Classic Audiobook Collection

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The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley ~ Full Audiobook [fantasy] Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley audiobook.

Genre: fantasy

When young chimney sweep Tom tumbles into the river after a frightening night of work, he slips into a world that is stranger and brighter than anything he has known. Transformed into a water-baby, Tom begins an odyssey through streams, estuaries, and the wide sea, meeting talking creatures, mysterious helpers, and dangers that test his courage and his conscience. Guided by the elusive, fairy-like Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby and the sterner Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, Tom is pushed to learn responsibility, kindness, and self-control - lessons that matter just as much underwater as they do on land. Along the way, his path crosses with Ellie, a wealthy girl whose choices and compassion challenge the boundaries between social classes, and with the selfish, predatory figures that embody cruelty and neglect. By turns playful, satirical, and moral, Charles Kingsley's classic blends fantasy adventure with sharp commentary on Victorian society, childhood, education, and the treatment of the powerless. The result is a richly imaginative tale of transformation, justice, and growing up, where every ripple brings Tom closer to understanding what it means to be truly clean inside and out.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:26:24) Chapter 02

(00:52:24) Chapter 03

(01:13:14) Chapter 04

(01:41:56) Chapter 05

(02:07:47) Chapter 06

(02:36:46) Chapter 07

(03:07:50) Chapter 08

(03:36:19) Chapter 09

(04:01:13) Chapter 10

(04:23:27) Chapter 11

(04:41:23) Chapter 12

(05:03:06) Chapter 13

(05:26:40) Chapter 14

(05:54:01) Chapter 15

(06:25:29) Chapter 16

(07:01:54) Chapter 17

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Life in a Thousand Worlds by William Shuler Harris ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

Life in a Thousand Worlds by William Shuler Harris audiobook.

Genre: scifi

In this early 20th century voyage of speculative imagination, Rev. W. S. Harris invites listeners to leave Earth behind and travel by a mysterious journey of the soul from world to world across the solar system and into the stars. Moving from the Moon's crowded cities and their uncanny way of surviving, to Mars and its brutal lessons in monopoly and oppression, to the giant vistas of Jupiter and the strange beauty of Saturn, the narrator studies each civilization as a living mirror of humanity's own strengths and failures. Every stop brings startling biology, daring inventions, and sharply drawn social systems: floating metropolises, worlds that have solved medicine, planets trapped under ruthless 'trusts,' and societies so transparent that even hidden thoughts can be brought to light. Part travelogue, part moral fable, and part political warning, Life in a Thousand Worlds uses wonder and satire to ask what makes a people free, healthy, and good - and what might await beyond our small world if we do not learn those lessons.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:06:46) Chapter 01

(00:15:13) Chapter 02

(00:39:26) Chapter 03

(00:57:47) Chapter 04

(01:22:50) Chapter 05

(01:37:48) Chapter 06

(01:48:52) Chapter 07

(02:03:04) Chapter 08

(02:19:24) Chapter 09

(02:33:18) Chapter 10

(02:47:47) Chapter 11

(03:03:36) Chapter 12

(03:17:00) Chapter 13

(03:29:08) Chapter 14

(03:39:26) Chapter 15

(03:59:20) Chapter 16

(04:13:22) Chapter 17

(04:31:46) Chapter 18

(04:39:57) Chapter 19

(04:53:26) Chapter 20

(05:05:03) Chapter 21

(05:27:16) Chapter 22

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The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Jun 10, 2023

Show notes

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare audiobook.

Genre: comedy

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice was probably written between 1596 and 1598, and was printed with the comedies in the First Folio of 1623. Bassanio, an impoverished gentleman, uses the credit of his friend, the merchant Antonio, to borrow money from a wealthy Jew, Shylock. Antonio pledges to pay Shylock a pound of flesh if he defaults on the loan, which Bassanio will use to woo a rich heiress, Portia. A subplot concerns the elopement of Shylock's daughter Jessica with a Christian, Bassanio's friend Lorenzo. In its focus on love and marriage, the play shares certain concerns with Shakespeare's other comedies. Yet its depiction of the tensions between Jews and Christians in early modern Venice - and its highly dramatic trial scene in Act 4 - create darker currents in the play.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 0

(00:02:28) Chapter 1

(00:28:08) Chapter 2

(01:06:43) Chapter 3

(01:43:34) Chapter 4

(02:10:03) Chapter 5

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The Bab Ballads by William S. Gilbert ~ Full Audiobook [poetry] Jun 10, 2023

Show notes

The Bab Ballads by William S. Gilbert audiobook.

Genre: poetry

The Bab Ballads are a collection of light verse by W. S. Gilbert, illustrated with his own comic drawings. Gilbert wrote the Ballads before he became famous for his comic opera librettos with Arthur Sullivan. In writing the Bab Ballads, Gilbert developed his unique 'topsy-turvy' style, where the humour was derived by setting up a ridiculous premise and working out its logical consequences, however absurd. The Ballads also reveal Gilbert's cynical and satirical approach to humour. They became famous on their own, as well as being a source for plot elements, characters and songs that Gilbert would recycle in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Bab Ballads take their name from Gilbert's childhood nickname, and he later began to sign his illustrations 'Bab'

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:04:57) Chapter 02

(00:09:05) Chapter 03

(00:11:35) Chapter 04

(00:14:31) Chapter 05

(00:16:04) Chapter 06

(00:19:41) Chapter 07

(00:22:42) Chapter 08

(00:26:34) Chapter 09

(00:30:31) Chapter 10

(00:34:47) Chapter 11

(00:40:12) Chapter 12

(00:44:33) Chapter 13

(00:47:35) Chapter 14

(00:52:04) Chapter 15

(00:55:14) Chapter 16

(00:59:40) Chapter 17

(01:03:45) Chapter 18

(01:08:40) Chapter 19

(01:13:21) Chapter 20

(01:17:30) Chapter 21

(01:18:44) Chapter 22

(01:23:30) Chapter 23

(01:28:20) Chapter 24

(01:32:39) Chapter 25

(01:37:54) Chapter 26

(01:41:06) Chapter 27

(01:45:39) Chapter 28

(01:50:25) Chapter 29

(01:54:50) Chapter 30

(01:59:51) Chapter 31

(02:02:45) Chapter 32

(02:06:53) Chapter 33

(02:12:06) Chapter 34

(02:16:09) Chapter 35

(02:20:03) Chapter 36

(02:25:18) Chapter 37

(02:30:00) Chapter 38

(02:35:41) Chapter 39

(02:40:45) Chapter 40

(02:45:23) Chapter 41

(02:49:42) Chapter 42

(02:54:28) Chapter 43

(02:55:57) Chapter 44

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Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn ~ Full Audiobook [tragedy] Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn audiobook.

Genre: tragedy

Aphra Behn was the first woman writer in England to make a living by her pen, and her novel Oroonoko was the first work published in English to express sympathy for African slaves. Perhaps based partly on Behn's own experiences living in Surinam, the novel tells the tragic story of a noble slave, Oroonoko, and his love Imoinda. The work was an instant success and was adapted for the stage in 1695 (and more recently by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1999). Behn's work paved the way for women writers who came after her, as Virginia Woolf noted in a Room of One's Own (1928): 'All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, ... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.'

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:17:04) Chapter 02

(00:31:07) Chapter 03

(00:48:34) Chapter 04

(01:02:13) Chapter 05

(01:16:49) Chapter 06

(01:36:34) Chapter 07

(01:50:13) Chapter 08

(02:09:27) Chapter 09

(02:23:42) Chapter 10

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Lewis and Clark by William R. Lighton ~ Full Audiobook [biography] Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

Lewis and Clark by William R. Lighton audiobook.

Genre: biography

William R. Lighton's Lewis and Clark is a brisk, story-driven biography of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark that follows the planning and launch of the Corps of Discovery and the long push from the Missouri River toward the Pacific. Beginning with the two officers' backgrounds and President Thomas Jefferson's ambitious mission after the Louisiana Purchase, Lighton traces how a small, disciplined party is assembled, supplied, and sent into a continent most Americans of the era knew only through rumor and rough maps. As the expedition moves upriver and into the mountains, the narrative highlights the leaders' contrasting strengths, the daily demands of command, and the constant problem-solving required to keep men, boats, and supplies moving through rapids, storms, hunger, and injury. Along the way, the captains must negotiate fragile alliances and passage with Native nations, interpret unfamiliar landscapes, and record what they see with careful attention to geography, plants, animals, and routes that might reshape the young nation's future. Written in a clear early-1900s style, the book balances adventure with historical context, showing how exploration, diplomacy, and leadership collide on a journey where every decision carries lasting consequences.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:17:17) Chapter 02

(00:28:52) Chapter 03

(00:39:43) Chapter 04

(01:01:28) Chapter 05

(01:24:10) Chapter 06

(01:39:36) Chapter 07

(01:52:54) Chapter 08

(02:10:04) Chapter 09

(02:23:09) Chapter 10

(02:43:48) Chapter 11

(02:52:50) Chapter 12

(03:00:59) Chapter 13

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On Secret Service by William Nelson Taft ~ Full Audiobook [mystery] Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

On Secret Service by William Nelson Taft audiobook.

Genre: mystery

In On Secret Service, William Nelson Taft offers a brisk, story-driven tour through the hidden side of early American federal law enforcement, told as a series of detective-mystery episodes inspired by real government cases. Framed by conversations in Washington, D.C. and the private den of veteran operative Bill Quinn, each chapter begins with an odd keepsake - a relic from the field - and unfolds into a new investigation, from confidence schemes and blackmail to smuggling and other crimes that reach far beyond street-level policing. citeturn0search6turn0search4 As Quinn and fellow agents follow leads through hotels, offices, and back rooms where influence is bought and sold, Taft highlights the craft of the work: reading people, testing alibis, laying traps, and staying inside the law while suspects do everything they can to vanish. citeturn0search6 The result is a collection that balances suspense with a grounded sense of procedure and period detail, revealing how small clues and patient legwork can cut through staged identities - and how one case can hinge on a single overlooked object. citeturn0search5turn0search4

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:28:48) Chapter 02

(00:55:07) Chapter 03

(01:24:53) Chapter 04

(01:56:08) Chapter 05

(02:29:36) Chapter 06

(03:00:39) Chapter 07

(03:33:35) Chapter 08

(04:05:57) Chapter 09

(04:38:11) Chapter 10

(05:11:48) Chapter 11

(05:43:51) Chapter 12

(06:18:37) Chapter 13

(06:49:08) Chapter 14

(07:19:50) Chapter 15

(07:51:01) Chapter 16

(08:20:14) Chapter 17

(08:51:16) Chapter 18

(09:20:52) Chapter 19

(09:51:44) Chapter 20

(10:22:15) Chapter 21

(10:52:45) Chapter 22

(11:23:21) Chapter 23

(11:55:14) Chapter 24

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The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton audiobook.

Genre: drama

Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country follows Undine Spragg, a dazzling young woman from the American Midwest who arrives in New York determined to claim a place among the city's old-money elite. Armed with beauty, ambition, and an instinct for what society values, Undine treats life as a series of negotiations: marriage, friendships, and even motherhood become stepping-stones toward greater status and security. Her first target is Ralph Marvell, a sensitive man shaped by inherited privilege and ideals of culture, whose world proves both alluring and constraining. As Undine pushes against the limits imposed by tradition, money, and reputation, she exposes the fragile bargains that hold high society together. The novel moves between glittering drawing rooms and private reckonings, tracing the human costs of relentless social climbing and the quiet devastation left in its wake. With sharp wit and unsparing insight, Wharton paints a portrait of a woman who refuses to be satisfied and a world that turns desire into a kind of currency, asking what, in the pursuit of 'having it all,' must be spent.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:22:42) Chapter 02

(00:43:15) Chapter 03

(00:55:38) Chapter 04

(01:24:47) Chapter 05

(01:46:22) Chapter 06

(02:01:23) Chapter 07

(02:19:31) Chapter 08

(02:35:06) Chapter 09

(02:52:43) Chapter 10

(03:18:17) Chapter 11

(03:42:50) Chapter 12

(04:08:54) Chapter 13

(04:30:02) Chapter 14

(04:54:46) Chapter 15

(05:21:03) Chapter 16

(05:41:37) Chapter 17

(06:00:21) Chapter 18

(06:35:26) Chapter 19

(06:49:00) Chapter 20

(07:18:46) Chapter 21

(07:50:19) Chapter 22

(08:04:56) Chapter 23

(08:17:54) Chapter 24

(08:41:18) Chapter 25

(08:53:29) Chapter 26

(09:14:15) Chapter 27

(09:27:16) Chapter 28

(09:38:22) Chapter 29

(09:54:45) Chapter 30

(10:07:08) Chapter 31

(10:21:15) Chapter 32

(10:34:58) Chapter 33

(10:44:44) Chapter 34

(10:55:11) Chapter 35

(11:16:08) Chapter 36

(11:24:24) Chapter 37

(11:42:07) Chapter 38

(12:02:32) Chapter 39

(12:20:43) Chapter 40

(12:36:45) Chapter 41

(12:52:34) Chapter 42

(13:04:20) Chapter 43

(13:18:22) Chapter 44

(13:34:09) Chapter 45

(13:48:08) Chapter 46

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Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson ~ Full Audiobook [poetry] Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson audiobook.

Genre: poetry

Alfred Tennyson's Idylls of the King is an epic sequence of narrative poems that reimagines the legend of King Arthur as both a grand national myth and an intimate moral drama. From Arthur's rise and the founding of Camelot to the widening cracks within the Round Table, the poems follow a court striving to turn lofty ideals into lived reality. At the center stands Arthur - a ruler determined to build a realm of justice and fellowship - surrounded by knights whose courage is tested by pride, temptation, and divided loyalties. Key figures such as Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot embody the aching tension between private desire and public duty, while quests and battles become mirrors for inner conflict. As rumors spread and trust frays, Camelot's shining vision is threatened not only by external enemies, but by the slow corrosion of faith within. By blending romance, tragedy, and meditation, Tennyson explores how a society holds together, what leadership demands, and how purity of purpose can be challenged by human weakness. Rich in imagery and musical language, the work invites listeners into a mythic world that feels urgently personal.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:32:33) Chapter 02

(01:12:39) Chapter 03

(01:54:46) Chapter 04

(02:37:29) Chapter 05

(02:59:52) Chapter 06

(03:27:13) Chapter 07

(04:00:22) Chapter 08

(04:23:25) Chapter 09

(04:54:38) Chapter 10

(05:38:59) Chapter 11

(06:10:23) Chapter 12

(06:30:00) Chapter 13

(06:59:35) Chapter 14

(07:33:06) Chapter 15

(08:14:55) Chapter 16

(08:51:09) Chapter 17

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Tangled Trails by William MacLeod Raine ~ Full Audiobook [adventure] Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

Tangled Trails by William MacLeod Raine audiobook.

Genre: adventure

The aptly titled 'Tangled Trails, A Western Detective Story' takes the listener through a web of curious incidents revolving around the murder of a prominent man in Denver. Kirby Lane was quite obviously the guilty party in the murder of his uncle. Lane, among others, had had a falling out with his uncle, the victim James Cunningham. But there were some who believed his nephew to be innocent of the hideous crime. Lane feared the guilty party to be a female bronco rider whom he had befriended, as her presence at the scene of the crime was quite evident, albeit only to him. There were others also who appeared to be implicated in the murder for various reasons, thus leading to a veritable tangling of clues and suspects. Was there a detective capable enough to untangle this web?

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:13:49) Chapter 02

(00:22:51) Chapter 03

(00:35:52) Chapter 04

(00:46:01) Chapter 05

(00:53:10) Chapter 06

(00:58:36) Chapter 07

(01:08:44) Chapter 08

(01:14:50) Chapter 09

(01:24:25) Chapter 10

(01:33:33) Chapter 11

(01:52:33) Chapter 12

(02:02:06) Chapter 13

(02:12:31) Chapter 14

(02:21:16) Chapter 15

(02:41:06) Chapter 16

(02:51:10) Chapter 17

(03:15:07) Chapter 18

(03:23:19) Chapter 19

(03:36:16) Chapter 20

(03:50:46) Chapter 21

(04:03:14) Chapter 22

(04:18:19) Chapter 23

(04:29:48) Chapter 24

(04:48:38) Chapter 25

(04:59:43) Chapter 26

(05:13:46) Chapter 27

(05:20:00) Chapter 28

(05:31:51) Chapter 29

(05:41:43) Chapter 30

(05:52:37) Chapter 31

(06:01:53) Chapter 32

(06:19:45) Chapter 33

(06:32:40) Chapter 34

(06:42:35) Chapter 35

(06:51:55) Chapter 36

(06:59:25) Chapter 37

(07:19:59) Chapter 38

(07:44:22) Chapter 39

(07:59:31) Chapter 40

(08:21:44) Chapter 41

(08:39:28) Chapter 42

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