The Colour Out of Space

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(first published 1927)

H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937)
Language: English

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

In the tale, written in 1927, an unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the “blasted heath” in the wild hills west of Arkham, Massachusetts. Listening to the experiences of an old man by the name of Ammi Pierce, the narrator learns the story of an uncanny calamity which befell a local farmer and his family many decades earlier. (Summary by Piotr Nater and Wikipedia).

Total running time: 1:13:10 – Read in English by Piotr Nater

1 – Section 1 – 19:04
2 – Section 2 – 19:33
3 – Section 3 – 16:36
4 – Section 4 – 17:56

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:
Dedicated Proof-Listener: rapunzelina, Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Catalogued 25. August 2012

Zsivajgó természet

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(first published 1930)

Kosztolányi Dezső (1885 – 1936)
Language: Magyar

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

Mi járhat a kutya fejében farkcsóválás közben, és mi lehet a cseresznye véleménye a világról? Ebben a könyvben Kosztolányi Dezső elkalauzol minket az állatok, virágok, fák, gyümölcsök és ásványok gondolataiba. (Az ismertetőt írta: Majlinger Diána)

What is the dog thinking about when it wags its tail, and what is the cherry’s opinion of the world? In this book Dezső Kosztolányi takes us into the thoughts of animals, flowers, trees, fruits and minerals. (Summary by Diana Majlinger)

Total running time: 1:14:26 – Read in Hungarian by Diana Majlinger

01 – Virágok beszéde – 0:08:15
02 – Fák beszéde – 0:09:41
03 – Állatok beszéde – 0:14:38
04 – Madarak beszéde – 0:11:45
05 – Bogarak beszéde – 0:06:05
06 – Rovarok beszéde – 0:07:29
07 – Lepkék beszéde – 0:04:09
08 – Gyümölcsös-kosár – 0:06:11
09 – Ásványok beszéde – 0:03:16
10 – Drágakövek beszéde – 0:02:39

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:
Dedicated Proof-Listener: Kacsa
Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Catalogued 25. August 2012

The Benson Murder Case

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(first published 1926)

S.S. Van Dine (1888-1939)
Language: English

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-SA

New York dilettante Philo Vance decides to assist the police in investigating the death of another man-about-town because he finds the psychological aspects of the crime of interest and feels that they would be beyond the capacities of the police, even those of his friend District Attorney Markham. Vance investigates the circumstances under which the body was found and reconstructs the crime sufficiently to determine that the murderer is five feet, ten and a half inches in height. Together, Vance and Markham investigate Benson’s business associates and romantic interests until Vance manages to pierce the murderer’s alibi for the time of the murder and force a confession. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Total running time: 7:57:16 – Read in English by Cathy Barratt

01 – Philo Vance at Home – 24:09
02 – At the Scene of the Crime – 22:03
03 – A Lady’s Handbag – 18:36
04 – The Housekeeper’s Story – 18:58
05 – Gathering Information – 17:15
06 – Vance Offers an Opinion – 19:27
07 – Reports and an Interview – 24:20
08 – Vance Accepts a Challenge – 21:42
09 – The Height of the Murderer – 18:06
10 – Eliminating a Suspect – 17:20
11 – A Motive and a Threat – 19:25
12 – The Owner of a Colt .45 – 14:18
13 – The Gray Cadillac – 15:47
14 – Links in the Chain – 13:14
15 – Pfyfe–Personal – 19:32
16 – Admissions and Suppressions – 21:18
17 – The Forged Check – 17:57
18 – A Confession – 15:54
19 – Vance Cross-Examines – 20:55
20 – A Lady Explains – 16:29
21 – Sartorial Revelations – 18:12
22 – Vance Outlines a Theory – 23:03
23 – Checking an Alibi – 21:01
24 – The Arrest – 21:48
25 – Vance Explains His Methods – 18:15

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:
Dedicated Proof-Listener: Nadine Eckert-Boulet, Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Catalogued 16. May 2012

A Room of One’s Own

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(first published 1929)

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Language: English

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

This feminist essay argues for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy. First published on 24 October 1929, the extended essay was based on a series of lectures delivered by Virginia Woolf at Cambridge University in October 1928. While it employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers of and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled “Women and Fiction”, and hence the essay, are non-fiction. [Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Cori Samuel.]

Total running time: 4:02:37 – Read in English by Cori Samuel

Section 1 – 47:39
Section 2 – 35:37
Section 3 – 35:05
Section 4 – 45:17
Section 5 – 35:18
Section 6 – 43:39

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:
Dedicated Proof-Listener: Majlinger Diána, Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Catalogued 16. June 2012

The House Without a Key

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(first published 1925)

by Earl Derr Biggers (1884 – 1933)
Language: English

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

The novel deals with the murder of a former member of Boston society who has lived in Hawaiʻi for a number of years. The main character is the victim’s nephew, a straitlaced young Bostonian bond trader, who came to the islands to try to convince his aunt Minerva, whose vacation has extended many months, to return to Boston. The nephew, John Quincy Winterslip, soon falls under the spell of the islands himself, meets an attractive young woman, breaks his engagement to his straitlaced Bostonian fiancee Agatha, and decides after the murder is solved to move to San Francisco. In the interval, he is introduced to many levels of Hawaiian society and is of some assistance to Detective Charlie Chan in solving the mystery. (Summary by Wikipedia)

Total running time: 8:55:35 – Read in English by ashleighjane

01 – Kona Weather – 0:29:00
02 – The High Hat – 0:11:30
03 – Midnight on Russian Hill – 0:26:51
04 – A Friend of Tim’s – 0:19:48
05 – The Blood of the Winterslip’s – 0:17:13
06 – Beyond the Bamboo Curtain – 0:13:05
07 – Enter Charlie Chan – 0:24:57
08 – Steamer Day – 0:22:27
09 – At the Reef and Palm – 0:24:08
10 – A Newspaper Ripper in Anger – 0:26:14
11 – The Tree of Jewels – 0:33:17
12 – Tom Brade the Blackbirder – 0:22:55
13 – The Luggage in Room Nineteen – 0:22:03
14 – What Kaohla Carried – 0:24:19
15 – The Man From India – 0:30:49
16 – The Return of Captain Cope – 0:24:25
17 – Nightlife in Honolulu – 0:18:00
18 – A Cable From the Mainland – 0:23:43
19 – “Good-by, Pete!” – 0:32:26
20 – The Story of Lau Ho – 0:22:04
21 – The Stone Wall Crumbles – 0:25:57
22 – The Light Streams Through – 0:29:46
23 – Moonlight at the Crossroads – 0:10:38

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:
Dedicated Proof-Listener: Rapunzelina
Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Nadine Eckert-Boulet

Catalogued May 24, 2012

Supernatural Horror in Literature

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(first published 1927)

H.P. Lovecraft (1890 – 1937)
Language: English

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

“Supernatural Horror in Literature” is a long essay surveying the field of horror fiction. It was written between November 1925 and May 1927 and revised in 1933-1934. The author follows the development of the weird fiction genre, starting from Antiquity until the first decades of the 20th century and concludes by in-depth description of four writers whom he considers “Modern Masters” (Summary by Piotr Nater and Wikipedia)

Total running time: 3:10:05 – Read in English by Piotr Nater

01 – Introduction – 0:09:48
02 – The Dawn of the Horror Tale – 0:10:11
03 – The Early Gothic Novel – 0:14:00
04 – The Apex of Gothic Romance – 0:11:44
05 – The Aftermath of Gothic Fiction – 0:18:15
06 – Spectral Literature on the Continent – 0:13:59
07 – Edgar Allan Poe – 0:16:15
08 – The Weird Tradition in America – 0:31:34
09 – The Weird Tradition in the British Isles – 0:22:23
10 – The Modern Masters 1 – 0:23:12
11 – The Modern Masters 2 – 0:19:04

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:
Dedicated Proof-Listener, Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Catalogued 16. May 2012

The Island of Sheep

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(first published 1936)

by John Buchan (1875 – 1940)
Language: English

The original text of this recording is in the Public Domain in countries where copyright expires 70 years or less after the author’s death, but is still protected by copyright in the USA and some other countries. Please check the copyright law of your country before downloading.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

This is the last of Buchan’s ‘Richard Hannay’ novels. It’s cast of Characters, in addition to Hannay himself, includes from earlier novels, Sandy Clanroyden and the villain D’Invraville. Buchan also introduces a merchant banker ‘Lombard’ and Hannay’s son Peter John. The action takes place in England, Scotland and the ‘Norland’ Islands, (presumably the Faroes) where a neurotic Norland millionaire who has a claim on Hannay’s protection and owns an island is under attack.
Even the Buchan Society (http://www.johnbuchansociety.co.uk) concede that this is not one of his best novels ‘occasionally charming and amusing, but no more’ but it is a perfectly good read and those who like Buchan’s style will enjoy having the series properly rounded off.
The title was previously used by Buchan for a political novel, never reprinted and now very rare. (Summary by AJM)

Total running time: 8:35:04 – Read in English by Andy Minter (1935 – 2017)

01 – Lost Gods – 0:16:15
02 – Hanham Flats – 0:31:34
03 – The Tablet of Jade – 0:24:51
04 – Haraldsen – 0:48:41
05 – Haraldsen’s Son – 0:32:10
06 – Sundry Doings at Fosse – 0:38:32
07 – Lord Clanroyden Intervenes – 0:30:13
08 – Sanctuary – 0:38:31
09 – Lochinvar – 0:38:04
10 – The Dog Samr – 0:25:50
11 – We Shift Our Base – 0:31:57
12 – Hulda’s Folk – 0:43:02
13 – Marine Biology – 0:34:31
14 – The Way of the Pink-Foot – 0:30:58
15 – Transformation by Fire – 0:44:27
16 – The Riddle of the Tablet – 0:15:17

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:
Dedicated Proof-Listener: Diana Majlinger
Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Catalogued 26. April 2012

The Prophet

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(first published 1923)

by Khalil Gibran (1883 – 1931)

Language: English

The Prophet is the best known work of Khalil Gibran, also known as Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese American poet and artist.

The poetic prose of The Prophet has delighted readers for generations, and the book became particularly popular in the 1960s. Al-Mustafa the prophet, who has lived abroad for many years, is about to board a ship home when he is stopped by a group of people with whom he discusses many aspects of life and the human condition, including love, children, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge and death. (Summary by Ruth Golding and Wikipedia)  Continue reading →

Kurt Tucholsky – Sammlung kurzer Werke

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tucholsky_werke

(first published 1923 – 1935)

by Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935)

Language: Deutsch

The text of this recording is in the Public Domain in Europe and all countries where copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death. Please verify the copyright status of this text in your own country before downloading, otherwise you may be violating copyright laws.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

Kurt Tucholsky war ein deutscher Journalist und Schriftsteller. Er schrieb auch unter den Pseudonymen Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger und Ignaz Wrobel. Tucholsky zählte zu den bedeutendsten Publizisten der Weimarer Republik. Als politisch engagierter Journalist und zeitweiliger Mitherausgeber der Wochenzeitschrift Die Weltbühne erwies er sich als Gesellschaftskritiker in der Tradition Heinrich Heines. Zugleich war er Satiriker, Kabarettautor, Liedtexter, Romanautor, Lyriker und Kritiker. Er verstand sich selbst als linker Demokrat, Sozialist, Pazifist und Antimilitarist und warnte vor rechten Tendenzen – vor allem in Politik, Militär und Justiz – und vor der Bedrohung durch den Nationalsozialismus.

(Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia)

Total running time: 0:44:28

  1. Augen in der Großstadt – 0:01:55 – gelesen von Hokuspokus
  2. Blick in ferne Zukunft – 0:02:36 – gelesen von Nadine Eckert-Boulet
  3. Worauf man in Europa stolz ist – 0:01:49 – gelesen von Hokuspokus
  4. Wo kommen die Löcher im Käse her? – 0:11:57 – gelesen von Karlsson
  5. Zehn Gebote für den Geschäftsmann, der einen Künstler engagiert – 0:03:34 – gelesen von PatrickLondon
  6. Zur soziologischen Psychologie der Löcher – 0:05:01 – gelesen von muede
  7. Man sollte mal … – 0:06:27 – gelesen von muede
  8. Kurzer Abriß der Nationalökonomie – 0:07:38 – gelesen von Hokuspokus
  9. Die armen Luder – 0:01:30 – gelesen von Hokuspokus
  10. Eine Frage – 0:01:57 – gelesen von Nadine Eckert-Boulet

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:

Book-Coordinator, Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Dedicated Proof-Listener:  Nadine Eckert-Boulet, muede, Hokuspokus

Catalogued 12. December 2011

Widziadła

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(first published 1936)

by Bolesław Prus (1847-1912)

Language: Polski

The text of this recording is in the Public Domain in Europe and all countries where copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death. Please verify the copyright status of this text in your own country before downloading, otherwise you may be violating copyright laws.
The recording is released under the Creative Commons license CC0.

Trzech mężczyzn odwiedza kawiarnię w pobliżu warszawskiego Starego Rynku, gdzie są świadkami niezwykłego pokazu.
Three men stop by a cafè by Warsaw’s Old Market where they witness a strange spectacle. (Summary by Piotr Nater)

Total running time: 0:13:47
Read in Polish by Piotr Nater

  1. Widziadła

In addition to the reader, this audio book was produced by:

Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Hokuspokus

Catalogued 02. December 2011