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On Loving God is one of the best-known and most influential works of Medieval Christian mysticism. Written at the request of one of the cardinals of Rome, it describes the four “levels” of love for God, and puts Christian devotion in the context of God’s love for mankind. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Bernard of Clairvaux, ebooks, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, On Loving God, Philosophy, religion

An impoverished but loving young couple sacrifices their most precious possessions to buy Christmas gifts for each other. A tramp who is desperate to be sent to prison so he can escape the winter cold. Two depressed laborers get their palms read by a Coney Island mountebank. A yellow dog who relates the story of a fat lady and her hen pecked husband. These and other unforgettable characters form part of absolutely delightful and unforgettable short story collection, The Four Million by O Henry. As the master of the “twist in the tail/tale” and the completely unexpected endings, O. Henry is unrivaled. His penchant for word-play, creating utterly charming characters, the deep humanism and romance portrayed in his stories make him one of the most read and loved short story writers. In fact, he has almost appropriated the genre and no classic anthology of English language short stories is considered complete without an O. Henry story. And O. Henry was not even his real name! Born William Sidney Porter in North Carolina, he initially studied to become a pharmacist. He was also a gifted artist. However, he began working in a bank after ill health compelled him to move to Texas. Here he was accused, probably with some cause, of embezzlement and though he was allowed to resign, a later audit conducted by the bank resulted in conviction and a desperate flight to escape arrest. He lived in the Honduras for a while, but soon returned when he got the news of his wife’s fatal illness. A term in prison followed where he began publishing short stories under various pseudonyms. After serving his sentence, he discovered that he was a literary success. He began to churn out stories by the week for various magazines and earned quite a fortune. Known as the American Guy de Maupassant, O. Henry wrote stories that were witty, mischievous and impish in tone. The Four Million is his second collection and contains twenty-five stories, including his most famous one, The Gift of the Magi. Other charming tales include The Skylight Room, about a poor young typist who lives in a cramped little room in a boarding house, The Caliph, Cupid and The Clock about a nervous young suitor who’s helped by a royal prince, Sisters of the Golden Circle which describes a bride who sacrifices her own husband to save another’s and many more that provide hours of reading pleasure. The true hero of The Four Million is the city of New York, with its energy, compassion and kaleidoscope of human emotions.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, O. Henry, The Four Million

A charming little book full of the most gorgeous illustrations. We see a number of stories in which kindness is rewarded and selfishness is punished but Brooke squeezes a number of intriguing and quite bizarre twists and turns into the story so it is not nearly so predictable as you might imagine. Victorian moral fairy tales from a delightfully inventive mind.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Fairy tales, fiction, free audio books, Kids, L. Leslie Brooke, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Myths/Legends, Short stories, The Golden Goose Book

There are certain names which are familiar, as names, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in their characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extended a fame. Consequently, great historical names alone are selected; and it has been the writer’s aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple language which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanent and practical usefulness. This volume is dedicated to Hannibal. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Biography, ebooks, free audio books, hannibal, History, Jacob Abbott, Kids, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, War stories

“Call me Ishmael” is one of the most famous opening lines in American literature. With these words, opens one of the strangest and most gripping stories ever written about the sea and sea-faring. Moby Dick by Herman Melville is today considered one of the greatest novels written in America but paradoxically, it was a miserable failure when it first made its debut in 1851. Entitled Moby Dick or The Whale the book finally got its due after the author’s death and is now regarded as a classic portrayal of mania and fatal obsession. The narrator, Ishmael, travels to New Bedford, Massachusetts, to find a place on a whaling ship. He lodges at a seedy inn where he is forced to share a room with a strange old character, Queequeg, who was a harpooner. Despite his initial revulsion of Queequeg, Ishmael decides to join him in looking for work together. They reach Nantucket, the traditional center of whaling, where they find a berth on the Pequod, a bizarre vessel adorned with the skeletons and teeth of whales. The captain, Ahab, a mysterious figure, does not appear immediately. Later, they come to know that he is on board, recovering from losing a leg on his last voyage having escaped death narrowly following an encounter with a massive sperm whale. As the ship sails past Africa, Ahab’s sinister motives begin to emerge. His agenda is to hunt and destroy a legendary whale named Moby Dick, whom he has unsuccessfully pursued several times. He has smuggled his own private harpooners on board and he accosts every whaling ship he meets and demands information about sightings of Moby Dick. One of the ships has a maniacal passenger called Gabriel, who claims to be a prophet and he predicts doom for anyone who seeks Moby Dick. The peg leg captain finally encounters Moby Dick and a trail of destruction follows. The obsessed Ahab refuses to give up. The novel then races towards a brilliant and dramatic climax. As an example of the Great American Novel, Moby Dick is unrivaled in its structure, language and style. Melville amalgamates a fabulous mix of Biblical, Shakespearean and mythical elements along with wonderful seafaring atmosphere sourced from his own nautical experiences on board whaling schooners. Whaling stories from contemporary sources in Nantucket’s local grapevine was another rich fountainhead of material. Moby Dick has been adapted for stage, radio, screen, television, comics and graphic novels. It remains a strange and unforgettable classic which no reader should miss. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: Adventure, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, herman melville, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, moby dick, Sea stories

A collection of ten short essays or other short nonfiction works in the public domain.

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Essay/Short nonfiction, fiction, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Politics, science, Short Nonfiction Collection, various

First published in 1894, this wonderful travelogue by a famed naturalist and conservationist still remains a book that delights and informs its readers. The Mountains of California by John Muir recounts the author’s exploration of the Yosemite Valley, Mount Whitney, the famed sequoia forests and King’s Canyon among other places of immense natural beauty. Written in his characteristic zestful style, with a deep understanding and respect for nature, the book is a treasure trove of geography, geology, botany, biology and sheer love of the magical planet we live in. His descriptions of the flora, fauna and magnificent scenery around him are amazing word pictures that bring this fabulous landscape to life for the reader. John Muir was of Scottish-American origin and one of the first environmentalists who believed in preserving nature above the claims of trade and commerce. He believed that we human beings must save the wilderness and habitat of others we share this earth with. Some of his writings have had a deep and lasting impact on modern ecological and environmental studies and he is today widely regarded as one of the patron saints of this branch of philosophy. His considerable body of work includes letters, essays, books, writings on Nature and conservation and also several important academic works. There are many monuments in America in his memory, including the famous John Muir hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains, the John Muir College, the Muir Woods National Park etc. His mission was to raise the consciousness of the ordinary person on the street so that they could recognize the importance of living in harmony with their environment and prevent them from sinking into complete materialism and disaster. In The Mountains of California, Muir recounts his visits to the Cascades Peaks – Mt St Helens and Mt Shasta. The original edition includes some wonderful illustrations of trees, glaciers, insects, plants and several maps of the Yosemite Valley. His intrepid mountaineering skills, the hardships he endured in this harsh and lonely landscape, punctuated only by crystal clear lakes and wonderful native species of plants and animals are described with great skill in the book. His early views on destruction of indigenous species and their transformation into orchards and pastures for domestic animals are well documented here. His lyrical descriptions of the Golden Gate through the Central Valley of California, the fathomless canyons and chasms, the valley where the California Gold Rush took place and above all the splendid stands of pine trees of different varieties make this book an interesting and delightful read for young and old readers alike.

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, John Muir, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, nature, Non-fiction, The Mountains of California

Considered to mark the emergence of a new literary form, the unvarnished autobiography, Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau was first published in 1782, four years after his death. The philosopher and educationist whose political philosophy is credited with having inspired the French Revolution, Rousseau was a man of immense wit, talent and depth of thinking. His skill in art, music, literature and cooking along with his magnificent body of work in philosophy, politics, education and sociology have made him a legendary figure. However, through Confessions, he aimed to present a complete picture of himself, exposing all the unsavory and shameful incidents in his private life as well as the public persona. Confessions deals with the first fifty-three years of his life and he completed it in 1769 and conducted many public readings of extracts before his death in 1778. This is an extremely thought-provoking book and its ideas remain as fresh and stimulating as they did more than two centuries ago. The entire book consists of two volumes of six books each and Rousseau apparently planned a third which he could not undertake. Though two previous autobiographies, by Saint Augustine and Saint Theresa, had been written earlier, both of them had focused more on their religious experiences. Rousseau writes in the opening lines, “…. the man I shall portray will be myself,” thus vowing to be honest and sincere. And truthful he proved to be. The dark side of his personal life, his affair with a house-maid and the children that were born and given away to protect his honor are faithfully chronicled alongside his brilliant thoughts on education, freedom, social inequality, the general will and common interest of society, collective sovereignty and the supreme importance of individual freedom. For those interested in the foundations of modern European thought, Confessions is indeed an interesting read.

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Confessions, ebooks, free audio books, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Memoirs, Non-fiction, Psychology, Sea stories

Born in slavery, but being fortunate enough to be owned by a benevolent mistress, her life takes a tragic turn when her parents and her benefactor die. The new heir to the property (and slaves) is a cruel and lewd man who begins to make inappropriate advances to the lovely young slave-girl. In a bid to escape, she becomes entangled in a relationship with a neighboring landowner who promises a better life, and she even has two children. However, things become worse for her when her cruel owner decides to punish her by sending her and her children to a distant cotton plantation to be “broken in.” She plans a devious method of escape and ends up spending seven terrible years locked up in a tiny cramped garret. Relentlessly pursued by her wicked owner, she lives in fear and desperation. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself is one of the many slave narratives that emerged out of the terrible and inhuman atrocities committed in the nineteenth century by white Americans. Modern-day readers would find it difficult to believe that such practices existed in the “Land of the Free.” Assisted by abominable laws like the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 endorsed by Congress, slave-owners were allowed to pursue their “property” across the length and breadth of the country. Though there have been doubts about the authenticity of Incidents in the Life… by scholars who feel the style and content do not seem to synchronize with the attributes that a woman-slave of the period could have, there is no denying the fact that this is a powerful and thought-provoking story. There are many similarities to the more famous Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the book that is supposed to have launched the American Civil War. A very stirring and poignant read for all those who value their freedom today.

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Memoirs, Non-fiction, Written by Herself

Eleven year old Rebecca Rowena Randall travels to Riverboro, Maine, to live with her spinster aunts, Jane and Miranda Sawyer. Her father has been dead for three years and her mother is unable to cope with her brood of seven growing children. Rebecca is being sent to her aunts’ farm to try to improve her prospects in life and also ease the family’s burden. The aunts had actually wanted her older and more placid sister, Hannah, who is more handy round the house to be sent, but Rebecca’s mother sends the dreamy, more imaginative Rebecca instead. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin was published in 1903. The fictional town of Riverboro is based on Hollis, Maine, where the author herself spent her childhood. Kate Douglas Wiggin’s life took a monumental turn with a chance encounter – her unexpected meeting with Charles Dickens on a train when she was 11 years old. She engaged the famous author in a lively chat that she later described in a memoir A Child’s Journey with Dickens published in 1912. She began writing to supplement the family income and achieved great success with many of her books and stories. She wrote for both children and adults and some of her works included scholarly non-fiction on education and child rearing. However, she is best known for her classic children’s books like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Mother Carey’s Chickens and Rose o’ the River. She was also a talented musician and is credited with several melodious compositions. This book has much in common with another book written two years later, one which is equally famous and loved by children the world over – Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Though Anne’s story continued over eleven more books, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was followed by just one sequel written by Wiggin, The New Chronicles of Rebecca. A distant cousin of her husband’s, Eric Wiggin, wrote a few more Rebecca books in the 1990’s and also updated the original. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm traces the heroine’s growth and maturity from an impulsive, carefree child into a responsible, mature young woman, who is able to use her imaginative gifts wisely and profitably. The book was adapted for the stage by the author herself in 1909 and filmed several times. The most popular film version has Shirley Temple playing Rebecca. More than a hundred years after it first came out, the book remains a firm favorite with children and adults the world over. A great addition to your collection of classic children’s books!

Categories: Arts, Education, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Dramatic Works, ebooks, fiction, free audio books, instruction, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Kids, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Teen/Young adult

We take great books that have stood the test of time and make completely new recordings of them Add this podcast to your collection so you always have something amazing to listen to.

Surprise yourself by enjoying books that you always meant to read but never quite got around to!

All our audio recordings are of content either free of copyright restrictions or we have obtained copyright permission for this purpose. These recordings are (c) Copyright 2024 Classics Out Loud Podcast.

Categories: Arts, Fiction

Tags: audio books, classic books, copyright-free books, free audio books

Its immortal opening lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” set the stage for a sweeping narrative that combines drama, glory, honor, history, romance, brutality, sacrifice and resurrection. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of the most widely read and famous works of historical fiction in the English language. Dickens had recently launched his magazine All the Year Round in 1859. In the same year, he began featuring A Tale of Two Cities in 31 weekly installments in his new magazine. The book was eventually combined into a single copy and split into three major sections as it is presented today. In this epic tale of love and tragedy set during the turbulent times of the French Revolution in 1789, the motif of two’s appears constantly as opposing sides of the same coin. London and Paris are the two cities, Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay are the two heroes, Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge are the pure and evil women respectively, and these along with shadows and darkness, sacrifice and dishonor, brutality and spirituality form the recurring dual motifs in the novel. Sidney Carton, a young, debauched and dissolute English barrister defends a young French aristocrat Charles Darnay accused of treason in London. The two bear a striking resemblance to each other. Lucie Manette, a lovely young French girl and her father Dr. Manette, who had suffered under the atrocities of the nobility in France, now live a quiet life in London. Charles and Lucie are in love, but Sidney Carton also falls in love with her. Meanwhile in France, the storm of revolution is about to break. A wine store owner and Dr. Manette’s former servant, Monsieur Defarge, leads the revolutionaries. His wife, Madame Defarge is a vicious woman who revels in cruelty. She too has suffered under the aristocratic regime and now seeks to destroy all those who persecuted her. Charles Darnay returns to Paris to rescue an old servant of his who has been captured by the revolutionaries. He is captured by the rebels and condemned to be executed by guillotine. The story then takes several dramatic twists and turns before reaching its final and most unexpected conclusion. As one of the most exciting and deeply moving stories penned by a brilliant and gifted story teller, A Tale of Two Cities is indeed a riveting and unforgettable experience for readers of all ages. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: A Tale of Two Cities, audio books, audiobook, Charles Dickens, Classics (antiquity), ebooks, fiction, free audio books, Historical Fiction, History, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com

The book provides an introduction to the subject of mysticism, presenting it from the point of view of metaphysics, psychology, and symbolism. It examines the different stages of development a mystic typically experiences.

Categories: Arts, Religion & Spirituality

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Evelyn Underhill, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, Non-fiction, religion

Legend Land is a collection of some of the OLD TALES told in those Western Parts of Britain served by the GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY, now retold by LYONESSE More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: art, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, fantasy, fiction, free audio books, Legend Land, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Myths/Legends, various

Before the beginning of World War II, during the time of the Modernist movement in philosophy, George Santayana wrote these five descriptive essays. He examined John Locke’s sensationalism, British Idealism, the “Theory of Relativity”, Freud’s psychology, and Julien Benda’s preachment on the relations between God and the world. [Summary written by Gary Gilberd]

Categories: Arts, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, free audio books, George Santayana, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Some Turns of Thought in Modern Philosophy

This is a collection of public domain works either published in 1912, or written in 1912 and published before 1923. The accent is on non-fiction but a few short stories are included. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: 1912: Short Works Collection, audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Essay/Short nonfiction, fiction, free audio books, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction, Unknown

If you thought history was dull, dry and boring, you haven’t read Bill Nye’s books! He brings wit, humor, satire, irony and sheer nonsensical fun into the subject, making it both entertaining and memorable. The Comic History of England was published posthumously in 1896 after the writer’s tragic and untimely death half-way through the project. Hence it remains incomplete and covers the history of the island nation only up to the Tudor period. However, beginning with Julius Caesar, the Roman invasion of Britain, the Druids and Stonehenge, this book is still a rib-tickling ride through the centuries. Some of the humor is extremely topical and readers may in fact have to actually know some of the facts to get the jokes, but one thing is certain; this is no serious and scholarly tome to be pored over in a dusty library! Delightfully illustrated by W. W. Goodes and AM Richards, the book is embellished by truly hilarious illustrations which add to the comic element. Edgar Wilson (“Bill”) Nye was an American journalist. He was a trained to be a lawyer and was admitted to the bar. However, his interest lay in humor and writing and he soon began to contribute short sketches and humorous pieces to local newspapers. His works were well received and he was also popular on the lecture circuit as a comic speaker along with fellow writer James Whitcomb Riley. His brand of humor was uniquely American and he not only poked fun at people from all over the world, but also at himself and his fellow Americans. He once remarked that true humor rose from a “pathetic philosophy” of hunger and deprivation, making it all the more keen and hard hitting. His earlier book, Comic History of the United States had met with a rousing reception. The Comic History of England contains some droll and ludicrous takes on events like the advent of the Danes, the Norman Conquest and the Feudal System. Some of the humor is quite trenchant, as when he speaks of the Roman invasion of Caledonia (modern Scotland) and says one of the generals, Agricola, took some Scotchmen home and “domesticated” them! He also uses puns and word-play to enhance the humor, especially in the chapter that describes the advent of the Angles; the paragraphs are filled with “obtuse angles” “right angles” and the like! For a light-hearted, rollicking account of the centuries gone by, the Comic History of England is indeed unmatched! More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Comedy, Society & Culture

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Bill Nye, Comic History of England, ebooks, free audio books, History, humor, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Non-fiction

Emily Bronte’s first and only novel, Wuthering Heights, portrays the obsessive and vengeful love story between Heathcliff and Catherine. Images of cruelty and passion with an incorporation of gothic supernatural elements set the dark and misty atmosphere present throughout the novel. Moving between two neighboring houses, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the wild love story turned destructive obsession is narrated by Mr. Lockwood through his diary entries. Bronte sets the novel into motion with the arrival of Mr. Lockwood at the house of his grim landlord Heathcliff. The strange and unfriendly manner in which his landlord behaves and his lack of effort to appear otherwise, sparks a flame of curiosity in Lockwood to learn more about the mysterious Wuthering Heights. After nature forces him to spend a night in the house, his eerie experience during the night only further ignites his curiosity to learn more about its past. When he settles into Thrushcross Grange he asks Nelly the housekeeper to tell him more about Wuthering Heights and its residents. Nelly then recounts events leading to Heathcliff’s current bitter state, beginning with his childhood when he was brought in by Mr. Earnshaw, owner of the Wuthering Heights manor. As the young dark-skinned Heathcliff tries to fit in with the family, everyone grows to like him except for Mr. Earnshaw’s son Hindley, who is jealous of the affection Heathcliff receives from his father. His sister Catherine, however, becomes inseparable with the youngster and the two share many adventures together on the moors and a mutual affection is born. As future events unfold, Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton, who lives in the nearby Thrushcross Grange, and leaves Heathcliff heartbroken. Hurled into a world of revenge, Heathcliff extends his mission of vengeance to their innocent children years later as they face lurking resentment and animosity. Bronte’s Gothic romance novel combines the use of extraordinary literary devices, while simultaneously structuring a captivating storyline. Vivid descriptions, a compelling plot and a complex array of characters is what maintains the special place Wuthering Heights holds on the classic literature bookshelf. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, Emily Bronte, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Psychology, romance, tragedy, Wuthering Heights