New Reviews: Classics

This audio version of a 14th-century English classic provides instruction on using contemplative prayer to come to know God. While it deals in highly serious matters, its tone is earnestly friendly and supportive, though also serious and occasionally monitory. Nicholas Boulton mirrors these characteristics with his pleasant voice; smooth, clear delivery; and amiable manner. He... Read More

Narrators Samuel James, Billie Fulford-Brown, Imogen Wilde, and Johnny Heller provide accents ranging from British to Romanian to American in this tale of vampires and intrigue. The story is told through the journals and letters of the main characters. An appropriately British-accented Jonathan Harker arrives in Budapest, headed to Transylvania to meet the nobleman Count... Read More

This novel, written in 1833 and considered a minor masterpiece, is expertly narrated by Justin Avoth. His erudite, perfectly paced voice describes the rigid, monotonous life of a provincial French family, the Grandets. The head of the family is a miser who cares more for gold than for either his obedient wife or his pious daughter, Eugénie. When Eugénie's cousin, Charles, comes... Read More

Voicing multiple characters with little apparent effort, Golden Voice Nicholas Boulton keeps the listener engaged with this comedy of manners and mores in academia in 1972. The setting is a college in southeast England, where Professor Howard Kirk has come to teach sociology and, we learn, engage in intellectual jousting with colleagues while seducing his students. Throwing... Read More

Three early stories by Virginia Woolf are rich in phrases and imagery. Narrator Amy Scanlon lets Woolf's legendary way with words and syntax shine. While the sentences meander as broadly as the scenes they construct, diction is front and center throughout the audiobook. Scanlon's performance suggests a similar affection for the written word. Her energetic delivery fairly... Read More

Adam Sims infuses this iconic American coming-of-age story with controlled energy. Considered an autobiographical novel and an example of Southern Gothic literature, the story of Eugene Gant and his family's struggles is rich in detail and poetic in language. Sims's voice has subtle depths that capture difficult scenes with the right amount of emotion. He does well with... Read More

As the book world celebrates the 75th anniversary of Bradbury's classic, Dion Graham's stellar narration blasts off with a group of astronauts headed to Mars. The production opens with Graham's delivery of an editor's note intended to soften the offensive ideas in Bradbury's introductory essay, written in 1950, which explains his writing process for these interconnected... Read More

Lucy Scott never disappoints with her pitch-perfect narration of this classic novel from the renowned Victorian author known as Mrs. Oliphant. Lucilla Marjoribanks has been described as the literary link between Austen's Emma and Eliot's Dorothea. In this story of small-town gossip, romance, and intrigue, Scott copes admirably with a range of voices--male and female, young and... Read More

Sounding majestic, theatrical, and ever so slightly sinister, veteran BBC actor Andrew Wincott has just the right voice to introduce the listener to three key selections of one of the greatest works of English literature. In this 17th-century work, Milton masterfully combines classical mythology, epic narrative, and biblical allusions to present Satan as a flawed, demanding... Read More

David Timson performs Juvenal's 16 verse satires with energy, clarity, and precision. These works from the 2nd century CE are usually harsh, often personalized, diatribes against Roman--or simply human--venality and corruption. Timson's resonant voice and oratorical tones fit the rhetoric well. Occasionally, tirades are rife with homophobia, xenophobia, or misogyny and larded... Read More

A diverse ensemble of narrators brings this collection of speculative stories vividly to life. Each performance highlights their shifting tones of wonder, satire, and melancholy. Ali Andre Ali and Gary Furlong excel at conjuring textured voices that amplify the feeling of the uncanny. Corey Brill's thoughtful, measured pace underscores reflective moments, while Danielle Cohen... Read More

David Horovitch's performance has a professorial quality that suits this novel well. It's the early 20th century, and Razumov, a Russian student, becomes a revolutionary, reluctantly turning to life as a spy. Horovitch's deep voice and regal phrasing make Conrad's complex syntax accessible to listeners. Themes of betrayal, identity, and freedom all take part in the development... Read More