Audio Books
Showing 1851–1900 of 2033 results
The Countess of Lowndes Square, and Other Stories
A collection of fourteen short stories, grouped under the headings of “Blackmailing Stories”, “Spook Stories”, “Cat Stories”, “Crank Stories”, and “General Stories”. From the preface: “[S]uch readers as are in search merely of the lighter…aspects of life, will be able to avoid like poison so innocent-looking a title as “The Countess of Lowndes Square,” for surely they would not find therein the fashionable descriptions of high life which they might reasonably anticipate, but would merely cast the book from them in disgust, when they discovered that one who had been the wife of an Earl, and ought therefore to have known ever so much better, belonged to the most contemptible of the criminal classes.” – Summary by Devorah Allen
The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia
Arcadia is a prose work by Sir Philip Sidney, a classic of the Renaissance pastoral and a work of high romance, a fleeting vision of a lost world of gallantry and adventure, representing an escape from the realities of politics in the Elizabethan court. It contributes to the ongoing legend of Sidney as the perfect Renaissance man, “soldier, scholar, horseman he/And all he did done perfectly”. – Summary by Nicole Lee
The Countess of Rudolstadt
This sequel to Consuelo picks up not long after the striking conclusion of the first novel. Consuelo is enjoying a brilliant singing career. She befriends Princess Amelia of Prussia, the woman adored by Baron von Trenck, whose acquaintance Consuelo made in her previous adventures. She has also attracted the admiration of King Frederick II, who is Princess Amelia?s brother, and finds that she must tread carefully in order to both remain on his good side and protect her friends from his wrath. Despite her best efforts, however, she finds herself in prison, suspected of participating in a conspiracy against the king. As events escalate, Consuelo becomes entwined in the operations of a secret society. After she falls in love with a member of the society, she is faced with a heart-rending choice. – Summary by Scarbo
The Country Beyond
The Country Beyond, subtitled A Romance In the Wilderness, is a story of “Jolly” Roger McKay, an outcast on the run from the law; Nada, the girl he falls in love with; and Peter, the devoted mixed-breed dog who links the two together as no human could, as action, adventure, and romance take them through the Northwest Canadian wilderness in search of The Country Beyond. (Summary by Roger Melin)
The Country House
In ?The Country House?, John Galsworthy explores many of the themes he would later expand upon in his better known, nine-novel, ?The Forsyth Saga?. This is a novel of English society as 1900 approaches. A divorce is being threatened in the Pendyce family, whose members are of the landed gentry. Such an event would be an enormous scandal. There is little action. The story paints, in exquisite language, the feelings of each of the six or so main characters. These feelings concern the necessity for family honor and the horror of scandal; the stifling effect of the social mores of the time; the ridiculous complications of the law; and, the threat of the many changes in the social order which seem to be coming. Galsworthy was himself of this privileged class. While he was extremely critical of the social structure of the time, he shows sympathy for those caught in it. Each is constrained to his or her niche; only by major changes in the social code will that be changed. Gaslworthy was very much a social activist in life, as well as on the printed page. He was quite successful in showing the reader how it must have felt to live in one of those social niches. (Summary by BobR)
The Country of the Pointed Firs
The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) is considered Jewett?s finest work, described by Henry James as her ?beautiful little quantum of achievement.? Despite James?s diminutives, the novel remains a classic. Because it is loosely structured, many critics view the book not as a novel, but a series of sketches; however, its structure is unified through both setting and theme. Jewett herself felt that her strengths as a writer lay not in plot development or dramatic tension, but in character development. Indeed, she determined early in her career to preserve a disappearing way of life, and her novel can be read as a study of the effects of isolation and hardship on the inhabitants who lived in the decaying fishing villages along the Maine coast. (summary from Gutenberg e-text)
The Country Parson: His Character and Rule of Life
George Herbert was an English poet, orator, and priest. In The Country Parson he describes the roles of the priest and offers practice advice to English clergymen about how to fulfill their duties. – Summary by Karen Clausen-Brown
The Country Wife
One of the most notorious Restoration comedies in existence, William Wycherley?s The Country Wife is a lively and riotous exploration of courtly and city life in the seventeenth century, which was rife with unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. For the basis of his plot, Wycherley here borrows heavily from the work of Moli?re, but abandons the French master?s unity and economy by introducing several interlocking storylines and characters, all of them clamoring for attention amidst Wycherley?s hard-hitting colloquial dialogue and double entendres. The main plot follows the clever town rake Horner, who feigns impotence in order to seduce women of quality and cuckold their unwitting husbands. One woman who takes interest in him is Margery, a seemingly naive country girl married to the pathologically jealous Pinchwife. Her desire to pursue an illicit affair with Horner yields a multitude of complications and misunderstandings, many of which are left scandalously unresolved by the time the final line is spoken. With startlingly frank explorations of gender dynamics, marital structures, female autonomy, misogyny, and seventeenth-century societal obligations, as well as an infamous ?china scene? positively dripping with innuendo, The Country Wife remains a classic of its genre that continues to invite fresh and exciting interpretations with each new performance. – Summary by Tomas Peter Horner: Tomas Peter Harcourt: Son of the Exiles Dorilant: MajorToast Pinchwife: Scotty Smith Sparkish: ToddHW Sir Jasper Fidget: Nemo Boy: Melanie Jensen Quack: Alan Mapstone Margery Pinchwife: Availle Alithea, sister of Pinchwife: Leanne Yau Lady Fidget / Bookseller: Beth Thomas Dainty Fidget, sister of Sir Jasper: Foon Mrs. Squeamish: Sonia Old Lady Squeamish: Eva Davis Lucy, Alithea’s maid: TJ Burns Narrator: Campbell Schelp Editor: Tomas Peter
The County Regiment
A sketch of the second regiment of Connecticut volunteer heavy artillery, originally the Nineteenth Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War.
The Courage of Marge O’Doone
David Raine is travelling, trying to escape his own memories. On the train he meets Father Rolland, who invites him North, to a world of “mystery and savage glory”, to help him find himself again. On the same train, he meets a mysterious woman searching for a man named Michael O’Doone. When she’s gone, he finds a thin package on her seat. It contains the photograph of a girl and David makes it his aim to find her, while following Father Rolland into the mysterious North. (Summary by Rapunzelina)
The Courage of the Commonplace
The short story of a young man who came to terms with himself and became a man on a day when he had proven to be a failure to his family, his friends, his classmates, the girl he liked, and most importantly to himself. (Summary by Roger Melin)
The Court and Character of King James whereunto Is Now Added the Court of King Charles: Continued unto the Beginning of These Unhappy Times: with Some Observations upon Him Instead of a Character
Gossipy expos?s of shenanigans at the heart of government are nothing new. The author, Sir Anthony Weldon (1583?1648), was a courtier of years of experience and standing; his account of court intrigues around the Stuart Kings James I (1603-1625) and Charles I (1625-1649) was written seemingly in the tense period leading up to the English Civil War in the 1640s, and for a private readership (the printed text was not published until several years into the Commonwealth period, when the monarchy had been abolished, and he himself had died).
The Courtship of Miles Standish
During the late nineteenth century and until the middle of the twentieth, many elementary classrooms in America featured (along with a Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington) a black-and-white print of a group of New England pilgrims on their way to church, the men carrying their muskets. Every school child at that time was intimately acquainted with the story of the Mayflower and the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. Among the historical figures, one of the best known was Captain Miles Standish, the military commander of the little ?army,? which consisted of a bare handful of men, who repeatedly defeated many times their number of hostile Indians. The children also knew the friendly Indian Squanto and the young pilgrim gentleman John Alden and the lovely maiden Priscilla Mullins. In the middle grades practically all students used to read Longfellow?s long narrative poem The Courtship of Miles Standish, telling the story of these real people. The plot is initiated by Standish?s request that his friend, the better educated and more eloquent Alden, plead his case for him and persuade Priscilla to marry this rough middle-aged widower. What the captain did not know was that John Alden was also deeply in love with the same young girl. Present-day readers will be impressed that the delightful Miss Mullins seems to be a quite modern young lady, with a mind of her own. Many hundreds of Americans trace their ancestry to John and Priscilla, whose descendants also include Presidents John and John Quincy Adams and Longfellow himself. Those who are not familiar with their romance will find it a most pleasant tale. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson)
The Covered Wagon
“Look at ’em come, Jesse! More and more! Must be forty or fifty families.” This is an old-fashioned adventure tale set on the Oregon Trail, just before the California Gold Rush. It is the story of a wagon train bound for the west, and the conflict which arises due to of a love triangle. Indian fights, buffalo hunts, dangerous river crossings and other dangers of the trail add to a gripping and entertaining yarn. (Summary by Lynne Thompson)
The Cow
LibriVox volunteers bring you fourteen different readings of Robert Louis Stevenson?s The Cow, a weekly poetry project. (Summary by Annie Coleman)
The Cowardly Lion of Oz
The Cowardly Lion, always fearful, has become even more afraid than usual and is convinced that he has lost the courage the Wizard of OZ gave him man years ago. To remedy this he decides to follow the dubious advice from the Scrapwork Girl, to ‘find someone who has courage and swallow him up’. Unfortunately the King of the little known country of Mudge wants him captured and added to his lion collection. Naturally new characters, all funny and fun, join in the collision of intents and purposes as only in t he magical land of OZ can they do so. Exciting, funny and fabulous this tale will enchant you with its whimsy and wit. Will our dear Cowardly Lion actually swallow someone:? Will he be captured and added to the zoo of the Mudgers? Listen and be delighted with it all works out. – Summary by philc
The Cowardly Lion of Oz (version 2)
Mustafa of Mudge has heard of the famous Cowardly Lion of Oz, and decides to capture him and put him into a zoo! He enlists the help of Bob Up and a clown called Notta Bit More – the master of disguise! The Cowardly Lion meanwhile travels though Oz and meets a stone man, who offers to turn the Cowardly Lion into stone: after all, a stone lion doesn’t feel fear! Is this the solution to the Cowardly Lion’s quest for courage? Or is it a trap, and does the stone man want to trick him for reasons of his own? The Cowardly Lion of Oz was published in 1923, and is the seventeenth in the Oz series created by L. Frank Baum. It is the third by Ruth Plumly Thompson, and comes directly after “Kabumpo in Oz”. The main themes are disguises, honesty, and being true to who you are. (Summary by Beth Thomas)
The Coxon Fund
This novella explores the relationship between Frank Saltram, a charismatic speaker who is also a freeloader; Ruth Anvoy, a young American who visits her widowed aunt, Lady Coxon, an American who married a Brit; and George Gravener, a British intellectual with a future in politics who becomes engaged to Ms. Anvoy. The story revolves around the dispersal of The Coxon Fund, a sum of money left by Ms. Anvoy?s father with the stipulation that is be given to a great man to publish and pursue moral truth. (Summary by Dorlene Kaplan)
The Cradle Song
“In 1911 [Martinez Sierra and his wife/co-author Maria] achieved a definitive and permanent triumph with the production of The Cradle Song…. The Cradle Song is a reminiscence of Maria’s youth in Carabanchel, a town in which her father was convent doctor and where her sister took the veil, the Sister Joanna of the Cross of the play. [Martinez] has paused to probe some universal passion or emotion… in The Cradle Song, to echo the cry of the eternal mother instinct while has been stifled and denied…. The Cradle Song has been translated into many languages, and has been played and imitated widely throughout the civilized world.” – Summary by The Translator Cast list: Sister Joanna of the Cross, 18 years of age: Annie Mars Teresa, aged 18: mlee06 The Prioress, aged 40: Adrian Stephens The Vicaress, aged 40: Sonia The Mistress of Novices, aged 36: mamatiff82 Sister Marcella, aged 19: Jenn Broda Sister Maria Jesus, aged 19: Matea Bracic Sister Sagrario, aged 18: ambsweet13 Sister Inez, aged 50: Melinda Fogle Sister Tornera, aged 30: Tomas Peter The Doctor, aged 60: ToddHW Antonio, aged 25: Odie ji Ghast The Poet: Alan Mapstone A Countryman: David Purdy Stage Directions: Larry Wilson Editing: ToddHW
The Creators: A Comedy
Jane Holland is a genius, the greatest of a group of extraordinary literary friends. She has an intense artistic and intellectual kinship with George Tanqueray, another remarkable novelist. Despite this keen spiritual relationship, both Holland and Tanqueray allow themselves to fall against their wills into more conventional romantic commitments, leading to agonizing crises of heart and mind and art. Another of May Sinclair?s marvelous philosophical novels, this masterpiece explores the great dilemmas of artistic Genius and the obstacles posed to it by Love, by philistine society, by the two-faced allure of popularity, by human jealousy, by the conventions of marriage and family. More deeply, Sinclair here lays bare the excruciating choices required particularly of a woman genius, and the double standards applied to her in a society that allowed so much indulgence to a man considered to have such artistic gifts. Demonic or angelic, curse or blessing, affliction or joy, the involuntary gifting of Genius sets any human being apart from the uncomprehending and judgmental society in which she must live, a condition delineated in ?The Creators? with delicate subtlety and fierce passion. ( Expatriate)
The Creature from Beyond Infinity
A lone space traveler arrives on Earth seeking a new planet to colonize, his own world dead. At the same time a mysterious plague has infected Earth that will wipe out all life. Can a lone scientist stop the plague and save the world? Or will the alien find himself on another doomed planet? (Summary by Mark Nelson)
The Creature from Cleveland Depths
?The Creature from Cleveland Depths? also known as ?The Lone Wolf? tells the story of a writer and his wife who refuse to move below-ground after the cold-war gets hot. The underground society discovers a decline in their ability to creatively innovate, and must consult with surface dwellers to develop products that satiate the needs of a people living like moles. But the latest product to result from this alliance, ?The Tickler? has frightening implications that only our heroes seem to notice. ? This story appeared in the December, 1962 issue of ?Galaxy? magazine. (Summary by Gregg Margarite)
The Creature from Cleveland Depths (Version 2)
The Cold War of the 1960s has grown warmer and warmer over time until, at this time in the future, it is a very hot and nasty war where Atomic and Ionic Bombs are dropped and satellites snoop into everything. The US has decided to move underground for protection from bombs and snooping and society in this future age is happy living there. Everyone lives underground! Well, except for the odd balls and weirdos who insist on staying topside. Gusterson is one of these quirky ones. He is milked for new ideas by the less inventive ‘moles’ as he calls them. One of his ideas is taken and despite his warnings, turns into a monster indeed; something that can and does control people. Listen and hear of the horror of the ‘TICKLER!” (First published in Galaxy magazine, 1961) – Summary by Phil Chenevert
The Creed of a Credulous Person
A series of five essays by G.K. Chesterton, published in “Black and White” magazine in 1903, under the heading “The Creed of a Credulous Person”. (Summary by Maria Therese)
The Creeds of Christendom
This is based on Philip Schaff’s Creeds of Christendom taking only the creeds that he selected, using the translations he supplied where possible but rearranged chronologically (using the dates he supplied) but excluding his commentary and notes. “He who wishes to grow strong in his religious life, let him, I say, next to the Bible, feed himself on the great Creeds of the Church. There is a force of religious inspiration in them which you will seek in vain elsewhere. And this for good reasons. First, because it is ever true that it is by the truth that sanctification is wrought. And next, because the truth is set forth in these Creeds with a clearness and richness with which it is set forth nowhere else. For these Creeds are not the products of metaphysical speculation, as many who know infinitesimally little about them are prone to assert, but are the compressed and weighted utterances of the Christian heart. “I do not think I go astray, therefore, when I say to you in all seriousness that the second and third volumes of Dr. Schaff?s Creeds of Christendom have in them more food for your spiritual life ? are ‘more directly, richly and evangelically devotional’ ? than any other book, apart from the Bible, in existence.” (Summary by B.B. Warfield, “Spiritual Culture in the Theological Seminary”, p.84-85)
The Cremation of Sam McGee
LibriVox volunteers bring you 7 different recordings of The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service.
The Crescent Moon
This is a wonderful collection of lyrical poetry and poetry in prose by India’s most well-known poet, Rabindranath Tagore, whose book Gitanjali shot him to fame in the west. Originally written in Bengali, the poet himself translated the book into English. Most of the poems in The Crescent Moon focus on the love in a mother-child relationship and its development over the years as the child grows up, with a lot of nature imagery sprinkled in the verses. There are a lot of beautiful visual references to his homeland, India. – Summary by Anusha Iyer
The Crevice
The sudden death of wealthy and prominent financier, Pennington Lawton from an apparent heart attack, followed by the shocking revelation of his impending bankruptcy, leaves his sole heir and only daughter, Anita, distraught and nearly penniless. Nonetheless, she is determined to unravel the mystery surrounding her father?s death and the loss of his great fortune. To this end she engages the famous detective, Henry Blaine who is determined to unravel the tangled web of deception and restore both her father?s reputation and Anita?s inheritance. Isabel Ostrander, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Christopher B. Booth, Robert Orr Chipperfield, David Fox, and Douglas Grant, was a prolific author of early American crime fiction. In The Crevice she collaborated with coauthor, William J. Burns, who served for three years as director of the Bureau of Investigation (a predecessor of the FBI)and was also famous for his exploits as a private detective. His cases served as material for the ?true? crime stories he later wrote and published in detective magazines in the early 20th century. (summary by J. M. Smallheer)
The Cricket on the Hearth
John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his wife Dot (who is much younger than he), their baby, their nanny Tilly Slowboy, and a mysterious lodger. A cricket constantly chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family, at one point assuming a human voice to warn John that his suspicions that Dot is having an affair with the lodger are wrong. The life of the Peerybingles frequently intersects with that of Caleb Plummer, a poor toymaker employed by the miser Mr. Tackleton. Caleb has a blind daughter Bertha and a son Edward, who travelled to South America and seemingly never returned. Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward’s sweetheart, May. In the end, the lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward. Tackleton’s heart is melted by the Christmas season, like Ebeneezer Scrooge, and surrenders May to marry her true love. It is suggested ambiguously that Bertha regains her sight at the end. (Wikipedia)
The Cricket on the Hearth (Version 2)
The tale of John Peerybingle, the good-hearted carrier, and his young wife Mary (‘Dot’), interwoven with the story of poor toymaker Caleb Plummer, his beloved blind daughter Bertha, and the harsh old toy merchant Tackleton, who is due to marry May Fielding, a childhood friend of Dot. Comic relief is provided by Tilly Slowboy, the disaster-prone nursemaid of John and Dot’s baby, and Boxer, the family dog. The cricket who chirps on the family hearth assumes fairy form to save the day when disaster looms in the form of a mysterious stranger. Sentimental? Certainly – but this, the third (1845) of Dickens’ short Christmas books, is as charming and irresistible as its predecessors A Christmas Carol (1843) and The Chimes (1844). The novella is subdivided into chapters called ‘Chirps’, similar to the ‘Quarters’ of The Chimes or the ‘Staves’ of A Christmas Carol. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)
The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
Noted historian sets out to locate and research a rare manuscript: the French version of — “The Golden Legend” — and meets the daughter of a woman he once loved. Complications follow. – Summary by David Crosby
The Crime of the French Cafe and Other Stories
Nick Carter is a fictional detective who first appeared in 1886 in dime store novels. Over the years, different authors, all taking the nom de plume Nicholas Carter, have penned stories featuring “America’s greatest detective”. Here we get to enjoy three short stories: The Crime of the French Cafe, Nick Carter’s Ghost Story and The Mystery of St. Agnes Hospital. We can be sure that Nick and his trusty sidekicks will get to the bottom of every mystery sent their way.
The Crimes of England
“Second, when telling such lies as may seem necessary to your international standing, do not tell the lies to the people who know the truth. Do not tell the Eskimos that snow is bright green; nor tell the negroes in Africa that the sun never shines in that Dark Continent. Rather tell the Eskimos that the sun never shines in Africa; and then, turning to the tropical Africans, see if they will believe that snow is green. Similarly, the course indicated for you is to slander the Russians to the English and the English to the Russians; and there are hundreds of good old reliable slanders which can still be used against both of them. There are probably still Russians who believe that every English gentleman puts a rope round his wife’s neck and sells her in Smithfield. There are certainly still Englishmen who believe that every Russian gentleman takes a rope to his wife’s back and whips her every day. But these stories, picturesque and useful as they are, have a limit to their use like everything else; and the limit consists in the fact that they are not true, and that there necessarily exists a group of persons who know they are not true. It is so with matters of fact about which you asseverate so positively to us, as if they were matters of opinion.” (Gilbert Keith Chesterton)
The Criminal from Lost Honour
“In the whole history of man there is no chapter more instructive for the heart and mind than the annals of his errors. On the occasion of every great crime a proportionally great force was in motion. If by the pale light of ordinary emotions the play of the desiring faculty is concealed, in the situation of strong passion it becomes the more striking, the more colossal, the more audible, and the acute investigator of humanity, who knows how much may be properly set down to the account of the mechanism of the ordinary freedom of the will, and how far it is allowable to reason by analogy, will be able from this source to gather much fresh experience for his psychology, and to render it applicable to moral life.” (Introductory Paragraph) Christian Wolf is a man not endowed with any special features, host of the inn the Sun, in need of money, and unhappily in love. The want of money leads him to minor crimes, and the disproportionally severe punishments spark in him an overpowering thirst for revenge, spiraling him ever deeper into trouble. This short story is at the same time a work of fiction, relating the story of an individual through his criminal career, and a work of enlightenment, showing how external circumstances can slowly transform a good man into a criminal. – Summary by Carolin.
The Crimson Circle
The Crimson Circle gang spreads fear by extortion and murder. Its members range from rich, powerful bankers to petty criminals, and none of them know each other. A beautiful young woman named Thalia Drummond appears to be involved in the gang too. But who is the leader of the gang, known only as The Crimson Circle? Chief Inspector Parr is on the case, as well as private detective Derrick Yale. – Summary by Anna Simon
The Crimson Cryptogram
Young Dr Ellis, a struggling new physician, is enjoying a quiet evening smoking and enjoying conversation with his journalist friend Cass, when their mysterious neighbour, Mrs Moxton, bursts in upon them with startling news – her husband has been murdered! Rushing to the scene, the two men discover Mr Moxton, stabbed in the back. They investigate the body thoroughly, but find no real clues to his assailant except for a mysterious series of markings, scrawled in blood on the dead man’s sleeve. – Summary by Don W. Jenkins
The Crimson Fairy Book
The Crimson Fairy Book contains thirty-six stories collected from around the world and edited by Andrew Lang. Many tales in this book are translated, or adapted, from those told by mothers and nurses in Hungary; others are familiar to Russian nurseries; the Servians are responsible for some; a rather peculiarly fanciful set of stories are adapted from the Roumanians; others are from the Baltic shores; others from sunny Sicily; a few are from Finland, and Iceland, and Japan, and Tunis, and Portugal. No doubt many children will like to look out these places on the map, and study their mountains, rivers, soil, products, and fiscal policies, in the geography books. The peoples who tell the stories differ in colour; language, religion, and almost everything else; but they all love a nursery tale. The stories have mainly been adapted or translated by Mrs. Lang, a few by Miss Lang and Miss Blackley. (Summary from the preface)
The Crimson Gardenia And Other Tales Of Adventure
Published in 1916, this book collects eleven stories originally published in several different magazines. Beach?s adventure stories were immensely popular throughout the early 1900s. – Summary by David Wales
The Critique of Dogmatic Theology
More systematic, but no less sincere than A Confession (which originally served as the introduction to this work), The Critique of Dogmatic Theology is an early attempt on the part of Tolstoy to impart the results of his meticulous study and fearless inquiry into the beliefs and traditions of Orthodox Christianity following his renewed interest in spirituality. – Summary by Paul Rizik
The Critique of Practical Reason
The Critique of Practical Reason (Kritik der praktischen Vernunft) is the second of Immanuel Kant’s three critiques, first published in 1788. It follows on from his Critique of Pure Reason and deals with his moral philosophy. The second Critique exercised a decisive influence over the subsequent development of the field of ethics and moral philosophy, becoming the principle reference point for ethical systems that focus on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions. Subsequently termed ?deontological ethics?, Kant?s ethical system also laid the groundwork of moral absolutism, the belief that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, and that certain actions are right or wrong, devoid of the context of the act. (Summary by Wikipedia and Ticktockman)
The Critique of Pure Reason
The Critique of Pure Reason, first published in 1781 with a second edition in 1787, has been called the most influential and important philosophical text of the modern age. Kant saw the Critique of Pure Reason as an attempt to bridge the gap between rationalism (there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience) and empiricism (sense experience is the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge) and, in particular, to counter the radical empiricism of David Hume (our beliefs are purely the result of accumulated habits, developed in response to accumulated sense experiences). Using the methods of science, Kant demonstrates that though each mind may, indeed, create its own universe, those universes are guided by certain common laws, which are rationally discernible. (Summary by Ticktockman)
The Crock of Gold
This is a comic novel written by Irish author James Stephens, a quick-witted storyteller whose pantheistic philosophy is revealed in his adult Irish fairy tales. His first novel, The Charwoman’s Daughter (1911), humorously examines the life and fantasies of a poor Dublin mother and daughter. His second, The Crock of Gold (1913), again showcases his unique writing style, quirky thoughts, grasp of irony and cleverness of phrase. No conformity here, lots of head-scratching twists and turns that reveal odd bits of wisdom too! The main characters are an extremely pedantic Philosopher, his revengeful wife, their sweet innocent children lured down leprechaun holes, a teenage girl seduced by Pan (the god of lust and carefree living) then saved by Angus Og (the Irish god of youth, love and beauty), culminating in a giant parade of Irish gods. Stephen’s serious philosophy is on display here and there, and we learn many useful tips for dealing with fairies, goblins and gods, especially that no good comes of stealing a leprechaun’s crock of gold! ~Summary by Michele Fry
The Crocodile
Ivan Matveich, the most ordinary person you might hope to meet, is swallowed alive by a crocodile at a sideshow. Finding life inside the belly of the beast quite comfortable, he makes a home for himself there. His disquisitions on the state of the world from inside the crocodile make him quite a name for himself; while all the while the discussion rages outside as to whether the beast is going to be cut open to release him or not, its value as a sideshow attraction having massively increased owing to the presence of the human voice buried inside it. One of Jorge Luis Borges’ seven most favourite stories. – Summary by Tony Addison
The Crocodile (Version 2)
Fyodor Dostoevesky’s “The Crocodile,” first published in 1865 in the magazine “Epoch,” is the story of Ivan Matveitch, a young man who gets swallowed by a crocodile, and survives. What will life be like for him, inside the crocodile? How will his marriage with Elena Ivanovna fare? (Summary by Phillip Cryan)
The Crocuses
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African-American abolitionist, suffragist, poet and author. She was also active in other types of social reform and was a member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which advocated the federal government taking a role in progressive reform. – Summary by Wikipedia
The Crofton Boys
Children’s Fictional Novel; an historic testament to family and school life in the 1800’s; a mesmerizing and touching piece about a young boy’s school experience, fun and spirited but which also includes the topic of bullying, relevant still. Written by Harriet Martineau, a noteworthy author, abolitionist and women’s rights activist, who shed light on social issues in her skillfully written work. A Gutenberg Project piece, audio recorded by Jane Dever for Librivox.org and part of the public domain; originally published in 1844. Summary by Jane Dever
The Cross Brand
Jack Bristol shot the sheriff and stole his horse. He rode off, not into the sunset, but into the mountains. The mountain man held him captive for months and then released him. Why? And why did the girl scream with terror when she saw his face? Read this 1922 pulp Western to find the answers. Max Brand was one of many pseudonyms used by Frederick Schiller Faust (1892 ? 1944), an American author known primarily for his thoughtful and literary Westerns. – Summary by david wales
The Crossing
This is an historical fiction novel. Many real characters of history are included, as well as fictitious ones. The saga takes place in the period slightly before the American Revolution, and extends for some years after that war. It covers the first movement of southern colonists, over the mountains, into Kentucky, then into the lands that would become Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The battles to take these lands from the British make up much of the drama. The characters also move into New Orleans to face off with the French. This was a major best selling novel when released. The writer, Winston Churchill, was a most prominent American novelist of the time. The Prime Minister of England, Winston S. Churchill, was his contemporary, but no family relation. This book contains content that some listeners might find offensive. (Summary by Bob Rollins)
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
“Civilisations as yet have only been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds. Crowds are only powerful for destruction. Their rule is always tantamount to a barbarian phase. A civilisation involves fixed rules, discipline, a passing from the instinctive to the rational state, forethought for the future, an elevated degree of culture ? all of them conditions that crowds, left to themselves, have invariably shown themselves incapable of realising. In consequence of the purely destructive nature of their power crowds act like those microbes which hasten the dissolution of enfeebled or dead bodies. When the structure of a civilisation is rotten, it is always the masses that bring about its downfall.” – Gustave Le Bon, from Introduction
The Crook in the Lot; or, The Sovereignty and Wisdom of God, in the Afflictions of Men, Displayed
A meditation on Ecclesiastes 7:3, “Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight which he hath made crooked?,” The Crook in the Lot considers the purposes of God for suffering and affliction in the life of the Christian. -Summary by Chris Bunn