The Book Reader

Billy Whiskers Adventures by Frances Trego Montgomery audiobook. Genre: adventure Billy Whiskers is not an ordinary goat - he is a quick-witted troublemaker with a big heart and an even bigger appetite for adventure. After spending the war years in France alongside American troops, Billy returns to New York Harbor with his inseparable companions: Stubby the loyal dog and Button the sharp-eyed cat. Home is finally in sight, but the city has plans of its own. Mistaken for valuable mascots and nearly shipped off again, the three friends have to rely on daring escapes, fast talking, and pure nerve to stay together and stay free.Loose in bustling streets, crowded docks, and unfamiliar neighborhoods, Billy turns every close call into a new exploit - sometimes heroic, sometimes ridiculous, and always unpredictable. Along the way, the trio meets strangers both kind and dangerous, tests the limits of friendship, and discovers that getting home can be harder than any battlefield. Warm, playful, and packed with cliffhanger chapter endings, this classic animal tale blends slapstick comedy with genuine peril, celebrating loyalty, courage, and the wild joy of curiosity. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:12:42) Chapter 02 (00:24:05) Chapter 03 (00:36:42) Chapter 04 (00:45:37) Chapter 05 (01:02:40) Chapter 06 (01:19:48) Chapter 07 (01:31:04) Chapter 08 (01:46:56) Chapter 09 (01:56:50) Chapter 10 (02:16:55) Chapter 11 (02:23:15) Chapter 12 (02:32:50) Chapter 13 (02:39:14) Chapter 14 (02:51:07) Chapter 15 (03:07:52) Chapter 16 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Life and Adventures of Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw by Frances Milton Trollope audiobook. Genre: adventure In The Life and Adventures of Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw, Frances Milton Trollope follows a restless young American, Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw, as he chases fortune and importance along the Mississippi River in the rough-and-ready decades of westward expansion. Eager to rise in a nation he believes rewards boldness above all else, Jonathan plunges into a world of steamboats, booming river towns, land schemes, taverns, pulpits, and plantations, meeting an ever-shifting cast of hustlers, politicians, preachers, enslavers, and the enslaved. As opportunities multiply, so do the moral compromises demanded by ambition. Trollope blends brisk travel and episodic escapades with sharp social observation, exposing the contradictions between public virtue and private greed, and between lofty talk of liberty and the violence underpinning everyday life. Jonathan's journey becomes a test of character: whether to treat the frontier as a stage for self-making at any cost, or to confront what his success depends on. Witty, unsettling, and vividly atmospheric, this novel turns one man's adventures into a sweeping portrait of a young country at its most confident and most conflicted. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:25:16) Chapter 02 (00:46:24) Chapter 03 (01:05:55) Chapter 04 (01:26:58) Chapter 05 (01:39:05) Chapter 06 (02:00:39) Chapter 07 (02:08:19) Chapter 08 (02:25:56) Chapter 09 (02:42:58) Chapter 10 (03:25:20) Chapter 11 (03:42:00) Chapter 12 (03:55:24) Chapter 13 (04:07:39) Chapter 14 (04:22:21) Chapter 15 (04:36:58) Chapter 16 (04:59:30) Chapter 17 (05:17:47) Chapter 18 (05:27:25) Chapter 19 (05:44:56) Chapter 20 (06:01:24) Chapter 21 (06:19:18) Chapter 22 (06:49:47) Chapter 23 (07:05:47) Chapter 24 (07:23:52) Chapter 25 (07:44:42) Chapter 26 (08:01:26) Chapter 27 (08:21:03) Chapter 28 (08:34:31) Chapter 29 (08:57:44) Chapter 30 (09:22:20) Chapter 31 (09:31:29) Chapter 32 (09:43:29) Chapter 33 (10:10:39) Chapter 34 (10:26:53) Chapter 35 (10:48:42) Chapter 36 (11:10:42) Chapter 37 (11:25:49) Chapter 38 (11:46:20) Chapter 39 (12:05:17) Chapter 40 (12:22:54) Chapter 41 (12:50:36) Chapter 42 (13:05:07) Chapter 43 (13:22:23) Chapter 44 (13:52:28) Chapter 45 (14:15:42) Chapter 46 (14:32:09) Chapter 47 (14:48:09) Chapter 48 (15:06:11) Chapter 49 (15:34:09) Chapter 50 (16:10:44) Chapter 51 (16:29:13) Chapter 52 (16:51:41) Chapter 53 (17:06:09) Chapter 54 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sleeping Sickness by Fleming Mant Sandwith audiobook. Genre: science In the twenty-first century sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis in humans) is still a life-threatening disease of adults and children and a hazard to tourists in East African game parks.The protozoan parasite is transmitted by the tsetse fly, a buzzing insect with reddish eyes and a large biting proboscis. In 1912, when this short monograph was written, physicians of the British Empire understood that trans-continental expeditions manned by infected African porters, had set off an epidemic of sleeping sickness that had claimed half a million lives. Dr. Sandwith, an eyewitness to the disaster, traces this legacy of imperialism, from the traders who learned to reject slaves with swollen glands, through Stanley's trypanosome-transporting treks in search of Dr. Livingstone and of Emin Pasha, to the clinical description of the tremulous patient, his head aching and his body painfully sensitive to touch, whose sufferings are at last ended by a stupor from which he cannot be roused. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:44:12) Chapter 02 (01:13:49) Chapter 03 (01:31:35) Chapter 04 (02:05:29) Chapter 05 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Frithiof Saga by Ferdinand Schmidt audiobook. Genre: folklore In this dramatic retelling of a classic Norse legend, Ferdinand Schmidt follows Frithiof, a fearless young warrior whose strength at sea and in battle is matched only by his stubborn pride. Raised alongside Ingeborg, the beloved daughter of King Bele, Frithiof grows from childhood companion to devoted suitor - only to be blocked by Ingeborg's royal brothers, who refuse to let a hero of lesser birth claim her hand. When politics and duty pull Ingeborg toward an unwanted marriage alliance, Frithiof is driven into a life of wandering, raids, and hard choices that test his honor as much as his sword-arm. Set amid fjords, stormy voyages, and the stern codes of Viking society, the story weaves human passion together with echoes of Norse myth, including sacred places and tales of the gods that deepen the stakes of every vow and betrayal. As Frithiof fights to prove his worth and keep faith with the woman he loves, he must also confront the consequences of anger, the demands of kinship, and the price of reconciliation in a world where reputation can be destiny. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:05:44) Chapter 02 (00:21:30) Chapter 03 (00:30:03) Chapter 04 (00:39:55) Chapter 05 (00:44:41) Chapter 06 (00:49:07) Chapter 07 (00:51:48) Chapter 08 (00:54:15) Chapter 09 (01:03:27) Chapter 10 (01:07:04) Chapter 11 (01:15:38) Chapter 12 (01:23:04) Chapter 13 (01:27:30) Chapter 14 (01:31:04) Chapter 15 (01:35:01) Chapter 16 (01:40:56) Chapter 17 (01:43:14) Chapter 18 (01:50:20) Chapter 19 (01:53:32) Chapter 20 (01:55:57) Chapter 21 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social Life in England 1750-1850 by F. J. Foakes-Jackson audiobook. Genre: history In 1916, the Cambridge historian, F.J. Foakes-Jackson braved the wartime Atlantic to deliver the Lowell Lectures in Boston. In these wide-ranging and engaging talks, the author describes British life between 1750-1850. There are John Wesley's horseback peregrinations over thousands of miles of English countryside. Next, Foakes-Jackson introduces the mordant rural poet, George Crabbe, who began life as a surgeon apothecary and ended up as a parish rector who made house calls. He gives us a female convict, assorted Cambridge University dons, Regency fops and rakes, and Victorian slices of life from Dickens and Thackeray. In the last lecture we barrel over hedges and fences and through muddy lanes in headlong chase of the fox. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:15:19) Chapter 02 (00:29:35) Chapter 03 (00:45:11) Chapter 04 (00:56:11) Chapter 05 (01:07:48) Chapter 06 (01:18:38) Chapter 07 (01:30:50) Chapter 08 (01:54:02) Chapter 09 (02:16:04) Chapter 10 (02:29:54) Chapter 11 (02:44:34) Chapter 12 (02:59:18) Chapter 13 (03:15:06) Chapter 14 (03:32:02) Chapter 15 (03:49:27) Chapter 16 (04:03:36) Chapter 17 (04:20:16) Chapter 18 (04:36:56) Chapter 19 (04:51:11) Chapter 20 (05:04:55) Chapter 21 (05:23:24) Chapter 22 (05:40:18) Chapter 23 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blotted Out by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding audiobook. Genre: mystery Fresh off a ship into New York, James Ross expects anonymity: no family, no friends, no ties. Instead, before he can even step onto the dock, a note pulls him into a stranger's life. A woman named Amy Solway claims to be his cousin and begs him to help her immediately by posing as her newly hired chauffeur. James agrees, thinking it will be a brief favor. But the moment he enters Amy's house, he stumbles on a horrifying secret: a dead man hidden under a sofa, and a household acting as if nothing is wrong. Worse, Amy has been waiting for a different James Ross altogether, and the mistake could be dangerous for both of them. Alone in a city that does not know his face, James must decide whether to walk away, or to stay and untangle a web of false names, desperate lies, and quiet threats that spread far beyond one locked room. As the pressure mounts and every explanation contradicts the last, James learns how quickly a life can be rewritten, and how hard it is to prove the truth once it has been blotted out. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:12:03) Chapter 02 (00:20:26) Chapter 03 (00:29:01) Chapter 04 (00:40:06) Chapter 05 (00:50:03) Chapter 06 (01:00:50) Chapter 07 (01:11:27) Chapter 08 (01:20:15) Chapter 09 (01:30:15) Chapter 10 (01:39:18) Chapter 11 (01:48:17) Chapter 12 (01:58:38) Chapter 13 (02:08:24) Chapter 14 (02:20:03) Chapter 15 (02:30:24) Chapter 16 (02:40:08) Chapter 17 (02:50:57) Chapter 18 (03:02:48) Chapter 19 (03:13:41) Chapter 20 (03:19:10) Chapter 21 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Successward - A Young Man's Book for Young Men by Edward Bok audiobook. Genre: self help In Successward: A Young Man's Book for Young Men, editor and writer Edward W. Bok speaks directly to ambitious young men who feel success is reserved for the lucky, the wealthy, or the well-connected. Writing as someone still close to the struggle himself, Bok reframes success as something built from clear self-knowledge, steady habits, and honorable motives rather than flash or privilege. Across a series of practical, conversational chapters, he challenges the listener to define what success really means, then to pursue it with discipline in work and restraint in pleasure. Bok moves from the realities of business life to the pressures of social amusement, offering blunt counsel about temptation, reputation, and the quiet power of good judgment. He also turns to everyday conduct, from clothing and manners to faith, and addresses relationships with unusual directness for his era, including a young man's attitude toward women and the serious responsibilities of marriage. Part moral guide, part career compass, Successward is a snapshot of turn-of-the-century expectations and a timeless argument that character is the foundation on which any lasting achievement is made. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:02:17) Chapter 01 (00:12:47) Chapter 02 (00:23:16) Chapter 03 (00:56:15) Chapter 04 (01:23:22) Chapter 05 (01:33:28) Chapter 06 (01:43:12) Chapter 07 (02:01:57) Chapter 08 (02:15:12) Chapter 09 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Moon Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs audiobook. Genre: scifi In The Moon Men, Edgar Rice Burroughs turns a futuristic America into a hard-edged battleground for freedom. Generations after a disastrous first contact between Earth and the Moon, humanity lives under the yoke of the Kalkars, ruthless Lunarian conquerors who rule through forced labor, taxes, and terror. In the teeming, fenced-in districts of a broken Chicago, Julian, a young man born into occupation, grows up hearing dangerous whispers about the world that existed before the Moon Men came - and about the long blood feud that began with the original expedition and its bitter betrayals. As Julian is drawn into a secret resistance, he must navigate collaborators, informers, and the constant threat of sudden punishment, all while trying to keep hope alive among people trained to expect defeat. With swift action, stark injustice, and Burroughs' trademark pulp momentum, the novel follows one man and his allies as they gamble everything on the possibility that the Kalkars can be challenged, and that a future beyond servitude is still imaginable. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:14:24) Chapter 01 (00:30:17) Chapter 02 (00:43:24) Chapter 03 (01:05:06) Chapter 04 (01:20:28) Chapter 05 (01:41:16) Chapter 06 (02:01:38) Chapter 07 (02:09:40) Chapter 08 (02:21:32) Chapter 09 (02:43:22) Chapter 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers audiobook. Genre: mystery When playwright and cynic George Washington Magee accepts a lucrative bet to write an entire play in twenty four hours, he thinks he has found the perfect loophole: seclude himself in a supposedly empty mountain lodge called Baldpate Inn, where the quiet is guaranteed and interruptions are impossible. He arrives with a locked room, a blazing fireplace, and a deadline that will make or break both his pride and his career. But the promise of solitude collapses almost immediately. One by one, strangers arrive at the inn with keys of their own, each insisting they belong there, each carrying secrets that do not fit the harmless hotel legend. As Magee tries to keep writing, he is pulled into a tense, fast moving web of suspicious conversations, missing money, shifting identities, and sudden danger. What begins as a clever writer's challenge turns into a night of escalating stakes where every entrance changes the story and every key suggests another lie. Part locked room puzzle, part theatrical comedy of errors, this classic tale blends suspense and wit while asking how well anyone can know the truth when everyone has a reason to perform. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:25:49) Chapter 02 (00:57:00) Chapter 03 (01:19:31) Chapter 04 (01:41:02) Chapter 05 (02:07:32) Chapter 06 (02:37:49) Chapter 07 (02:58:36) Chapter 08 (03:18:54) Chapter 09 (03:39:21) Chapter 10 (04:05:49) Chapter 11 (04:28:33) Chapter 12 (04:51:14) Chapter 13 (05:13:01) Chapter 14 (05:34:18) Chapter 15 (05:56:30) Chapter 16 (06:14:34) Chapter 17 (06:38:41) Chapter 18 (06:58:02) Chapter 19 (07:14:52) Chapter 20 (07:28:57) Chapter 21 (07:47:22) Chapter 22 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benigna Machiavelli by Charlotte Perkins Gilman audiobook. Genre: comedy In Benigna Machiavelli, Charlotte Perkins Gilman turns a provocative name into a sharp, witty study of power, principle, and the quiet strategies women are forced to master. Benigna is a young woman who refuses to accept the smallness of the role assigned to her. Bright, observant, and disarmingly polite, she studies the rules that govern family life, romance, and social reputation, then begins to use those rules with deliberate skill. Where others rely on blunt authority or sentimental appeals, Benigna chooses patience, planning, and a clear-eyed understanding of what people want and fear. Her methods unsettle those around her, especially when her private calculations start producing very public results. As she navigates courtship, household expectations, and the moral pressure to be self-sacrificing, Benigna faces a central question: can manipulation ever be ethical if it is used to protect the vulnerable and expose hypocrisy? By blending social satire with psychological insight, Gilman delivers a brisk, thought-provoking tale about agency, gender, and the price of playing the game well. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:29:38) Chapter 02 (01:00:18) Chapter 03 (01:27:41) Chapter 04 (01:58:49) Chapter 05 (02:26:31) Chapter 06 (03:00:19) Chapter 07 (03:29:50) Chapter 08 (03:58:23) Chapter 09 (04:26:29) Chapter 10 (04:55:22) Chapter 11 (05:24:28) Chapter 12 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices