Interactive English

'Ovsyanikov reminded me of the Russian boyars of the times before Peter the Great...The national holiday dress would have suited him well. He was one of the last men left of the old time. All his neighbours had a great respect for him, and considered it an honour to be acquainted with him. His fellow peasant-proprietors almost worshipped him, and took off their hats to him from a distance: they were proud of him.'

High above the city, on a tall column, stands the statue of the Happy Prince. He is gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he has two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glows on his sword hilt. He is very much admired by the town officials, yet a lot of poor people suffer here.

People in whom the muscular system is proportionately larger and more highly developed than any of the other systems are Musculars. This system consists of the muscles of the organism. Without them we would be helpless masses of fat and bone; we could not blink an eye nor lift a finger. Yet we are so accustomed to them that we rarely think of them and seldom give them credit for what they do.

Enter the world of mystery with this timeless audiobook adaptation of Leskov's classic ghost story uncovering mysteries of a haunted castle with a reputation going back several centuries. Featuring ghost action and audio effects, it includes a story that takes you through events unfolding in St. Petersburg in 1859 or 1860.

This release also includes another story of mysterious disappearance. A nineteenth-century nobleman goes missing in Turgenev's "Hunting Sketches".

Once upon a time there was a very beautiful doll's-house; it was red brick with white windows, and it had real muslin curtains and a front door and a chimney. One morning Lucinda and Jane had gone out for a drive in the doll's perambulator. There was no one in the nursery, and it was very quiet. Presently there was a little scuffling, scratching noise in a corner near the fire-place, where there was a hole under the skirting-board.

Once upon a time there was a frog called Mr. Jeremy Fisher; he lived in a little damp house amongst the buttercups at the edge of a pond. The water was all slippy-sloppy in the larder and in the back passage. But Mr. Jeremy liked getting his feet wet; nobody ever scolded him, and he never caught a cold!

Cats aren't always nice to each other. A handsome, discreet, middle-aged, respectable, responsible, domesticated tabby cat reveals his darkest secrets. There was nothing to trouble him until some thoughtless person gave his human master the white Persian cat. Read in English, unabridged.

Subtle humour is one of the key elements in Chekhov's imaginative stories. But as an artist, Chekhov is more complicated. He paints life with all its nuances and shades of grey. His stories are full of characters who give us invaluable insight into universal wisdom of everyday life - civilised professionals, enlightened misfits, philanthropic gentry, rich landowners and impoverished royalty holding candles for reason, justice and passion.

Once upon a time, two poor woodcutters were making their way home through a great pine forest. It was winter and a night of bitter cold. The snow lay thick upon the ground and upon the branches of the trees; the frost kept snapping the little twigs on either side of them as they passed; and when they came to the Mountain Torrent, she was hanging motionless in air, for the Ice King had kissed her. Read in English, unabridged.

Long ago, in the merry days of good King Arthur, there lived a ploughman and his wife. They were very poor but would have been content and happy if only they could have had a little child. One day, having heard of the great fame of the magician Merlin, who was living at the court of King Arthur, the wife persuaded her husband to go and tell him of their trouble.

In this volume we enter the hidden world of cats and discover their ways of life and how cat mothers teach their kittens important wisdom and lessons of life. The humorous tales are told through the eyes of the animal and reveal a great deal about human people as well as cat people. In the second half of this volume we meet a mysterious countryman who lives in deep forest and is able to talk to birds in their own language. We follow him on his meditative journey and learn more about animal life, nature, and Gamayune, a prophetic bird of Russian folklore. Read in English, unabridged.

The theme of romance continues in this volume and begins with iconic 'The Lady with the Dog' by Anton Chekhov. Set in Yalta, Crimea, appears at first as a holiday romance. Gurov is a married man but he holidays on his own and has a history of holiday affairs. He meets the lady of the story’s title with her Pomeranian dog. But Chekhov’s love stories are not romantic accounts of unrequited love or of love at first sight. Or, even of tortured love that is amplified by the agony of being unfulfilled. No, these are Chekhovian tales that surprise and intrigue our imagination. The second of this collection continues with King Lear.

There plenty of spooky action in this volume of tales. Ghosts, apparitions, entire armies of fairies and fairy queens. The volume opens with Shakespeare's timeless classic A Midsummer Night's Dream and continues to get more frightening with haunted castles in Leskov's The Ghost of the Engineers' Castle.

Some of the most iconic tales made it into this volume of Fairy Tales for Adults. These stories with universal appeal for generations of all ages bring some of the most memorable characters together. They seem both familiar and mysterious every time one comes in contact with them. The eternal wisdom and charm keeps these stories alive for hundreds of years.

The most essential thing in the world to any individual is to understand himself. The next is to understand the other fellow. From this book you are going to learn which of the five types you are and how to get the best out of it. The alimentive type, or The Enjoyer, is discussed in this volume as well as all key principles of human analysis. Read in English (unabridged).

This traditional Christmas carol is also know by its ancient name, 'Greensleeves', dating from England around the time of Henry VIII, and some say that it was even written by the king himself. This recording offers reading of the English-language lyrics followed by magical harp music based on original Christmas carol melody.

On a hot summer day two carpenters, Gerasim and Lyubim, sit in a pond, floundering about in the water under a willow tree, beside the unfinished bathing shed they were supposed to be working on. Blue from cold and wrangling, they struggle to drag a large eelpout by the gills, from under the root....

The cabman Iona's son recently died. He desperately and unsuccessfully tries to have a talk with the people he meets and tell them of how shattered he is. He ends up talking to his horse. Read in English, unabridged.

A boy of two years and eight months makes his first foray into the outside world in a company of his somewhat wayward nanny and is quite overwhelmed, having got even his first taste of alcohol. In the evening he cannot get to sleep. The soldiers with the brooms, the big cats, the horses, the bit of glass, the tray of oranges, the bright buttons, all gathered together, weigh on his brain. He tosses from side to side, babbles, and, at last, unable to endure his excitement, begins crying.

A selection of stories about very naughty cats and their adventures. Cats confess in their conversations what it is like to live with humans of different ranks and professions. Some of the very dark secrets are also revealed here. Cats aren't always friendly with each other, apparently. And of course these delightful tales told through the eyes of the animal are full of wit and humour which only cats know how to express best. Read in English, unabridged.