Download the Best Full Audiobooks in Classics, American Literature

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Title: The Jungle: A Signature Performance by Casey Affleck

Author: Upton Sinclair

Narrator: Casey Affleck

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 499 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle is a visceral and tragic story of immigrants trying to scratch out a living in the meatpacking plants of Chicago. The resulting public outcry led directly to the US government enacting changes in food and workplace safety practices still in place today.

With food production, business ethics, and immigration back in the news, Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone) taps into the emotion behind these issues to breathe life back into the struggling inhabitants of Packingtown. Affleck, a committed vegan and animal rights spokesman, delivers a moving performance that connects with the books enduring legacy.

The Jungle revolves around the life and family of Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant whose dreams of a better life are crushed by punishing work in gruesome stockyards and an unforgiving city. Brilliantly written and vividly described, it provides a poignant and incredibly detailed snapshot of a striking point in American history.

Editorial Reviews:

Originally best known as Ben Affleck's little brother, Casey Affleck has firmly established himself as a talented actor in his own right. Roles in the Ocean's Eleven trilogy and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (for which he was nominated for an Academy Award), have made their critical mark in Hollywood. In his Signature Performance of Upton Sinclair's classic The Jungle, Affleck's diverse family ancestry (English, Irish, French, Swedish, German, and Scottish) is on display in his command of the multifarious languages of immigrants in early-1900s Chicago. In his distinctive boyish timbre, he even pronounces Lithuanian like a native.

Members Reviews:

One of great social protest novels of 20th Century

One of the great social protest novels of the 20th Century. 'The Jungle' is at once an indictment on the treatment of immigrants, poverty, American wage slavery, and the working conditions at Chicago's stockyards and meatpacking plants -- and simultaneously an exposé on the unsanitary conditions of the meat produced in the plants and led to Federal real food reform. Did I like it? Well, it pissed me off, so I thought it was a great piece of writing. It reminded me of the time when I was 19 and lived next to the Swift stockyards and meat packing plants. The smells that seemed more terrestrial than dirt seemed to flood back into my brain. 'The Jungle' shows how persuasive fiction can actually lead to real world reform. The FDA was created largely due to the public outcry after the publication of this book.

Jack London said in his review at the time, that the Jungle was the Uncle Tom's Cabin of wage slavery. The interesting fact, however, is Sinclair was more concerned about the people, the exploitation of immigrants and children, but the power of this novel ended up being tied to the condition of the food, and not the people. Sinclair was quoted as saying "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Regardless, Upton Sinclair throws a helluva punch.

Casey Affleck gives a strong performance in the Jungle. He is able to nuance through Lithuanian and Polish names and various emotions and tempos with ease and aplomb.

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Title: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood

Author: Mark Twain

Narrator: Elijah Wood

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5648 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Audible is pleased to announce the premiere of an exciting new series, Audible Signature Classics, featuring literatures greatest stories, performed by accomplished stars handpicked for their ability to interpret each work in a new and refreshing way. The first book in the series is Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, performed by Elijah Wood.

Ernest Hemingway said, All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn". One hundred years after its authors death, this classic remains remarkably modern and poignantly relevant. In this brand new edition, Elijah Wood reads Huck in a youthful voice that may be the closest interpretation to Twains original intent. His performance captures the excitement and confusion of adolescence and adventure. Best of all, the immediacy of Woods energetic reading sweeps listeners up and makes them feel as though theyre along for the ride, as Huck and Jim push their raft toward freedom.

Stay tuned for more one-of-a-kind performances from actors Kenneth Branagh, David Hyde Pierce, Leelee Sobieski, and more, only from Audible Signature Classics.

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Editorial Reviews:

Elijah Woods performance is my nominee for the Narrators Hall of Fame. Woods unself-conscious reading doesnt sound like a reading at all. He creates an entire world filled with people who cross class and color lines. His accents range from British to faux-British to all manner of regional affectations, twangs, and drawls. Woods delivery makes Mark Twains delicious wit and twisty language sound completely natural, especially as Huck invents plausible words to suit the moment. The journey down the Mississippi with Huck and Jim is pure pleasure, as the boy who wont be "sivilized" and the runaway slave encounter scoundrels, slip out of scrapes, and invent outrageous tales. The listening couldnt be better if Huck read the story himself.

Critic Reviews:

"Elijah Wood's performance of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is my nominee for the Narrators' Hall of Fame. Wood's unself-conscious reading doesn't sound like a reading at all." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Masterful Narration

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is nonpareil, but Elijah Wood's dramatization verges on genius. His style brings nuance to the fore that was simply unavailable to me when I read the book (silently) to myself. It added color to an already colorful peice of work. Congratulations, Mr. Wood.

Elijah is truly amazing

This is turning out to be one of my favorite audio books. Elijah's done an amazing job bringing this tale to life.

Wonderfully Narrated

I already owned a different narration of "Huck Finn" when this one came out. After listening to the sample of Elijah Wood reading I had to buy this one. Was it worth it? It certainly was! What a difference an actor makes. His dialects and voices were wonderful and I was on that river with Huck and Jim.

Worthy "signature" premiere

Mr. Wood's narration starts slowly but builds in both intensity and humor. An hour or so in to the book, he hits his stride and never misses a beat from then on.

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Title: Thoreau: Walden / Civil Disobedience

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Narrator: Rupert Degas

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-13-10

Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 496 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

In 1845 Henry David Thoreau, one of the principal New England Transcendentalists, left the small town of Concord for the country. Beside the lake of Walden he built himself a log cabin and returned to nature, to observe and reflect while surviving on eight dollars a year.

From this experience emerged Walden, one of the great classics of American literature, and a deeply personal reaction against the commercialism and materialism that Thoreau saw as the main impulses of mid-19th-century America. Here also is Civil Disobedience, Thoreaus essay on just resistance to government, which not only challenged the establishment of his day but has been used as a flag for later campaigners from Mahatma Ghandi to Dr Martin Luther King.

Members Reviews:

Brilliant

Thoreau wrote with passion and sometimes anger. The performance reflects Thoreau's bitterness with the government and people of Concord and the United States. Thoreau looks deep into himself and society. The writing is amazing and Degas played to the character almost as if he was an old friend of Thoreau.

One-note

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The reader conveyed a persistent tone of anger, resentment and scorn. Never just thoughtful. I kept wondering what voice I would have heard reading the actual book and how reading it myself would have changed my experience of the book.

Kudoes for Rupert Degas

Henry David could not read Walden's timeless words any better than Degas. I've listened to it many times, and I hear new wisdom with each listen. I first read Walden 50 years ago, and Thoreau's message is just as timey today as it was then. Degas does justice to this everlasting classic. Thoreau by Degas is a treasure for all nature lovers.

amazing book, ok narration

The book is amazing but most of the literate world already knows this. The reading is ok. At first sounding poetic but as the tone of each sentence goes through the same cyle of inflection, it starts to become repetitious and boring. The narrator begins each sentence strong and clear and slowly meanders to a quiet finish, almost whispering the last words. This would be fine ocaasionally but as it continues to recur you get exhausted listening to him. By no way should this trump the importance of this book in every collection and if your prefered method of digestion is auditory, I maintain a high recommendation for the purchase of this work.

Didn't care for the narration

This is a great book, but I couldn't get into listening to it. I found myself drifting off to sleep or day dreaming. I think this was partly because the narrator's voice is rather depressing to listen to--flat, sad and dejected--although this very well may be the tone of the writer's voice and not the narrator's fault.

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Title: The Violent Bear It Away

Author: Flannery O Connor

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-02-10

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 333 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

First published in 1960, The Violent Bear It Away is now a landmark in American literature. It is a dark and absorbing example of the gothic sensibility and bracing satirical voice that are united in Flannery O'Conner's work. In it, the orphaned Francis Marion Tarwater and his cousin, Rayber, defy the prophecy of their dead uncle - that Tarwater will become a prophet and will baptize Rayber's young son, Bishop. A series of struggles ensue, as Tarwater fights an internal battle against his innate faith and the voices calling him to be a prophet, while Rayber tries to draw Tarwater into a more reasonable modern world. Both wrestle with the legacy of their dead relatives and lay claim to Bishop's soul.

O'Connor observes all this with an astonishing combination of irony and compassion, humor and pathos. The result is a novel whose range and depth reveal a brilliant and innovative writer acutely alert to where the sacred lives and where it does not.

Critic Reviews:

There is very little contemporary fiction which touches the level of Flannery OConnor at her best. (

New York Herald Tribune)

I am sure her books will live on and on in American literature. (Elizabeth Bishop, American poet laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner)

Members Reviews:

Biblical, American and Absolutely Brutal

O'Connor was ruthless in her vision. The struggle of Tarwater and his uncle Rayber against their joint destinies and the pull of fundamentalism and secularism is fully realized in this short novel. The Violent Bear it Away is biblical, American and absolutely brutal in both its imagery of destruction and language of redemption. I can only think of a handful of writers who seem to grab both my brain, my spine and my gut at the same time. O'Connor can't be over-appreciated; she was an absolute genius of passion and power. So brilliant and terrible was this novel, that I still exceedingly fear and quake.

Expertly read edition

This book is easily one of the best I have ever listened to. It is Flanery O'Connor, so one must be prepared to read this text like someone who understands literature. Remember that O'Connor is deeply rooted in Catholicism, and scholasticism. Remember that she is first and foremost a committed Christian. Her characters will be grotesque, and there will be tremendous violence and disturbing images, but the book will stick with you forever. It will point to deeper transcendent truths that are timeless and eternal.

Reading Flannery O'Connor will enrich your life, but please understand that you are not listening to surface level romance novels / John Grisham stuff here. This takes hard work and patience, but it is work that will be deeply enriching should you undertake it.

The narration is perfect. The southern accent throughout is very important, and the individual voices of each character are pitch perfect.

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Title: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Author: Mark Twain

Narrator: William Dufris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-28-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 848 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is both a whimsical fantasy and a social satire chock-full of brilliant Twainisms. Hank Morgan, a 19th-century American - a Connecticut Yankee - by a stroke of fate is sent back into time to sixth-century England and ends up in Camelot and King Arthur's Court. Although of average intelligence, he finds himself with knowledge beyond any of those in the sixth century, and he uses it to become the king's right-hand man and to challenge Merlin as the court magician. Astounded at the way of life in Camelot, Hank does the only thing he can think of to do: change them. In his attempt to civilize medieval Camelot, he experiences many challenges and misadventures.

Members Reviews:

A Classic Yarn

When you pick up a Twain you know you'll get a good yarn. This is no exception. This is another book I read in my youth. I remember it more fondly that it appears to me now. I guess this goes to prove that tastes change and, in that sense, they mature.

It's still a good yarn. Not as funny as I remember it to be and more tragic, too. The satire is classic Twain. The wit sharp and, at times, quite brutal. The attack on the Dixie South slavery and serfdom is caustic, for example. The attack on the monarchy (more visceral than mocking) and hereditary privilege is relentless and, I felt, overdone. Perhaps that is because I don't need to be convinced. Another example is Hank Morgan's (aka Twain's) disdain of the Catholic Church. Ironically, Twain's criticism is almost religious. Similarly, his zeal for universeral sufferage is fanatical.

Through it all, there is no mistaking Twain's message. It might be written through the conceit of a Yankee who is struck on the head in the 1890s and wakes up in the 7th Century, but the opinions are still controversial in the 21st Century.

Stangely, I found the message less palatable in 2012 than I did in the 1980s, although I agee with most of Twain's views. Generally, I found it a bit forced for my modern sensibility.

From a performance point of view, William Dufris delivers his customary skilled performance. I particularly liked his Twain and his Sandy. However, there are not enough characters to allow him to shine.

Overall, I'm not sure I should have re-read this book. My memory of it was better, but that's no reflection on the production values or the performance. As a first time read, I think it would have scored better.

Mark Twain comes alive!

If you could sum up A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in three words, what would they be?

Hillarious, interesting, classic

What about William Dufriss performance did you like?

The narrator gave an excellence performance. The different voices he used made it seem like a theatrical presentations. I've tried to read this book in the past and couldn't get into it but this version was mesmerizing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Since I listen to books to help fall asleep at night, no. But insomnia aside, yes.

Very entertaining

First twain book on audible. it was funny, insightful, and generally an entertaining story. Great narrator and a great author.

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Title: Stoner

Author: John Williams

Narrator: Robin Field

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-16-10

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1728 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

William Stoner is born at the end of the 19th century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar's life, far different from the hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage into a "proper" family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife and daughter turn coldly away from him; a transforming experience of new love ends under threat of scandal. Driven ever deeper within himself, Stoner rediscovers the stoic silence of his forebears and confronts an essential solitude.

John Williams's luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.

Critic Reviews:

A perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, it takes your breath away." (Morris Dickstein, New York Times Book Review )

A masterly portrait of a truly virtuous and dedicated man. (New Yorker)

An exquisite study, bleak as Hopper, of a hopelessly honest academic at a meretricious Midwestern university. I had not knownthat the kind of unsparing portrait of failed marriage shown in Stoner existed before John Cheever. (Los Angeles Times)

Members Reviews:

A fascinating book

A book which is very fascinating because of its plainness. The story is of an interesting character who lives an ordinary life. Doesn't excel. Doesn't achieve greatness. Isn't a hero. Isn't a villain. Just a normal guy who stoically faces a failed marriage, who loses relationship with his family, who fights for right on the job and is tormented because of his choice. Yet told in a fashion which makes the book more like a verbal Grant Wood's American Gothic tale. Hopeful and sad at the same time. It will live with me for some time. Also, well interpreted by reader Robin Field.

A masterpiece

I had never heard of this book but was so intrigued by the description (also the description at Amazon) that I decided to give it a try. It is a masterpiece -- one of the great novels of the 20th century. (So why hadn't I ever heard of it?) It's the story of a farmboy who attends the University of MO to study agriculture and falls in love with literature and becomes a professor of English literature at the same school. The book spans World War I & II. The story is almost emotionally devasastating but the author writes with such restraint -- showing not telling -- that the power is heightened all the more. Concealed art at its finest. I couldn';t put it down. Not boring for a moment. The narrator, Robin Field, is spot on perfect for this book. Great, great stuff.

A story of sadness and serenity

If ever I have read a book that moved me gently but to tears, that would be 'Stoner'. Akin to Stoner's happy days, I regretted the book ending so soon, but it could not come to a close at a better moment and the sadness that you will feel is going to be an acute one, which I surmised coming in waves and not continuously humming at the same pitch in 'Stoner'; the sadness will lap gently against you, you will be carried away.

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Title: The Shadow over Innsmouth

Author: H. P. Lovecraft

Narrator: Phil Reynolds

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-22-10

Publisher: Fantom Films

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 508 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Considered to the be one of most influential American authors, Howard Philip Lovecraft is synonymous with some of the best fantasy and horror fiction of the 20th century, second only to Edgar Allan Poe.

Innsmouth is a dilapidated seaside town with secrets as a hybrid race of half-human and half-amphibian creatures worship the gods of Cthulhu and Dagon. Written in 1931, and published by the Visionary Publishing Company some five years later.

Its a genre blessed with many great stylists, H. P.Lovecrafts baroque imagination and outrageous use of language still manages to stand head and shoulders above the rest. A timeless master of the macabre and the true connoisseur of dread. (Michael Marshall-Smith)

Members Reviews:

Great Rendition of Lovecraft's Story

Phil Reynolds did a very nice job on this story. Lovecraft can be hard to read at times, but Reynolds did very well with it. I had already read the story a few years ago, but wanted to experience it again. I'm picky about my narrators, but enjoyed this edition.

It's a great story, and definitely shows Lovecraft at the top of his form. If you have the time, I'd recommend starting with his earlier works and working through them. He is somewhat of an acquired taste.

Probably Lovecraft's best book

Would you listen to The Shadow over Innsmouth again? Why?

I have listened to 'Shadow' three times now since downloading it just a few months back- yes, its that good!

This is easily Lovecraft's best book, and the narrator does a fantastic job of bringing it to life.

Anyone who has ever spent time in a remote community where they have felt uneasy and unwelcome will certainly recognise the mood of the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Shadow over Innsmouth?

The best moment in the book is the twist in the tale and I don't want to be a spoiler!

What does Phil Reynolds bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

The narrator delivers the prose with such skill and poise you are just carried along with him. His accent skills when needed are top-knotch.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made multiple shivers run down my spine.

Not the best narrator

I love H.P. Lovecraft and The Shadow Over Innsmouth is one of his best stories. Unfortunately, this recording's narrator does not convey much if any feeling whatsoever in his recitation of the narrative, making it very dry, matter-of-fact-and dull.

I'a Dagon!

A fantastic reading of a bone-chilling classic. If you're at all curious about what lies in the deep, I'd highly recommend this.

One of Lovecrafts best...

If you want a grisly tail filled with atmosphere and subtly, look no further than a shadow over innsmouth. This books reputation as one of H.P. Lovecrafts most memorable tails is not unearned, and the performance of Phil Reynolds does this piece especial justice with his portrayal of the tale's fatally curious protagonist.

if you've heard of Lovecraft through his Cthulu mythos and would like to test his works for yourself, there is no better a starting point than Innsmouth, and this reading is of especial quality for the uninitiated.

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Title: The Portrait of a Lady

Author: Henry James

Narrator: John Wood

Format: Unabridged

Length: 23 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-02-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 400 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Exclusively from Audible

When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors, declaring that she will never be wed.

It is only when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the cultivated but worthless Gilbert Osmond that she discovers that wealth is a two-edged sword. She becomes a victim of her own provincialism and the scheming of her friends, learning only too late that there is a price to be paid for independence. A tragic tale of love and betrayal, it still resonates with audiences today.

With its subtle delineation of American characters in a European setting, The Portrait of a Lady is considered the masterpiece of the first phase of James's career and arguably his most popular story. Within it we find a reflection of James's interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former.

A film adaptation was made in 1996 by New Zealand director Jane Campion, starring Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, and Barbara Hershey.

Narrator Biography

Having begun his career on stage, John Wood spent seven years in television before eventually playing lead roles in Tom Stoppard's teleplays in 1967. After two Tony nominations for his performances in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Sherlock Holmes, he won the award for Best Actor for his role in Stoppard's surrealistic farce, Travesties, in 1976. He also had a long career with the Royal Shakespeare Company and continued his theatre work in both America and the UK, eventually receiving a Laurence Olivier Award nomination in 1997 for his role in Stoppard's Invention of Love.

In 1996, Wood performed in BBC Radio 3's audio production of Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw and in 2010 he narrated audiobook The Portrait of a Lady with Audible Studios. His appearances in feature films have included Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and, later, television appearances have included Foyles's War (2004) and Lewis (2007). In 2007 he was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Members Reviews:

Highly recommended

John Wood's narration is just about perfect. The "American" accents are not "realistic," but that is a minor quibble, especially as it is offset so well by the perfect rendition of the narrative voice. Wood clearly understands the arc of the novel as a whole, so each chapter, paragraph, sentence has the right tone and nuance; the little refracted ironies strewn about everywhere are nicely expressed. Best of all -- I say this without having heard other readings -- is that Wood reads slowly. He savors the words, and we have time to understand them. The production values and audio quality are fabulous. I echo Linda's comment: Please, Mr. Wood, record more James!

Brilliant reading

John Wood's compelling reading demonstrates a true and deep understanding of this, one of Henry James's greatest novels. His characterizations were perfect, particularly the difficult and at times enigmatic character of Isabel Archer. I hope Mr.

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Title: Little Men

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Narrator: Justine Eyre

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-05-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 152 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Little Men brilliantly extends the March family saga begun in Louisa May Alcott's classic Little Women. Jo---now married to the good-natured Professor Bhaer and with sons of her own---has become the unflappable matron of an extended family at Plumfield, a school that the Bhaers have founded with Aunt March's legacy. Jo's rambunctious youngsters grow up in an atmosphere full of high spirits and misadventure---a world enlivened by Alcott's unique powers of observation and sympathy.

Members Reviews:

It's not "Little Women," but it's still a classic

Its not really fair to compare "Little Men" unfavorably to "Little Women," just because they're both by the same author, but I cant help it. "Little Men" is hardly a novel its really just a series of vignettes from the lives of Jo, the professor, and the boys (and a couple of girls) at Plumfield, their school; it really has no plot to speak of. "Little Women" didnt have much of a plot, but it certainly had more than this sequel.

Thats not to say I didnt enjoy "Little Men." I really did. Its quaint, and the stories are very nice, if a little twee. I had never read it before, and I'm glad I listened to it. Mostly, though, I found it disappointing that the rowdy tomboy, the adventuresome Jo whom I liked so much in "Little Women" would grow up to be as she is depicted in "Little Men," having sublimated her own ambitions and become so completely domesticated. Essentially, Jo turned into her sister Meg, and I wasnt very happy about that.

The narration is good overall, although the youngest childrens voices seemed too babyish. I enjoyed the other characterizations.

Little Men

Little Men takes place where little women left off. It tells the story of Jo and her professor and the adventures of the children at Plum field. As in little women I love how there's always stories within stories. The characters are also well-developed that you can't help falling in love with them.

Great audiobook

I love it . it is great. little men is so cool I've sent it to all my friends.

Inspiring

I found this story to be a great inspiration as a mother and home educator. It is a wonderful living book for those desiring to aspire to a Charlotte Mason approach to education as well.

A good book

I really enjoyed this book and am ready to get the next one in the series tomorrow! Even though it is a good book, I don't recommend it for anyone under the age of 8.

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Title: The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain

Author: Mark Twain

Narrator: Robin Field

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 12-17-09

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 96 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Mark Twain's writing has been wildly popular ever since he put pen to paper, and now its popularity has continued into the new century.

Mark Twain was well known as a great American short-story writer as well as a novelist and humorist. This collection of eighteen of his best short stories, the well known and the lesser known, displays his best-known side, as a master of Western humor and frontier realism, with little of the pessimism that surfaced in his later works.

Beginning the collection is "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog," which was Twain's first successful story, published in 1865 in the New York Saturday Press. This comic version of an old folk tale became the title story of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches, published in 1867, which was what established him as a leading American humorist.

Twain's most distinctive work sums up the tradition of Western humor and frontier realism. Beginning as a journalist, he assumed the method and point of view of popular literature in the U.S., maintaining the personal anecdotal style that he also used in his comic lectures.

These stories display Twain's place in American letters as a master writer in the authentic native idiom. He was exuberant and irreverent, but underlying the humor was a vigorous desire for social justice and a pervasive equalitarian attitude.

Critic Reviews:

Mark Twain was a master of "pungent tall talk and picaresque adventure." (

The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature)

Members Reviews:

Great but incomplete

Robin Field gives a great reading of some of Mark Twain's best stories. His narration is a little flat in the beginning, but when he gets into the voices of the many characters, he takes off.

The audiobook appears to be based on the Modern Library edition of the same title: it has the same stories in the same order, including the date of publication; and my only complaint is that the last four stories from that collection, all from Twain's darker period, are omitted. (This may have been an issue of length, but I suspect it's more a question of copyright.) The omitted stories include "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" and the haunting and unfinished story "The Great Dark." Luckily most of the omitted material is available in other Mark Twain recordings on Audible.com. (For example, "The Great Dark" is available as part of the "Letters From the Earth" audiobook, which I also recommend.)

So the collection isn't as complete as it could be, but as far as it goes, it's first-rate. It includes the usual suspects (the Jumping Frog and Hadleyburg) and one of my own personal favorites, "The Stolen White Elephant," one of the most laugh-out-loud-funny parodies of detective fiction ever written.