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A Child's Christmas in Wales
- Narrated by: Dylan Thomas
- Length: 48 mins
- Categories: Children's Audiobooks, Holidays & Celebrations
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Outstanding, fascinating
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Summary
Critic reviews
"Thomas' deep, thunderous voice belies his sense of humor, which is amply evident." ( AudioFile)
More from the same
What listeners say about A Child's Christmas in Wales
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- mrs a l collier
- 25-11-14
Gives you a true feeling you are really there.
Would you listen to A Child's Christmas in Wales again? Why?
This can be listened to many times because of the supreme detail that puts different images into your mind on each listening.
What did you like best about this story?
It has everything you could ever want on the old christmas days
What about Dylan Thomas’s performance did you like?
Simply superb
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It does nothing less than open up all your emotions.
Any additional comments?
To listen to a great narration look no further
3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Sylvia
- 28-11-11
A Great Little Stocking Filler!
Another book group choice, this time for our Christmas discussion with afternoon tea by a huge log fire in a country hotel. No one reads Dylan Thomas better than the man himself and here he is reminiscing his own childhood Christmas in his Wales homeland. People of a certain age will find plenty to smile about and identify with, wherever they grew up. Nice and short, it is possible to suffer from Dylan Thomas overload but not here. There follows more of his poems including what is perhaps his best known, and in my opinion, finest delivery - Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.
2 people found this helpful
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- Simon
- 04-12-08
A reading for all your christmas's
This wonderful reading by Dylan Thomas brings back all the images of a welsh christmas. The images of a lost world that is still reflected in the christmas of today.
1 person found this helpful
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- Hannah
- 21-12-19
Stunning, heartfelt.
It is so wonderful that the original recording can still be enjoyed today. Great to hear Thomas' words read in his voice.
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- a addison
- 19-11-15
magical.
a child's Christmas captures a world of childhood that takes you back to chistmas past read by the author and then hearing Dylan Thomas read his own work makes this a very special book to listen to
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- Janet
- 01-12-06
A Christmas Classic
This reading by Thomas himself has become a Christmas classic in our house. All at once, one is transported to Wales, hearing the cats, picturing the aunts and uncles, and recalling the wonder of Christmas as experienced by a child.
8 people found this helpful
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- Ruth Green
- 16-12-12
An index of contents
Any additional comments?
There is a barely perceptible pause between the various pieces on this recording, so I'm providing an index for those who are looking for a particular one.
00:01 -- 20:48 A Child's Christmas in Wales
20:50 -- 25:53 Fern Hill
25:55 -- 26:28 Do Not Go Gentle
26:30 -- 44:21 In the White Giant's Thigh
44:23 -- 48:21 Ceremony After a Fire Raid
The sound quality of the recording is not as excellent as we have become used to with contemporary recordings, but the benefit of hearing Thomas's own rich voice is worth a little background fuzziness, in my opinion.
15 people found this helpful
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- Jamie
- 02-01-05
Absolute perfection
This is what an audio book should be. Read with zest, relish and love of the story, Thomas's words are rhymthic and poetic even in the prose portion. Very moving.
7 people found this helpful
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- Dean
- 08-10-03
Masterly
The words and voice of a Master. What more could one want?
5 people found this helpful
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- Becky
- 24-12-09
Christmas Tradition
This poem captures the magic of Christmas, and the quirkiness of the adults. To hear Dylan Thomas read it, is an absolute joy. I'm so happy to replace my old, worn cassette with this to continue the tradition of hearing about Mrs. Prothero, the cats, firemen, Useful Presents, and the wonderful list of Useless Presents. The other poems thrown in is simply a wonderful bonus.
4 people found this helpful
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- Kathy Ortiz
- 08-12-19
A great voice of the 20th Century
Dylan Thomas’s clarion voice thunders through the heart. Whether in the happy ingenuousness of the Welsh child’s Christmas memoir or in the tragic allegory of the death of love or the war requiem for a blitz-seared child, he speaks directly to our longing for meaningful existence. He was our sad, mad, blazing poet.
1 person found this helpful
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- Barry
- 08-10-17
Dylan Thomas Naration
The book has been close to my heart for decades. My first audio copy was on an LP. I also had Thomas' book which I purchased from my college bookstore In the 1960's (A book I still have. If you want to hear Thomas' work be sure to get a copy read by Thomas. Any other reader is an inferior second choice!
1 person found this helpful
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- Aidan
- 22-12-08
Great, but .......
Great reading by a great poet!
The only thing I think I had a problem with was that there was no pause or introduction between readings. It is almost as if he didn't even take a breath! It would have been nice to be able to play just the Christmas in Wales portion and have a sense of when it ended so my kids listening would not be so confused by all that came after.
Don't get me wrong, the rest of the readings are just as great and very seminal, just hard to swallow or understand for my 7, 11 and 13 year old. Just not quite appreciative of works such as ... "gentle into that good night."
1 person found this helpful
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- Romy
- 13-11-08
A Child's Christmas...is a treasure!
Every year, this the first book I "read" of the season- Dylan Thomas has recaptured his child's imagination of how Christmastime was back in the day. The humor is subtle, yet innocent and rich with imagery. I only wish it were longer!
1 person found this helpful
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- Brandon Sholund
- 28-12-18
A magical Christmas story
This book is worth buying just because it is read by the author. Dylan Thomas adds a nobility and magic to his work that can not be replicated. His imagery was always his strength as a poet, transporting the reader to moments and places that only be could describe. The images of Aunts andUncles, hippos and foxes seen through a child's eye are all brought to life by Thomas's graceful narration.