Title: The Story of My Misfortunes Author: Peter Abelard (1079-1142) Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/the-story-of-my-misfortunes-by-peter-abelard/ One sentence summary: What a whiner. I can’t say this was a particularly enjoyable book, but it was fascinating, something like a train wreck is fascinating. It does provide some additional background to the love story of Abelard and Heloise, but […]
Title: The Valley of Fear Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/the-valley-of-fear-by-sir-arthur-conan-doyle/ This was a real treat – two mystery stories in one! Holmes solves the first, then we get the back story as the second. They are tied together, but each could stand alone. I thought I’d read the entire Sherlock Holmes […]
Title: Manners, Customs and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period Author: Paul Lacroix (1806-1884) Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/manners-customs-and-dress-during-the-middle-ages-and-during-the-renaissance-period-by-paul-lacroix/ This is an entertaining and enjoyable book, as long as you don’t take it too seriously as an authoritative resource. In the areas where I have detailed knowledge, there isn’t much that I […]
Title: Short Science Fiction Collection 21 Author: various Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/short-science-fiction-collection-21/ This is a collection of science fiction short stories, by various authors and read by a variety of readers. As to be expected, the quality also varies. None of the stories in this collection struck me as anything I’m likely to reread, and […]
Title: Tom Sawyer Abroad Author: Mark Twain Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/tom-sawyer-abroad-by-mark-twain/ Tom, Huck, and Jim find themselves on a Jules Verne like adventure in a balloon, travelling the world. Huck is the narrator, and highly entertaining as the fish out of water much of the time. Tom seems to just know all kinds of things, […]
Title: A Princess of Mars Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/a-princess-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs-2/ Librivox has multiple versions of this work available. This is the one read in its entirety by Mark Nelson, who is a wonderful reader. The story is classic pulp fiction, and influenced many writers to come. Some of it seems a […]
Title: A Man of Means Author: P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) and C.H. Bovill Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/a-man-of-means-by-p-g-wodehouse-and-c-h-bovill/ Moderately entertaining, with some typical dry Wodehouse wit. It isn’t nearly as good as Jeeves, although it is possible to detect the same authorship. Wodehouse got better with practice. This is in effect a series of short stories, with […]
Title: Short Science Fiction Collection #20 Author: Various Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/short-science-fiction-collection-20/ A mixed collection of 9 short stories, of varying worth. I found most of these to be pretty predictable. They may have been innovative when first written, but their themes have been done enough times since then so as to make them familiar […]
A friend mentioned he kept a log of all the audiobooks he has listened to, and that struck me as in an interesting idea. The first one finished since then is: Title: Starman’s Quest Author: Robert Silverberg Source: Librivox URL: http://librivox.org/starmans-quest-by-robert-silverberg/ I enjoyed it, although it was clearly written for a juvenile audience. There are […]
The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an audiobook from Librivox.org. I never read this adventure story set in the middle ages as a boy. In one way, that’s too bad, because I missed out on a really good story. In another, that’s good, because being introduced to it by Clive Catterall, who reads […]