Get the Most Popular Audiobooks in Classics, British Literature Top Rated

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Title: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Author: Anne Bronte

Narrator: David Rintoul, Carole Boyd

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-15-08

Publisher: CSA Word

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Anne Bronte's novel is the story of the beautiful and mysterious Helen Graham, who arrives at Wildfell Hall suddenly one day. No one knows who she is or where she has come from, and Gilbert Markham, a young farmer who has fallen in love with her, sets out to find some answers. This is an ambitious and successful work that is a real pleasure to listen to.

© and (P)2007 CSA Telltapes Ltd

Members Reviews:

beautiful

beautiful book so glad to have revisited this classic. I love Anne Bronte. narration was really good too.

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Title: Mary Barton

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Narrator: Maggie Ollerenshaw

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-15-08

Publisher: CSA Word

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Elizabeth Gaskell was born in the south of England, but became a strong advocate for the (mainly northern) working classes, and the trials and tribulations they faced daily in the factories and mills during the time of the Industrial Revolution. She was an active Unitarian, and her religious beliefs were very important to her, giving her a strong set of morals and sense of justice, which feature strongly in her stories.

Members Reviews:

Mary Barton

I am new to Elizabeth Gaskell, but I am a fan. This is the second work of hers I have read and I really enjoyed this one even better than North and South. She is a writer who though her books may be a little slow to begin, knows how to make you love her characters. They are all fully developed and important to her stories. She gives satisfactory endings to ask the strings of her stories though this area not always happy. I also like that her stories have over arching societal themes and that she shows both sides of issues balance. An excellent edition of this book.

Excellent 19th century book

This is an excellent book for people who enjoy 19th century English literature. The plot held my interest to the end. Mrs. Gaskell is an great writer, and the book flowed along smoothly. There are some religious overtones, but the book is never "preachy." This is also a good book for people who are interested in the Manchester-Liverpool area of England.

Manchester's Heroic People

Mary Burton is a treasure of 19 century literature. The characters possess integrity of moral purpose that provides them with a richness not hidden by their poverty in life. Truth, honesty,devotion, modesty, and responsibility are exemplified by rich and poor alike in this tale of love and honor.The author digs beneath the superficial to show crime and it's consequences, but also the reader learns what motives drive men and women to act...how the human heart reacts to injustice and often change their lives as a result. We KNOW Mary Burton and Jem; we ache for John Burton and Mr. Carson. We applaud Margaret's strength despite her blindness. We care about these people as we do for family.

Excellent historical novel.

Very engaging and good historical read. A bit hard to get into because of the sentence structure but grabs you quickly. Worth staying with it. I learned a lot about mid 1800 century English and what it took to endure life especially about women and mothers.

Another good story by Gaskell.

After reading " North and South", I was pleased to find another 19th Century novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. This one,too, focuses on the effects of industrialization on the factory owners as well as the working class. The characterization, as well as the details of daily life, bring the story alive.

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Title: Gulliver's Travels

Author: Jonathan Swift

Narrator: Walter Covell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-04-08

Publisher: Jimcin Recordings

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Irish writer Jonathan Swift was trained for the Church, but for many years did not achieve a suitable post. He supported himself as a private secretary. The break came with the publication of

Tale of a Tub, published in 1704, when he was 37. He continued to make a living from minor Church positions but increasingly gained recognition for his writing. Swift went to England as a political journalist for the Tories, but when George I died in 1714, he returned to Ireland, much scorned. He retreated into Church work, gradually recovered his spirits, and in 1725 published

Gulliver's Travels, a book universally acknowledged as one of the most fantastic adventure stories and best satires on the human condition ever written.

(P)1986 Jimcin Recordings

Members Reviews:

Good reader's voice

There are dozens of readings of Gulliver's Travels. This is my favorite so far, just because the reader has an interesting voice, a cross between Christopher Walken and the dad from Punky Brewster. He has funny pronunciations for a few things like "Houyhnhnm" and even such words as "treatise," but the slightly raspy inflection works well for a satire as savagely funny as this one. Anyway, Swift really shouldn't be read by a polished Brit, since he didn't particularly like them. This works better for me. My only complaint is the title page, which misspells Swift!

Excellent

Excellent reading of this classic tale.

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Title: Jane Eyre

Author: Charlotte Bronte

Narrator: Carole Boyd

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-04-08

Publisher: CSA Word

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

A thrilling story with elements of mystery, but overall a classic romance, this story has a bit of everything and is altogether brilliant.

Members Reviews:

The free Kindle version is fine...

The free Kindle version is fine if you aren't reading the book for study purposes and if you know a tiny hint of French. In fact, I'm of the opinion that reading 160+ year old books on Kindle has the distinct advantage of access to the built-in English dictionary. You can look up archaic words immediately without losing your page, thanks to the 'back' button. I didn't mind the fact that there were no page breaks between chapters as one previous reviewer did. In fact the novel was so gripping and compelling that the very fact that there were even chapters to break it up left me feeling somewhat impatient!

The reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 probably has more to do with Kindle books in general rather than this book in particular. It reads as easily as any other book I've read on Kindle. But it's the kind of novel where you want to flip back to a certain section and re-read a portion just because of what is currently being said by the characters, and there is no way to do that. As for the French passages I had mentioned earlier, they are really very few in number and even if you don't know any French, don't let it stop you from reading this novel. They're all things said by one character or another, often repeated in English. (Thank you, Charlotte Bront)! None of it is important to the plot or to the characters themselves.

Charlotte Bront shows herself to be an incredibly masterful writer in "Jane Eyre." There were times when I just stopped to admire the style with which she conveyed something and the techniques she used. She is also incredibly insightful into human nature. The main character is an introverted person and all of her thoughts, beautifully laid out, make her into one of the most compelling characters in literature. Although it may be difficult to see this, I do think that the author was showing her feminist colors, such as they were in those days, when she conjured up Jane Eyre.

Thanks for making these classic books available for free on Kindle!

While not fatal, the flaws are serious enough to prevent Jane Eyre from being a true masterpiece

** spoiler alert ** After my extreme disappointment with Shirley, I returned to Jane Eyre, which I first read as a 'tween and from time to time afterwards would dip back into the romantic bits no St. John!) to finally read it again cover-to-cover. In this novel, Bronte writes like a pro, opening the story with a conflict that immediately engages her readers' interest in Jane and quickly follows up with another that firmly cements that affection. When the evil Rev. Brocklehurst asks Jane what she must do to avoid the eternal torture of hell, she replies, "I must keep in good health, and not die," and her immortality as a literary character is secured. One strength of this novel is the first-person narration with everything seen through Jane's eyes. Although we know her to be a passionate individual, she is also absolutely trustworthy,and the generous and smart woman she becomes plays no games in telling her tale in simple, straightforward narration. We burn with indignation at Aunt Reed and Rev. Brocklehurst, grieve over Helen, share her growing affection for Sophie and Mrs.

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Title: The Siege of London

Author: Henry James

Narrator: Jonathan Epstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-19-07

Publisher: BMA Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Henry James' transatlantic tale follows the intrigues of a beautiful American adventuress who has set her sights on respectability and ultimate success in upper-class London society.

(P)2007 BMA Studios

Members Reviews:

Typical Henry James

Those blasted Americans, always trying to get a foothold in London society! James tackles the subject once again as a beautiful but shady multiple divorcee works her charms and ignores rebuffs. Very good reader for a Jamesian novel.

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Title: England, Their England

Author: A. G. Macdonell

Narrator: Martin Jarvis

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-10-07

Publisher: CSA Word

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Donald Cameron, a young Scotsman, is commissioned to write a book on the outsider's view of the English. He sets about his task with enthusiasm, encountering along the way an array of richly comical characters including civil servants, newspaper editors, minor poets, a glamourous movie star, politicians, and many more. This satire of English eccentricity has become a classic of 20th century literature.

© and (P)1998 CSA Telltapes Ltd.

Members Reviews:

Amusing but unoriginal

Content is a 2, but narrator lifts the recording to a 3. Mostly absurd, stereotypical, outdated folderol that masquerades as humor, but occasionally I laughed until my sides hurt.

Too brief.

Would you try another book written by A. G. Macdonell or narrated by Martin Jarvis?

Yes

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

A shame that it was not verbatim as it is crucial to the understanding of the whole.

What aspect of Martin Jarviss performance might you have changed?

None

Do you think England, Their England needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. It is fine in itself.

Any additional comments?

Too much detail was missed out in my view.

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Title: Sense and Sensibility

Author: Jane Austen

Narrator: Annette Crosbie

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-29-07

Publisher: BBC Worldwide Limited

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Jane Austen's acclaimed comedy of manners contains a truly memorable cast of characters, including the snobbish Mrs Ferrers, impetuous Marianne, selfish John Dashwood, and his awful, grasping wife. Annette Crosbie captures all the wit and charm of the romance in this BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour reading.

© and (P)1996, 1999, 2006 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Members Reviews:

A Satisfying Dramatisation

Annette Crosbie did a fine job with this dramatised book but I am listening to the unabridged version of S&S as I write. I am at the part after Lucy's secret is revealed. One thing which has always puzzled me: when first introduced, Miss Lucy Steele's sister was Ann but there seems to be a name change to Nancy when Fanny Dashwood was told of the engagement. Did I misunderstand and perhaps Nancy is a maid? Only four people were in on Lucy's secret: Lucy, sister Ann, Edward and finally Elinor. Lucy's sister is the one who opened big mouth and inserted both feet up to her elbows letting loose Lucy's secret so why would some Nancy have angered anyone? Did Austen decide on a name change or was there some editorial blunder or more likely, I am just boneheaded don't understand something obvious?

Like all Austen books, S&S is a book about books. Miss Austen was a promiscuous reader. I have been reading some of the books which are referenced by her. The woman was a soap oera addict. In the 17 and 1800's, soaps were books by Samuel Richardson, Ann Radcliffe, Fanny Burney, et al. The stuff would sell Tide and Cheer by the case.

Finally, have you noticed how much pain is inflicted by good natured folks such as Mrs. Jenkins, Sir Middleton or Mrs. Palmer with their well intentioned jokes? Their friendly ill-considered raillery cause more pain than the intentional slights and put-downs by actual enemies. The fortune teller in Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict said that one could not have a better advisor than Jane Austen novels. There are folks about who could do with some Austen advice.

Not a Dramatization

Although, this is a good reading, it is, in no way a dramatization of this book. I was very disappointed after downloading it to find that I had obtained yet another reading version of the novel. I would not recommend anyone buy it thinking they are getting a dramatization.

Misleading description!

Not everything labelled 'BBC' is a guarantee of quality it seems. I'm afraid I was taken in by the word 'dramatised' - it is anything BUT! Miss Austen's delightful characters are reduced to colourless images, hardly distinguishable one from the other, in Annette Crosbie's lacklustre narration. After 4 attempts I noted I had dozed off at exactly the same point each time! Soporific, but hardly what I look for in a good read, or rather, listen!

too much missing

too much missing from the book ( this is all I want to say, but you won't let me stop at the 1st sentence!)

Sense and sensibility (not dramatised)

This is not dramatised but one of the excellent abridgments caried out under the BBC for 'Womans Hour' daily radio program.

Well read and sensibly shortened. I enjoyed it.

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Title: Tom Jones, Volume 2

Author: Henry Fielding

Narrator: Charlton Griffin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-07-07

Publisher: Audio Connoisseur

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 59 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

One of the marvelous aspects of Tom Jones is the mock-heroic language Fielding employs in his funniest scenes. Assuming the hauteur of an ancient Greek or Roman epic poet, Fielding unleashes some of the most hilarious and satirical prose imaginable, skewering in the process the pretensions of lesser rivals while shredding the moral ambiguities of the mid-18th century. Never before was an author so well equipped to puncture the fashions and foibles of his day as was Fielding.

Volume 2 continues our story by picking up with the flight of Sophia from her father, Squire Western, and continues the journey of Tom as he ponders his future on the road to London. In a series of tightly constructed plot twists and turns, Tom and Sophia end up at the same inn, unbeknownst to one another. Meanwhile, a plethora of new characters are introduced, some of whom will remain till the end of the story, with others dropping away as Tom and Sophia continue on their way to London. They are among the most memorable in the book. In this part of the novel, the setting remains either on the road or at a number of inns as our hero continues on his way.

In his matchless style, Fielding describes some of the most outrageously funny episodes in English literature.

Tom Jones concludes with Volume 3.

Critic Reviews:

"Fielding is generally agreed to be an innovating master of the highest originality....He devised what he described as 'comic epics in prose', which are in effect the first modern novels in English....[Tom Jones] is generally regarded as Fielding's greatest." (The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature)

Members Reviews:

Delightful and entertaining

314. The History of Tom Jones: a foundling by Henry Fielding (Novel-Audible/E Book-Fiction) 5* I read along with the Audible of the novel which I found a highly delightful and entertaining experience.

The narrator, Bill Homewood, who performed the audio version of the work was excellent doing the various characters as well as the invisible narrator (author) of the story. The Synopsis is as follows:

A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squireâthough he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. When Tom is banished to make his own fortune and Sophia follows him to London to escape an arranged marriage, the adventure begins. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth-century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, Tom Jones is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.

It is rather brilliant, and there is no lack of shenanigans as we follow Jones through his history and the reader never knows when and where the author will abruptly go off on a tangent, told in a most eloquent manner, end with a flourish and no doubt tossed his quill down and took a bow. I am either taken in by some farce or thoroughly enchanted by this author. As Fielding is rather the loquacious writer this read comes in Audible time at almost 38 hours or roughly 1,000 pages but worth every minute spent on it.

The book itself is five stars!

This is a review of the Oxford Classic Kindle edition.

The book itself is one of the greatest novels ever written; this is maybe the third time I've read it.

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Title: Gulliver's Travels

Author: Jonathan Swift

Narrator: David Case

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-01-07

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

In

Gulliver's Travels, the narrator represents himself as a reliable reporter of the fantastic adventures he has just experienced. But how far can we rely on a narrator who has been impersonated by someone else? The work purports to be a travel book, and describes the shipwrecked Gulliver's encounters with the inhabitants of four extraordinary places: Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the country of the Houyhnhnms. A consumately skillful blend of fantasy and realism makes

Gulliver's Travels by turns hilarious, frightening, and profound. This is one of literature's most disturbing satires on the human condition.

(P)2006 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic Reviews:

"[Swift] dictated for a time the political opinions of the English nation...and showed that wit, confederated with truth, has such force as authority was unable to resist." (Samuel Johnson)

Members Reviews:

horrible

I don't know if the style of writing from the 1800s or the reader's affected British accent was what drove me crazy. I quit listening after the first seven hours.

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Title: Martin Chuzzlewit, Volume II

Author: Charles Dickens

Narrator: Flo Gibson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-28-06

Publisher: Audio Book Contractors, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

The vast cast of diverse characters includes, among many others, the hypocrite Mr. Pecksniff, the undertaker Mr. Mould, the jolly Mark Tapley, the gentle Tom Pinch, the nurse who enjoys her bottled comforts, Mrs. Gamp, and the lovely Mary Graham, over whom the disagreements of the young and old Martin Chuzzlewits cause the younger to go to America to seek his fortune. Dickens' depictions of the United States are amusing and scathing, to say the least!

(P)2006 Audio Book Contractors, Inc.