Recorded books have been a godsend for our family. When I was commuting three to four hours a day between home, offices, and hospitals, I found myself listening to to taped books three times as much as I listened to music. Julie was also a fan and even claimed that - get this - recorded books could be played in venues other than automobiles. Ah, she had quite a sense of whimsy. Finally, one of my sons has difficulty reading, at least for pleasure, but thrives on recorded books.
LibriVox is a great complement to the commercial sources of recorded literature.
The best description of LibriVox is the blurb from their web site:
LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net (via podcast and catalog). Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. We are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project.
Because the readers are volunteers, the quality of the recordings may vary significantly. Nonetheless, some of the readings are gems, the list of available books, short stories, and poetry seems to grow daily, and you can’t beat the price.
To provide a sense of the publications now online for the taking, I’ve included the first section of the list of books and the final section of the list of short stories and poetry.
Books (1-35 of 121)
Alger, Horatio. Ragged Dick (solo)
Andersen, Hans Christian. Andersen’s Fairy Tales
Aristotle. Poetics (solo)
Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (solo)
Baldwin, James. Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children (solo)
Baudis, Joseph (translator). The Key of Gold: 23 Czech Folk Tales
Baum. L. Frank. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (solo)
Baum, L. Frank. Little Wizard Stories of Oz (solo)
Baum, L. Frank. The Marvelous Land of Oz (solo)
Baum, L. Frank. Sky Island (solo)
Baum, L. Frank. The Road to Oz
Bédier, Joseph. Tristan and Iseult (solo)
Benchley, Robert. Love Conquers All (solo)
Bennett, Arnold. The Card
Bierce, Ambrose. The Parenticide Club (solo)
Bierce, Ambrose. Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories (solo)
Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and Experience
Bly, Nellie. Ten Days in a Madhouse (solo)
Boole, Mary Everest. Philosophy and Fun of Algebra (solo)
Brooke, Leslie L. The Golden Goose Book (solo)
Bunyan, John. Pilgrim’s Progress (solo)
Burgess, Gelett. More Goops and How Not to Be Them (solo)
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. A Little Princess (solo)
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. Sara Crewe: Or, What Happened at Miss Minchin’s Boarding School (solo)
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden (solo)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. A Princess of Mars
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking-Glass
Carryl, Guy. Fables for the Frivolous
Chambers, Robert W. The King in Yellow (part 1)
Chesterton, G. K. The Innocence of Father Brown (solo)
Chesterton, G.K. The Wisdom of Father Brown (solo)
Cleland, John. Fanny Hill, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
Short Stories & Poetry
Wharton, Edith
Dilettante, The
Fullness of Life, The
Quicksand, The
Young Dead, The
Whitman, Walt
Artilleryman, The
Leaves of Grass - Volume
Noiseless Patient Spider, A
O Captain! My Captain
Whittier, John Greenleaf
Barbara Frietchie
Barefoot Boy, The
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
Art and Heart
Love
Wilde, Oscar
Ballad of Reading Gaol, The (version 1) (version 2)
Happy Prince and Other Tales, The - Volume
Les Silhouettes
My Voice
Resquiescat
Silentium Amoris
Sonnet on Approaching Italy
Williams, Margery
Velveteen Rabbit, The (version 1) (version 2)
Williams, William Carlos
Danse Russe
Dedication for a Plot of Ground
Tract
Wordsworth, William
Daffodils or I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (version 1) (version 2)
From Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
Rainbow, The
Yeats, William Butler
Cradle Song, A
Down by the Salley Gardens
Drinking Song, A
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Lake Isle of Innisfree, The (version 1) (version 2)
Prayer for My Daughter, A
Second Coming, The (version 1) (version 2)
Skipping Rope, The
Song of Wandering Aengus, The
When You Are Old (version 1) (version 2)
Where My Books Go
Wild Swans at Coole, The
