Recorded Books classics library | Park County Library System

The Powell Library's last open day will be April 1. The library will be closed April 2-until the grand opening at our new location.

1) 20,000 leagues under the sea

Author

Verne, Jules, 1828-1905

Earliest Publication Date

1962

Summary

"Professor Aronnax sets off in search of a giant sea monster, only to find the monster is really a steel-plated submarine. Captured by the mysterious Captain Nemo, Aronnax witnesses the exploration of the Nautilus, the remarkable submarine Nemo has invented. But Aronnax comes to learn that Nemo is near insanity and must escape. It's an incredible journey into a mysterious world of excitement and danger!"--Page 4 of cover

2) About love: and other stories

Author

Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904

Earliest Publication Date

2014

Summary

A selection of some of Chekhov's short stories that capture his themes of alienation and the absurdity of life.

3) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court

Author

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910

Earliest Publication Date

1901

Summary

"The book relates the tale of Hank Morgan, an engineer from 19th century Hartford Connecticut, who is inexplicably transported to the early medieval England of King Arthur. While there he uses his knowledge of modern technology to appear as though he is a magician. Despite his best intentions, Hank?s attempts to modernize the past bring about a tragic end. A bittersweet depiction of the Arthurian legend through the eyes of a 19th century American..."...

4) A little princess

Author

Burnett, Frances Hodgson, 1849-1924

Earliest Publication Date

1975

Summary

Seven year old Sara Crewe learns of the tragic death of her father not long after she is left in the care of Miss Michin, headmistress of a boarding school. Now an orphan and stripped of her family fortune, Sara must survive the emotional trials of loss and the mental anguish of abuse at the hands of her new caretakers.

5) An owl on every post

Author

Earliest Publication Date

1970

Summary

"Sanora Babb experienced pioneer life in a one-room dugout, eye-level with the land that supported, tormented and beguiled her; where her family fought for their lives against drought, crop-failure, starvation, and almost unfathomless loneliness. Learning to read from newspapers that lined the dugout's dirt walls, she grew up to be a journalist, then a writer of unforgettable books about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, most notably Whose Names...

6) A raisin in the sun

Author

Hansberry, Lorraine, 1930-1965

Earliest Publication Date

1959

Summary

A three-act play concerned with the tensions in a middle-class African American family living on Chicago's Southside in the 1950s.

7) Around the world in eighty days

Author

Verne, Jules, 1828-1905

Earliest Publication Date

1924

Summary

One night in the reform club, Phileas Fogg bets his companions that he can travel across the globe in just eighty days. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, he immediately sets off for Dover with his astonished valet Passepartout. Passing through exotic lands and dangerous locations, they seize whatever transportation is at hand - whether train or elephant - overcoming set-backs and always racing against the clock.

8) A tale of two cities

Author

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870

Earliest Publication Date

1859

Summary

A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens's great historical novel, set against the French Revolution. The most famous and perhaps the most popular of his works, it compresses an event of immense complexity to the scale of a family history, with a cast of characters that includes a bloodthirsty ogress and an antihero as believably flawed as any in modern fiction. Though the least typical of the author's novels, A Tale of Two Cities still underscores...

Author

Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968

Earliest Publication Date

1945

Summary

Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, including longtime friend Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Dora, Mack and his boys, Lee Chong, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his...

10) Child of God

Author

McCarthy, Cormac, 1933-2023

Earliest Publication Date

1993

Summary

Cormac McCarthy has won nearly every major literary honor, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Set in Tennessee in the 1960s, this chilling novel sees Lester Ballard become increasingly isolated from society. After taking a deceased woman as a girlfriend, he "saves her" from a fire - and his life spirals into deepening depravity.

11) Civil disobedience, and other essays

Author

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862

Earliest Publication Date

1993

Summary

Philosopher, naturalist, poet and rugged individualist, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) has inspired generations of readers to think for themselves, to follow the dictates of their own conscience and to make an art of their lives. This representative sampling of his thought includes five of his most frequently cited and read essays: 'Civil Disobedience, ' his most powerful and influential political essay, exalts the law of conscience over civil law....

12) Common sense

Author

Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809

Earliest Publication Date

1976

Summary

Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Bauer World Press) In his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine presents a compelling and erudite argument for the independence of the American colonies from the British Crown. With sagacious prose, Paine explicates the inherent injustices and impracticalities of the colonial system, and passionately advocates for the establishment of a new, independent nation. Pane's incisive logic addresses the economic,...

Author

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865

Earliest Publication Date

1952

Summary

Step into the charming world of "Cranford" by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. This delightful novel invites you to a quaint English village, where the lives of its eccentric and endearing inhabitants are interwoven in a tapestry of humor, heartwarming moments, and social observations. Set in the early 19th century, the narrative unfolds through the eyes of Mary Smith, an outsider welcomed into the close-knit community. As she navigates the idiosyncrasies...

14) Daisy Miller

Author

James, Henry, 1843-1916

Earliest Publication Date

1879

Summary

A Timeless Classic of Societal Customs, Cultural Disputes, and The Cost of Non-Conformity Henry James' novella Daisy Miller, features one of his greatest heroines. At first glance it seems to be a simple story of a lovely young, independent American girl traveling through Europe. But her flouting of social conventions has the potential to lead to catastrophe as she disrupts the rigid social rules of the Old World, attracting and scandalizing all...

15) David Copperfield

Author

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870

Earliest Publication Date

1907

Summary

David Copperfield enjoys an idyllic life with his gentle, widowed mother and his loving nurse, Peggotty. Then tragedy strikes when Mr. Murdstone weds David's mother and drives her to an early grave. Despised by his stepfather, the boy is forced to live in misery and poverty until he runs away to throw himself upon the mercy of his eccentric aunt. Charles Dickens's classic tale of growing up.

16) Democracy in America

Author

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805-1859

Earliest Publication Date

1898

Summary

"Over one hundred and fifty years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French nobleman and an astute political scientist, came to the United States to evaluate the meaning and actual functioning of democracy. Democracy in America is the classic treatise on the American way of life that he wrote as a result of his visit." "Tocqueville discusses the advantages and dangers of the majority rule -- which he thought could be as tyrannical as the rule of...

Author

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821-1881

Earliest Publication Date

2008

Summary

The third of Dostoevsky's five major novels, Devils (1871-2), also known as The Possessed, is at once a powerful political tract and a profound study of atheism, depicting the disarray that follows the appearance of a band of modish radicals in a small provincial town.

Author

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616

Earliest Publication Date

1901

Summary

"One of the most frequently read and performed of all stage works, Shakespeare's Hamlet is unsurpassed in its complexity and richness. Now the most extensively annotated version of Hamlet to date makes the play completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century. It has been carefully assembled with students, teachers, and the general reader in mind." "Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary and...

19) Hans Brinker, or, The silver skates

Author

Dodge, Mary Mapes, 1830-1905

Earliest Publication Date

1865

Summary

A Dutch boy and girl work toward two goals--finding the doctor who can restore their father's memory and winning the competition for the silver skates. Includes a brief biography of the author and a history of ice skating.

20) Heidi

Author

Spyri, Johanna, 1827-1901

Earliest Publication Date

1924

Summary

A Swiss orphan is heartbroken when she must leave her beloved grandfather and their happy home in the mountains to go to school and to care for an invalid girl in the city. This edition of the classic tale includes illustrations and notes about the life of the times.

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