Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

'The Listener'First, it was a strange array of cats, then an increasingly mysterious, and then terrifying increase in...happenstances and...appearances...'Number Thirteen'Unlucky for some this room is...on a visit to a Denmark with an ancient presence...'The Horla'Yes, I believed, that an invisible being lived beneath my roof. How weak our head is, and how quickly it is terrified and goes astray, we immediately imagine terrible mysteries and supernatural powers.'The Beast with Five Fingers'With murderous vengeance, the beast pursues the two friends. Will secrecy, intense surveillance and a ...

Heir to a noble Scottish house in the mid 18th century, the Master is a charming, clever, and resourceful villain whose daring but ill-advised schemes first alienate his patrimony and at last cost him his life. His younger brother, sweet-tempered and good but dull and unpopular, suffers at the Master's hands until his patience and courage win him limited ascendancy, but he is at last consumed with hatred and driven to madness and death by the strain of his many sufferings. The story is told from the point of view of a loyal servant with the occasional insertion of documents in the words of ...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 readings of My Shadow, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson's famous poem concerns a child's shadow and its antics. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of September 7th, 2014. Summary by Sweet Pea.

David Balfour, a lad of seventeen and newly orphaned, is directed to go and live with his rich uncle, the master of the estate of Shaws in the lowlands of Scotland near Edinburgh. His uncle, Ebenezer (as close a miser as Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge), is shocked to suddenly have his young relative descend on him and tries to rid himself of David with an arranged accident. Failing that, he pays the captain of a brig to kidnap David and sell him into slavery in Carolina.A collision in the fog brings onboard the brig a survivor, Alan Breck Stewart, who is carrying a dangerous amount of gold on his ...

Armando Duval, un joven de la alta sociedad parisiense, se enamora perdidamente de Margarita Gautier, reconocida cortesana, quien corresponde sinceramente a este sentimiento. Olvidándose de esas circunstancias que les rodean, Armando y Margarita se entregan por completo a ese amor, sin importarles el escándalo que esto genere. (Summary by Phileas Fogg)

After The Three Muskateers and Twenty Years After the adventurous story of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan continues!The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (French: Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard) is the last of the Musketeer novels. It is usually divided into four volumes and this second volume contains chapters 76-140. (Summary by Diana Majlinger)

D’Artagnan, son of a poor Gascon aristocrat, travels to Paris to seek his fortune. His family connections enable him to obtain a position in a Guard regiment. His provincial ingenuousness and his hot-headed sense of honor earn him three duels in as many hours. Thankfully, his preparation with the sword is sufficient to recommend himself to his Musketeer antagonists, and they – Athos, Porthos, and Aramis – become his fast friends.But fate also crosses D’Artagnan’s path with some dangerous people who become his opponents: a mysterious “man from Meung” and a woman who styles herself...

Le roman raconte les aventures d'un gascon désargenté de 18 ans, d'Artagnan, monté à Paris faire carrière. Il se lie d'amitié avec Athos, Porthos et Aramis, mousquetaires du roi Louis XIII. Ces quatre hommes vont s'opposer au premier ministre, le Cardinal de Richelieu et à ses agents, dont la belle et mystérieuse Milady de Winter, pour sauver l'honneur de la reine de France Anne d'Autriche. Avec ses nombreux combats et ses rebondissements romanesques, Les Trois mousquetaires est l'exemple type du roman de cape et d'épée. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Is it really a woman of your superiority who speaks of the proprieties of society? Are not women like you above all that? Was I to come delicately and hypocritically to offer your husband the sum he stood in need of? That is a course that would have been unworthy of him, of me, and of you. No, you know it well, the proprieties and dignity are nothing any longer, when passion or necessity predominates. Did your grandmother respect the dignity of her daughter when she gave her up to a prince? - Summary by From the PlayCast list:John de Hun: John BurlinsonNourvady: Kristin GjerløwGodler: K. ...

Born in Scotland, Alexander Dunlop Lindsay was a teacher of philosophy at a number of universities in England in the early 1900s. This brief commentary on Kant's philosophy is a work that focuses solely on some of the main ideas Kant put forth in the three Critiques. Although not comprehensive, the narrative style of this volume makes it a pleasant read and will be a valuable "break-in" point (or introduction to) the complex philosophy of Immanuel Kant. (Summary by SKwanlada)

Subtitled "The Throne, The Tomb, and The Scaffold - An Historical Play in 3 Acts From the Celebrated Play of that Name by Alexandre Dumas" - How can you resist a play about English history - the doomed fifth wife of Henry the 8th - by the celebrated French author of The Musketeers?? - Summary by ToddHWCast list:Henry VIII, King of England: Larry WilsonAthelwold, Duke of Northumberland: Paul SimoninArchbishop Cranmer: alanmapstoneDuke of Sussex: KHandDuke of Norfolk: tovarischGrand Chamberlain: Tomas PeterLieutenant of the Tower: Sandra SchmitFleming, an Alchemist: AvaillePage: LydiaMartin ...

The Lady of the Camellias (French: La Dame aux camélias) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, that was subsequently adapted for the stage. The Lady of the Camellias premiered at the Theatre de Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. An instant success, Giuseppe Verdi immediately set about to put the story to music. His work became the 1853 opera La Traviata with the female protagonist "Marguerite Gautier" renamed "Violetta Valéry".In the English-speaking world, The Lady of the Camellias became known as Camille and sixteen versions have been performed at ...

Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe the violent scenes of a violent time.In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true perspective, and in others the author makes unwarranted charges. The careful, mature reader, for whom the books are intended, will recognize, and allow for, this fact. (from publisher's note)The first volume comprises the annals of the Borgias and the Cenci. The name of the noted and notorious Florentine family has become a synonym for intrigue and violence, and yet the ...

“Extreme busyness…is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity.”What comforting words for the idle among us! Like many of the best essayists, Stevenson is very much the genial fireside companion: opinionated, but never malicious; a marvellous practitioner of the inclusive monologue.In this collection of nine pieces he discusses the art of appreciating unattractive scenery, traces the complex social life of dogs, and meditates in several essays upon the experience of reading literature and writing it. ...

This is a collection of 43 poems read in English by LibriVox volunteers for February 2022.

The Black Arrow tells the story of Richard (Dick) Shelton during the Wars of the Roses: how he becomes a knight, rescues his lady Joanna Sedley, and obtains justice for the murder of his father, Sir Harry Shelton. Outlaws inTunstall Forest organized by Ellis Duckworth, whose weapon and calling card is a black arrow, cause Dick to suspectthat his guardian Sir Daniel Brackley and his retainers are responsible for his father's murder. Dick's suspicionsare enough to turn Sir Daniel against him, so he has no recourse but to escape from Sir Daniel and join the outlawsof the Black Arrow against him. ...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 different recordings of Foreign Lands by Robert Louis Stevenson. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of April 22nd, 2007.

Beloved by many generations of children, A Child's Garden of Verses is a beautiful collection of children's poetry. Sometimes thoughtful, sometimes whimsical, but always fun. (Summary by Arctura)

Master storyteller Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped) brings us an entrancing and at times quite amusing collection of darkly cynical fables for the modern man, shedding light upon the human condition in ways unimagined at the time. This collection was originally issued posthumously but is as relevant and entertaining as it ever was. (Summary by Ben Tucker)

Three men down on their luck in Tahiti agree to ship out on a vessel whose officers have died of smallpox. Their desperate venture inspires them to a further idea: they will steal the schooner and its cargo of champagne, sell them, and live a plentiful life. The thought is intoxicating... and so is the cargo, which they sample. Inattention nearly brings them to grief in a sudden storm. This sobering experience is followed by another - apparently the dead officers had a similar ambition! - and their dreams of riches vanish.Then, nearly out of provisions and deep in the heart of the Pacific ...