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Adventurous July

Posted on June 30, 2011 by | Posted in Blog, Monthly Picks, News | Comments: 1 Comment on Adventurous July

July it is, and summer is at its peak in the Northern hemisphere. Just the right time to present 10 adventurous gems from our catalog.

Let’s begin with one of the oldest adventure stories, about the return of Ulysses from Troy. His Odyssey, described by Homer, took 10 years to complete, but more than 2600 years later, it is still read – even in ancient Greek!

Comparatively short was the journey of Joshua Slocum. However, 3 years of Sailing Alone Around the World on an 11.2 m fishing boat probably felt much longer…

A sea voyage only stands at the beginning of an adventure involving searching for El Dorado in the Andes, and avoiding revolutions and priestly dangers on the way. And on top of that, a woman needs rescuing from the The Web of the Golden Spider. Interested? Check out Frederick O’Barlett’s novel.

A lot of rescuing is needed by Pauline too. And all that just because she wanted to see the world before getting married. Follow The Perils of Pauline – and those of her fiance – in our dramatic reading of Charles Goddard’s novel.

Certainly no damsel in distress was May Kellogg Sullivan, A Woman Who Went to Alaska in 1899. She took two trips of 18 months each, and covered 12.000 miles in steamers and the fledgling railroad. And on the way she was staying with the rough guys in various mining camps…

The ancient King Solomon’s Mines lie supposedly somewhere in Africa. The old fable of enormous riches that can be found there spur Alan Quatermain on a journey through central Africa, in the famous novel by H. Rider Haggard.

The jungles of Bunyip Land need to be crossed by Joe Carstairs, a boy from Australia, in search of his father, a naturalist, whose tracks were lost in New Guinea. Whether he and his small search party will succeed or not, can be discovered in the book by George Manville Fenn.

One of the most famous, most expensive, and most dangerous search–and–rescue expeditions ended after an 8 month’s journey through the heart of Africa with “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”. Let’s hope the rest of the account on How I found Livingstone by Sir Henry M. Stanley is less dry…

Certainly more exciting are the books by Jules Verne, probably the best known writer of adventure stories. Here we present a lesser known novel Michael Strogoff, about a courier of Czar Alexander II, trying to do his duty during a rebellion. This book has also been recorded in Dutch.

In the end, let’s go back in time again, to the 8th – 11th century, when Beowulf was written. Listen to the beautiful poem describing how the young warrior kills the monster Grendel and is made King as a reward.

Enjoy our summer adventures – and your own!

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Chill Out June

Posted on June 1, 2011 by | Posted in about LibriVox, Blog, Monthly Picks | Comments: 4 Comments on Chill Out June

It’s June and hence time to prepare for summer with the following 10 gems of easy reading from our catalog.

During holidays, many people spend more time reading. To make sure this time is well spent, we recommend Literary Taste: How to form it, with lighthearted advice by Arnold Bennett to help you choose once you finished all our books.

This point will be far in the future, though maybe not quite as far as the year 2000 was for George Sutherland. He shares his 1901 predictions of the future in Twentieth Century Inventions: A forecast. Some of his glimpses into the future were quite a failure, some of them were spot on! Find out which ones…

Taking a plunge into the ocean is a wonderful way to cool down on a hot summer’s day. You’re stuck in the city? How about reading Ballads of Lost Haven: A Book of the Sea, containing a wonderful collection of poetry about the sea by Bliss Carman?

If the beach is too far away, a cool bath can be just as refreshing. or a stimulating conversation with a stranger. What happens if you combine those two and add a serious case of mistaken identities, is described in Porcelain and Pink, a delightful 1-act comedy by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Another case of mistaken identities… well, not really. After all, both Mr. Bultitude and his son Dick know perfectly well who they are. It’s just that they happen to occupy the other’s body… More details are given in the novel by F. Anstey, Vice Versa.

Both the young and the old cannot escape the fascination of circuses, adventure parks and the like. Neil Boyton packs his own childhood memories about growing up in the world of amusement parks into Killgloom Park, a book for boys and girls of all ages.

More recollections, namely the Memoirs of Jacques Casanova are on our list now. Written by Casanova himself in old age, we hear about his life of young age – and his numerous conquests of course – in the first of five volumes.

Instead of writing his memoirs, Mr. Fulton, a millionaire, is busy worrying about whom to leave all his money once he dies. Of course, he could simply pass (it) on, but he wants to make sure the money gets into the right hands. And so he goes undercover in E. H. Porter’s novel Oh Money, Money.

The prospect of heaps of money attracts distant relatives and other shady creatures. But who is this Arsène Lupin, a new Robin Hood, an undercover policeman, or just an ordinary misfit? Maurice Leblanc’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar tells 9 of his stories. A recording in the original French is also available.

Manasseh da Costa has no doubts where he’s standing. After all, he is The King of Schnorrers. His adventures in the ghetto, involving Jews and other people alike can be found in Israel Zangwill’s novel.

Enjoy – and have a relaxing June!

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Lovely May

Posted on April 30, 2011 by | Posted in about LibriVox, Blog, Monthly Picks, News | Comments: Comments Off on Lovely May

May has arrived, and this time we present 10 gems on and about love from the depths of our catalog.

Let’s start at the beginning with First Love, of which most of us have fond memories. In Ivan Turgenev’s novella, Vladimir Petrovich recounts his turbulent first romance…

If you don’t want troubles to happen in your relationship, you should take advice from Theodore Arnold Haultain. His Hints for Lovers cover all aspects of romance: from courtship to the first kiss until marriage and children.

On mother’s day (in most countries the 2nd Sunday in May) children take great pains to please their mothers. To avoid having this end in disaster, we recommend When Mother Lets us Cook by Constance Johnson – for children of all ages…

Good food and love sickness are often blamed for gaining weight – and young widow Molly has lots of the latter. While she’s trying to melt away her pounds, 4 suitors are trying to melt her heart. Who is going to succeed in The Melting of Molly, a novel by Maria Thompson Daviess?

Raina Petkoff faces a similar problem in George Bernard Shaw’s drama Arms and the Man. There is her fiance, just returned from the war, but a refugee whom she granted shelter the winter before also stakes his claims. The choice is hers – who will it be?

It’s always a choice whether to love or to leave. Sometimes the choice is made for the good of the other. How such a decision may lead to great pain for the other person after all is something that the protagonist of Camille, Alexandre Dumas (fils) famous novel, has to find out.

George Bellow hopes that the girl who just dumped him will see the errors of her ways eventually. Until then, he takes a walking tour through the country side, where he unexpectedly finds a friend and true love. Curious? Read The Money Moon by Jeffery Farnol.

Money was the driving force behind Charlotte Turner Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets and Other Poems. After all, by writing them she could earn enough money to get her out of jail…

Like a jail can a relationship feel when the love is gone. A woman, tightly bound in another commitment, finds some freedom while stargazing with a young astronomer. Find out about the fate of the Two on a Tower in Thomas Hardy’s novel.

Unfortunately those two would not have been able to verify Einstein’s theory of relativity. This was done when the sun was shining, or rather, during its eclipse on May 29, 1919. Read Easy Lessons in Einstein by Edwin E. Slosson to find out all about relativity.

Enjoy – and give love a chance!

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April Fools!

Posted on March 31, 2011 by | Posted in Blog, Monthly Picks, News | Comments: 1 Comment on April Fools!

Once more a new month has begun, and it’s no joke that once again we present 10 gems from our catalog.

Hopefully it’s not too late to prepare for April Fool’s Day! Our recording of Pathological Lying, Accusation and Swindling by William and Mary Healy tells you all there is to know about liars, so you will not be taken advantage of.

To avoid exactly that is the aim of rich Mr. Brewster, when his daughter appears with a brand new husband in the novel by P. G. Wodehouse. Will The Indiscretions of Archie be too much to bear for the unsuspecting father-in-law?

John Kendrick Bangs’ protagonist The Idiot proves to be quite trying company in Mrs. Smith-Pedagog’s boarding house. His table talk vexes all other guests, but is he really such a fool as everyone assumes?

Fools are certainly those who do not learn from history. The genocide on the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is denied, condemned, or seen as part of normal warfare. Read about Martyred Armenia in Fa’iz El-Ghusein’s autobiographical account of a Turk condemned to spectator.

While we can vow “never again” faced with human atrocities, we can only prepare for the worst and hope for the best when it comes to natural disasters. On April 18, 1906, The San Francisco Calamity by Earthquake and Fire happened. Charles Morris interviewed eyewitnesses for a first hand account of the catastrophe.

The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen also profess to be first hand accounts of real events, but who has already heard of the baron will take the stories in Rudolf Erich Raspe’s book with a grain of salt.

The same should young Vivie do in George Bernard Shaw’s play, after she excerts a promise from her mother to end her questionable business. But Mrs. Warren’s Profession is a profitable one, and luxuries are hard to give up…

Instead of giving up, what if somebody could take over your life for a while? Unfortunately the stand-in for John Chilcote turns out to be the better him. Find out if the politician is getting his life back in The Masquerader by Katherine Thurston.

Undercover agents are used to slip into the skin of other people, hopefully to protect the innocent. But even as Gabriel Syme turns into The Man Who was Thursday, it is still difficult to find out who needs protection in the story by G. K. Chesterton.

This year April ends with a long holiday weekend. Celebrate Easter with a selection of poems From The Temple on various religious topics by the Anglican priest George Herbert.

Enjoy – and don’t get fooled!

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