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E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia series, consists of six novels and three short stories. The novels are: Queen Lucia, Lucia in London, Miss Mapp (including the short story The Male Impersonator), Mapp and Lucia, Lucia's Progress (published as The Worshipful Lucia in the U.S.) and Trouble for Lucia. Most of these works are set in the fictional village of Tilling, which is based on the village of Rye, Sussex, England. Mallards, the house with the garden room inhabited by Miss Mapp, and later by Lucia, is based on Lamb House, Benson's own home in Rye. Earlier, the house was the Sussex home of writer Henry James. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)...

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Fiction, Humor, Satire

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volunteers bring you 14 different recordings of Saint Distaff's Day, or the Morrow After Twelfth Day, by Robert Herrick. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of January 6th, 2008. What is St. Distaff's Day? Historically, it was the day after the Christmas festivals ended (the 12 days of Christmas), and most women went back to work with their spinning… but it was also a day of pranks and horsing around. Additional information can be found in http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/jan/7.htm Chambers' Book of Days ....

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Humor, Poetry

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Monachomachia, czyli Wojna mnichów to poemat heroikomiczny autorstwa Ignacego Krasickiego wydany po raz pierwszy anonimowo w 1778. Jego tematem jest walka pomiędzy mnichami, a przedstawienie sporu mnichów w utworze naznaczone jest groteskowym humorem. Jednocześnie Monachomachia jest ostrą satyrą, krytyką ukrytą pod kostiumem zabawnych postaci. (Źródło: Wikipedia)...

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Humor, Poetry, Satire

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volunteers bring you 23 recordings of Cupid's Darts by Anonymous. This was the Weekly Poetry project for February 12, 2012. To celebrate the somewhat silly holiday of Valentine's Day, I've selected this somewhat silly poem, which first appeared in Such Nonsense! an anthology by Carolyn Wells. Published in 1918.(Summary by Liberty Stump)...

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Humor, Nature, Poetry

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volunteers bring you 14 recordings of Merry Autumn by Paul Laurence Dunbar. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for October 10th, 2010.

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Humor, Nature, Satire, Poetry

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volunteers bring you 14 recordings of Lines on The Mermaid Tavern by John Keats. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for August 15th, 2010.

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Poetry, Humor

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This is a subset of the second collection of Gilbert’s “Bab Ballads” – light verses poking fun at the life and people of his time in Gilbert’s unique “topsy-turvey” style. The epitaph on his memorial on the Victoria Embankment in London is “HIS FOE WAS FOLLY AND HIS WEAPON WIT”, an epitaph amply exemplified in these verses. (Summary by Graham Redman)...

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Humor, Poetry

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Being the Letters written by John Graham, Head of the House of Graham & Company, Pork-Packers in Chicago, familiarly known on 'Change as Old Gorgon Graham, to his Son, Pierrepont, facetiously known to his intimates as Piggy. George Horace Lorimer was an American journalist and author. He is best known as the editor of The Saturday Evening Post....

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Epistolary fiction, Humor

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This book is a parody of the famous swashbuckling novel, She, by H. Rider Haggard. (summary by Neeru Iyer) You will not think, therefore, that the respectful Liberty we have taken with your Wondrous Tale... indicates any lack of Loyalty to our Lady Ayesha. Her beauties are beyond the reach of danger from Burlesque, nor does her form flit across our humble pages. (taken from the Dedication)...

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Humor, Fiction

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Clarence Day, Jr., best known for his work Life with Father, presents a satirical speculation on how the world might be different if we apes had not risen to prominence, but rather one of the other species had become dominant in our place. (summary by Epistomolus)...

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Humor, Satire

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Witty, opinionated alphabetical examples of what Bierce considered poor (American) English and advice on alternatives - entertaining, thought-provoking, occasionally outdated but so interesting to see how style and taste have changed....

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Instruction, Humor

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Pretty but socially clueless Bernice lets her know-it-all cousin push her around, but eventually, something's gotta give! (Introduction by BellonaTimes)...

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Humor, Short stories

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Eine Auswahl der fast 400 (meist sehr kurzen) Gedichte von Friederike Kempner. Die Verfasserin: Das waren Tage des Glückes, als ich diese Gedichte einzeln schrieb, und jedes derselben, noch kaum entstanden, ihr vorlas. Ist's möglich, daß solch reine Wonne gleich einem Schatten vorüberziehen, oder gleich dem Untergange der Sonne nichs als ein in Glut getauchtes Rot – die Spur ihres leuchtenden Weges – zurücklassen kann? – Doch auch die Sonne geht nicht wirklich unter, und auch ihr reines Bild lebt hinter dem Vorhange unserer Zeitlichkeit und lächelt am Ufer dem noch auf den Wellen Spielenden. ... - Vorwort zur 1. Auflage...

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Humor, Poetry

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Love and Freindship [sic] is a juvenile story by Jane Austen, dated 1790, when Austen was 14 years old. Love and Freindship (the misspelling is one of many in the story) is clearly a parody of romantic novels Austen read as a child. This is clear even from the subtitle, Deceived in Freindship and Betrayed in Love, which neatly undercuts the title. Written in epistolary form, it resembles a fairy tale as much as anything else, featuring wild coincidences and turns of fortune, but Austen is determined to lampoon the conventions of romantic stories, right down to the utter failure of romantic fainting spells, which always turn out dreadfully for the female characters. In this story one can see the development of Austen's sharp wit and disdain for romantic sensibility, so characteristic of her later novels. Summary revised from Wikipedia by Cori Samuel. Music from Schubert's Fantasy in C Major , at http://www.musopen.com/view.php?type=piece&id=141 musopen.org ....

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Epistolary fiction, Humor, Satire, Romance, Teen/Young adult

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volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Stupidity by Amy Lowell. This was the Weekly Poetry project for October 31st, 2010.

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Poetry, Humor, Nature, Romance

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The Wit and Humor of America is a 10 volume series. In this, the tenth volume, 62 short stories and poems have been gathered from 42 authors. This volume is sure to delight listeners. (Summary by Linette Geisel)...

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Humor, Fiction, Poetry

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volunteers offer you 12 different recordings of The Jabberwocky of Authors by Harry Persons Taber. This parody of Carroll's Jabberwocky consists almost entirely of authors' names. See how many you can spot! This was the weekly poetry project for the week of April 4th, 2010....

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Poetry, Humor

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volunteers bring you 16 recordings of Winter by William Shakespeare. This poem is from Love's Labour's Lost. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for December 27th, 2009.....

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Humor, Nature, Play, Poetry

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Poemat opowiada o reakcjach mnichów do których klasztoru Niezgoda podrzuciła Monachomachię. Pozornie odwołując zarzuty wypowiedziane w Monachomachii, autor ponownie dokonuje krytyki sposobu życia zakonników, którzy w obliczu ataku przybierają różne postawy począwszy od otwarcie wojowniczej do ugodowej. (Summary by Piotr Nater)...

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Humor, Poetry, Satire

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This romantic comedy stars a young American girl named Sally, who inherits a considerable fortune and finds her life turned upside down. The typically Wodehouseian cast includes Sally's ambitious brother, an assortment of theater people, a pair of English cousins, and, of course, an Uncle. It's jolly good fun! (Summary by Kara and Wikipedia)...

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Humor, Teen/Young adult