Chapter 1 — Dracula by Bram Stoker — Audiobook

Dracula — Chapter 1

The first chapter of my audio recording of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Chapter 5 — Frankenstein by Mary Shelley — Audiobook

Frankenstein — Chapter 5

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Chapter 4 — Frankenstein by Mary Shelley — Audiobook

Frankenstein — Chapter 4

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Chapter 3 — Frankenstein by Mary Shelley — Audiobook

Frankenstein — Chapter 3

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Chapter 2 — Frankenstein by Mary Shelley — Audiobook

Frankenstein — Chapter 2

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley – Chapter 1 – Audiobook

Frankenstein — Chapter 1

The commencement of Victor Frankenstein's narrative

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You are Old, Father William – Poem by Lewis Carroll

Poem 59 - 100 days of poetry

“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

“In my youth,” Father William replied to his son,
“I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.”

“You are old,” said the youth, “as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door –
Pray, what is the reason of that?”

“In my youth,” said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment – one shilling the box –
Allow me to sell you a couple?”

“You are old,” said the youth, “and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak –
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”

“You are old,” said the youth, “one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose –
What made you so awfully clever?”

“I have answered three questions, and that is enough,”
Said his father; “don’t give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I’ll kick you downstairs!”

VII. Stepping Westward – Poem by William Wordsworth

Poem 49 - 100 days of poetry

Poem VII from 'Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803'

"What, you are stepping westward?"—"Yea."
—'Twould be a 'wildish' destiny,
If we, who thus together roam
In a strange Land, and far from home,
Were in this place the guests of Chance:
Yet who would stop, or fear to advance,
Though home or shelter he had none,
With such a sky to lead him on?

The dewy ground was dark and cold;
Behind, all gloomy to behold;
And stepping westward seemed to be
A kind of 'heavenly' destiny:
I liked the greeting; 'twas a sound
Of something without place or bound;
And seemed to give me spiritual right
To travel through that region bright.

The voice was soft, and she who spake
Was walking by her native lake:
The salutation had to me
The very sound of courtesy:
Its power was felt; and while mye eye
Was fixed upon the glowing Sky,
The echo of the voice enwrought
A human sweetness with the thought
Of travelling through the world that lay
Before me in my endless way.

Epitaph on Charles II. – Poem by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647–1680)

Poem 47 in my 100 days of poetry series

Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King,
Whose word no man relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.