Snoozecast

Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Pride and Prejudice”, written by Jane Austen. In the last episode, Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle hurry home after hearing the terrible news about Lydia running off with Wickham. There is plenty of time as they travel to consider the situation from all angles, and try to reassure each other from too much worry. They arrive at Longbourne and reconnect with...

Tonight, we’ll read excerpts from “Meteorology, The Science of the Atmosphere” by meteorologist Charles Fitzhugh Talman, published in 1922. This episode first aired in April of 2021. The word meteorology, stemming from the Ancient Greek, means "the study of things high in the air." Though study of meteorology dates back millennia, significant progress did not occur until the 18th century. Prior at...

Tonight, we’ll read the 1921 short story “Mr. and Mrs. Dove” written by New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield. In this story, Reginald is a young man who works on a fruit farm in Rhodesia, but is currently back home in England for one more day. There, he visits his friend Anne with the pet doves, who he is in love with. Now known as Zimbabwe, Rhodesia was a state located just north of South Afric...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part of, “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. In the last episode, it’s the New Year and Aronnax keeps himself busy studying on the submarine as usual. The Nautilus enters dangerous waters and gets stuck on a reef. Seeing as they're already stuck on land, Ned and Conseil convince Aronnax to ask...

Tonight, we’ll read a selection of mouse-featured Beatrix Potter stories, starting with “Johnny Town-Mouse” and followed with “The Tale of Two Bad Mice” and “The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse.” This episode first aired in March of 2021. Beatrix Potter was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children's books featuring animals. Though Potter was typic...

Tonight, we’ll read the first part to the writing style guide “The Elements of Style”, written by William Strunk Jr. in 1918, published in 1920. Strunk was a professor at Cornell University and wrote the book for use at the university. He is best remembered for the version of this guidebook, enlarged in 1959 by his student, New Yorker writer E.B. White. Now in its fourth edition, it is the most fr...

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “Anne of Green Gables” the classic 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written for all ages, it recounts the adventures of an eleven year old orphan named Anne Shirley on Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with two middle-aged siblings, the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town. — read by N — Sign up for Snooz...

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “The Odyssey,” from the Samuel Butler translation, is one of two ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. This episode first aired in March of 2021. “The Odyssey” is one of the oldest works of literature still read by contemporary audiences. It follows the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the Trojan War. After the decade of war...

Tonight, we’ll read all about gemstones from the book “Jewels and the Woman” written by Marianne Ostier and published in 1958. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to check out our other jewelry episode featuring this author titled “The Story of Jewels” which aired in November 2022. Gemstones are classified into different groups, species, and varieties. For example, ruby is the red variety of the sp...

Tonight, we’ll read the final part to “Winnie-the-Pooh” a children’s story written by A.A. Milne and published in 1926. Pooh is naive and slow-witted, but he is also friendly, thoughtful, and steadfast. Although he and his friends agree that he is "a bear of very little brain", Pooh is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense. These include riding in Christop...

Tonight, we’ll read a story called Charan, The Dancing Maiden, taken from the book “Korean Folk Tales” written by Im Bang and translated to English by James Gale and published in 1913. This episode first aired in March of 2021. Im Bang was born in 1640, the son of a provincial governor. He was a great scholar and a disciple of one of Korea's first famed writers. When he was eighty years old, he be...

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “The Dream” a 1924 novel by H. G. Wells about a man from a Utopian future who dreams the entire life of a 19th century Englishman named Harry Mortimer Smith. In circa 4,000 A.D., a biologist named Sarnac is taking a holiday among mountains and lakes with his lover, Sunray. With four other holiday travellers, they visit some 2,000-year-old "ancient remains that ha...

Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Pride and Prejudice”, written by Jane Austen. In the last episode, Elizabeth is shocked to read a letter with wretched news from home- her sister Lydia has run off with Wickham. This will cause scandal to befall not only Lydia but the rest of her sisters. Immediately after reading the letter, Darcy pays a visit and tries to comfort her. She is inconsolable....

Tonight we’ll read the opening to A Little Princess, a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published in 1905. It is considered one of the top children’s books in the US of all time, along with Burnett’s other book, “The Secret Garden”. This episode first aired in February 2020. — read by V — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to  snoozecast.com/plus ! Learn m...

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to the 1940 mystery “Danger at the Drawbridge”, part of the “Penny Parker” anthology written by Mildred Wirt, also known by Mildred Benson. The first episode was “The Green Door” and aired on December 5th, 2022. These stories aren’t consecutive so don’t worry if you didn’t hear the first episode. You can pick up on this one just fine! Along with being the heroine of...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. In the last episode, our narrator Arronax and his companions watch the underwater world float by, including some shipwrecks. Nemo appears after a long absence and tells Aronnax they're headed for the island of Vanikoro, the site of two famous shipwre...

Tonight, we’ll read “A treatise on the art of making good wholesome bread of wheat, oats, rye, barley” by Friedrick Accum, published in 1821. Accum was a German chemist, whose most important achievements included advances in the field of gas lighting, efforts to keep processed foods free from dangerous additives, and the promotion of popular chemistry. Following an apprenticeship as an apothecary,...

Tonight, we’ll read “Surprise House” written by Abbie Farwell Brown and published in 1917. This children’s story depicts a legacy left by an eccentric old lady to her grand-niece. Brown was a prolific American author of children’s stories and poems, who spent her entire life living in her family’s Beacon Hill Boston home. Her family was at that time the 10th generation to live in New England. Brow...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “The Secret Garden”, a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett published in 1911. In the last episode, we delve into the concept of how thoughts, good or bad, have power to change one’s experience of life. While Colin and Mary were filling their heads with happy magic and their lungs with moorland breezes, Master Craven was hiking across Europe and starting to find a...

Tonight, we’ll read a story from Hans Christian Andersen called “Little Thumbelina.” Thumbelina is about a tiny girl and her adventures with marriage-minded toads, moles, and doodlebugs. She successfully avoids their intentions before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size. This episode originally aired in February 2021. Hans Christian Andersen was born in Denmark in 1805 to a sh...

Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “A world of green hills : Observations of nature and human nature in the Blue Ridge” written by Bradford Torrey and published in 1898. The Blue Ridge extends as far south as Georgia and as far north as Pennsylvania. From there it dwindles to hills, however the band of ancient rocks that form the core of the Blue Ridge continues northeast through the New Jersey an...

Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Winnie-the-Pooh” a children’s story written by A.A. Milne and published in 1926. This collection of short stories features an anthropomorphic teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, along with his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo. In the previous episode, we finished chapter eight, in which Christopher Robin plans to lead an expotiti...

Tonight, by listener request, we’ll read the opening to Swiss Family Robinson, a novel by Johann David Wyss, about a Swiss family shipwrecked in the East Indies en route to Australia. This episode first aired in February 2020. Wyss, a Swiss pastor, originally wrote this book to entertain and instruct his four sons. Years later, one of his sons, persuaded his father to allow him to complete and edi...

Tonight, we’ll read from “Walker’s Manly Exercises and Rural Sports” written by Donald Walker and published in 1855. Walker was a Victorian author of several books, including this one and Exercises for Ladies. He helped to introduce British society to an unfamiliar topic in the early nineteenth century: physical education. The birth of modern physical education teaching can be traced to teachers i...

Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Pride and Prejudice”, written by Jane Austen. In the last episode, Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner pay a visit to Pemberley and have an awkward tea with shy Miss Georgiana Darcy and conniving Miss Caroline Bingley. We will pick up right after Darcy has made an entrance. — read by V — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to  snoozecas...