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In celebration of Independence Day in the United States, 2006, LibriVox volunteers bring you ten different recordings of <em>The Flag Goes By</em> by Henry Holcomb Bennett. This was the Weekly Poetry project for the week of July 2nd, 2006.<br />(Summary by Annie Coleman)

2Card

By Arnold Bennett

The ‘Card’ in question is Edward Henry Machin - His mother called him ‘Denry’. This light-hearted story is of his rise from humble beginnings as the son of a washerwoman and sempstress in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, in the pottery towns (which Arnold Bennett christened ‘The Five Towns’) of the English Midlands; how, by his own wits, enterprise and ‘nerve’ he rose to wealth, married bliss and public recognition as the youngest-ever mayor of his home town.<br /><br />“’And yet,’ demanded Councillor Barlow, ‘what’s he done? What great cause is he identified with?<br />’‘He’s identified,’ said the speaker, ‘with the great cause of cheering us all up’.” (summary by Andy Minter)

3Price of Love

By Arnold Bennett

Rachel Louise Fleckring works for the elderly Mrs Maldon, and although with the woman for only a short time, she is taken into the heart of the family. She falls in love with one of Mrs Maldon's descendants, but along the way, she has to come to terms with the fact that he isn't, perhaps, the perfectly honest man she thought he was. (Summary by Christine)

4How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day

By Arnold Bennett

"Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say 'lives,' I do not mean exists, nor 'muddles through.'" -- Arnold Bennett knew a "rat race" when he saw one. Every day, his fellow white-collar Londoners followed the same old routine. And they routinely decried the sameness in their lives.-- So Bennett set out to explain how to inject new enthusiasm into living. In this delightful little work, he taught his fellow sufferers how to set time apart for improving their lives. Yes, he assured them, it could be done. Yes, if you want to feel connected with the world, instead of endlessly pacing the treadmill (or, "exceeding your programme", as he called it), you must do so.-- For time, as he gleefully notes, is the ultimate democracy. Each of us starts our day with 24 hours to spend. Even a saint gets not a minute more; even the most inveterate time-waster is docked not a second for his wastrel ways. And he can choose today to turn over a new leaf! -- Bennett believed that learning to discern cause and effect in the world would give his readers an endless source of enjoyment and satisfaction. Instead of only being able to discuss what they had heard, they could graduate to what they thought... and lift themselves completely from the deadening influence of a day at the office. (Summary by Mark F Smith)

5Old Wives' Tale

By Arnold Bennett

The Old Wives' Tale is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1908. It deals with the lives of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their stories from their youth, working in their mother's draper's shop, into old age. It is generally regarded as one of Bennett's finest works. It covers a period of about 70 years from roughly 1840 to 1905, and is set in Burslem and Paris. (Summary by Andy)

6Grand Babylon Hotel

By Arnold Bennett

Theodore Racksole, a rich American multi-millionaire, buys the Grand Babylon Hotel, a luxurious hotel in London, as a whim - and then finds out there are strange things going on - a German prince is supposed to arrive but never turns up, someone is found murdered in the hotel, but then the body disappears. With the help of his independent daughter Nella and another German prince, Racksole sets out to solve the mystery.<BR><BR> Bennett wrote this as a 15-part serial, for a lark, in 15 days, and sold it for 100 pounds. It first appeared in The Golden Penny in 1902, which described it as "the most original, amusing, and thrilling serial written in a decade". (Summary by Anna Simon)<BR><BR>NB the Wikipedia page for this book (see link on the left) contains some plot spoilers!

7Literary Taste: How to Form It

By Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett describes a method for enjoying literature, and suggests the contents of a comprehensive library. Chapters 1-10 and 14 describe his method for learning to enjoy literature. Chapters 11, 12, and 13 contain detailed lists of the 337 volumes required to complete a comprehensive library of English works. This reading is from the 1913 version at Project Gutenberg, and so does not contain the revisions made by Swinnerton for the 1939 edition, which included authors of the early Twentieth Century. Swinnerton's revisions are available from Wikipedia. (Summary by Timothy Ferguson)

8Tales of the Five Towns

By Arnold Bennett

This is a selection of short stories recounting, with gentle satire and tolerant good humour, the small town provincial life at the end of the nineteenth century, based around the six towns in the county of Staffordshire, England, known as the Potteries. Arnold Bennett chose to fictionalize these towns by changing their names and omitting one (Fenton) as he apparently felt that “Five Towns” was more euphonious than “Six Towns”. The real town names which are thinly disguised in the novel are: Hanley, Longton, Burslem and Tunstal, the fifth, Stoke, became “Knype”. <br /><br />Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was born in Hanley, the eldest child of a pawnbroker who subsequently became a solicitor. Bennett’s father wished him to become a solicitor too, but he failed his university entrance examination and instead became a solicitor's clerk, at first in his father's office and, from 1889, in London. <br /><br />He showed early promise as a writer winning a writing competition in a local newspaper as a boy. In London he began to see his writing published in popular magazines and he joined the staff of ‘Woman’ magazine in 1893. <br /><br />His first novel to be published, <em>A Man from the North</em>, appeared in 1898 and its success allowed him to give up other work to concentrate on writing. His first short story (<em>A Letter Home</em>) was written in 1893 and appears in <em>Tales of the Five Towns</em>. (Summary by Martin Clifton)

The plot centers on Anna Tellwright, daughter of a wealthy but miserly and dictatorial father, living in the Potteries area of Staffordshire, England. Her activities are strictly controlled by the Methodist church. Having escaped her father by marrying the respectable and attractive Henry, she attempts in vain to help Willy, son of a drunken and bankrupt business associate of her father's. (Summary by Wikipedia)

10Mental Efficiency

By Arnold Bennett

In this light-hearted yet thought-provoking collection of articles, Bennett offers his thoughts on exercising the mind, organising your life, the advantages (and disadvantages) of marriage and other pocket philosophies.<BR/><BR/>The book stands the test of time, and much is still relevant and amusing - perhaps even more so, with nearly 100 years of hindsight, than when it was originally written.<BR/><BR/>The book "X" to which Bennett refers in Chapter 5 is <i>An Essay on the Principle of Population</i> by Thomas Malthus, of which there is also a <a href="http://librivox.org/an-essay-on-the-principle-of-population-by-thomas-malthus/" target="_blank"> Librivox recording</a>. (Summary by Ruth Golding)

11Regent

By Arnold Bennett

'The Regent' is, if not a sequel to 'The Card', then a 'Further Adventures of' the eponymous hero of that novel.<br /><br />Denry Machin is now forty-three and begins to feel that he is getting old, that making money and a happy home life are not enough and that he has lost his touch as the entrepreneur and entertainer of the 'Five Towns'.<br /><br />In fact, as he says to himself 'What I want is change - and a lot of it too!'. A chance meeting at the local theatre leads to his going to London and then... (Summary by A.J.M.)

12Clayhanger

By Arnold Bennett

This first of a trilogy of novels is a coming-of-age story set in the Midlands of Victorian England, following Edwin Clayhanger as he leaves school, takes over the family business, and falls in love.<BR>The books are set in Bennett's usual setting of "the 5 Towns", a thinly-disguised version of the six towns of "the Potteries" which amalgamated (at the time of which Bennett was writing) into the borough (and later city) of Stoke-on-Trent.<BR>In one of the earlier chapters in the book, Bennett writes that Edwin had only heard of a philosopher as 'someone who made the best of a bad job' and in some ways that is what Edwin has to do in the book - survive under a stifling layer of conduct imposed by his father, his church and the society he is part of.<BR>(Introduction by Wikipedia, summarised by seasound11)

This book is a good reference on the perennial flower gardening and landscaping. It contains information on growing the plants from seed and explains how to grow and care for the traditional garden flowering plants, bulbs, trees, and shrubs. There are sections covering all aspects of ornamental gardens including water gardens and caring for house plants in the winter. The author has lots of unexpected but good advice in her chapter of Don’ts, for example: “ Don’t supply with cut flowers, plants and the like, people who spend more money for unnecessary luxuries than you do for your whole garden, and then tell you how foolish you are to spend so much time and money, and work so hard for your flowers.” As this shows, the author is at times as colorful as the flowers in this informative book (Summary by A.L. Gramour)

This book is a good reference on vegetable gardening. It covers the economic value of a vegetable garden, planning and locating the garden, maintaining soil fertility, hotbeds, garden tools, sowing seeds, transplanting seedlings, growing and storing vegetables, managing garden pests, and fall garden work.(Summary by A.L. Gramour)

In <i>The Feast of St. Friend, a Christmas book</i>, Arnold Bennett shares his views on Christmas as the season of goodwill. As always, Bennett's writing includes some thought-provoking ideas liberally spiced with his wry sense of humour, and as always too, you can barely believe it was written so long ago. This was published exactly 100 years ago, in 1911. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)

<br />Bennett's essays always provide food for thought and bring a wry smile to the lips. Human nature, it appears, changes little over the ages, and Bennett, as always, stands the test of time, though in the case of some of the essays in this eclectic collection, it is well to remember that they were written at the time of the First World War and the fight for women's suffrage. (Summary by Ruth Golding)

17Matador of the Five Towns and Other Stories

By Arnold Bennett

Twenty-two short stories by Arnold Bennett, mainly set in the 'Five Towns', Bennett's name for the pottery manufacturing towns of the English midlands (Summary by Andy Minter)

18Human Machine

By Arnold Bennett

Bennett asks us to consider our brains as the most wonderful machine, a machine which is the only thing in this world that we can control. As he writes: "I am simply bent on calling your attention to a fact which has perhaps wholly or partially escaped you -- namely, that you are the most fascinating bit of machinery that ever was."<br /><br />As ever, his prose is honeyed, his thoughts inspired, and his advice as relevant today as when it was written.

19Hilda Lessways

By Arnold Bennett

This book is the second in Bennett’s four books about life in the Five Towns (the real life Potteries in Staffordshire). It tells the story of Hilda before her marriage to Edwin Clayhanger (from the first book). Bennett explores Hilda's ambition to make a career for herself, her coming of age and her working experiences as a shorthand clerk and keeper of a lodging house in London and Brighton. He also shows her intensifying relationship with the enigmatic George Cannon that ends in her disastrous bigamous marriage and pregnancy, and finally her reconciliation with Edwin Clayhanger (Summary by Simon Evers)

20These Twain

By Arnold Bennett

Hilda is saved from destitution by Edwin Clayhanger who marries her. The two, with Hilda's son by her disastrous 'marriage' to George Cannon, are living in Bursley. Edwin does not enjoy an entirely happy marriage with Hilda because of her outspokenness. Hilda has strong opinions on matters which at the time were considered to be a male preserve – for example, on Edwin’s business. She also does things without telling him. As a consequence, Edwin has his doubts about their marriage and is angered by his wife just as he had been by his father. The book shows how Hilda and Edwin attempt to compromise, its title being a play on words: does it mean "these two" or "these separate"? It is suggested that they had both become perhaps too set in their ways before their marriage, even though each was in some way 'saved' by their union. (Summary by Simon Evers)

21Pretty Lady

By Arnold Bennett

‘The Pretty Lady’ is considered to be one of Bennett's most revealing and under-rated works. It is the story of a French prostitute, Christine, who has escaped from wartime Ostend, and set herself up in business in London. Though a refugee, she demands no pity; she is self-sufficient, practical and realistic. Christine is not a harpy preying on innocent soldiers, but a canny businesswoman, doing the best she can with the opportunities life has given her. Her main relationship is with G.J. Hoape, a wealthy man above the military age. Bennett in this novel presents a disturbing image of wartime society, fragmented, uneasy and divided. There are references to industrial unrest and to social injustices, and hints that the British press is less than frank about the war. (Summary by Simon Evers)

22Buried Alive

By Arnold Bennett

The hero is Mr Priam Farll, a painter of considerable ability. He is, however, extremely shy – so shy that when his valet, Henry Leek, dies suddenly, the doctor believes the dead man to be Priam Farll and the live man the valet. The artist does not try to disabuse him. After the funeral (in Westminster Abbey), Priam Farll marries a widow and lives a happy life until the loss of his wife’s money means he has to take up painting again. A connoisseur of art recognises his style but thinks the paintings are by an imposter. He makes a fortune by buying his works through a small dealer and selling them in America as genuine. Meanwhile Priam Farll refuses through his obstinate shyness to prove his own identity. (Summary by Simon Evers)

23Roll-Call

By Arnold Bennett

"The Roll-Call" is the sequel to the Clayhanger trilogy. This book concerns the young life of Clayhanger's stepson, George. George Edwin Cannon (he quickly dropped the surname Clayhanger), is an architect, in many ways representing the ambitions held by his stepfather, Edwin. However, he possesses an arrogance endowed by family wealth and Bennett examines with some aplomb the difficulty of bringing up children without spoiling them. George eventually joins the army and this is a fitting finale to this fine series. (Summary by Simon Evers)

24Ghost: A Modern Fantasy

By Arnold Bennett

The novel opens with Carl Foster, a recently qualified doctor, coming to London to try and make his fortune. He meets a famous tenor, Signor Alresca, who suffers a dreadful injury backstage and Foster tends to him. He thus meets the lead soprano, Rosetta Rosa, and falls hopelessly in love with her.<br><br>Alresca takes Foster under his wing and they travel to Alresca's home in Bruges. It is clear to Foster that Alresca has some strange obsession. Foster also notices a stranger who seems to be dogging his footsteps.<br><br>Things take an even more sinister turn when Alresca inexplicably dies. . .<br><br>(Summary by Simon Evers)

25How to Live on 24 Hours a Day (version 2)

By Arnold Bennett

Are you really 'living', or just existing? Do you want to improve yourself or just continue to muddle through? Do you use the time given you each day, or just throw most of it away? These questions Bennett asks each of us and for those who want to really live and learn, offers very valuable advice.<br /><br /> Time is the most precious of commodities, states Bennett in this book. Many books have been written on how to live on a certain amount of money each day. And he added that the old adage "time is money" understates the matter, as time can often produce money, but money cannot produce more time. Time is extremely limited, and Bennett urged others to make the best of the time remaining in their lives. Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say "lives," I do not mean exists, nor "muddles through." Which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the "great spending departments" of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be? [...] Which of us is not saying to himself -- which of us has not been saying to himself all his life: "I shall alter that when I have a little more time"? We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is. - Summary from the author's preface and the reader.

26Great Man: a Frolic

By Arnold Bennett

Subtitled 'A Frolic', this light-hearted book follows the fortunes of Henry Shakespeare Knight who, rather to his own surprise, writes a best-selling novel. (Summary by Simon Evers)

27Old Adam

By Arnold Bennett

Edward Henry Machin, whose rise from humble beginnings to prosperity was told in 'The Card', leads a comfortable life in the English Midlands 'Five Towns'. Yet when he unexpectedly gains three hundred and forty-one pounds in a speculation on rubber shares, he realises that he doesn't 'feel so jolly, after all'. After a visit to the local music hall, he decides that a change is in order. He takes the morning train to London, where adventures in the theatrical world await. 'The Old Adam' was also published under the title, 'The Regent'. (Phil Benson)

28Leonora

By Arnold Bennett

Leonora Stanway is 40 and lives a comfortable middle-class life with her unsympathetic and dull husband, John. Her three daughters are rapidly growing up and away and she regrets that her life has become dull, domesticated and meaningless. Arthur Twemlow, the son of John’s former business partner, blows into Leonora’s life and that of her family. Meanwhile, old Uncle Meshach has re-written his will . . . . - Summary by Simon Evers

Arnold Bennett escribió Enterrado en vida después de su obra más conocida y seria, Cuento de viejas, y siempre la consideró como su novela más delirantemente divertida. Defensor del realismo ("En primer término, una novela debería parecer verdad. Y no puede parecer verdad si los personajes no parecen reales") y crítico con las novelas sensacionalistas decimonónicas, Enterrado en vida no deja de tener ciertas características de estas últimas (confusión de identidades, esposas secretas, románticas heroicidades) como un travieso y satírico guiño al lector avisado. Sin embargo, es la extraordinaria prosa de Bennett la que consigue que cualquier lector olvide el mundo que le rodea y, sin ningún esfuerzo, se encuentre paseando por el Londres de 1908 con el singular señor Priam Farll. Bennett convierte un simple paseo por High Street, una conversación con el estanquero, o una merienda en un salón de té, en escenas tan nítidas y reales, tan coloristas, que lo cotidiano se vuelve extraordinario. Summary by Phileas Fogg

30Mr. Prohack

By Arnold Bennett

Mr Prohack, an ordinary official in the Treasury and leading a hum-drum life, suddenly and unexpectedly inherits a large sum of money which, with a lucky investment, he turns into a fortune. This humorous book follows his progress and that of his wife, son and daughter who all, in their different ways, slowly get used to their new lives. - Summary by Simon Evers

31Lilian

By Arnold Bennett

Lilian works in a typewriting office owned by Felix Grig, a middle-aged man of means. The office is run by his spinster sister, Miss Grig, who suspects that Felix is more interested in Lilian than perhaps he should be and gives Lilian the sack. Her plan fails as Felix invites Lilian to dinner – and the book follows the course of their evolving relationship.

32Clayhanger (Version 2)

By Arnold Bennett

A coming-of-age story about Edwin Clayhanger, who leaves school, has his ambition to become an architect thwarted by his tyrannical father, Darius, and so works in the family printing business. Edwin eventually takes over the business successfully. The story follows Edwin’s relationships with his family and the mysterious Hilda Lessways. It is the first book of four in the Clayhanger series, following Edwin’s life. - Summary by Simon Evers

33Riceyman Steps

By Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennet's masterly novel is a gritty tale about a bookseller whose life and love of a woman are afflicted by miserliness. It is set in London's characterful Clerkenwell district shortly after the First World War. - Summary by Anthony Ogus

Published in 1917, this is a collection of a novella and seven short stories by one of the cleverest authors of the early twentieth century. ‘In Queen's Quorum (1951), a survey of crime fiction, Ellery Queen listed Bennett's The Loot of Cities among the 100 most important works in the genre. This collection of stories recounts the adventures of a millionaire who commits crimes to achieve his idealistic ends. Although it was "one of his least known works," it was nevertheless "of unusual interest, both as an example of Arnold Bennett's early work and as an early example of dilettante detectivism".’ - Summary by David Wales

35Your United States: Impressions Of A First Visit

By Arnold Bennett

Enoch Arnold Bennett (1867 – 1931) was an English writer. He is best known as a novelist, but he also worked in other fields such as journalism, propaganda and film. In 1911 Bennett paid a financially rewarding visit to the US, which he later recorded in this 1912 book Those United States in England; titled Your United States in America. He is a keen observer with an entertaining dry wit.- Summary by David Wales

36Grim Smile Of The Five Towns

By Arnold Bennett

The Grim Smile of the Five Towns (1907) is the second major collection of stories written by Arnold Bennett. (The first is Tales Of The Five Towns, 1905, available at Librivox.).The five towns of the title are the conurbation of Stoke-on-Trent in which much of the writer's best work is set. Later [than initial] critics have been kinder to the collection's key story, with Margaret Drabble calling "Simon Fuge"... one of the greatest short stories in the English language", and John Wain remarking that... "it says as much as a novel, it says easily as much as a novel of a hundred thousand words could say on this theme" and naming it... "the best thing that Arnold Bennett ever did." The stories exhibit Bennett's usual dry wit and belie the word "grim" in the title. - Summary by David Wales

37Over There: War Scenes On The Western Front

By Arnold Bennett

Bennett's served in many capacities in the WWI war effort. After a visit to the Western Front he wrote this 1915 collection of essays about his impressions. He declined being awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) at the end of the war. - Summary by David Wales

Thirteen short stories (1924) by a master story teller of the early twentieth century. His writings, fiction and nonfiction, were popular with the public. After contributions to the WWI war effort, he declined the Order of the British Empire (OBE). - Summary by David Wales.

39Helen with the High Hand

By Arnold Bennett

James Ollerenshaw is a middle-aged, wealthy bachelor who lives in Bursley, one of the Five Towns. A chance encounter with Helen, his great step niece, a determined young lady in her twenties, turns his whole world – and hers - upside down. The book humorously follows the fortunes of them both as we learn more about the pair. - (Summary by Simon Evers)

40Tower Menagerie

By Edward Turner Bennett

Such is a brief outline of the history up to the present period of the establishment known as the Tower Menagerie. Of the animals contained in it during the summer of 1828, and of two others which had then recently died, the succeeding pages offer delineations, descriptions, and anecdotes. - Summary by Edward Turner Bennett

This 1926 collection of sixteen essays on religion by well-known people (mostly authors) in the early 20th century brings together articles written originally in the popular press of the time (The London Daily Express): Arnold Bennett, Hugh Walpole, Rebecca West; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Compton Mackenzie, J.D. Beresford; Israel Zangwill, H deVere Stacpoole, Henry Arthur Jones, and several prominent clergy. - summary by david wales

42Sacred and Profane Love

By Arnold Bennett

Carlotta Peel is an unusual young woman – clever, self-opinionated, a brilliant author and yearning to love and be loved but also to serve her lover. The book, written in the first person, follows her surprising (and odd) journey through life. - Summary by Simon Evers

43Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore, and China Vol. 1

By George Bennett

The Work now given to the Public is the result of a series of recent excursions into the interior of the Colony of New South Wales, at intervals of disengagement from professional duties, and at periods of the year best calculated for observations in natural history. To this are added a detail of such incidents as appeared to the Author worthy of notice, while visiting Batavia, Singapore, China, &c. on his return to England. The writer in his narrative has limited himself principally, if not entirely, to the notes taken at the instant of observation, his object being to relate facts in the order they occurred; and, without regard to studied composition, to impart the information he has been enabled to collect in simple and unadorned language, avoiding, as much as possible, the technicalities of science. London, June, 1834. - Summary by the author

44Man from the North

By Arnold Bennett

Richard Larch, a young man from the north of England, arrives in London to seek his fortune. By day he works as a clerk in an office but has aspirations of becoming a writer. He also yearns to find a suitable wife. The story follows him as he tries to achieve both ambitions. The book is Bennett’s first and is partly autobiographical. (Summary by Simon Evers)

45Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore, and China, Vol. 2

By George Bennett

Second volume of George Bennet's observations as a naturalist. "The Work now given to the Public is the result of a series of recent excursions into the interior of the Colony of New South Wales, at intervals of disengagement from professional duties, and at periods of the year best calculated for observations in natural history. To this are added a detail of such incidents as appeared to the Author worthy of notice, while visiting Batavia, Singapore, China, &c. on his return to England. The writer in his narrative has limited himself principally, if not entirely, to the notes taken at the instant of observation, his object being to relate facts in the order they occurred; and, without regard to studied composition, to impart the information he has been enabled to collect in simple and unadorned language, avoiding, as much as possible, the technicalities of science." London, June, 1834. Please note some listeners may find the language and ideas presented offensive. It is Librivox policy to not edit works as they represent the time in which they were written.