Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

Albert Bigelow Paine was Samuel Langhorne Clemens' (Mark Twain's) biographer. He lived with Twain, collecting ideas and material for a biography, for a few years before Twain's death in 1910. Six years later Paine published this "story of a man who made the world laugh and love him".For those who have read or listened to Mark Twain's works, Paine's work is an invaluable resource to better understand Twain, the stories behind his stories and his life with those he loved and with whom he worked. (Summary by John Greenman)

This short narrative book of the Old Testament contains one of the most famous Bible Stories, of “Jonah and the Whale.” The “great fish” however is only mentioned in three verses, and the true punch comes in the oft-neglected fourth chapter. “Is it right” for a person like Jonah to be vexed by God’s mercy on others?(Summary by Laura Fox)

Cantos de Vida y Esperanza es una recopilacion de poemas escritos por Rubén Darío y cuya primera edición fue publicada en la ciudad de Madrid el año de 1905, en esta recopilación podremos encontrar al tan conocido poema "Juventud divino tesoro, ya te vas para no volver" entre otros.

NOTE: Because of the nature of this project, there was a bending of usual LibriVox procedures: pub-like background noise was encouraged, as well as group readings; and no editing was required, so in places there may be some accidental variation from the original text ... Listener be warned! Here is some more information about the genesis of the LibriVox Ulysses project. (Summary by Hugh McGuire)Still one of the most radical novels of the 20th Century, James Joyce's Ulysses is considered to have ushered in the era of the modern novel. Loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, the book follows Leopold ...

Jack and Jill went up a hill To coast with fun and laughter. Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after. When Jack and Jill tumble off of their sled on the first good snow of the season, their injuries cause them to be bedridden for many months putting an end to their fun and frolics. Their parents and friends fill their days with the joys of Christmas preparations, a theatrical production and many other imaginative events. Both learn how to become better friends to each other and their other school mates through their many trials. This is sure to become a family favorite...

A collection of short stories by Louisa May Alcott that were written with the intent to entertain the whole family and to fill children's heads with wonder and delight. (Summary by Jennifer Stearns)

Fans of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women will remember that her heroine Jo wrote racy novels before turning her hand to more "serious" literature. Alcott, writing under the pseudonym A. M. Barnard, often did the same, and Behind a Mask (1866) is one of her sensation novels. It focuses on Jean Muir, who enters the home of the wealthy Coventry family as governess to their sixteen-year-old daughter. But is the beguiling Miss Muir all that she seems to be? (Introduction by Elizabeth Klett)

Written by Louisa May Alcott under her pseudonym, A. M. Barnard, this Christmas story deals with the themes of love and defending one's honor. Although he is disinherited and poor, Maurice Traherne tries to win the hand of his love, Octavia.(Summary by Jennifer Stearns)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/abbot-s-ghost-or-maurice-treherne-s-temptation-the-by-louisa-may-alcott-1832-1888--5990952/support.

"These stories were written for my own amusement during a period of enforced seclusion. The flowers which were my solace and pleasure suggested titles for the tales and gave an interest to the work. If my girls find a little beauty or sunshine in these common blossoms, their old friend will not have made her Garland in vain." - L.M. Alcott, September, 1887

Flower Fables is Louisa May Alcott's first book, penned at 16 for Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter, Ellen.(Summary by Clarica)

This is the story of Rose, a rich but lonely and sickly girl who has been recently orphaned and sent to live with her maiden aunts. When Rose's guardian, Uncle Alec, returns from abroad he takes over her care. Through his unorthodox theories about child-rearing and her exposure to the exploits of her seven male cousins and numerous aunts, Rose becomes happier and healthier, cured of many of her fears and prejudices. She also makes friends with Phebe, her aunts' maid of her own age, whose cheerful attitude in the face of poverty helps to illustrate to Rose her own good fortune.

Alcott in 1862 served as a nurse in Georgetown, D.C during the Civil War. She wrote home what she observed there. Those harrowing and sometimes humorous letters compiled make up Hospital Sketches. (Summary by Aaron Elliott)

Little Men (published 1871) is considered the second book of the Little Women trilogy written by Louisa May Alcott. (The book Good Wives (1869) was originally the sequel to the novel Little Women (1868), however those two novels are now usually published as a single volume.) The final book of the trilogy is Jo's Boys (1886). Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at the Plumfield Estate School that she runs with her husband. The mischievous kids, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they become proper gentlemen and ladies. We ...

Jo's Boys is the third book in the Little Women trilogy by Louisa May Alcott, published in 1886. In it, Jo's "children", now grown, are caught up in real world troubles. All three books - although fiction - are highly autobiographical and describe characters that were really in Alcott's life. This book contains romance as the childhood playmates become flirtatious young men and women. The characters are growing up, going out into the world and deciding their futures.(Summary from Wilkipedia)

This story follows the lives of four sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Set in the tumultuous days of the American Civil war, readers grow to love the four sisters as they grow and mature into young women. This book has characters any girl can relate to because each of the four March sisters has a unique and different personality. A story that the young and old have enjoyed for years, this book truly is a classic. (Summary by Abigail Rasmussen)

The book examines the role of education in the lives of the characters and how such education and study has affected the characters. Rosamond Vincy's finishing school education is a foil to Dorothea Brooke's religiously-motivated quest for knowledge. Rosamond initially admires Lydgate for his exotic education, and his intellect. A similar dynamic is present in Dorothea and Casaubon's relationship, with Dorothea revering her new husband's intellect and eloquence. In both cases, however, the young wives' expectations of their husbands intellects are not reflected in reality. Despite extreme ...

Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes. During the following year Eliot resumed work, fusing together several stories into a coherent whole, and during 1871–72 the novel appeared in serial form. The first one-volume edition was published in 1874, and attracted large sales. Subtitled "A Study of Provincial Life," the novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of ...

The novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, a brother and sister growing up on the river Floss near the village of St. Oggs, evidently in the 1820’s, after the Napoleonic Wars but prior to the first Reform Bill (1832). The novel spans a period of 10-15 years, from Tom and Maggie’s childhood up until their deaths in a flood on the Floss. The book is fictional autobiography in part, reflecting the disgrace that George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) herself had while in a lengthy relationship with a married man, George Henry Lewes. Maggie Tulliver holds the central role in the book, as ...

The Lifted Veil is a novella by George Eliot, first published in 1859. Quite unlike the realistic fiction for which Eliot is best known, The Lifted Veil explores themes of extrasensory perception, the essence of physical life, possible life after death, and the power of fate. The novella is a significant part of the Victorian tradition of horror fiction. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Impressions of Theophrastus Such is a work of fiction by George Eliot, first published in 1879. It was Eliot's last published writing and her most experimental, taking the form of a series of literary essays by an imaginary minor scholar whose eccentric character is revealed through his work. (Summary from Wikipedia)