The Book Reader

John Dough and the Cherub by L. Frank Baum audiobook. Genre: fantasy An evil Arabian sorcerer loans a golden flask full of the Great Elixir - a magic liquid that endows a person with pronounced health, strength, and longevity - to a colorblind baker's wife to stop it falling into the wrong hands. Unfortunately, the woman mixes up the Elixir with her rheumatism medicine, which, through even more misunderstanding, then ends up being used in batch of gingerbread. Out of this dough comes John Dough, a six-foot novelty gingerbread man who promptly comes to life and runs away, in an echo of an old nursery rhyme. Pursued by the evil sorcerer, who wants to eat him to gain the power of immortality, and children, who want to eat him because he's made of cake, John Dough and his sidekick the Cherub flee through a variety of strange fantasy lands and bizarre scenarios, including an encounter with 'The King of Fairy Beavers,' an animated Wooden Indian, a girl executioner who never gets to kill anybody and weeps over the fact, a two-legged talking horse that bullies its rider, and the youthful and tyrannical 'Kinglet' of Phreex. Will John Dough escape those who want him eaten? Though the novel (published in 1906) is not considered part of the Oz canon, its main characters make cameo appearances in The Road to Oz (1909). For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:12:15) Chapter 02 (00:16:05) Chapter 03 (00:24:40) Chapter 04 (00:39:02) Chapter 05 (01:30:50) Chapter 06 (01:47:42) Chapter 07 (02:00:54) Chapter 08 (02:13:28) Chapter 09 (02:18:38) Chapter 10 (02:36:18) Chapter 11 (02:47:32) Chapter 12 (03:00:43) Chapter 13 (03:17:26) Chapter 14 (03:29:41) Chapter 15 (03:48:34) Chapter 16 (03:58:59) Chapter 17 (04:08:41) Chapter 18 (04:22:12) Chapter 19 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Drummer, or, The Haunted House by Joseph Addison audiobook. Genre: comedy In Joseph Addison's stage comedy The Drummer, or, The Haunted House, Lady Truman is trying to rebuild her life after devastating news: her husband, Sir George Truman, has been reported killed in battle, leaving her a wealthy widow in possession of a prized country estate. Grief, however, quickly becomes only one of her problems. Two persistent would-be husbands, the fashionable Mr. Tinsel and the theatrically melancholy Mr. Fantome, circle her household with competing plans to secure her fortune. Then the nights turn strange. A relentless, unseen drum begins to beat through the house after dark, unsettling servants, rousing rumors of a ghost, and throwing every courtship scheme into confusion. With the practical steward Vellum attempting to keep order and a colorful staff of household attendants caught between fear and opportunism, Lady Truman is pushed toward a desperate solution when a mysterious old man arrives, claiming he can put the disturbance to rest. Part satire, part haunted-house farce, Addison uses the phantom drumming to test courage, expose hypocrisy, and ask what people will believe when self-interest is at stake. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 0 (00:04:58) Chapter 1 (00:33:47) Chapter 2 (00:55:12) Chapter 3 (01:17:27) Chapter 4 (01:41:16) Chapter 5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All for Love; or, The World Well Lost by John Dryden audiobook. Genre: tragedy All for Love is widely considered to be John Dryden's finest work, dramatic or otherwise. A tragedy written in blank verse, it retells the story of Roman general Marc Antony's love affair with the alluring Egyptian queen Cleopatra and their eventual double-suicide. Compared to the more famous rendition of the tale by William Shakespeare, however, which is grand and hectic in terms of setting, Dryden chooses instead to focus in on the lovers' last days in Alexandria as the threat of their defeat looms and their legacies are contested. The result is a swelling, elegant, emotional drama that perceptively considers such themes as loyalty and love, fidelity in marriage, the lasting endurance of friendship, and even the tenuous construct of masculinity. In short, it's truly a gem of the Restoration repertoire. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 1 (00:33:10) Chapter 2 (01:01:15) Chapter 3 (01:31:31) Chapter 4 (02:06:57) Chapter 5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kitchener's Mob Adventures of an American in the British Army by James Norman Hall audiobook. Genre: biography In 1914, as Europe slides into war, young American James Norman Hall makes an impulsive decision that will reshape his life: he crosses the Atlantic to enlist in the British Army. Thrown into the swelling ranks of Kitchener's New Army - the citizen volunteers nicknamed 'Kitchener's Mob' - Hall moves from recruiting offices and drilling grounds to the hard routine of camps, transport, and finally the grim logic of the Western Front. With a reporter's eye and a soldier's growing awareness, he captures the odd mix of comedy and terror that defines military life: the bureaucratic tangles, the relentless marching, the small kindnesses between strangers, and the sudden, intimate dangers of trench warfare. As he learns to live by orders, luck, and loyalty to the men beside him, Hall also wrestles with what it means to fight for a country that is not his own. Part memoir, part battlefield sketchbook, this vivid account explores courage, disillusionment, and the thin line between adventure and catastrophe in the first years of World War I. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:08:48) Chapter 02 (00:17:56) Chapter 03 (00:44:59) Chapter 04 (01:04:07) Chapter 05 (01:20:45) Chapter 06 (01:48:23) Chapter 07 (02:08:03) Chapter 08 (02:32:40) Chapter 09 (02:49:45) Chapter 10 (03:29:00) Chapter 11 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Vicious Horses by Kincaid audiobook. Genre: self help A practical, old-school manual of horsemanship, The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Vicious Horses sets out to answer a question that has tested riders and stablehands for centuries: how do you take an animal built on speed and fear, sometimes made dangerous by mishandling, and bring it safely into partnership with a human? Writing in the direct, instructive style of a working horseman, Kincaid presents a method associated with Arabian practice and applies it to the hardest cases - unbroken horses, confirmed kickers and biters, and animals that bolt, rear, or refuse the harness. The book walks the listener through preparation, safe handling, and the first critical encounters, emphasizing calm control, timing, and the careful use of restraint so that force does not become a substitute for understanding. Along the way, it offers guidance on reading a horse's signals, correcting fear-based resistance, and building obedience without destroying spirit. Part training guide and part window into a historical approach to animal behavior, it is aimed at anyone who wants practical principles for turning chaos in the stall or on the lead rope into steadier, safer work. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:12:08) Chapter 01 (00:19:34) Chapter 02 (00:45:41) Chapter 03 (01:08:11) Chapter 04 (01:28:02) Chapter 05 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The End Of The Tether by Joseph Conrad audiobook. Genre: tragedy In a humid corner of the Malay Archipelago, Captain Henry Whalley is a celebrated seaman at the end of his long career - respected, proud, and quietly desperate. Age has begun to strip away the one thing he cannot admit losing: his ability to see clearly enough to command a ship. With money needed to secure his daughters future and his reputation hanging by a thread, Whalley takes charge of a small coastal steamer and tries to hide his failing eyesight from officers, owners, and crew. Among those closest to him is the hard-edged, observant first mate, a man whose loyalty is tested by the risks Whalley insists on taking and the compromises he asks others to share. As the vessel moves through rivers, ports, and shadowy trading outposts, routine voyages become charged with dread, pride, and moral pressure. Joseph Conrad turns a seafaring predicament into an intense study of dignity, duty, and the terrifying cost of self-deception - when a mans last tether to identity and honor is stretched to its limit. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:08:29) Chapter 02 (00:27:15) Chapter 03 (00:40:17) Chapter 04 (00:58:42) Chapter 05 (01:21:43) Chapter 06 (01:34:47) Chapter 07 (01:47:11) Chapter 08 (02:05:43) Chapter 09 (02:29:10) Chapter 10 (02:52:00) Chapter 11 (03:21:41) Chapter 12 (03:53:05) Chapter 13 (04:31:37) Chapter 14 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andiron Tales by John Kendrick Bangs audiobook. Genre: fantasy In Andiron Tales, John Kendrick Bangs invites listeners to the warm edge of a fireplace, where an ordinary household object becomes an unlikely master of ceremonies. Framed as a set of fireside stories, the book gathers a playful assortment of short fantasies and comic fables, each spun with Bangs' trademark wit and gentle mischief. As the narrator settles into the comfort of the hearth, the andiron's voice ushers him into a parade of imagined worlds: courtly adventures that refuse to behave like proper legends, modern intrusions that upset old-fashioned fairy-tale expectations, and characters who argue, bargain, and blunder with thoroughly human vanity. Beneath the lightness is a sharp but affectionate satire of manners, ambition, and the stories people tell themselves to feel important. The central pleasure is the tug-of-war between cozy domestic reality and the unruly imagination that keeps breaking in, turning the familiar glow of home into a stage for wonder and laughter. Andiron Tales is a celebration of storytelling itself: quick, clever, and designed to be shared aloud by the fire. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:10:33) Chapter 02 (00:19:20) Chapter 03 (00:36:51) Chapter 04 (00:46:02) Chapter 05 (00:54:34) Chapter 06 (01:07:45) Chapter 07 (01:19:56) Chapter 08 (01:32:29) Chapter 09 (01:45:25) Chapter 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Money Moon by John Jeffery Farnol audiobook. Genre: romance When American millionaire George Bellew is left reeling by the news that his beloved Sylvia Marchmont will marry the Duke of Ryde, he does the only thing that makes sense to a man with too much money and no clear purpose: he walks out of London and into the Kentish countryside. With his dryly competent valet Baxter at his heels, Bellew drifts from heartbreak into a world of hedgerows, hop fields, and village characters who measure a man by his conduct rather than his fortune. A chance meeting with an earnest runaway boy, Georgy Porgy (Small Porges), draws Bellew into the boy's impossible quest to find wealth enough to save his proud Aunt Anthea and her threatened home. To keep hope alive, Bellew spins a half-mocking, half-enchanted legend of the Money Moon - a night when the moon turns the color of a golden sovereign, and fortunes might be found by those bold enough to seek them. As the search deepens, Bellew must confront what money can buy, what it cannot, and whether an invented fairy tale can lead to something real. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:01:56) Chapter 02 (00:09:18) Chapter 03 (00:20:28) Chapter 04 (00:28:55) Chapter 05 (00:42:55) Chapter 06 (00:49:52) Chapter 07 (01:06:41) Chapter 08 (01:20:44) Chapter 09 (01:34:25) Chapter 10 (01:45:15) Chapter 11 (02:04:10) Chapter 12 (02:31:10) Chapter 13 (02:41:16) Chapter 14 (03:08:04) Chapter 15 (03:16:13) Chapter 16 (03:22:17) Chapter 17 (03:34:51) Chapter 18 (03:42:30) Chapter 19 (03:57:34) Chapter 20 (04:02:27) Chapter 21 (04:15:38) Chapter 22 (04:21:37) Chapter 23 (04:26:08) Chapter 24 (04:37:21) Chapter 25 (04:42:56) Chapter 26 (04:54:49) Chapter 27 (05:02:32) Chapter 28 (05:08:25) Chapter 29 (05:14:38) Chapter 30 (05:24:58) Chapter 31 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Wheat Princess by Jean Webster audiobook. Genre: romance Marcia Copley arrives in Rome expecting an effortless season of parties, art, and sunshine with her well-placed American relatives at a villa near the hill town of Palestrina. Instead, she finds herself marked by a nickname she cannot quite escape: the 'Wheat Princess,' heiress to the fortune her father made through grain speculation. In the expatriate circles of diplomats and idle travelers, Marcia is admired, judged, and quietly maneuvered as if she were part of the scenery. Two very reminding men pull her in different directions: Paul Dessart, a charming would-be painter who treats life as a lark, and Laurence Sybert, a sharp, guarded embassy official whose moral seriousness clashes with Marcia's bright confidence. When unrest in the countryside and uneasy conversations begin to point back to the consequences of her family's wealth, Marcia is forced to look beyond salon gossip and romantic intrigue to the real cost of privilege. Set against ancient roads, ruined temples, and a modern Italy strained by hunger and politics, Jean Webster's novel blends sparkling dialogue with a coming-of-age reckoning about love, responsibility, and what it means to do good when doing good is complicated. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:10:02) Chapter 01 (00:33:55) Chapter 02 (00:52:22) Chapter 03 (01:13:30) Chapter 04 (01:20:04) Chapter 05 (01:35:17) Chapter 06 (02:03:32) Chapter 07 (02:18:44) Chapter 08 (02:51:17) Chapter 09 (03:03:37) Chapter 10 (03:30:24) Chapter 11 (04:04:20) Chapter 12 (04:35:55) Chapter 13 (04:56:36) Chapter 14 (05:23:08) Chapter 15 (05:49:31) Chapter 16 (06:15:37) Chapter 17 (06:38:15) Chapter 18 (06:53:43) Chapter 19 (07:06:10) Chapter 20 (07:20:32) Chapter 21 (07:31:10) Chapter 22 (07:41:28) Chapter 23 (08:11:46) Chapter 24 (08:44:27) Chapter 25 (09:02:34) Chapter 26 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall by Janet D. Wheeler audiobook. Genre: mystery Billie Bradley is back, and this time the bright, headstrong girl finds herself at the storied boarding school known as Three Towers Hall. Eager to prove she belongs among its traditions and tight knit social circles, Billie throws herself into classes, athletics, and the lively rhythm of dorm life. But the Hall is not as peaceful as its ivy covered walls suggest. Rivalries simmer, newcomers are tested, and a string of troubling incidents begins to shadow the school, from unsettling rumors to petty sabotage that threatens to grow into something far more serious. With her best friends close by and her instincts on high alert, Billie must navigate strict rules, prickly classmates, and the pressure to keep her reputation intact, all while trying to uncover who is stirring up trouble and why. As secrets ripple through corridors and loyalties are put to the test, Billie learns that courage at Three Towers Hall is not only about winning on the playing field, but also about standing up for what is right when it would be easier to stay silent. For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:11:48) Chapter 02 (00:21:55) Chapter 03 (00:33:15) Chapter 04 (00:43:41) Chapter 05 (00:53:15) Chapter 06 (01:03:28) Chapter 07 (01:13:10) Chapter 08 (01:24:50) Chapter 09 (01:33:38) Chapter 10 (01:45:04) Chapter 11 (01:52:25) Chapter 12 (02:03:30) Chapter 13 (02:11:49) Chapter 14 (02:21:54) Chapter 15 (02:31:45) Chapter 16 (02:48:15) Chapter 17 (03:01:42) Chapter 18 (03:17:15) Chapter 19 (03:25:24) Chapter 20 (03:36:44) Chapter 21 (03:47:57) Chapter 22 (03:59:35) Chapter 23 (04:09:48) Chapter 24 (04:23:11) Chapter 25 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices