Free Listens

"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 14:09:00 +0000

Source: Literal Systems (MP3)
Length: 20 min
Reader: Jane Aker

The story: Since today is Christmas and I'm spending time with my family, I won't say too much about today's story. I will mention that it is a great favorite of mine. When I listened to this recording, I got a little bit teary at the ending, even though I've read the story dozens of times before. I hope you're having a merry Christmas and wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Rating: 10/10

The reader: Jane Aker is an excellent narrator, as I've previously noted in her reading of A Tale of Two Cities. This story is no exception. Her voice carries the emotion of Della as she makes her fateful decision and the nervous excitement as she waits for her husband Jim to arrive home. The recording is professionally produced and ends with an appropriately mournful Christmas piano piece.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Source: LibriVox
Length: 2 hr, 44 min
Reader: Glen Hallstrom

The book: How can I really review a book so well-loved, widely-read, and continuously-adapted as A Christmas Carol? I first read this book as a school assignment in the sixth grade. Apart from seeing innumerable dramatic performances ranging from a stage musical to a Muppets' movie, this is my first return to the actual book.

The two things I have always disliked about Charles Dickens, in spite of his skills as an author, are (1) his tendency to drag out a story with wordiness and meaningless subplots and (2) his use of blatant sentimentalism to force a reader to think a certain way. The first fault is largely avoided in this novella, since Dickens' inability to find a publisher limited him on how long he could make his story. In thinking about the second fault, I have to admire Dickens' ability to manipulate our emotions, even when we know it's coming. In this book, he deftly induces fear, laughter, sympathy, and disgust. Yes, this is a sentimentalist novel, but it is Christmas after all, and I think that allowing a little sentiment is part of the season.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Hallstrom affects a deep theatrical voice that enhanced my enjoyment of the novel. In his LibriVox disclaimer, he sounds American but he takes on an actor's British accent for the narration and characters. I'm not sure how accurate his accent is, but as a Southerner myself, I found it pleasent to listen to. Hallstrom really performs the novel rather than reading it and this performance brings out the humor and suspense to their fullest potential. By subtly altering his voice he distinguishes the characters admirably; his Scrooge voice is particularly excellent.

"The Fable of the Author Who Was Sorry for What He Did to Willie" by George Ade

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Source: Mr. Ron's Basement (MP3)
Length: 11 min
Reader: Ron Evry

The story: George Ade is a now-little-known American humor writer of the turn of the century. Many of his short stories take the form of modern-day "fables" with a ridiculous or incongruent moral tacked onto the end. In this fable, he imagines himself writing a poem so weepy and saccharine that he immediately throws it away. Little does he realize that this pathetic (in both senses of the word) poem would lead him to unexpected places.

I'm surprised that I had never heard of Ade before now. This story is so very funny because it exposes a truth about literature: that sentimentalism gains a broader audience than less facile entertainment. I'm reminded of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's frustration that no one wanted him to write anything but Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Perhaps Ade was expressing a similar frustration that he would never be able to write a serious magnum opus for which later centuries might remember him.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: The more I listen to Mr. Ron's Basement, the more I am enamored with this great podcast. Ron Evry is an excellent storyteller. He reads a little fast for my tastes, but if you're a fan of the Groucho Marx hit-em-with-a-joke-every-5-seconds school of thought, this will be right up your alley. Evry plays every funny line for all it's worth, going appropriately over-the-top with his voices and sarcastic asides. The recording is beautifully produced and bookended by some wonderfully silly banjo music.

Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Source: LibriVox
Length: Approx 4.5 hrs
Reader: Martin Clifton

The book: Charles Pooter is a middle-class clerk in Victorian London. He's tired of seeing published diaries about the great accomplishments of people he's never heard of. So, he starts a diary of his own. In it, he records the great trials and triumphs of his life: his epic battle with the boot scraper, the tiresomeness of his friends, the wittiness of his own puns, and the inability of his servant Sarah to bring him a good breakfast. This, indeed, is the same great time and place that produced Alfred Tennyson and Sir Winston Churchill.

I found this book to be laugh-out-loud funny (that's not actually a good thing when you're listening on headphones at the train stop). I'm sure that as many jokes I laughed at, there were probably just as many that I missed because of my ignorance of Victorian England culture. Even so, the book is a great insight to how people spent their days in the late 19th century. Pooter is one of British comedy's greatest characters: he's self-important, easily offended, insecure, and cheap while wanting to appear wealthy, cultured, and dignified. Yet, he is written so skillfully that even though we know he's a phony, we can't help but love him.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Martin Clifton matches this book perfectly as a narrator. His clipped British accent is the essence of Mr. Pooter's character. Clifton's tone is that of mild exasperation; he does not overplay the humor, which would have ruined the effect. He reads in a short, telegraphic rhythm that echoes the writing style of a journal. The recording is nicely done with a merely a whisper of background hiss.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Source: The New Yorker Fiction Podcast (MP3)
Length: 32 min
Reader: A. M. Holmes

The story: Somewhere in apple pie and general store America, a small town gathers for a yearly ritual: the lottery. Almost everyone, young and old, has assembled with a mixture of excitement and nervous energy. The older townspeople speak about memories of lotteries in the past, comparing the present protocol to how it used to be done. Expectations build as the preliminaries begin, leading up to the drawing.

This is a very famous story, at least in the U.S., and therefore has gathered a number of interpretations, from Christian to Marxist. Without giving away the ending, I cannot discuss these interpretations, but I do believe that, in addition to any other meaning, the story is about tradition. At the time when the story was written just after World War II, America had just been through a time of some of the most radical changes in its history. The lottery that the small town participates in is a constant, a holdover from their grandparents' day. Jackson respects this tradition. She shows the lottery as a source of pride for the town, but at the same time she makes it clear that even though it may bring people together, the objects of a tradition may not always be good.

Rating: 9/10

The reader: Ms. Holmes's reading reflects the quality of this piece. Her voice is quiet and calm, but with an underlying tension, just as in the story. The discussion at the end with fiction editor Deborah Treisman is enlightening. Included topics of conversation are one-hit writers, women authors in the 1940s, and the ghettoization of science fiction. As is typical for the NY'er fiction podcast, the production values are high. With all the belt-tightening going on in the media, I hope this podcast won't be one of the casualties.

Anthem by Ayn Rand

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Source: Thought Audio
Length: 2 hr, 12 min
Reader: Michael Scott

The book: Set in the future following a catastrophic war, the society portrayed in Anthem is collectivism taken to the extreme. Individuality has been nearly wiped out. The first person singular is outlawed and forgotten, replacing "I" with "we". People do not not have names, but designations containing a societal quality combined with a number. Equality 7-2521 is a man who feels the pull of individualism and is punished for it. When in the course of his duties, he discovers an old tunnel from before the wars, he gains a chance to break free.

Rand's portray of this society has much in common with works produced during the rise of communism, such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldus Huxley's Brave New World. Unlike these other examples of the sub-genre, I found Rand's dystopia lacking in realism and therefore less compelling. Anthem's society is a city all on its own without any sense of a larger world other than an ill-defined wilderness. Surely other pockets of humanity would have survived even the most horrific war and become a rival society to out-compete the anti-technology society portrayed here.

The other main problem that I have with the book is that the danger it forecasts in collectivism is no longer the pressing spectre it was to Rand, who had lived in Stalinist Russia. In the present, we are more in danger of the opposite, a world of complete individuals with no sense of brotherhood or the collective good. Just as science in Anthem is impossible because no one can become any greater than others, science in a world where every technique or discovery is patented and jealously guarded is equally impossible. Likewise art is equally difficult when the artist or writer is not allowed to be different as when anything mildly derivative runs the danger of a copyright lawsuit. For this reason, I see Anthem not as a story for our time, but as a historical document of the fear that collective society once held.

Rating: 7/10

The Reader: Scott has a deep, announcer-sounding voice that is very pleasant for listening. This stentorian voice, however, is one of the drawbacks as well. Scott speaks with such confidence and power that it is sometimes discordant with the position of the protagonist, who has been trained to see himself as just like everyone else. The steady patterns of his cadence and the radio-quality voice are great assets to make the words very understandable, so only true purists need worry about the incongruity of the voice. Some edits are audible through digital artifacts, but otherwise the audio is professionally produced with very little background noise.

Note: Thought Audio's books have at various times been free and behind a pay wall. If you would like this book, but find you cannot download it, try the always-free LibriVox version.

No reviews this week.

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:24:00 +0000

Due to busy times at work and home, I won't be posting any reviews this week. Check back next week when I'll have, as usual, one free audiobook and one free audio short story review.

Audiobooks for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:14:00 +0000

According to retailers, today marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Last year, my family put a focus on making a gift to give to everyone rather than buying so much. So, I designed and printed several covers for audiobooks from LibriVox. I burned the CDs and packaged them in some nice cases from Sleeve Town. The total cost was around $2 or $3 per gift, including the blank CDs, the CD cases plus shipping and some quality paper for printing. These were a big hit with my family.

If you'd like to try it yourself, you can get the cover designs at The Internet Archive and find a tutorial on how to create your own covers at the Librivox Wiki. If you don't have a program like PhotoShop, you can use GIMP (a free PhotoShop clone) or even use the limited graphic capabilities of MS Word or Powerpoint. Use the sidebar on this blog if you want to find a particular length of book or genre. This is a great do-it-yourself Christmas gift for anyone looking for cheap Christmas presents.

"The Boy Who Snared The Sun" by William T. Larned

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:55:00 +0000

Source: LibriVox (MP3)
Length: 15 min
Reader: Chip

The story: This story, taken from the larger collection American Indian Fairy Tales, is from the Ojibwa (Chippawa) tradition. The stories of this book were collected in the 1820s by the geologist and ethnologist Henry Schoolcraft while he was Indian Agent assigned to the Ojibwa tribe. About 100 years later, William T. Larned rewrote the stories and placed them in the framework of an old Indian storyteller imparting the tales to a young Indian boy and his sister. This particular story concerns the doormouse and how he came to be so small after having once been the largest of all animals.

This folktale has two opposite examples of a reversal motif. The titular boy who snares the sun is the weak triumphing over the strong, while the giant doormouse becoming small is the strong becoming weak. These motifs reoccur in literature throughout the world, from Horatio Alger stories to Greek tragedy. The repetition of these two opposing trajectories, one up and one down, suggests that change may not always for the better, but at least it's more interesting than staying the same.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: Chip has the voice of a natural storyteller; he is well suited to this folktale. His professional-quality baritone squeezes every drop of drama out of the narrative. The recording has a bit of a hiss on the "S" and "K" sounds, but this is easily overlooked because of the quality of the reader. The story and storyteller make me feel as if I had just curled up next to a roaring campfire to hear a great yarn-spinner work his craft.

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Source: LibriVox
Length: 17 hr, 18 min
Reader: Gary Sherwin

The book: The Last of the Mohicans is set in upstate New York during the French and Indian War. Natty Bumppo, known to the British-allied Indians as Hawkeye and to the French and their Indian allies as "Le Longue Carabine," is a scout in the hotly-contested portage between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes. He and his friends Chingachgook and Uncas, the last two members of the dwindling Mohican tribe, pledge to help two young ladies and their escort through the forest to Fort William Henry where their father is in command of the British forces. But the forest is filled with the French-allied Huron Indians, so it will take all of Hawkeye and the Mohicans' skill to get them through alive.

I was expecting this book to be a plodding period drama with long-winded descriptions of the American frontier and boring philosophical speeches on the noble savage. Cooper did throw in a few of these, but I found the descriptions moving and the speeches short and to-the-point. For the most part, this book was much more fun than I expected. Cooper designs some exciting action sequences with interesting devices for the heroes' escape. His villains and heroes alike are well-formed characters, despite borrowing heavily from American Indian stereotypes. The main asset of the book, however, was the setting. The French and Indian War is a short chapter in most American textbooks and little more than a footnote in European history, but Cooper's story is a great example of literature making history come alive.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Sherwin's reading is that of an amateur, but a talented amateur. He stumbles over a word from time to time, and noises like page turns and edits are clearly audible. His tone and pacing, however are near-perfect. Sherwin does voices with varying success. His voicing of the villain is scarily menacing, while the comic choirmaster's voice is hilariously funny. On the other hand, the female characters' voices made me cringe at times. His natural voice is fairly deep, which is liability for the women characters, but for his narration and male voices it's a great asset. Fortunately, most of this book plays to his strengths, so I can highly recommend this reading.

"Fokker Filibuster" by Robert Sidney Bowen

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Source: Dial P for Pulp (MP3)
Length: 52 min (story itself is about 20 min long)
Reader: Elisha Sessions

The story:The pulp magazine stories of the early 20th century were often cookie-cutter genre pieces. Despite their cliches and political incorrectness, however, the best of these stories are still entertaining for a modern audience. In fact the pulps have experienced a resurgence as the Internet has made stories long out of print once more available to a wider audience.

In this story, Lt. Joseph Todd is a World War I fighter pilot in the US Army Air Service. Todd is a good pilot, but he has one problem: he can't land on the tiny battlefront air strips without damaging his aircraft. True to the conventions of this type of story, Scott is called up on a suprise mission where he will have one last chance to redeem himself.

I found this story predictable, but still an exciting action-adventure piece. The plot has plenty of bursts of aerial and ground fighting coming one after the other. "Fokker Filibuster" isn't a memorable story, but it is a fun one.

Rating: 6/10

The reader:The Dial P for Pulp podcast combines reviews of pulp fiction, drama, and games with readings of stories from classic magazines or their modern imitators. "Fokker Filibuster" starts at about 29 minutes into this episode. Sessions reads with great liveliness. His character voices are spot-on and his narration conveys the bang-pow attitude of the genre. The story begins and ends with a plane engine effect at the that flies straight through the headphones from one side to the other, setting the stage for a well-produded recording.

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Source: LibriVox
Length: 9 hr, 20 min
Reader: Mark F. Smith

The book: What would happen if a human baby from parents of the best quality was raised by animals of the most barbaric sort? Would the child reflect the attributes of his biological parents or social environment? The nature versus nurture debate has engaged philosophers, then later scientists, for centuries, but neither Hume nor Locke wrote any treatise half as entertaining as Burroughs' pulp novel. Tarzan's animal upbringing gives him the strength and abilities of the jungle, but his "good breeding" affords him the morality and intelligence to make him a super-man.

Although Tarzan's parents were English and his upbringing African, he can be seen to be a metaphor for the United States, which was at the time just becoming a world power. Like Tarzan, the USA boasted a European heritage that had been tempered by the hardships of the frontier. Led by Teddy Roosevelt, himself a blend of aristocracy and outdoorsman, America had subjugated the savages and taken its seat at the table of the Western powers.

Of course, this version of America's place in the world is very colonialist and Tarzan reflects this prejudice. The depiction of black people, both native and Westernized, is racist. Burroughs seems to imply that black people are at worst cannibals and at best comic sidekicks, depending on the environment where they were raised. This viewpoint provides a dark contrast to Tarzan's triumph of heritage over surroundings. Although modern psychology has shown that our physical nature governs many of our basic behaviors, our human qualities are much more influenced by culture than Burroughs supposes.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: As in several other books I have reviewed, Mark F. Smith does an excellent job with this book. He reads with a moderate cadence that allows for easy understanding. His narration is in a slightly nasal American accent, but performs a few decent accents for the characters' voices. The recording is marred by a background whine. Some people will be able to ignore it, but others will find this noise distracting.

"The Absent Minded Coterie" by Robert Barr

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:02:00 +0000

Source: Librivox (Part 1) (Part 2)
Length: 1 hr, 27 min
Reader: Czechchris

The story: French detective Eugene Valmont is approached by Spenser Hale of Scotland Yard concerning a case which is frustrating the London police. Because of a decline in the price of silver, a band of counterfeiters have begun producing British silver coins in actual silver, making the phonies difficult to identify (historical note: because Britain at the time was on the gold standard, the value of the silver in a coin did not equal its face value). Suspicion falls on a Mr. Summertree who appears to be the one distributing the false coins, but the police need Valmont, as a Frenchman not under English police procedure, to perform a warrantless search to find out who is actually making the coinage. Valmont agrees to take the case, but finds a much more ingenious conspiracy than counterfeiting.

The mystery presented here is both interesting and surprising, with plenty of plot twists that left me shaking my head and chuckling. The entertainment is magnified by the confident figure of Eugene Valmont as a slyly funny narrator. Although the story is set in 1896, modern readers will recognize some features of the story are current in the news: warrantless searches, the use of foreign operatives to avoid national laws, and the election of a new American President in a time of economic crisis.

Rating: 8 / 10

The reader: Czechchris, despite his Slavic username, has a British accent that sounds wonderful, though it jars somewhat with the French identity of the narrator of this particular story. I, however, am not of the opinion that a reader's accent must match the character, since it would be a pity to deny such a good reader as this one the chance to perform this story. The reader does not "do voices" but his reading of the different characters lines are true to the emotions that the characters are expressing. The sound quality of this recording is superb.

The Red Thumb Mark by R. Austin Freeman

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Source: Internet Archive
Length: Approx 8 hr
Reader: Maureen S. O'Brien

The book: The London police are presented with an open-and-shut case. A precious metals dealer had a large value of diamonds stolen from his office safe. The only people with access to the safe were the owner and his two nephews. Inside the safe, the police find a few drops of blood and a damning piece of evidence: the owner's ledger sheet for receipt of the diamonds marked with the bloody thumbprint of one of the nephews - Rubin Hornby.

Dr. John Thorndyke, a medical examiner for legal cases, takes up Rubin's case. Dr. Thorndyke believes he can clear Rubin's name. The most advanced science of Edwardian times will be brought to bear in this turn-of-the-century CSI. But how will Thorndyke and his new associate Christopher Jervis solve the mystery?

The difficulty of a mystery story is that, according to convention, the author should leave enough clues available to the reader to guess the outcome, but obscure the facts enough that most will not. Even so, some readers will see the solution very quickly. With the benefits of history and advancement of science, modern readers have additional advantages over Freeman's contemporaries. Although this story has a number of twists that may have thrilled past readers, I found it to be an entertaining, but predictable, mystery.

Rating: 6/10

The reader: Ms. O'Brien has a lovely American voice for narration. For the characters, she drops into voices that identify each quite well. This reading does not disguise the fact that it is amateur; O'Brien goes back to re-read phrases she flubs and there is some noise of page turning and bumps. However, if you can forgive the lack of polish, it is a very good amateur reading with acceptable sound quality.

"The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Source: LibriVox (MP3)
Length: 34 minutes
Reader: iremonger

The story: As the time for their garden party approaches, the Sheridan household is abuzz with activity. Mrs. Sheridan and her daughters, Laura, Josie, and Meg, must supervise the workmen, servants, cooks, and gardeners. It's such hard work getting ready for a party! When a tragedy strikes nearby, the family must decide how they will incorporate these events into their plans.

Katherine Mansfield's story is a great exploration of class distinction. Her words hang with dramatic irony. The banality of the Sheridans' activities contrast with the later events in a twisted kind of foreshadowing. I found the ending a bit of a cop-out, but I think that might be the whole point of the story. Life is either incredibly meaningful or incredibly meaningless, either way, it lies beyond words to describe.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: This is a beautifully read piece by the incongruently named iremonger. The reading has a lyrical quality. Early on, he stumbles a little, but as the narrative goes along, the reader seems to fall into a grove and tells a good story. The sound quality is high with only a few background noises.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Source: Librivox
Length: 3 hr, 12 min
Reader: Elizabeth Klett

The book: The titular character in Ethan Frome is a man living in rural Starkfield, Massachusetts, trapped in a marriage with a woman who is both sickly and demanding. When his wife's beautiful cousin Mattie comes to stay with the couple as a domestic helper, Frome begins to dream of a better life away from Starkfield with Mattie. But Frome is a good man who won't allow himself to wrong his wife. The story is a classic example of the struggle between desire and commitment.

Ethan Frome is one of those stories which ten years ago I would have have not enjoyed. I would have seen Frome as a selfish, weak man, not recognizing his quiet heroism. Since then, my own experiences with difficult moral decisions in a past relationship have changed my perception. I can now sympathize with Frome's wanting to leave but knowing it is right to stay. I think it's amazing how a book can mean nothing at one time, but be so meaningful if read at a different time in life. I'm humbled to realize that these reviews I write are valid for myself alone, only at the time that I write them.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Elizabeth Klett is a wonderful reader. I've already mentioned how much I liked her reading of Howard's End by E.M. Forster. This reading is just as good, with an even better sound quality. Ms. Klett has lovely voice with clear, crisp enunciation. Her reading makes use of variations of tone and volume to create an enjoyable audiobook. I would reccomend her readings to anyone looking for the best readers of LibriVox.

"The Keeper" by Ken Goldman

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 01:35:00 +0000

Source: Pseudopod
Length: 29 minutes
Reader: Alasdair Stuart

The story: For Halloween, I've picked a creepy horror story in the could-be-real vein of The Silence of the Lambs or Cape Fear. In this gruesome story, the mentally retarded keeper of a lighthouse kidnaps a young lady and takes her back to his tower. She fights back with all her wits and wile, but will it be enough to keep her alive?

Normally, I don't read this type of story. Graphic violence turns my stomach, whether it be in the horror, science fiction, or crime genres. Occasionally, however, I allow myself a peek into a darker world (Jack Wakes Up, for example). I think part of this is a morbid curiosity that is widespread among all human beings, as evidenced by the traffic jams caused by people rubbernecking at a wreck on the other side of the freeway. Secondly, and more philosophically, depictions of graphic violence in literature and entertainment allow us to embrace physical suffering and violent death as part of the human condition in sort of a memento mori of pain. Lastly, I think part of the attraction of gruesome horror is an effort to confront the things we fear, like a self-imposed variation on the exposure therapy that psychiatrists use to help people with fear disorders. Of course, there's not really much difference between inhibition of a abnormal over-response to fear and a habituation to gore to the point that things which should scare us no longer do. What's medicine for some can be poison for others, so I try to take care to keep my dosage of violence low.

Rating: 6/10

The reader: Pseudopod generally retains the high production values of its sister podcasts, Escape Pod and PodCastle. This story is no exception in being very well-produced, with low noise and good sound. Alasdair Stuart speaks clearly with a English accent. He gives some voice to the characters, but is sometimes strangely flat when the action is more emotional. This can be a bit disconcerting, but also adds somewhat to the creepy atmosphere of the story.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Source: Lit2Go
Length: Approx 17 hr.
Reader: Rick Kistner

The book: My impressions of Dracula are heavily influenced by my first reading of it when I was in middle school. This was a revelation to me: that an old book could also be good. Dracula certainly deserves its reputation as a classic. Although some parts are a bit slow, others carry a profound spookiness that is untouched by the bombardment of gore and cheap frights of many modern horror movies.

Despite its many adaptations to film and other media, I'm not sure that Dracula the novel is ideally suited to audiobooks. For one thing, it's a long book, an aspect which telescopes in the spoken word where slow parts drag on. Complex action is difficult to re-read. Stoker makes heavy use of letter, diaries, and false documents to tell his story. These lose some of their feeling of veracity then taken off the printed page. There are some stories which are enhanced by the sound and rhythm of voice, while others are documents which take full advantage of the physical medium of the book. To Dracula's great credit, even though it belongs in the class of a primarily physical book, it still works well in the spoken format.

Rating: 9/10

The reader: Kistner has a deep voice that is full of color. He alters his accent and tone for the different characters, making them recognizable. The pace of his reading is not always ideal, but overall this is a decent reading. The main complaint lies with the recording. There is some background noise. Lip smacks and breathing are clearly audible. These issues are excusable to some people, while others may find that they make the book unenjoyable. I'll allow you to decide whether or not the quality of the story and reader make up for some audio noise.

"My Financial Career" by Stephen Leacock

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Source: Mr. Ron's Basement MP3
Length: 7 min
Reader: Ron Evry

The story: If Anne of Green Gables is the Canadian Tom Sawyer, then Stephen Leacock is Canada's Mark Twain. Although Leacock is relatively unknown here south of the Friendly Border, he was once quite popular world-wide, and is still well-loved in Canada. I have only in the past year come across his writing. While I don't find all of Leacock's humor side-splittingly funny, he is worthy of a smile and occasional laugh.

This short piece, detailing his dealings with a bank, seems relevant for the current times, even though it was written in 1910. The humor mostly comes from the narrator's unfamiliarity with banking, but a few absent-minded remarks increase the confusion on the bank's part as well. These foot-in-mouth statements capture perfectly the universal nervousness of trying something new and different, so that even if we're quite comfortable banking, we can see ourselves in the narrator's troubles. The ability to laugh at others while secretly laughing at ourselves heightens the humor and allows the reader to identify with what would otherwise simply be a goofy character.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: Ron Evry has an expressive baritone that aids tremendously in conveying Leacock's humor. Evry stumbles over a few words and occasionally puts a pause or emphasis in the wrong place, but by-and-large, this is a decent amateur reading. The recording is somewhat noisy and has a slight hiss, although I wasn't distracted by it. I only really noticed the hiss because I had my player turned up to high volume for another recording that was much softer, while this recording is fairly loud. Don't do what I did and hurt your eardrums. Turn it down!

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Source: LibriVox
Length: 9 hr, 34 min
Reader: Rachelellen

The book: Anne of Green Gables is like a female version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer set in the Canadian maritime provinces rather than the American Midwest. Like Tom Sawyer, this book doesn't have so much of a plot as a series of interrelated humorous episodes. But while Tom has adventures in getting into fights, faking his own death, and tricking his friends, Anne's adventures consist of making friends, having tea parties, and going to poetry recitals.

While they may express it differently, Anne and Tom have a similar view of the world as a place of adventure to be explored. Tom's adventures get more outrageous as the book goes on until he finally ends up in mortal danger. Anne, on the other hand, channels her sense of adventure into pathways deemed acceptable to society. Yet, even though this may appear to be a capitulation to the pressures of adulthood, Anne still keeps her sense of wonder and vivacity. Montgomery seems to be propounding a philosophy that one can grow up without leaving behind the essential spirit of childhood.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: This is an excellent recording of an amazing reader. Rachelellen voices fill the characters with so much life, I can't imagine reading this book without her. Her voicing of Anne, Marilla, and Matthew, not to mention her hilarious acting of Mrs. Rachel Lynde, made me love the characters and kept me listening. Rachelellen's narrating voice is clear and bright, with wonderful phrasing and diction. I think Anne herself would applaud Rachelellen if she were to go to a recital.

"Junius Maltby" by John Steinbeck

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0000

Source: Audiolingo.org MP3
Length: 49 min
Reader: Jay King

The story: You may have noticed that I typically pair a story with the same week's book on the basis of genre, theme, or time period. This week, the story and book have a rather tenuous connection: both feature a character named Junius who departs San Francisco for the Pastures of Heaven. "Junius Maltby" was published in the story collection The Pastures of Heaven and in some editions of The Red Pony.

In Steinbeck's story, Junius is a young man who leaves his accountant job to recover from illness in the idyllic-named valley of Pastures of Heaven, where he learns the joys of laziness. Junius would rather read Robert Louis Stevenson than work (it's too bad LibriVox hadn't been invented yet; Junius could've listened to Treasure Island or Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde while he hoed the fields). Steinbeck tells his story with his characteristic Californian style. The story has the simplicity of a fable at the beginning, but adds layers of complexity as it progresses. With some laugh-out loud moments, Steinbeck tells a story about happiness in individuality and society.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Mr. King reads this story with obvious love and familiarity. His delivery brings out Steinbeck's sense of humor, which is sometimes easy to overlook in print. King gives light voicing to the characters and narrates with a calm, masculine American accent. The recording has a bit of hiss and crackle, but is easily understandable.

Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Source: Podiobooks.com
Length: Approx. 10 hrs
Reader: Seth Harwood

The book: Sometimes you just need to have some fun being bad. This is both the theme and the best reason for reading Jack Wakes Up. Former action-movie star Jack Palms is stuck in a rut on his road to recovery from the nadir of drugs, divorce, and the implosion of his acting career. He has cleaned up and turned his life around, but has no direction and no income until his friend Ralph contacts him. Ralph is coordinating an agreement to supply some Czechs with cocaine to deal. All Jack has to do is help entertain the Czechs and impress them with his minor celebrity status.

Like Jack, the reader will have to check his scruples at the door. The language is harsh, with copious swearing. The plot, while fast paced and cinematic, is concerned with drugs, strippers and plenty of graphic violence. Jack himself is a likable character, but many of the others behave with stupidity, greed, or sadistic cruelty. This is not a pretty world that Harwood has drawn, but if you're a fan of Quentin Tarentino or Elmore Leonard, you'll enjoy this entertaining novel.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Harwood's reading of his novel is good. He provides voice characterizations using patterns of pauses, tone of voice, and accents. His narrating voice is straightforward and honest-sounding, fitting Jack's personality. My biggest problem with the recording comes with everything outside the book. The introduction and exit music is hip-hop, appropriate for the mood. But almost every episode begins and ends with clips from the previous episode and next one. This may have been necessary when the chapters were first podcasted, but now that they're collected, it becomes tedious. Also tedious is the swaggering "homie" attitude that Harwood adopts for announcements and self-promotion. He's trying to sound tough, but ends up sounding ridiculous. If you can skip over everything between the introduction and first chapter of each episode, you won't miss a thing.

"Beyond Lies the Wub" by Philip K. Dick

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Source: Time Traveler Show | MP3
Length: 32 min
Reader: Mac Kelly

The story: Philip K. Dick is probably best know today for the many science fiction movies based on his stories and novels: Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Blade Runner (from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), Total Recall (from "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"), and Screamers (from "Second Variety"). This short story "Beyond Lies the Wub" was Dick's first published piece of fiction. In it, Peterson, a junior member of a space freighter on a distant planet, buys a piglike beast called a wub, intending to use it for food. After blastoff, he discovers the wub is actually very intelligent, but his captian still insists on eating the animal. Peterson is caught between doing what he is told and doing what his conscience tells him.

Even though this was Dick's first short story, much of his trademark style is apparent. Dick has a wry sense of humor that he often used to satarize greedy commercialism, as he does here. Much of his work (or at least what I've read of it) concerns beings which are not what they appear to be at first look. Dick was a big fan of Carl Jung, and so the wub's discourse on The Odyssey sounds an awful lot like the beginning of a Jungian thesis. If this is your first introduction to the work of this science fiction master, you've picked a good place to start.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Mac Kelly accomplishes something with this story rarely seen in audiobook narraration: he actually enhanses the story with his voice. Kelly's voicing of the wub, in particular, brings out its porcine character better than the actual text. The rest of his narration is equally excellent and the recording environment is nicely silent. Surrounding the actual story are several promotions for other podcasts and audiobooks for sale, but since these are directly related to the story itself, they are unobjectionable and may be useful to some listeners.

Plague Ship by Andre Norton

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:50:00 +0000

Source: Librivox
Length: 7 hr, 4 min
Reader: Mark Nelson

The book: Plague Ship reads like two separate short books, joined by characters and universe, but with completely different local settings and plots. In the first half, the crew of the independent trading ship Solar Queen have to outwit and outfight the representatives of a rival company to gain trading rights for the planet Sargol. The inhabitants of Sargol are a feline race with a tribal culture and the Solar Queen's crew must gain their trust to make this trading venture a success. In the second half of the book, the crew heads home to Earth. One by one crew members begin to fall ill from a mysterious ailment. The remaining spacemen know that unless they discover the cause of the disease, they will be branded as a plague ship, unable to dock at any port for fear of an outbreak in the general population.

This book was published in 1956, one year before Sputnik was launched. The pre-spaceflight innocence shows in some plot holes. Even though hundreds of rocket ships take off every day from Earth in the book, neither they nor any satellites notice that a presumed desert wasteland is actually a verdant jungle. Other anachronisms make it clear that this is historical science fiction. Taken as such, Plague Ship is an enjoyable light novel with plenty of adventure.

Rating: 6/10

The reader: Mark Nelson is an excellent reader. His voice is clear and masculine with a wholesome sound. The recording is noiselessly clean. Nelson adds in a little laser-beam sound effect after the Librivox disclaimer. It's silly, but it shows that he really cares about the product he's producing and giving away. For more of his readings, check out "Call of Cthulhu" and Right Ho, Jeeves.

Vacation week

noreply@blogger.com (Listener) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:49:00 +0000

I'm going on a late vacation this week, so there won't be any reviews until next week. Until then, check out some other audiobook review blogs:

Free Audio Review is one of my favorites. Felbrigg reviews everything from history to old-time radio shows.
Trucker Rich tends to favor horror, science fiction, and action.
I Like Podcasts is written by science fiction author Cat Rambo and features (what else?) mostly speculative fiction podcasts.

Hope these three will tide you over until next week. If you're searching for more, try the "blogs" tag on the navigation bar at the right.