Philip Max Raskin was a Jewish poet about whose life not much can be found today. His poetry, however, lives on, and some poems are still well-known today. This volume contains a series of love-poems, sometimes conveying hope and happiness, sometimes longing and disappointment. - Summary by Carolin

This is the original ‘Buck Rogers’ SF classic. Thrill to the adventures of Anthony "Buck" Rogers, one of the most celebrated characters in the history of science fiction. Famed in comic strips, television, in movies, and even radio, this is the first novel to introduce Buck Rogers to the reading public. In Armageddon – 2419 A.D., Buck, a victim of accidental suspended animation, awakens five hundred years later to discover America groaning under the tyranny of the villainous Han, ruling from the safety of their armored machine-cities...

An 1883 selection of Lewis Carroll's satirical and comic verse. The collection ranges from the well-known and well-loved The Hunting Of The Snark, to lesser-known gems such as Phantasmagoria, a tale of the difficulties encountered by an inexperienced phantom in his first domestic haunting, and Hiawatha’s Photographing, a brilliant satire of Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha.

volunteers bring you 19 recordings of Thou Shalt Not Kill by G. K. Chesterton. This was the Weekly Poetry project for November 25, 2018. ------ This Weekly Poem is taken from The Wild Knight and Other Poems by G. K. Chesterton - Summary by David Lawrence

This short overview of the Roman Empire from AD 96-180 opens as the murderers of Domitian raise to power the wise old senator, Nerva. Ignoring assassination rumors, his successor, the brave soldier Trajan, "went about the streets almost unguarded" and was easy of access to all classes. He was followed by the brilliant, gay emperor, Hadrian, who "revised the imperial budget with the skill of a trained accountant." We meet the immortal Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor who spent his life fighting barbarians along the Danube. The book closes with chapters on the religions of the empire, on the state's response to Christianity, and on imperial administration.

This book records Bertrand Russell's impressions of the new regime after a 1920 visit to Russia following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, including his meetings with Lenin, Trostky, and Gorky. It includes a chapter that was authored by Dora Black, educational theorist and feminist author, and Russell's spouse. This chapter was unfortunately removed in the second edition, which was issued after Dora and Bertrand divorced. This recording is dedicated to my darling wife, Jill. Happy Hanukkah and Happy 2020! - Summary by Landon D. C. Elkind

A doll, given to a young girl for her birthday, goes through adventures and faults to get her new mother to love her. - Summary by Emma Hatton

"In this book I have sought to trace the course of our religious poetry from an early period of our literary history. ... [I]f its poetry be the cream of a people's thought, some true indications of the history of its religious feeling must be found in its religious verse, and I hope I have not altogether failed in setting forth these indications. My chief aim, however, will show itself to have been the mediating towards an intelligent and cordial sympathy betwixt my readers and the writers from whom I have quoted. In this I have some confidence of success. Heartily do I throw this my small pebble at the head of the great Sabbath-breaker Schism." - From the Preface

volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Said and Did by George MacDonald.. This was the Weekly Poetry project for December 2, 2018. ------ George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors, including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit, and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master". - Summary by Wikipedia

volunteers bring you 8 recordings of Christmas at Church by Hattie Howard. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for December 2, 2018. ------ This Fortnightly Poem is taken from Poems by Hattie Howard, Pub 1902

This is the first in the series of twelve Make Believe Stories about a sawdust doll who begins her life in Toy Town with the other dolls and toys, until she goes to live with a little girl. And then her adventures begin! - Summary by Nan Dodge

The history of Egypt from the earliest times to the conquest by Alexander the Great, covering the development of Egyptian civilization: science, religion, art, language and literature. This book is written for the interested layperson, requiring no prior knowledge of Egypt, and in approachable everyday language.

This is a little collection of short stories, written by different authors and published in 1865. It is a Christmas book, and the stories will make you feel an old-fashioned Christmas spirit. All stories relate to a key that opens something, be it a door, a box, or a heart. - Summary by Carolin

In 1906, William Jennings Bryan, himself a famous American orator, and Francis Whiting Halsey published a series of the most famous orations of all time. They are ordered by both geographic area and time period, ranging from Ancient Greece to their contemporary United States. The third, fourth, and fifth volumes of this collection concern British speakers. The speeches contained in this fifth volume are ordered chronologically. We begin in the year 1865 with a speech on the Canadian Confederation, and end this volume in 1906, the year in which this volume was published, with a couple of speeches on Liberalism. - Summary by Carolin

This is a collection of poems by Violet Fane, pseudonym of Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie. The poems convey a lot of emotion, feeling, and sympathy. - Summary by Carolin

A diverse collection of short stories selected and read in English by readers. The ever-popular detective stories of Arthur Conan Doyle are joined by humor from Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne as well as some weird and creepy selections to satisfy every taste. So sit back and enjoy the 77th Short Story Collection!

Few plays have been seen as a more fitting conclusion to a playwright's career than Shakespeare's The Tempest. Focusing on the aging sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, Prospero, we are transported to a remote island where magic and strange music fill the air, and the monstrous slave Caliban roams in bitterness. Seeing an opportunity to restore his slandered name, Prospero conjures a mighty storm to bring down a ship containing his wicked brother and the King of Naples, both of whom had driven him out of Milan twelve years before...

Orphan boy Oliver is forced into child labor at an early age, and after a simple plea for more food, finds himself alone in the streets of London, where ultimately he becomes the center of attention for a gang of pickpockets. - Summary by Brad "Hamlet" Filippone

A collection of stories that inspired the works of many writers such as HP Lovecraft, "The King in Yellow" revolves around the play that the main characters read a part of, and those two acts of the play drive them all into madness. - Summary by Eva Staes

The classic Christmas story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. The result of their visit shows that redemption is achievable for even the worst of us. - Summary by wikipedia and jvanstan

Fifteen short ghost stories by the Anglican then Roman Catholic priest, Robert Hugh Benson . The form of the book is of an old English Roman Catholic priest telling stories to his young friend. Benson wrote prolifically in many genres. His horror and ghost fiction are collected in The Light Invisible and A Mirror of Shalott - David Wales

volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Blessings for Chanukah by Jessie E. Sampter. This was the Weekly Poetry project for December 9, 2018. ------ Jessie Sampter was a Jewish educator, poet, and Zionist pioneer. She was born in New York City and immigrated to Palestine in 1919. In her twenties, she joined the Unitarian Church and began writing poetry. Her poems and short stories emphasized her primary concerns: pacifism, Zionism, and social justice. - Summary by Wikipedia

The memoirs of Chateaubriand continue in Volume 5, with the author, now a grand hommes des lettres, still in the thick of political events, telling his story with his trademark acerbity and melancholy, interspersed with extracts from his voluminous correspondence with the literary, intellectual and political stars of his age.

Are you interested in learning about climate change and its current and future effects on the United States? The Fourth National Climate Assessment – Volume II is a 2018 report written in non-technical language by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a panel of independent experts, as mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990. This report focuses on the human welfare, societal, and environmental elements of climate change and variability in the U.S., with particular attention paid to observed and projected risks and impacts...

The Story of Ahikar is a fictional work. It is a colorful story but considered to be a work containing great wisdom. The story of Ahikar is considered one of the earliest "international books". It can be found in a variety of geographical translations and has been circulated in the middle east and near east regions. - Summary by CJ Plogue

A group of young adults away on a nutting expedition is delayed in a hospitable home by a sudden rainstorm. After the storm, Marjorie insists that she must get home that night, albeit late, out of respect and care for her mother. Others want to extend the fun and stay away overnight. Ralph, the driver of their wagon and unspoken beau of Marjorie, is swayed by the teasing ridicule of Estelle to refuse to take them home that night. Unknown to the party, unexpected opportunities occur at Ralph's and Estelle's homes that same night, and their delay and subsequent actions profoundly affect the course of all three of their lives. Sequel: Overruled

Children's Short Works Collection 030: a collection of 15 short works for children in the public domain read by a variety of members.

This is a collection of 44 poems read in English by volunteers for August 2019.

A reader of this history, encountering the frequent references to “my author,” meaning the current source, will be reminded of DON QUIXOTE and of THE MORTE D'ARTHUR, for Milton employs a style that might be called dissertational rather than novelistic; he carefully identifies his sources and often quotes from them. However, much of the scholarly documentation has been omitted from the reading—all except footnotes indicating the years—to avoid cumbersome interruptions. What will be obvious to a listener, though, is that Milton uses earlier chronicles with discretion...

After his wife's desertion, Sir Austin wants to bring up his son according to a strict educational system governing every aspect of his life. However Richard has to make his own mistakes, fall in love, and generally live his own life. This book tells about the clashes between Richard's wish to govern his own life to his father's constant interference. This book was very influential. The leading libraries of the day considered it too frank and sexually explicit and refused to buy it. Later authors including E. M. Forster, Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf admired and respected it. - Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia

This story deals with the obvious fact that we humans are split, dual. We have urges to do the 'right' thing, to be honorable and wise, but we also frequently fail to follow these better instincts and follow instead urges to do dishonorable, evil things. We seem to battle within ourselves. Are we really composed of two different personalities housed within the same brain, within the same person? Dr Jekyll in this story is so convinced and manages by scientific means to actually split himself into his ordinary composite self, and his evil self whom he calls Mr. Hyde. The horror of this unnatural split is well documented here and shows what might happen were this possible.

Edward the Black Prince was the eldest son of King Edward III of England. He commanded the vanguard at the Battle of Crécy and, skillfully deploying his troops, defeated a much larger French force at the Battle of Poitiers. In this short biography, Louise Creighton sets Edward's life within the context of his times and portrays both the bright and the dark sides of this paragon of chivalry.