Out of copyright books recs?

[brigdh]

I've always had a great deal of trouble falling asleep (which, interestingly, I just ran across a reference that that it might be a common trait in Seasonal Affective Disorder, though I haven't had time to look into the research). The current workaround I'm using to try and trick my body into going to sleep in a reasonable amount of time is to listen to audiobooks – specifically ones from LibriVox. LibriVox is a fantastic resource, if you've never heard of it before: free audiobooks of out of copyright works read by volunteers. They have an impressively enormous catalogue of books, but the trick is finding ones worth listening to, since I'm not actually interested in "According to Promise, or The Lord’s Method of Dealing with His Chosen People" or "Abraham Lincoln: A History, Volume 10" even for the purpose of driving myself into unconsciousness.

I've already listened to all of Jane Austen, several of Anthony Trollope, Ivanhoe, P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves (only two are out of copyright, unfortunately), Jane Eyre and Villette, Lady Audley's Secret (which is a FANTASTIC sensation novel, if you've never heard of it, and one I highly recommend), Dickens's Bleak House, and probably at least a few others I can't remember right now.

And now I need more. What books would you all recommend? It's a good bet that anything written pre-1920 probably exists on LibriVox, so feel free to rec anything you've enjoyed reading, not just a specific recording. Since it is for the purposes of sleeping, I've found that anything too grim (Heart of Darkness) or too complicated (Joyce's Ulysses) doesn't work well, but a mildly amusing and engaging tone is ideal.

Comments

[yantantether]

Roast Beef Medium by Edna Ferber - an incredibly charming story about a travelling saleswoman, with a fantastic central character.

Wired Love by Ella Cheever Thayer - two telegraph operators falling in love down the wire, and some great stuff about boarding house life.

And I enjoyed a bunch of Mary Roberts Rinehart's mysteries (for example, The Circular Staircase)

Also, The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle is a ROMP.

[brigdh]

Those all sound like EXACTLY the sort of thing I'm looking for! Thank you so much!

[movingfinger]

Hi, network reader here, if you liked Lady Audley's Secret, you might enjoy East Lynne. I think you may also like to try out some of Mrs. Ann Radcliffe's sensational novels. Pendennis by Thackeray is less dated (to me) than Vanity Fair, which drowns in its own wit these days---Pendennis is more like an early Trollope. I see they have multiple versions of Three Men in a Boat, arguably one of the greatest works of English literature, but that might keep you up, laughing. If you liked the Jeeves books, you will probably also like Wodehouse's Psmith books too.

Happy listening!

[brigdh]

Thank you so much!

I actually completely adore Vanity Fair, so it should of occured to me to check out Thackeray's other works. And I do like the Psmith novels, possibly even more than Jeeves; the only thing that's prevented me from enjoying them on LibriVox is that I read them recently, and wasn't interested in a second go round quite so soon. Your other recs also sound like exactly my sort of thing.

Thanks for stopping by!

[threeplusfire]

Edith Wharton's The Reef, The Custom of the Country and House of Mirth were all pre 1920!

[brigdh]

Oh, I quite enjoyed House of Mirth when I read it several years ago. I should totally check out more Edith Wharton!

[watersword]

Wharton! Dumas! (I don't know if there are pre-1920 translations, though.) Dickens's Little Dorrit is his best work, imo.

[brigdh]

All excellent ideas! :) Little Dorrit is one of the few Dickens I've never read; I really should check that out.

[cloudsinvenice]

Are there any readers you particularly like? R and I are both finicky about people's delivery, so haven't had a lot of luck with LibriVox so far, but I'd be keen to try any recommendations!

[brigdh]

I have basically no standards and will listen to anyone, so I'm afraid I won't be of much help to you. But I did think Elizabeth Klett was very good, as is Kirsten Wever though she hasn't recorded as much.

[osprey_archer]

WHAT WHY DIDN'T I KNOW THIS WAS A THING it is actually not useful to me at this very moment because I have not arranged a good place in my life to listen to audiobooks BUT NOW THAT I KNOW THERE ARE INFINITE AUDIOBOOKS OF TOTALLY OBSCURE AUTHORS I WILL FIND ONE.

I see that they have Jean Webster's Daddy-Long-Legs and When Patty Went to College, both of which amusing and engaging (although if anything they might be too amusing. You never know till you try, though). Also Evaleen Stein's Gabriel and the Hour Book, which is fun, and Ethel Cook Eliot's The Little House in the Fairy Wood (I am never going to stop being crushed that so much of Eliot's work comes after 1923, which is the date that work goes under copyright in the US and stays there forever, THANKS DISNEY)...

They've also got the first two books in the Molly Brown college series, plus it looks like the third one is in the works, so that's fun. And... I think maybe I should stop now before I inundate you with possible recommendations... I just got very excited.

[brigdh]

Ha, I'm very glad to have introduced it to you! I find washing dishes to be an excellent time for audiobooks, if that helps.

Thank you for the recs! Those all sound like exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for.

[lynndyre]

About half the Scarlet Pimpernel books were published pre-1920, if they appeal?

[brigdh]

Oh, I didn't even know the Scarlet Pimpernel had sequels! Thanks for an excellent idea!

[lynndyre]

Eldorado is my favourite (it's the one about rescuing the Dauphin, and Percy getting captured and sleep-deprivation tortured by Chauvelin) but they're mostly good? (Though I'd probably skip the First Sir Percy and The Laughing Cavalier, they're about Percy's ancestor, and they're not as good)

[brigdh]

Thank you. It's nice to know where to start... and which to skip!

[carmarthen]

I did some research into this recently, too - in my case, it's more that I am groggy until fairly late and then get a lot of energy in evening/night (sometimes I also have trouble falling asleep at a reasonable hour). Almost delayed sleep phase disorder, but I guess just delayed enough to make being a normal member of society miserable but not enough to be considered a disorder. The sleep research is really complicated stuff.

(I did try the meditation app HeadSpace for a while, and it turns out that if I use it while lying in bed it tends to put me to sleep. Less entertaining than audiobooks, though!)

[brigdh]

The sleep research is really complicated stuff.
It is! I didn't even know there were multiple types of insomnia (trouble falling asleep vs waking up too early vs waking up in the middle of the night) until yesterday! So much to learn.

[carmarthen]

Yeah, I've never really had the second two kinds, and my mom doesn't have the first - they take different strategies. And there's a lot of trial and error, sigh.

[brigdh]

Yeah, I only have the first kind too. Currently my audiobook strategy is working well, but I've used it before and sometimes it randomly stops working, so... *shrugs*

[evelyn_b]

THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER is available in English, just saying! Maybe it's too overheated for falling asleep to, though.

Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson is another one from the 18th century that I liked a lot, and definitely fits the bill of being mildly amusing and engaging imo. It might be a little hard to follow in parts because Boswell practices Extreme Digression.

(I always end up feeling guilty because I started to read Lady Audley's Secret a bunch of times and never got very far).

[brigdh]

THE SORROWS OF YOUNG WERTHER is available in English, just saying!
Hahaha, that's a good idea!

And ooh, I've heard very good things about Life of Samuel Johnson.

I always end up feeling guilty because I started to read Lady Audley's Secret a bunch of times and never got very far
It's funny how different one reader is from another – I was sucked in right from the beginning!

[evelyn_b]

Life of Johnson is exactly the sort of book people are thinking of when they talk about books being your friends for life, and in this case you get two very different but equally human, frustrating and lovable friends for the price of one.

It's funny how different one reader is from another – I was sucked in right from the beginning!

It's just one of those things! That's part of what makes recommendations fun.

[(Anonymous)]

The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas
The Way We Live Now by Trollope
The Woman in White by Collins
North and South by Gaskell

If you haven't read them yet.

I've always been curious about Daniel Deronda but never read it.

[marchek]

Apparently I was logged out and it left an anonymous reply.

[brigdh]

'North and South' has totally been on my list to try! I watched the BBC miniseries a year or two ago and enjoyed it. And oooh, Count of Monte Cristo is an excellent idea. Nice and long, too - which is very much a solution to my constant need of finding a new book.