmer struggle to make ends meet in New York City - times are hard, even for a talented actor like Mr. DeVere. Just as he successfully auditions for a new play, an old voice affliction renders him terribly hoarse and he loses the role. Despite voice rest and medical treatment, Mr. DeVere's voice fails to improve, and it is impossible to find theatre work. A friend and neighbour in their apartment building suggests that Mr. DeVere tries acting in the moving pictures (which being silent, would not need him to speak at all) but Mr. DeVere considers that business to be common and cheap. However, when they receive an eviction notice, and local shops refuse to extend credit, Mr. DeVere may have no choice ... and where he goes, his daughters will follow. Summary by Cori Samuel.
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Librivox: Initials Only by Green, Anna KatharineJoin Now to Follow
Anna Katharine Green (November 11, 1846 – April 11, 1935) was an American poet and novelist. She was one of the first writers of detective fiction in America and distinguished herself by writing well plotted, legally accurate stories (no doubt assisted by her lawyer father).
By LibriVox
Librivox: Horla, Der by Maupassant, Guy deJoin Now to Follow
Seltsame Dinge geschehen um den Ich-Erzähler, der seine Gedanken und Gefühle seinem Tagebuch anvertraut. Woher kommen die schrecklichen Albträume und wer trinkt nachts seine Wasserflasche leer? Ist er ein Schlafwandler, wird er langsam wahnsinnig oder ist es der Horla? Horla von franz. "hors de la" = "außerhalb". (Summary by Hokuspokus)
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Librivox: Flood-Tide Of Flowers by Van Dyke, HenryJoin Now to Follow
LibriVox volunteers bring you 9 recordings of Flood-Tide Of Flowers by Henry Van Dyke. This was the weekly poetry project for April 5th, 2009.
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Librivox: War and Peace, Book 10: 1812 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: Bag-Pipes at Sea by Scollard, ClintonJoin Now to Follow
LibriVox volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Bag-Pipes at Sea by Clinton Scollard. This was the weekly poetry project for February 15th, 2009.
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Librivox: 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors by Twain, MarkJoin Now to Follow
"1601," wrote Mark Twain, "is a supposititious conversation which takes place in Queen Elizabeth's closet in that year, between the Queen, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Sir Walter Raleigh, the Duchess of Bilgewater, and one or two others ... If there is a decent word findable in it, it is because I overlooked it." 1601 depicts a highfalutin and earthy discussion between the Queen and her court about farting and a variety of sexual peccadillos, narrated disapprovingly and sanctimoniously by the Queen's Cup-Bearer, an eyewitness at "the Social Fireside." [Summary by Denny Sayers]
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Librivox: Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Volumes 1 & 2 by Twain, MarkJoin Now to Follow
Mark Twain's work on Joan of Arc is titled in full "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte." De Conte is identified as Joan's page and secretary. For those who've always wanted to "get behind" the Joan of Arc story and to better understand just what happened, Twain's narrative makes the story personal and very accessible. The work is fictionally presented as a translation from the manuscript by Jean Francois Alden, or, in the words of the published book, "Freely Translated out of the Ancient French into Modern English from the Original Unpublished Manuscript in the National Archives of France." It was originally published as a serialization in Harper's Magazine beginning in 1895 and later published in book form in 1896. However the Harper's editors decided to cut 12 chapters that describe much of Joan's Great Trial, saying the chapters were not suitable for serialization since, "They will not bear mutilation or interruption, but must be read as a whole, as one reads a drama." This recording contains the complete text! De Conte is a fictionalized version of Joan of Arc's page Louis de Contes, and provides narrative unity to the story. He is presented as an individual who was with Joan during the three major phases of her life - as a youth in Domremy, as the commander of Charles' army on military campaign, and as a defendant at the trial in Rouen. The book is presented as a translation by Alden of de Conte's memoirs, written in his later years for the benefit of his descendants. Twain based his descriptions of Joan of Arc on his daughter, Susy Clemens, as he remembered her at the age of seventeen. Twain said, "I like Joan of Arc best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others; twelve years of preparation, and two years of writing. The others needed no preparation and got none." (Summary by Wikipedia and John Greenman)
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Librivox: Man in the Iron Mask, The by Dumas, AlexandreJoin Now to Follow
In this, the last of the Three Musketeers novels, Dumas builds on the true story of a mysterious prisoner held incognito in the French penal system, forced to wear a mask when seen by any but his jailer or his valet. If you have skipped the novels between The Three Musketeers and this, a few notes will bring you into the story: On one side – Aramis, now a bishop and secretly the Captain-General of the Jesuit Order, who believes he has found a path to a higher honor – the papacy. Monsieur Fouquet, the vastly rich minister of finance, Aramis’ ally. Philippe, the identical twin of King Louis XIV, who grew up in ignorance of his pedigree, and whose surrogate parents were murdered on the king’s order and himself sent into the notorious Paris prison, the Bastille, there held in solitary confinement. On the other side – King Louis XIV, selected as the twin who would be king by his mother, and who intends that his brother will never challenge him. Monsieur Colbert, first minister, who is jealous of Fouquet and plots his downfall. Unaligned and in danger of collateral damage – d’Artagnan, now captain of the King’s Musketeers and so the king’s chief defender, who suspects plots running beneath the surface and who is trying to unearth them. Athos, now the Comte (Count) de la Fer and one of the most respected noblemen of France. Raoul, Athos’ son and vicomte (viscount), desperately in love with Mademoiselle de la Valliere, who the king has taken as his mistress. Porthos, grown extremely stout and happy as the Baron du Vallon. Aramis discovers the hidden Philippe and hatches a plot to substitute him for the sitting king, putting Louis in Philippe’s cell in the Bastille. This even succeeds… for a short while. But Aramis has not reckoned with a man whose loyalty to the throne exceeds his own welfare and who disastrously reverses the plot. Now it is time for the plotters to scurry to cover, there to figure some way to recover their lost ambitions. (Summary written by Mark Smith.)
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Librivox: Casanovas Heimfahrt by Schnitzler, ArthurJoin Now to Follow
Casanova ist 53 Jahre alt und wünscht sich nichts sehnlicher, als in seine Heimatstadt Venedig, aus der er einst verbannt worden ist, zurückzukehren und macht sich voller Hoffnung, dieser Bann werde bald aufgehoben, auf die Heimfahrt. Unterwegs begegnet er Olivo, dem Gatten einer ehemaligen Geliebten. Da Casanova Olivo einst zu viel Geld verholfen hat, lädt dieser ihn dankbar zu sich auf sein Landgut. Dort trifft Casanova nicht nur seine ehemalige Geliebte wieder, sondern auch eine betörende junge Schönheit namens Marcolina, die gleich in ihm die alte Leidenschaft erweckt. Casanova bietet dem durchs Kartenspiel hochverschuldeten Liebhaber der Marcolina, Leutnant Lorenzi, viel Geld, um unerkannt und verkleidet eine Nacht bei Marcolina verbringen zu dürfen -- Lorenzi willigt ein, nimmt das Geld und gibt Casanova im Tausch seinen Mantel. Mit diesem bekleidet begibt sich Casanova nach Einbruch der Dunkelheit auf das Zimmer Marcolinas, um noch einmal seine alte Leidenschaft zu entfesseln. Als am nächsten Morgen die ersten Sonnenstrahlen durch das Fenster fallen, erkennt Marcolina, mit wem sie die Nacht verbracht hat. Der fliehende Casanova wird nun von Lorenzi zum Duell gestellt, wobei Lorenzi den Fechtkünsten Casanovas unterliegt und fällt. Schließlich, nach all diesen Abenteuern, macht sich Casanova wieder auf den Weg in seine alte Heimatstadt Venedig... (Summary by ekyale)
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