Classic Audiobook Collection

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A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear ~ Full Audiobook [poetry] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear audiobook.

Genre: poetry

Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense is a mischievous classic of comic verse that invites listeners into a world where logic takes a holiday and language becomes a toy. First published in the Victorian era and best known for its sparkling limericks, this collection parades an unforgettable cast: the Old Person of Peru, the Old Man with a beard, the Old Person of Phil-a-delphia, and dozens more eccentrics whose odd habits, wild inventions, and sudden mishaps unfold in five brisk lines at a time. Each poem sets up a miniature scene with clockwork rhythm and then snaps delightfully off course, turning everyday expectations into absurd surprises. Behind the silliness is Lear's sharp ear for sound, his love of repetition and internal rhyme, and his gentle satire of social rules that try (and fail) to contain imagination. Whether you come for the singsong cadences, the gleeful wordplay, or the sheer parade of beautifully pointless predicaments, A Book of Nonsense offers a bright, brisk listening experience that rewards both children and adults with laughter and a renewed sense of the delight in the impossible.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:05:37) Chapter 02

(00:10:14) Chapter 03

(00:15:24) Chapter 04

(00:21:01) Chapter 05

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Masters of Space by Edward E. Smith ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Masters of Space by Edward E. Smith audiobook.

Genre: scifi

In Masters of Space, classic pulp-era science fiction expands from a hard-nosed naval expedition into a mystery about vanished powers that once ruled the galaxy. Jarvis Hilton, a young but driven leader, is put in charge of Project Theta Orionis: a handpicked team of scientists and officers aboard the warship Perseus, sent far from Earth to secure vital radioactive fuel ore and prove that humanity can push into deeper space. Tensions aboard ship flare immediately as Jarvis must earn authority in the shadow of seasoned military command, keeping brilliant specialists focused while pride, protocol, and ambition collide. Then the Perseus is forced into a baffling encounter with an eerie, skeletal object and glimpses of an impossible battle, signs that the crew has stumbled into a much older conflict. Their discoveries only deepen when they reach a world rich in dangerous resources and meet humanoid, machine-like beings who treat the newcomers not as strangers, but as returning masters. With ancient enemies stirring and the legacy of the Masters hanging over every decision, Jarvis and his crew must decide what kind of power humanity is willing to claim, and what it might cost.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:14:07) Chapter 02

(00:43:55) Chapter 03

(01:44:28) Chapter 04

(02:05:01) Chapter 05

(02:38:50) Chapter 06

(03:03:04) Chapter 07

(03:36:46) Chapter 08

(04:08:35) Chapter 09

(04:39:31) Chapter 10

(05:08:03) Chapter 11

(05:44:38) Chapter 12

(06:15:59) Chapter 13

(06:38:37) Chapter 14

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A Short History of the US by Edward Channing ~ Full Audiobook [history] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

A Short History of the US by Edward Channing audiobook.

Genre: history

Written for students and general readers, Edward Channing's A Short History of the United States distills the long sweep of American development into a clear, tightly organized narrative. Beginning with early voyages, exploration, and the first European footholds, Channing traces the hard work of colonization, the growth of regional societies, and the steady pressures that pushed separate colonies toward cooperation and conflict. He follows the road to independence and the Revolutionary War, then turns to the uneasy years of nation-building: the debates over the Constitution, the rise of political parties, and the challenges of governing a young republic. As the country expands westward, Channing keeps a sharp focus on the moral and political crisis of slavery, showing how disputes over territory and power deepened sectional tensions. The Civil War and the struggle to reunite the nation lead into Reconstruction, followed by the rapid national development of the late 19th century. Designed as a practical, teachable history, the book emphasizes causes and consequences, explains key institutions and ideas, and often includes foundational documents alongside the story.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:13:38) Chapter 02

(00:27:43) Chapter 03

(00:41:46) Chapter 04

(00:54:49) Chapter 05

(01:02:27) Chapter 06

(01:21:17) Chapter 07

(01:32:34) Chapter 08

(02:00:54) Chapter 09

(02:26:32) Chapter 10

(02:45:41) Chapter 11

(03:12:03) Chapter 12

(03:33:11) Chapter 13

(03:49:57) Chapter 14

(04:16:38) Chapter 15

(04:35:43) Chapter 16

(04:55:05) Chapter 17

(05:11:14) Chapter 18

(05:31:52) Chapter 19

(05:51:14) Chapter 20

(06:07:07) Chapter 21

(06:20:49) Chapter 22

(06:38:33) Chapter 23

(07:06:24) Chapter 24

(07:30:27) Chapter 25

(07:45:57) Chapter 26

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The Dancing Girls by Edna Ferber ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

The Dancing Girls by Edna Ferber audiobook.

Genre: drama

In The Dancing Girls, Edna Ferber gathers four sharp, warmhearted stories about ordinary people pushed to their limits by class, family obligation, and war. In the title tale, Chippewa, Wisconsin, is split cleanly by money and by the railroad tracks. Floyd 'Chug' Scaritt, a talented young garage owner and irresistible dance partner, knows exactly where he stands - until a late-night accident and the sudden demands of World War I briefly scramble the town's social rules. As uniforms, dances, and patriotic committees bring unlikely people together, Chug discovers a different kind of girl - and a different kind of future - than the one his old crowd expects. In 'Old Lady Mandle,' a proud Chicago matriarch reigns over her devoted son until a new wife threatens the balance of power. 'Long Distance' follows a wounded American soldier in an English rehabilitation hospital, where love letters and memory wage a quiet battle. And in 'One Hundred Per Cent,' the indomitable Emma McChesney Buck returns to work and travel, determined to put every ounce of herself into the home-front effort. Together, these stories blend humor, tenderness, and unsparing social observation.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:49:44) Chapter 2

(01:41:21) Chapter 3

(01:53:39) Chapter 4

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Roast Beef, Medium by Edna Ferber ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Roast Beef, Medium by Edna Ferber audiobook.

Genre: drama

This book follows the adventures of Emma McChesney, a smart and savvy divorced mother who travels the Midwest as a sales representative for a large skirt and petticoat manufacturer. Her many adventures with people, (including predatory salesmen and hotel clerks), are funny and poignant. She is hardworking and able to outsell the slickest of the men salesmen. She has learned to focus on her work and her seventeen-year-old son, Jock. Experience has taught her that it is usually best to stick to roast beef, medium and not get stomach ache with fancy sauces and exotic dishes. This is the first of three volumes following the career and adventures of Emma McChesney.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:02:57) Chapter 01

(00:26:56) Chapter 02

(00:52:09) Chapter 03

(01:16:53) Chapter 04

(01:43:30) Chapter 05

(02:11:55) Chapter 06

(02:38:35) Chapter 07

(03:05:36) Chapter 08

(03:38:27) Chapter 09

(04:13:19) Chapter 10

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Personality Plus by Edna Ferber ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Personality Plus by Edna Ferber audiobook.

Genre: drama

Set in bustling early 1900s New York, Personality Plus follows Emma McChesney, a stylish, sharp-witted divorced mother who has fought her way up from life on the road to a coveted seat in the office as partner in the T. A. Buck Featherloom Petticoat Company. With a real home at last and a new level of responsibility, Emma expects challenges - but not necessarily from the person she loves most. Her son, Jock, is twenty-one and determined to conquer the advertising world on his own terms, armed with confidence, charm, and a hunger to prove that modern hustle beats old-school know-how. As Jock dazzles coworkers and courts big accounts, his gift for selling can slide into showmanship, bending rules and bruising egos. When business pressures mount and a high-stakes campaign pulls mother and son into the same orbit, Emma must defend the value of experience, ethics, and steady judgment - even as she confronts her own doubts about what success should look like. With brisk dialogue, humor, and social insight, Ferber delivers a lively clash of ambition and integrity, and a portrait of a woman refusing to be sidelined in either boardroom or family.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:31:07) Chapter 2

(01:01:58) Chapter 3

(01:33:07) Chapter 4

(02:11:54) Chapter 5

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One Basket by Edna Ferber ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

One Basket by Edna Ferber audiobook.

Genre: drama

One Basket gathers Edna Ferber's most memorable short fiction into a single, wide-ranging portrait of American life, chosen and introduced by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author herself. Spanning decades and shifting from small-town streets to city apartments, from cramped kitchens to prosperous parlors, these stories follow people caught between what they want and what their communities will allow. Women stand at the center: a notorious beauty trying to live down a past in The Woman Who Tried to Be Good, wives and husbands learning that love can be both tenderness and negotiation, and mothers confronting the quiet power and pressure of family bonds. Ferber writes with a reporter's eye for telling detail and a dramatist's instinct for dialogue, revealing how class, reputation, ambition, and longing shape ordinary choices. Some tales are wryly comic, others sharp-edged and moving, but each turns on the same question: what does it cost to become the person you claim to be? With brief author prefaces that illuminate her craft and themes, One Basket is both an inviting introduction and a rich retrospective of Ferber's storytelling range.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:28:25) Chapter 2

(01:20:00) Chapter 3

(02:16:08) Chapter 4

(03:13:21) Chapter 5

(04:09:46) Chapter 6

(04:22:01) Chapter 7

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The Valley of Decision by Edith Wharton ~ Full Audiobook [history] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

The Valley of Decision by Edith Wharton audiobook.

Genre: history

Set in late 18th-century Italy on the eve of the French Revolution, Edith Wharton's debut novel follows Odo Valsecca, a sensitive boy raised among peasants who learns that his blood ties him to a ruling house. When a sudden turn of fortune draws him into aristocratic life and positions him to inherit the dukedom of Pianura, Odo arrives with a reformer's hopes shaped by Enlightenment ideas and by the hardships he has witnessed at the bottom of the social order. Court etiquette, church authority, and entrenched privilege, however, prove as formidable as any enemy, and Odo discovers that power is a maze of compromises, allies, and hidden costs. At the center of his private life is Fulvia Vivaldi, a brilliant and daring liberal whose convictions both inspire and endanger him, forcing Odo to weigh love and loyalty against prudence and duty. As political factions harden and unrest spreads, Odo must decide what kind of ruler he will be, and what he is willing to sacrifice to make change real.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:00:45) Chapter 01

(00:18:28) Chapter 02

(00:36:27) Chapter 03

(00:50:24) Chapter 04

(01:11:14) Chapter 05

(01:28:18) Chapter 06

(01:52:57) Chapter 07

(02:11:38) Chapter 08

(02:39:56) Chapter 09

(02:57:05) Chapter 10

(03:14:56) Chapter 11

(03:27:21) Chapter 12

(03:45:48) Chapter 13

(04:15:33) Chapter 14

(04:35:44) Chapter 15

(04:55:52) Chapter 16

(05:17:55) Chapter 17

(05:24:29) Chapter 18

(05:40:27) Chapter 19

(06:12:04) Chapter 20

(06:38:08) Chapter 21

(07:06:30) Chapter 22

(07:29:32) Chapter 23

(07:52:17) Chapter 24

(08:25:25) Chapter 25

(09:06:53) Chapter 26

(09:50:30) Chapter 27

(10:11:54) Chapter 28

(11:00:39) Chapter 29

(11:23:27) Chapter 30

(11:46:27) Chapter 31

(12:18:58) Chapter 32

(12:40:43) Chapter 33

(13:08:34) Chapter 34

(13:31:53) Chapter 35

(13:55:33) Chapter 36

(14:04:26) Chapter 37

(14:26:30) Chapter 38

(14:47:09) Chapter 39

(15:03:46) Chapter 40

(15:30:07) Chapter 41

(15:53:50) Chapter 42

(16:15:49) Chapter 43

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The Touchstone by Edith Wharton ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

The Touchstone by Edith Wharton audiobook.

Genre: drama

In turn-of-the-century New York, Stephen Glennard is a promising but faltering man of letters with one urgent desire: to marry Alexa Trent, the gracious woman he loves. But with his career slipping and money running out, Stephen finds himself trapped between respectability and desperation. A tempting opportunity appears when he realizes he still possesses a cache of intensely personal letters written to him by Margaret Aubyn, a celebrated author who is now dead and newly idolized by the literary world. Publishing such a correspondence could bring a fortune - and it would be easy to hide his own connection to it. Yet the choice forces Stephen to measure what, exactly, he is willing to trade for comfort, status, and a future with Alexa. As the letters begin to circulate, their intimate voice draws readers in and throws Stephen into a tightening web of secrecy, shame, and self-justification. Edith Wharton turns a seemingly simple act into a piercing moral drama about ambition, betrayal, and the cost of building a life on another person's most private truths.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:10:34) Chapter 02

(00:27:57) Chapter 03

(00:35:36) Chapter 04

(00:51:42) Chapter 05

(01:03:05) Chapter 06

(01:18:11) Chapter 07

(01:30:19) Chapter 08

(01:44:24) Chapter 09

(01:51:23) Chapter 10

(02:01:20) Chapter 11

(02:05:46) Chapter 12

(02:17:19) Chapter 13

(02:31:47) Chapter 14

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The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton audiobook.

Genre: drama

Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth follows Lily Bart, a beautiful, intelligent young woman trying to secure her place in New York's glittering Gilded Age society. With little money of her own and mounting debts, Lily must navigate a world where status is currency and marriage is often treated as a transaction. Moving between lavish drawing rooms, country weekends, and whispered gossip, she balances her desire for comfort and independence against the unforgiving rules that govern her reputation. Key friendships and rivalries shape her path: the steady, watchful presence of Lawrence Selden offers glimpses of a freer life, while powerful social gatekeepers and would-be benefactors test how far Lily is willing to bend. As small missteps are magnified into scandal, Lily faces escalating pressure to choose security at any cost or risk being pushed to the margins. Sharp, tragicomic, and psychologically precise, Wharton's novel exposes the moral compromises of wealth, the fragility of social standing, and the personal toll of living as an ornament in a society built to break the unprotected.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:27:10) Chapter 2

(00:47:32) Chapter 3

(01:20:56) Chapter 4

(01:47:50) Chapter 5

(02:15:55) Chapter 6

(02:42:39) Chapter 7

(03:07:27) Chapter 8

(03:35:51) Chapter 9

(04:04:40) Chapter 10

(04:25:15) Chapter 11

(04:44:01) Chapter 12

(05:09:29) Chapter 13

(05:33:19) Chapter 14

(06:17:23) Chapter 15

(06:45:30) Chapter 16

(07:15:16) Chapter 17

(07:47:34) Chapter 18

(08:16:44) Chapter 19

(08:41:07) Chapter 20

(09:04:29) Chapter 21

(09:31:32) Chapter 22

(09:50:56) Chapter 23

(10:19:17) Chapter 24

(10:40:45) Chapter 25

(11:14:52) Chapter 26

(11:33:26) Chapter 27

(11:47:54) Chapter 28

(12:18:57) Chapter 29

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