Virtual Read-Alouds | Bloomfield Township Public Library

Settle in—it’s story time! Enjoy a softly read short story, poem, or essay read aloud by an Adult & Teen Services librarian.

The Virtual Read-Aloud program was designed to celebrate classic stories and traditional storytelling. These short form “audiobooks” offer listeners the chance to enjoy a quick, accessible narrative that combines literature with ambient sounds and seasonally-relevant elements. Sit back, relax, and immerse yourself in a narrative that has been carefully selected just for patrons’ pleasure.

Materials selected for these read-alouds are in the public domain and are typically sourced from Project Gutenberg, so that listeners can read along if they would like.

In August 2024, the Virtual Read-Aloud program published its final reading (below). New titles will no longer be added to its bibliography, but all past content will remain on the Virtual Read-Aloud Vimeo channel.

Many thanks to the Friends of the Library for sponsoring the closed captioning on each video, and a sincere thank-you to our listeners for their engagement over the years.

Virtual Read Aloud. I have not brought my Odyssey. Charles Hamilton Sorley.

So I descend beneath the rail
To warmth and welcome and wassail.

Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895 – 1915) was a Scottish scholar, soldier, and poet who wrote an impressive number of poems during his short life. Killed in action during World War I, his poetry was published posthumously in a collection titled Marlborough and Other Poems, and immediately became a critical success.

Sorley’s time as a soldier influenced much of his creative work, and “I Have Not Brought My Odyssey” is an example of this, invoking the oral traditions of storytelling going back to the Trojan war. Sorley adds himself to the ranks of soldiers who, immured in the timeless tide of war, cast themselves into the future through their dreams of returning home.

Want to read along? Click here to read the poem on Project Gutenberg.

Sound effects included in this video were captured live by the reader, and no sound effects from other creators were used. No copyright infringement and/or commercial usage is intended.

Thank you to the Friends of the Bloomfield Township Public Library for sponsoring the closed captioning of this video.

Want to hear more? Enjoy all of our Virtual Read-Alouds on Vimeo.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (April 2021)

The Spirit of the Herd by Dallas Lore Sharpe (May 2021)

The Story-Teller by Saki (June 2021)

Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth (July 2021)

Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald (August 2021)

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (September 2021)

The Fear by Robert Frost (October 2021)

The Grave-Mound by the Brothers Grimm (October 2021)

The Interlopers by Saki (November 2021)

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (December 2021)