Public Domain Readers discussion

This is the thread to recommend or ask for recommendations of public domain books.

I'm looking for a book that is set in Africa. Does anyone know of good one?

Lanelle wrote: "I'm looking for a book that is set in Africa. Does anyone know of good one?"

The winter rose is a good one. It is not exactly setted on Affrica, only a part of it is but I love it. It is actually the second book of a trilogy (the tea rose trilogy). The first book doesn't write about Africa at all so I'm not that sure if you'll like it, and you won't understand a thing if you start from the second one. The choice is yours.

Does anyone know a good dark academia book?

Spirit of a shadow wrote: "The winter rose is a good one. It is not exactly setted on Africa, only a part of it is but I love it. It is actually the second book of a trilogy (the tea rose trilogy). The first book doesn't write about Africa at all so I'm not that sure if you'll like it, and you won't understand a thing if you start from the second one. The choice is yours."

Thank you. Unfortunately, it's not public domain :(

I thought of H. Rider Haggard Allan Quartermain's stories. I think some of those are set in Africa.

Spirit of a shadow wrote: "Does anyone know a good dark academia book?"

I'm not sure of what 'dark academia' is. Can you give some examples?

Lanelle wrote: "Spirit of a shadow wrote: "Does anyone know a good dark academia book?"

I'm not sure of what 'dark academia' is. Can you give some examples?"


This genre can be defined broadly, but generally speaking the books have an academic setting and feature characters exploring darker urges, navigating crimes or dark secrets, or exploring dark speculative elements

Spirit of a shadow wrote: "This genre can be defined broadly, but generally speaking the books have an academic setting and feature characters exploring darker urges, navigating crimes or dark secrets, or exploring dark speculative elements"

The book that comes to my mind is Gaudy Night.

Here's the blurb: Gaudy Night takes Harriet and her paramour, Lord Peter, to Oxford University, Harriet’s alma mater, for a reunion, only to find themselves the targets of a nightmare of harassment and mysterious, murderous threats.

But before you read it, you have to first read Strong Poison then Have His Carcase.

Those books are in the public domain in Canada.

Strong Poison is available on https://gutenberg.ca/
Have His Carcase and Gaudy Night are available on https://www.fadedpage.com/

Sawako wrote: "Spirit of a shadow wrote: "This genre can be defined broadly, but generally speaking the books have an academic setting and feature characters exploring darker urges, navigating crimes or dark secr..."

thank you

Spirit of a shadow wrote: "thank you"

You're welcome. I hope you'll enjoy them. And please let me know what do you think when you read them. But it's okay if you don't want to read them.

Lanelle wrote: "I'm looking for a book that is set in Africa. Does anyone know of good one?"

I know Chinua Achebe, an African author, but I'm not sure if he is in public domain yet. Maybe some of his older stories.

I need your help, guys. I'm looking for short stories available in the public domain. But I need them like really, really short, I want to work them on a translation workshop I teach, so I need something that ideally is no longer than 1,000 words, so I can work the whole short story in class.
Would any of you know of any story that short?
Nothing religious, or romantic please. My students mostly like horror, scifi, fantasy, crime... Thanks, guys!

Carol wrote: "I need your help, guys. I'm looking for short stories available in the public domain. But I need them like really, really short, I want to work them on a translation workshop I teach, so I need som..."

Hey, Carol! Sorry for the late reply. I checked out LibriVox and they have collections on sci-fi and horror.

Short Science Fiction Collections: https://librivox.org/group/435

Short Ghost and Horror Story Collections: https://librivox.org/group/466

You can pretty much guess the number of words from the audio's length. I'll try to look for more.

Carol wrote: "I need your help, guys. I'm looking for short stories available in the public domain. But I need them like really, really short, I want to work them on a translation workshop I teach, so I need som..."

My first thought was O. Henry. He was king of the short story!

Some of his compilations: The Gift of the Magi and Other Short Stories, Sixes and Sevens: Stories, The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Millions, or The Four Million and Other Stories.

If I think of any other short stories, I'll be back.

Lanelle wrote: "Carol wrote: "I need your help, guys. I'm looking for short stories available in the public domain. But I need them like really, really short, I want to work them on a translation workshop I teach,..."

Thanks Sawako and Lanelle!!! I'll check them out to see if any of those might work for class. :)

Carol wrote: "Thanks Sawako and Lanelle!!! I'll check them out to see if any of those might work for class. :)"

Great! We're happy to help.

I'm looking for a public domain mystery that involves kidnapping. Does anyone know of one?

Lanelle wrote: "I'm looking for a public domain mystery that involves kidnapping. Does anyone know of one?"

What comes to my mind right now, is The Mystery of Mary. She was on the run. There is an audiobook of it on LibriVox.

I'll let you know if I remember another book.

Lanelle wrote: "I'm looking for a public domain mystery that involves kidnapping. Does anyone know of one?"

Are you still searching for one? Because I've come across this book The Three Hostages on LibriVox

Sawako wrote: "Are you still searching for one? Because I've come across this book The Three Hostages..."

I'm not, but thank you. I was just surprised when I went looking for a public domain book that would fit the task that I couldn't find one. Mystery books involving kidnapping must not have been a thing yet.

My newest themed search is pirate books. I've found Treasure Island (of course :), The Pirate Slaver; A Story of the West African Coast, The Pirate Island; A Story of the South Pacific, The Madman and the Pirate, Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates, The Ghost Pirates and The Motor Pirate.

Lanelle wrote: "I'm not, but thank you. I was just surprised when I went looking for a public domain book that would fit the task that I couldn't find one. Mystery books involving kidnapping must not have been a thing yet."

You're welcome. Really? So, what did you read?

Lanelle wrote: "My newest themed search is pirate books. I've found Treasure Island (of course :), The Pirate Slaver; A Story of the West African Coast, The Pirate Island; A Story of the South Pacific, The Madman and the Pirate, Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates, The Ghost Pirates and The Motor Pirate."

WOW! Pirates were very popular, unlike kidnapping. You can add to your list Captain Blood and The Sea-Hawk.

Sawako wrote: "You're welcome. Really? So, what did you read?"

I read a book published last year. (The Vanishing)

Sawako wrote: "WOW! Pirates were very popular, unlike kidnapping. You can add to your list Captain Blood and The Sea-Hawk."

I knew when I made the list that I would leave out some obvious pirate books. Thanks for reminding me of Captain Blood and The Sea-Hawk. The The Sea-Hawk was published in 1915, so that will fit for this month's number!

A couple of the books in my list were written by Harry Collingwood. I looked him up on Wikipedia and it says that he specialized in adventure stories with a nautical setting.

So, the book didn't have to be in the public domain, right? That's nice.

Good! Let me know what do you think of The Sea-Hawk. I've already read it but I don't remember the details.

It seems Harry is perfect for this month's theme.

Happy reading!