Rosslyn Carlyle

4 books read for LibriVox

filter sort era audiobooks

Fables Aesop, translated by V. S. Vernon Jones
You already know half these stories (the fox and the grapes, the boy who cried wolf), but reading them straight through is different: tiny, sly, sometimes brutal little lessons you can finish three of while your tea steeps. Good bedside book, not a cover-to-cover one.
Fifty-One Tales Lord Dunsany
These are tiny fables, most under a page, where Death, Time, and forgotten gods wander around being wry and melancholy (Charon gets one of the best endings I know). Lovely to sip a few at bedtime, though read straight through they can blur together.
The Inspector General Nikolai Gogol, translated by Thomas Seltzer
A vain little nobody blows into a corrupt town, gets mistaken for a government inspector, and just rolls with it, borrowing money from every trembling official in sight. You'll read it in an evening, laugh at Khlestakov's shameless lying, then notice the satire still lands on people you know.
The Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan
Every character is named for exactly what they are (Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Giant Despair), which sounds heavy-handed until you're stuck in the Slough of Despond yourself and it lands.

4 books read for LibriVox

filter sort era audiobooks

Fables Aesop, translated by V. S. Vernon Jones
You already know half these stories (the fox and the grapes, the boy who cried wolf), but reading them straight through is different: tiny, sly, sometimes brutal little lessons you can finish three of while your tea steeps. Good bedside book, not a cover-to-cover one.
Fifty-One Tales Lord Dunsany
These are tiny fables, most under a page, where Death, Time, and forgotten gods wander around being wry and melancholy (Charon gets one of the best endings I know). Lovely to sip a few at bedtime, though read straight through they can blur together.
The Inspector General Nikolai Gogol, translated by Thomas Seltzer
A vain little nobody blows into a corrupt town, gets mistaken for a government inspector, and just rolls with it, borrowing money from every trembling official in sight. You'll read it in an evening, laugh at Khlestakov's shameless lying, then notice the satire still lands on people you know.
The Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan
Every character is named for exactly what they are (Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Giant Despair), which sounds heavy-handed until you're stuck in the Slough of Despond yourself and it lands.