Get New Releases Audiobooks in Classics, European Literature

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Confessions

Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Narrator: David McCallion

Format: Unabridged

Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-19-17

Publisher: A.R.N. Publications

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Considered to be the first autobiography of its kind, The Confessions is two distinct books published seven years apart and covers the first 53 years of the author's life. The autobiographies of the time delved primarily into the individual's religious life, but Jean-Jacques Rousseau wanted to do something different. Instead of focusing on faith, he wrote about his thoughts and misadventures.

Publication of The Confessions scandalized 18th-century Europe due to its graphic nature and the author's shameful adventures. If the modern listener is looking for a grand tour of Europe of the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the perfect tour guide. The author takes the listener on a journey of this long-ago era with firsthand accounts that are outrageous and amusing.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century and was instrumental across Europe in modern educational and political thought.

Members Reviews:

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Where does The Confessions rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

To be allowed an intimate insight into the life, thoughts and struggles of a person who lived in the 1700's is a privilege and a gift. JJR gives this gift to the world.

How could the performance have been better?

I prefer the tone and voice adopted by this narrator when compared to other narrators of the same book, however the performance would be enhanced if the narrator had taken more trouble with pronunciation of french names and places.

Any additional comments?

Superb book

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Without Love, It's Easier to Live [Russian Edition]

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Narrator: Dmitry Kuznetsov

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-27-17

Publisher: IDDK

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

"Bez ljubvi zhit' legche" - vospominanija, ispoved' L'va Nikolaevicha Tolstogo, russkogo pisatelja i myslitelja. Ego vospominanija o svoej chelovecheskoj prirode, kotoraja sklonna k ubijstvam, dujeljam, kartezhnym igram, k pol'zovaniju chuzhimi blagami, k kaznjam, bludu i obmanu. No v protivoves jetomu vsegda stavalo stremlenie k luchshemu. "Bez ljubvi zhit' legche. No bez nejo net smysla" glavnaja ideja Tolstogo. Avtor schital, chto jeta kniga kuda bolee polezna i interesna, chem vse te 12 tomov ego "hudozhestvennoj boltovni".

Please note: This audiobook is in Russian.

Members Reviews:

amazing

amazing. all of it. have trouble finding right words. wish my children were fluent in Russian...

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Bet [Classic Tales Edition]

Author: Anton Chekhov

Narrator: B.J. Harrison

Format: Unabridged

Length: 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-16-17

Publisher: B.J. Harrison

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Many say that capital punishment is inhumane. But is it, in fact, more humane to take away life in one swift stroke, rather than condemn an individual to a lifetime in captivity? Two men place wagers, each backing a different side of the argument. After 15 years, this clumsy bet irrevocably changes their lives forever.

Members Reviews:

Excellent short story

A great five minute read. A banker bets a lawyer 2 million that he can't stay imprisoned for 15 years. The lawyer can have wine, tobacco and books while in an enclosed room in the banker's house. Download the story and see what happens.

Author Anton Pavlovich Chectov did what he does best..

Author Anton Pavlovich Chectov did what he does best.....gives you more questions to think about than answers. Very thoughtful book.

This is one of my favorite books

I read this book, The Bet, about a man living alone for fifteen years when I was very young and it made a great impression upon me. I think about it often. It is one of my favorite books. My favorite books are, first, the Hebrew Bible in its original Hebrew, which is filled with wisdom and very different and deeper than every translation that I read. Second, Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed because it opened my mind to many new ideas, how to think, and not be afraid to think differently than the general community. I write one or two books on the Torah and Maimonides every year. Third, The Bet by A. Chekov, because it keeps making me think of what is important in life, the value of reading in solitude, and how to improve one's self and be all that one can be. Fourth, If Not Higher by I. L. Peretz where I learnt that there is something much higher than prayer and the worship of God, and what true worship of God really is. And fifth, Bontcha the Silent, also by I. L. Peretz, that reminds me often of the tragedies that people suffer in life, tragedies they cannot understand.

a short story that everyone should read

This classic should be read by all; and if you have a pre-teen or teenaged loved one, they should read it too!

A classic everyone should read.

Of course this short story was written to provoke the reader to think about life in a grand scale and is a classic that everyone should read and think about.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Kafka's Metamorphosis and Hesse's Siddhartha

Subtitle: The Transformation of the Self

Author: Franz Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Zakir Hossain

Narrator: Richard Eckman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-27-17

Publisher: ABSURD

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

ABSURD - a film and literary production house that is passionately committed to creating and appreciating the finest works of art and literature - has now introduced the Pure Wisdom series that intends to be a collection of the greatest literature - fiction and nonfiction - that awakened and have still been awakening mankind.

This is the first book of Pure Wisdom series; it collects two finest literary works of all time - Franz Kafka's novella, The Metamorphosis, and Hermann Hesse's novel, Siddhartha.

Kafka's The Metamorphosis is one of the greatest literary works in which the protagonist, a travelling salesman, wakes up one day to discover he has been transformed into a giant insect. The absurdity of life in The Metamorphosis shakes us all terribly with some question of our very existence - why are we here? What purpose does our existence have? Does it depend on what others think of us or are we valuable enough in our helpless existences to overcome the obstacles of perception?

Siddhartha is one of the finest works of Hesse and one of the greatest books ever written. The novel is immensely beautiful; it deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha; a man who wants to know his true self completely.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: How It Is

Author: Samuel Beckett

Narrator: Dermot Crowley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-17-17

Publisher: Ukemi Audiobooks

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

How It Is, a landmark in 20th century literature, is one of the most challenging of Samuel Beckett's early novels. He published it first in French in 1961 and then in his own translation in 1964. He explained in a letter that it was the outpouring of a "'man' lying panting in the mud and dark murmuring his 'life' as he hears it obscurely uttered by a voice inside him.... The noise of his panting fills his ears and it is only when this abates that he can catch and murmur forth a fragment of what is being stated within...."

It is written in short paragraphs without punctuation. Fragments of expression pour out, of memories, intentions, emotions. It is testing to read on the page, but in this extraordinary recording by Dermot Crowley, How It Is becomes more accessible and comprehensible than ever before. It is, from the start, mesmerizing, and as the character of the protagonist emerges through his words, moments of aggression, of tenderness, of loss and hopelessness become increasingly affecting. The novel is divided into three parts, as the opening paragraph indicates: 'How it was I quote before Pim with Pim after Pim how it is three parts I say it as I hear it [Paragraph] voice once without quaqua on all sides then in me when the panting stops tell me again finish telling me/invocation.'

Members Reviews:

Amazing performance

A text that gains a new dimension when heard. The performance is in itself the offering of an interpretation: one possible way of organizing the phrases. The performance here goes a long way in illuminating Beckett's pathos and humor.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: An Enemy of the People

Author: Henrik Ibsen

Narrator: Flo Gibson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-15-17

Publisher: Audio Book Contractors, LLC

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Dr. Stockman is ridiculed and persecuted by the town's politicians and townspeople for telling the truth about the town's polluted public baths. This theme of safety warnings and scientific data being ignored for political and economic gain can still be seen almost daily in today's news.

Members Reviews:

The Lesson Still Resonates Today

This is a great story. I read it in college, and it stuck with me.I re-read it because of problems in the tourist industry of my hometown, which is causing serious health problems. This translation, while quite old, is still quite good and catches the flavor of the period.

VERY TRUE STORY FOR TODAY

This book, written in the form of a play, is as true today as when it was written. Don't let the fact that it is a "play" keep you from reading it! I never thought I would want to read a play either, but this one has changed my perspective on them. Rather than tell what the book is about, which ruins the story for me, I would just highly recommend that people read this. It's a good story with a good morality element.

Exactly as described. My daughter loved it!

Exactly as described. My daughter loved it!

Great allegory of standing for whatâs right even when no ...

Great allegory of standing for whatâs right even when no one stands with you. Loved this book and would recommend.

Timeless

Wonderful lessons in 2016.

This second sentence is meant to fulfill kindles 16 word more requirement. Almost there. Oh, yeah!

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Double

Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrator: Alastair Cameron

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-15-17

Publisher: A.R.N. Publications

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Usually timid and subservient, councilor Golyadkin has lately become worryingly paranoid. After being humiliatingly thrown out of a party for acting erratically, he runs off into the night where he is shocked to come across a man who appears to be his exact double.

The double follows him home and begins to insinuate himself into every part of Golyadkin's life, and alternates between befriending him and cruelly taunting him. Worse still, the double has all the qualities that Golyadkin himself lacks such as charisma, self-assurance, and decisiveness.

Considered to be a response to the work of Gogol, this book explores themes of loneliness, individualism and man's search for identity, told through the eyes of an extremely unreliable individual.

Can Golyadkin get rid of the double before he takes over his life completely? Just who is this bizarre man, and why is he persecuting Golyadkin?

Members Reviews:

Thought provoking novella

This novella (The Double) is a provocative exploration of sanity, sense of self, and perception. Dostoyevsky cleverly employs mirrors to focus one's contemplation on self-reflection, and when the dust all settles, nothing is truly certain. Who is the doppelganger? Who is crazy? The beauty of this book is that the answers to these questions and more can be lengthily discussed, debated, considered and, ultimately, reserved for another read and another discussion.

I read this book as a part of Another Look Book Club, put on by Stanford University. The focus is on oft-overlooked, not-as-well-known classics which are short (<200pp). The discussion panel for this book included a Russian ex-pat, a Russian Literature professor and a Stanford Literature Professor. The discussion was lively and thought provoking, especially because each discussant had his/her own perspective and often it disagreed sharply with the others' perspectives. If you have a chance to look at the video of the discussion, you may enjoy it.

This book is not easy to read and i suspect that is the point

This book is not easy to read and i suspect that is the point. the main character is losing his mind and you get a front row seat. if you ever had a conversation with a mentally ill person think how long did that last? Now imagine being in that person's head. Not something you would do for fun.

I'd rather watch an adapted movie.

If you are insane, do you know it?

A trip inside a deranged mind.

Five Stars

if you have read Kafka "the trial". Well The Double is its forerunner.

Brilliantly written but tragic story from the inside of a ...

Brilliantly written but tragic story from the inside of a man's insane perspective. Please don't let it happen to me. He is a great writer!

Hören Sie sich dieses volle Hörbuch kostenlos bei https://hotaudiobook.com

Titel: Deutsche Novellen (Bibliothek der Klassiker)

Autor:: div.

Erzähler: Sven Görtz, Jürgen Fritsche

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 35 hrs and 59 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 02-10-17

Herausgeber: Bäng Management & Verlag

Bewertung: 4.5 von 5 von 2 Stimmen

Kategorien: Classics, European Literature

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

18 der schönsten deutschen Novellen! Mit dabei:

Zu diesem Titel erhalten Sie eine PDF-Datei, die nach dem Kauf automatisch Ihrer Bibliothek hinzugefügt wird.

© gemeinfrei (P)2017 Bäng Management & Verlags GmbH & Co. KG

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: La Vita Nuova (The New Life)

Author: Dante Alighieri

Narrator: Jack Wynters

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-30-17

Publisher: Poetry in Translation

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

A translation into English by A. S. Kline, narrated by Jack Wynters.

Composed around 1294 in Italian, the Vita Nuova tells the story of Dante's encounters with and love for Beatrice, culminating in her early death and its effect upon him. Utilizing and developing the conventions of courtly love, in a mixture of prose and verse, Dante deepens the emotional content of the genre, while pointing the way towards the intellectual and spiritual journey of the Divine Comedy. Indeed the final section of the Vita Nuova contains his commitment to the writing of the greater work, in which Beatrice comes to represent divine philosophy, guiding the poet through paradise towards ultimate truth, and embodying in her earthly and transcendental form the beauty and love which emanate from it.

In the Vita Nuova, Dante's own emotional reactions are made the inner subject of the work, in a groundbreaking manner which foreshadows the Commedia's intensity, and the personal nature of the poet's quest, not merely to seek for meaning but to attain it spiritually.

About the author: Born in 1265 in Florence, from which he was banished in 1302, dying in Ravenna in 1321, Dante set the Divine Comedy in the year 1300, when he was 35 years old and "in the middle of our mortal life". The setting allows him to utilize the past symbolically, exploit the present politically, and anticipate the future in simulated prophecy.

The Commedia throughout reflects his love for "Beatrice" whom he first saw at a young age in a church in Florence, and who came to represent for him intellectual and spiritual beauty. The story of his love for her, her early death, and his inspiration to write the Commedia are told in his prose work La Vita Nuova, or The New Life, of 1294.

Members Reviews:

An innocent charmer this one

A good quick read, well translated, this book gives a glimpse into the mind of a young Dante as he grapples with the dilemma of divine and earthly love. It's a good prequel to his Inferno. Silly from a modern perspective (do we really run off and compose a sonnet when feelings stir us?) but the Vita Nuova must be read with an understanding of the more highly religious and convention-bound medieval world that Dante lived in.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Complete Essays of Montaigne

Author: Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Narrator: David McCallion

Format: Unabridged

Length: 47 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-19-17

Publisher: A.R.N. Publications

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

One of the most remarkable figures of the Renaissance, Michel de Montaigne was a brilliant French philosopher and statesman whose work directly influenced René Descartes, Friedrich Nietzsche, Isaac Asimov and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He was a humanist and a sceptic, with an insatiable and wide-ranging curiosity. In 1571, on his 38th birthday, he withdrew from public life and retired to the library in his castle tower, where he assembled a body of work that is still highly relevant today.

This collection contains more than 100 chapters, written in a surprisingly accessible manner. He weaves together personal anecdotes, serious intellectual argument, and quotes from classical Greek and Roman philosophers. While this style was criticized during his lifetime as being overly self-indulgent, he has since been credited with popularizing the essay as a respectable literary form. Using his own experiences and judgement as a lens through which to view the world, his essays cover such disparate topics as war horses, cannibalism, and ancient customs; as well as heavyweight ideas such as war, death, religion and truth.

Members Reviews:

Cotton Quote from Loc 105 of the Kindle edition: ...

Cotton

Quote from Loc 105 of the Kindle edition: "The text of these volumes is taken from the first edition of Cotton's version ..."

A FAMED AND INFLUENTIAL COLLECTION OF PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYSA FAMED AND INFLUENTIAL COLLECTION OF PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. The essays collected in this volume cover an amazing variety of subjects, such as sadness; idleness; liars; fear; pedantry; cannibals; sleep; prayers; age; drunkenness; f_rting; conscience; cruelty; virtue; repentance; vanity, and much more.

In his section "To the Reader," he explains, "This book was written in good faith... It warns you from the outset that in it I have set myself no goal but a domestic and private one... I have dedicated it to the private convenience of my relatives and friends, so that when they have lost me (as soon they must), they may recover here some features of my habits and temperament, and by this means keep the knowledge they have had of me more complete and alive... I want to be seen here in my simple, natural, ordinary fashion, without straining or artifice; for it is myself that I portray... Had I been placed among those nations which are said to live still in the sweet freedom of nature's first laws, I assure you that I should very gladly have portrayed himself here entire and wholly naked." (Pg. 2)

He states, "to philosophize is to learn to die. Cicero says that to philosophize is nothing else but to prepare for death... Now among the principal benefits of virtue is disdain for death." (Pg. 56-57) Later, he adds, "Every death should correspond with its life. We do not become different for dying. I always interpret the death by the life. And if they tell me of a death strong in appearance, attached to a feeble life, I maintain that it is produced by a feeble cause corresponding with the life." (Pg. 309) In a later essay, he observes, "If you don't know how to die, don't worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately.