Building all kinds of housing – nests, burrows, hives – is a major occupation throughout the animal kingdom. One of the biggest achievements of man in this art is certainly the high gothic style, described in detail by John Ruskin in The Seven Lamps of Architecture.

What to do when huddled together in a drafty cave? Talking of course. The step to singing is but a tiny one. How to do it properly, is taught in How to Sing by Lilli Lehmann, considered one of the best singers of her time.

No great voice? You can learn an instrument instead! Clumsy fingers? In that case, the last resort is to become a critic. In How to Appreciate Music, Gustav Kobbé explains all you’ll need for the job.

A well versed and highly dangerous critic hides behind the mask of The Phantom of the Opera. Read the famous novel by Gaston Leroux and glimpse behind the scenes of the theater at their artists and patrons.

Homer De Vere has worked as an actor for ages, but now his voice is failing. The solution for his family is quickly found in the new – silent – film industry. Laura Lee Hope describes in The Moving Picture Girls how they adjust to the new medium.

Paintings cannot move or change. Except for The Picture of Dorian Gray of course, which records every little transformation of its motive, who instead lives on in eternal beauty. Have fun with our dramatic reading of Oscar Wilde’s horror story; or listen to a German translation of it.

William Blake is known for his dark and scary paintings, but also for his Poems. This collection contains his Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

Collecting famous paintings can be a very pricey hobby – and also a dangerous one. The lives of a nurse, a pawn shop owner and an art collector meet in The Pagan Madonna, an intriguing novel by Harold MacGrath, set in Shanghai.

Austria is where The Street of Seven Stars is located. Harmony studies violin to become a professional musician. When money runs out, Peter is determined to protect her. But who of them will have to sacrifice their passion? Find out in the love story by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Sarrasine, a young French sculptor, is also madly in love – with La Zambinella, an Italian singer. Honoré de Balzac describes the winding roads the youth is willing to travel in search for his art and his muse.

Enjoy – and be creative!

A Tech Infrastructure Overhaul

The Mellon grant will go towards rebuilding LibriVox’s technical infrastructure, and improving accessibility of the LibriVox website (we’re hiring a dev and project manager on contract, if interested, please apply, info here: LibriVox hiring).

“It’s fantastic to get this support from the Mellon Foundation,” said LibriVox founder Hugh McGuire. “It will be put to good use, helping our hard-working volunteers create many more free audiobooks. We’ve made 5,500 free audiobooks to date, and we hope to make many more in the future.”

LibriVox, a volunteer project of the Internet Archive, gets volunteers from around the world to make audio recordings of public domain texts, and gives those recordings away for free. All LibriVox audiobooks are hosted at the Internet Archive.

5,467 Free Audiobooks

Founded in 2005, LibriVox has to date produced 5,467 free audiobooks, in 31 languages. Popular audiobooks include “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” by Arthur Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, and “Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Brontë. In addition to novels, the LibriVox collection includes numerous texts of importance from philosophers such as Kant, Descartes, and Hume, political documents such as the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” and scientific texts including as Einstein’s “Relativity,” and Darwin’s “Origin of the Species.”

100 Million Downloads

“The LibriVox collection is one of the most popular on the Internet Archive,” said Brewster Kahle, Founder and Director of the Internet Archive. “100 million downloads is awesome. LibriVox is an integral part of our commitment to making important texts available to the world in the best format for people, and we are thrilled at the support from the Mellon Foundation.”

Cori Samuel, a long-time LibriVox volunteer, who has recorded some of the project’s more popular books, was in shock at the numbers. “It’s hard to believe that what started out as a small project among some passionate people on the web has turned into something so big. It’s incredible to imagine that we could have touched the lives of 100 million listeners.”

For More Information

For more information, please contact Hugh McGuire, LibriVox founder: hughmcguire@gmail.com.

* a technical project manager
* a sysadmin/advisor
* a PHP/Ruby developer

Pay range is “starving non-profit contract price” … or somewhere between $35-50/hour.

The objectives of the technical overhaul are:
1. To implement a LibriVox website redesign
2. To improve LibriVox’s internal workflow systems
3. To improve catalog accessibility through API
4. To complete a security audit
5. To assess server infrastructure

We are looking for some great people. Maybe you?

(see very bottom for how to apply).

PHP & Ruby developer

about 25-40 hrs/week over 20-30 weeks

The PHP & Ruby developer will be responsible for:

• Working with the technical project manager to define the scope of work
• Doing a full code review of existing LibriVox software
• Defining software engineering decisions and specifications for refactoring the work planned
• Refactoring existing LibriVox code
• Implementing a number of fixes and new features

You should have at least 2 years experience in software development, with expertise in:

• PHP
• Ruby
• MySQL
• LAMP stacks
• WordPress

The ideal candidate will have a degree in software engineering or computer science, or significant experience in developing and implementing web software. You should be comfortable working in a distributed project. And we’re looking especially for developers with experience in non-profit and open source communities, with many extra points for having experience in the LibriVox community.

Scroll down to see how to apply.

Technical project manager

10-20 hrs/week over 20-30 weeks

The technical project manager will be responsible for:

• coordinating work with the LibriVox volunteer community to better understand specific technical needs under the scope of the project
• defining the detailed scope of work with the other contractors, in conjunction with Internet Archive staff and senior LibriVox volunteers
• establishing a more detailed work plan
• ensuring timely delivery of technical progress
• establishing a detailed budget
• ensuring the project stays under budget and on time
• communicating progress to the LibriVox community (volunteers, listeners), to the Internet Archive, and to other stakeholders

Ideally you’ll have an Engineering or Management degree, or significant technical project management experience.

We’ll be happier if you’ve got experience working in non-profit, open source communities, and even happier if you have experience in the LibriVox community.

Scroll down to see how to apply.

Sysadmin/systems architect

The sysadmin/systems architect will be responsible for:

• Evaluating the current LibriVox systems and server setup
• Overseeing a security audit
• Working with the developer and project manager to propose an ideal hosting solution, including reduced costs
• Making a recommendation about longer-term hosting arrangements, with cost being a significant factor
• Depending on scale of work, possibly moving LibriVox to a new server setup.

The ideal candidate will have 5 years experience running MySQL systems, with particular experience running servers with big installations of phpBB forum software and WordPress installations.

Scroll down to see how to apply.

How to apply!

To apply please send the following items to jobs@librivox.org:

1. a brief description of why you’d like to help LibriVoix
2. a CV with references
3. a comment on your favourite LibriVox recording
4. MAKE SURE YOU TELL US WHAT POSITION YOU ARE APPLYING FOR

Henry Morgenthau was the US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire 1913 – 1916. He was one of the first and most prominent people to speak out against the Armenian genocide, an account of which can be found in his book Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story.

Tamburlaine the Great, a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe, is loosely based on the life of Timur the Lame. Its beginnings take us to Persia.

From there, we go straight to Kafiristan, a remote part of modern Afghanistan, where The Man Who Would be King is set. Two adventurers set up a scheme to become kings – if they succeed or not can be found out in the masterful story by Rudyard Kipling.

Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. His collection of essays Sadhana, the Realisation of Life, describes Indian culture, beliefs and philosophy from various points of view.

The first Anglo-Burmese War was fought over the control of northeastern India, and marked the beginning of the end of Burmese independence. On the Irrawaddy is a fictionalized account of the war, written by George A. Henty.

Probably the most famous account of Asian court life is Anna Leonowen’s book The English Governess at the Siamese Court. While a great success in the West, her memoir of six years with the Royal family is still deemed controversial in Thailand today.

Assume something terrible happens to you and all you want is to die – so you engage a hitman. But then you change your mind – and you have to get hold of the killer… This is essentially the plot of The Tribulations of a Chinaman in China, a humorous adventure by Jules Verne. We also have a French version of this book.

China was only the end of a long journey that started in Siberia and led Ferdinand Ossendowski also through Mongolia on his escape from the Bolshevik Revolution. Beasts, Men and Gods – which were the most dangerous?

One Hundred Verses of Old Japan is a compilation of Japanese poetry by 12th century poet Fujiwara no Teika. It contains one poem each from 100 poets. It has been translated into many languages, but we also have the Japanese original.

Young Crisostomo Ibarra returns to the Philippines after studying in Europe. He expects to get married to his childhood sweetheart, but the wrath of the local curate stands in their way… Read Noli Me Tangere, the novel by José Rizal, which led to the country’s revolution – and to the death of the author.

Enjoy your travels – and send a postcard!

Arabella, The Female Quixote, is a truly mighty woman. After all, she can kill with a mere look! Or so she believes… Read the wonderful parody of “Don Quixote” by Charlotte Lennox, and who knows, maybe Arabella can be cured by her fiance?

Miss Sara Sampson has just eloped with Bellefont, who promised to marry her. Much to the dismay of her father, and to that of the former mistress of the unfaithful Bellefont. Listen to G. E. Lessing’s drama as a furious Marwood uses all female tricks to get her lover back.

In Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening, the tables are turned: The female protagonist is the promiscuous one. Never before were the desires of a woman described so forthrightly, and the book promptly caused a scandal.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin caused many scandals too: she was smoking and wearing trousers at a time women were not supposed to. And she was able to sustain herself as writer – The Devil’s Pool is one of here novels (also available in French) – but only by writing under the male pseudonym George Sand.

At least she grew up in a time when a formal education for women was not a complete taboo any longer. Until then, many a Woman in Science faced almost insurmountable obstacles, as described in their biographies through the centuries, collcted by John Augustine Zahm.

With education off the list, the next item was: voting. And, just as with abolition, the frontiers ran right through families, like in The Sturdy Oak, a novel in 14 chapters by just as many authors. It tells the story of a newlywed lawyer who is deadset against suffragists… until his wife discovers she might be one herself…

A somewhat more realistic description of the suffrage movement is Eighty Years and More, the memoirs of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the best known suffragists of the United States, who was at times also working in Great Britain.

Voltairine de Cleyre was an important leading figure in the American anarchist movement, and a renowned writer and poetess. Here, we put a selection of her Poems in the spotlight.

At this early time of women’s lib, women travelling the world alone slowly became more common. Go with Ida L. Pfeiffer on A Visit to the Holy Land, Egypt and Italy. The proceeds of this book funded her next adventure: Iceland.

If you don’t have a husband or children, and you’re neither intersted in politics nor in foreign lands, you are bound to become a grumpy, lonely woman, like The Third Miss Symons in F. M. Mayor’s story. Right?

Enjoy – and pamper yourself!

Download audio file (librivox_community_podcast_125.mp3)

Duration: 31m 14s

Multilingual Performances – Part Two of a Two-Part Series.

With contributions from Piotrek81, Nadine Eckert-Boulet, Leni, & Martin Geeson.

Teaser & Intro 0:00
Piotrek81 2:07
“The Ackerman Steppe” read by Piotrek81 in Polish & Algy Pug in English 5:00
Nadine Eckert-Boulet 7:10
Nadine reading “Un Matin” in French 11:32
Martin Geeson on being sampled by a musician and the continuing language-averseness of the British 13:02
Leni on recording in Latin 16:24
Martin Geeson on his strange motivation to record multilingually for LibriVox 17:43
Leni on the Multilingual collection of Poe’s “The Raven” 21:10
“The Raven” A Multilingual Collage 24:30
Conclusion and Outro 29:55

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To Subscribe to the Librivox Community Podcast, go to:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast

Or hit this itunes link to get you to the subscribe page:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=203970211

Recent past LibriVox Community Podcast files can be found at our spot on: Archive.org and archived shows for previous years can be found at: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Archived shownotes for the Community Podcast can be found at:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/

And the rss feed for those shownotes is:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/feed

Download audio file (librivox_community_podcast_124.mp3)

Duration: 29m 17s

Multilingual Performances – Part One of a Two-Part Series.

With contributions from TriciaG, Karen Savage, Lars Rolander, Leni, Martin Geeson, and Kristin G.

Teaser & Introduction 0:00
TriciaG with non-English language catalog statistics 2:06
Karen Savage 3:22
Lars Rolander 5:49
Leni 12:16
Martin Geeson 18:39
Kristin 24:12
Outro 27:50

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To Subscribe to the Librivox Community Podcast, go to:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast

Or hit this itunes link to get you to the subscribe page:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=203970211

Recent past LibriVox Community Podcast files can be found at our spot on: Archive.org and archived shows for previous years can be found at: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Archived shownotes for the Community Podcast can be found at:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/

And the rss feed for those shownotes is:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/feed

Download audio file (librivox_community_podcast_123.mp3)

Duration: 25m 15s.

Dickens at 200

Charles Dickens – love him or hate him? Why is he still so popular 200 years after his birth?

With contributions from Lucy Perry, Martin Geeson and Andy Minter, and with readings from:

Mrs. Watkins-Tottle from Sketches by Boz read by David Lazarus (david lazarus)

Our Mutual Friend read by Mil Nicholson (mermaid)

Bleak House read by Cynthia Lyons (acrobatty)

Der Weihnachtsabend – Eine Geistergeschichte read by Elli (aravis)

Een Kerstlied in Proza read by Bart de Leeuw (bart)

Wigilja Bożego Narodzenia read by Nina Brown (NinaBrown)

Frauds on the Fairies in Charles Dickens 200th Anniversary Collection Vol. 1 read by NoelBadrian (due for release 7th February: Dickens’ 200th birthday)

Little Dorrit read by Ellis Christoff (eli_christoff).

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To Subscribe to the Librivox Community Podcast, go to:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast

Or hit this itunes link to get you to the subscribe page:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=203970211

Recent past LibriVox Community Podcast files can be found at our spot on: Archive.org and archived shows for previous years can be found at: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011

Archived shownotes for the Community Podcast can be found at:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/

And the rss feed for those shownotes is:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/feed

Let’s start in the West, in lovely green Ireland, where Clodagh, daughter of The Gambler Dennis Asshlin fights for her family’s honor – by marrying the wrong man. Find out in Katherine Thurston’s novel whether she can escape the Asshlin curse by traveling Europe.

When thinking about Portugal, one is often not aware what great discoveries we owe to this seafaring nation. The Lusiads by Luis Vas de Camões, a national epic in poem form, tells mainly about Vasco da Gama’s voyage to India.

To France we owe the first Declaration of Human Rights – and several great novels about people falsely accused and imprisoned. Read the tragic – and real – story of Alfred Dreyfus, an innocent sent to exile in Five Years of my Life 1894 – 1899.

Further to the North we get to another seafaring country, The Netherlands. With about 25 % of the country below sea level, water in all forms is an important topic. What more so when the big prize for the ice skating race is a pair of silver skates! Will Hans Brinker in the story by Mary Mapes Dodge win the race?

Värmland, a province of Sweden, also has many lakes and rivers. Selma Lagerlöf was born there and her debut novel The Story of Gösta Berling about a defrocked priest weaves local stories about cavaliers enjoying cards, music and loveaffairs, into a whole.

The end of love and marriage, and how it came about – by murdering his wife – is told by the main character of The Kreutzer Sonata, Pozdnyshev. This novel by Leo Tolstoy caused international outcries – and was promptly censored in Russia.

Eyes like the Sea is a love story between an artist and a woman who eventually chooses another husband. But the ties between them were made with rubber, loose and tight at different times… Mór Jókai’s novel won the 1890 prize for literature of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Switzerland is famous for its mountains, and climbing them is no science, you think? It certainly is if you are the first to do so – like Edward Whymper who finally seized the peak of the Matterhorn in 1865. This and many other climbing expeditions are recalled in his book Scrambles among the Alps in the Years 1860 – 69.

Another impressive mountain lies on Sicily: Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe. On the opposite side of the island, Luigi Pirandello was born, the third of so far six Italian Nobel Prize winners for literature. His most famous play is Six Characters in Search of an Author.

About 1400 islands and 80% of mountains combine to Greece, considered the true Old World and the cradle of modern civilization and democracy. Herodotus was one of the first people to write a travelogue, his Histories provide a fascinating record of numerous countries, their affairs and traditions in the 5th century BC.

Enjoy your travels – and send a postcard!

Download audio file (librivox_community_podcast_122.mp3)

Duration: 51m. 27s.

Part Two of a Two-Part Series on Performing in LibriVox Dramatic Works.

With contributions from Carol Box, Linny, Elizabeth Klett, Arielle Lipshaw, David Barnes, Ezwa, JemmaBlythe, Denny Sayers, Andy Minter, and Algy Pug.
 

Bob Gonzalez: Intro and Preview of the show 00:00
Carol Box (carolb) on her experience reading dramatic parts for LibriVox 01:02
Linny on The Orange-Yellow Diamond and dramatic adaptations of fiction 03:24
Bob Gonzalez on working with Elizabeth Klett and Arielle Lipshaw 06:41
Elizabeth Klett (gloriana) dispelling a scandalous rumor 11:09
Arielle Lipshaw (wildemoose) on her LibriVox dramatic experiences 14:39
Bob Gonzalez on Barks & Purrs by Colette-Willy 21:22
 

King Lear in a week

Bob Gonzalez Intro 25:32
David Barnes (earthcalling) on the origin of the project 25:54
Ezwa on playing the King of France 31:55
JemmaBlythe on playing Regan 33:34
Denny Sayers (DSayers) on playing the Earl of Kent 35:05
Andy Minter (ExEmGee) on playing King Lear 38:38
 

Bob Gonzalez on his suggestion to Algy Pug 42:32
Algy Pug on “Why Another Two Lears?” 43:55

Bob Gonzalez – Conclusion & Outro 49:59

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To Subscribe to the Librivox Community Podcast, go to:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibrivoxCommunityPodcast

Or hit this itunes link to get you to the subscribe page:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=203970211

Recent past LibriVox Community Podcast files can be found at our spot on: Archive.org and archived shows for previous years can be found at: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Archived shownotes for the Community Podcast can be found at:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/

And the rss feed for those shownotes is:
http://librivox.org/category/librivox-community-podcast/feed