John Steinbeck Reads

Hear him read two short stories, here.

The Oldest Playable Recording of an American Voice

Vintage Recordings of Patti Smith's Poetry

Awesome.

One of Smith's poems...

seventh heaven

Oh Raphael. Guardian angel. In love and crime

all things move in sevens. seven compartments

in the heart. the seven elaborate temptations.

seven devils cast from Mary Magdalene whore

of Christ. the seven marvelous voyages of Sinbad.

sin/bad. And the number seven branded forever

on the forehead of Cain. The first inspired man.

The father of desire and murder. But his was not

the first ecstasy. Consider his mother.

Eve's was the crime of curiosity. As the saying

goes: it killed the pussy. One bad apple spoiled

the whole shot. But be sure it was no apple.

An apple looks like an ass. It's fags' fruit.

It must have been a tomato.

Or better yet. A mango.

She bit. Must we blame her. abuse her.

poor sweet bitch. perhaps there's more to the story.

think of Satan as some stud.

maybe her knees were open.

satan snakes between them.

they open wider

snakes up her thighs

rubs against her for a while

more than the tree of knowledge was about

to be eaten...she shudders her first shudder

pleasure pleasure garden

was she sorry

are we ever girls

was she a good lay

god only knows

What's a Beat?

Ask Jack Kerouac.

Hear Charles Dickens' Great-Granddaughter Read "A Christmas Carol"

Enjoy!

F. Scott Fitzgerald Reads from Othello

Hear F. Scott Fitzgerald Read Poetry

Open Culture shares Fitzgerald reciting "Ode to a Nightingale," here.

KCRW's Bookworm

Want to listen to some great interviews with some great authors? Michael Silverblatt is your man to give it to you as the Bookworm on KCRW radio. Recently he interviewed such authors as Jane Smiley, Aimee Bender, Peter Carey, Yann Martel, Ian McEwan and many others.

Happy listening!

The Duran Duran Book Club

First off, the book club is real (singer Simon Le Bon is a bit of a bibliophile).

Secondly, you can hear Simon read a couple passages of a new book - Rob Sheffield's Talking to Girls About Duran Duran.

Thirdly, here's a video of "Save a Prayer":



Fourthly, here's some Duran Duran fan fiction!

Fifthly, here's a piece I wrote about Duran Duran for McSweeney's.

Sixthly, my neighbor growing up, Andy Golub, is now known as Durandy.

Seventhly, here's Duran Duran signing "Rio":

The Book That Changed Your Life

Which was it for you? It might not even be your favorite book, just one that altered who you are in some way. This American Life dedicates a show to books.

For me? I don't know if I could pick one, though Twenty Love Poems and Song of Despair, by Pablo Neruda makes an impression.

Top Ten Audio Recordings

Listverse has your list, including the only recording of a true castrato, the voice of Florence Nightingale, and the first recorded Pope (Leo XIII, pictured above).

This is Just to Say

The Guardian has some audio of the great William Carlos Williams discussing his most famous poem.

This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

Book Review Podcasts

Each week, Sam Tanenhaus, the editor of the Book Review, talks to authors, editors and critics about new books, the literary scene and current best sellers. The program is available as a podcast on NYTimes.com and iTunes. You can listen in here.

Poetry Aloud

You don't have time to go to your local independent bookstore for a poetry reading or an open mic? Fear not, you can listen to all sorts of classic poetry, read aloud to great affect, here.

Robert Frost, Out Loud

The sound is the gold in the ore.
- Robert Frost

Robert Frost Out Loud is a site dedicated to audio recordings of Frost's poetry, many read by Frost himself.

Here's a poem of his, "Waiting":

Afield at Dusk

What things for dream there are when spectre-like,
Moving among tall haycocks lightly piled,
I enter alone upon the stubble field,
From which the laborers’ voices late have died,
And in the antiphony of afterglow
And rising full moon, sit me down
Upon the full moon’s side of the first haycock
And lose myself amid so many alike.

I dream upon the opposing lights of the hour,
Preventing shadow until the moon prevail;
I dream upon the night-hawks peopling heaven,
Each circling each with vague unearthly cry,
Or plunging headlong with fierce twang afar;
And on the bat’s mute antics, who would seem
Dimly to have made out my secret place,
Only to lose it when he pirouettes,
And seek it endlessly with purblind haste;
On the last swallow’s sweep; and on the rasp
In the abyss of odor and rustle at my back,
That, silenced by my advent, finds once more,
After an interval, his instrument,
And tries once—twice—and thrice if I be there;
And on the worn book of old-golden song
I brought not here to read, it seems, but hold
And freshen in this air of withering sweetness;
But on the memory of one absent most,
For whom these lines when they shall greet her eye.