Classics Read Aloud

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen With today’s reading, I’d like to focus your attention on Andersen’s dazzling imagery. This adventurous tale is a treat for our senses and creative instincts. Andersen, naturally, opens by setting the stage with an enchanted challenge that must be overcome. One day, devilish sprites create a mirror whose every reflection is a twisted and frightful distorti...

Christmas on the Roof of the World by Ernest Hemingway “Chink knocked at the door. “‘Merry Christmas, mes enfants,’ he grinned. He wore the early morning garb of big, woolly dressing-robe and thick socks that made us all look like some monastic order.” It is Christmas morning, and, as this reading arrives in your inbox, I will be gathered in the family room with my brood, each in our robes and thi...

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843 In December of 1843, Charles Dickens gave fresh life and tradition to the celebration of Christmas. The first print of his cherished novel, A Christmas Carol , sold out in a mere five days, and its popularity has continued at a fevered pitch for nearly two centuries. While there are interpretations and adaptations of his work at every turn, there is no su...

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry “And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house...Everywhere they are the wisest. They are the magi.” Humans are complex beings. We contain multitudes, as Walt Whitman wisely said; some, indeed, more than others. O. Henry was born Will...

"Quality" by John Galsworthy “Then, placing my foot on a piece of paper, he would two or three times tickle the outer edges with a pencil and pass his nervous fingers over my toes, feeling himself into the heart of my requirements.” One hesitates to draw too many conclusions about the personality of an author based solely on his or her written work. That said, I was hardly surprised in my research...

The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit classicsreadaloud.substack.com

The Man Who Was Thursday (Part 2) by G. K. Chesterton This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit classicsreadaloud.substack.com

The Man Who Was Thursday (Part 3) by G. K. Chesterton This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit classicsreadaloud.substack.com

The Man Who Was Thursday (Part 4) by G.K. Chesterton This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit classicsreadaloud.substack.com

The Man Who Was Thursday (Part 5) by G.K. Chesterton This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit classicsreadaloud.substack.com

"The Kiss" by Anton Chekhov “In the course of that moment he had told everything, and it surprised him dreadfully to find how short a time it took him to tell it.” The writer Anton Chekhov was also the doctor Anton Chekhov. Between these two worlds, he supported his extended family with the practice of medicine and supported his artistic passions with the pen, declaring, “ Medicine is my lawful wi...

Just So Stories, A Selection, by Rudyard Kipling “But different folk have different views; I know a person small – She keeps ten million serving-men, Who get no rest at all! She sends ‘em abroad on her own affairs, From the second she opens her eyes – One million Hows, two million Wheres, And seven million Whys! For a man who spent so much of his life traipsing between far-flung places in the worl...

The Willows by Algernon Blackwood “It was as exactly as through we had disturbed some living yet invisible creatures at work.” Before J.J. Abrams captivated millions in the TV series Lost , there was The Twilight Zone . And before Twilight Zone , there was H.P. Lovecraft. And before H.P. Lovecraft, there was Algernon Blackwood, the original “ghost man.” Blackwood was born into a rigid, fearful env...

“The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight. He had never felt so lonely and dismal.” When Washington Irving published “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” he cleverly chose a well-known British publisher, John Murray, despite being an American himself. This credentialing, paired with the captivating nature of the...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe The Turn of the Screw , Part 2, Henry James Henry James was raised as a member of the American elite—shuttling between the New and the Old Continent—under the watchful attention, customary to the time, of...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe The Turn of the Screw , Part 1 , by Henry James Henry James was raised as a member of the American elite—shuttling between the New and the Old Continent—under the watchful attention, customary to the time,...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe The Shadows on the Wall by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, 1903 Mary Wilkins Freeman was the grande dame of writers, recording “quiet” New England life at the turn of the twentieth century. As the first recipient...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe The Fall of the House of Usher , by Edgar Allan Poe Outside of his writing, Edgar Allan Poe led a rather unremarkable life. It was an existence that would give any mother cause for concern. Not his, for Po...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe "The Happy Prince" & "The Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde is most often known for his witticisms, which can lead one to assume he moved in an air of lightness. Words like “dazzling,” “frivolous,”...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe "The Coup de Grace" by Ambrose Bierce & "Araby" by James Joyce Suffering is a fact of the human condition. Shaping it has been the basis of many religions, and coming to terms with it the lifeblood of many...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapters 7-12, by Lewis Carroll The second half of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is all about wordplay and games. There are misunderstandings, clarifications, and songs...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapters 1-6, by Lewis Carroll When I first conceived of the concept for Classics Read Aloud , I had Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland near the top of my list, but rather d...

Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway Every day, dozens of outdoorsmen head out into nature, armed with video cameras, battery packs, and oh-so-many envelopes of instant oatmeal, to capture their communion with nature. And every day, tens of thousands of would-be outdoorsmen tune into YouTube to watch the newest videos coming from the field. The outdoor genre is booming, with estimates easily...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe "The Devoted Friend" by Oscar Wilde & "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain There are a number of well-known themes in classic literature: love, power and corruption, nature versu...

Subscribe to Classics Read Aloud to receive future readings, including commentary and interesting "et cetera" tangent links, right to your inbox: https://classicsreadaloud.substack.com/subscribe Double Birthday by Willa Cather By the time the short story “Double Birthday” appeared in the pages of The Forum in February of 1929, Willa Cather was already well-known and widely published. One of Ours h...