Jim Mowatt

3 books read for LibriVox

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The History of Henry Esmond William Makepeace Thackeray
You settle into Henry Esmond’s mock memoir as he moves through Restoration England, where Catholic loyalty, ambition, and appetite tangle around the courts of Charles II and James II. It’s long and deliberately old-fashioned, but his vanity and Thackeray’s sharp social comedy reward patience.
The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe
You follow Emily St Aubert from sunlit France into the oppressive corridors of Udolpho, where music, shadows, and a black veil keep your nerves pleasantly busy. It’s long, ornate, and sometimes dramatically overwrought, but the atmosphere is so carefully sustained that the castle starts haunting you too.
The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli, translated by W. K. Marriott
It reads less like philosophy and more like a sharp coworker leveling with you about how power actually works, with Cesare Borgia as the case study. Short, blunt, weirdly funny in places.

3 books read for LibriVox

filter sort genre era

The History of Henry Esmond William Makepeace Thackeray
You settle into Henry Esmond’s mock memoir as he moves through Restoration England, where Catholic loyalty, ambition, and appetite tangle around the courts of Charles II and James II. It’s long and deliberately old-fashioned, but his vanity and Thackeray’s sharp social comedy reward patience.
The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe
You follow Emily St Aubert from sunlit France into the oppressive corridors of Udolpho, where music, shadows, and a black veil keep your nerves pleasantly busy. It’s long, ornate, and sometimes dramatically overwrought, but the atmosphere is so carefully sustained that the castle starts haunting you too.
The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli, translated by W. K. Marriott
It reads less like philosophy and more like a sharp coworker leveling with you about how power actually works, with Cesare Borgia as the case study. Short, blunt, weirdly funny in places.