Freezing February

Posted on January 31, 2011 by | Posted in about LibriVox, Blog, Monthly Picks | Comments: 7 Comments on Freezing February

Large parts of the northern hemisphere are covered in snow. What better reason to sit down with a blanket and hot tea and enjoy 10 gems from our catalog.

Wearing socks and scarves is always a good idea to keep warm. Why not make them yourself, using our recording of Cornelia Mee’s Exercises in Knitting? Our volunteers even modernized the instructions and tried out the examples themselves – have a look!

What to do when housebound because of a snowstorm, and knitting is not your thing? Why not solve a mystery like little Dorothy Dale does together with her friends in her Queer Holidays, written by Margaret Penrose.

When you’re ready to get out again, it’s nice to explore the wintery landscape. No need to go as far as Robert F. Scott who wanted to be the first person at the South Pole. He arrived there on Jan. 17, 1912, beaten by 35 days by Amundsen, and his entire party perished on the way home. Read all about what became Scott’s last expedition in the first volume of his journals.

On the other end of the planet, two men end up alone to struggle for survival between the icebergs of the arctic. It does not help if one of them seeks to kill the other. Will they see the one woman they both love again? Find out in Wilkie Collins’ chilling novel The Frozen Deep.

Love is the driving force behind many things, and Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to express it! Read all about the love stories of Anthony and Cleopatra, Napoleon and Marie Walewska and many other couples in Lyndon Orr’s Famous Affinities of History.

Sometimes tragedies turn into wonderful love stories. What starts out with betrayal, death and abandonment ends “happily ever after” – not without the necessary Shakespearian twists of course – in The Winter’s Tale – one of our dramatic works.

To move back to our icy theme, we recommend the chilly love poem “Wind and Window Flower” written by Robert Frost and contained in his first collection of poems called A Boy’s Will.

We can now go back into the cold – into The Fur Country, to be precise. Jules Verne describes the adventures of some Hudson Bay Company officers, who establish a fort in the arctic. Everything seems idyllic – until the earthquake… This recording is also available in French.

William C. Russell was a sailor turned journalist turned writer. Many of his novels center around his experiences as a sailor, and the awakening of The Frozen Pirate can only lead to great adventures involving shipwrecks and treasure…

After all these chilling moments, it’s time to think of spring. Follow four ladies of good British society as they plan and finally experience an Enchanted April in Italy, in Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel.

Enjoy our books – and your tea!

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7 comments

  1. Meisie says:

    What a neat selection of books…makes me feel cold just to read the titles, but there certainly is something for everyone!

    I’m fascinated by the knitting one…meantime I’m off to download a good one to curl up with. Thank you!

  2. Thank you! This post inspired me to try “The Enchanted April” and I just love it!

  3. Anonymous says:

    It is a better time! I sugest to ready a Jane Austen’s book.

    Lovely

  4. jedopi says:

    There are quite a few books here that sound quite interesting. I am going to try Queer Holidays, The Frozen Deep, and Enchanted April. Thanks for the tips.

  5. Shannon says:

    Oh thank you so much for these new ways to find great recordings! I know about the forums and hunt for good listens, (not reads) but I love suggestions.
    I particularly like one reader and long.

  6. Corinne says:

    Thank you! I have 5 of these downloading now. I go through audio books quite fast as I listen to them while I work, for up to 8 hours each day. I usually browse the catalog or look at ‘what’s new’ so I was glad to see this new recommendation page! I don’t always listen to every book all the way through but on the other hand I have found hundreds of truly wonderful books through Librivox. I love this site!

  7. Rita says:

    I gotta tell you! I absolutely love Librivox! I work 10 hr. (sometimes 12 hr.) days, and these make the time go so much faster!

    I listen to a great variety, from your many offerings; history, westerns, classics, childrens stories (gotta screen for the grandchildren, don’t ya know.) Sometimes I am just entertained, and other times I am getting educated what with all of the History (‘This Country of Ours’, ‘What a great one’), and the Bible and more.

    You name it, and there is a good chance that Librivox has it!

    And when I am having a bad night of it at work, I’ll listen to the more humorous, such as the ‘Bear Creek Collection’, and of course ‘Anne of Green Gables’. I often have people at work catching me laughing outright.

    All of theses readings just make LIFE that much more enjoyablel. I am a very slow reader, and I’ve never ‘read’ so much in my life before.

    Thank you so much for helping me get through the Classics and more!

    I’ve even thought about getting in on the action myself, and reading a few, just not sure how.

    You people are a blessing!

    Again, THANK YOU!!!!!

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