Sister Luke
- 7
- reviews
- 4
- helpful votes
- 30
- ratings
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The Canterbury Tales [Blackstone]
- By: Geoffrey Chaucer
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis, Jay Carnes, Ray Porter, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this edition, we hear, translated into modern English, 20-some tales, told in the voices of knight and merchant, wife and miller, squire and nun, and many more. Some are bawdy, some spiritual, some romantic, some mysterious, some chivalrous. Between the stories, the travelers converse, joke, and argue, revealing much about their individual outlooks upon life as well as what life was like in late 14th-century England.
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I'll stick with Beowulf
- By Sister Luke on 21-03-2021
I'll stick with Beowulf
Reviewed: 21-03-2021
So apparently Mediaeval people were really obsessed with adultery and cuckoldry. And drunkenness. I didn't like this for the same reason I don't like Shakespeare--it's too low, too vulgar, too coarse, too common (in every sense). It's so petty, so inconsequential. I'm not interested in how ordinary people lived their lives (when there isn't something greater at stake)--my soul longs for grandeur, adventure, heroism, the high and noble and great. Tolkien was absolutely right (and Martin is wrong) to purge the gross from his pseudo-historical epics.
My favourite was the Prioress's Tale, and least favourite was the Miller's, for obvious reasons. I noticed that in the audio version I listened to the narratress of the Prioress's Tale adopted a hysterical tone in order to distance herself from the teller and discredit the tale.
I think it was a mistake to listen to this via audibook, as I was often totally unsure what was going on or even which tale I was hearing. At times I wanted to check a word or phrase, but this was difficult as the audiobook I was listening to via audible doesn't have proper part headings/divisions. On the other hand, if I hadn't listened to the audiobook, I would never have got through it. And I did want to get through it, just because it's one of those things one ought to have read, and I'm a completionist.
Based purely on my personal enjoyment: 2 stars, minus 1 for all the farting. Seriously, what the fuck, Chaucer? It wasn't even funny.
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Decline and Fall
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Michael Maloney
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Expelled from Oxford for indecent behaviour, Paul Pennyfeather is oddly unsurprised to find himself qualifying for the position of schoolmaster at Llanabba Castle. His colleagues are an assortment of misfits, including Prendy (plagued by doubts) and Captain Grimes, who is always in the soup (or just plain drunk). Then Sports Day arrives, and with it the delectable Margot Beste-Chetwynde, floating on a scented breeze. As the farce unfolds and the young run riot, no one is safe, least of all Paul.
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Michael Maloney, voice artist
- By Papa G on 28-05-2019
- Decline and Fall
- By: Evelyn Waugh
- Narrated by: Michael Maloney
Curious
Reviewed: 02-12-2020
Was this recorded quite a while ago? I mean, decades ago? The audio/narration quality would seem to suggest as much.
He sort of slurs/stumbles his way through at a very rapid pace, and often makes outright mistakes, which I assume if this was a proper audiobook recording he would have gone back to correct. All his voices sound pretty much the same, and there are some odd choices in how he choose to do many characters. Overall, it just didn't sound very professional, or seem like Maloney really 'got' the book. In fact, I would guess he was probably bored by it. Sloppy. Sloppy is the word I'm looking for.
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Tales from the Perilous Realm
- Four BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations
- By: Brian Sibley - adaptation, J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
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Four BBC radio dramatisations starring Michael Hordern as Tolkien, plus a special archive compilation exploring Tolkien's life and work. The tales in this collection all reflect an aspect of what Tolkien himself called 'the perilous realm of Faerie'. Adapted for radio by Brian Sibley, co-writer of the acclaimed BBC radio production of The Lord of the Rings, they are rich in myth, magic and adventure. Among the supporting cast are Brian Blessed, Nigel Planer, Sorcha Cusack, Paul Copley and James Grout.
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A mixed bag
- By Sister Luke on 30-06-2020
- Tales from the Perilous Realm
- Four BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisations
- By: Brian Sibley - adaptation, J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: full cast
A mixed bag
Reviewed: 30-06-2020
There was some wonderful voice acting ( Brian Blessed was brilliant, as ever, as were the voices of Tom and Goldbery). However there were also some very odd choices made when it came to adapting Tolkien's stories into dialogue, and often the voicing/characterisation felt 'off',
; what they chose to leave vs what they left out felt arbitrary, and the conveying of visual information through ordinary media was generally clunky and awkward. The action scenes were particularly badly handled. Those problems pertained primarily to the Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wotton Major and Life by Niggle stories. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which is actually the Hobbits stay in the House of Bombadil from the Lord of the Rings) and the audio documentary on Tolkien , on the other hand, were excellent (incorporating snippets from the BBC Lord of the Rings radio play) were by far the best parts, well worth it for that alone.
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Mister Monday
- The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 1
- By: Garth Nix
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Arthur Penhaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is, in fact, supposed to die an early death. But then he is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. Arthur is safe – but his world is not. Along with the key comes a plague brought by bizarre creatures from another realm. A stranger named Mister Monday, his avenging messengers with blood-stained wings, and an army of dog-faced Fetchers will stop at nothing to get the key back – even if it means destroying Arthur and everything around him.
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A classic just as enchanting as in my boyhood
- By Sister Luke on 10-01-2019
- Mister Monday
- The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 1
- By: Garth Nix
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
A classic just as enchanting as in my boyhood
Reviewed: 10-01-2019
This is a childhood favourite of mine, and I am pleased beyond words to discover it holds up equally well know that I am grown up. Garth Nix writes a cracking, original narrative with enough in the way of mythic/religious allusion and more serious themes (particularly toward the end of the series) to give it a truly epic feel. The writing style is both profoundly simple, and very good--perfect for a book aimed at children. The narrator is excellent, with a masterly control of different voices/accents (his choice of a Welshman for a coalminer, for instance, is amusing and just right.)
1 person found this helpful
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The Charioteer
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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After surviving the Dunkirk retreat, Laurie Odell, a young homosexual, critically examines his unorthodox lifestyle and personal relationships, as he falls in love with a young conscientious objector and becomes involved with a circle of world-weary gay men.
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Almost.....
- By Kenneth on 09-10-2016
- The Charioteer
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Joe Jameson
Awful. Just awful.
Reviewed: 20-03-2018
An unforgivable mangling of a truly remarkable work. Agree with the reviewer below- the bit at the beginning, a completely inappropriate co-option of Renault's work to fit a contemporary 'Gay Rights' narrative, is insufferable and unnecessary, and contradicts completely the core messages of the book (I can only imagine they were too subtle for the writer of the foreword). The Charioteer is first and foremost a good novel, not even so much a Gay(!) novel, still less a didactic political screed.
The voices the narrator adopts for the different characters are stilted and overdone (not to mention badly done); bizarre, actually. They're like caricatures: the masculine voices are exaggeratedly deep and dense-sounding; the feminine (for which he adopts a falsetto), mean and shrill. It's excruciating to listen to. Laurie, Ralph and Andrew (who the narrator distinguishes by making him speak in a barely-audible whisper) deserve better. Mary Renault deserves better. Her peerless and singular style (of which the narrator has no discernible appreciation) deserves better. Renault's descriptions and especially dialogue perfectly and effortlessly evoke the period, but this narrator doesn't really seem to know how people in the first half of the 20th century talked. A more experienced reader would have been much better. My personal choice would be an older woman, perhaps a distinguished (theatre?) actress; someone literate enough to understand the beauty and power of what they are reading.
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The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Sir Derek Jacobi
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of poetry written by J. R. R. Tolkien and was first published in 1962. The audio is read by Sir Derek Jacobi and is a collection of 16 poems that contain an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme. It is a stunning recording that captures all the characters in their own charming and mysterious ways.
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Awesome
- By Anonymous User on 13-03-2021
- The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Sir Derek Jacobi
A must for any Tolkien fan
Reviewed: 18-03-2018
Tolkien's verse is simple and delightful and, at times, very beautiful. Derek Jacobi is, of course, inimitable.
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Till We Have Faces
- A Myth Retold
- By: C. S. Lewis
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the pre-Christian world of Glome on the outskirts of Greek civilization, it is a tale of two princesses: the beautiful Psyche, who is loved by the god of love himself, and Orual, Psyche's unattractive and embittered older sister, who loves Psyche with a destructive possessiveness. Her frustration and jealousy over Psyche's fate sets Orual on the troubled path of self-discovery. Lewis's last work of fiction, this is often considered his best by critics.
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Story and Narration both excellent
- By Sister Luke on 18-03-2018
- Till We Have Faces
- A Myth Retold
- By: C. S. Lewis
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
Story and Narration both excellent
Reviewed: 18-03-2018
This is C.S. Lewis' best and most mature work (in his opinion as well as mine). The story is a must-read for fans of Lewis, Greek myth or literature with sensitive and moving explorations of profound spiritual, psychological and philosophical themes. Equally enjoyable by believers and non-believers, and I would imagine more palatable to the non-religious than Lewis' more blatantly didactic/allegorical works. Make no mistake, there is plenty of allegory here too, but it is first and foremost a good story. The narrator is excellent and does perfect justice to Lewis' simple, yet elegant and evocative style.
3 people found this helpful