Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

This was the weekly poetry project for 14 May 2006. Spring’s flowers come and go all too quickly, but Wordsworth’s classic poem reminds us that their blessings last.

Pope Leo XIII (2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, reigned from 20 February 1878 to his death in 1903. He was the oldest pope (reigning until the age of 93), and had the third longest pontificate.He is well known for his intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his famous papal encyclical Rerum Novarum and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. He issued a record eleven encyclicals on the rosary earning the moniker the "Rosary Pope". This book includes ...

"Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Mountain of God: Mount Sinai. There Yahweh, through Moses, gives the Hebrews their laws and enters into a covenant with them, by which he will give them the land of Canaan in return for their faithfulness. The book ends with the construction of the Tabernacle." (Summary by Wikipedia)

Long Poems Collection 005: a collection of 10 public-domain poems longer than 5 minutes in length.

LibriVox’s Long Poems Collection 003: a collection of 8 public-domain poems longer than 5 minutes in length.

Little Men (published 1871) is considered the second book of the Little Women trilogy written by Louisa May Alcott. (The book Good Wives (1869) was originally the sequel to the novel Little Women (1868), however those two novels are now usually published as a single volume.) The final book of the trilogy is Jo's Boys (1886). Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at the Plumfield Estate School that she runs with her husband. The mischievous kids, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they become proper gentlemen and ladies. We ...

Noted macabre poet Charles Baudelaire later in life wrote this collection of brief sketches, what he deemed "little poems in prose". He thus employs his rich, romanticist skills in service of creating dream-like passages of ethereal beauty and dark turns of fate. His words may be both kind and cruel in turns but is always entrancing. Also included is an extensive biography of Baudelaire by James Huneker. (Summary by Ben Tucker)

The story is about Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. Through the events in the novel, Elinor and Marianne...

"The Story of the Exploration of Australia is one which we cannot willingly let die. There are many reasons for keeping alive the remembrance of such heroic deeds. It is due to the memory of those men who took their lives in their hands, and, in many cases, laid their bones in the desert; it is an act of gratitude on our part, who have entered on their labours; and it is a kind of information indispensable to every Australian who desires to know the history of his country." - Summary from the Author's Preface

Elizabeth von Arnim, author of Vera and The Enchanted April, takes us on a novelized journey through the German island and vacation getaway of Rügen. Here we meet and enjoy "Elizabeth", who solely, with only a maid and coachman, encounter several other quaint and intriguing characters and stories. This book is full of quick wit and WILL make you chuckle along the way! (Summary by Christine Rottger)

Elizabeth Bancroft went to England with her husband, historian George Bancroft, for three of the most dynamic years in European history. As Ambassador to England from the United States, George moved in the highest circles. In his wife's letters to their sons, her uncle, her brother, and Mrs. Polk (the President's wife), we see glimpses not only of early Victorian English life, but also of Queen Victoria herself! Mrs. Bancroft speaks of dinners with Benjamin Disraeli, visits to Wordsworth, weekends in the country with Louis Napoleon and Sir Robert Peel with such matter of fact aplomb that one ...

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné (5 February 1626 – 17 April 1696) was a French aristocrat famous for the precision, clarity, wit and vividness of her letters, which deal with personal issues and also with public events in the France of Louis XIV - Summary by Wikipedia

Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature. The immediate effect on critics was modest, but it became and remains a landmark, changing the course of English literature and poetry. Most of the poems in the 1798 edition were written by Wordsworth, with Coleridge contributing only four poems to the collection, including one of his most famous works, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. (Additionally, ...

In the years following World War I, Connie Chatterley finds that she is unhappy in her marriage. She begins a cross-class relationship with her gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. Content warning: This book contains explicit language. (Summary by Scarbo)

This is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories by Washington Irving. Irving lived at the Alhambra Palace while writing some of the material for his book. In 1828, Washington Irving traveled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain. At first sight, he described it as "a most picturesque and beautiful city, situated in one of the loveliest landscapes that I have ever seen." He immediately asked the then-governor of the historic Alhambra Palace as well as the archbishop of Granada for access to the palace, which was granted because of Irving's celebrity status. ...

LibriVox volunteers bring you seven different recordings of The Oxen, by Thomas Hardy. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of December 17th, 2006.

Wessex Tales is a collection of six short stories written by Hardy in the 1880’s. If you’ve never read Hardy they’ll serve as a good introduction to his writing. Though not as comprehensive as his major works they do contain all the ingredients that make him instantly recognisable. (Introduction by T. Hynes.)

Fresque sociale qui décrit les conditions de vie des mineurs au XIXème siècle, Germinal est le treizième roman de la série des Rougon-Macquart. Le roman retrace la vie d'Etienne Lantier, jeune mineur amoureux de Catherine Maheu, et de son combat pour une société plus juste. (résumé par Nadine) Germinal is the main book in the series "Rougon-Macquart" and describes the inhumane conditions in French mines in the 19th century.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Morning Work by D. H. Lawrence.This was the Weekly Poetry project for August 15, 2021. ------This Weekly poem is taken from Love Poems and Others by D. H. Lawrence (1913)(Summary by David Lawrence )

Eric, artist for the king, has created a marvelous painting of a royal wedding. It is finished except for the face of the queen, which appeared to him in a dream. When he awoke, he had forgotten the form of the features. Obsessed with recapturing this vision, he goes on a quest to find the woman because he cannot paint another stroke until he sees those eyes again. During his journey, he discovers much more, perhaps even the true meaning of his dream and of his life. - Summary by Amy Gramour