The Book Reader

The Adopting of Rosa Marie by Carroll Watson Rankin audiobook. Genre: family Back at their beloved, tumble-down Dandelion Cottage in Lakeville, four inseparable friends - practical Jean Mapes, dramatic Marjory Vale, tenderhearted Mabel Bennett, and small but spirited Bettie Tucker - are determined to stretch the last warm days of the season into one more round of make-believe housekeeping. Then Mabel wanders too far from their usual haunts and comes home with an unexpected 'foundling': a quiet, sturdy Indian toddler named Rosa Marie. What begins as a game of playing mother turns into something far more complicated as the girls try to feed her, bathe her, entertain her, and keep her presence hidden from watchful neighbors and parents. Disagreements flare, consciences prick, and the Cottage girls discover that real caretaking does not follow the rules of pretend. When a new girl, Henrietta Slater, arrives with different manners and her own private homesickness, the circle of friendship is tested again - and the question of what Rosa Marie truly needs becomes impossible to ignore. Warm, funny, and clear-eyed about childhood loyalty, the story explores responsibility, belonging, and the big feelings that come with small hands trying to do a grown-up thing. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:06:49) Chapter 02 (00:14:16) Chapter 03 (00:21:30) Chapter 04 (00:27:15) Chapter 05 (00:34:04) Chapter 06 (00:41:27) Chapter 07 (00:51:05) Chapter 08 (00:58:25) Chapter 09 (01:06:09) Chapter 10 (01:12:42) Chapter 11 (01:20:39) Chapter 12 (01:28:19) Chapter 13 (01:34:58) Chapter 14 (01:43:42) Chapter 15 (01:53:19) Chapter 16 (02:04:17) Chapter 17 (02:13:53) Chapter 18 (02:25:17) Chapter 19 (02:33:21) Chapter 20 (02:43:06) Chapter 21 (02:52:01) Chapter 22 (03:02:49) Chapter 23 (03:14:14) Chapter 24 (03:25:38) Chapter 25 (03:36:35) Chapter 26 (03:44:55) Chapter 27 (03:53:27) Chapter 28 (04:03:36) Chapter 29 (04:14:35) Chapter 30 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mystery of the Sycamore by Carolyn Wells audiobook. Genre: mystery When Curtis Keefe, trusted secretary to former Massachusetts governor Samuel Appleby, accompanies his employer to a tense weekend at Sycamore Ridge, he expects political bargaining, not bloodshed. Appleby has come to the Connecticut estate of Daniel Wheeler, an old rival living under the shadow of a humiliating past and a punishing, conditional pardon that keeps his family balanced on the edge of ruin. Appleby wants Wheeler's public support for Appleby Jr.'s run for governor, and he is willing to trade influence, mercy, or pressure to get it. But the house is already a tinderbox of grievances: a proud host determined to protect his name, a family with everything to lose, and a web of loyalties stretched thin by money, inheritance, and love. Then, amid a sudden commotion and a strange atmosphere of whispered stories and late-night sounds, a gunshot shatters the uneasy peace - and Appleby is found dead in his chair, a bullet through his heart. With motives multiplying and local authorities overwhelmed, master detective Fleming Stone and his quick-witted assistant Fibsy arrive to untangle alibis, decode human nature, and expose the truth hiding in Sycamore Ridge's shadows. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:24:45) Chapter 02 (00:50:09) Chapter 03 (01:14:43) Chapter 04 (01:39:30) Chapter 05 (02:05:35) Chapter 06 (02:30:55) Chapter 07 (02:55:04) Chapter 08 (03:17:48) Chapter 09 (03:41:53) Chapter 10 (04:05:19) Chapter 11 (04:29:46) Chapter 12 (04:53:15) Chapter 13 (05:16:44) Chapter 14 (05:39:45) Chapter 15 (06:05:11) Chapter 16 (06:30:03) Chapter 17 (06:54:06) Chapter 18 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crime, Its Causes and Remedies by Cesare Lombroso audiobook. Genre: science In Crime, Its Causes and Remedies, pioneering Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso lays out a sweeping, controversial attempt to explain why people commit crimes and how societies should respond. Writing at the crossroads of medicine, psychology, and emerging social science, Lombroso examines the criminal not only as a legal subject but as a human being shaped by heredity, environment, education, poverty, addiction, and mental illness. Moving from case studies and observational claims to broader arguments about prisons, punishment, rehabilitation, and prevention, he challenges purely moral or purely legal explanations of wrongdoing and insists on studying crime as a phenomenon with discoverable patterns and practical implications. Along the way, he engages questions that still feel urgent: What role do social conditions play in violence and theft? How should the law treat youth, repeat offenders, and those with psychiatric disorders? And can public policy reduce crime more effectively than harsher penalties? The result is a foundational work of positivist criminology - provocative, historically influential, and essential for listeners interested in the origins of modern debates about justice and reform. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (01:04:04) Chapter 01 (01:34:42) Chapter 02 (01:41:40) Chapter 03 (02:27:05) Chapter 04 (03:01:54) Chapter 05 (03:35:10) Chapter 06 (03:53:02) Chapter 07 (04:26:56) Chapter 08 (04:53:49) Chapter 09 (05:25:01) Chapter 10 (05:39:55) Chapter 11 (05:51:41) Chapter 12 (06:35:53) Chapter 13 (06:45:41) Chapter 14 (07:07:11) Chapter 15 (07:41:33) Chapter 16 (07:47:28) Chapter 17 (08:15:58) Chapter 18 (08:52:35) Chapter 19 (09:13:07) Chapter 20 (09:34:53) Chapter 21 (09:56:43) Chapter 22 (10:31:56) Chapter 23 (10:50:49) Chapter 24 (11:42:58) Chapter 25 (11:53:37) Chapter 26 (12:39:37) Chapter 27 (13:04:40) Chapter 28 (13:43:15) Chapter 29 (14:26:29) Chapter 30 (15:13:36) Chapter 31 (15:23:35) Chapter 32 (15:37:14) Chapter 33 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet by Burton Egbert Stevenson audiobook. Genre: mystery When a shipping mistake delivers an extraordinary Boule cabinet to the New York home of wealthy collector Philip Vantine, the windfall feels too dazzling to surrender. Vantine summons his friend and attorney, Lester, to help him untangle ownership and negotiate a price, but the cabinet arrives with a shadow: a stranger turns up dead inside Vantine's house, and the circumstances make no simple sense. Soon more men die, each collapse pointing to a rare, fast-working poison, and each new clue seems to circle back to the same ornate piece of furniture and a feared figure from France's criminal underworld. Teaming with the sharp-eyed newspaperman Godfrey, Lester follows a trail of anxious servants, evasive visitors, and conflicting timelines, testing every assumption about motive, opportunity, and method. As society gossip meets meticulous deduction, the cabinet becomes the story's unsettling centerpiece, a beautiful object that may also be a perfectly designed trap. Stevenson's classic detective tale blends atmosphere, ingenious mechanics, and escalating stakes into a puzzle where the most innocent detail could be the key. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:13:26) Chapter 02 (00:24:50) Chapter 03 (00:46:25) Chapter 04 (00:58:24) Chapter 05 (01:13:24) Chapter 06 (01:24:20) Chapter 07 (01:35:16) Chapter 08 (01:50:43) Chapter 09 (02:08:22) Chapter 10 (02:25:33) Chapter 11 (02:40:11) Chapter 12 (02:48:21) Chapter 13 (03:05:29) Chapter 14 (03:17:21) Chapter 15 (03:26:26) Chapter 16 (03:42:10) Chapter 17 (04:01:21) Chapter 18 (04:23:05) Chapter 19 (04:33:27) Chapter 20 (04:47:05) Chapter 21 (05:06:04) Chapter 22 (05:27:01) Chapter 23 (05:40:59) Chapter 24 (06:01:28) Chapter 25 (06:18:29) Chapter 26 (06:31:38) Chapter 27 (06:44:08) Chapter 28 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cocoa and Chocolate by Arthur W. Knapp audiobook. Genre: history As that heavenly bit of chocolate melts in our mouths, we give little thought as to where it came from, the arduous work that went in to its creation, and the complex process of its maturation from a bean to the delicacy we all enjoy. This 'little book' details everything you have ever wanted to know (and some things you never knew you wanted to know) about cocoa and chocolate from how the trees are planted and sustained to which countries produce the most cacao beans. Do cacao beans from various countries differ? What makes some types of chocolate higher quality than other kinds? Are there any health benefits to eating chocolate? Read on to learn the answers to these and many other questions about that wondrous little treat we call chocolate. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:33:00) Chapter 02 (01:07:03) Chapter 03 (01:58:28) Chapter 04 (02:50:18) Chapter 05 (03:14:31) Chapter 06 (03:35:24) Chapter 07 (03:55:58) Chapter 08 (04:24:50) Chapter 09 (04:31:00) Chapter 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Muller of Bristol by Arthur T. Pierson audiobook. Genre: biography George Muller was a great hero of faith. His greatest aim was to demonstrate that God answers prayer and can be trusted for every minute detail of life. Spending countless hours asking God to provide his needs, he only relied upon God. God called him to care for orphans and he conducted his orphanage in the same way, on faith alone. When a certain need was apparent, they would immediately go to God in prayer. In this dynamic dependance on God, He always proved faithful. He also established over a hundred schools, educating over a hundred thousand people! His example of absolute dependence on God stands in the gap of history to declare that God is enough, and He is faithful! For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:08:53) Chapter 01 (00:35:37) Chapter 02 (01:03:27) Chapter 03 (01:28:31) Chapter 04 (01:52:40) Chapter 05 (02:24:20) Chapter 06 (02:55:07) Chapter 07 (03:24:17) Chapter 08 (03:54:32) Chapter 09 (04:27:56) Chapter 10 (05:01:32) Chapter 11 (05:31:31) Chapter 12 (06:01:30) Chapter 13 (06:31:22) Chapter 14 (07:10:06) Chapter 15 (07:46:55) Chapter 16 (08:08:50) Chapter 17 (08:45:57) Chapter 18 (09:20:48) Chapter 19 (09:42:19) Chapter 20 (10:11:50) Chapter 21 (10:45:42) Chapter 22 (11:21:12) Chapter 23 (11:56:18) Chapter 24 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alias Miss Sherlock by Arthur Lewis Tubbs audiobook. Genre: mystery When Dick Brewster is suddenly implicated in a murder, he vanishes to the one place he believes he can still trust: his aunt's quiet farm. But hiding is only a temporary refuge. As rumors tighten into accusation and the threat of arrest grows, Aunt Sarah refuses to let her nephew be sacrificed to circumstantial evidence. Practical, sharp-eyed, and far more fearless than anyone expects, she pushes the family to leave the countryside and head into the city, determined to find the truth before the police decide the case is closed. There, amid tense drawing-room conversations, wary servants, and suspicious acquaintances, Aunt Sarah begins pulling at the loose threads of alibis and motives. A young lawyer offers help, an official detective guards his theories, and every new clue seems to raise fresh questions about who is lying - and why. As her bold inquiries attract attention, Aunt Sarah earns a nickname that is equal parts teasing and admiration: Miss Sherlock. Alias Miss Sherlock is a brisk, dialogue-driven mystery of loyalty, misdirection, and grit, in which an ordinary woman turns investigator to save the person who needs her most. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 1 (00:56:55) Chapter 2 (01:32:50) Chapter 3 (02:13:39) Chapter 4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Economics by Aristotle audiobook. Genre: philosophy In Economics, a short but influential treatise traditionally attributed to Aristotle, the listener enters the practical world of oikonomia - the art of running a household and managing property with intelligence, restraint, and purpose. Moving from the intimate sphere of family life to the wider concerns of cities and states, the work asks what it means to govern resources well: how to secure necessities, organize labor, oversee land and livestock, and balance spending against long-term stability. Along the way, it sketches roles and responsibilities within the household, explores the moral pressures that accompany wealth, and considers how habits, character, and good judgment shape prosperity more reliably than luck. Rather than offering abstract theory alone, Economics reads like a handbook of prudent management, mixing ethical reflection with concrete observations about farming, trade, storage, and administration. Whether approached as a window into ancient Greek daily life or as an early meditation on the relationship between virtue and material well-being, this compact work invites modern listeners to reconsider how private discipline and public order depend on the same quiet skills: planning, moderation, and wise stewardship. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:15:10) Chapter 02 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Clouds by Aristophanes audiobook. Genre: comedy In Aristophanes' sharp and playful comedy The Clouds, Athens is buzzing with new ideas, clever talkers, and fashionable philosophies - and one desperate man hopes to use them to save his skin. Strepsiades, a harried farmer buried under debts from his son Pheidippides' expensive tastes, hears of a strange school run by the infamous thinker Socrates. At this 'Thinkery,' students learn how to argue any side of any question, turning words into weapons and logic into loopholes. Convinced that a well-trained tongue can outwit his creditors, Strepsiades tries to master the art of argument - or, failing that, to recruit his son to do it for him. Presiding over it all is a surreal Chorus of Clouds, shifting between divine spectacle and biting commentary as old traditions collide with new learning. As father and son are pulled into a contest between 'Better' and 'Worse' arguments, the play skewers intellectual fads, public education, and the temptations of moral shortcuts. Funny, inventive, and surprisingly uneasy beneath its jokes, The Clouds asks what happens to a society when persuasion matters more than truth. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:35:19) Chapter 02 (01:08:04) Chapter 03 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Real Mother Goose by Anonymous audiobook. Genre: folklore The Real Mother Goose is a beloved collection of traditional nursery rhymes and jingles passed down through generations, gathered under the timeless name 'Mother Goose.' Anonymous in authorship but unmistakable in cultural impact, this anthology invites listeners into a playful world of kings and cobblers, clever cats, mysterious maidens, bustling markets, and moonlit mischief. Each short verse stands on its own, yet together they create a lively portrait of childhood imagination - where nonsense can hide a wink of wisdom, and simple rhythms make language unforgettable. Perfect for family listening, bedtime routines, and early readers, these rhymes build sound awareness, memory, and a feel for the music of words through repetition, rhyme, and gentle surprises. Whether you are revisiting favorites you remember by heart or discovering them anew, The Real Mother Goose offers a warm, sing-song journey through the folklore of everyday life, full of humor, curiosity, and the small dramas of growing up - all in bite-sized pieces meant to be read aloud and shared. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:22:05) Chapter 02 (00:42:00) Chapter 03 (00:58:56) Chapter 04 (01:20:24) Chapter 05 (01:40:12) Chapter 06 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices