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Crime and Punishment follows the story of a boy named Raskolnikov who commits a heinous crime because he believes he is in fact extraordinary. Through an internal battle of whether to confess or not, we follow him through his interactions with a drunk, a prostitute, the government, and his family. We see him do incredible acts of kindness, suffer the consequence of his crime on a physical level, and fall in love with an unlikely character, all while trying to reconcile his ability to be extraordinary.
Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin is one of the great characters in Russian literature. Is he a saint or just naïve? Is he an idealist or, as many in General Epanchin's society feel, an "idiot"? Certainly his return to St. Petersburg after years in a Swiss clinic has a dramatic effect on the beautiful Aglaia, youngest of the Epanchin daughters, and on the charismatic but willful Nastasya Filippovna. As he paints a vivid picture of Russian society, Dostoyevsky shows how principles conflict with emotions - with tragic results.
Including many of the greatest stories ever told - the labours of Hercules, the voyage of the Argonauts, Theseus and the minotaur, Midas and his golden touch, the Trojan War and Odysseus's journey home - Robert Graves's superb and comprehensive retelling of the Greek myths for a modern audience has been regarded for over fifty years as the definitive version. With a novelist's skill and a poet's eye, Graves draws on the entire canon of ancient literature, bringing together all the elements of every myth into one epic and unforgettable story.
A graphic and biting polemic that still holds a fierce political relevance and impact despite being written over half a century ago. First published in 1937 it charts George Orwell's observations of working-class life during the 1930s in the industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. His depictions of social injustice and rising unemployment, the dangerous working conditions in the mines amid general squalor and hunger also bring together many of the ideas explored in his later works and novels.
Young Prince Mishkin is that rare thing - a "completely beautiful human being". He is honest, humble, generous, and selfless, but unfortunately these traits mean he is often mistaken for an idiot. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, after being away at a Swiss sanatorium for the treatment of epilepsy, Prince Mishkin is taken under the wing of the wife of General Yepanchin, who arranges for him to live with the family of her money-obsessed friend Ganya.
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born in 1882 in Dublin but spent most of his life living with Nora Barnacle in various parts of Europe. Apart from a collection of verse, Dubliners was his first published work in 1914. In Dubliners, Joyce portrays quite brilliantly human relationships in Ireland at the turn of the century. His characters are so vital and exciting and the stories so fresh, evocative, and entertaining that they could well have been written today.
Crime and Punishment follows the story of a boy named Raskolnikov who commits a heinous crime because he believes he is in fact extraordinary. Through an internal battle of whether to confess or not, we follow him through his interactions with a drunk, a prostitute, the government, and his family. We see him do incredible acts of kindness, suffer the consequence of his crime on a physical level, and fall in love with an unlikely character, all while trying to reconcile his ability to be extraordinary.
Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin is one of the great characters in Russian literature. Is he a saint or just naïve? Is he an idealist or, as many in General Epanchin's society feel, an "idiot"? Certainly his return to St. Petersburg after years in a Swiss clinic has a dramatic effect on the beautiful Aglaia, youngest of the Epanchin daughters, and on the charismatic but willful Nastasya Filippovna. As he paints a vivid picture of Russian society, Dostoyevsky shows how principles conflict with emotions - with tragic results.
Including many of the greatest stories ever told - the labours of Hercules, the voyage of the Argonauts, Theseus and the minotaur, Midas and his golden touch, the Trojan War and Odysseus's journey home - Robert Graves's superb and comprehensive retelling of the Greek myths for a modern audience has been regarded for over fifty years as the definitive version. With a novelist's skill and a poet's eye, Graves draws on the entire canon of ancient literature, bringing together all the elements of every myth into one epic and unforgettable story.
A graphic and biting polemic that still holds a fierce political relevance and impact despite being written over half a century ago. First published in 1937 it charts George Orwell's observations of working-class life during the 1930s in the industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. His depictions of social injustice and rising unemployment, the dangerous working conditions in the mines amid general squalor and hunger also bring together many of the ideas explored in his later works and novels.
Young Prince Mishkin is that rare thing - a "completely beautiful human being". He is honest, humble, generous, and selfless, but unfortunately these traits mean he is often mistaken for an idiot. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, after being away at a Swiss sanatorium for the treatment of epilepsy, Prince Mishkin is taken under the wing of the wife of General Yepanchin, who arranges for him to live with the family of her money-obsessed friend Ganya.
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born in 1882 in Dublin but spent most of his life living with Nora Barnacle in various parts of Europe. Apart from a collection of verse, Dubliners was his first published work in 1914. In Dubliners, Joyce portrays quite brilliantly human relationships in Ireland at the turn of the century. His characters are so vital and exciting and the stories so fresh, evocative, and entertaining that they could well have been written today.
Here is a new audio edition of the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Anthony Trollope's gently satirical tales of provincial life, available together in one download. Nearly 20 hours of ironic, witty, and wonderfully written drama is contained in this audiobook. The cast includes Anna Massey, Alex Jennings, David Haig, Rosemary Leach, Kenneth Cranham, Emma Fielding, and Brenda Blethyn.
Paris, near the turn of 1933. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking. Pointing to his drink, he says, 'You can make philosophy out of this cocktail!'
Internationally renowned psychiatrist, Viktor E. Frankl, endured years of unspeakable horror in Nazi death camps. During, and partly because of his suffering, Dr. Frankl developed a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy. At the core of his theory is the belief that man's primary motivational force is his search for meaning.
We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, when technology and so-called progress have made us richer but more uncertain than ever before. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. So, too, does the time seem to be coming to an end when we looked to economists to help us define the qualities necessary to create a successful society. We need a new movement.
Every weekend, in basements and car parks across the country, young men with good white-collar jobs and absent fathers take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anything. Fight Club is the invention of Tyler Durden, projectionist, waiter and dark, anarchic genius. And it's only the beginning of his plans for revenge on the world.
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell’s account of his experiences fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and a portrait of disillusionment with his early politics. Orwell’s experiences include being shot in the neck by a sniper, and being forced into hiding as factions of the Left battled on the streets of Barcelona. Orwell entered Spain intending to gather an experience worth writing as well as to fight Fascism, and wrote Homage to Catalonia within months of his return.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby. There, he has a firsthand view of Gatsby’s lavish West Egg parties - and of his undying love....
Leo Tolstoy's classic story of doomed love is one of the most admired novels in world literature. Generations of readers have been enthralled by his magnificent heroine, the unhappily married Anna Karenina, and her tragic affair with dashing Count Vronsky.
On the 75th anniversary of its publication, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before. Cloning, feel-good drugs, anti-aging programs, and total social control through politics, programming and media: has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? With a storyteller's genius, he weaves these ethical controversies in a compelling narrative that dawns in the year 632 A. F. (After Ford, the deity).
Animal Farm is George Orwell's great socio-political allegory set in a farmyard where the animals decide to seize the farmer's land and create a co-operative that reaps the benefits of their combined labours. However, as with all great political plans, some animals see a bigger share of the rewards than others and the animals start to question their supposed utopia.
Shocking and controversial when it was first published, Steinbeck's Pulitzer prize-winning epic remains his undisputed masterpiece. Set against the background of Dust Bowl Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, it tells of the Joad family, who, like thousands of others, are forced to travel west in search of the promised land.
The Knights Templar were the wealthiest, most powerful - and most secretive - of the military orders that flourished in the crusading era. Their story - encompassing as it does the greatest international conflict of the Middle Ages, a network of international finance, a swift rise in wealth and influence followed by a bloody and humiliating fall - has left a comet's tail of mystery that continues to fascinate and inspire historians, novelists and conspiracy theorists. Unabridged edition read by Dan Jones.
The narrator here seems to be working on autopilot. When there is a piece of dialogue followed by something like "he said angrily", you realise that Walter Covell frequently hasn't read ahead. Most of the women's voices sound the same. He leaves hardly any gap at the end of a chapter before giving the title of the next one and moving on. The effect is rather relentless. Characters change voice as the book goes on. I had to keep replaying sections to get the meaning. He's not without expression but doesn't do this great book justice.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
This is as poor a rendition of a brilliant novel as it has been my misfortune to hear. The narrator seems not to have read the sentences before voicing them, frequently running out of breath before reaching their end. The result is that the ends of phrases seem to be tacked on without rhyme or reason. His struggle with the Russian names is painful, and they seem not to become any more familiar to him as the reading progresses than they were at the start. Added to that, the lack of variety in tone and tempo made the reading sound like a mechanical, text-to-speech machine. Very, very poor.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I loved it! I have read this book a number of times and in different translation but it was great to listen to it while on the road.
25 of 25 people found this review helpful
This is one of those life-changing books that has a profound impact on all who read it. On one level it is the story of a murder in which the murdered man's sons share varying degrees of complicity. However, it also has a deeper level. It portrays the spiritual drama of the characters moral struggles between faith, doubt, reason, and free will. Wonderful story, though not exactly light reading. Walter Covell is one of my favorite readers and he did his usual excellent job. Five stars.
44 of 45 people found this review helpful
Any additional comments?
I tried all three narrators available for the unabridged Brothers K. I hated them all to begin with, but Covell is the one that I was able to settle into. Davidson's condescension, though I tried my best to ignore it, was just too much. Woolf and Clovell are both underwhelming, and it takes more concentration to hang on, but between them, I like Covell. In general, I've found boring narrations to be less offending to the ear across a long listening than obnoxious ones that might be more dramatic. Listening to Covell is sometimes like hearing those computer-automated voice, but it can actually become endearing after a while. In any case, while his voice didn't do anything to enhance the reading, in the end he didn't detract from it. I've read the book before, and I found the sensation of hearing Covell's reading exactly the same, whereas Davidson's narration jarred the spell completely for me.
It's a shame there is not a reading of this novel as great as Guidall's masterful Crime and Punishment, but this performance still amounts to a wonderful experience.
21 of 21 people found this review helpful
This is an amazing book and I really felt that listening to it helped me get more out of it.
26 of 29 people found this review helpful
What made the experience of listening to The Brothers Karamazov the most enjoyable?
A well done reading of a story worth hearing.
Any additional comments?
I'm not a huge fan of classic literature, but this story is still relevant and powerful, particularly if you know any sullen young "intellectual" men with chips on their shoulders, or happen to be one.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
Where does The Brothers Karamazov rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
As far as fiction goes, I would rate this #1.
What did you like best about this story?
I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of drama, psychology, philosophy, religion, law, & Russian History!
Have you listened to any of Walter Covell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have not. But based on the 40 hours of this recording, I would recommend, and will definitely seek out other recordings by Covell!
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The chapter entitled "The Grand Inquisitor"... Also some of Father Zossima's speeches...
Any additional comments?
One can tell that this novel was first written serially, and that Dostoyevsky was paid by his output. The story does lag in some places, especially for the modern reader, so accustomed to speed, but all in all the work is a must-read (or must-listen) for the thinker...
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
What made the experience of listening to The Brothers Karamazov the most enjoyable?
The narration was great.
What did you like best about this story?
It is a classic story, many know the plot even before they listen, but still, the way the character development unfolds is masterful. Dostoevsky is genius as most of us recognize it.
Any additional comments?
Throughly loved it.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
This is my favorite book of all times perfectly performed
I have listened to it three times.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
What would have made The Brothers Karamazov better?
I confess I have not finished yet, and suspect I may go to the print book.
How could the performance have been better?
The audio levels and recording setup seemed to change abruptly several times throughout this recording. So much so that I was not sure it was all the same narrator. The pacing and tone was also very monotonous and made it very hard not to zone out. That said, I previewed all the available versions and this seemed the least bad.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
I suspect that the story would be much more compelling if I were able to sit down and read it on my own.
Any additional comments?
I actually wish that I could get a refund on this book. I'm halfway through the second part and am very unlikely to get through the whole thing.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful
After reading Crime and Punishment I never thought that it could have gotten any better - I was so wrong. The depth, color, span, nuance powerful prose of this book has left me awed by the brilliance of Dostoevsky's genius.
Easily among the best I have ever read or listened to.