Subject
- #Free Audiobooks
- #Introduction to the LibriVox Website
- #Introduction to Classic Literary Works
- #Public Domain Audiobooks
Hello. Today, I'd like to introduce a website where you can listen to famous English classics and masterpieces, such as The Scarlet Letter and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, read by native speakers.
LibriVox | free public domain audiobooks
Posted on February 14, 2021 In 2020, LibriVox welcomed an amazing amount of new volunteers, one of the few positive side-effects of the Covid19 pandemic.
This site provides Free public domain audiobooks. In other words, novels that are either out of copyright or free from copyright are read by volunteers from all over the world. By selecting the Listen item, you can listen to and download audiobook recording files without having to sign up.
Most of the audiobooks here are works in English. However, if you click on the Language menu on the main webpage, you'll find a fair number of files narrated in other languages such as French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
The works mainly consist of classic literary works from the early 1800s to 1900s. In fact, children's picture books are the most numerous genre. It seems that in other countries, if it's difficult to read books directly to children, they use this site to tell them a lot of stories. By 2020, there were reportedly as many as 15,000 audiobooks uploaded to the site.
Meanwhile, in the Read section, you can upload your own narration files by reading the novel yourself. The process is as follows:
First, a book coordinator selects a specific book. When a meta coordinator posts a narration request on the forum, a volunteer chooses a book from those items and applies. Depending on the approval result, narration becomes possible.
The audiobook below is probably the one you're most familiar with, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
There are various versions, including the basic format shown below, a dramatic version, and versions that have been re-recorded in one's own way. You can choose from a variety of versions. In addition, if you click on the author's name, you can find his other novels, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Ghost Stories, and a collection of short stories.
Another work I'd like to introduce is Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne).
This is the version narrated by Cori Samuel. This book is probably a well-known novel, as no one would have not heard its name. It's the story of Hester Prynne, who is branded with a scarlet letter for having a child out of wedlock. The atmosphere of severe Puritan society where witch hunts took place is somehow very similar to the situation in the Joseon Dynasty. Anyway, her daughter Pearl, who is the true father of this child, and the Reverend Dimmesdale, who is tormented by guilt, and Hester's original husband, who suddenly appears, what can he reveal? It's a storyline that can be considered a typical soap opera. The author, Hawthorne, unravels this story with intriguingly complex English sentences throughout.
If you already know the plot, the novel may be easier for you to hear.
I hope this was helpful. Thank you.
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