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Classic American Short Stories, Volume 1
- By: William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Edith Wharton, and others
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Unlike the other arts, American literature has been a powerful, influential, and leading aspect of American culture. By turns sedate and mercurial and possessing a moral mind set of various social values, the American short story reveals in its pages the psyche of a growing, sprawling nation whose sense of destiny has always been larger than life. Here are seven masterpieces that will make you smile, make you frown, and leave you pondering the mystery that surrounds the soul of a great nation.
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wonderful storytelling and stories
- By Anonymous User on 31-12-2020
wonderful storytelling and stories
Reviewed: 31-12-2020
with trepidation every book lover goes through the classics. faulkner is not someone we read in australian skools so most of us not interested in amaericana probably dont visit his works. i listened to this after becoming obsessed with the korean movie burning and finding out it was loosely referencing barn burning. glad that happened as faulkners writing is a revelation. the storytelling and production is phenomenal. this is on par with dickens and i know i'll want to physically read his work as the writing is something that grabs you in and transports you to another time and place.
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The Best of Me
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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What could be a more tempting Christmas gift than a compendium of David Sedaris' best stories, selected by the author himself? From a spectacular career spanning almost three decades, these stories have become modern classics and are now for the first time collected in one volume. The collection will also feature an introduction by the author; two never-before-collected stories, 'Unbuttoned' and 'Undecided'; and a new interview with David Sedaris.
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david sedaris' best of
- By Anonymous User on 21-12-2020
- The Best of Me
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
david sedaris' best of
Reviewed: 21-12-2020
self chosen these are interesting what david finds to be his best stories. great to revisit a wide range, some tragedy lots of comedy and all of it intimate
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Golden Maze
- A Biography of Prague
- By: Richard Fidler
- Narrated by: Richard Fidler
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Beloved ABC broadcaster and best-selling author of Ghost Empire and Saga Land, Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague. In 1989, Richard Fidler was living in London as part of the provocative Australian comedy trio The Doug Anthony All Stars when revolution broke out across Europe. Excited by this galvanising historic, human moment, he travelled to Prague, where a decrepit police state was being overthrown by crowds of ecstatic citizens. His experience of the Velvet Revolution never let go of him.
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Great book
- By Glenn Dawes on 07-12-2020
- Golden Maze
- A Biography of Prague
- By: Richard Fidler
- Narrated by: Richard Fidler
another interesting historical non fiction
Reviewed: 04-12-2020
from king of aus radio. i dont think this is quite as engaging as his icelandic or constantinople entries. admittedly prague and czech arent as interesting topics for me compared to the other 2 locations. there's a bit less magic and mystery to the pragmatic laconic people and to be brutally honest i think slippery dick might have taken this project on for a 2 month holiday. i am being harsh and if you are a fan of fiddlers this is unmissable and enjoyable. most chapters aar eengaging and illuminating, couple of dull ones though. can't wait to see what else he churns out. would love to see you tackle a fictional tale if your reading these idiotic words richy.
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Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey
- By: Homer, W. H. D. Rouse - translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 25 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world’s greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife.
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the oldest 2 stories - important but not exciting
- By Anonymous User on 27-11-2020
- Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey
- By: Homer, W. H. D. Rouse - translator
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
the oldest 2 stories - important but not exciting
Reviewed: 27-11-2020
these prototype stories might be appreciated by someone more well read than me. i could see glimpses of future stories like 7 samurai but it seems like the more modern tales trump the classic. im not into Shakespeare neither; perhaps my attentions span isn't what it should be to appreciate these epics. i much more appreciated the illiad but it did feel like the middle droned on and on. maybe when I'm 80 I'll be able to appreciate them but that's 50 years away. the narrator is a bit monotone for me.
1 person found this helpful
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Metamorphosis
- A BBC Radio 4 Reading
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Abridged
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Benedict Cumberbatch reads the enduring classic of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Gregor Samsa wakes to discover that he has turned into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. He attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repelled by the horrible creature he has become. First published in 1915, Kafka's darkly comic novella explores concepts such as the absurdity of life, alienation and the disconnect between mind and body.
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bizarre classic
- By Anonymous User on 11-10-2020
- Metamorphosis
- A BBC Radio 4 Reading
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: Benedict Cumberbatch
bizarre classic
Reviewed: 11-10-2020
I knew of this story for ages and being a huge fan of horror knew i would get to it eventually. its a bizarre story of a victorian workaholic man turning inti a giant insect.. he and family are for the most part nonplussed and adjust to the situation with resentment. i think its a poltical allegory though not sure. its well written and its survival as an important story could be a fluke. its a good story and sticks with you but im not sure its a classic.
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The Secret River
- By: Kate Grenville
- Narrated by: Paul Blackwell
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1806 William Thornhill, a man of quick temper and deep feelings, is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife, Sal, and their children he arrives in a harsh land he cannot understand. But the colony can turn a convict into a free man. Eight years later Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury to claim 100 acres for himself. Aboriginal people already live on that river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan, and Mrs Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them.
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Wonderful vivid story telling!
- By Margaret on 10-10-2016
- The Secret River
- By: Kate Grenville
- Narrated by: Paul Blackwell
great australian historical fiction
Reviewed: 07-10-2020
a fictional story of one of the first settlers, william, during the early 1800's. following his tale from the thames to the hawksbury. superficially the protagonist is everything you want in a lead character until he commits a terrible act against the indigenous population. it's a great snap shot of a fiction that would have a thread of truth through so many of the first white settlers. this tickled my historical and racial curiousity bones.
2 people found this helpful
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The Underground Railroad
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. All the slaves lead a hellish existence, but Cora has it worse than most; she is an outcast even among her fellow Africans, and she is approaching womanhood, where it is clear even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a slave recently arrived from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they take the perilous decision to escape to the North.
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Couldn't get into it
- By Emma on 11-09-2017
- The Underground Railroad
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
light on the historical facts heavy on drama
Reviewed: 04-10-2020
I'm not heartless but I wasn't grabbed by the story. I put the book down for a couple of weeks before picking it back up and got confused which character was which. it's a story about a slave struggling to acheive freedom in americas south. i was hoping for a story about how the rail lines were dug. the engineers behind them. historical facts. tnt and pickaxes. my fault for not reading the blurb before downloading.
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The Spanish Flu
- Outbreak, Contagion, History and Consequences of the 1918 Great Influenza, Born from H1N1 Virus. How the Deadliest Pandemic Devastated the World and What We Can Learn from It (Deadliest Pandemics in History, Book 1)
- By: Richard T. Morgan
- Narrated by: Jason Belvill
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Spanish flu was the worst pandemic the world has ever seen, next to the bubonic plague of 1346. About 500 million people were infected by it, and between 25-50 million lost their lives. It occurred toward the end of the First World War which lasted between 1918-1920, and in the United States alone, there were around 675,000 deaths recorded. This book revisits the Spanish flu in a unique way, starting with a brief scientific explanation of the virus and then going deeper to explore its historical context.
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boring
- By Anonymous User on 01-09-2020
- The Spanish Flu
- Outbreak, Contagion, History and Consequences of the 1918 Great Influenza, Born from H1N1 Virus. How the Deadliest Pandemic Devastated the World and What We Can Learn from It (Deadliest Pandemics in History, Book 1)
- By: Richard T. Morgan
- Narrated by: Jason Belvill
boring
Reviewed: 01-09-2020
this is a book about the virus behind the pandemic. I was hoping for a book about the socioeconomic consequences. how countries and people reacted and recovered. this book glosses over that in a couple sentences and the other 2 hours are about what species of animals can have what class of virus etc. closer to a year 12 biology report than a history book.
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Bossypants
- By: Tina Fey
- Narrated by: Tina Fey
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Once in a generation a woman comes along who changes everything. Tina Fey is not that woman, but she met that woman once and acted weird around her.
Before 30 Rock, Mean Girls, and 'Sarah Palin', Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true.
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Funny, make your daughter listen.
- By Skye woodward on 11-06-2015
- Bossypants
- By: Tina Fey
- Narrated by: Tina Fey
wonderful for tina fey fans
Reviewed: 25-08-2020
tina feys book is 20% autobiographical. 40% how to be a working mother in your 40's and 40% jokes tacked onto the ends of sentences so nothing is too serious. It's 5 hours of tina fey hilarity and my only critiscm is that I wanted it to go longer and wishing for tina to get serious once in a while. There are serious points, but they're covered by punchlines she spits out a bit too quick and quiet. i also came away glad I was born a man. dont know if that's a good thing
2 people found this helpful
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The Room Where It Happened
- A White House Memoir
- By: John Bolton
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff, John Bolton - epilogue
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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As President Trump’s national security advisor, John Bolton spent many of his 453 days in the room where it happened, and the facts speak for themselves. The result is one of the few White House memoirs to date by a top-level official. With almost daily access to the president, John Bolton has produced a precise rendering of his days in and around the Oval Office. What Bolton saw astonished him: a president for whom getting reelected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation.
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20 Hours of crying and self promotion.
- By meiyan li on 23-06-2020
- The Room Where It Happened
- A White House Memoir
- By: John Bolton
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff, John Bolton - epilogue
self indulgent memoir
Reviewed: 02-07-2020
being australian i hadn't heard much about john bolton beyond a few mentions on planet america. i wish before i started reading I should have googled him and found out he's a bit of a war mongering nut job. in the context of trumps administration that makes him one of the more stable genuises. This isnt much of a tell all of trumps embarrassing viewpoints and decisions (though there are more than a few). its more of an opportunity for bolton to assert his crazy diplomatic and military views unchallenged in a self serving manner. he uses phrases like intellectually lazy re his critics. and harps on about his ethical standards and how willing he was to resign again and again. just as bad as trump really in terms of not wanting to be seen as the dumpee than the dumper.
13 people found this helpful