Listen to Most Popular Audiobooks in Classics, American Literature

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Title: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Author: James Weldon Johnson

Narrator: Bill Andrew Quinn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-09-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

James Weldon Johnson's emotionally gripping novel is a landmark in black literary history and, more than 90 years after its original anonymous publication, a classic of American fiction. The first fictional memoir ever written by an African-American, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man influenced a generation of writers during the Harlem Renaissance and served as eloquent inspiration for Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright. In the 1920s and since, it has also given white readers a startling new perspective on their own culture, revealing to many the double standard of racial identity imposed on black Americans.

Told by a bi-racial man whose light skin allows him to "pass" for white, the novel describes a pilgrimage through America's color lines at the turn of the century - from a black college in Jacksonville to an elite New York nightclub, from the rural South to the white suburbs of the Northeast. This is a powerful, unsentimental examination of race in America, a hymn to the anguish of forging an identity in a nation obsessed with color. And, as Arna Bontemps pointed out decades ago, "the problems of the artist [as presented here] seem as contemporary as if the book had been written this year."

Members Reviews:

A Bit Disappointed...

I have always wanted to read this book. Now that I have, I am a bit disappointed. It was going along very well, but by the time it reaches chapter 11, there seemed to be some rush to finish. Johnson only spent about 2 chapters depicting his life passing as a White man, even though that is the name of the book. He only related to passing as White in relation to the meeting and marrying of his wife. His life and travels and experiences were very interesting, but when it came time to address the subject matter of the title, it came up very short. It was as though he grew tired of his own story and just wanted to hurry up and finish. And I think this approach cheated the reader from getting to know what it really was like for him. I was very much looking forward to his latter experiences because he depicted his earlier experiences so well, which drew me in. Unfortunately, the reader gets abandoned at the end after spending so many hours getting into the story.

Also, the narrator who performed the book was very distracting. For some reason, his voice did not lend itself to the story.

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Title: Why Read Moby-Dick?

Author: Nathaniel Philbrick

Narrator: Nathaniel Philbrick

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-13-11

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 95 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

The New York Times best-selling author of seagoing epics now celebrates an American classic.Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest of the Great American Novels, yet its length and esoteric subject matter create an aura of difficulty that too often keeps readers at bay. Fortunately, one unabashed fan wants passionately to give Melville's masterpiece the broad contemporary audience it deserves.

In his National Book Award- winning best seller, In the Heart of the Sea, Nathaniel Philbrick captivatingly unpacked the story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex, the real-life incident that inspired Melville to write Moby- Dick. Now, he sets his sights on the fiction itself, offering a cabin master's tour of a spellbinding novel rich with adventure and history.

Philbrick skillfully navigates Melville's world and illuminates the book's humor and unforgettable characters-finding the thread that binds Ishmael and Ahab to our own time and, indeed, to all times. A perfect match between author and subject, Why Read Moby-Dick? gives us a renewed appreciation of both Melville and the proud seaman's town of Nantucket that Philbrick himself calls home. Like Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life, this remarkable little book will start conversations, inspire arguments, and, best of all, bring a new wave of readers to a classic tale waiting to be discovered anew.

Members Reviews:

A beautiful love letter to an amazing novel

A nice series of loose essays exploring Moby-Dick (don't forget the fierce harpooned-like hyphen), Melville's life and Melville's relationship with the shy Hawthorne. It is a good but way-too-way short look at the annihilation of writing perhaps the greatest of American novels. WRM-D? is a beautiful love letter to an amazing novel and one of America greatest wandering, stoic poets; born 50 years too soon to recognize the joy or satisfaction of seeing his own pages being cut in 20th Century and the Modern world.

Good introduction to the book

If you're planning to read (or listen to) "Moby Dick," you might want to give this short audiobook a try first. It's a useful audio introduction; it will clue you in to at least some of what Melville was trying to do and what his life circumstances were when he undertook to write the book. (I never knew, for example, that his first draft was a more conventional whaling yarn, and that it was only after meeting Nathaniel Hawthorne that he began to re-envision the story as a much darker, more cosmic tale.)

Philbrick does a good job describing his own thoughts and the basic facts of the case. He's much less effective as a narrator when he's reading passages from the novel, which happens quite a bit: if you've experienced Anthony Heald, Frank Muller, or one of the other outstanding narrators of the book on Audible, it will be hard at times to hear Philbrick going through the same material. It's not that he's really BAD, it's just that his straight-ahead delivery is very much at odds with the flights of language so common in Melville.

Still, as I said, it's a useful introduction; it has a lot to say about Melville, whaling, mid-nineteenth-century America, the Bible, Shakespeare, and literature in general.

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Title: H. P. Lovecraft, Volume 2: 'The Call of Cthulhu' and 'Reanimator'

Author: H. P. Lovecraft

Narrator: Garrick Hogan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-13-11

Publisher: The Copyright Group

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 68 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Howard Phillips Lovecraft is among the greatest American writers of fantasy and the supernatural. Born in 1890, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, his health was uncertain from childhood and he led a sheltered early life. His semi-invalidism enabled him to read omnivorously, and as a shy imaginative child he began to invent what would in his adult life become a whole macabre fantastic world of his own, peopled by creatures out of his own weird imagination. As an adult he was retiring, almost a recluse. Tall, thin and pale, but with bright alert eyes, he was much given to wandering his native city in the dark hours of the night, and he became a devoted student of its antiquities. He began to write early, but had nothing published nationally until he was in his twenties. He set many of his stories around the imaginary town of Arkham, and invented an entire mythology of his own, its core being the demoniac cult of Cthulhu, based on the lore or legend that the world was at one time inhabited by another race who, in practising black magic, lost their foothold or were expelled, yet live outside, ever ready to take possession of this earth again. Since his early death in 1937 his stories have increasingly grown in popularity. He encouraged younger writers, and a number of authors have continued to develop in their own stories the cult of Cthulhu.

In this volume our tales are "The Call of Cthulhu" and "Reanimator". They are read for you by Garrick Hagon who began his acting career as a boy, playing the part of the Prince of Wales to Alec Guinesss Richard III at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. He Has done much radio drama, and his long list of television appearances include Colditz and Dr Who. Among his many films are Star Wars, Cry Freedom, A Bridge Too Far, and Batman.

Members Reviews:

Discovery of an old want

I had wanted to read Lovecrafts books as a kid, but never took the time. I love Horror and Science fiction and have a friend that off and on has suggested I take the time and "just do it". I am glad I did, the intricacy's of his stories is captivating and well worth the time. The use of vocabulary is thought provoking.

The books, having been written at a time that Society was not as developed as it is today, give an insight into the past that most of us never knew. I highly recommend these stories.

Ramblings of A Madman

These stories are beautiful, and maddening. The narrator was good, but you can hear him audibly swallowing repeatedly, and it is nerve-racking. Also, his pronunciation of some things, not the Mythos or names but certain common words is irritating.

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Title: From Poverty to Power

Author: James Allen

Narrator: Sean Pratt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-21-11

Publisher: Gildan Media, LLC

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 46 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Although written at the turn of the century its themes are still current. From Poverty to Power is a concise and informative guide to the development of the human spirit. These two books in one: "The Path to Prosperity" and "The Way of Peace," are both inspirational and motivational!

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Author: Harriet Jacobs

Narrator: Lisa Reneé Pitts

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-30-11

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 158 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Published in 1861, Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is an autobiographical account of the author's experiences as a slave in 19th-century North Carolina, from her relatively happy childhood to the brutality she experienced as a teenager and young woman to her eventual escape to the North. One of the few slave narratives written by a woman, Jacobs's work deals frankly with the horrors of slavery, shedding light on the abuses female slaves in particular often endured at the hands of their masters. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a gripping, unflinchingly honest account of slavery, one that stands as an important counterpoint to male slave narratives by such authors as Frederick Douglass.

Members Reviews:

WELL WORTH YOUR CREDIT!

I enjoyed this book. I learned quite alot of this time that I did not know. Being Canadian, this was not a subject that was ever taught in our schools.( Perhaps that has changed now, I dont know. ) This was a time in history that was more horrific than I even thought. And yet ,throughout this story, there was a constant thread of love and hope. There is quite a lot of focus on the relationship between Harriet and her grandmother. This relationship was simply amazing in it's power and strength. I came away from this book better for having listened to it, on so many levels.

What an amazing woman Harriet was, as was her family. Very highly recommended.

A joy!

Lisa Reneé Pitts' voice is so sweet, and the writing so lush, this story became what I looked forward to most about getting home! As someone with hardly one cultural tie to speak of with African American history I found this a real education, and as such an impassioned first hand account, made it incredibly relatable. Would absolutely recommend!

Great Book!!!

What can say...this was a well written book, I highly enjoyed it from beginning to end!! I loved the main character she was amazing!!

Must Read

What an amazing story! Well written and hard to read. Such a hard look at history.

What a struggle for freedom, but all worth it.

To think about being hidden in a small garret for seven years to avoid a slave owner's wrath and I'll treatment is an atrocity to mankind's history.

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Title: Henry & June

Author: Anais Nin

Narrator: Cherie Lunghi

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-20-11

Publisher: The Copyright Group

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 81 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

'I really believe that if I were not a writer, not a creator, not an experimenter, I might have been a very faithful wife.' Nin's passionate and consuming relationship with Henry & June transformed a previously monogamous wife into an uninhibited and sexually liberated woman. Henry & June is a forthright and riveting account of a woman discovering her sensuality.

Our production is read by Cherie Lunghi. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company she has appeared in London and Stratford in many of its productions. Amongst her many film appearances have been Roland Joffe's 'The Mission', John Boorman's 'Excalibur' and Kenneth Branagh's 'Frankenstein'.

Members Reviews:

Confusing Narrator

The narrator's voice is a low, breathy contralto. Very low. Although she is an excellent reader, the deep quality of her voice makes this already melodramatic text a caricature of itself. It flattens the quality of the listening experience, and makes it hard to take the content seriously.

Not Just These Days

To me the story is very telling of the kind of being man (and woman) really are. The story coming from 1931, my generation has been told that the 1970s were the years of the sexual revolution. To the contrary of this story, it may have happened way before then and before this writing. While most people will never go to the depths that are told in this book, the sexual mind will take them there time and time again regardless of your public portrayal. You know it's true.

A quest into human mind

I was more captivated with the narration than I thought I would be. There is something poetic about the flow of thought, even if it does suddenly leap somewhere totally new and is at times hard to follow. An interesting view into the mind of someone who tries to find themselves in a world too rigid for their needs.

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Title: Moby Dick: or the Whale

Author: Herman Melville

Narrator: Mark Nelson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 23 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-16-11

Publisher: Trout Lake Media

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 241 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Moby-Dick is widely considered to be the Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story details the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whale ship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale: Moby Dick, a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. And Ahab intends to take revenge.

Members Reviews:

Solid narration of a timeless classic

What made the experience of listening to Moby Dick: or the Whale the most enjoyable?

I listen to audiobooks on my way to/from work every morning, and this book took me almost two months to listen to, and it was worth every minute. It's one of those feelings of achievement and satisfaction you get only from finishing something worthwhile. I never read this book growing up, and I anticipated it to be hard enough to follow in print, not to mention in audio form. But Mark Nelson did a fabulous job not only managing all the various accents and voice textures, but also in how he handled all the dialects present in the text. I have an appreciation for anyone who reads a book well, and a book like this is twice as difficult to read aloud as a normal novel. Well worth the time spend listening.

What did you like best about this story?

I didn't expect all the tertiary information Melville provided about the whaling trade and life at sea. It was an unexpected, but not unwelcome, addition to what I did expect. The narrative portions themselves were so good I listened to some chapters twice, especially the very last chapter.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scenes have to be when Stubb made the Cook preach to the sharks, and of course the final battle with Moby Dick.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was moved by Ahab's existential reflections toward the end of the book, and I was saddened by Ahab's final benevolent desire to see Starbuck make it back to his family.

Any additional comments?

I never read this book growing up, and I anticipated it to be hard enough to follow in print, not to mention in audio form. But Mark Nelson did a fabulous job not only managing all the various accents and voice textures, but also in how he handled all the dialects present in the text. I have an appreciation for anyone who reads a book well, and a book like this is twice as difficult to read aloud as a normal novel because of all these accents and dialects. Well worth the time spent listening.

Can't beat a well read classic for this price!

Where does Moby Dick: or the Whale rank among all the audiobooks you???ve listened to so far?

I had recently read Moby Dick in print form, then listened to this audio version. Don't know if I could have followed the story on the audio without having read it first... it would have required rapt attention. And an occasional pause to consult the dictionary! This was a very enjoyable listen...

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Title: Civil Disobedience

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Narrator: Curtis Sisco

Format: Unabridged

Length: 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-13-11

Publisher: Trout Lake Media

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 53 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Henry David Thoreau's classic essay inspired Martin Luther King, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and many other activists.

Members Reviews:

Go Henry!

Great message. This is important information in our day and age of unjust and immoral laws.

Navel gazing we all need in this political times

What made the experience of listening to Civil Disobedience the most enjoyable?

It's a classic that anyone who wants to be a better person should read.

Any additional comments?

You see his point and hopefully it helps you to grow. And think more fully of the implications your life can have on others, and the power in one and all of us.

Thoreau is brilliant

A brilliant example of both literary skill and political thought. The reading is fairly good even if I found the particular North American accent a bit cumbersome - though this is a fairly personal point of pretence. Still it hasn't stopped me listening to this about 6 times.

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Title: Bulfinchs Mythology

Subtitle: The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes

Author: Thomas Bulfinch

Narrator: Jonathan Cowley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-04-11

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 38 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

First published in three separate volumes from 1855 to 1863, Bulfinch's Mythology quickly became the standard source of classic tales from ancient Greece and Rome, the Norse tradition, and beyond. This edition contains the full text of The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes, the first volume of Bulfinch's seminal work. From stories of the Greek gods of Mt. Olympus to retellings of the Iliad and the Odyssey, from descriptions of mythological monsters to tales of Hindu and Egyptian deities, Bulfinch's versions of these classic stories bring their characters to life.

Throughout the text, Bulfinch includes examples of literary interpretations of and allusions to the various stories and points out proverbial expressions that have their origins in the mythology he relates, making this a vital reference for students of literature as well as a delightfully vibrant collection of the stories that form our cultural heritage.

Members Reviews:

new stories, and covers alot.

the narrator was okay I didn't like the way he pronounce the few names but I don't think I should down him entirely for that. there were stories I had never heard before even though I've listened to many mythological books. I like the north myth part at the end it's not as comprehensive. but I would say this is a book that covers everything in Greek some Egyptian, Norse myths. I probably listen to it again on a ride if I just wanted to hear mythology

Dreadful narration

The book would be very interesting but for the pathetic and amateurish narration. The narrator does not appear to be able to read.

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Title: The Golden Bowl

Author: Henry James

Narrator: Katherine Kellgren, Simon Prebble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-25-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 90 votes

Genres: Classics, American Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Published in 1904, The Golden Bowl is the last completed novel of Henry James. In it, the widowed American Adam Verver is in Europe with his daughter Maggie. They are rich, finely appreciative of European art and culture, and deeply attached to each other. Maggie has all the innocent charm of so many of James' young American heroines. She is engaged to Amerigo, an impoverished Italian prince; he must marry money, and as his name suggests, an American heiress is the perfect solution.

The golden bowl, first seen in a London curio shop, is used emblematically throughout the novel. Not solid gold but gilded crystal, the perfect surface conceals a flaw; it is symbolic of the relationship between the main characters and of the world in which they move.

Also in Europe is an old friend of Maggie's, Charlotte Stant, a girl of great charm and independence, and Maggie is blindly ignorant of the fact that she and the prince are lovers. Maggie and Amerigo are married and have a son, but Maggie remains dependent for real intimacy on her father, and she and Amerigo grow increasingly apart. Feeling that her father has suffered a loss through her marriage, Maggie decides to find him a wife, and her choice falls on Charlotte. Charlotte's affair with the prince continues, and Adam Verver seems to her to be a suitable and convenient match. When Maggie herself finally comes into possession of the golden bowl, the flaw is revealed to her, and, inadvertently, the truth about Amerigo and Charlotte.

Fanny Assingham (an older woman, aware of the truth from the beginning) deliberately breaks the bowl, and this marks the end of Maggie's innocence. She is no pathetic heroine-victim, however. Abstaining from outcry and outrage, she instead takes the reins and maneuvers people and events. She still wants to be with Amerigo, but he must continue to be worth having and they must all be saved further humiliations and indignities. To be a wife she must cease to be a daughter; Adam Verver and the unhappy Charlotte are banished forever to America, and the new Maggie will establish a real marriage with Amerigo.

Editorial Reviews:

For those who love Henry James, The Golden Bowl is often a favorite. For those who dont, it may be better tolerated than some of the others. Whichever category is yours, this version is an ideal place to revisit your position on The Master. Katherine Kellgren does a miraculous job with Jamess famously endless sentences. She keeps the rhythm and structure of each one clear without losing sight of its emotional content and its pace within the story - a feat something like running a hurdle course. Best of all, she creates vivid characters and makes the tensions among them truly absorbing as a sweet, rich American father and daughter find themselves in the toils of European sophisticates and in crisis everyone behaves beautifully.

Critic Reviews:

Katherine Kellgren does a miraculous job with Jamess famously endless sentences. She keeps the rhythm and structure of each one clear without losing sight of its emotional content and its pace within the storya feat something like running a hurdle course. Best of all, she creates vivid characters and makes the tensions among them truly absorbing as a sweet, rich American father and daughter find themselves in the toils of European sophisticates and in crisis everyone behaves beautifully.