Listen free for 30 days
-
The Berlin Stories
- Narrated by: Michael York
- Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Swimming Pool Library
- By: Alan Hollinghurst
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel centres on the friendship of William Beckwith, a young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and promiscuity, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, who is searching for someone to write his biography.
-
-
Gay lit. of the highest order
- By common reader on 14-01-09
-
Maurice
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Ben Whishaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written between 1913 and 1914, it was published over 50 years later, the author believing that due to public and legal attitudes to homosexuality, to publish it in his lifetime would signal an end to his career. Maurice is now considered to be one of the most groundbreaking and significant novels of the LGBT+ canon, and in this brand new recording Ben Whishaw (Mary Poppins Returns, Paddington, A Very English Scandal) gives an emotive and mesmerising performance.
-
-
Magnificent reading of a splendid novel
- By PenelopePItts on 29-07-20
-
Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author’s former neighbours in his native Lübeck.
-
-
Five Star
- By Hugh M. Clarke on 01-04-17
-
A Brief History of the Third Reich: The Rise and Fall of the Nazis
- Brief Histories
- By: Martyn Whittock
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning in the broken aftermath of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles, which made German recovery almost impossible, Whittock tells not just the account of the men who rose to the fore in the dangerous days of the Weimar republic, circling around the cult of personality generated by Adolf Hitler, but also a convincing and personality-driven overview of how ordinary Germans became seduced by the dreams of a new world order, the Third Reich.
-
-
A superb telling of the history of the Third Reich
- By Amazon Customer on 13-10-15
-
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
- By: Joan Didion
- Narrated by: Diane Keaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Universally acclaimed from the time it was first published in 1968, Slouching Towards Bethlehem has been admired for decades as a stylistic masterpiece. Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, The Family Stone) performs these classic essays, including the title piece, which will transport the listener back to a unique time and place: the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco during the neighborhood’s heyday as a countercultural center.
-
-
How is this book still relevant?
- By Claire Leith on 28-03-18
-
The Chekhov Collection of Short Stories
- By: Anton Chekhov
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this exclusive collection, Audible presents six of his most-celebrated short stories, chosen and performed by Richard Armitage. Richard, whose interest in the work of Chekhov was sparked by his appearance as Astrov in a stage production of Uncle Vanya, also introduces the collection with a brief overview of each of the stories and his thoughts on why Chekhov’s short stories are not to be missed.
-
-
There is more to Chekhov than his plays
- By papapownall on 31-07-20
-
The Swimming Pool Library
- By: Alan Hollinghurst
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel centres on the friendship of William Beckwith, a young gay aristocrat who leads a life of privilege and promiscuity, and the elderly Lord Nantwich, who is searching for someone to write his biography.
-
-
Gay lit. of the highest order
- By common reader on 14-01-09
-
Maurice
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Ben Whishaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written between 1913 and 1914, it was published over 50 years later, the author believing that due to public and legal attitudes to homosexuality, to publish it in his lifetime would signal an end to his career. Maurice is now considered to be one of the most groundbreaking and significant novels of the LGBT+ canon, and in this brand new recording Ben Whishaw (Mary Poppins Returns, Paddington, A Very English Scandal) gives an emotive and mesmerising performance.
-
-
Magnificent reading of a splendid novel
- By PenelopePItts on 29-07-20
-
Buddenbrooks
- The Decline of a Family
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 26 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1900, when Thomas Mann was 25, Buddenbrooks is a minutely imagined chronicle of four generations of a North German mercantile family - a work so true to life that it scandalized the author’s former neighbours in his native Lübeck.
-
-
Five Star
- By Hugh M. Clarke on 01-04-17
-
A Brief History of the Third Reich: The Rise and Fall of the Nazis
- Brief Histories
- By: Martyn Whittock
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning in the broken aftermath of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles, which made German recovery almost impossible, Whittock tells not just the account of the men who rose to the fore in the dangerous days of the Weimar republic, circling around the cult of personality generated by Adolf Hitler, but also a convincing and personality-driven overview of how ordinary Germans became seduced by the dreams of a new world order, the Third Reich.
-
-
A superb telling of the history of the Third Reich
- By Amazon Customer on 13-10-15
-
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
- By: Joan Didion
- Narrated by: Diane Keaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Universally acclaimed from the time it was first published in 1968, Slouching Towards Bethlehem has been admired for decades as a stylistic masterpiece. Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton (Annie Hall, The Family Stone) performs these classic essays, including the title piece, which will transport the listener back to a unique time and place: the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco during the neighborhood’s heyday as a countercultural center.
-
-
How is this book still relevant?
- By Claire Leith on 28-03-18
-
The Chekhov Collection of Short Stories
- By: Anton Chekhov
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this exclusive collection, Audible presents six of his most-celebrated short stories, chosen and performed by Richard Armitage. Richard, whose interest in the work of Chekhov was sparked by his appearance as Astrov in a stage production of Uncle Vanya, also introduces the collection with a brief overview of each of the stories and his thoughts on why Chekhov’s short stories are not to be missed.
-
-
There is more to Chekhov than his plays
- By papapownall on 31-07-20
-
The City and the Pillar
- A Novel
- By: Gore Vidal
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jim, a handsome, all-American athlete, has always been shy around girls. But when he and his best friend, Bob, partake in “awful kid stuff,” the experience forms Jim’s ideal of spiritual completion. Defying his parents’ expectations, Jim strikes out on his own, hoping to find Bob and rekindle their amorous friendship.
-
-
Romantic tragedy
- By That Man on 26-06-20
-
The Quiet American
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Simon Cadell
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Into the intrigue and violence of Indo-China comes Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'. As his naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler finds it hard to stand and watch.
-
-
Love and War in Indo-China
- By Kirstine on 27-07-10
-
What Belongs to You
- By: Garth Greenwell
- Narrated by: Garth Greenwell
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an unseasonably warm autumn day, an American teacher enters a public bathroom beneath Sofia's National Palace of Culture. There he meets Mitko, a charismatic young hustler, and pays him for sex. He returns to Mitko again and again over the next few months, their relationship growing increasingly intimate and unnerving. As he struggles to reconcile his longing with the anguish it creates, he's forced to grapple with his own fraught history.
-
-
This is good!
- By Amazon Customer on 29-06-17
-
Breakfast at Tiffany's
- By: Truman Capote
- Narrated by: Michael C. Hall
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Golden Globe-winning actor Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) performs Truman Capote's masterstroke about a young writer's charmed fascination with his unorthodox neighbor, the "American geisha" Holly Golightly. Holly - a World War II-era society girl in her late teens - survives via socialization, attending parties and restaurants with men from the wealthy upper class who also provide her with money and expensive gifts. Over the course of the novella, the seemingly shallow Holly slowly opens up to the curious protagonist.
-
-
Timeless
- By I OFarrell on 06-10-15
-
Hotel du Lac
- By: Anita Brookner
- Narrated by: Anna Massey
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Into the rarefied atmosphere of the Hotel du Lac timidly walks Edith Hope, romantic novelist and holder of modest dreams. Edith has been exiled from home after embarrassing herself and her friends. She has refused to sacrifice her ideals and remains stubbornly single. But among the pampered women and minor nobility Edith finds Mr Neville and her chance to escape from a life of humiliating spinsterhood is renewed...
-
-
The very best Anita Brookner!
- By barjil on 27-10-15
-
The World of Yesterday
- Memoirs of a European
- By: Stefan Zweig, Anthea Bell - translator
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stefan Zweig's memoir, The World of Yesterday, recalls the golden age of prewar Europe - its seeming permanence, its promise and its devastating fall with the onset of two world wars. Zweig's passionate, evocative prose paints a stunning portrait of an era that danced brilliantly on the brink of extinction. It is an unusually humane account of Europe from the closing years of the 19th century through to World War II, seen through the eyes of one of the most famous writers of his era.
-
-
A fascinating memoir
- By polly on 12-12-18
-
Dandelion Wine
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Bradbury's moving recollection of a vanished golden era remains one of his most enchanting novels. Dandelion Wine stands out in the Bradbury literary canon as the author's most deeply personal work, a semi-autobiographical recollection of a magical small-town summer in 1928.
-
-
Utter Joy.
- By Julian E. Boyce on 22-06-17
-
The English Patient
- By: Michael Ondaatje
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ehle
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The nurse Hana, exhausted by death, obsessively tends to her last surviving patient. Caravaggio, the thief, tries to reimagine who he is, now that his hands are hopelessly maimed. The Indian sapper Kip searches for hidden bombs in a landscape where nothing is safe but himself. And at the centre of his labyrinth lies the English patient, nameless and hideously burned, a man who is both a riddle and a provocation to his companions - and whose memories of suffering, rescue and betrayal illuminate this book like flashes of heat lightning.
-
-
Worth waiting for.
- By AM HARRIS on 19-08-20
-
Alone in Berlin
- By: Hans Fallada, Michael Hofmann (translator)
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Berlin, 1940. The city is paralysed by fear. But one man refuses to be scared.Otto, an ordinary German living in a shabby apartment block, tries to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. But when he discovers his only son has been killed fighting at the front he's shocked into an extraordinary act of resistance, and starts to drop anonymous postcards attacking Hitler across the city. If caught, he will be executed.
-
-
A mesmerising, life-changing book. Buy it.
- By James on 19-01-12
-
Copenhagen
- By: Michael Frayn
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Benedict Cumberbatch, Greta Scacchi
- Length: 1 hr and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Benedict Cumberbatch, Greta Scacchi and Simon Russell Beale star in Michael Frayn's award-winning play about the controversial 1941 meeting between physicists Bohr and Heisenberg. Copenhagen, Autumn 1941. The two presiding geniuses of quantum physics, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg meet for the first time since the breakout of war.
-
-
What did they talk about?
- By DT on 14-02-17
-
Remain in Love
- By: Chris Frantz
- Narrated by: Chris Frantz
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chris Frantz met David Byrne at the Rhode Island School of Art & Design in the early 1970s. Together - and soon with Frantz's future wife, Tina Weymouth - they formed Talking Heads and took up residence in the grimy environs of Manhattan's Lower East Side, where their neighbours were Patti Smith, William Burroughs and a host of proto-punk artists who now have legendary status.
-
-
Great book for any Talking Heads fan
- By Anonymous User on 23-01-21
-
The Magic Mountain
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 37 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hans Castorp is, on the face of it, an ordinary man in his early 20s, on course to start a career in ship engineering in his home town of Hamburg, when he decides to travel to the Berghof Santatorium in Davos. The year is 1912 and an oblivious world is on the brink of war. Castorp’s friend Joachim Ziemssen is taking the cure and a three-week visit seems a perfect break before work begins. But when Castorp arrives he is surprised to find an established community of patients, and little by little, he gets drawn into the closeted life and the individual personalities of the residents.
-
-
Paint dries before the war.
- By Richard on 11-08-20
Summary
More from the same
What listeners say about The Berlin Stories
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chloe Simon
- 29-11-17
goodbye to berlin
Any additional comments?
well read audiobook- incase anyone else wants to know 'Goodbye to Berlin' starts around 1hr 24minutes
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Natasha
- 17-01-19
The Berlin Stories
The audio book skipped large parts of the book so I missed bits of the storyline.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MaR
- 07-10-18
An old friend revisited.
I read these books for the first time at least 30 years ago and really loved them. Seeing them on audible it seemed like an opportunity to revisit. Well I still enjoyed the story and the cast of characters proved as beguiling as ever. The narration is as you might expect superb. BUT given the time we live in I was surprisingly disturbed by the politics a couple of events felt just too close to home but maybe that makes it all the more important to read. They certainly work well as an audio book.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 19-08-18
Lovely afternoon’s listening.
I’ve always been fascinated by Germany in the early 30s and read Isherwood when I was about eighteen. I decided to use my Amazon token on the audible version and was so glad I did. Michael York’s narration was clear and enjoyable. His voice from Cabaret is such an iconic one. I’d recommend this whole heartedly.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Deborah Delano
- 10-04-18
Weimar Berlin in real time
These stories are a fascinating insight into a time and culture which was to define the 20th century. To listen with hindsight is to feel the dreadful creep of the menace of fascism and be reminded of the speed and ease with which this horror could engulf us again. Wonderful characters and exceptional writing make these biographical writings a most painful pleasure.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Busy Reading
- 04-02-18
leaves you wanting more
Where does The Berlin Stories rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Michael York is such a pleasure to listen to and the story's construction leaves you wanting more from Isherwood.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Edgar Livingstone
- 07-09-17
A disturbing snapshot
Excellent value for money. A disturbing snapshot of Berlin on the cusp of Nazism. Things could have been so different had the forces of civilisation been channelled against the Nazis instead of pontificating. On a more trivial level, delightfully decadenf.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 17-05-20
Excellent Characterization by Michael York
What makes this is Michael York's telling of this story, his voice for Sally Bowles and colourful range of characters is spot on. He is also subtle as is Isherwood's light touch in the telling of the change Berlin undergoes as the Nazi's gain power. Isherwood's story is both fun, engaging and upsetting. Do not avoid because you feel it may be too dark, of course ultimately it is, but it is a most incredible insight into.people and a particular time in history in a very particular city.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Michael
- 20-05-17
Berlin just before the Nazi's move in
The Swastika is a little lie as these four or is it five stories are set about 1930s just before or as the Nazi's come to power. The undercurrent is there as is homosexuality and anti-semetic. The Weimar Republic is coming to an end and the Nazi's are still a joke but things are a changing. Well written and Michael York has such a beautiful speaking voice he is a pleasure to listen to, however as I think all these stories are different and are not connected the main characters sound like one and their personalities are almost equal. Still a nice listen to whilst driving the back lanes of Sydney.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Eugene
- 13-02-19
Fascinating stories
These are fascinating stories for those interested in pre-WW2 Germany (and who isn't?). And they're also just fascinating stories about a rootless but likeable young man in a weird-bordering-surreal time and place in history. I recommend them. The performer deserves extra praise for convincingly rendering so many characters of different ages, genders and nationalities.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kathryn Drinkard
- 05-03-12
Marvelous performance of Isherwood's stories
Would you consider the audio edition of The Berlin Stories to be better than the print version?
I haven't read the print version. I can say that it was wonderful to hear the German words and placenames pronounced by Mr. York. He clearly has experience with the language and that lends a great deal to the immediacy of the stories.
What other book might you compare The Berlin Stories to and why?
The Audible version of Defying Hitler by Sebastian Hafner. Both authors were writing their personal experiences living in 1930s pre-war Berlin. Comparing the lightness of Isherwood's stories to the intensity and passion of Hafner's memoir shows how much difference it makes when you are just visiting a country instead of a citizen watching your homeland be comsumed by insanity.
Any additional comments?
I've been a fan of the musical Cabaret for decades--it's wonderful to hear the stories that show was based on.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- R. Bhatt
- 09-07-20
Fresh and relevant
Beautiful and heartbreaking. And also quite funny.
These are 80 years old but feel entirely fresh. Given the current state of the world, tge stories also feel oddly relevant. Now I want to read more things by Isherwood.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sergio
- 31-12-19
Where is “Goodbye to Berlin “
Says that “Goodbye to Berlin”is included but I do not hear any part from it.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Juan Rodriguez
- 09-11-20
A perfect pairing!
Some of the best Isherwood's stories beautifully narrated by Michael York, the unforgettable Brian from "Cabaret".
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sabrina N. Frang
- 20-08-18
Laughter and chill bumps abound
The Berlin Stories is a roller coaster ride. There are chiefly three parts, his friendship with a kinky Englishman, his friendship with the delightfully brash Sally Bowles, and his last few months in Berlin as the Nazis begin to take hold of the nation and make conspiratprs of the populace. This book is largely anecdotal, as opposed to completely chronological, though it largely moves through one year after the other. It is hilarious, tender, and mournful. It is a work of art, and I recommend it to.anyone, especially if you enjoyed In the Garden of Beasts. Michael York was an exquisite reader.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Julia
- 11-06-18
Haunting
I could never have finished this book by reading it. It is thanks to Michael York's brilliant mastery of accents and voices that you understand what is going on. This book is subtle, I mean, gay culture in the 30s, it has to be. With York's voices, someone as oblivious as me can understand what is going on. What makes this book so special is the subtlety in which he describes the rise of Nazism and the level of complacency that exists when it's in your every day world.
A must listen, if only for York's performance.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 09-04-18
Of Minimal Interest
It’s two (true) ‘stories’ set against the Weimar years, but the only truly engaging part of each is at their very end, and even those are so brief as hardly to rank a mention. The author can’t capitalise on the most investing parts of his life in Germany. Not worth your time, compared to other WW2 memoirs.
-
Overall

- Tim Byers
- 01-02-07
Nothing happens...
The appeal of reading a diary is discovering something juicy or interesting. This diary has neither, because everything interesting seems to happen in the background. The Nazi's take over, but it hardly affects the narrator. He forges relationships that seem to go nowhere. I kept waiting for something significant to happen (you would think with a title like Berlin Diaries something would), but alas, nothing much did. Michael York does a superb job but ultimately this was disappointing.
7 people found this helpful