I enjoy reading books and I usually have a few on the go. They are typically non-fiction, but sometimes a novel. I also like to write about what I read (of which you can find examples of throughout my blog).
Towards the end of 2019 I found myself recording myself reading various short stories (written by others); these, and more, I have uploaded to either SoundCloud or Youtube. I continued this effort in 2020-1 with the intention uploading something every Saturday (although this effort slipped in later months!):
16 January 2021
How Arshad Served His Master
https://youtu.be/yf_04djNBPA
05:41
09 January 2021
The Man Who Refused A Bribe
https://youtu.be/fG88J6VPoxI
04:54
02 January 2021
Father Damien by Claude Williamson
https://youtu.be/FGJ-pyYhPIc
41:42
30 November 2020
The Immortal Three: Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato
https://youtu.be/HWdIt-5q0H8
27:01
10 October 2020
Light And What It Is
https://youtu.be/5I7UUoJZHf0
8:51
18 July 2020
Sir Francis Drake’s Diary
https://youtu.be/bRyo37A23yw
13:53
04 July 2020
Siven Land by Norman Douglas
https://youtu.be/XEiX9ivQ2s8
6:29
27 June 2020
Tristan da Cunha – The Lonely Isle by G. Cooper
https://youtu.be/g-LDXZ-FCa0
36:29
20 June 2020
Enchanted Islands by John Culmer
https://youtu.be/xiVoUg08Uq0
6:01
13 June 2020
The (Present) Crisis by James Russell Lowell
https://youtu.be/20eSqxeEXFA
7:50
6 June 2020
The Birth of an Island
https://youtu.be/fA2aWu7FsoQ
12:47
30 May 2020
Providence by George Herbert
https://youtu.be/e_nyfzqSYRc
11:26
23 May 2020
Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
https://youtu.be/om3J1eTnCCs
26:07
16 May 2020
The Ride on a Wild Horse
“Mazeppa was a page-boy in the house of a Polish nobleman, who, angry with him for something he had done, called for a wild Tartar horse he had caught the day before, lashed Mazeppa to its back, and set it free. The horse sped furiously away until it fell dead in the country of Ukraine. There a Cossack set Mazeppa free and brought him back to life. Lord Byron makes Mazeppa tell his story to a king after a great battle, and ends by making him reign on the throne of Ukraine. Here we give the parts of the poem that describe the great ride of Mazeppa.”
https://youtu.be/yJl9aHbsd0I
13:19
9 May 2020
Legends from the Isles of Shoals
https://youtu.be/j3O_B54mZIU
12:00
2 May 2020
Farne Islands Sanctuary
https://youtu.be/JB42jG5yvD8
5:16
25 April 2020
Guano Island
https://youtu.be/ra08Cg29sCQ
3:24
18 April 2020
The Story of the Months
https://youtu.be/iVF7Bx9Y_Ug
15:43
11 April 2020
The Story of the Days
https://youtu.be/T2yjz3DuuwM
12:02
4 April 2020
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot
https://youtu.be/bQ35N9wWxNg
8:37
15 February – 28 March 2020
Night 53-61 of One Thousand and One Nights
53: https://youtu.be/6bSc2MvN6Pg (14:15)
54: https://youtu.be/4WBEXTrNHbE (7:31)
55: https://youtu.be/eKIu54H5PQU (14:09)
56: https://youtu.be/WA5ySmrLMl8 (8:44)
57: https://youtu.be/waPlkDZeG8I (6:18)
58: https://youtu.be/voIF2NQbxTs (7:07)
59-61: https://youtu.be/rn7XvcoUY_M (20:41)
8 February 2020
On the Way or All Aboard! by Claude Williamson
https://youtu.be/5cBENvEvBPU
42:46
1 February 2020
The Book of Zechariah 12-14
https://youtu.be/T8MPviXsAdU
10:34
25 January 2020
‘Cagliari’ by Hilaire Belloc
https://youtu.be/R7q-iOEkiMk
7:53
18 January 2020
The Story of Brave Grizel Hume
https://youtu.be/6U3zVCHaCu8
9:10
11 January 2020
The Tricks Of Scapin
https://youtu.be/QiFvsbuIdcc
5:42
The Lad Who Slept At His Post
https://soundcloud.com/bmh81/brian-reads-the-lad-who-slept-at-his-post
2:09
4 January 2020
The Original Robinson Crusoe
https://youtu.be/maDflaM-gqw
16:03
Related post: https://bmhonline.wordpress.com/…/being-a-robinson-crusoe/
29 Dec 2019
Apocalyptic Scenario 1.a
https://soundcloud.com/bmh81/apocalyptic-scenario-1a
3:40
Read by request from: https://davecline.wordpress.com/2019/12/27/apocalyptic-scenario-1-a
28 Dec 2019
A Christmas Story by Charles Dickens: The Child’s Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YD7A_VYGus
9:47
27 Dec 2019
A Christmas Story by Charles Dickens: The Poor Relation’s Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ2QuZjvB54
25:59
Related post: https://bmhonline.wordpress.com/2019/12/27/christmas-with-dickens
5 Dec 2019
The following were read from Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia, Volume 7, page 5087-8. Related post: https://bmhonline.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/story-time-november
The Strangers At The Door
https://soundcloud.com/bmh81/the-strangers-at-the-door
5:53
The Race From Marathon
https://soundcloud.com/bmh81/the-race-from-marathon
3:24
How Rustem Met His Son
9:11
https://soundcloud.com/bmh81/how-rustem-met-his-son
Jack Frost Opens The Chestnut Burrs
2:04
https://soundcloud.com/bmh81/jack-frost-opens-the-chestnut-burrs
Mother Nature’s Spring Helpers
2:16
https://soundcloud.com/bmh81/mother-natures-spring-helpers
I intend to record more readings throughout 2020. You can support my efforts here:
Brian’s 2020 Reading Pile:
The Children’s Encyclopedia by Arthur Mee:
I’ve owned a 10 volume set of these old encyclopdias since my childhood, but had never read them, so I thought I would read one volume a year. For 2020 I have the target of working my way through Volume 8, reading 1/12th of the volume each month.
The Great Arab Conquests by John Bagot Glubb
Great True Stories of The Islands by Claude Williamson