Ring Lardner is a typical parent when his first child is born, full of wonder and the rest of the usual emotions as he watches his little son grow. He wrote a series of 29 short poems on various facets of parenthood. (Summary by Jack Thro)

Authored by Isabella M. Alden under the pen name "Pansy." Ester Ried's life is a dull monotony of toiling at her family's boardinghouse. She's overworked, jealous and cranky, a poor example of a Christian to her family and associates. She awakens to a new attitude and commitment due to an extended visit with her cousin. (Summary written by Tricia G)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 9 recordings of Smile, Smile, Smile by Wilfred Owen. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of November 9th, 2008.

Originally published as a penny dreadful from 1845 until 1847, when it first appeared in book form, Varney the Vampyre is a forerunner to vampire stories such as Dracula, which it heavily influenced.

Flora Bannersworth is attacked in her own room in the middle of the night, and although her attacker is seemingly shot dead, the body is nowhere to be found. The discovery of two small bite marks on Flora's neck leads Mr Marchdale, an old friend of the family, to the conclusion that she was bitten by a vampire. While Flora recovers, her brother Henry and Mr Marchdale begin their hunt for the vampire. Their suspicions soon fall on the mysterious Sir Francis Varney, who has just bought an old abbey near Bannersworth Hall, and who bears an uncanny resemblance to Marmaduke Bannersworth, a long-dead ancestor of the family. (Summary by Annika Feilbach)

The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. Written about 440 BC, the Histories tell the story of the war between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus traveled extensively around the ancient world, conducting interviews and collecting stories for his book. The rise of the Persian Empire is chronicled, and the causes for the conflict with Greece. Herodotus treats the conflict as an ideological one, frequently contrasting the absolute power of the Persian king with the democratic government of the Greeks. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia.)

ENGLISH:
The New Testament is a collection of 27 books, of 4 different genres of Christian literature (Gospels, one account of the Acts of the Apostles, Epistles and an Apocalypse). Jesus is its central figure. The New Testament was written primarily in Koine Greek in the early Christian period, though a minority argue for Aramaic primacy.

ITALIAN:
Il Nuovo Testamento, facente parte della sola Bibbia cristiana, redatto originariamente in greco con numerosi semitismi, è composto dai quattro Vangeli, dalle lettere dell'apostolo Paolo, dalle Lettere cattoliche, dagli Atti degli Apostoli e dall'Apocalisse, per un totale di ventisette scritti. Tra le diverse confessioni cristiane (cattolica, ortodossa, protestante) c'è un sostanziale accordo sul numero e l'ordine dei libri.
(Summary from Wikipedia)