Classic Audiobook Collection

Latest Episodes:

The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Dec 02, 2023

Show notes

The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais audiobook.

Genre: comedy

In a sunlit corner of Seville, a young nobleman, Count Almaviva, arrives with one urgent goal: to win the heart of Rosine, a clever young woman kept under the watchful control of her guardian, Dr. Bartolo. Bartolo intends to marry her himself, and he guards his household with contracts, locks, and suspicion. To break through those defenses, Almaviva turns to the citys most resourceful operator, Figaro, a former servant turned barber, matchmaker, and master of improvisation. Together they spin a fast-moving web of serenades, disguises, false identities, and perfectly timed interruptions, all while Rosine proves she is far from a passive prize. As rumors spread and rivals close in, every plan threatens to collapse into chaos, forcing Figaro and Almaviva to outthink Bartolo and his slippery accomplice, Don Basilio. Bright, mischievous, and sharply observant, The Barber of Seville is a comic battle of wits about freedom, love, and the absurd ways power tries to police desire.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 1

(00:28:47) Chapter 2

(01:15:37) Chapter 3

(01:52:46) Chapter 4

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The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy] Dec 01, 2023

Show notes

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin audiobook.

Genre: philosophy

Written at the turn of the 20th century, Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread is a passionate, practical argument for a society organized around human needs rather than profit. Kropotkin challenges the idea that poverty and scarcity are inevitable, tracing how wealth is produced collectively yet controlled by a few, and asking what would happen if communities directly managed land, factories, housing, and distribution. Moving from critiques of wage labor and private property to concrete proposals, he explores how food, shelter, clothing, and comfort could be guaranteed for all through voluntary cooperation, shared resources, and decentralized decision-making. Along the way, he confronts the hard questions any social transformation must face: how to feed cities, how to coordinate work without coercion, how to balance individual freedom with collective responsibility, and how to prevent new forms of domination from replacing the old. Both a manifesto and a blueprint, the book blends moral urgency with everyday details of production and logistics, inviting listeners to imagine what mutual aid could look like when treated not as charity, but as the foundation of social life.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:21:25) Chapter 02

(00:41:08) Chapter 03

(01:03:23) Chapter 04

(01:31:44) Chapter 05

(02:01:44) Chapter 06

(02:23:22) Chapter 07

(02:29:07) Chapter 08

(02:43:06) Chapter 09

(03:01:57) Chapter 10

(03:17:55) Chapter 11

(03:25:16) Chapter 12

(04:02:08) Chapter 13

(04:35:21) Chapter 14

(04:50:01) Chapter 15

(04:56:35) Chapter 16

(05:18:42) Chapter 17

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Clever Hans (The Horse of Mr. Von Osten) by Oskar Pfungst ~ Full Audiobook [science] Dec 01, 2023

Show notes

Clever Hans (The Horse of Mr. Von Osten) by Oskar Pfungst audiobook.

Genre: science

In Clever Hans (The Horse of Mr. Von Osten), psychologist Oskar Pfungst reconstructs one of the most famous puzzles in the history of animal intelligence: a horse in early 1900s Germany that appeared able to solve arithmetic, tell time, and answer questions by tapping its hoof. As crowds gather and skeptics argue, Pfungst steps in to test what is really happening - not with ridicule, but with careful observation, controlled trials, and a willingness to question human assumptions as much as the animal's abilities. Moving from public demonstrations to tightly designed experiments, he examines how questions are asked, who is present, what the horse can see, and how subtle shifts in attention and posture might shape an animal's responses. The investigation becomes a larger story about perception, suggestion, and the hidden ways expectations can influence results. Clear, methodical, and surprisingly suspenseful, Pfungst's account offers a foundational lesson for anyone curious about psychology, scientific method, and the uneasy boundary between genuine discovery and self-deception.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:29:12) Chapter 02

(00:59:09) Chapter 03

(01:56:10) Chapter 04

(02:49:35) Chapter 05

(03:17:10) Chapter 06

(04:23:43) Chapter 07

(05:12:49) Chapter 08

(06:02:51) Chapter 09

(06:51:30) Chapter 10

(07:46:11) Chapter 11

(07:53:39) Chapter 12

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Beauty's Hour by Olivia Shakespear ~ Full Audiobook [fantasy] Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

Beauty's Hour by Olivia Shakespear audiobook.

Genre: fantasy

In late-Victorian London, Mary Gower is clever, observant, and quietly funny, the sort of woman whose conversation lingers in a room long after she has left it. But in a society that rewards faces more than minds, Mary is dismissed as too plain to be truly seen, especially by Gerald Harman, the charming man she cannot help watching from the edges of fashionable life. Then, in a moment of uncanny discovery at her dressing-table mirror, Mary learns she can change her appearance by sheer force of will. With that single, impossible talent, she steps into the world again as Mary Hatherley, a woman of striking beauty who suddenly commands attention, invitations, and desire. Yet the new face does not erase the old self, and each transformation sharpens the story's central question: what, exactly, do people love when they claim to love you? As Mary's double life pulls her toward romance and social triumph, it also draws suspicion, obsession, and a mounting sense that the power she has awakened may demand a price. Beauty's Hour is a gothic-tinged psychological fantasy about self-image, gendered expectations, and the perilous gap between being admired and being known.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:11:12) Chapter 02

(00:21:42) Chapter 03

(00:31:49) Chapter 04

(00:42:23) Chapter 05

(00:55:16) Chapter 06

(01:05:54) Chapter 07

(01:23:46) Chapter 08

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The Crime of the French Cafe and Other Stories by Nicholas Carter ~ Full Audiobook [mystery] Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

The Crime of the French Cafe and Other Stories by Nicholas Carter audiobook.

Genre: mystery

In this classic trio of Nick Carter mysteries, the famous detective is pulled from routine surveillance into a string of baffling cases where appearances are carefully staged and every witness seems to know only part of the truth. The collection opens in New York's Tenderloin, when Carter notices a waiter bolt from a fashionable French restaurant and senses something far more serious than petty theft. Inside a private dining room, a brutal crime has been committed, and Carter must piece together scattered clues, conflicting accounts, and hidden relationships before the killer can vanish into the city. In the stories that follow, Carter and his trusted allies face an investigation colored by whispers of the uncanny and a separate puzzle tied to a place meant for healing, where secrecy and fear make every corridor suspect. Fast-paced, clue-driven, and rich with disguises, misdirection, and sharp deduction, these tales showcase a detective who relies on observation and nerve as much as logic. Each story builds to a high-stakes confrontation with cunning criminals, while exploring how greed, loyalty, and desperation can push ordinary people into extraordinary crimes.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:11:43) Chapter 02

(00:21:49) Chapter 03

(00:31:20) Chapter 04

(00:40:55) Chapter 05

(00:50:20) Chapter 06

(01:00:45) Chapter 07

(01:09:42) Chapter 08

(01:19:17) Chapter 09

(01:28:02) Chapter 10

(01:37:23) Chapter 11

(01:52:50) Chapter 12

(02:05:41) Chapter 13

(02:18:30) Chapter 14

(02:30:24) Chapter 15

(02:45:07) Chapter 16

(02:56:25) Chapter 17

(03:03:59) Chapter 18

(03:16:30) Chapter 19

(03:27:30) Chapter 20

(03:39:55) Chapter 21

(03:51:10) Chapter 22

(04:01:27) Chapter 23

(04:13:55) Chapter 24

(04:25:22) Chapter 25

(04:36:57) Chapter 26

(04:46:59) Chapter 27

(04:58:37) Chapter 28

(05:10:25) Chapter 29

(05:19:36) Chapter 30

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Master of the Vineyard by Myrtle Reed ~ Full Audiobook [romance] Nov 29, 2023

Show notes

Master of the Vineyard by Myrtle Reed audiobook.

Genre: romance

In a quiet river valley hemmed in by hills and vineyards, Rosemary Starr has spent twenty-five years living for other people. Orphaned young and bound to the constant demands of her stern grandmother and exacting aunt, she steals her only moments of freedom on solitary walks to the hill she calls the Hill of the Muses, where she can imagine a life beyond duty and small-town scrutiny. Below her, the Marsh vineyard spreads across the slope like a living inheritance, and its troubled heir, Alden Marsh, feels just as trapped by family expectation as Rosemary does. A reluctant master of a failing estate and a part-time schoolteacher, Alden meets Rosemary in discreet, carefully measured intervals, lending her novels and poems that awaken a hunger for beauty, choice, and love. As the seasons turn and the vineyard demands decisions that cannot be postponed, Rosemary and Alden are forced to confront what they truly owe to family, tradition, and themselves. Lyrical and intimate, Myrtle Reed's novel weaves romance with questions of independence, sacrifice, and the price of becoming the author of your own life.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:16:42) Chapter 02

(00:36:27) Chapter 03

(00:57:53) Chapter 04

(01:18:24) Chapter 05

(01:38:08) Chapter 06

(01:56:55) Chapter 07

(02:16:40) Chapter 08

(02:38:48) Chapter 09

(02:57:58) Chapter 10

(03:19:26) Chapter 11

(03:41:24) Chapter 12

(04:01:29) Chapter 13

(04:20:22) Chapter 14

(04:40:01) Chapter 15

(04:59:58) Chapter 16

(05:20:08) Chapter 17

(05:39:29) Chapter 18

(05:57:33) Chapter 19

(06:16:55) Chapter 20

(06:36:29) Chapter 21

(06:53:56) Chapter 22

(07:13:09) Chapter 23

(07:32:13) Chapter 24

(07:51:30) Chapter 25

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A Weaver of Dreams by Myrtle Reed ~ Full Audiobook [romance] Nov 29, 2023

Show notes

A Weaver of Dreams by Myrtle Reed audiobook.

Genre: romance

In this tender Edwardian romance, Judith Sylvester has grown up in the hushed comforts of a large house shaped by illness, duty, and the quiet authority of her wealthy invalid aunt. When Judith becomes engaged to the ambitious Dr. Carter Keith, she believes she is stepping at last into an ordinary, radiant future. But after she introduces Carter to Margery Gordon, a young woman from another guarded household, small shifts in attention become unmistakable, and Judith finds herself watching love turn into something stranger and less certain. Refusing to bargain for affection, Judith retreats into solitude and into an idea that has haunted her since childhood: the picture of a perfect lover, modeled on the devoted man who once wrote exquisite letters to her aunt. Those letters, full of tenderness and restraint, become Judith's private standard for what love should be - and a clue to a hidden connection between the families around her. As friendships deepen and other hearts move toward their own difficult choices, Judith must decide whether dreams are a refuge from life, or the very threads that can remake it.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:21:37) Chapter 02

(00:40:52) Chapter 03

(00:59:30) Chapter 04

(01:18:39) Chapter 05

(01:37:59) Chapter 06

(01:57:29) Chapter 07

(02:20:04) Chapter 08

(02:38:14) Chapter 09

(02:57:19) Chapter 10

(03:16:45) Chapter 11

(03:38:50) Chapter 12

(03:59:11) Chapter 13

(04:18:46) Chapter 14

(04:39:16) Chapter 15

(04:58:46) Chapter 16

(05:17:40) Chapter 17

(05:39:07) Chapter 18

(06:00:04) Chapter 19

(06:20:16) Chapter 20

(06:39:56) Chapter 21

(06:58:37) Chapter 22

(07:17:32) Chapter 23

(07:38:02) Chapter 24

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Behind the Green Door by Mildred A. Wirt-Benson ~ Full Audiobook [mystery] Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

Behind the Green Door by Mildred A. Wirt-Benson audiobook.

Genre: mystery

Penny Parker is a teen-aged sleuth and amateur reporter with an uncanny knack for uncovering and solving unusual, sometimes bizarre mysteries. The only daughter of widower Anthony Parker, publisher of the 'Riverview Star,' Penny has been raised to be self-sufficient, outspoken, innovative, and extraordinarily tenacious. Her cheerful, chatty manner belies a shrewd and keenly observant mind. Penny was the creation of Mildred A. Wirt, who was also the author of the original Nancy Drew series (under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene). Wirt became frustrated when she was pushed to 'tone down' Nancy Drew and make her less independent and daring. With Penny Parker, Wirt had a freer hand and received full credit. Wirt once said, ' 'I always thought Penny Parker was a better Nancy Drew than Nancy is.'

In BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR, the Parkers' long-planned trip to the Pine Top ski resort for the Christmas holiday is upset when the 'Riverview Star' is sued for libel. Publisher Anthony Parker remains behind to deal with the crisis while Penny is sent to Pine Top. There, she encounters multiple mysteries, including an elderly recluse who keeps his granddaughter a prisoner in his remote cabin and the unexplained presence of a reporter from a rival newspaper. Worse, the man suing the 'Star' also shows up in Pine Top. Penny's nose for news combined with her penchant for dare-devil skiing soon land her in the middle of a dangerous tangle she must unravel to save both the 'Star' and the ski resort.

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:15:33) Chapter 02

(00:27:34) Chapter 03

(00:39:25) Chapter 04

(00:49:54) Chapter 05

(01:02:00) Chapter 06

(01:11:59) Chapter 07

(01:22:22) Chapter 08

(01:34:24) Chapter 09

(01:44:06) Chapter 10

(01:56:28) Chapter 11

(02:07:03) Chapter 12

(02:17:00) Chapter 13

(02:29:37) Chapter 14

(02:40:03) Chapter 15

(02:47:42) Chapter 16

(02:59:14) Chapter 17

(03:10:25) Chapter 18

(03:18:37) Chapter 19

(03:31:59) Chapter 20

(03:45:56) Chapter 21

(03:57:31) Chapter 22

(04:06:54) Chapter 23

(04:17:13) Chapter 24

(04:29:21) Chapter 25

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The Clue of the Silken Ladder by Mildred A. Wirt Benson ~ Full Audiobook [mystery] Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

The Clue of the Silken Ladder by Mildred A. Wirt Benson audiobook.

Genre: mystery

In 'the clue of the silken ladder', Penny investigates multiple mysteries. What is the purpose of the singular silken ladder made by the secretive and somewhat sinister old Japanese curio shop owner? How can the 'Riverview Star' obtain evidence that a popular troupe of spiritualists really are heartless con artists? Last, who is perpetrating the gravity-defying burglaries that have rocked the town ? Meanwhile, the Parker housekeeper, Mrs. Weems, has come into an inheritance and plans to leave Riverview, much to the Parkers' dismay. Can Penny change her mind? PENNY PARKER is a teen-aged sleuth and amateur reporter with an uncanny knack for uncovering and solving unusual, sometimes bizarre mysteries. The only daughter of widower Anthony Parker, publisher of the 'Riverview Star,' Penny has been raised to be self-sufficient, outspoken, innovative, and extraordinarily tenacious. Her cheerful, chatty manner belies a shrewd and keenly observant mind. Penny was the creation of Mildred A. Wirt, who was also the author of the original Nancy Drew series (under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene). Wirt became frustrated when she was pushed to 'tone down' Nancy Drew and make her less independent and daring. With Penny Parker, Wirt had a freer hand and received full credit. Wirt once said, ' 'I always thought Penny Parker was a better Nancy Drew than Nancy is.'

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:13:39) Chapter 02

(00:27:52) Chapter 03

(00:38:14) Chapter 04

(00:51:05) Chapter 05

(01:00:03) Chapter 06

(01:11:26) Chapter 07

(01:22:05) Chapter 08

(01:32:10) Chapter 09

(01:44:48) Chapter 10

(01:56:49) Chapter 11

(02:06:40) Chapter 12

(02:19:19) Chapter 13

(02:27:56) Chapter 14

(02:38:06) Chapter 15

(02:50:25) Chapter 16

(02:58:41) Chapter 17

(03:10:02) Chapter 18

(03:17:18) Chapter 19

(03:24:07) Chapter 20

(03:30:46) Chapter 21

(03:39:14) Chapter 22

(03:47:46) Chapter 23

(03:57:05) Chapter 24

(04:12:05) Chapter 25

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And Even Now by Max Beerbohm ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Nov 27, 2023

Show notes

And Even Now by Max Beerbohm audiobook.

Genre: comedy

This is a diverse collection of essays by English writer Max Beerbohm, whose circle included such notables as Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Ezra Pound, and Somerset Maugham. Much of Beerbohm's work was humorous, including parodies of various aspects of the upper class life into which he was born.

Some of these pieces are humorous, some philosophical, and some even sad. They include, for instance: a frankly self-critical piece on the pomposity and self-importance of his early literary ambitions; a half-eager, half-repining essay on a missing and uncompleted portrait of the great German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; and a funny, but politically critical essay on 'the servant question.'

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Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:18:55) Chapter 02

(00:37:51) Chapter 03

(01:09:37) Chapter 04

(01:20:51) Chapter 05

(02:16:17) Chapter 06

(02:28:20) Chapter 07

(02:52:51) Chapter 08

(03:06:22) Chapter 09

(03:41:04) Chapter 10