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Rapunzelina
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Post by Rapunzelina »

Rapunzelina
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Post by Rapunzelina »

Poetry: Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil, in English and in the original French
https://librivox.org/the-flowers-of-evil-by-charles-baudelaire/
https://librivox.org/les-fleurs-du-mal-by-charles-baudelaire/


ETA. Sorry, I didn't check before posting, but now I see this has been picked before.

Then I'll mention Wilde's Ballad of Reading Gaol https://librivox.org/the-ballad-of-reading-gaol-by-oscar-wilde-jg/
Availle
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Post by Availle »

:thumbs:

Okay, leaning myself out of the window... what's so great about Gatsby? I read it years ago (meaning: I might have been too young for it), but I didn't quite get it. Same with Catcher in the Rye. What's so great about those?

It's probably not the time or the fact that I'm not American - To kill a mockingbird and Grapes of Wrath are fantastic - but the two above I really don't get.

:hmm:
Cheers, Ava.
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Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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ToddHW
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Post by ToddHW »

Black Beauty? - I remember reading that as a child, seeing it on TV. We have multiple versions; this is number 3
https://librivox.org/black-beauty-dramatic-reading-by-anna-sewell/

Doctor Dolittle? Several books in the series and maybe we have them all in multiple versions. I remember movies and incessant singing of "We talk to the animals" echoed around my house...
https://librivox.org/the-story-of-doctor-dolittle-by-hugh-lofting/
https://librivox.org/the-voyages-of-doctor-dolittle-by-hugh-lofting/

Sherlock Holmes? Everybody knows The Hound of the Baskervilles. Even Doctor Who has an episode of this story. Popular here - the link below is for version 6
https://librivox.org/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles-dramatic-reading-by-sir-arthur-conan-doyle/

Gilbert and Sullivan. My parents had all of these on old records (no, not 78s; I'm not that old) and we sang them in the car on long trips - especially the "Never Use The Great Big D----" or "Very Proper Gentleman". The Pirates of Penzance is one of the few we have done with singing, and probably the reason we don't do more of them with singing....
https://librivox.org/the-pirates-of-penzance-by-william-s-gilbert-and-sir-arthur-sullivan/

Robin Hood? We have multiple versions - by different authors. (Not the great TV version with Wishbone the Dog as the hero though.) The first one below is a play.
https://librivox.org/robin-hood-by-amice-macdonell/
https://librivox.org/robin-hood-by-paul-creswick/

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Treasure Island? Lottsa versions of these (sadly not Treasure Island with The Muppets) and other Stevenson stories. Jekyll below is version 4, first Treasure Island below is version 3; second Treasure Island below is a play.)
https://librivox.org/the-strange-case-of-jekyll-and-hyde-by-robert-louis-stevenson/
https://librivox.org/treasure-island-dramatic-reading-by-robert-louis-stevenson/
https://librivox.org/treasure-island-a-play-in-4-acts-by-jules-eckert-goodman/

Jules Verne. So many adventures, so little time to read them all. 20,000 Leagues below is version 2
https://librivox.org/20000-leagues-under-the-seas-by-jules-verne/

Thanks, Todd
Availle
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Post by Availle »

Cool, thanks Todd! 8-)
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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GraceBuchanan
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Post by GraceBuchanan »

Availle wrote: June 1st, 2021, 4:42 am Books that everybody knows

I'm looking for books that influenced generations and are part of the collective memory of the world or a particular country.
Project Gutenberg Top 5 EBooks last 30 days (number of downloads during that time), linked to LibriVox editions:
Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (59645)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (50289)
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (28271)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (25406)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (25277)
My LibriVox publications

All Listeners: I welcome all feedback including word-perfect proofing
HannaPonomarenko
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Post by HannaPonomarenko »

Hi! The requirement of not being a part of a school program is not clear for me. For example, Zamiatin's We was in Russian school program some time ago, but I'm not sure about other countries as well as Russia itself nowadays.
BTW, that book was very influential for me and my friends.
Availle
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Post by Availle »

I'm surprised this causes so many difficulties. :hmm:

Okay, again: Think LoTR, Narnia, Batman, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Heidi, Romeo and Juliet (all of which have been chosen before :wink:). It doesn't have to be kids' books, but they often do have an international appeal.

Maybe I should call it "the world's collective memory" or something. :)
Cheers, Ava.
Resident witch of LibriVox, channelling
Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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AvailleAudio.com
Kazbek
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Post by Kazbek »

1001 Nights is another one. Is has not only entertained countless children and adults, in the original and various translations and adaptations, but also substituted real knowledge of the Middle East for generations of Westerners. We don't yet have the original in the catalog, but we do have the "original" and most famous translation by Antoine Galland, which introduced into the canon such popular characters as Aladdin and Ali Baba, who aren't present in the Arabic text.

https://librivox.org/group/562

Michael
Lynnet
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Post by Lynnet »

HannaPonomarenko wrote: June 3rd, 2021, 4:56 pm Hi! The requirement of not being a part of a school program is not clear for me. For example, Zamiatin's We was in Russian school program some time ago, but I'm not sure about other countries as well as Russia itself nowadays.
BTW, that book was very influential for me and my friends.
I think the issue here is that school programs vary from region to region and year to year :wink: For example, in previous examples, LOTR, Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby were required reading for me in the UK,The Chronicles of Narnia were for my son in the US.

And I’m with Ava on Catcher in the Rye... I read it in school and I thought the most exciting part was climbing out the bedroom window. I reread it recently and discovered even that didn’t happen :lol:
ColleenMc
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Post by ColleenMc »

The Great Gatsby is a good pick, even if it is assigned in school a lot. There have been multiple film adaptations that themselves are a big part of public consciousness and it's one of those books that has images and bits of phrasing from it that have fallen into general use that you might hear even if you never read the book itself. And since it's just become PD this year, it probably hasn't been an archive pick yet?

There's a finished solo: https://librivox.org/the-great-gatsby-by-f-scott-fitzgerald/
Though the dramatic reading is stilll in progress.

It's hard to think of things that are that much in the public consciousness that aren't usually encountered as assigned reading or aren't so common that they've been recommended before. Others I can think of are maybe Robinson Crusoe or Gulliver's Travels, since I think they don't show up as much in school assignments as retold-as-kids-stories in more modern language, and also the metaphorical references of things like someone's man (or gal) Friday, or things being described as Lilliputian or Brobdignagian.

Some Norse mythology would be good, since Thor, Loki etc. are VERY much in contemporary culture thanks to the Marvel connection.

Maybe something on Van Gogh to allude to the extremely popular Doctor Who episode that brought him to the attention of a new generation, as well as the big multimedia Van Gogh exhibition that has been touring?

Frankenstein, Dracula, H.G. Wells' Invisible Man, and Jekyll and Hyde are certainly all in the public consciousness, though all have probably been previously recommended.

What about the Aeneid or Odyssey, or if those have been done on their own, maybe one of the many retellings of incidents from those works as short stories and collections?

For poetry there are works like Invictus, O Captain My Captain, The Road Less Travelled, or better known Emily Dickinson like "I'm Nobody! who are you?" or "Because I could not stop for death...". People recognize those when the famous bits are quoted, and the metaphorical references, even when they haven't read the poems themselves.

Maybe a Sherlock Holmes story that hasn't been specifically recommended on its own before?

I wish I was more familiar with works with similar status outside the Western canon/Eurocentric countries/culture.

Nonfiction - The Fall of the Roman Empire? One of the contemporary descriptions of Pompeii/Vesuvius?

Colleen
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ColleenMc
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Post by ColleenMc »

Availle wrote: June 3rd, 2021, 4:13 am :thumbs:

Okay, leaning myself out of the window... what's so great about Gatsby? I read it years ago (meaning: I might have been too young for it), but I didn't quite get it. Same with Catcher in the Rye. What's so great about those?

It's probably not the time or the fact that I'm not American - To kill a mockingbird and Grapes of Wrath are fantastic - but the two above I really don't get.

:hmm:
I didn't get Gatsby when I first read it in my first year of college but I re-read it a few years ago and it resonated much more. I'm not sure if it's because I'm older and ahd more world experience and could understand the unspoken connections/critiques of the various characters, or maybe had more historical context for the setting, but I appreciated it much more. I think it gets assigned a lot because it's a short novel and it shows a time of transition in American life and culture pretty clearly, and has some whack-over-the-head metaphors so there's plenty to chew on for a HS or early college lit class. But it definitely has fallen into the popular culture, especially since there was the Redford movie in the 70s and the Leonardo one a few years ago, so a lot of people know what you mean if you say someone is like a Jay Gatsby or a Buchanan.

Colleen
Colleen McMahon

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HannaPonomarenko
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Post by HannaPonomarenko »

Lynnet wrote: June 4th, 2021, 2:29 pm I think the issue here is that school programs vary from region to region and year to year :wink: For example, in previous examples, LOTR, Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby were required reading for me in the UK,The Chronicles of Narnia were for my son in the US.
Thank you. That's exactly what I implied with my comment.
And I’m with Ava on Catcher in the Rye... I read it in school and I thought the most exciting part was climbing out the bedroom window. I reread it recently and discovered even that didn’t happen :lol:
I read it in English following my own reading list and I didn't learn much apart of a slang, but I believe there still might be smth I had missed.
To put on another person's skin and walk in it a bit in order to understand them was the wisdom I learned from To Kill a Mockingbird and I love it. (also just a personal reading list, /not PD/)
Availle
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Post by Availle »

Thank you! :thumbs:

Keep 'em coming....!
Cheers, Ava.
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Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't Nice."

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KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

Availle wrote: June 3rd, 2021, 4:13 am :thumbs:

Okay, leaning myself out of the window... what's so great about Gatsby? I read it years ago (meaning: I might have been too young for it), but I didn't quite get it. Same with Catcher in the Rye. What's so great about those?

It's probably not the time or the fact that I'm not American - To kill a mockingbird and Grapes of Wrath are fantastic - but the two above I really don't get.

:hmm:
I agree about Gatsby. I read it years ago and thought that I should take time to study why people thought it was so good. Decades later, I still haven't bothered to find out.

Catcher in the Rye, however, struck a chord with me. It is one of the first popular depictions of a troubled adolescence based not on the young person's external experience with poverty or violence but with, in this case, a young man's existential crisis. It was also a bit shocking in that the character of Holden is so honest (perhaps) in expressing himself and his feelings. And he does this in an often crude manner. His encounters with the 'adult' world are eye-opening, too. The book captures the dissatisfaction with the world that later was expressed by the Beat poets and writers.
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