House of Mirth by Edith Warton

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s | iTunes)

Length: 12 hr, 32 min
Reader: Elizabeth Klett

The book: Lilly Bart, an unmarried woman on the fringes of New York high society, is trying to parlay her looks and eligibility into a suitable marriage to a wealthy man. But in the Gilded Age, a single woman without family protection was at the mercies of rumors and Lilly's self-willed spirit make her particularly susceptible to intrigue. The rules of society and the whims of love both seem to be working against Lilly as she tries to climb the social ladder, or at least avoid poverty.

Although set in roughly the same time period, this book plays out as the inverse of Downton Abbey.  Where Downton is English and rural, House of Mirth is American and urban. Where the Crawleys are an aristocratic family trying to hold onto its wealth, Lilly is trying to work her way into wealth and privilege. Yet, the battlefield of manners and drawing-room politics are similar. I ended up enjoying this book much more than I thought I would.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Elizabeth Klett is one of Librivox's best readers. She has an expressive American voice that makes the story easy to follow. Klett doesn't exactly "do voices" here, but her intonation and expression change enough to make it clear who is speaking and give the speaker some characterization. The recording is clean and nicely produced.

Buy a paperback copy of  The House of Mirth

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Source: LibriVox (Act 1 | 2 | 3)
Length: 2 Hours, 11 min
Readers: multiple

The play: “I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.” John Worthington, a.k.a. Ernest, has been leading a double life. In London, his friend Algernon knows him as Ernest. In the countryside, his ward Cecily knows him as Jack or John and believes that "Ernest" is Jack's black sheep brother in the city. This being a comedy, the double life comes back to bite John, and everyone tries on new identities for parts of the play, leading to more confusion. It's an old device that recalls Shakespeare's comedies, but Wilde (who knew a thing or two about putting up a false front) twists it beautifully until the false identities become more real than the actual identities. 

The funniness of the piece holds up, even after almost 100 years. Although it is meant to poke fun at British upper-class society, much of the humor is in Wilde's wonderful use of language. One-liners like "To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up," are funny even out of context, but the mounting absurdity of the play's plot make them even better. The great lines are almost too much to keep up with at some points and I found myself relistening just to catch the full wit of the words.

Rating: 9/10

The readers: Librivox does an interesting trick of having the actors record their lines separately, then has an editor paste all the lines together to make a finished recording. It shouldn't work, but somehow in this example, it does. There are places where the sound quality noticeably changes between readers, but  I didn't mind so much. The actors themselves do a remarkably good job, despite the impediment to comedic timing. I'm impressed that they were able to overcome the limitations of this style of compiling a play.

Buy a paperback copy of  The Importance of Being Earnest

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Source: LibriVox
Length: 7 hours, 15 minutes
Reader: Karen Savage

The book: Persuasion was recommended to me as "the man's introduction to Jane Austen."  The book has several qualities that make it good for men interested in Austen: it's short, reducing the time you've wasted if you don't like it, it's one of Austen's later works, showing a more polished style for those unused to her writing, and many of the male characters are naval officers, making it sort of a shoreside version of a Patrick O'Brien novel. Being male and having already listen to (and mildly enjoyed) Pride and Prejudice, I looked forward to reading this one.

As with Pride and Prejudice, I liked the novel, but failed to see why Austen is so hugely admired by her fans. The plot concerns Anne Elliot, a spinster at age 27, who is re-introduced to her old beau, Captain Frederick Wentworth. Anne and Captain Wentworth had been engaged when Anne was younger and Wentworth was much poorer, but the engagement had been broken off at the advice of Anne's guardian. The reconnaissance and rebuilding of their relationship is an interesting story, full of Austen's wry observations on human nature, but I couldn't really get excited about a novel with so obvious a direction. I appreciate Austen's writing, but I still haven't learned to love her.

Rating: 7 /10

The reader: Karen Savage does a marvelous job at bringing Austen's characters to life. She has a bright tone of voice that manages to convey plenty of emotion with great subtlety, as is fitting for this book. The characters are clearly drawn without the performance of drastically different voices. I can't imagine why anyone would want a professionally made recording when this one is just perfect.

"A & P" by John Updike

Source: The New Yorker Fiction Podcast (mp3)
Length: 29 minutes
Reader: Allegra Goodman

The story: People don't grow up all at once. Sammy, the narrator of this great short story, is a young man crossing the doorstep of adulthood. At the A & P Supermarket where he works, three girls come in dressed in swimsuits. Sammy's response to them is a mixture of teenage objectification mixed with the kernel of a more mature view. He seems to lurch between wondering if girls think at at all and feeling great empathy for them when a manager scolds the girls.

I love the character of this narrator. I never really liked Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye; Sammy's attitude is similar to Holden's, but much more interesting to me in all his flaws. I think that's because Sammy shows more promise of growing into a person I would want to be. In such a short introduction, Updike lets us know the hope and tragedy of being young.

Rating: 8 /10

The reader: As she says in the introduction, Goodman really enjoys this story. Her familiarity and love of the piece comes through in the vibrancy of her reading. Her imitation of the cash register's song made me laugh. One of the things I enjoy the most about the New Yorker fiction podcast is the discussion afterwords. It's always fun to see what they thought about the story and compare their thoughts with my own observations.

(photo by RoadsidePictures via flickr. Creative Commons by attribution non-commercial.)

The Aspern Papers by Henry James

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 3 hr, 51 min
Reader: Nicholas Clifford


The book: "Why do you have to go around raking in the past?" asks the elderly Mrs. Bordereau to the unnamed narrator. He's trying to obtain letters the (fictional) American poet Jeffery Aspern wrote to Bordereau during their love affair many years ago. Mrs. Bordereau, accompanied by her niece Miss Tita, jealously guards her privacy against the prying eyes of the literary world, from which the narrator is an undercover agent of sorts.


Henry James considered this his best novella, even better than his well-known The Turn of the Screw (audiobook previously reviewed here). James was a great believer in individual privacy, even for those with fame. Knowing the personal details of a great man's life is both fascinating and inspirational. Yet even the most respectful biographers lay bare secret emotions and words of their subjects. Watching James struggle with this conflict through his characters in this book makes for a intriguing read.


Rating: 7 / 10


The reader: This audiobook places a good reader in a bad recording. Nicholas Clifford has a soft, expressive voice that fits the character of the literary historian who narrates the book. The recording, however, makes it difficult to hear his performance. There is a continual hiss in the background and it seemed to me that the sound volume slowly rose and fell throughout the book, forcing me to turn up or turn down the volume controls constantly. If you're hearing this book in a noisy car or on bad headphones, the recording may be an issue for you, but if you're hearing the book in an otherwise good listening environment, the annoyances will probably be minor.


(Entered in Cym Lowell's Book Review Party Wednesdays)

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Source: Speak the Speech (Act I | II | III |IV| V )
Length: 2 hours
Readers: Cast directed by Cynthia McGean

The play: Opening in a great storm at sea, The Tempest is a play that's easy enough to enjoy from the beginning, but has the depth and power suggested by its name. The plot is rather simple: Prospero, the former duke of Milan,  has escaped to after his brother led a coup against him with the support of the King of Naples. Years later, Prospero summons a magical storm to ensnare the boat of his enemies. The remainder of the play consists of Prospero using magic to solve all of his own problems and foil the plots of the villains.

Yet underneath the simplistic solutions lie more problems. Is Prospero a hero or is his manipulation of those around him a troubling sign of a dark character? Is his punishment the malformed island native Caliban deserved or is Caliban the victim the oppression? Thought to be the last of Shakespeare's plays, it's apparent that the Bard sees a part of himself in the magician as he says farewell to the stage: "As you from crimes would pardon'd be, / Let your indulgence set me free."

Rating: 8 / 10

The readers: This is a full cast production with attendant sound effects and music. The sound effects are not overdone, but I found the twinkling chimes that signify Prospero's magic to be rather trite. The music is nicely performed and uses processed vocal effects to give an otherworldly feel to the fairy songs. The actors, particularly Prospero, Caliban, and Antonio, give a great performance, but it can sometimes be difficult to discern who is speaking what lines. For this reason and for the understanding of uncommon words, I recommend that listeners follow along with the text of the play. This version of the play is unabridged, Speak the Speech also offers an abridged one-hour version for download as well.

(Entered in Cym Lowell's Book Review Wednesdays)

A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 7 hours, 9 min
Reader: Elizabeth Klett

The book: "Summer lovin', had me a blast . . ." Well, okay, so this isn't Grease, but it does have a number of similarities. Forster's first novel, A Room with a View is a romantic comedy about meeting people on vacation, then having to deal with different social classes back home. It's a funny and entertaining look at how people act in foreign countries and how they change when they return home.

While travelling in Italy, Lucy and her chaperone Charlotte meet a variety of fellow English tourists at an English-owned boarding house in Florence. Lucy and most of the other tourists dutifully follow their guidebooks' proscriptions of what to see and which artists to appreciate. A few of the tourists, like old Mr. Emerson and his son George, are unconventional in their approach to Italy, not following the standard opinions of the crowd. Lucy's friendship with the Emersons comes back to complicate her life when she returns to England, where conventions are more rigid and class distinctions more distinct. Forster paints a marvelous portrait of the transition of his native country out of the Victorean Era and into the modern age, couching it in a moving romance and witty comedy of manners.

Rating: 8 /10

The reader: Ms. Klett does a superb job reading this book. Her voice is clear and light, with a nondescript American accent for the narration. Her characters are all voiced in appropriate British accents, each distinct enough to distinguish different characters. Her voicing goes a long way toward developing the characters as fully fleshed-out people. I particularly loved her portrayal of the hypocritical but ultimately sympathetic Charlotte. As with Howards End, I would take Ms. Klett's reading of this book over any commercial recording.

(Entered in Cym Lowell's Book Review Wednesday. Follow the link for more book reviews)

"Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 1 hr, 13 minutes
Readers: Brett and Theresa Downey

The story: In the Italian city of Padua, medical student Giovanni takes up residence overlooking a garden. The garden is owned by the scientist Dr. Rappaccini who has bred the plants to produce the most deadly poisons known to man. Tending this deadly garden is the doctor's beautiful daughter, Beatrice, with whom Giovanni inevitably falls in love.

The garden in this story has clear allusions to the Garden of Eden. Beatrice, then, is both Eve and tempting fruit. But the Creator of this garden is not a righteous deity, but a cunning scientist. So, in addition to being a romance about forbidden love, this is also a fable about man's desire to embrace dangerous scientific knowledge, and the consequences of that act.

Rating: 8 / 10

The readers: Although two separate readers team up for this story, the recording is an unabridged reading, not a radio-style adaptation. Brett reads the narration and most of the voices, while Theresa reads the part of Beatrice. Brett is an expressive amateur reader, but his narration is handicapped by several glaring mispronunciations. His voices for the characters are appropriate and allow for easy identification of the speakers. Unlike many male readers, he knows his limitations and allows Theresa to perform the part of Beatrice, at which she does a fine job.

(Painting Lady Lilith (1868) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. No copyright restrictions.)

Snow-Blind by Katherine Newlin Burt

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 3 hours, 37 minutes
Reader: Roger Melin

The book: Having a blog that focuses on free audiobooks can be a challenge - bestsellers and the "hot" books among reviewers are not commonly being offered as free audiobooks. I believe that any challenge is also an opportunity; I've been able to establish a niche where every week I'm writing about books that very few other blogs are reviewing. In this week's case, I'm writing about a book that no one else has even heard of.

Well, that last statement is an exaggeration, since I did listen to it on a recommendation from a commenter at this blog, but look up this book on Google and you'll not find much beyond multiple re-postings of the Gutenberg and Librivox editions in different formats. Many forgotten books are rightly forgotten since they're no good. This book, however, is a find.

Hugh is living in hiding in a cabin deep within the wilderness of an unnamed American mountain range. His quick temper dominates the two who live with him: his younger brother Pete and his cousin Bella. When Hugh brings a blinded young lady in from the snow, life in the little cabin is sure to change. The author writes with great familiarity about the mountains and scores some interesting insights into how our perception of ourselves differs from how others see us. I had zero expectations for this book and was pleasantly surprised. 

Rating: 8 / 10

The reader: Melin reads expressively and clearly. He has a deep American accent that makes for a pleasant narration. The voices are not drastically different from his normal voice, but he changes them slightly to capture the characters. His acting is a bit stilted, but is as good as could be expected from an amateur reader. The recording is clean and well-produced.

(photo by Kris Arnold via flickr. Creative Commons attribution, share-alike license)
Entered in Cym Lowell's Book Review Wednesday. Follow the link for book reviews from other bloggers.

"The Dead" by James Joyce

Source: ThoughtAudio.com (part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 )
Length: Approx 1 hrs, 30 min
Reader: Michael Scott

The story: As part of the week of St. Patrick's Day, I'm celebrating Irish Short Story Week, hosted by The Reading Life. If you don't already subscribe to The Reading Life, hop on over and check out reviews of other Irish writers' short stories. I'll be reviewing two stories by Irish authors, but in keeping with my blog format of reviewing one free audiobook and one free audio story each week, I'll start with a story that could also be considered a novella.

Joyce is the paragon of Irish literature. Whenever I think of his writing, I think of dense, melancholy stories that require the use of a commentary and a dictionary of symbolism to wade through. "The Dead" has all those qualities, but it is also by turns humorous and romantic. In the story, Gabriel Conroy and his wife Gretta visit his aunts' house for a Christmas party. While there, Gabriel blunders his way through a few conversations with other women, then is struck by the beauty of his wife as she listens to a song that brings back old memories for her.

Joyce explores what it means to belong: to belong to a family, to belong to Irish nationality, and to belong to another person. Gabriel is a man who doesn't quite feel like he belongs. His education has removed him from those around him and his taste in culture tends toward England and Europe rather than Ireland. Catching his wife in a moment of reflection he is overjoyed to belong to her. And of course, her love belongs to him, right?

Rating: 8 / 10

The reader: Scott has a radio-announcer's voice that is extremely polished. His American accent is nondescript, and while it does not add the authenticity that an Irish accent would, it does not detract either. The recording is clear and well-made. In fact the only complaint I have about this reading is that it may be a little too polished; I didn't feel a strong sense of character from the reader. Most listeners will probably feel that this recording is perfectly fine, but if you want a second option, the always wonderful Elizabeth Klett has read "The Dead" for Librivox. I haven't listened to her entire recording, but from what I've heard, it's very good.

Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

Source: Librivox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 2 hr, 47 minutes
Reader: Elizabeth Klett

The book: During World War I, Captain Chris Baldry's homecoming is eagerly awaited by his wife Kitty and his cousin Jenny. A woman shows up at their door to tell them that Chris has returned, suffering from amnesia, and now he thinks that it is 1901. This woman, Margaret Grey, was engaged to him then and he thinks he is still in love with her. He has no memory of the war or of his wife.

The amnesia works as both a plot point and a symbol for the desire for the world to go back to the way it was before the war. I was less than impressed with the accuracy of the soldier's illness. Although psychogenic amnesia does sometimes happen following traumatic events, it does not usually include amnesia of events before the trauma, as far as I know. I liked the book fairly well as a work of fiction, but I wished that West would have accurately portrayed the more common experiences of post-traumatic stress disorder, as Dorothy Sayers does in her books.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: Elizabeth Klett is a marvelous reader, one of the LibriVox'ers who could be a professional reader. Her voice during the Librivox disclaimer and chapter headings is a standard American accent, but when she narrates the book, told from the perspective of Chris's cousin Jenny, her voice transforms into a beautiful upper-class English accent. She brings this narration alive with the skill of an actor, making Jenny a distinct and deep character.  I couldn't imagine any other recording of this book, at any price.

(This review was entered for a Book Review Wednesday contest at Cym Lowell's blog)

The Magnificant Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

Source: Librivox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 11 hours, 18 minutes
Reader: Mark F. Smith

The book: The Magnificent Ambersons won the Pulitzer Prize in 1919 for best novel and was famously adapted by Orson Welles in what is widely regarded as a potentially great film ruined by studio meddling. More recently, the book was included on the Modern Library list of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century. Because of these accolades, I was perhaps expecting too much from this book, so it was not surprising that I was disappointed.

The novel starts out well, introducing a family who has made their fortune in building up the commercial and residential sections of their town during the late 1800's. In the first few chapters, Tarkington beautifully sets up a pair of potential romances as well as the seeds of conflict. He then squanders the entire middle part of the book by simply reiterating the characterizations that he so efficiently established at the beginning, while beating the reader over the head with the fact that automobiles have changed the face of America. The changes in society due to new transportation could have been an interesting thesis, but very little happens in these chapters that wouldn't be improved by cutting the length. The story recovers to a satisfying conclusion in the last ten chapters or so, but not before most of my interest was lost.

Rating: 6 / 10

The reader: I've said many times before, but it bears repeating that Mark Smith is one of Librivox's best readers. His excellent narration is one of the reasons why I was able to continue listening through the doldrums of the middle chapters. Smith's petulant whine for the spoiled Georgie is spot-on and his Ward Cleaver-like George Amberson captures the character's geniality. If you're going to listen to an audiobook of The Magnificent Ambersons, this should be it.

"A Princess of Earth" by Mike Resnick

Source: The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine (mp3)
Length: 1 hr, 5 min (the story itself is approx 35 min)
Readers: Rish Outfield and Big Anklevich

The story: After On a cold snowy night, an aged widower looks out his window and discovers a naked man wondering around in the blizzard. He brings the stranger in from the cold and when he warms up, the man identifies himself as John Carter, the hero from the Princess of Mars series. Of course, the widower believes the man to be crazy, but engages in conversation with "John Carter" anyway. Soon the topic moves to their respective loves for Deja Thoris and the old man's departed wife.

What makes this story work is the ambiguity of the situation. Like The Turn of the Screw or "The Yellow Wallpaper", the events can be interpreted as being literally true or the result of insanity. Resnick approaches this ambiguity from an unusual perspective: rather than the unreliable narrator being the potentially insane one, the narrator in this story is sane and cannot decide if the other character is sane. The resulting dilemma is a problem that is never fully resolved, making it a stronger story for its lack of resolution.

Rating: 7/10

The readers: The hosts of the Dunesteef podcast do an excellent job voicing this story, since as they point out, it lends itself well to being a play for two voices. The narrator's voice sounds like an old, tired man and is perfect. The voice of John Carter annoyed me a bit, though. Carter's voice sounds something like Ernie from Sesame Street; I suppose he lost his Virginia drawl while living on Mars. The podcast adds sound effects and some music at the beginning and end of the story. This music, in my opinion, distracts from the story. What should have been a poignant ending is rendered saccharine by the addition of a weepy tune.

Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 10 hr, 45 min
Reader: Laurie Anne Walden

The book: On the frontier of Utah, Jane Withersteen, a member of the Mormon faith, owns a prosperous ranch. But as the Notorious B.I.G. once said, "mo' cattle, mo' problems" (or was that "moo cattle"?). The corrupt Mormon leader Elder Tull wants to force Jane to marry him to add to both his wealth and his harem. Her non-Mormon friend Bern Venters is being harassed and threatened. Then, an entire herd of her cattle is stolen, probably by the fearsome outlaw Oldring and his mysterious accomplice, the Masked Rider. Into all this turmoil rides Lassiter, a gunfighter and well-known killer of Mormons.

Like the other Zane Grey novel I've reviewed, The Lone Star Ranger, the novel consists of two main plots: the relationship of Jane and Lassiter and the exploits of Bern Venters against the Oldring gang. Unlike that other book, the multiple plots of this novel are intertwined and overlapping, creating a complex story. If you haven't read many westerns, this is a great introduction. Unlike later westerns, it maintains the conventions of the genre, but with more depth and interest than some of its pulpy brothers.

Rating: 9/10

The reader: Walden does not perform this work with multiple voices and strong emotion. Instead she reads clearly, smoothly, and simply. She lightly inflects her voice to carry the meaning of the story without overwhelming it. Her pleasant Southern accent fits in well with this novel. The recording is clear and well-made.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Source: Librivox  (Zipped mp3s) 
Length: 25 hr, 34 min
Reader: multiple


The book:  As the book opens, artist Walter Hartright is about to embark on a new job: he'll be the drawing master for the heiress of Limmerage House, Miss Laura Fairlie and her half-sister Miss Marion Halcolme. While out for a stroll before leaving for Limmerage, he chances to meet a young woman, dressed all in white and behaving very erratically. The extremely long novel that follows this encounter starts out as a standard English romantic tragedy, but then takes a turn into a exciting yarn about hidden identities, secret agendas, and a intriguing mystery.

In its own day, The Woman in White was apparently a blockbuster bestseller, and it's easy to see why. Modern audiences may grow annoyed with Marion's constant lamentations that she would be better if she were a man, but she proves herself more heroic than any of the male characters in the book. Laura, on the other hand, I found to be weak, shallow, and unworthy of all the love and attention spent on her. Walter Hartright is an appropriately good-hearted hero, while the villains are self-centered and casually evil, but not so evil as to be cartoonish.

For all the book's length, it managed to hold my attention as an interesting read. To play the "If author 1 and author 2 had a baby" game, I would say it's like what would happen if Charlotte Bronte and Arthur Conan Doyle collaborated on a novel: you get the mystery and outre villains of Sherlock Holmes with the dark backstory, frustrated romance, and class inequality of Jane Eyre.

Rating: 9/10

The readers: Collins writes in his introduction, "the story here presented will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offense against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness."  The story unfolds as an epistolary novel, with the viewpoint switching between diaries written by protagonists, statements for the court from minor characters, and "documents" procured by Hartwright. The readers for LibriVox take up this theme by having different readers voice the different narrators of the story. Most of the readers are very good, with none being absolutely unlistenable. Especially talented are Tim Bulkeley as Walter Hartright and Ruth Golding as most of Marion Halcolme's parts. Since these two make up most of the narration for the book, many of the other readers have only a chapter or two. Of these minor characters,  Glen Halstrom is truly chilling as Count Fosco.

(This review was entered in a Book Review Party Wednesday contest at Cym Lowell's blog.)

"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry

Source: Literal Systems (MP3)
Length: 20 min
Reader: Jane Aker

The story: Since today is Christmas and I'm spending time with my family, I won't say too much about today's story. I will mention that it is a great favorite of mine. When I listened to this recording, I got a little bit teary at the ending, even though I've read the story dozens of times before. I hope you're having a merry Christmas and wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Rating: 10/10

The reader: Jane Aker is an excellent narrator, as I've previously noted in her reading of A Tale of Two Cities. This story is no exception. Her voice carries the emotion of Della as she makes her fateful decision and the nervous excitement as she waits for her husband Jim to arrive home. The recording is professionally produced and ends with an appropriately mournful Christmas piano piece.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Source: Librivox
Length: 3 hr, 12 min
Reader: Elizabeth Klett

The book: The titular character in Ethan Frome is a man living in rural Starkfield, Massachusetts, trapped in a marriage with a woman who is both sickly and demanding. When his wife's beautiful cousin Mattie comes to stay with the couple as a domestic helper, Frome begins to dream of a better life away from Starkfield with Mattie. But Frome is a good man who won't allow himself to wrong his wife. The story is a classic example of the struggle between desire and commitment.

Ethan Frome is one of those stories which ten years ago I would have have not enjoyed. I would have seen Frome as a selfish, weak man, not recognizing his quiet heroism. Since then, my own experiences with difficult moral decisions in a past relationship have changed my perception. I can now sympathize with Frome's wanting to leave but knowing it is right to stay. I think it's amazing how a book can mean nothing at one time, but be so meaningful if read at a different time in life. I'm humbled to realize that these reviews I write are valid for myself alone, only at the time that I write them.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Elizabeth Klett is a wonderful reader. I've already mentioned how much I liked her reading of Howard's End by E.M. Forster. This reading is just as good, with an even better sound quality. Ms. Klett has lovely voice with clear, crisp enunciation. Her reading makes use of variations of tone and volume to create an enjoyable audiobook. I would reccomend her readings to anyone looking for the best readers of LibriVox.

"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

Source: Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast (mp3)
Length: 37 min
Reader: Miette

The story: This story defines "Southern Gothic" for me. Faulkner introduces us to the life of Emily Grierson, a spinster in a small Southern town. Although Miss Emily becomes more and more reclusive, we gain insights into her character through the details of brief encounters between her and the townspeople. In this way, Faulkner builds up a portrait of a genteel lady of the Confederacy whose pride is so strong it seems the only thing propping up her life.

Miss Emily reminds me of some of the elderly belles I knew when I lived in Middle Tennessee. None of these women I knew were old enough to have lived through The War, as the Civil War is sometimes still familiarly called, but they had the superior sense of entitlement that comes in the Deep South from being female, white, and from an old respectable family. Of course, the South has changed greatly since Faulkner's time - the rigid class structure has declined, racism is less pronounced, and life moves more quickly - but even now, if you're in the right place and know the right people you can still find the echoes of the Old South that are so dark and so fascinating.

Rating: 9/10

The reader: Miette has a lovely British accent that's quite charming. At first, I found it odd that a British accent should be reading a story about the South. Faulkner was from Oxford, Mississippi not that other Oxford. But, if I can enjoy Wodehouse read by an American, I certainly can love a Brit reading a story set in Dixie. The recording quality is amateur, but with no great flaws, it is an enjoyable listen.

(photo "Pink Roses in a Vase." (1915). George Eastman House Collection via flickr. No copyright restrictions.)

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

Source: Librivox
Length: 5 hr, 48 min
Reader: rachelellen

The book: In the 1880s, the plains of Nebraska were a forbidding place to make a home. This book, whose title is taken from a Walt Whitman poem, follows one Swedish immigrant family trying to farm the land in the face of drought, sickness, cold, and insects. Yet, one member of the family, the eldest daughter Alexandra, loves this wild land, and so her father wills the farm to her on his deathbed. Around Alexandra swirl the plots of her brothers Oscar and Lou and the tragedy of her youngest brother Emil.

This is a book following three parallel romances. The first, of Alexandra and her childhood friend Carl Lindstrom, is a romance complicated by the calculations of what is prudent. The second, of Emil and the married Marie Shabata, is complicated by passion and jealousy. I believe that the third romance, that between the pioneers and the land that is the most complex. It's a relationship of brain and heart, comfort and danger, life and death. This is a relationship that we don't often see with our seemingly tamed land, but it's what Cather wanted to document before it disappeared.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Rachelellen reads beautifully. She has a clear American accent that is easy to listen to. Her phrasing and inflection compliments Cather's flowing prose. The recording has a very slight hiss and a breath on the /s/ sounds, but this is only discernible at high volume. As I mention in my review of her reading Silas Marner, rachelellen is a captivating reader for a story that could be considered boring were it not for her skill in bringing it to life.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Source: Lit2Go (iTunes link)
Length: Approx. 21 hrs
Reader: Amanda Eland

The book: Jane Eyre can be divided into five parts, neatly defined by Jane's five main places of residence. The first two sections, when she is with her Aunt Reed and at Lowood school made me think I would not enjoy the novel very much. Like Charles Dickens, Brontë spends a large portion of these early chapters beating the reader into sympathy through the injustice and hardships of an innocent orphan. Yet, I got the sense that Jane is not the Shirley Temple character she makes herself out to be in her first-person narrative. This tension of an unreliable narrator kept me interested in the book through the first two acts.

The real heart of Jane Eyre is the third section, when she becomes a governess at Thornfield. These chapters are a marvelous body of writing, encompassing romance, comedy of manners, mystery, and gothic horror. The momentum of the plot built up in this third part is so great that it carries the story through the fourth section, which starts out strong, but devolves into a "yes you will / no I won't" battle of wills. The fifth section brings the novel to a satisfying conclusion.

If you are reading this review, and are already a Jane Eyre fan, I would like to suggest, dear reader, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. This novel has a great story with a number of parallels to Jane Eyre. I was able to pick the unabridged CDs for around $3 from the sale table at a Borders Bookstore, then after I listened to it, sell it to a used bookstore for $10. I can't recommend it as a "Free Listen", but for me, that was better than free.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Amanda Eland has a pleasant girlish voice that suits the calm character of Jane quite well. The repartee between Jane and Mr. Rochester does not come across as engaging as perhaps it should be, but otherwise her characters are well established. Although I'm no foreign language expert, Ms. Eland seemed to have trouble pronouncing the French and German phrases in the book. Overall this was a good reading in a high-quality recording. The main fault I had was not with the recording itself, but how it is presented. To download each chapter, you have to follow a link from the table of contents to that chapter's page, then download the file for that chapter separately. The files are quite large in size, with some chapters weighing in over 90 MB. However, this large size translates into good audio quality, so if you have a fast connection and plenty of memory, this book is certainly worthy of a download.

(Entered in the Book Review Wednesday contest at Cym Lowell. Follow the link for reviews of other books by various bloggers)