Today LibriVox welcomed the 4000th project to her catalog.
It’s: The Battle of Marathon by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Read by Nathan
Dedicated Proof-Listener: Betty M.
Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Nadine Eckert-Boulet
All details are on the catalog page.
You’ll find all other 3999 books over here.
News
4000 Projects
December Holidays
Another year is ending, and we at librivox celebrate the holidays and wrapped up 10 gems from our catalog.
In the German speaking countries in Europe, it is the custom to count the days until Christmas by opening one door daily of the ‘Adventskalender‘. We hope that you enjoy our acoustic one just as much – one small treat awaits you every day until Christmas.
December 2nd 1862, was the birthday of Florence L. Barclay. Her novel The Upas Tree is perfect for this season, although it is subtitled ‘A Christmas Story for all the Year’.
Something else to be aware of all year round are the “unalienable rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled”. They originate in the French Revolution, but have been updated, adopted, and proclaimed by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been translated in over 300 languages, 53 of which have been recorded for librivox.
Every scientist working in Physics, Chemistry or Medicine strives to be in Stockholm on the evening of December 10, where – under the auspices of the Swedish King – their lifetime achievements are honoured with the Nobelprize. Find out who (and why) received the Nobelprize in 1904, in one of our multilingual collections.
The closer Christmas Eve, the more nervous the children become. “Was I good enough to deserve any presents? What if Santa can’t find my house?” Give them something to occupy their minds – like learning a poem by heart: Snow Bound tells of 3 days John G. Whittier was trapped in his house by a snowstorm in his youth. With a mere 750 lines, this will keep your children busy for a while.
If you children are not quite up to the task – or you find that listening to a one hour snowstorm is just too daunting, you can always put on our recording of Grimms’ Fairy Tales. We can thank the two brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm from the early 19th century that “Snow White”, “Cinderella” and all the others are not forgotten today. We also have collections of their works in German and Danish.
Another story for all family to enjoy is The Christmas Angel by Abbie F. Brown. In a story reminiscent of Dickens, we hear of a grumpy old woman changing the way she thinks of other people.
Two more stories you may enjoy are “Merry Christmas” and “The Error of Santa Claus” by Stephen Leacock. However, somehow I feel they are more suitable for adults – why else would they be part of a collection called Frenzied Fiction?
Depending on where you live, you may celebrate Christmas – the birth of Jesus – on the 24 or 25 December. For hundreds of years people have asked whether the nativity story is just that – a story – or if Jesus was a real person. Follow Albert Schweitzer on his Quest of the Historical Jesus and see what he concludes.
Finally, we recommend Shakespeare‘s play Twelfth Night with hidden and mistaken identities, requited and unrequited loves, pranks and jokes abound in this romantic comedy, written for Christmas 1602.
Enjoy your holidays – hopefully with our books!
Fogs of November
Misty November has arrived, and who knows what’s lurking in its fogs… Nobody can know all the gems hiding in our catalog, but our flashlights light up 10 of them.
November starts with All Saints and All Souls Day. Listen to our Poems and Prose for the Departed to remember your loved ones.
More remembrance – of the end of World War I – is done all over the Commonwealth on November 11. Arthur G. West gives a first hand account of the “Great War” in his autobiographic Diary of a Dead Officer.
What happens after we die is only one of the questions that philosophers try to answer. Why not see what one of their greatest – Bertrand Russell – sees as The Problems of Philosophy?
Lets hope the dead can all rest in peace, and do not come back to haunt the living. Ghosts are known – and feared – all over the world. Lafcadio Hearn spent years in Japan collecting and translating local ghost stories. His Kwaidan is his best know collection.
Therese Raquin and her lover surely did not believe in her husband’s return when they decided to murder him. But then, why can’t they live happily ever after? Find out all about it in Emile Zola’s famous novel.
Men really are good at holding grudges. In Elizabeth Gaskell’s short novel, The Grey Woman is hunted by her husband because she found out about his dirty secret. Will he succeed to kill her or can she escape?
Admittedly, not all women are saints either… William H. Ainsworth tells about the Lancashire Witches of the 17th century. Part of the story is true, part of it is not. But where to draw the line?
If this has failed to placate the men around here, I suggest an enormous party on November 19 – International Men’s Day! Only the best for you – and something to strive for: 33 short biographical sketches of Famous Men of Our Times written by John H. Haaren.
With the guys busy with self-improvement, we can go back into the dark. But beware – here be the vampire! Listen to our brand new dramatic reading of Dracula by Bram Stoker.
We have kept the best for last: The unquestioned master of the horror genre: Edgar Allan Poe. His best known works are collected in the second volume of the Raven edition of The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. Are you sure you know them all?
Enjoy – and keep your flashlight handy!
Open Knowledge Foundation on LibriVox
There’s an interview with me up at the Open Knowledge Foundation blog about LibriVox and the Public Domain.