Customer Reviews

Great Classic Stories: 22 Unabridged Classics

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The 22 Stories are:

Reginald on House Parties - Saki

The Sphinx without a Secret - Oscar Wilde

Tobermory - Saki

On Being Idle - Jerome K Jerome

The Model Millionaire - Oscar Wilde

The Garden of Truth - E. Nesbit

The Cat that Walked by Himself - Rudyard Kipling

The Girl from Arles - Alphonse Daudet

Mr. & Mrs. Dove - Katherine Mansfield

Georgie Porgie - Rudyard Kipling

Caterpillars - E.F. Benton

Lost Hearts - MR James

Ship to Tarshish - John Buchan

The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe

The Man of the Night - Edgar Wallace

Dr. Heidegger's Experiment - Nathaniel Hawthorne

B 24 - Arthur Conan Doyle

Pat Hobby & Orson Welles - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mad - Guy de Maupassant

The Black Cat - Edgar Allan Poe

The Monkey's Paw - WW Jacobs

Each short story lasts from a range of about 10 to about 45 minutes for a total of 7.5 hours. 6 discs with 3-5 narrations per disc. All narrators are British actors who read each story in character voices (like anything, some better than others - but all still enjoyable). The BBC did do an excellent job of selecting interesting short stories from its selection of Classics. I enjoyed all of them, even when there were occasional British or period phrases or places that were referenced in the tales with which I was unfamiliar. These vivid tales of human psychology were filled with interesting characters really made my lengthy daily drive to work less painful.

I enjoy the varied readers of these English and American Gothic masterpieces.The readers have achieved a fine balance between dramatization and plain reading.

Although some of the British authors are new to me, especially the wickedly witty, Saki, I have not read several of the old Gothic American stories since high school English class, so they return as a surprise to me when heard in a more mature way now. For instance, I was driving along listening to "The Black Cat" and was so shocked at what was happening in the story that I turned it off. Then I drove for a while and realized I simply had to know what happened next, and turned it back on. To me that is a sign of great literature.

Of course, many of these short stories are not for children and the parent who complained about their content might want to pre-screen the stories her child listens to.

Hearing these stories again has been a real listening pleasure for me.

I have read many of these stories and enjoyed them tremendously over the years. They have been brought to life in this audio series. Many of the stories kept me awake at night( Lost Hearts, The Monkey's Paw,The Tell Tale Heart)when I read them in print. The Audio version is even better. The actors chosen to narrate this collection are outstanding and give a new interpretation to these classic tales.

My Dad (age 93) is legally blind, and he told me this was a tremendous gift. He loves it! My father is a well educated gentleman, having enjoyed fiction and non-fiction all his life. He says this CD is really good stuff (no, he said something like that, but more dignified- ha). So I give this volume the highest rating on his behalf.

I got these hoping to interest my kids in some of the classics but alot of these stories were just plain gory! I'm no prude but some of these authors had real ideas about torture. Maybe for older kids as Halloween Ghost stories.

My wife and I listened to these stories on and off during our 12 hour drive from upstate New York to central Florida. They were highly entertaining and made the time pass quickly on what could have been a boring drive. We still have two discs to listen to on our way back to New York state. These may not be your cup of tea as most are read with a British accent, but the accent adds to the mood of the story.

We really liked this audio book and consider it well worth the money.

Nice collection of short stories, I even remember some from required reading in school. I love listening to these, the readers have great voices, and it's very relaxing.

This collection has a good selection of stories and readers that entertains for the whole production. The stories are all different so there is no danger of boredom. The readers are trained experts so it is very enjoyable. I fully recommend this audiobook

I was dissappointed in this in that the person narrating this has an extremely thick british accent. If you are British, then you will feel at home. But if you are American, you will be distracted to the point where the stories become hard to follow. Eventually, I quit it. If anyone remembers Magnum PI, there was a character Higgins. THis narrator sounds very similiar. In a small amount it was tolerable but I could not listen >4 hrs to that accent without it distracting me from the story. Too bad.

The product per se is good. Many stories from many authors. Some readers are excellent, great voices and skill in reading, some stories are awsome, like Idol. But there are some stories that describe such animal brutality that I had to skip. Edgar Alan Poe (which I loved as a teen) had to be mad, too grusom, too cruel. Some stories are interesting. Your choice.