THE ESSENTIAL KIPLING

While hardly "essential," this small but sensible selection of the British Nobel winner's work through WWI receives top-notch readings. The pieces, which include poetry, short stories, and even correspondence, run in a rough chronological order that gives a sense of progression. Only the story "The Mark of the Beast," which also has a different sound quality, seems discordantly out of place at the end. The narrators give sensitive, finely tuned, intelligent performances that play down Kipling's occasional bumptiousness, bring out his playfulness, and convey the pieces' emotional nuance. They even rescue the old chestnut "If." Lisa Goddard provides a notably fine voice for the cat in "The Cat Who Walks by Himself." The only disappointment is that the program isn't longer. W.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2009]