We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’ll read a section of the book “Mushrooms: How to Grow Them” called “Mushroom Growing in the Paris Caves”, written by William Falconer and published in 1892. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

The famous architecture of Paris was built using the limestone extracted from underneath the city. The resulting catacombs were also used to grow the Paris mushroom, a variety of the button variety. 

Legend has it that mushroom farming in these caves started when some deserters of Napoleon’s army, along with their horses, discovered that mushrooms naturally flourished on the mixture of limestone and horse manure within. 

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Tonight, as the final episode of our October classic horror series, we’ll be reading the opening to "The Dunwich Horror", written in 1928 by H.P. Lovecraft. It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in central Massachusetts. It is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos. 

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, by listener request, we’ll read the next section of the classic children’s story "Heidi", published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. To unlock full episodes and ad-free listening of this series and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

It is a novel about the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps. Heidi is one of the best-selling books ever written and is among the best-known works of Swiss literature. 

We left off at the end of chapter 2, with Heidi’s first night at grandfather’s house on the mountaintop. Heidi and Grandfather get along better than would be expected, given his reputation as a surly recluse. Heidi falls to sleep in her new hay loft bedroom, dreaming of the two captivating goats she met that day. 

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’ll read the opening to 1887’s "A Crystal Age by W. H. Hudson. The book, a pastoral Utopian novel has been called a "significant sci-fi milestone" and has been noted for its anticipation of the "modern ecological mysticism" that would evolve a century later. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

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Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series, we'll read the opening to The "Turn of the Screw", an 1898 Gothic ghost story by Henry James. 

The novella focuses on a governess who, caring for two children at a remote estate, becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted. Some critics have argued that the brilliance of "The Turn of the Screw" results from its ability to create an intimate sense of confusion and suspense within the reader. 

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Tonight, by listener request, we’ll read the second part to the 1813 romantic novel of manners "Pride and Prejudice", written by Jane Austen. The novel follows Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist, who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and eventually comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. 

In the first episode, news that a wealthy young gentleman named Charles Bingley has moved in nearby causes a stir among the Bennet family. The Bennet’s have five unmarried daughters so are eager to matchmaker with the stranger. 

The daughters attend a ball also attended by Bingley, along with a friend of Bingley named Darcy. The impression others get of Bingley at the ball is charm and of Darcy- rude and snobbish. We will pick up with the daughters coming home to tell their father about the evening. 

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’re bringing you a Snoozecast original titled “Get This Bread”. In this soft-boiled who-dun-it, a rising star editor is suddenly fired, leaving a pair of co-workers to pick up the pieces — and the clues — to solving the mystery. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

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Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series, we’ll read the opening to "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", a Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886. 

It is about a London legal practitioner named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. The novella's impact is such that it has become a part of the language, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" entering the vernacular to refer to people with an unpredictably dual nature: usually very good, but sometimes shockingly evil. 

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we'll read the opening chapter to "The Count of Monte Cristo", completed in 1844 by French author Alexander Dumas. Considered a literary classic today, the story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

An adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness; it centres on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exacting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. His plans have devastating consequences for both the innocent and the guilty. 

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We hope you enjoy this preview of an episode from our back catalog available to our premium subscribers. Tonight, we’ll read the opening to Lord Tennyson’s 1847 "The Princess". Tennyson was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1850 to 1892 and remains one of the most popular English poets. To unlock full episodes, ad-free listening, and more, please go to snoozecast.com/plus.

The poem tells the story of a heroic princess who forswears the world of men and founds a women's university where men are forbidden to enter. The prince to whom she was betrothed in infancy enters the university with two friends, disguised as women students. 

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