A collection of articles from Good Housekeeping magazine, The Good Housekeeping Marriage Book focuses on the subject of marriage. With instructions and advice from courtship to raising children, this collection aims to assist those with questions and concerns surrounding marriage and the ensuing relationship. Published in 1938. (Summary by Robin Cotter)...

Essay/Short nonfiction, Advice, Instruction

volunteers bring you ten different recordings of a poem in French: Épigramme, by François Maynard. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of July 9th, 2006. (Summary by Annie Coleman)...

Poetry

Augusto dos Anjos (1884-1914) é um dos mais originais poetas brasileiros, e também um dos mais populares. Sua obra consiste, porém, em apenas um livro. Eu foi publicado ainda em vida do autor; outros poemas, publicados em periódicos ou inéditos, foram coligidos após sua morte e acrescentados ao volume organizado pelo autor, renomeado então Eu e Outras Poesias. Aclamada pelo público e pela crítica, sua obra foi repudiada por muitos em sua época, e ainda causa estranheza, pela mistura de vocabulário coloquial e científico, pelos temas exacerbadamente macabros e pessimistas, pelo exagero sistemáticos na linguagem e no tratamento dos temas. Não obstante as controvérsias que cercam sua obra, muitos de seus versos caíram no uso popular, tais como um urubu pousou em minha sorte, a mão que afaga é a mesma que apedreja e outros. Esta é a gravação da obra completa de Augusto dos Anjos. (Sumário escrito por Leni)...

Poetry

Excerpt: PREFACE; This book is essentially a desultory book, the result of intermittent observation, and often, no doubt, of rash assumption. Having been written in Paris, at odd moments, during the last two years of the war, it could hardly be more than a series of disjointed notes; and the excuse for its publication lies in the fact that the very conditions which made more consecutive work impossible also gave unprecedented opportunities for quick notation. The world since has been like a house on fire. All the lodgers are on the stairs, in dishabille. Their doors are swinging wide, and one gets glimpses of their furniture, revelations of their habits, and whiffs of their cooking, that a life-time of ordinary intercourse would not offer. Superficial differences vanish, and so (how much oftener) do superficial resemblances; while deep unsuspected similarities and disagreements, deep common attractions and repulsions, declare themselves. It is one of these fundamental substances that the new link between France and America is made, and some reasons for the strength of the link ought to be discoverable in the suddenly bared depths of...

Table of Contents: Preface, 1 -- I ?First Impression, 4 -- I, 4 -- II, 6 -- III, 8 -- II? Reverence, 10 -- I, 10 -- II, 13 -- III, 15 -- III? Taste, 17 -- I, 17 -- II, 17 -- III, 18 -- IV, 21 -- IV? Intellectual Honesty, 24 -- I, 24 -- II, 26 -- III, 28 -- V? Continuity, 31 -- I, 31 -- II, 32 -- III, 35 -- IV, 37 -- VI? The New Frenchwoman, 39 -- VII? In Conclusion, 48 -- I, 48 -- II, 52 -- III, 53...

The Tiruppavai is a collection of thirty stanzas (paasuram) in Tamil written by Andal, in praise of the God Tirumal or Vishnu. It is part of Divya Prabandha, a work of the twelve Alvars, and is important in Tamil literature. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

Religion, Poetry

Published in 1909, this science fiction short story takes place in a future where mankind, seemingly no longer able to survive on earth's surface, exists in a vast underground civilization known as The Machine. Each individual lives in an isolated, fully-automated cell-like room, connected to global information and communication systems, but cut off from all direct experience. The narrative focuses on Vashti, an advanced mother whose total dependence upon The Machine has led her (like most others) to increasingly reverence and even worship it; and her untechnological son, Kuno, who has begun to deny The Machine's omnipotence and even seeks to escape if possible. Kuno's radical views are validated as the The Machine's systems begin to malfunction and eventually fail completely. The story has proved to be far ahead of its time, with remarkably accurate predictions of modern technologies, and paints a chilling picture of over-dependence on them. This recording marks the 100th anniversary of the original publishing. (Summary by Jerome Lawsen)...

Science fiction, Short stories

volunteers bring you 15 recordings of The Legend of Heinz von Stein by Charles Godfrey Leland. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 11, 2012. Charles Godfrey Leland was an American humorist who traveled extensively throughout Europe and the US. Leland worked in journalism, and became interested in folklore and folk linguistics, publishing books and articles on American and European languages and folk traditions. He worked in a wide variety of trades, achieved recognition as the author of the comic Hans Breitmann’s Ballads, fought in two conflicts, and wrote what was to become a primary source text for Neopaganism half a century later, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. ( Summary from Wikipedia )...

Adventure, Humor, Romance, Poetry

’s Spanish Poetry Collection 001: a collection of 10 Spanish language public-domain poems.

Poetry

Cette compilation comprend une série de poèmes lus, en langue française, pour .

Poetry

Casimiro nasceu na Fazenda da Prata, em Capivary ( Silva Jardim ). A localidade onde viveu parte de sua vida, Barra de São João, é hoje distrito do município que leva seu nome, e também chamada Casimirana, em sua homenagem. Estudou em Nova Friburgo. Com 13 anos foi para o Rio de Janeiro para trabalhar com o pai. Em 1853 foi para Portugal, onde entrou em contato com o meio intelectual e escreveu a maior parte de sua obra. Foi um dos poetas mais populares do Romantismo no Brasil. Seu sucesso literário, no entanto, deu-se somente depois de sua morte, com numerosas edições de seus poemas, tanto no Brasil, quanto em Portugal. Deixou uma obra cujos temas abordavam a casa paterna, a saudade da terra natal, e o amor - mas este tratado sem a complexidade e a profundidade tão caras a outros poetas românticos. Em 1859 editou as suas poesias reunidas sob o título de Primaveras. (Resumo adaptado da Wikipédia por Vicente)...

Poetry

’s Spanish Poetry Collection 002: a collection of 10 Spanish language public-domain poems.

Poetry

Padre Quadrupani was an Italian priest and member of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, also known as the Barnabites, from their association with St. Barnabas Catholic Church in Milan, Italy. Quadrupani's spirituality is based on that of the illustrious Doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622). Like St. Francis, the Padre offers spiritual advice that is practical and balanced. Perhaps it is owing to this that Quadrupani's treatise has been so well received by Catholic laypersons and has been recommended by numerous bishops over the years. This English edition, Light and Peace, is introduced by The Most Rev. Patrick John Ryan, Archbishop of Philadelphia, and bears an imprimatur. It is generously augmented with excerpts from the writings of St. Francis de Sales, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bernard, Pope St. Gregory the Great, St. Philip Neri, Archbishop Francois Fenelon, Father Lorenzo Scupoli, and other spiritual authorities. (Summary by dave7)...

Religion, Instruction

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today is an 1873 novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that satirizes greed and political corruption in post-Civil War America. The term gilded age , commonly given to the era, comes from the title of this book. Twain and Warner got the name from Shakespeare's King John (1595): To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess. Gilding a lily, which is already beautiful and not in need of further adornment, is excessive and wasteful, characteristics of the age Twain and Warner wrote about in their novel. Another interpretation of the title, of course, is the contrast between an ideal Golden Age, and a less worthy Gilded Age, as gilding is only a thin layer of gold over baser metal, so the title now takes on a pejorative meaning as to the novel's time, events and people. Although not one of Twain's more well-known works, it has appeared in more than 100 editions since its original publication in 1873. Twain and Warner originally had planned to issue the novel with illustrations by Thomas Nast. The book is remarkable for two reasons–-it is the only novel Twain wrote with a c...

Fiction, Satire

De familie Holgersson woont in Skåne in het uiterste zuiden van Zweden op een kleine boerderij. Daar groeit hun enige zoon Niels op. Niels is niet zo vriendelijk voor de dieren thuis, hij houdt er van om ze te plagen en te sarren. Als hij op een dag een kabouter vangt en weigert die weer vrij te laten, spreekt de boze kabouter een betovering uit over Niels. Hij wordt zo klein als een duim. Op de vlucht voor de dieren die hém nu eens willen pesten, gaat Niels mee met een groep wilde ganzen. (samenvatting naar Wikipedia) This is the Dutch translation of The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, by Selma Lagerlöf...

Adventure, Children

Henry Louis H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English. Known as the Sage of Baltimore, he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century. Mencken is perhaps best remembered today for The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and for his satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he named the Monkey trial....

The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on March 8, 1917 by Methuen & Co., London, and in the United States in 1933 by A.L. Burt and Co., New York. All the stories had previously appeared in periodicals, usually the Strand in the UK and the Red Book magazine or the Saturday Evening Post in the US. It is a fairly miscellaneous collection — most of the stories concern relationships, sports and household pets, and do not feature any of Wodehouse's regular characters; one, however, Extricating Young Gussie, is notable for the first appearance in print of two of Wodehouse's best-known characters, Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster (although Bertie's surname isn't given and Jeeves's role is very small), and Bertie's fearsome Aunt Agatha. (Wikipedia)...

Animals, Fiction, Humor, Short stories

A collection of short stories by famed Winnie the Pooh author, A.A. Milne. This charmingly humorous work from Milne's earlier writing period was first published in Punch magazine. (Summary by Cathy Barratt)...

Fiction, Adventure, Humor

Het Journael ofte gedenckwaerdige beschrijvinghe is een scheepsjournaal opgetekend door de Hoornse schipper Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe, over zijn belevenissen in dienst van de Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC). Het werd voor het eerst gepubliceerd in 1646, en geeft een indrukwekkend beeld van de scheepvaart in die tijd. Het journaal beschrijft Bontekoe's reis van Texel naar Java in 1618, zijn reizen tussen de Indonesische eilanden en naar China in de daaropvolgende jaren, en uiteindelijk, in 1625, zijn terugreis naar Nederland. Die reizen worden gemarkeerd door vele avonturen en gevaren, onder andere het vergaan van Bontekoe's schip door een explosie, waarbij de schipbreukelingen bijna 2 weken in 2 kleine bootjes op open zee doorbrengen, schermutselingen met Chinezen als de VOC exclusieve handelsbetrekkingen met China probeert af te dwingen, en een verwoestende orkaan. Het populaire jeugdboek De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe (1924), van Johan Fabricius (1899-1981), dat in 2007 verfilmd is, is geinspireerd door het eerste deel van dit scheepsjournaal....

Travel, Sea stories, Memoirs

Honath the Pursemaker is a heretic. He doesn’t believe the stories in the Book of Laws which claims giants created his tree-dwelling race. He makes his opinion known and is banished with his infidel friends to the floor of the jungle where dangers abound. Perhaps he’ll find some truth down there. – The Thing in the Attic is one of Blish’s Pantropy tales and was first published in the July, 1954 edition of If, Worlds of Science Fiction magazine. (Summary by Gregg Margarite)...

Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Science fiction

18 works -- two non-fic articles & one short fiction or poetry each -- from issues March, April, May, June, July, & August 1906 of The Scrap Book, Volume 1, edited by Frank Munsey. As he states in the editorial of the April 1906 issue (Vol 1, Iss 2) this was a sort of supplement to the editor's popular monthly, Munsey's Magazine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsey's_Magazine. The Scrap Book is very like an American version of Punch with many short, often humorous articles interspersed with at least one short story, some poetry, and several longer non-fic pieces. The Scrap Book ran up to 1912.(Summary by BellonaTimes)...

History, Essay/Short nonfiction