Coffee Break Collection 023 - Mysteries, Riddles and Conundrums


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.2 stars; 4 reviews)

This is the twenty-third Coffee Break Collection, in which Librivox readers select English language public domain works of about 15 minutes or less in duration -- perfect to listen to during commutes, workouts or coffee breaks. The topic for this collection is Mysteries, Riddles and Conundrums. Short mystery fiction, puzzles that have baffled generations, whether solved or unsolved and anything our forefathers have struggled to explain. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose, essays...who knows what you will discover? (1 hr 56 min)

Chapters

Advice From A Caterpillar, Chapter 5 of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Lewis … 14:39 Read by Michele Fry
AD 1048 And the Case of Diabolical Sorcery in Rome by Roger of Wendover 3:47 Read by Craig Campbell
Cleopatra—How did She Die? By John Elfreth Watkins 7:05 Read by Andrea Kotzer
The Conclave of the Universe by Stanton A. Coblentz 2:42 Read by Anita Sloma-Martinez
Conscious by Wilfred Owen 1:14 Read by ChadH94
The Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold by John Elfreth Watkins 7:06 Read by Andrea Kotzer
A Fable by Mark Twain 6:15 Read by William Allan Jones
How Rome Fell to the Visigoths by Procopius 9:35 Read by Craig Campbell
Jack the Ripper by John Elfreth Watkins 7:01 Read by Andrea Kotzer
Madness by Rainer Maria Rilke 1:26 Read by ChadH94
A Mad Tea-Party, Chapter VII from Alice In Wonderland By Lewis Carroll 15:21 Read by Michele Fry
Mr. Bloke's Item by Mark Twain 8:14 Read by Anita Sloma-Martinez
The Mysterious Origins of Fires by James Scott 8:22 Read by Garth Burton
1619 And The Negro in Virginia by C. Braxton Bryan 5:55 Read by Craig Campbell
On Teaching by Kalil Gibran 1:42 Read by ChadH94
The Smart Mystery by Anonymous 3:05 Read by Colleen McMahon
The Strange Escape of the King's Jester: The Mysterious Rope by Henry Ernest Du… 3:48 Read by KevinS
Solution to The Strange Escape of the King's Jester: The Mysterious Ropebby Hen… 1:37 Read by KevinS
The Squires Christmas Puzzle Party -- Three Teacups by Ernest Dudeney 4:39 Read by KevinS
Solution to the Squires Christmas Puzzle Party -- Three Teacups by Ernest Duden… 3:04 Read by KevinS

Reviews

Mysteries? What mysteries?


(3 stars)

Nicely read. Collection seems almost entirely random. Wisdom from Khalil Gibran, a bit about the fall of Rome, the history of “The Negro in Virginia”, what sounds like a newspaper clipping about a possibly commonplace disappearance... If you’re hoping to puzzle your mind and test your brain, you won’t get much of that here. Only the last few sections offer a chance to ‘solve the mystery’ and even those are rather unsatisfactory, as the solutions are guessed at. The mystery that haunts me is: why were these bits collected together at all?