New Reviews: Classics

A fascinating glimpse of the medieval past, this audiobook details the life and spiritual experiences of Margery Kempe, a Christian mystic who lived in England at the turn of the fifteenth century. Lucy Scott's narration draws listeners into Kempe's autobiographical details. Her delivery of Kempe's dialogue with God expresses earnestness and humility. The contrast between... Read More

Narrator Peter Wickham approaches eighteenth-century philosopher Immanuel Kant's text on metaphysics with a pace apparently arising from his clear understanding of where each argument is headed. This awareness guides listeners through its lengthy phrases. Hearing the text is, in fact, the way many who study Kant approach his works, albeit with unskilled oral reading to... Read More

The husband-and-wife narrating team of Stefan Rudnicki and Gabrielle de Cuir are perfect at navigating Wilkie Collins's elaborate nineteenth-century prose. They also illuminate the work's very contemporary empathy for its female characters. It all begins when an English noble returns home with a young governess for his daughter in tow. The husband falls in love. His wife is... Read More

With undisguised delight, Gildart Jackson narrates one of the seminal masterpieces of horror, the tale of Dracula. Jackson does it without the pretentious posturing and clichéd accents found in some readings, performing with skill and obvious love for the genre. He does a sentence in true Bela Lugosi style at the start--but in jest. Otherwise, he speaks perfectly in an odd,... Read More

As Wilkie Collins weaves a mystery centered on an orphaned child's parentage, narrator Nicholas Boulton captures the sundry characters one by one. Young Mary is adopted by a kindhearted artist and his wife after her mother dies unnamed. No one imagines that the key to her past is a hair bracelet that has been locked away. Boulton's cadence suits Collins's prose. He is both... Read More

Shaun Taylor-Corbett's narration is calm and friendly, and he handles this 1928 classic's occasional humor in a charming understated manner. This is a strength, given the book's didactic intent. However, at times this even-toned approach may become dull for some listeners. Despite this drawback, Taylor-Corbett brings the story to life, and his narration embodies its theme that... Read More

Although there are WWI battle scenes in Willa Cather's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the most important action is all in the mind of its main character. Claude Wheeler seeks a place in the world that is independent of the expectations of his family and the world of rural Nebraska. Narrator Joel Richards focuses on the interiority of the story without minimizing Claude's complex... Read More

Adam Verner superbly narrates Allan Bloom's translation of Plato's classic discussion of what makes for a just society and the best form of government. Plato's best-known work has been influential for almost 2,500 years and will probably be so for 2,500 more. The work is structured as a Socratic dialogue--the philosopher asks questions, and discussion follows. While Verner does... Read More