New Reviews: Classics

Narrator Tristan Morris brings a youthful confidence to this wonderfully gentle, erudite, and satirical tour of a fanciful early-twentieth-century Rome. An American student of the classics spends a year abroad and happens upon a secretive mystical society of aristocratic misfits called "The Cabala." Morris is at his best providing broad comic Italian accents to a menagerie of... Read More

At least a dozen audiobook versions already exist of this first collection of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories, but this new version for AmazonClassics has much to commend it. Rory Barnett--also the narrator for Chesterton's THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY--captures much of the distinctive tone and spirit of these stories and their beloved author. Now more than a century past,... Read More

Narrator Alison Larkin's mellifluous voice and expressive tone are the perfect accompaniment to this acclaimed bildungsroman about "poor, plain and little" orphaned Jane Eyre and her eternally captivating romance with Edward Rochester. Larkin takes extraordinary care to elicit the full spectrum of emotions at play here, while conveying the gothic elements and psychological... Read More

Nicholas Boulton is simply a masterful narrator. His tour-de-force performance of this Dickens classic shows the full complement of his vocal ability: He does all manner of English accents, from Yorkshire farmer to clerk to the upper class; he dexterously captures age, gender, and geographical idiosyncrasies. In a novel teaming with vicious characters (Wackford Squeers and... Read More

Roger May's narration of one of Charlotte Brontë's lesser-known novels embodies the voice of her sensitive protagonist, William Crimsworth. Although he's a hardworking young man, Crimsworth finds himself unhappy being a clerk in his brother's service. To escape, he journeys from England to Brussels to be a teacher. May portrays Crimsworth with a gentleness and kindness that... Read More

This audiobook is a pleasure to listen to. An ensemble of English narrators escorts the listener into the marvelous imaginings of Wells. Among the many auditory delights, James Gillies's nuanced performance of "The Magic Shop," Greg Wagland's almost incantatory treatment of "The Door in the Wall," and Nigel Patterson's heart-stopping yet subtle rendition of the science fiction... Read More

At a bit more than 35 hours, this audio version of the thousand-year-old Japanese classic goes only as far as Genji's retirement from public life, Chapters 1-33 of 56. A useful introduction provides context for imperial court life, making Prince Genji's many courtships more comprehensible to the contemporary listener. Much of the audiobook consists of those romances, without... Read More

There's never been a better time to indulge in John Muir's inspiring observations of California's most iconic wilderness. Crafted over the two years that Muir lived in a tiny cabin alongside Yosemite Creek, around 1870, the work was originally intended as a guidebook to what would become Yosemite National Park. Nick McArdle's understated narration is intoxicatingly relaxing. A... Read More