01/07/2024
Bird World: A Bird Book for Children
Bird World is a children’s guide to New England Birds. It explores the characteristics, habitat, and songs of native birds. – Summary by Jennifer Dallman [chương_files]
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01/07/2024
Traveller from Altruria
Set in the early 1890s, at a fashionable summer resort somewhere on the East Coast of the United States, this book tells the story of Mr. Twelvemough, an author who has been selected to function as host to a visitor from the faraway island of Altruria. The visitor, Mr. Homos, has come all the way to the United States, a country which prides itself on democracy and equality, to experience everyday life in America firsthand, and to see for himself how the principle that “All men are created equal” is being put into practice. Due to Altruria’s secluded existence, very little is known about the island, so Twelvemough and his circle of acquaintances, all of whom are staying at the same resort hotel, seem more eager to learn about Altruria than to explain American life and institutions. To their dismay, it becomes gradually clear that the United States is greatly lagging behind Altruria in practically every aspect of life, be it political, economic, cultural or moral. Summary from Wikipedia [chương_files]
01/07/2024
Tales of Mean Streets
This is the first book of a trilogy (A Child of the Jago, To London Town) set in the harsh world of London’s East End. Violence and poverty are everywhere, but the universal human emotions prevail despite the rawness of life. We come to love the characters and suffer with them in their misery, yet share in their joys and minor triumphs. – Summary by Lynne Thompson [chương_files]
01/07/2024
My Flirtations
Many novels, most notably Hannah Webster’s The Coquette, focused on how terrible it is for a woman to flirt before her marriage. “I did not speak 20 sentences before sir Robert proposed to me”, explained Lady Bidulph while teaching her daughter how to court properly in “Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph”. A coquette must be a fool, wicked, and immoral. But Peggy is none of these. She sees things as they are, sometimes too much for her own good, and flirts with men she finds interesting. She decides to tell about them, from her point of view. The feelings, the reasons they did not keep in touch, and her “notions” about them. This is her way to examine late Victorian society including the lives of other oppressed minorities. This novel is considered semi autobiographical. – Summary by Stav Nisser. [chương_files]
01/07/2024
Catriona
This is a sequel to Kidnapped. Many thought Kidnapped ended quite abruptly. The reason is Stevenson planned on writing a sequel. Catriona takes up the story of David Balfour on the same day Kidnapped ends. He must now try to clear his name and the name of James Stewart of the Appin murder. This will not be easy because the Campbells want James Stewart to hang. “Catriona: Being Memoirs of the Further Adventures of David Balfour at Home and Abroad, in which are set forth his misfortunes anent the Appin Murder, his troubles with Lord Advocate Grant: captivity on the Bass Rock, Journey into Holland and France, and singular relations with James More Drummond or MacGregor, a son of the notorious Rob Roy, and his daughter Catriona: written by himself, and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson.” (Summary by Wayne Cooke and from the title page) [chương_files]
01/07/2024
Coffee Break Collection 025 – Water
This is the twenty-fifth Coffee Break Collection, in which Librivox readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration — perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is water, a subject that has attracted Archimedes, Shelley and Masefield, to name but a few. [chương_files]
01/07/2024
One Thing Needful
Can starving children be grateful for the education they receive if, when they ask for food, rich people give them a stone? This is the question in the heart of this rich psychological novel. Lady Lashmore is a typical lady of her time, ruling every aspect of her household and constantly complaining that the poor people in the factory ten miles away bother her. Things change when her son, Lord Lashmore, falls in love with a poor woman. Only then does he understand what is the one thing they need most. Only then does he mature, develop empathy, and see what are the real important things in life. This is a coming of age story, a love story, but, most of all, a story about prejudice and small revolutions. For the world would never be the same and the young generation sees social classes differently. This novel is perfect for fans of Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell. Readers who love Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s other novels will not be disappointed. – Summary by Stav Nisser. [chương_files]
01/07/2024
Irvington Stories
A collection of 8 short stories for children, written by Mary Mapes Dodge, author of “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates”. This was her first book, and the stories were written to entertain her children. A Christmas story, tales of the Civil War, and an Indian tale are among the offerings. (Summary by Krista Zaleski) [chương_files]
01/07/2024
Half-Breed: A Tale of the Western Frontier
Published anonymously in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (with an earlier draft also appearing as “Arrow-Tip” in The Aristidean), The Half-Breed: A Tale of the Western Frontier is one of the few known works of long-form fiction written by Walt Whitman during the earliest part of his career. It tells the story of Arrow-Tip, a Native American who falls victim to frontier prejudice after the presumed murder of local blacksmith Peter Brown. Despite his presumed innocence, he is soon sentenced to die by hanging — even though there exists evidence that could possibly exonerate him. This narrative is further complicated by the presence of Boddo, a hideously deformed hunchback who is ostracized by the white settlers due to his mixed-race heritage. Fueled by spite and anger, Boddo uses this opportunity to take vengeance upon those who once tormented and humiliated him. – Summary by ChuckW [chương_files]
01/07/2024
Outdoor Girls in the Saddle
Mrs. Nelson, Betty’s mother, through the death of a relative, has become the owner of a ranch. The most important thing about this ranch—in the estimation of the girls, at least—is the fact that it was situated right in the midst of a great gold-mining district. How the girls with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson went to the ranch, spending a glorious few weeks in the saddle, and how gold was finally found on the ranch is told of in detail in this volume. This is book number twelve in the “Outdoor Girls” series. (Summary from the next book) [chương_files]