Other books that might interest you

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  Short Poetry Collection 150

  Various Various

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  This is a collection of 24 poems read by LibriVox volunteers for November 2015.

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  Old Fashioned Landowners -...

  Nikolai Gogol

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  Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on 1st April 1809 to a father, descended from Ukrainian Cossacks and a mother with a military background in the Ukrainian town of Sorochyntsi, then part of the Russian Empire and rich in Cossack traditions and folklore.   
   
  His father wrote poetry and plays which the young Gogol helped stage at his uncle’s home theatre.  This helped ignite in him a love of literature and blossomed when he attended, what is now, the Nizhyn Gogol State University at the age of 12.  Here he participated in school theatre productions and refined his mastery of his native Ukrainian and also the Russian of his Imperial masters. 
   
  In 1828 he went to St Petersburg and unsuccessfully tried to begin a career as an actor after finding that with no money and no connections the civil service was barred to him. 
   
  Embezzling money from his mother he embarked on a trip to Germany. When the money ran out, he returned to St Petersburg but the experiences were used in a series of stories he contributed to periodicals.  These tales were steeped in his childhood memories of the Ukrainian landscape and peasantry enlivened with the supernatural of its folklore woven with realistic events of the day.  He wrote in Russian in a whimsical, colloquial style with a smattering of Ukrainian words and phrases that provided an authenticity.  Eight stories were published as ‘Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka’.  Seemingly all at once fame and fortune arrived. Gogol was hailed by his contemporaries, including Pushkin, as a pre-eminent writer of Russian literature.   
   
  His success continued with his brilliant plays ‘The Inspector General’ and the comedy ‘The Marriage for the Theatre’, both being highly acclaimed.   
   
  In 1834 he became Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Petersburg but with little academic or teacher training, failed to adequately fulfil many of his duties and soon resigned this post.  With no obligations and using his earnings from his writing, which now included the impressionistic and immortal ‘Dead Souls’, Gogol travelled around Europe, spending the most time in Rome where he studied art, read Italian literature and developed a passion for opera.  
   
  In the 1840s Gogol became preoccupied with a need to purify his soul and embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In tandem he fell under the influence of a strict and austere spiritual ascetic who persuaded him to observe strict fasts that, allied with his depression and deteriorating health, contributed to his death on 21st April 1852 at the age of only 43. 
   
  In ‘Old Fashioned Land Owners’ Gogol describes a peaceful setting and a peaceful couple who have grown old together.  But foreboding makes an entrance and life is now a series of cruel twists that breaks everything.

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  Hold These Truths

  Jeanne Sakata

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  During WWII in Seattle, University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi fights the US government's orders to forcibly remove and incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. As he struggles to reconcile his country's betrayal with his passionate belief in the US Constitution, Gordon begins a 50-year journey toward a greater understanding of America's triumphs - and a confrontation with its failures.Includes an interview with playwright Jeanne Sakata.Hold These Truths is sponsored in part by the California Civil Liberties Program from the California State Library.Directed by Jessica KubzanskyProducing Director Susan Albert LoewenbergStarring Ryun Yu as Gordon HirabayashiAdditional voices by Matthew Floyd Miller, Suzy Nakamura, Matt Walker, and Greg WatanabeAssociate Artistic Director: Anna Lyse Erikson. Sound Designer and Mixing Engineer: Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood. Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin. Foley Artist: Jeff Gardner. Recording Engineer and Editor: Erick Cifuentes

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  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - A...

  Washington Irving

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  Ichabod Crane, a lanky, lean, superstitious school master, arrives to teach the children of Sleepy Hollow. As he vies for the attention of the lovely Katrina Van Tassel, his rival for her attention is the town rowdy, Brom Bones. Brom tries to scare Ichabod away with local superstitions and ghost tales. Soon enough the ill-fated schoolmaster encounters a terrifying legend come to life-The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. 
   
  Meticulously adapted to stay true to the mood and flavor of the book Washington Irving is most famous for, this Colonial Radio presentation won the Charles Ogle Award for the Best Fantasy Production of 2005.

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  Seoul-Mates

  Pamela Q. Fernandes

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  Jilted by the man she followed to Seoul, Katia has hit rock bottom. Within months, her whirlwind romance and marriage to Jihan has everyone talking. 
  Jihan is the heir to the Kwan business empire while Katia is a foreigner, an Anglo-Indian who has no business ensnaring Seoul’s most eligible bachelor.  
  Together in chic, metropolitan Seoul the two forge a relationship that is tested by intrigue, jilted lovers and a hidden nemesis. 
  Can their newfound love survive the forces against them? 
  Or will the vows they took be in vain? 
  A sweet romance novella set in Korea for all the Hallyu lovers.

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  The Tale of the Allergist's Wife

  Charles Busch

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  A raucous comedy from one of America's most outrageous playwrights!  New York dilettante Marjorie Taub, a middle-aged doctor's wife, is hooked on culture - mornings at the Whitney, afternoons at MOMA, evenings at BAM.  Plunged into a mid-life crisis of Medea-like proportions, she's shaken out of her lethargy by the reappearance of a fascinating childhood friend. The New York Times says, "The Allergist’s Wife earns its wall-to-wall laughs."Includes an interview with playwright Charles Busch.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Amy Aquino, Estelle Harris, Richard Kind, Dileep Rao and Jobeth Williams.

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