Classic Audiobook Collection

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The Cloak by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol ~ Full Audiobook [tragedy] Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

The Cloak by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol audiobook.

Genre: tragedy

In wintry St Petersburg, Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin is a meek, middle-aged civil servant whose life is reduced to copying documents in silence and being mocked by his colleagues. Threadbare and nearly invisible, he endures the citys cold and the offices casual cruelty with the same dull patience that has shaped him for years. When his old coat finally becomes impossible to patch, Akaky is forced into a choice that feels enormous for someone with almost nothing: save painstakingly for a new cloak, or continue to disappear into the freezing streets. The purchase of that single garment begins to change how others see him - and how he sees himself - awakening hopes of comfort, respect, and belonging he has never dared to claim. But in a city ruled by rank, indifference, and arbitrary power, a small dream can become dangerously fragile. With sharp satire and deep compassion, Gogol follows Akaky through the offices, alleys, and stairwells of imperial Russia, revealing how a society can grind down a human soul while insisting it is only following procedure.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:38:33) Chapter 02

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Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ Full Audiobook [folklore] Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne audiobook.

Genre: folklore

In Twice-Told Tales, Nathaniel Hawthorne gathers a landmark collection of short fiction that helped define American romanticism and the darkly luminous literature of New England. Moving between village streets, lonely forests, and haunted corners of history, these stories blend everyday detail with the uncanny, revealing how pride, guilt, ambition, and hidden desire can shape a life. Hawthorne returns again and again to communities where public reputation matters, where old grievances linger, and where a single private choice can echo for years. Across sketches, legends, and moral fables, he introduces figures such as the restless dreamer, the burdened minister, the suspicious neighbor, and the ordinary person confronted by a symbol that will not let go. Some tales draw on the Puritan past, others on contemporary scenes, but all share Hawthorne's signature atmosphere: quiet dread, compassionate irony, and a fascination with the line between sin and self-deception. Rich in imagery and suspense yet rooted in human psychology, Twice-Told Tales invites listeners into a world where history feels alive and every shadow hints at a deeper truth.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:21:13) Chapter 02

(00:39:19) Chapter 03

(01:02:41) Chapter 04

(01:39:11) Chapter 05

(02:05:27) Chapter 06

(02:53:17) Chapter 07

(03:32:10) Chapter 08

(04:01:46) Chapter 09

(04:22:33) Chapter 10

(04:46:56) Chapter 11

(05:04:18) Chapter 12

(05:39:22) Chapter 13

(06:15:41) Chapter 14

(06:31:09) Chapter 15

(06:48:19) Chapter 16

(07:01:12) Chapter 17

(07:17:00) Chapter 18

(07:31:50) Chapter 19

(07:47:36) Chapter 20

(08:13:34) Chapter 21

(08:49:10) Chapter 22

(09:19:31) Chapter 23

(09:59:44) Chapter 24

(10:29:30) Chapter 25

(10:42:03) Chapter 26

(11:13:57) Chapter 27

(11:34:29) Chapter 28

(11:53:06) Chapter 29

(12:06:55) Chapter 30

(12:50:24) Chapter 31

(13:18:02) Chapter 32

(14:11:04) Chapter 33

(14:36:29) Chapter 34

(14:51:28) Chapter 35

(15:08:17) Chapter 36

(15:26:50) Chapter 37

(15:45:28) Chapter 38

(16:14:31) Chapter 39

(16:34:35) Chapter 40

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Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ Full Audiobook [romance] Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne audiobook.

Genre: romance

'Mosses from an Old Manse' is a short story collection by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1846. The collection includes several previously-published short stories and is named in honor of The Old Manse where Hawthorne and his wife lived for the first three years of their marriage. A second edition was published in 1854, which added 'Feathertop,' 'Passages from a Relinquished Work, and 'Sketches from Memory.'

Many of the tales collected in 'Mosses from an Old Manse' are allegories and, typical of Hawthorne, focus on the negative side of human nature. Hawthorne's friend Herman Melville noted this aspect in his review 'Hawthorne and His Mosses': 'This black conceit pervades him through and through. You may be witched by his sunlight, transported by the bright gildings in the skies he builds over you; but there is the blackness of darkness beyond; and even his bright gildings but fringe and play upon the edges of thunder-clouds.' William Henry Channing reviewed the collection in The Harbinger and noted that its author 'had been baptized in the deep waters of Tragedy' and his work was dark with only brief moments of 'serene brightness' which was never brighter than 'dusky twilight'.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:29:24) Chapter 02

(00:55:49) Chapter 03

(01:18:28) Chapter 04

(02:07:29) Chapter 05

(02:46:45) Chapter 06

(03:26:06) Chapter 07

(04:00:33) Chapter 08

(04:49:10) Chapter 09

(05:10:23) Chapter 10

(05:57:38) Chapter 11

(06:34:59) Chapter 12

(07:30:10) Chapter 13

(08:09:53) Chapter 14

(08:44:03) Chapter 15

(09:40:13) Chapter 16

(10:15:08) Chapter 17

(10:48:32) Chapter 18

(11:10:44) Chapter 19

(11:34:59) Chapter 20

(12:05:51) Chapter 21

(12:37:32) Chapter 22

(13:26:25) Chapter 23

(14:18:55) Chapter 24

(14:55:10) Chapter 25

(15:43:43) Chapter 26

(16:37:40) Chapter 27

(17:15:47) Chapter 28

(17:54:32) Chapter 29

(18:13:11) Chapter 30

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The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne audiobook.

Genre: drama

'The wrongdoing of one generation lives into the successive ones and... becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief.' Hawthorne's moral for 'The House of the Seven Gables,' taken from the Preface, accurately presages his story. The full weight of the gloomy mansion of the title seems to sit on the fortunes of the Pyncheon family. An ancestor took advantage of the Salem witch trials to wrest away the land whereon the house would be raised... but the land's owner, about to be executed as a wizard, cursed the Pyncheon family until such time as they should make restitution.

Now, almost two centuries later, the family is in real distress. Hepzibah, an old maid and resident of the house, is forced by advanced poverty to open a shop in a part of the house. Her brother Clifford has just been released from prison after serving a thirty-year sentence for murder, and his mind struggles to maintain any kind of hold on reality. Cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon is making himself odious by threatening to have Clifford committed to an institution. And after all these years, the deed to a vast tract of land, that would settle great wealth on the family, is still missing.

One bright ray of sunshine enters the house when cousin Phoebe arrives for an extended stay to allow unhappy matters in her end of the family to sort themselves out. While she lightens the lives of Hepzibah and Clifford, she also attracts the attention of a mysterious lodger named Holgrave, who has placed himself near the Pyncheon family for reasons that only come clear at the end of the story.

The real crisis arrives when the Judge, who strongly resembles the Colonel Pyncheon who built the house so many years ago, steps up his demands on Hepzibah and Clifford and unwittingly triggers the curse.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:18:26) Chapter 01

(01:17:52) Chapter 02

(01:46:55) Chapter 03

(02:18:33) Chapter 04

(02:51:48) Chapter 05

(03:27:26) Chapter 06

(03:51:51) Chapter 07

(04:30:37) Chapter 08

(05:10:07) Chapter 09

(05:38:25) Chapter 10

(06:09:18) Chapter 11

(06:41:12) Chapter 12

(07:14:12) Chapter 13

(08:08:43) Chapter 14

(08:35:49) Chapter 15

(09:16:31) Chapter 16

(09:46:22) Chapter 17

(10:21:03) Chapter 18

(11:00:45) Chapter 19

(11:36:55) Chapter 20

(11:57:32) Chapter 21

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This World is Taboo by Murray Leinster ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

This World is Taboo by Murray Leinster audiobook.

Genre: scifi

Calhoun, a field man for the Interstellar Medical Service, expects routine inspections: land, check public health conditions, and leave a world safer than he found it. But when his small Med Ship reaches Weald Three, he finds a prosperous grain planet locked in fear. Nearby Dara, once ravaged by a plague, is under strict quarantine, and its people carry the visible legacy of that sickness - the hated 'blueskins.' On Weald, politicians and security forces treat any contact with Dara as contamination, and paranoia is turning into something far more dangerous. Calhoun, accompanied by his sharp-eyed tormal companion Murgatroyd, quickly realizes that the health problem is inseparable from prejudice, trade, and the threat of interplanetary violence. To do his job, he may have to break the very quarantine everyone insists will keep them safe, and step onto the world that has been declared untouchable. Part medical mystery, part political thriller, Leinster's classic space adventure digs into how fear spreads faster than disease, and how one stubborn professional can challenge a system built on scapegoats.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:32:48) Chapter 02

(01:01:22) Chapter 03

(01:29:28) Chapter 04

(01:59:48) Chapter 05

(02:34:49) Chapter 06

(03:06:45) Chapter 07

(03:37:29) Chapter 08

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Conquest Over Time by Michael Shaara ~ Full Audiobook [scifi] Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

Conquest Over Time by Michael Shaara audiobook.

Genre: scifi

Pat Travis has made a career out of being first. As a veteran Contact Man for a powerful Earth company, he races rival operators to newly opened worlds, gambling on speed, nerve, and a reputation for impossible luck. But when Travis reaches the planet the locals call Mert, his winning streak turns instantly sour: according to the planet's rigid astrological code, he has arrived on the worst possible day. Doors close, streets empty, officials turn hostile, and every attempt at diplomacy collides with a culture that believes the stars have already decided the outcome.Stranded in a city that looks like it was built for carriages and candlelight, Travis is pushed off the polite surface and into the dangerous underworld below, where outcasts survive in tunnels and sewers the respectable citizens pretend do not exist. There he meets two unlikely allies, including a startlingly brilliant young schemer who sees angles Travis has missed. Together they try to outthink superstition, corporate pressure, and a ticking calendar of unlucky hours, while Travis fights to prove that success is more than fate. Conquest Over Time blends tense negotiation, sly humor, and a sharp clash of belief systems into a fast, classic tale of science-fiction intrigue.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:20:01) Chapter 2

(00:38:36) Chapter 3

(01:03:49) Chapter 4

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Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge ~ Full Audiobook [family] Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge audiobook.

Genre: family

Mary Mapes Dodge created an instant bestseller with 'Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates.' She wanted the book to be partly a book of travels and partly a domestic story. It is a tale written for children that adults also find interesting and uplifting. Dodge writes as if she is sending a series of letters from Holland to children in America, and her you-are-there perspective is aided by a nice attention to detail and vivid imagery.

The Brinkers are a poor but stoic family under a dark cloud - Raff, the man of the house, fell from the dikes while reinforcing them during a bad storm, and for ten years he has been in a vegetative state. With no steady income, the family's lot is grinding poverty. Despite their unfortunate circumstances, Hans and Gretel are cheerful children, yet always attentive to the needs of their mother and their present-but-not-really-there father. Their social standing is very low, but they both attract firm friends, even among the gentry, for their honesty, industry, and good-heartedness.

Then a glorious skating race is proposed for the town of Broek, with the prize a pair of silver skates for both the winning boy and girl. In the weeks leading up to the race, we follow the adventures of five of the local boys who are showing a visiting relative from England the sights of the Netherlands. Hans improbably meets the one man who might be able to heal his father, and somehow Hans finds a way to afford some skates so that he and Gretel can enter the race.

This all leads up to a dramatic, moving, and entirely satisfactory conclusion. 'Hans Brinker' hits a series of high notes and encourages children to cultivate and display their finer qualities.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:07:38) Chapter 2

(00:16:54) Chapter 3

(00:36:03) Chapter 4

(00:46:48) Chapter 5

(01:00:34) Chapter 6

(01:15:11) Chapter 7

(01:24:19) Chapter 8

(01:32:26) Chapter 9

(01:44:18) Chapter 10

(02:02:32) Chapter 11

(02:21:56) Chapter 12

(02:38:27) Chapter 13

(02:45:57) Chapter 14

(02:53:21) Chapter 15

(03:04:31) Chapter 16

(03:19:10) Chapter 17

(03:31:21) Chapter 18

(03:41:38) Chapter 19

(03:56:18) Chapter 20

(04:09:16) Chapter 21

(04:23:31) Chapter 22

(04:29:29) Chapter 23

(04:52:56) Chapter 24

(04:59:42) Chapter 25

(05:11:34) Chapter 26

(05:23:34) Chapter 27

(05:29:45) Chapter 28

(05:55:14) Chapter 29

(06:10:03) Chapter 30

(06:23:05) Chapter 31

(06:34:17) Chapter 32

(06:47:32) Chapter 33

(07:00:51) Chapter 34

(07:07:35) Chapter 35

(07:14:28) Chapter 36

(07:23:41) Chapter 37

(07:32:58) Chapter 38

(07:43:14) Chapter 39

(07:50:49) Chapter 40

(08:00:58) Chapter 41

(08:12:00) Chapter 42

(08:28:38) Chapter 43

(08:45:25) Chapter 44

(09:18:42) Chapter 45

(09:34:36) Chapter 46

(09:40:15) Chapter 47

(09:50:52) Chapter 48

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The Treaty With China by Mark Twain ~ Full Audiobook [history] Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

The Treaty With China by Mark Twain audiobook.

Genre: history

First published in the New York Tribune on August 28, 1868, The Treaty With China, its Provisions Explained is Mark Twain at his most sharp-eyed and plainspoken, turning a dense diplomatic document into a lively, provocative listening experience. With the newly concluded U.S.-China treaty (often associated with diplomat Anson Burlingame) as his framework, Twain walks the listener article by article through what the agreement actually says, why each clause exists, and who stands to gain or lose. He translates legal phrasing into everyday language, then widens the lens to the realities of foreign power in China, the pressures of trade and extraterritorial privilege, and the long history of mistrust created by meddling outsiders. Back in the United States, he aims his wit at the politics of immigration and the cruelty and hypocrisy faced by Chinese residents, especially on the Pacific coast, while also addressing issues like religious liberty, consular protection, and the fight against coerced labor. Part civics lesson, part moral argument, Twain's commentary asks what a fair international relationship should look like when prejudice and profit are both on the table.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:23:59) Chapter 02

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Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain ~ Full Audiobook [adventure] Sep 23, 2022

Show notes

Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain audiobook.

Genre: adventure

When Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer stumble onto a mysterious balloon, they find themselves swept into a journey far beyond the Mississippi River. Narrated in Huck's plainspoken, observant voice, the story launches the boys - along with their loyal friend Jim - into an accidental voyage over the Atlantic and into the deserts and ancient wonders of North Africa and the Middle East. Tom, brimming with confidence and book-learned ideas about science, geography, and adventure tales, insists he can steer their fate with clever plans and big speeches. Huck, more practical and skeptical, watches events unfold with a mix of awe, worry, and sharp humor, while Jim tries to keep the group grounded as danger and uncertainty mount. As they drift over unfamiliar landscapes, face natural threats, and encounter people and places that challenge their assumptions, the trio must rely on courage, wit, and each other to survive. Both travel yarn and satire, this classic Twain sequel pokes fun at romantic adventure stories while delivering a fast-moving tale of friendship, mischief, and the perils of overconfidence.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:18:43) Chapter 02

(00:32:34) Chapter 03

(00:48:00) Chapter 04

(00:55:35) Chapter 05

(01:09:36) Chapter 06

(01:20:02) Chapter 07

(01:33:18) Chapter 08

(01:50:19) Chapter 09

(02:01:59) Chapter 10

(02:15:14) Chapter 11

(02:33:34) Chapter 12

(02:51:45) Chapter 13

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The Gilded Age, A Tale of Today by Mark Twain ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Sep 21, 2022

Show notes

The Gilded Age, A Tale of Today by Mark Twain audiobook.

Genre: drama

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today is an 1873 novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that satirizes greed and political corruption in post-Civil War America. The term gilded age, commonly given to the era, comes from the title of this book. Twain and Warner got the name from Shakespeare's King John (1595): 'To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess.' Gilding a lily, which is already beautiful and not in need of further adornment, is excessive and wasteful, characteristics of the age Twain and Warner wrote about in their novel. Another interpretation of the title, of course, is the contrast between an ideal 'Golden Age,' and a less worthy 'Gilded Age,' as gilding is only a thin layer of gold over baser metal, so the title now takes on a pejorative meaning as to the novel's time, events and people.

Although not one of Twain's more well-known works, it has appeared in more than 100 editions since its original publication in 1873. Twain and Warner originally had planned to issue the novel with illustrations by Thomas Nast. The book is remarkable for two reasons–-it is the only novel Twain wrote with a collaborator, and its title very quickly became synonymous with graft, materialism, and corruption in public life.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:03:10) Chapter 01

(00:24:08) Chapter 02

(00:32:00) Chapter 03

(00:41:15) Chapter 04

(01:02:16) Chapter 05

(01:20:04) Chapter 06

(01:42:16) Chapter 07

(01:57:35) Chapter 08

(02:16:10) Chapter 09

(02:28:50) Chapter 10

(02:45:44) Chapter 11

(02:57:45) Chapter 12

(03:13:44) Chapter 13

(03:31:20) Chapter 14

(03:43:53) Chapter 15

(04:01:35) Chapter 16

(04:18:50) Chapter 17

(04:33:09) Chapter 18

(04:49:50) Chapter 19

(05:06:32) Chapter 20

(05:21:06) Chapter 21

(05:35:46) Chapter 22

(05:53:43) Chapter 23

(05:59:35) Chapter 24

(06:17:48) Chapter 25

(06:29:03) Chapter 26

(06:45:44) Chapter 27

(06:57:04) Chapter 28

(07:18:29) Chapter 29

(07:34:45) Chapter 30

(07:41:11) Chapter 31

(07:59:16) Chapter 32

(08:11:31) Chapter 33

(08:46:56) Chapter 34

(08:57:41) Chapter 35

(09:10:52) Chapter 36

(09:21:28) Chapter 37

(09:29:13) Chapter 38

(09:43:28) Chapter 39

(09:53:33) Chapter 40

(10:06:28) Chapter 41

(10:22:24) Chapter 42

(10:52:45) Chapter 43

(11:03:24) Chapter 44

(11:17:33) Chapter 45

(11:39:07) Chapter 46

(11:56:27) Chapter 47

(12:10:44) Chapter 48

(12:24:52) Chapter 49

(12:40:06) Chapter 50

(12:57:39) Chapter 51

(13:11:47) Chapter 52

(13:15:55) Chapter 53

(13:30:50) Chapter 54

(13:46:49) Chapter 55

(14:06:06) Chapter 56

(14:24:43) Chapter 57

(14:37:40) Chapter 58

(14:53:04) Chapter 59

(15:15:46) Chapter 60

(15:31:30) Chapter 61

(15:44:27) Chapter 62

(15:55:19) Chapter 63

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