Classic Audiobook Collection

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The Children of Odin by Padraic Colum ~ Full Audiobook [folklore] Jun 24, 2023

Show notes

The Children of Odin by Padraic Colum audiobook.

Genre: folklore

Master storyteller Padraic Colum's rich, musical voice captures all the magic and majesty of the Norse sagas in his retellings of the adventures of the gods and goddesses who lived in the Northern paradise of Asgard before the dawn of history. Here are the matchless tales of All-Father Odin, who crosses the Rainbow Bridge to walk among men in Midgard and sacrifices his right eye to drink from the Well of Wisdom; of Thor, whose mighty hammer defends Asgard; of Loki, whose mischievous cunning leads him to treachery against the gods; of giants, dragons, dwarfs and Valkyries; and of the terrible last battle that destroyed their world.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:14:33) Chapter 02

(00:35:33) Chapter 03

(00:45:58) Chapter 04

(01:01:41) Chapter 05

(01:12:16) Chapter 06

(01:27:07) Chapter 07

(01:46:45) Chapter 08

(01:54:47) Chapter 09

(02:05:59) Chapter 10

(02:22:37) Chapter 11

(02:43:13) Chapter 12

(02:55:46) Chapter 13

(03:13:04) Chapter 14

(03:33:20) Chapter 15

(03:50:33) Chapter 16

(04:04:35) Chapter 17

(04:13:33) Chapter 18

(04:32:47) Chapter 19

(04:38:59) Chapter 20

(04:52:16) Chapter 21

(05:02:34) Chapter 22

(05:15:27) Chapter 23

(05:30:32) Chapter 24

(05:46:27) Chapter 25

(05:59:23) Chapter 26

(06:13:15) Chapter 27

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The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy by Padraic Colum ~ Full Audiobook [folklore] Jun 24, 2023

Show notes

The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy by Padraic Colum audiobook.

Genre: folklore

Padraic Colum retells two of the ancient world's most enduring legends with a storyteller's clarity and momentum: the siege of Troy and the long, perilous homecoming of Odysseus. Beginning with the tangled rivalries and vows that draw Greek kings to the walls of Troy, the narrative introduces larger-than-life heroes and tragic choices on both sides, while the gods watch, argue, and intervene for reasons that are never purely noble. From the clash of champions and the testing of pride to the clever strategies that decide battles, the war becomes a crucible where honor and ambition constantly collide. When Troy's fate is sealed, the focus shifts to Odysseus, a warrior defined less by brute strength than by quick wits and stubborn endurance. His journey across wine-dark seas brings him face-to-face with monstrous dangers, enchanting islands, treacherous hospitality, and temptations that threaten to erase his name and his purpose. At its heart, this is a tale about courage under pressure, the cost of glory, and the fierce, sustaining pull of home and identity.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:12:11) Chapter 02

(00:18:00) Chapter 03

(00:26:59) Chapter 04

(00:39:09) Chapter 05

(00:48:18) Chapter 06

(01:02:05) Chapter 07

(01:13:06) Chapter 08

(01:24:04) Chapter 09

(01:31:34) Chapter 10

(01:43:28) Chapter 11

(01:55:25) Chapter 12

(02:05:56) Chapter 13

(02:18:17) Chapter 14

(02:29:47) Chapter 15

(02:39:48) Chapter 16

(02:50:03) Chapter 17

(03:00:19) Chapter 18

(03:17:34) Chapter 19

(03:31:01) Chapter 20

(03:39:20) Chapter 21

(03:49:57) Chapter 22

(03:56:47) Chapter 23

(04:07:30) Chapter 24

(04:14:51) Chapter 25

(04:25:48) Chapter 26

(04:34:41) Chapter 27

(04:48:18) Chapter 28

(05:01:31) Chapter 29

(05:11:41) Chapter 30

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Not George Washington by P. G. Wodehouse ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

Not George Washington by P. G. Wodehouse audiobook.

Genre: comedy

Before Jeeves, before Blandings, P. G. Wodehouse turned his comic eye on the making of a writer. Co-written with Herbert Westbrook, Not George Washington follows James Orlebar Cloyster, a mild-mannered young man with big literary ambitions and a talent for presenting himself as far more upright than his actions suggest. Through a brisk, multi-voiced narrative, we watch Cloyster navigate early jobs, journalistic hustle, and the temptations of quick success in London, while his romantic entanglement with Margaret Goodwin adds both warmth and complication to his plans. As friends, rivals, and would-be benefactors tell their sides of the story, the picture that emerges is less a heroic rise than a wry study of how reputation is manufactured - and how easily people bend the truth when applause, money, or simple gratification is at stake. Part lightly fictionalized memoir and part satire of literary posturing, this early Wodehouse novel sparkles with sharp social observation, playful shifts in perspective, and a central question: what does it really take to become somebody, if you are not exactly George Washington?

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:11:00) Chapter 02

(00:20:59) Chapter 03

(00:32:57) Chapter 04

(00:45:30) Chapter 05

(00:56:05) Chapter 06

(01:07:00) Chapter 07

(01:16:43) Chapter 08

(01:26:07) Chapter 09

(01:35:30) Chapter 10

(01:46:35) Chapter 11

(02:00:54) Chapter 12

(02:14:51) Chapter 13

(02:30:56) Chapter 14

(02:38:58) Chapter 15

(02:45:43) Chapter 16

(02:52:04) Chapter 17

(02:58:33) Chapter 18

(03:11:07) Chapter 19

(03:21:15) Chapter 20

(03:40:27) Chapter 21

(03:46:54) Chapter 22

(03:58:43) Chapter 23

(04:08:29) Chapter 24

(04:19:49) Chapter 25

(04:29:46) Chapter 26

(04:39:05) Chapter 27

(04:48:23) Chapter 28

(04:59:31) Chapter 29

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The Early History of the Airplane by Orville and Wilbur Wright ~ Full Audiobook [history] Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

The Early History of the Airplane by Orville and Wilbur Wright audiobook.

Genre: history

The Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight, on 17th December 1903. They were not the first to build and fly aircraft, but they invented the controls that were necessary for a pilot to steer the aircraft, which made fixed wing powered flight possible. The Early History of the Airplane consists of three short essays about the beginnings of human flight. The second essay retells the first flight: This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:33:07) Chapter 2

(00:59:19) Chapter 3

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Quicksand by Nella Larsen ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

Quicksand by Nella Larsen audiobook.

Genre: drama

In 1920s America and Europe, Helga Crane moves through elegant parlors, classrooms, and crowded streets with a restless sense that she never quite belongs. The daughter of a Black father and a white mother, Helga is sharp-eyed, proud, and hungry for a life that feels truthful - yet every community she enters demands she trim herself to fit. When she leaves a restrictive Southern school, her search for independence carries her north to Harlem's glittering social world, then onward to spaces where race, class, faith, and desire tighten into new kinds of rules. Helga's intelligence and beauty open doors, but they also invite scrutiny, projection, and loneliness, forcing her to confront how quickly admiration can turn into control. As she reaches for love, security, and self-definition, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice - and what she cannot. Taut, psychologically incisive, and quietly devastating, Quicksand traces one woman's struggle against the shifting expectations placed on her body, her ambitions, and her identity, capturing the seductive promises and hidden costs of belonging.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:22:03) Chapter 02

(00:34:48) Chapter 03

(00:48:57) Chapter 04

(00:59:34) Chapter 05

(01:07:55) Chapter 06

(01:21:27) Chapter 07

(01:34:00) Chapter 08

(01:43:15) Chapter 09

(01:56:59) Chapter 10

(02:06:51) Chapter 11

(02:18:21) Chapter 12

(02:28:01) Chapter 13

(02:42:10) Chapter 14

(03:01:45) Chapter 15

(03:23:47) Chapter 16

(03:32:33) Chapter 17

(03:39:52) Chapter 18

(03:55:07) Chapter 19

(04:03:26) Chapter 20

(04:16:20) Chapter 21

(04:23:05) Chapter 22

(04:33:55) Chapter 23

(04:43:02) Chapter 24

(04:57:13) Chapter 25

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Passing by Nella Larsen ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Passing by Nella Larsen audiobook.

Genre: drama

In 1920s New York, Irene Redfield has built a careful life: a respected place in Harlem society, a comfortable home, and a firm commitment to the world she has chosen. Everything shifts when a chance encounter brings back Clare Kendry, a dazzling childhood acquaintance who has been living on the other side of the color line. Clare's decision to pass as white has given her access to wealth and safety, but it has also trapped her in a marriage and a social world where the truth could be catastrophic. Drawn to Irene's community and hungry for connection, Clare pushes her way back into Irene's orbit, unsettling friendships, marriages, and Irene's sense of control. As the two women circle each other, Larsen builds a tense, intimate portrait of desire, envy, fear, and the costs of performance, showing how race, class, and gender shape what a person can risk and what they must hide. Passing is a sharp Harlem Renaissance classic that turns a single reunion into a haunting study of identity and the fragile boundaries that hold a life together.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:07:25) Chapter 02

(00:48:40) Chapter 03

(01:17:41) Chapter 04

(01:21:12) Chapter 05

(01:43:37) Chapter 06

(02:08:44) Chapter 07

(02:18:09) Chapter 08

(02:24:21) Chapter 09

(02:48:41) Chapter 10

(02:55:36) Chapter 11

(03:02:27) Chapter 12

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The Dolliver Romance and Other Pieces by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ Full Audiobook [romance] Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

The Dolliver Romance and Other Pieces by Nathaniel Hawthorne audiobook.

Genre: romance

This post-humous collection of stories, sketches and essays by celebrated quintessential New England author Nathaniel Hawthorne gives us glimpses of the many different facets of Hawthorne's personality. The titular tale The Dolliver Romance was an unfinished manuscript that was edited and prepared for publication after Hawthorne's death and relates the story of an aged man with a small child in his care who swallows a magical tincture daily that rejuvenates his vitality, reversing the aging process. Also in a more fantastical vein are the stories 'The Ancient Ring', a legend told of a ring cursed, and 'Graves a Goblins', a wryly humorous and moving tale from the point of view of a ghost. In addition, found within are non-fiction essays such as 'Sketches from Memory' and 'My Trip to Niagara' where Hawthorne evokes a sense of place and time in a most remarkable and vivid fashion. We also see Hawthorne's somber, allegorical side in stories such as 'Fragments from the Journal of a Solitary Man' and 'The Old Woman's Tale', stories told with a nuanced touch. For fans of Hawthorne, this collection provides a last look at various works a master storyteller has given so generously.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:33:57) Chapter 02

(00:58:49) Chapter 03

(01:34:50) Chapter 04

(01:48:36) Chapter 05

(02:22:07) Chapter 06

(02:39:08) Chapter 07

(03:09:27) Chapter 08

(03:28:39) Chapter 09

(03:47:31) Chapter 10

(04:25:23) Chapter 11

(04:47:10) Chapter 12

(05:05:09) Chapter 13

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The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ Full Audiobook [romance] Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne audiobook.

Genre: romance

The Blithedale Romance is the story of four principal characters who work with -- and sometimes against -- each other on Blithedale, a communal farm antecedent to those that sprang up later in the 1960s, and similar to one on which Hawthorne himself lived in 1841. These communes arose out of the pressures on society and the individual brought by the Industrial Revolution. Some were organized around religious philosophies, some were secular. Among the secularists, the Transcendental movement mentioned in the novel espoused the idea that the individual's intuition, rather than religious dogma, was the true path to spiritual enlightenment. Our four characters, like so many who fled to these communes, struggle to free mankind from bondage as they struggle with the unaccustomed day-to-day tasks of farm life. But they are plagued by a mystery that follows them from the world, and ultimately leads to tragedy.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:05:41) Chapter 01

(00:14:24) Chapter 02

(00:25:27) Chapter 03

(00:44:33) Chapter 04

(01:02:38) Chapter 05

(01:17:41) Chapter 06

(01:39:51) Chapter 07

(01:58:59) Chapter 08

(02:24:42) Chapter 09

(02:52:30) Chapter 10

(03:08:13) Chapter 11

(03:27:23) Chapter 12

(03:43:36) Chapter 13

(04:08:09) Chapter 14

(04:33:07) Chapter 15

(04:51:36) Chapter 16

(05:08:48) Chapter 17

(05:25:51) Chapter 18

(05:40:06) Chapter 19

(05:57:56) Chapter 20

(06:09:16) Chapter 21

(06:25:46) Chapter 22

(06:52:35) Chapter 23

(07:15:16) Chapter 24

(07:34:56) Chapter 25

(07:53:25) Chapter 26

(08:08:33) Chapter 27

(08:26:56) Chapter 28

(08:41:45) Chapter 29

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Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ Full Audiobook [tragedy] Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne audiobook.

Genre: tragedy

In a shadowed corner of old Padua, a young scholar named Giovanni Guasconti arrives to continue his studies and finds himself drawn to a mysterious garden unlike any he has ever seen. Tended by the brilliant and secretive Dr. Rappaccini, the walled enclosure blooms with vivid, almost unnatural beauty - and an undercurrent of danger that seems to cling to every leaf and petal. From his window, Giovanni glimpses Beatrice, Rappaccini's secluded daughter, moving among the plants with an eerie grace, as if she belongs to the garden as much as it belongs to her. As Giovanni's fascination turns to love, he is pulled into a tense struggle between devotion and suspicion, innocence and experience, and the competing ambitions of men who claim to act in the name of science and mercy. With its intoxicating atmosphere and moral unease, Hawthorne's tale explores obsession, the costs of tampering with nature, and the tragic consequences of trying to possess or purify what we do not fully understand.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:24:20) Chapter 2

(00:55:21) Chapter 3

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Our Old Home by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ Full Audiobook [history] Jun 21, 2023

Show notes

Our Old Home by Nathaniel Hawthorne audiobook.

Genre: history

In Our Old Home, Nathaniel Hawthorne turns a diplomat's posting into a quietly sharp-eyed journey through the landscapes, streets, and social rituals of mid-19th-century England. Writing as an American abroad, Hawthorne wanders from foggy port cities to country lanes and ancient manor grounds, lingering over everyday scenes that reveal a nation shaped by tradition, class, and history. He observes public ceremonies and private manners with a mix of curiosity, restraint, and occasional impatience, weighing the comfort of inherited culture against the stifling pull of convention. Along the way, he revisits places and stories that have long haunted the American imagination, testing romantic expectations against what he actually finds: weathered stone, bustling commerce, guarded courtesies, and the persistent presence of the past. Part travelogue, part cultural portrait, and part personal reflection, these sketches explore what it means to call a place home when your roots and your ideals belong to a newer world. The central tension is Hawthorne's own: admiration and skepticism, nostalgia and distance, as he tries to understand the old country without surrendering his American self.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:29:15) Chapter 02

(01:02:06) Chapter 03

(01:25:39) Chapter 04

(01:47:05) Chapter 05

(02:19:16) Chapter 06

(02:48:12) Chapter 07

(03:14:13) Chapter 08

(03:47:36) Chapter 09

(04:23:48) Chapter 10

(05:06:54) Chapter 11

(05:41:34) Chapter 12

(06:09:19) Chapter 13

(06:35:57) Chapter 14

(07:08:15) Chapter 15

(07:56:47) Chapter 16

(08:32:03) Chapter 17

(09:08:17) Chapter 18

(09:42:18) Chapter 19

(10:28:42) Chapter 20

(11:06:48) Chapter 21

(11:45:38) Chapter 22

(12:08:44) Chapter 23

(12:32:08) Chapter 24

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