The Audiobooks Reviews

The Sea Hawk is a novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1915. The story is set in the late 16th century, and concerns a Cornish sea-faring gentleman, Sir Oliver Tressilian, who is villainously betrayed by a jealous brother. After being forced to serve as a slave on a Spanish galley, Sir Oliver is liberated by Barbary pirates. He joins the pirates under the name ‘Sakr-el-Bahr’, the hawk of the sea, and swears vengeance against his brother.

My Review

Simply put, I enjoyed this. I downloaded it without reading the official blurb, expecting it to be a history of the British sailor known as “the Sea Hawk”. Nope, I got that wrong.

What we have here is a story of the sea, betrayal and love. In the tradition of these older books we have the set up, the recovery, the chance for revenge, and the endgame. The story is not your hyper paced modern adventure but rather a steady series of events that explore the characters and their motivations.

I was enthralled by the story slipping an episode of this story between every other podcast I’ve been listening to, and was happily satisfied by the ending.

Well worth listening to. A little word of warning, there is a bit of noise on this recording, not hiss, more of a hum. It’s not on all of the episodes and is easily ignored.

Reading 2/3
Production 1/3
Story 2/3

Total Score 5/9

This book is available from Librivox.

There is an Audio Promo for this book.

Source: Librivox
Length: 7 hr, 33 min
Reader: Adrian Praetzellis

The book: This classic boy’s adventure follows Jim Hawkins out of his innkeeper’s life and into the world of pirates, danger, and buried treasure. Stevenson’s imaginative mind introduced several new concepts into pirate literature, including the parrot on the shoulder and “X marks the spot” pirate maps. The story takes a few chapters to get underway as Stevenson takes extra time to build up a sense of foreboding, which pays off later in dividends of excitement as the action comes to fruition. On the other hand, the ending seems to arrive too quickly, with room for a sequel that Stevenson never got to write (though others have tried).

I first tried to read Treasure Island as a boy, but the combination of nautical terms and antiquated language made it a frustrating attempt. Coming back to the book with the experience of reading many 19th century books and a few Patrick O’Brian novels, I am now able to enjoy it more thoroughly. I find it incredible that a book written for boys such a long time ago still has the power to thrill an adult of the 21st century.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Adrian Praetzellis is my favorite Librivox reader. As I mention above, Stevenson’s language can be a barrier to the enjoyment of the story, but Praetzellis’s narration goes a long way toward bypassing this difficulty by making the meaning clear through his tone. Each character is given an interesting voice, using a multitude of accents. His action of Long John Silver brings out the Sea Cook’s beguiling friendliness as well as his hidden danger. When all the pirates sing “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum”, Praetzellis overdubs his voice to produce a chorus of the required size. This type of attention to every aspect of the recording reflects why this audiobook is so enjoyable.

Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir, de Georges Courteline, parut, pour la première fois, en feuilleton, dans l’Echo de Paris, au cours des années 1891-1892. Une version légèrement remaniée fut éditée, sous forme de livre, par Flammarion, en 1893.

Le livre, constitué d’une suite de cinq tableaux, narre la vie de quelques employés d’un service administratif - celui des Dons et Legs - dont l’activité, suivie pendant quelques jours, dresse, sous le mode de la comédie, une satire féroce du monde des employés de bureau.
(par Aldor)

• Wikipedia (français) - Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir
• Wikipedia (français) - Georges Courteline
• Wikipedia (English) - Georges Courteline
• LibriVox’s Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (122.5MB)

Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society comprised entirely of Aryan women who reproduce via parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict and domination. It first appeared as a serial in Perkin’s monthly magazine Forerunner. (Summary from Wikipedia)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Wikipedia - Herland
• LibriVox’s Herland Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (160.5M)

Wladimir Dubrowskij ist der Sohn eines Kleinadligen, dessen väterlicher Besitz durch seinen frühreren Freund und Nachbarn Kirila Petrowitsch Trojekurow durch Tücke in Beschlag genommen wird. Aus Rache beginnt Dubrowskij ein Dasein als Räuber, wobei er nur Reiche überfällt und die Armen verschont. Jedoch verliebt er sich in Trojekurows Tochter, schleicht sich waghalsig in dessen Gut ein, und wird letzten Endes entdeckt. (Summary by Herr Klugbeisser)

Vladimir Dubrovsky is the son of a nobleman whose father’s property is seized by his neighbour, Kirila Petrovitch Troekurov. Seeking revenge, Dubrovsky starts a a bandit’s life, assaulting only the rich, but sparing the poor. However, he falls in love with Troekurov’s daughter, daringly sneaks into his house, but is discovered at the end of the day. Read in German by Herr Klugbeisser.

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Alexander Pushkin
• Wikipedia - Dubrovsky
• Wikipedia - Alexander Eliasberg
• LibriVox’s Dubrowskij Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book 83.1MB

The story: “Anda’s Game” uses the setting of an online fantasy game to explore how world-spanning issues of responsibility are present even in the games people play. Like much of Doctorow’s science fiction that I’ve read, this story takes place in a near-future or slightly alternate present. Anda, a high school girl, spends most of her time playing a World of Warcraft-like game. She and Lucy, a friend Anda meets through an online gaming group called the Fahrenheits, begin taking on in-game quests of a very unusual nature. As Anda begins to realize these quests are morally questionable, she is caught up in a situation she knows is wrong, but feels powerless to alter.

Doctorow fits a number of societal issues into his fiction and this story is no exception. His knowledge and care for his characters allow his handling of childhood obesity and game addiction to avoid the crassness of TV news shock stories. The story touches on rarely-discussed questions about sweatshop labor, world economy, and virtual economies. The story does not try to provide the answer to all these thorny issues, but instead suggests that relying on others through honest communication is the starting point for solving difficult problems, be they personal or international.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: Alice Taylor has a mumbly British accent, which makes it sometimes difficult to understand, but fits the main character perfectly. While individual words are sometimes unintelligible, whether through pronunciation or slang usage, the meaning is always clear. When a character in the story types, Taylor types along on her keyboard, making an aural equivalent to what authors sometimes do by changing typeface or indentation to indicate a written conversation over computer. Each of the three episodes is introduced and ended by Doctorow’s own comments on the story and his personal life.

Source: Craphound.com
Length: Approx. 1 hr
Reader: Alice Taylor

“This is a marvelous, inspiring, usable gem of a guide for parents of these challenging and rewarding children”

Marjorie Hogan, M. D. pediatrician, Minneapolis Children’s Medical Center
The spirited child-often called “difficult”-can easily overwhelm parents, leaving them feeling frustrated and inadequate. Spirited kids are, in fact simply more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, and uncomfortable with change than the average child. Through vivid examples and a refreshingly positive viewpoint, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka offers parents emotional support and proven strategies for handling their spirited child. She will help you:

- Understand your child’s - and your own - temperamental traits
- Discover the power of positive - rather than negative - labels
- Cope with tantrums and blowups when they do occur Develop strategies for handling mealtimes, bedtimes, holidays, school, and many other situations.

Filled with personal insight and authoritative advice, Raising Your Spirited Child can help make parenting the joy it should be, rather than the trial it con be.

Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, M. A., has more than twenty years experience as a pioneer and award-winning educator in Minnesota’s Early Childhood Family Education Program, and is the founder of the Spirited Child workshops. A licensed teacher and parent educator, she lives with her family in Eagan, Minnesota.

Recently, temperament traits have come to the forefront of child development theory. In Raising Your Spirited Child, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka’s first contribution is to redefine the “difficult child” as the “spirited” child, a child that is, as she says, MORE. Many people are leery about books that are too quick to “type” kids, but Kurcinka, a parent of a spirited child herself and a parent educator for 20 years, doesn’t fall into that trap. Instead, she provides tools to understanding your own temperament as well as your child’s. When you understand your temperamental matches–and your mismatches–you can better understand, work, live, socialize, and enjoy spirit in your child. By reframing challenging temperamental qualities in a positive way, and by giving readers specific tools to work with these qualities, Kurcinka has provided a book that will help all parents, especially the parents of spirited children, understand and better parent their children.

Kurcinka’s now-classic guide to raising children who are “more”-more intense, more sensitive, more persistent, etc.-gets a greatest-hits treatment in this brief audio version read by the author, a teacher and parent educator. The abridgement can be abrupt at times; in the effort to condense a 300-page book to a three hours, many memorable and useful examples, illustrations and anecdotes have been excised in favor of general principles and descriptions of the basic traits common to spirited children. Helpfully, though, each CD is imprinted with track titles and time signatures, a great boon to parents who want to retrieve specific information quickly. Kurcinka’s voice can sometimes be a problem; it tends to trail off to such a low end-of-sentence volume that listeners may have to strain to catch what she is saying. Kurcinka never really achieves a deep or comfortable vocal resonance even at the best of times, though she does exhibit a quiet dramatic intensity despite the brittle, high tones. In all, it’s difficult to justify the additional $10 this audio costs over the far meatier trade paperback version, which offers considerably more bang for the buck.

How many times had I heard, “yup, he’s all boy” or “he sure is active”, or “he just needs a good spanking”…but I always felt that no one truly understood what I was going through with my “spirited” child. I read “The Strong Willed Child” by Dobson, I read “The Dicipline Book” by Dr. Sears, still nothing seemed to explain the problems I was having with my child. I had just about decided that I must have done something wrong to make him behave the way he does, when I found this book. What a relief! It isn’t anything I have done to make my son the way he is. But the book gave me such practical and effective advice on how to work with his personality instead of against it.

Any parent of a spirited child will tell you that traditional discipline techniques don’t work. Time outs? Are you kidding? I’dd have to tie my kid into a chair or lock him in his room! Now I realize what sets him off and I can often avoid the “naughty” behavior. No more quick trips to the bank or grocery store after preschool. He is totally tapped out by the time he gets home, and it is time for quiet/alone time in his room so he can recharge and be sociable again.

My parents kept telling me he should be sleeping through the night, when at age 2 he still was waking up during the night. In their eyes, he was just spoiled. “Let him cry” they would say. What they didn’t understand, was that a spirited child does not cry themselves to sleep like other children, they cry themselves awake! Sometimes to the point of vomiting because they get so worked up!

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is, this book truly saved my sanity. I feel like a better parent as a result of it and I know my relationship with my son has improved dramatically.

Grace Abounding is the spiritual autobiography of John Bunyan, who also penned Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps one of the most significant pieces of Christian literature, second only to the Bible. Grace Abounding follows Bunyan’s struggle to find true repentance and forgiveness, his battle with Satan’s temptations of unbelief, his comfort found in the Bible and his overarching victory gotten by the grace of God through Jesus Christ his Son. Readers familiar with Pilgrim’s Progress will recognize that many of the allegorical points in his famous work came out of Bunyan’s own struggles and discoveries, and it has been said that Bunyan could not have written Pilgrim’s Progress without first going through the battles chronicled in Grace Abounding.

(Summary by Stephen Escalera)

• CCEL.org e-text
• Wikipedia - John Bunyan
• LibriVox’s Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (112.0MB)

As I promised last week, I told you I’d share with you Daniel Fu’s preliminary rough sketches of Denton and Monty. First, we’re going to take a look at Denton.

To refresh your memory, here again is the description I gave to Daniel regarding Denton’s appearance, dress, and demeanor.

Denton Ward - take a peek at Guy Pearce from Memento. Over 6′ tall. Thin. Short, messy blonde hair. Circular or aviator rim sunglasses. White button down shirt. Black trench coat. Tie. Black slacks with cuffs at bottom. Black socks, black penny loafers. Pale complexion. Dour or serious expression on his face. Expensive wrist watch. Pack of cigarettes in shirt pocket. Maybe have him smoking one. You should be able to see his eyes through his sunglasses. Remember Keanu Reeves from ‘Constantine’? If we can see his wrists, he does have scars on the inside of them, as he has tried to commit suicide at least once that we know of. The tie is the only splash of color he wears. Let’s make the cigarettes a red and white Marlboro pack, as it’s easily recognizable. He fastidious and neat.

Now let’s see how Daniel did with this first sketch:

Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography, written under the pseudonym Linda Brent, details her experiences as a slave in North Carolina, her escape to freedom in the north, and her ensuing struggles to free her children. The narrative was partly serialized in the New York Tribune, but was discontinued because Jacobs’ depictions of the sexual abuse of female slaves were considered too shocking. It was published in book form in 1861. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett).

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - Harriet Jacobs
• Wikipedia - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
• LibriVox’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book - 224.2

Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians (often simply called To the Philippians) composed around 110 to 140 AD [1] is described by Irenaeus as follows: There is also a forceful epistle written by Polycarp to the Philippians, from which those who wish to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth. (J. Stevenson, A new Eusebius [London: SPCK, 1965] p. 120) This is one quote from the epistle: ‘Stand fast, therefore, in this conduct and follow the example of the Lord, ‘firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of the brotherhood, loving each other, united in truth,’ helping each other with the mildness of the Lord, despising no man.’ (Summary from Wikipedia)

• CCEL e-text
• Wikipedia - Polycarp
• Wikipedia - Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians
• LibriVox’s The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book 7.2 MB

The opinions expressed are not necessarily those LibriVox or of anyone involved in the production of this book.

‘On the road to Cairo one may see twenty groups exactly like that of the Holy Family in the pictures of the Flight into Egypt; with only one difference. The man is riding on the ass.’ (Summary from Wikipedia)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - G. K. Chesterton
• Wikipedia - The New Jerusalem
• LibriVox’s The New Jerusalem Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book 292.2 MB

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 065: a collection of 20 public-domain poems.

• LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 065 Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (25.5MB)

http://media.libsyn.com/media/blogrelations/emperornewclothes.mp3

The Emperor is enormously vein and likes nothing better than to show off his clothes. Two weavers comes to his court saying that they makes clothes that are like no others - anyone who is simple in the head, or unfit for his job, will not be able to see them.

All the courtiers say that the clothes are quite magnificent, and the Emperor plans to wear his new suit for the procession through the center of the City.

The moral of this story rings so very true ! What we are doing is totally absurd, but we can’t stop because everybody else seems to believe that it’s the right thing to do. And yet they can probably see it’s just as ridiculous as we can.

The little boy who literally sees through the Emperor’s New Clothes only appears for a moment, and yet he is one of the greatest heroes of all fairy tales - for he speaks the truth that nobody else dares to speak.

Read by Natasha. Duration 18 min.

Many years ago, there was an Emperor, who was so excessively fond of new clothes, that he spent all his money on the finest suits.

He did not trouble himself in the least about his soldiers; nor did he care to go to the theatre or out hunting, except when there was a chance to show off his new clothes.

He had a different suit for each hour of the day. Just as you might say of any other king or emperor, ‘He is sitting in his council’ - people used to say of him, ‘He is sitting in his wardrobe.’

Time passed merrily in the large town which was his capital; strangers arrived every day at the court. One day, two rogues, calling themselves weavers came to the court. They said that they knew how to weave clothes of the most beautiful colors and elaborate patterns. The clothes made from their cloths were like no others: They were invisible to everyone who was either unfit for their job, or extremely simple in the head.

‘These must, indeed, be splendid clothes!’ thought the Emperor. ‘Had I such a suit, I might at once find out what men in my empire are unfit for their jobs, and also be able to tell the wise from the foolish! This stuff must be woven for me immediately.’

And he ordered large sums of money to be given to both the weavers so that they might begin their work.
So the two false weavers set up two looms, and pretended to work very busily, though in reality they did nothing at all. They asked for the most delicate silk and the purest gold thread; put both into their own knapsacks; and then continued their pretend work at the empty looms until late at night.

‘I should like to know how the weavers are getting on with my cloth,’ said the Emperor to himself, after some little time had gone by; he was, however, rather embarrassed, when he remembered that a simpleton, or someone unfit for his office, would be unable to see the results of their work.

To be sure, he himself not have any trouble seeing the clothes, but yet, thought it would be better to send somebody else to report on the weavers and their work.

All the people throughout the city had heard of the wonderful cloth; and all were anxious to earn how wise, or how ignorant, their neighbors might prove to be.

‘I will send my faithful old minister to the weavers,’ said the Emperor at last, after some thought ‘he will be best able to see how the cloth looks; for he is a man of sense, and no one can be more suitable for his office than he is.’

So the faithful old minister went into the hall, where the knaves were working with all their might, at their empty looms. ‘What can be the meaning of this?’ thought the old man, opening his eyes very wide. ‘I cannot see the least bit of thread on the looms.’ However, he did not speak his thoughts aloud.

The tricksters asked him very politely to be so good as to come nearer their looms; and then asked him whether the design pleased him, and whether the colors were not very beautiful; at the same time pointing to the empty frames. The poor old minister looked and looked, he could not see anything on the looms, for a very good reason: there was nothing there.

‘What!’ thought he again. ‘Is it possible that I am a simpleton? I have never thought so myself; and no one must know it now if I am so. Can it be, that I am unfit for my office? No, that must not be said either. I will never confess that I could not see the stuff.’

‘Well, Sir Minister!’ said one of the knaves, still pretending to work. ‘You do not say whether the stuff pleases you.’

‘Oh, it is excellent!’ replied the old minister, looking at the loom through his spectacles. ‘This pattern, and the colors, yes, I will tell the Emperor without delay, how very beautiful I think them.’

‘We shall be much obliged to you,’ said the impostors, and then they named thedifferent colors and described the pattern of the pretended stuff. The old minister listened attentively to their words, in order that he might repeat them to the Emperor; and then the knaves asked for more silk and gold, saying that it was necessary to complete what they had begun. However, they put all that was given them into their knapsacks; and continued to work with as much pretend effort as before at their empty looms.

The Emperor now sent another officer of his court to see how the men were getting on, and to find out whether the cloth would soon be ready. It was just the same with this gentleman as with the minister; he looked at the looms on all sides, but could see nothing at all but the empty frames.

‘Does not the stuff appear as beautiful to you, as it did to my lord the minister?’ asked the impostors of the Emperor’s second ambassador; at the sametime making the same gestures as before, and talking of the design and colors which were not there.

‘I certainly am not stupid!’ thought the messenger. ‘It must be, that I am not fit for my good, well-paid job! That is very odd; however, no one shall know anything about it.’ And therefore he praised the stuff he could not see, and declared that he was delighted with both colors and patterns. ‘Indeed, please your Imperial Majesty,’ said he to the emperor when he returned, ‘the cloth which the weavers are preparing is extraordinarily magnificent.’

The whole city was talking of the splendid cloth which the Emperor had ordered to be woven at his own expense.

And now the Emperor for himself wished to see the costly manufacture, while it was still in the loom. Accompanied by a select number of officers of the court, among whom were the two honest men who had already admired the cloth, he went to the crafty impostors, who, as soon as they knew the Emperor was on his way, went on working more hard than ever; although they still did not pass a single thread through the looms.

‘Is not the work absolutely magnificent?’ said the two officers of the crown, who already who had been before: ‘If your Majesty will only be pleased to look at it! What a splendid design! What glorious colors!’ and at the same time they pointed to the empty frames; for they imagined that everyone else could see this exquisite piece of workmanship.

‘How is this?’ said the Emperor to himself. ‘I can see nothing! This is indeed a terrible affair! Am I a simpleton, or am I unfit to be an Emperor? That would be the worst thing that could happen’-'Oh! the cloth is charming,’ said he, aloud. ‘It has my complete approval.’ And he smiled most graciously, and looked closely at the empty looms; for on no account would he say that he could not see what two of the officers of his court had praised so much.

All his retinue now strained their eyes, hoping to discover something on the looms, but they could see no more than the others; nevertheless, they all exclaimed, ‘Oh, how beautiful!’ and advised his majesty to have some new clothes made from this splendid material, for the public procession which was due to take place soon.

‘Magnificent! Charming! Excellent!’ everyone said on all sides; and everyone was uncommonly cheerful. The Emperor shared in the general satisfaction; and presented the impostors with the riband of an order of knighthood, to be worn in their button-holes, and the title of ‘Gentlemen Weavers.’

The rogues sat up the whole of the night before the day on which the procession was to take place, and had sixteen lights burning, so that everyone might see how anxious they were to finish the Emperor’s new suit. They pretended to roll the cloth off the looms; cut the air with their scissors; and sewed with needles without any thread in them. ‘See!’ cried they, at last. ‘The Emperor’s new clothes are ready!’

And now the Emperor, with all the grandees of his court, came to the weavers; and the rogues raised their arms, as if holding something up, saying, ‘Here are your Majesty’s trousers! Here is the scarf! Here is the cloak! The whole suit is as light as a cobweb; one might fancy one has nothing at all on, when one is dressed in it; that, however, is the great virtue of this delicate cloth.’

‘Yes indeed!’ said all the courtiers, although not one of them could see anything of this exquisite manufacture.

‘If your Imperial Majesty will be graciously pleased to take off your clothes, we will fit on the new suit, in front of the looking glass.’

The Emperor was accordingly undressed, and the rogues pretended to array him in his new suit; the Emperor turning round, from side to side, looking in the glass.

‘How splendid his Majesty looks in his new clothes, and how well they fit!’ everyone cried out. ‘What a design! What colors! These are indeed royal robes!’

‘The canopy which is to be carried over your Majesty, in the procession, is waiting,’ announced the chief master of the ceremonies.

‘I am quite ready,’ answered the Emperor. ‘Do my new clothes fit well?’ asked he, turning himself round again before the looking glass, in order that he might appear to be examining his handsome suit.

The lords of the bedchamber, who were to carry his Majesty’s train felt about on the ground, as if they were lifting up the ends of the robes. and pretended to be carrying something; for they would by no means let anyone see that they were simple or unfit for their jobs.

So now the Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of the procession, through the streets of his capital; and all the people standing by, and those at the windows, cried out, ‘Oh! How beautiful are our Emperor’s clothes! What a magnificent train there is to the robes and how gracefully the scarf hangs!’ In short, no one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit for his job. Certainly, none of the Emperor’s various suits, had ever made so great an impression, as these invisible ones.

‘But the Emperor has nothing at all on!’ said a little child.

‘Listen to the voice of innocence!’ exclaimed his father; and what the child had said was whispered from one to another.

‘But he has nothing at all on!’ at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was suddenly embarrassed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought the procession must go on now! And the lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up the robes although, in reality, there were no robes at all.

And that’s the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen.

Bertie says that in real life, people are often more silly in a crowd than they are on their own. If you think that everybody else believes something, then it must be true - and you have to be very brave to be like the little boy in the story and stand up and say what can see with your own eyes.

Greetings from the breakfast room of the Ramada Inn, Anchorage. Morning #1 of vacation. The coffee here is really terrible.

Source: Podiobooks.com
Length: Approx. 7.5 hrs
Reader: Nathan Lowell

The book: This science fiction novel follows a young man named Ishmael (yes, really) as he takes a job on a interstellar cargo ship following the death of his mother. He gets a position as one of the lowest-ranked members of the crew, a quarter share, meaning that he gets one-fourth of what a fully qualified sailor would make as a share of the ship’s profits. Ishmael begins to adjust to life aboard the trader and starts making plans to improve his situation in life through trading and advancement in crew specialties.

This book often reminded me of Robert E. Heinlein classic, Have Spacesuit, Will Travel. Ishmael’s story has the same mix of space adventure with a gentle didacticism. Watching Ịshmael pull himself up by his bootstraps through hard work and gumption makes for a gratifying read. However, as I listened to this book, I couldn’t help but think something was missing. Quarter ?hare is enjoyable enough in its world-building and minor struggles of the daily life aboard a space trader, but I felt like it needed a more robust framework on which to hang these trappings. A mystery, a personal conflict, or a conspiracy - any of these could’ve added some weightiness to the fairly straightforward story. Quarter Share has two sequels already and more are being written, so perhaps some twists are yet to come.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: Lowell does a good job of reading his own work. He does voices for many of his characters, which gives them a bit more depth than the printed word would. The recordings are high-quality professional productions. Each episode begins with a summary of the previous episode, which is a bit tiresome for those of us who read the book straight through, but may be useful for those who take advantage of Podiobook’s other delivery options such as one file per week. The individual mp3 files are bookended by beautiful hornpipe music which gives this science fiction story an old-time nautical feel.

Magic, fairies, young lovers chasing each other through a forest, a man with a donkey’s head, and impish Puck wreaking havoc right and left. What’s going on here? It’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare at his most fanciful. The play opens with Theseus, Duke of Athens, preparing for his wedding. Egeus complains to Theseus that his daughter Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius. When Hermia is given the choice between marriage to Demetrius or life as a nun, she and her true love Lysander flee into the forest. Demetrius follows them; and Helena, who loves Demetrius, follows him. Also in the forest are Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, at odds with one another. At Oberon’s behest, Puck causes Demetrius to fall in love with Helena - oops, he missed, that was Lysander instead. Mayhem ensues. In the meantime, a group of bumbling craftsmen rehearses a play. Puck gives one of them, Bottom, the head of an ass and makes Titania fall in love with him. Further hilarity results as Bottom sees nothing at all odd about this. Eventually everything is straightened out, Bottom and the rest ‘perform’ their play, there is a triple wedding, and Puck assures us the whole thing has been a dream. Number of quotes you know: 5 (what fools these mortals be). Useful insults: 19. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)

Cast:

Theseus, Duke of Athens - Mark F. Smith
Egeus, father to Hermia; and Snout, a tinker - John Lieder
Lysander, in love with Hermia - mb
Demetrius, in love with Hermia - David O’Connell
Philostrate, master of the revels - Philippa
Quince, a carpenter - Brian Edwards
Snug, a joiner - Elizabeth Klett
Bottom, a weaver - Simon Taylor
Flute, a bellows-mender - David Nicol
Starveling, a tailor - Jessica Miller
Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons - Cori Samuel
Hermia, daughter to Egeus, in love with Lysander - Laurie Anne Walden
Helena, in love with Demetrius - Rosalind Wills
Oberon, king of the fairies - Fr. Richard Zeile of Detroit
Titania, queen of the fairies - Deborah Irving
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow - Karen Savage
Peaseblossom - Larysa Jaworski
Cobweb - Charlene V. Smith
Moth - Alana Jordan
Mustardseed - Jamie Ash Young
Stage directions - Paul Williams

Fairy song composed by Rosalind Wills; performed by Rosalind Wills and Larysa Jaworski

Audio edited by Cori Samuel and Laurie Anne Walden

• MIT e-text
• Wikipedia - William Shakespeare
• Wikipedia - A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• LibriVox’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book 59.7MB

Ce onzième livre des fables de Jean de La Fontaine est celui qui contient le plus petit nombre de fables: 10. Toutefois, les textes de ces fables sont plus élaborés que ceux des textes des premiers livres du fabuliste. Le message est plus songé et aussi: moins accessible, ce qui pourrait expliquer que ces fables soient moins connues du grand public.
(de Jean Lambert )

• Wikipedia - Fables de La Fontaine, livre XI
• Wikipedia (français) - Jean de La Fontaine
• Wikipedia (English) - Jean de La Fontaine
• LibriVox’s Fables de La Fontaine, livre 11 Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book (18.1MB)

In LibriVox’s Multilingual Poetry Collection, LibriVox volunteers read their favourite public-domain poems in languages other than English.

(Summary by David Barnes).

• LibriVox’s Multilingual Poetry Collection 007 Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book - 20.4MB

Amory Blaine grew up in a wealthy family and was given an Ivy League education. Without a need to learn a profession, he chiefly dabbled in literature and partying. His school chums were of similar background, and the ideas they reflected to each other grew in their minds to be of the greatest importance. Amory began to think of himself as somewhat of a character in a Rupert Brooke poem (from which the book’s title is taken).

World War I intervened in this happy fog and brought focus to some, doubt to others.

In the rapidly changing technology of the war era, the financial underpinnings of the Blaine fortune began to fall apart. The deaths of Amory’s parents left the finances without a rudder and as Amory’s situation deteriorated he came to realize he had only his interest in literature to fall back upon.

Meanwhile, a series of young women traipsed through his life, attracted to his handsome face and bright wit like moths to a candle. But Amory could never master the role of being a real person: and, one by one, they traipsed out.

This Side of Paradise was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel and was one of the nation’s most popular books in the year it was published. It has some definite parallels with Fitzgerald’s own life, and is in some ways an autobiography. (Summary by Mark F. Smith)

• Gutenberg e-text
• Wikipedia - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Wikipedia - This Side of Paradise
• LibriVox’s This Side of Paradise Internet Archive page
• Zip file of the entire book - 284.9MB