Download Best Sellers Audiobooks in Classics, European Literature

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Title: Crime and Punishment

Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrator: Dick Hill

Format: Unabridged

Length: 23 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

A desperate young man plans the perfect crime - the murder of a despicable pawnbroker, an old woman no one loves and no one will mourn. Is it not just, he reasons, for a man of genius to commit such a crime - to transgress moral law - if it will ultimately benefit humanity?

So begins one of the greatest novels ever written: a powerful psychological study, a terrifying murder mystery, and a fascinating detective thriller infused with philosophical, religious, and social commentary.

Raskolnikov, an impoverished student living in a garret in the gloomy slums of St. Petersburg, carries out his grotesque scheme and plunges into a hell of persecution, madness, and terror. Crime and Punishment takes the listener on a journey into the darkest recesses of the criminal and depraved mind and exposes the soul of a man possessed by both good and evil - a man who cannot escape his own conscience.

Members Reviews:

Crime was punishment

This is one of those novels I always meant to read, but never got around to. I'm pleased I did. One can plainly see what all the hype is about. It is a very ambitious exercise to try to capture the meanderings of a tormented soul. Of course Dostoevsky succeeds in the attempt, as we know. Still, it is no small achievement and it makes the listening difficult because for most of the novel I felt like an eavesdropper and voyeur as a flawed man grappled with his demons. Large amongst these demons is Raskolnikov's pride, his belief in his own moral superiority and his disdain of help. I'm not sure anyone other than a Russian of the era of this tale could have captured the desperation, the fatalism and the climax so fully. Because listening is difficult, it takes some perseverance so that at times I felt as if I was doing the time for Raskolnikov's crime.

As to the plot controversy, of which there is much written, I subscribe to the group that thinks the Epilogue is worthwhile. I can see why some say it is unnecessary, but I guess it depends on whether you want the loose ends tied-up, or not. Of course, be warned, if you skip the Epilogue (particularly its Chapter 2), you will leave with a different view of the book and, I suspect, Dostoevsky's world view.

As to the performance, I can imagine that this was a terrifically difficult book to read aloud. I settled on Dick Hill's version, having started with Anthony Heald's. I found the latter too fast, too frantic and difficult to follow (see my review there which reproduces the above). Hill's version is slower (about 2 and an half hours slower) less frantic and has a nice 5 minute opening setting the scene of Dostoevsky's world before the narration begins. He has a better differentiation in character than Heald (in my opinion) and his narrator is calmer. Also, his pronunciation of the tri-nominal Russian names is more sonorous (not Tolstoy-ish, but this is not Tolstoy).

Fascinating and wonderfully read

I wanted to write a review to say how much I enjoyed Dick Hill's enthusiastic, energetic rendition, even if many of his characters sounded at times like Peter Lorre, which didn't detract. A fascinating novel in so many ways.

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Title: The Trial [Alpha DVD]

Author: Franz Kafka

Narrator: Dick Hill

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-22-10

Publisher: Alpha DVD

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 93 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

The Trial by Franz Kafka is one of the great novels of the 20h century. Josef K. is an ordinary man who is arrested on his 30th birthday. He is prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, yet the nature of his crime is never revealed to him. One year after his arrest he is executed. His last words describe his own death: "Like a dog!"

Members Reviews:

Excellent reading of a classic book

The narrator did an excellent job of adding to the already bizarre and disturbing story. If you like Kafka, you will like this translation and narration.

Excellent match of text and performer--a steal

The Trial may be the greatest book ever written about the ruthless, logical absurdity of a bureaucracy at its most extreme. If you've ever gotten the run-around at the DMV or your insurance company, you will find the story of Josef K uncomfortably familiar. Dick Hill has just the right voice--a little older, precise, particular--to deliver this text in its cold, comic perfection. Well done.

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Title: Notes from the Underground

Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Constance Garnett - translator

Narrator: Norman Dietz

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-20-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 166 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

A predecessor to such monumental works as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, Notes from the Underground represents a turning point in Fyodor Dostoevsky's writing toward the more political side. In this work, we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who, disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives, withdraws from that society into the underground. This "Underground Man" is one of the first genuine antiheroes in European literature.

The first part of this unusual work is often treated as a philosophical text in its own right; the second part illustrates the theory of the first by means of its own fictional practice. A dark and politically charged novel, Notes from the Underground shows Dostoevsky at his best.

Members Reviews:

Sick man!

The book begins, "I am a sick man," and we end agreeing. Deep, thought provoking.

For those, who know what is existentialism

If you like philosophy, you will like this book too. There are a lot of thoughts in it. I recommend to read some professional reviews after lissening this book.

a good read.

an anti-hero story as relevant today as when it was written. a true precursor to modernism and existential ism.

Awful

Gross and awful. Don't waste your time.

This book is the Jean-Ralphio wooooooorst.

Read the spark notes instead, ya'll.

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Title: Anna Karenina

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Narrator: Lorna Raver

Format: Unabridged

Length: 39 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-25-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 125 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Vladimir Nabokov called Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina "one of the greatest love stories in world literature." Set in imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a rich and complex meditation on passionate love and disastrous infidelity.

Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, she rashly defies the conventions of Russian society and leaves her husband and son to live with her lover. Condemned and ostracized by her peers and prone to fits of jealousy that alienate Vronsky, Anna finds herself unable to escape an increasingly hopeless situation.

Set against this tragic affair is the story of Konstantin Levin, a melancholy landowner whom Tolstoy based largely on himself. While Anna looks for happiness through love, Levin embarks on his own search for spiritual fulfillment through marriage, family, and hard work. Surrounding these two central plot threads are dozens of characters whom Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together, creating a breathtaking tapestry of 19th-century Russian society.

From its famous opening sentence---"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way"---to its stunningly tragic conclusion, this enduring tale of marriage and adultery plumbs the very depths of the human soul.

Members Reviews:

Not good dramatization but an ok reading

This is one of those "must read" novels because Tolstoy was onto the beginnings of the modern, psychological novel. He creates a wonderful picture of the frothy, frivolous life of Imperial Russian aristocracy and you can see the germs of the Russian Revolution in the political talk among the characters, which is very interesting; the Bolsheviks didn't just jump out of the landscape on October of 1917; the ideas were being discussed long before.

The reading by Lorna Raver, who is generally a very good narrator, has one flaw and that is she tries to dramatize the characters by using a gruff voice to indicate some of the male characters. It sounds utterly stupid. She'd have done better to simply lighten or darken her voice slightly and not try to sound like Papa Bear. It detracts from an otherwise excellent reading.

Simply a masterpiece

The best book I've ever read or listen to. Beautify read. A true masterpiece and a timeless classic. Colourful portrait of the Russian nobility at the turn of the last century.

Narration at its best.

Narrator has given heart and soul to the book compared to other narrators.GOD bless you.

way too long. "overworte"

What did you like best about Anna Karenina? What did you like least?

the long length. and detail to arguemnts on political and religious ideas and not much time spent on detaiiing what was going on in the story.

this story could have been lots better. the plot was not bad. just the way it was presented.

What did you like best about this story?

that i could listen in audio form. i could never read a book like this. i did enjoy the story,

Which scene was your favorite?

the scene at the ball in the beginning. and the last part when ann was consdering breaking with vronsky (for the thousandth time).

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

yes id would.

Any additional comments?

found anna to be a self absorbed person. i liked levin and dolly and her husband stephen. i found men in this book to be more likable.

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Title: The Man in the Iron Mask

Author: Alexandre Dumas

Narrator: Simon Vance

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-18-10

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 433 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Thirty-five years after the events of The Three Musketeers, dArtagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis find themselves caught between conflicting loyalties in a power struggle that could change the face of the French monarchy.

For eight long years, a young prisoner has languished within the dreaded Bastille, his face hidden in an iron mask. He knows neither his true identity nor the crime for which he has been imprisoned. But Aramis knows this secreta secret so dangerous, it could topple the King from his throne! Will his cause divide the once indivisible band of musketeers?

A tale of mystery, adventure, and political intrigue, this conclusion to Dumas swashbuckling musketeer saga is based on the true story of a masked prisoner who dwelled in the Bastille during the Louis XIVs reign and whose identity remains in question to this day.

Critic Reviews:

This swashbuckling conclusion to Dumass musketeer saga pits the brave band of heroes against each other in a power struggle that could change the face of the French monarchy.

No part of the world has ever seemed to me so charming as these pages, and not even my friends are quite so real, perhaps quite so dear, as dArtagnan. (Robert Louis Stevenson)

The name Alexandre Dumas is more than Frenchit is universal. (Victor Hugo)

Members Reviews:

The Musketeers Get Old

The four musketeers age and are near the end of their careers. Huge disappointment after reading "The Black Count", the bio about Dumas' father, and "The Three Musketeers".

There is intrigue, and witty solutions, for the dangers our heroes get into and adventure. However, it dragged out way too long. And, when the man is put into the iron mask, that part of the story simply ends. I thought it would resolve later.

Many historical figures, Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (treasurer), Nicolas Fouquet (Superintendent of France), and several of the king's mistresses.

Great story

Any additional comments?

This story was not as thrilling as The Count of Monte Cristo but still a very good story.

A little disappointing

After the buildup in the previous two novels (Comte de Bragelone and La Valliere), I thought the climax and denouement of the plot involving the man in the iron mask happened and especially ended too soon. Some of the actions of the King Louis XIV are a little unbelievable based on what happens in the book. The best part of the novel is the interactions among the four musketeers. And I thought the way Dumas completes each of these four characters at the end of the novel was well done. I enjoyed the narrator and thought he chose excellent voices for the characters.

Not very pleased.

Essentially, it covers the four musketeers thirty-five years later where Aramis knows a state secret and attempts to over throw the king. However, it barely involves the poor soul condemned to the iron mask, not justification is ever redeemed, and we find ourselves mourning the lost of some beloved characters. The Three Musketeers was about the beginning of four intertwined souls and the Man in the Iron Mask is about their ending. Out of all of Dumas works that I have read, I am the least pleased with this one.

I enjoyed the finale of the D'Artagnan books

This last volume of the D'Artagnan books continues directly from the volume Louise de la Valliere. The story is engrossing with many plot twists. I enjoyed the whole series.

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Title: Notes from the Underground

Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrator: Simon Vance

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-09-09

Publisher: christianaudio.com

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 185 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

In this work, we follow the unnamed narrator of the story, who, disillusioned by the oppression and corruption of the society in which he lives, withdraws from that society into the underground. A dark and politically charged novel, Notes From Underground is Dostoyevsky at his best.

Members Reviews:

Awful hero, great narrator

Another in Dostoevsky's line of repulsive (but immediately recognizable) main characters. The Underground Man is someone you want to grab by the collar and shake till his teeth rattle. Simon Vance (as usual) gives a superb performance.

insights that transcend time

Loved it. Why can't every authour write as well, or, at the least, use Dostoevsky as a measuring stick for their own plots, styles and themes? And such themes--of truth, of character, of love, hate, ideology and motives. 'Notes' has insights that are more contemporary than most self-help books written only last week: timeless. And an Anti-Hero that readers can use as a measuring stick of symptoms to identify in one's own psyche. Could there have been a Breaking Bad without this authour's formulation of the seminal, negative (yet honest to a fault) existential protagonist?

great book, great narration

my favorite Dostoyevsky read by, now my favorite narrator, Simon Vance. Mr Vance makes this novella a whole experience. Am looking forward to another listen in the near future, this time it won't be Dostoyevsky bringing me back for more, it'll be Simon Vance.

Works pretty well as an audiobook

Thanks partially to the story itself, and partially to the narration, this audiobook is very listenable and not a bad way to digest some Dostoyevsky.

There are a minimal number of characters (so you need not memorize dozens of Russian names which might be indistinguishable to most anglophone ears).

And Simon Vance narrates the prose wonderfully, perfectly modulating his performance over the span of the work.

Very Thought Provoking

I must confess, I adore Dostoevsky's novels, and this does not have the same feel or excitement as they do. If you want to touch upon only ONE Dostoevsky book, I'd suggest you choose "Crime and Punishment" or "The Brothers Karamasov" instead. They may be longer, but I actually found them to be much quicker and more fascinating reads. That said, THIS is still a remarkably well written and intriguing book, and well worth your time. It is not pleasant, but that is part of the point. It challenges us, and hopefully helps us to grow in the process.

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Title: The Brothers Karamazov

Author: Constance Garnett (translator), Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrator: Frederick Davidson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 34 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-08-09

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 492 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

The Brothers Karamazov tells the stirring tale of four brothers: the pleasure-seeking, impatient Dmitri; the brilliant and morose Ivan; the gentle, loving, and honest Alyosha; and the illegitimate Smerdyakov: shy, silent, and cruel. The four unite in the murder of one of literature's most despicable characters - their father. This was Dostoevsky's final and best work.

Critic Reviews:

"[Dostoevsky is] at once the most literary and compulsively readable of novelists we continue to regard as great....The Brothers Karamazov stands as the culmination of his art - his last, longest, richest, and most capacious book." (Washington Post Book World)

Members Reviews:

Narration not to everyone's taste

The big issue (as you can see from other reviews) in the narrator. For the first hour or so, until it became familiar, it was distracting and excruciating -- the narration sounded very upper class British, snobbish, bored and just a little bit peeved to be telling the story. Also, there is a sing-song quality to the intonations, and some of the intonation patterns are repeated to the point where familiarity becomes a bit tedious.

Oddly enough, when the narrator does characters, these problems all disappear and the voices sound appropriate for the persons portrayed. But then he switches back to the "narrator" voice, which doesn't sound at all like one of the Karamazovs' neighbors.

A long work and a great work, but boy is it long

I've never been a huge fan of Russian literature, and this book reminded me why. The Brothers Karamazov isn't so much a story as a lengthy disquisition on the Russian character and the issues of Dostoyevsky's day, detailed personality profiles, and digressions on every subject Dostoyevsky wanted to pursue, including free will, the existence of God, moral responsibility, and truth. It's a high-minded novel full of weighty intellectual themes and I could not help but appreciate the meticulous detail with which the author constructed every part of it from the events and familial and romantic relationships leading up to Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov's murder to the background histories of even the most minor characters. The problem is, Dostoyevsky spends entire chapters on things like the background histories of the most minor character. Half the book was one of the Karamazovs talking on and on uninterrupted to an audience as silent and passive as the reader/listener.

The skill of the author cannot be denied. The style is completely unlike modern literature, but Dostoyevsky makes every one of his characters so complex and complete that you wish more modern authors were as thorough (and indulged as much by their editors) in their creations. And you can sense the majesty of what Dostoyevsky was trying to accomplish -- he takes a bunch of different arguments and picks them apart from multiple points of view, letting the Karamazov brothers or secondary characters or even allegorical figures hash out everything the author is thinking (or arguing against) thoroughly and articulately.

So I guess that's a lot of words to say "It's Literature." I don't really feel anyone should force themselves to read books that don't interest them, but there is something to be said for knowing the books and the authors who influenced other great authors.

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Title: The Modern Scholar

Subtitle: Masterpieces of Medieval Literature

Author: Timothy Shutt

Narrator: Timothy Shutt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-24-09

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 44 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Beyond that, the Middle Ages saw the composition of some of the greatest and most rewarding literary works ever written, the works of Chaucer and Dante no doubt preeminent among them, but by no means are they alone in their surpassing merits.

In this course, we will look at some of those other splendid works - Beowulf, the little-known, but utterly splendid Njal's Saga, and Sir Gawain the Green Knight among them.

Members Reviews:

The Kind of Professor I Want My Kids to Have

First, there is Professor Shutt's infectious enthusiasm for the works he's discussing and even more for the insights that can be derived from those works. Then there's his openness to cultural concepts (Beowulf's heroic manliness, for example, or the piety of the Dream of the Rood) that aren't that popular in the academy these days. He never resorts to cheap shots at the faith or ideals of the Middle Ages, never lapses into that "chronological snobbery" (C. S. Lewis' term) that assumes everyone and everything that came before us is somehow inherently less worthwhile.

Instead, he takes you on an amazing journey through many of the high spots of Medieval Literature, one that will either send you back to reread Gawain and the Green Knight and the Lais of Marie de France or send you forward to finally read those Icelandic Sagas and Troubadour lyrics you somehow managed to dodge in your undergrad days. Unlike most of the lectures I've heard in my life, these bear re-listening. Shutt is that rare type of professor who isn't afraid to admire what others marginalize, nor is he embarrassed by the concept of "truth".

a great listen

I loved listening to this professor. He is easy on the mind. Especially since he pronounces for us many of the difficult words of non english. so much I did not know came home to me..

Learn the past to know the future

Loved it, looking forward to reading a few of the author's mentioned in it, one or two chapters I have listened to again, and no doubt will do over and over.

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Title: On the Social Contract

Author: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Narrator: Erik Sandval

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-16-09

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 88 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

On the Social Contract's appeal and influence has been wide-ranging and continuous. It has been called an encomium to democracy and, at the same time, a blueprint for totalitarianism. Individualists, collectivists, anarchists, and socialists have all taken courage from Rousseau's controversial masterpiece.

Members Reviews:

A classic

What did you love best about On the Social Contract?

Interesting to understand the philosophy.

Did Erik Sandval do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

A pretty dry read on the narrators part but clearly understood.

Classic. Must read.

Adding this to our family canon of books to read. Required reading for citizens of free societies.

Thank you sir!

Sounds naive in 21st century, but if you factor in when it was written! It's a monumental work form the first letter to the end.

A solid foundation political science

It's easy to see why the founding fathers or inspired by this book. It provides a solid foundation on the rights and responsibilities of the citizens of a state.

great book

the book was insightful and answers many questions swirling in my mind

yet the narrator was quite boring

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Title: Within a Budding Grove

Author: Marcel Proust

Narrator: John Rowe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-06-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 102 votes

Genres: Classics, European Literature

Publisher's Summary:

In the second volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator emerges as an actor in the drama of his own life. Swann has now dwindled into a husband for his former mistress, Odette, and their daughter, Gilberte, becomes the adolescent narrator's playmate and tantalising love object.

We move from Paris to the seaside town of Balbec, from ritualised social performances to midsummer spontaneity and from Gilberte to her successor, Albertine.

In Balbec, the narrator is befriended by the painter Elstir who introduces him both to the craft of painting and to the mysterious 'little band' of girls. An artistic education is thus intricately interwoven with a journey of sexual self-discovery.

This is now the entire audiobook, not in two parts.

Members Reviews:

insomniac's dream

Proust writes marvelous stuff, but his interminable sentences can make his work difficult to read. Now, John Rowe to the rescue: he reads so sensitively, it's like listening to one's own thoughts. I was so glad to find he's started another volume of Proust's masterwork, and look forward eagerly to the second installment, and hopefully more to come. Insomniacs, take note: with Marcel Proust/James Rowe on your iPod, you may be able to jettison the Lunesta. I mean this in a good way (and I think that Proust, who wrote at night in that cork-lined room, would have approved): the narrative is absorbing, complex, seductive, and nonlinear, perfect for bedtime (or the wee hours of the night), as it hardly matters where you leave off or pick it up again.

more John Rowe, s.v.p.

having now completed the second volume of proust's amazing seven volume work, i am more convinced than ever that the ONLY voice for proust's narrator is john rowe. more, please.

A fine reading of Proust

Rowe's performance feels less arch than Neville's. I like them both but preferred Rowe, this time around. I only wish Rowe had finished the series. Or, if he has, I wish Audible would make the rest of it available.

Better than hard copy

Rowe's reading is brilliant. In fact, I've found the whole work more accessible and seductive as a listen than I did as a hard-copy read, thanks in large measure to Rowe's sensitive and often illuminating performance. I can't wait for the rest of the volumes to be available.

John Rowe is the reader for Proust and Moncrief

I've finished the first two volumes on audio book, occasionally reading on Kindle with the second volume, but I find it almost easier to follow John Rowe's narrative (though I read all six volumes in the tiny-script hardbacks back in the 90s). Now I'm listening to The Guermantes' Way, with the Neville narration. Just started. Maybe I'm in the transition phase, but I really miss my friend John Rowe. He took me through the labyrinthian sentences so smoothly. Maybe I'll grow to like Neville, but at the beginning of volume three he was too fast and didn't lead me as effortlessly Rowe. Anyway, apparently there is no choice. Rowe only recorded the first two volumes. (If I'm wrong let me know).

I have not dipped into newest written translations, which are said to be really good. And after I finish this round of Proust (with the Moncrief translation), I'll start again with the contemporay one). But Moncrief is so good, so good I don't know if I'm hearing Proust or Moncrief (or Rowe).