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A Literary Christmas
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a little short
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A Christmas anthology from legendary historian and Christmas Cracker compiler John Julius Norwich. This year go carol singing in the Cotswolds with Laurie Lee or attend church with a grumpy Samuel Pepys. Make plum puddings for bemused French villagers with Elizabeth David; go present shopping with Virginia Woolf, or eat far too much with Agatha Christie. Celebrate Christmas at Chatsworth, in the workhouse or marooned in the ice with Shackleton....
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Awful performance, absolutely awful.
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Good Old Fashioned Yarns.
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Overall
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Performance
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For years Jeanette Winterson has loved writing a new story at Christmastime, and here she brings together 12 of her brilliantly imaginative, funny and bold tales. For the 12 Days of Christmas - a time of celebration, sharing and giving - she offers these 12 plus one: a personal story of her own Christmas memories. These tales give the listener a portal into the spirit of the season, where time slows down and magic starts to happen. Perfect for listening to by the fire with loved ones or while traveling home for the holidays.
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A thoughtful choice for the Christmas season
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- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Everyone loves a bedtime story. And here are eight of the best from BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, each with a Christmas theme, written by an array of literature's best-known names. They include Laurie Lee, Charles Dickens, and Hans Christian Andersen - just some of the storytellers included in this collection.
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a little short
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An English Christmas
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- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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A Christmas anthology from legendary historian and Christmas Cracker compiler John Julius Norwich. This year go carol singing in the Cotswolds with Laurie Lee or attend church with a grumpy Samuel Pepys. Make plum puddings for bemused French villagers with Elizabeth David; go present shopping with Virginia Woolf, or eat far too much with Agatha Christie. Celebrate Christmas at Chatsworth, in the workhouse or marooned in the ice with Shackleton....
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The Christmas Card Crime
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Overall
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Performance
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A Christmas party is punctuated by a gunshot under a policeman’s watchful eye. A jewel heist is planned amidst the glitz and glamour of Oxford Street’s Christmas shopping. And lost in a snowstorm, a man finds a motive for murder.... This collection of mysteries explores the darker side of the festive season, from unexplained disturbances in the fresh snow to the darkness that lurks beneath the sparkling decorations.
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Too slow, stories predictable
- By Anonymous User on 29-12-18
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The Chimes
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Linda Fitzpatrick
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
"The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In" is the second of Charles Dickens' Christmas books, published in 1844. Its contemporary setting is the "Hungry Forties", a time of social and political unrest, and the book has a strong moral message. It remained popular for many years, although its fame has since been eclipsed by that of "A Christmas Carol", the first of the series.
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Awful performance, absolutely awful.
- By Miss T L Thurstan on 04-01-19
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Murder for Christmas
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- By: Margery Allingham, Marjorie Bowen, Agatha Christie, and others
- Narrated by: David Birney, Robert Culp, Paul Eddington, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Ah, the pleasures of Christmas...the hanging of greens, the traditional feast, the gathering families, a few secrets in the air...and a bit of murder, conspiracy, and theft. The holiday season seems to inspire the imagination of the best mystery writers, and their talents shine here in these delightful tales of Yuletide crime. So seize a few quiet hours in this busiest of seasons to enjoy their sleigh full of mysterious treasures, here with the finest of flair.
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Seriously irritating music
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Have Yourself a Very British Christmas is a 12-stage sleigh ride through the best, worst, strangest and funniest aspects of the Christmas holiday, with cultural icons saluted, national habits dissected and personal reminiscences from those who've eaten all the mince pies and lived to tell the tale. The essential Christmas stocking filler for every Brit who's ever found themselves on a deflating airbed wedged up against the washing machine in their parents' spare room come Christmas Eve.
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Marvellous Merry Entertainment
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The Excursion Train
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On the shocking discovery of a passenger's body on the Great Western Railway excursion train, Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant, Sergeant Victor Leeming, are dispatched to the scene. Faced with what initially appears to be a motiveless murder, Colbeck is intrigued by the murder weapon - a noose. When it emerges that the victim had worked as a public executioner, Colbeck realises that this must be intrinsically linked to the killer's choice of weapon.
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A Fantastic Murder Mystery for a Railway Enthusiast
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Six unabridged stories from Richmal Crompton read by Martin Jarvis as the lovable scamp William Brown, detailing a whole host of scrapes, mistakes, misunderstandings, and straight-forward naughtiness. Kids will love this download, and adults will find themselves laughing out loud too!
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The mixture as before.
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Paul Temple's White Christmas
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Performance
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Story
A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. In this festive short story featuring Francis Durbridge’s favourite debonair amateur detective, Paul Temple journeys to Switzerland to identify an elusive criminal.
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Good short story but ....
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Performance
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The Christmas Chronicles is the story of Nigel Slater's love for winter, for the scent of fir and spruce, for ghost stories read with a glass of sloe gin, and beeswax candles with shadows dancing on the ceiling. With recipes, decorations, fables and quick fireside suppers, Nigel guides you through the essential preparations for Christmas and the New Year, with everything you need to enjoy the winter months.
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made me appreciate the joys and beauty of winter
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A Christmas Carol [One Voice Recordings Edition]
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Performance
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Story
It's Christmas Eve at 221-B as Doctor Watson reads A Christmas Carol to his friend, and to us! In this all new, full length and unabridged One Voice Recordings production listeners will enjoy his lusty-yet-reverent telling of Ebenezer Scrooge's moral redemption and return to the joyful possibilities within the human race.
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Scrooge Meets Holmes??
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The Wind in the Willows
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Performance
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Story
Here is a timeless tale of waterside Britain that has been loved by generations of children and acclaimed as a classic. The story of Mole, Ratty, Badger, and Toad, and their escapades, whether messing about on the river or poop-pooping in Toad's shiny new car, cannot fail to enchant.
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Great performance
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A Christmas Carol (Simon & Schuster Edition)
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- Narrated by: Patrick Stewart
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- Abridged
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Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, and Ebenezer Scrooge come to marvelous life in Patrick Stewart's critically-acclaimed solo interpretation of A Christmas Carol. The star of X-Men and The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stewart has performed his one-man stage production of this holiday classic to sell-out audiences.
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An abosolute must have!
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Pilgrim: The Winter Queen
- The BBC Radio 4 Fantasy Drama Series
- By: Sebastian Baczkiewicz
- Narrated by: Paul Hilton, Fenella Woolgar, Carolyn Pickles, and others
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- Original Recording
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Every year, on the winter solstice, the small town of Melcombe observes an annual custom, the roots and meaning of which are lost in the mists of time. A torchlit procession to the ancient tomb of Cairndale Knapp, overlooking the town, puts the old sun to bed and greets the new sun in the morning, restoring balance to the year. This year, however, Mr Sam Notice has bought the Knapp and has set about landscaping it.
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More Pilgrim please..
- By pjb on 07-02-19
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Lord James Harrington and the Winter Mystery
- By: Lynn Florkiewicz
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- Unabridged
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1957. Lord James Harrington and his wife, Beth, run a country hotel in the village of Cavendish, deep in the heart of West Sussex. James and Beth are discussing the latest Cavendish Players production, The Devil Incarnate, when their cleaner informs them that farmer Alec Grimes is missing.
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Thin, anachronistic piffle
- By Fi on 04-04-18
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A Family Christmas
- By: Charles Clement Moore, David Angus, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and others
- Narrated by: Philip Madoc, Jenny Agutter, Benjamin Zephaniah
- Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the audio program to play at home over Christmas or during the car journey to see relatives. Dylan Thomas, "The Little Match Girl," and "The Nutcracker" are read by Jenny Agutter with accompanying Tchaikovsky's music - this is a must for Christmas. It contains new recordings as well as some of the finest tracks from the Naxos AudioBooks catalogue.
Summary
Read by Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow, A Literary Christmas is a seasonal anthology that collects together poems, short stories, and prose extracts by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language.
Like Charles Dickens’ ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they are representative of times old and new - from John Donne’s Elizabethan hymn over the baby Jesus to Rudyard Kipling’s "Christmas in India", from Thomas Tusser counting the cost of a Tudor feast to Laurie Lee’s "Cider with Rosie".
Enjoy a convivial Christmas Day as described by Samuel Pepys, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, or Nancy Mitford. Venture out into the snow in the company of Jane Austen, Henry James, and Dickens’ ever-popular Mr Pickwick. Entertain the children with the seasonal tales of Dylan Thomas, Kenneth Grahame, Louisa May Alcott, and George Mackay Brown.
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- Puppy Cat
- 20-11-15
Wonderful Christmas stories and excerpts!
This is a wonderful Christmas story collection! I have already listened to it several times. AND BOTH readers are fabulous. I highly recommend it. It will really raise your Christmas spirits to new heights. I have found several other Christmas story collections on Audible, and plan to buy several of them.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful
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- Conguirk
- 03-12-14
Marvelous, with one very avoidable flaw
Would you listen to A Literary Christmas again? Why?
Yes, it's a cozy and thoroughly enjoyable recording, with two of England's finest actor voices.
What was one of the most memorable moments of A Literary Christmas?
Simon Callow's reading of the passage describing the Christmas Eve ball in Fezziwig's warehouse absolutely brims with enthusiasm and perfectly brings to life all of Dickens' descriptive powers.
What does Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
The right voice brings out all the humor or pathos or excitement that the author intended.
Any additional comments?
For some reason, there is NO pause between selections. Three seconds to allow the sound of the previous story to fade in your mind's ear, and anticipate the next story, would have earned this an overall 5 stars instead of 4.
65 of 68 people found this review helpful
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- idwal tops
- 31-12-16
Great voices terrible sound levels
As others have said; please rebalance the sound levels for the whole recording. Add a few seconds quiet between the excellently read performances. Once fixed reissue to all of us!!
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
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- Ruth A Wanzek
- 25-12-16
Good compilation
It would have been nice to have a break between chapters. Some stories were hard to follow and seemed to be read too fast.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
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- BlueEyes
- 25-12-16
Beautiful collection of "The Best of Christmas"
Excellent British narrators make this vast collection of Christmas stories and poems a pleasure to listen to and go back to each holiday season. I really enjoyed the stories read with the British emphasis on these English classics.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
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- HalfwayToTheStars
- 26-12-16
Excellent short stories and excerpts
What did you love best about A Literary Christmas?
This is delightful. I was laid up at home on Christmas and bought this for Simon Callow's wonderful voice, he's a longtime favorite actor. Chapters listed by name instead of 40 numbers can be found by hitting "Amazon Reviews". Putting "'Twas the night before Christmas" first was a stroke of genius as that is the first go-to from my childhood. Others have mentioned the lack of gaps between story excerpts which is particularly awful for the Christmastime war stories. I either stopped the play when a new story began and/or watched the min. remaining countdown. Looks like this is Simon's only Audible presentation, hope he does many more. Juliet Stevenson is equally good.
What other book might you compare A Literary Christmas to and why?
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What about Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow ’s performance did you like?
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If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
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Any additional comments?
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4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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- Judith
- 26-12-16
Mixed feelings
Ms. Stevenson's performance was good, Mr. Callow spoke too quickly especially when using heavy accents. The volume of each chapter varies so I had to keep turning my volume up and down which was annoying.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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- Heidy
- 25-12-16
delightful
this was a great joy to my family and a refreshed enthusiasm for the classics
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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- Wayne
- 25-12-16
Extraordinary performance
The content is secondary to the performance of the narrators. I wish a few seconds had been placed between the individual content items.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 31-12-16
excellent poetry
this collection of excerpts from Victorian English literature and poetry through the 1920s just sets up the mood. curiously, there are a hand ful of world war one poems (published in the 1920s, that focuses on the Christmas truce (i.e. g k. Chesterton).
2 of 2 people found this review helpful