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By: Robert W. Service (1874-1958) | |
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Ottawa Folk Festival Robert Service Collection
The Spell of the Yukon by Robert Service with patrons, musicians and organizers. Robert Service is an iconic Canadian poet. |
By: Theodor Storm (1817-1888) | |
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Immensee |
By: Susanna Moodie (1803-1885) | |
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Life in the Clearings
If you've read Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, the historical fiction novel that describes a gruesome double murder in Canada in 1843, you would be interested to know the sources that were used by Atwood during her research. Life in the Clearings by Susanna Moodie was one such reference book in which the author, Susanna Moodie recounts her meeting with the infamous murderess Grace Marks, a young house help who was convicted to life imprisonment for her role in the slaying of her employers. Susanna Moodie was an Englishwoman born in Suffolk... | |
Roughing It in the Bush
'Roughing It In the Bush' is Susanna Moodie's account of how she coped with the harshness of life in the woods of Upper Canada, as an Englishwoman homesteading abroad. Her narrative was constructed partly as a response to the glowing falsehoods European land-agents were circulating about life in the New World. Her chronicle is frank and humorous, and was a popular sensation at the time of its publication in 1852. | |
Life in the Backwoods | |
Flora Lyndsay or, Passages in an Eventful Life Vol. II. | |
The Little Quaker or, the Triumph of Virtue. A Tale for the Instruction of Youth | |
The Monctons: A Novel, Volume I | |
Mark Hurdlestone Or, The Two Brothers | |
George Leatrim | |
Flora Lyndsay or, Passages in an Eventful Life |
By: Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) | |
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Main Street
A social satire, Main Street became a best-seller soon after its publication, fascinating readers with its biting humor and realistic portrayal of small-town communities. Published in 1920, the novel follows Carol Milford as she moves to a conventional small town, where she encounters its conceited residents characterized by their ignorance, hypocrisy, and smugness, while simultaneously being the target of their careless ridicule. Furthermore, the novel efficiently exemplifies the dividing line between the sophisticated urban setting and the conventionally governed small-town, as it tackles issues of embracing differences, social class, disillusionment, feminism, and community... | |
Babbitt
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Free Air
This road trip novel is set in the early twentieth century and follows the experiences of an aristocratic New Englander and her father as they travel by automobile from Minneapolis to Seattle. She is wooed and won by a noble but simple commoner she meets along the way. Lewis is at his usual wryly humorous self, poking fun at the upper class and treating the common people only slightly better. | |
The Trail of the Hawk
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The Innocents, A Story for Lovers
“Mr. and Mrs. Seth Appleby were almost old. They called each other 'Father' and 'Mother.' But frequently they were guilty of holding hands, or of cuddling together in corners, and Father was a person of stubborn youthfulness.” It is only by subterfuge that Seth is able every year to obtain his two week's vacation from the shoe store, and they are off to the farm-house of Uncle Joe Tubbs on Cape Cod. But this year the vacation turns into a full blown scheme to open a country tea room somewhere on Cape Cod, and their life suddenly begins to change. . . . (Introduction by Don W. Jenkins) | |
Our Mr. Wrenn, the Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man
"At thirty-four Mr. Wrenn was the sales-entry clerk of the Souvenir Company. He was always bending over bills and columns of figures at a desk behind the stock-room. He was a meek little bachelor--a person of inconspicuous blue ready-made suits, and a small unsuccessful mustache." Mr. Wrenn, however has a rich inner life embellished by his own imagination. When he comes into a modest inheritance, he feels he ought to learn to get out and wander a bit, and then his education begins. He finds life more "interesting", perhaps than he had "imagined". . . (Introduction by Don Jenkins) | |
The Job
‘The Job’ is an early work by American novelist Sinclair Lewis. It is considered an early declaration of the rights of working women. The focus is on the main character, Una Golden, who desires to establish herself in a legitimate occupation while balancing the eventual need for marriage. The story takes place in the early 1900-1920’s and takes Una from a small Pennsylvania town to New York. Forced to work due to family illness, Una shows a talent for the traditional male bastion of commercial real estate and, while valued by her company, she struggles to achieve the same status of her male coworkers... |
By: Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) | |
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The Water-Babies
First published in 1863, The Water Babies by Rev Charles Kingsley became a Victorian children's classic along with J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Lewis Caroll's Alice books. It is an endearing and entertaining novel that can equally be enjoyed by adult readers as well. However, it fell out of favor in later years since it contained many ideas that are considered politically incorrect and offensive today from a humanitarian perspective. The Water Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby to give the book its complete title tells the story of Tom, a young orphan chimney-sweep in Victorian London... | |
The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales for my Children
The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales for my Children by Charles Kingsley is a collection of three Greek mythology stories: Perseus, The Argonauts, and Theseus. The author had a great fondness for Greek fairy tales and believed the adventures of the characters would inspire children to achieve higher goals with integrity. | |
Hypatia
Charles Kingsley (June 12 1819 - January 23 1875) was an English divine, university professor, historian, and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and north-east Hampshire. As a novelist, his chief power lay in his descriptive faculties, which are evident in this novel as he pictures the Egyptian desert and the ancient city Alexandria. Hypatia, 1st published in 1853, is set in 5th Century A.D. Egypt. It centers upon a young orphan monk from a desert monastery who feels called to continue his religious life in the city... | |
Madam How and Lady Why
Did you ever wish you knew how to explain natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes to your children? Search no more, this book has all the answers (at least all the ones that were known in 1869) and gives them in a pedagogical way. Listed on the Ambleside homeschooling list. | |
The Saint's Tragedy | |
Westward Ho!, or, the voyages and adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the county of Devon, in the reign of her most glorious majesty Queen Elizabeth | |
Hereward, the Last of the English | |
Health and Education | |
Scientific Essays and Lectures | |
Historical Lectures and Essays | |
Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet An Autobiography | |
Westminster Sermons with a Preface | |
At Last | |
The Ancien Regime | |
Froude's History of England | |
All Saints' Day and Other Sermons | |
Sermons for the Times | |
Town and Country Sermons | |
Discipline and Other Sermons | |
Alexandria and Her Schools; four lectures delivered at the Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh | |
The Water of Life and Other Sermons | |
Twenty-Five Village Sermons | |
Daily Thoughts selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife | |
Yeast: a Problem | |
Town Geology | |
Sermons on National Subjects | |
True Words for Brave Men A Book for Soldiers' and Sailors' Libraries | |
The Hermits | |
Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore | |
Sir Walter Raleigh and His Time | |
Out of the Deep Words for the Sorrowful | |
The Gospel of the Pentateuch | |
Literary and General Lectures and Essays | |
Prose Idylls, New and Old | |
Lectures Delivered in America in 1874 | |
The Good News of God | |
Plays and Puritans | |
Sanitary and Social Lectures, etc | |
Women and Politics | |
David | |
Two Years Ago, Volume I | |
Two Years Ago, Volume II. | |
Phaethon | |
The Roman and the Teuton A Series of Lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge |
By: Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) | |
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Summa Theologica, Pars Prima
More than nine hundred years after it was first written, this unfinished work of a scholar saint still has the power to move our minds and hearts and set us thinking on the really important questions of life. Summa Theologica or simply the Summa as it is known, was written some time between 1265-74. It is a work that has had a profound and enduring influence on Western thought and literature. Designed to provide answers to Catholic theologians about the teachings of the Church, Thomas Aquinas' book instead goes far beyond its stated purpose... |
By: Thucydides (Θουκυδίδης) (c. 460-395) | |
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The History of the Peloponnesian War
The History of the Peloponnesian War is an account of the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece, fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens) in the 5th Century BC. It was written by Thucydides, an Athenian general who served in the war. It is widely considered a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history. The History is divided into eight books. These book divisions are the work of editors in later antiquity. W. R. Connor [...] describes Thucydides as “an artist who responds to, selects and skillfully arranges his material, and develops its symbolic and emotional potential.” |
By: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) | |
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Sonnets from the Portugese
Poetry lovers and lovers themselves would certainly know and remember these lines: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.....” These and other sublime verses are contained in this collection of tender, mystical, philosophical poems Sonnets from the Portuguese, published originally in 1850. The poet herself was part of one of the most famous literary love-stories of all time – a saga filled with romance, danger and severe opposition from her family. Born into a prominent and extremely wealthy family in Durham, England, she began writing as a child and her father encouraged her talent by getting a collection of poems published when she was only twelve... | |
The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning |
By: Aeschylus (c. 525/524-456/455 BC) | |
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Prometheus Bound (Browning Translation)
Whether or not it was actually written by Aeschylus, as is much disputed, "Prometheus Bound" is a powerful statement on behalf of free humanity in the face of what often seem like the impersonal, implacable Forces that rule the Universe. As one of the most compelling rebel manifestos ever composed, it has appealed not only to the expected host of scholars of Greek drama, but also to a fascinatingly free-spirited array of translators, especially since the early 19th century; Percy Bysshe Shelley, Henry David Thoreau, and activist-poet Augusta Webster are among those who have tried their poetic and linguistic powers at rendering it into English... |
By: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) | |
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'He Giveth His Beloved Sleep' |
By: Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923) | |
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Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Eleven year old Rebecca Rowena Randall travels to Riverboro, Maine, to live with her spinster aunts, Jane and Miranda Sawyer. Her father has been dead for three years and her mother is unable to cope with her brood of seven growing children. Rebecca is being sent to her aunts' farm to try to improve her prospects in life and also ease the family's burden. The aunts had actually wanted her older and more placid sister, Hannah, who is more handy round the house to be sent, but Rebecca's mother sends the dreamy, more imaginative Rebecca instead... | |
New Chronicles of Rebecca
This book tells further stories from the period of Rebecca’s sojourn in Riverboro. | |
The Birds' Christmas Carol
Born on Christmas Day, little Carol Bird is a gentle soul who touches every life around her. Despite physical illness, Carol is loved by everyone who knows her. This year, she is going to make Christmas extra special for her family and the little Ruggles children who live nearby. (Introduction by Andrea Boltz) | |
The Diary of a Goose Girl
The "Goose Girl" is a young and somewhat independent lady who, in fleeing from her lover with whom there had been a "little tiff," became a "paying guest" at poultry farm in a quiet, out-of-the-way Sussex village, in the care of which she participates. From the author of Mother Carey's Chickens, The Bird's Christmas Carol, etc. | |
The Old Peabody Pew: A Christmas Romance of a Country Church
A sweet, old fashioned Christmas romance set in an old New England meeting house. | |
The Romance of a Christmas Card
The story of the mission of two Christmas cards written by a minister’s wife. These cards find their way to two straying sheep from the village fold, who hear through the message in the words, and the little scenes on the cards, the compelling voice of home. There was inspiration and good cheer in the cards, and from them came, in one case reformation, in the other romance. |
By: Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) | |
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Michael Kohlhaas (English Translation)
Michael Kohlhaas is an 1811 novella by Heinrich von Kleist, based on a 16th-century story of Hans Kohlhase. Both the theme (a fanatical quest for justice) and the style (existentialist detachment posing as a chronicle) are surprisingly modern. They resonated with other writers more than a century after it was written. Kafka devoted one of only two public appearances in his whole life to reading passages from Michael Kohlhaas. Kafka said that he "could not even think of" this work "without being moved to tears and enthusiasm." |
By: Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) | |
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From October to Brest-Litovsk
This account by Trotsky is of the events in Russia from the October Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd, to his signing of the Brest-Litovsk treaty with Germany on 3rd March 1918 which took Russia out of the First World War. The treaty exacted heavy losses for Russia in terms of annexations of land and financial indemnities to Germany. In this extended essay, Trotsky argues the reasons as to why he decided to sign what appears to be a disastrous agreement for Russia. |
By: Publius Cornelius Tacitus | |
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A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, or the Causes of Corrupt Eloquence
The scene of the Dialogus de Oratoribus, as this work is commonly known, is laid in the sixth year of Vespasian, 75 a.D. The commentators are much divided in their opinions about the real author; his work they all agree is a masterpiece in the kind; written with taste and judgement; entertaining, profound, and elegant. It is normally considered to have been written by Tacitus, even though some ascribe it to Quintilian. The main subject is the decadence of oratory, for which the cause is said to be the decline of the education, both in the family and in the school, of the future orator. In a certain way, it can be considered a miniature art of rhetoric. |
By: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) | |
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Democracy in America
Arguably, one of the most influential and insightful pieces of work concerned with American political life, Democracy in America directs itself towards American politics and society, and is considered to be one the best books written on the subject. Published in 2 volumes, in 1835 and 1840, Tocqueville records his findings after studying the thriving nation in his nine month exploratory journey. The young French aristocrat first came to America on an official assignment to study the American penal system, but instead used this as a pretext to study American society... | |
American Institutions and Their Influence | |
Correspondence & Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior from 1834 to 1859, Volume 2 |
By: Unknown | |
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The Bible, Weymouth New Testament (WNT) - Matthew
The Weymouth New Testament ("WNT"), otherwise known as The New Testament in Modern Speech or The Modern Speech New Testament, is a translation into "modern" English as used in the nineteenth century from the text of The Resultant Greek Testament by Richard Francis Weymouth from the Greek idioms used in it. It was later edited and partly revised by Reverend Ernest Hampden-Cook in London, England. Publishers: Baker and Taylor Company (New York) in 1903 and James Clarke & Co (London) in 1903.Richard Francis Weymouth's popular translation of the New Testament into English was first published in 1903 and has been in print through numerous editions ever since with millions of copies sold... |
By: A. A. Milne (1882-1956) | |
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The Red House Mystery
The Red House Mystery is a novel by A. A. Milne about the mysterious death of Robert Ablett inside the house of his brother, Mark Ablett while there was a party taking place. It’s a whodunit novel with a simple story that's skilfully told. Milne is best known for his works about Winnie the Pooh, but before he became famous for telling stories about this teddy bear, he also garnered praise for “The Red House Mystery.” The novel was set during a house party in the mansion home of Mark Ablett known as the “red house... | |
Once on a Time
This version of the book is done as a Dramatic Reading with various people speaking each characters part.When the King of Barodia receives a pair of seven-league boots as a birthday present, his habit of flying over the King of Euralia's castle during breakfast provokes a series of incidents which escalate into war. While the King of Euralia is away, his daughter Hyacinth tries to rule in his stead and counter the machiavellian ambitions of the king's favourite, the Countess Belvane. Ostensibly a typical fairytale, it tells the story of the war between the kingdoms of Euralia and Barodia and the political shenanigans which take place in Euralia in the king's absence... |
By: Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837-1915) | |
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Lady Audley's Secret
Inspired by a true life story, Lady Audley's Secret is the story of a woman's overwhelming ambition and passion for social success. When the first book came out in 1862, Victorian readers were shocked and outraged by its portrayal of aspects like bigamy, insanity, yearning for social status and the will to commit murder to achieve one's goals. The novel belongs to a genre that became very popular during that era. Known as “sensation novels” they can probably be equated to today's pulp fiction... |
By: Joshua Slocum (1844-1909) | |
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Sailing Alone Around the World
A sailing memoir written by seaman and adventurer Joshua Slocum, who was the first person to sail around the world alone, documents his epic solo circumnavigation. An international best-seller, the book became a great influence and inspiration to travelers from each corner of the globe. Additionally, Slocum is an example that through determination, courage and hard work any dream can easily become a reality. Written in a modern and conversational tone, the autobiographical account begins with Slocum’s description of his hometown of Nova Scotia and its maritime history... | |
Voyage of the Liberdade |
By: Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947) | |
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Alexander's Bridge
Alexander's Bridge is the first novel by Willa Cather, published under the name Willa Sibert Cather. Heavily influenced by the works of Henry James, the book tells the story of bridge builder Bartley Alexander. Through his relationship with Actress Hilda Burgoyne while he is married his wife, Winnifred, he meets his moral downfall, and through another set of circumstances he meets his physical. | |
The Song of the Lark | |
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories | |
Collection Of Stories, Reviews And Essays
Stories and essays by Willa Cather | |
Youth and the Bright Medusa, and The Troll Garden
Youth And The Bright Medusa comprises eight short stories published in 1920. Four of them (The Sculptor’s Funeral; A Death In The Desert; A Wagner Matinee; Paul’s Case) are re-worked from an earlier collection, The Troll Garden, published in 1905. This Librivox recording contains in addition the three stories (Flavia And Her Artists; The Garden Lodge; The Marriage Of Phaedra) from that earlier work omitted in the later book. In other words, all the stories in both books are recorded here. |
By: Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) | |
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A Few Figs from Thistles
A collection of 23 poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. | |
Renascence and Other Poems
The following is a recording of the first volume of poetry published by Edna St. Vincent Millay. When the author had graduated from high school, she couldn’t afford to go to college. In the summer of 1912, Vincent’s sister, Norma, found work as a waitress at a hotel near where they lived. One night, Norma insisted that Vincent attend a masquerade ball, given at the hotel, if only to get Vincent out of the house and to meet people. Vincent finally gave in, and while there, sang songs and recited “Renascence,” the first poem in this collection... | |
Second April
A collection of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. | |
Aria da Capo | |
The Lamp and the Bell |
By: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) | |
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The Hound of the Baskervilles (dramatic reading)
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound. | |
The Mystery of Cloomber
This novel is written by the author of, among other novels, the Stories of Sherlock Holmes. It is narrated by John Fothergill West, who tries to discover why the tenant of Cloomber Hall, General Heatherstone, is nervous to the point of being paranoid. Why are his fears becoming stronger every year at the fifth of October? And why doesn't he let his children leave home? This is a great mystery novel with a sharp twist at the end. | |
Sir Nigel
By 1348 the House of Loring has fallen on hard times. Together, the Black Death and the greedy monks of Waverley have bled away all of the Loring wealth. Even the manor house will have to go to pay their debts.Then a chance encounter with the King of England provides Nigel, the last of the Lorings, with the chance to seek his fortune in the constant wars with France. But more importantly for Nigel it also means that he may be able to do the "three small deeds" that will show he is worthy to ask for the hand of the Lady Mary in marriage.Filled with chivalry, humour, and high romance, Sir Nigel is simply a rattling good yarn. | |
Uncle Bernac: A Memory of the Empire
Looking for a replacement to Sherlock Holmes after the author had killed him off in 1894, Doyle wrote this murder mystery in the dying years of the 19th century. Set in Napoleon’s era, it involves a Frenchman returning to his native land to join the Emperor’s ranks. |