"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.)

"A Wagner Matinee" by Willa Cather

Source: McDougal Littell Literature, Grade 11 (mp3)
Length: 20 min
Reader: Unlisted

The story: When I first moved to a city for college, I knew I'd never go back to living in a suburb. All around me were art galleries, coffee shops, neighborhood bars, funky stores that sold things I had never seen and restaurants that didn't serve photocopied meals from corporate headquarters. Best of all was the music, not the recorded stuff that passes out of radios, but real live music played by people I could see and touch. I don't go to concerts as much as I did as a student, but I still try to make it to a few concerts every year, be it rock, blues, classical, or choral.

In this story, Willa Cather takes a break from her usual setting of the plains of Nebraska to tell of an old farm wife who visits her nephew in Boston. Knowing that she was once an accomplished musician in Boston, the nephew takes her to the Boston Opera House for a Wagner performance. Cather's description of the aunt's reaction to the music shows the author's great empathy for her characters and understanding of humanity. This is a great short piece about the power of live music and the pain of choices that change our lives forever.

Rating: 7 / 10

The reader: This is a professionally produced recording and narrator, though I can't seem to find the reader's name on the website. The source is from McDougal Littell's webpage for users of its high school literature textbooks, but the audio files are available to the public. There's lots of great stories listed on the page, but most are short summaries with only a few being full-length readings of the stories or poems.

Botchan by Soseki Natsume

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s or M4B)
Length: 5 hrs, 7 min
Reader: Availle

The book: According to Wikipedia, Botchan is one of the most popular novels in Japan. Natsume is the greatest Japanese novelist of the early twentieth century; until a recent anti-counterfeiting redesign, his face appeared on the 1000 yen note. Now that school is back in session, it's the perfect time to read this humorous book about the experiences of a math teacher.

As a name for the main character, "Botchan" can be appropriately translated as "young master" with both the connotation of a privileged background and of a schoolteacher. The narrator moves from a pampered upbringing in Tokyo to teaching at a middle school (what Americans would call a high school) in a provincial town. He gives the other teachers sarcastic nicknames like "Red Shirt" and "Porcupine" and views himself as superior to them. Much of the humor in this novel comes from the conflict between his airs of superiority and the students' attempts to bring him down through their pranks.

As a former teacher at a small college, I was surprised to see the same small-scale squabbles among teachers playing out in a setting halfway around the world and a century in the past.  I suppose departmental politics are the same at every level of education all across the globe. Anyone who's a teacher or is interested in teaching should listen to this classic.

Rating: 8 /10

The reader: Availle has an accent that is hard to place, sometimes sounding like British received pronunciation and sometimes sounding Asian, possibly Japanese. This accent adds spice to the recording, rather than making it difficult to understand. She pronounces the Japanese words with enough confidence that I assume she's correct. For the different characters, she adopts various tones, matching each voice to the character's personality. This is a good amateur recording of this translation.

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

Sync is giving away free audiobooks

Like last summer, Sync is giving away free audiobooks this summer. Each week, they're offering a free contemporary YA fiction audiobook and a free classic from common assigned summer reading lists.

There are a few caveats: first you have to use OverdDrive media console (not available for all operating systems) to download the files. I was able to burn the audiobook that I downloaded to CD to listen to in my car, but it's not clear if all books will be burnable. Second, each audiobook is only available for download for one week, though the files do not expire once you download. The schedule of release dates is available after the jump. Third, you have to give a valid email address.

To download the first two books, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, go to Sync and follow the directions.

Shadowmagic by John Lenahan

Source: Podiobooks (download the first chapter)
Length: Approx. 7 hours
Reader: John Lenahan

The book: When 18 year old Connor is visited by an unexpected guest, he learns that his father is not an eccentric professor, but a prince from a magical kingdom and his mother is a witch who practices the forbidden sorcery of Shadowmagic. The premise for the book is the well-worn magical coming of age story, like a Celtic mythology version of Percy Jackson.  Like Percy Jackson, Connor is full of teenage quips and a tendency to get himself into trouble.

The plot moves forward in bursts, with plenty of action at the beginning and ends of chapters, interspersed with exposition. I found the characters uninteresting, though the setting and magic were fascinating. In reviewing this, I realize that I'm not part of the target audience of young adults, so what seems immature and trite to me may be awesome for younger readers. Lenahan's writing may be unpolished, but this is still an amusing book for fans of young adult fantasy fiction.

Rating: 6 /10

The reader: Lenahan is a talented reader. He voices his book with enthusiasm that makes it much more enjoyable than the actual story by itself. He doesn't overdo himself with difficult Irish accents, but stays within his range. The podcast is introduced by an upbeat Celtic reel that reflects the subject and tone of the book. The recording is well-produced with excellent sound quality.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Source: Ancient Faith Radio (part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 )
Length: Approx. 4.5 hours
Reader: Dr. Chrissi Hart

The book: One of the classics of children's fantasy literature, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was my favorite book as a child. I loved (and still love) the feel of the world of Narnia as a place both magically impossible and plausable, filled with characters that could never exist, but are true enough to be real. I must have read it a dozen times from second grade up to my adult years. Every time I read it, I gain a new perspective on the book. The same book that is a mind-blowing adventure story for a child is also a profound Christian allegory for an adult.

I have some non-Christian friends who think that slipping an extended metaphor for Jesus Christ's death and resurrection into a children's story is some sort of sneaky trick Lewis uses to brainwash children into becoming Christians. However, I think the presence of the allegory is part of the appeal of the story, even if I didn't recognize it as a child. Great fanasty literature puts the reader in a world that has a history and largeness that exceeds even what is shown in the book. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis's imaginary world works on prophesies and rules that have the feel of existing beyond the scope of the book to eternity. What better way to lend a sense of mythic grandeur to a novel than to base it upon the most powerful and deep story in Western culture?

Rating: 10/10

The reader: I'm absolutely amazed that Ancient Faith was able to get permission from HarperCollins and the Lewis estate to podcast this novel. Hart has a pleasing British accent and the confidence of someone who is comfortable in front of a microphone. She makes a couple of repetition errors, but is otherwise flawless. The recording quality is very good, as is befitting such a professionally produced podcast. The other books in The Chronicles of Narnia series are also available for free through the same website, so head on over to collect all seven books.

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

Pirate Jack by Alessandro Cima

Source: Candlelight Stories
Length: Approx. 3.5 hours
Reader: Alessandro Cima

The book: Jack and his father build wooden boats in modern-day Florida. When a real estate developer sets his sights on their house and workshop, Jack needs a way to find money for his dad. He ends up being transported back in time to the age of Caribbean piracy and falls in with a gang of buccaneers to earn his pirate gold.

Pirate Jack is a fun, short novel with plenty of adventure. It's not for young children; there's violence and mild swearing, but older kids will find it interesting. As an adult, I really enjoyed the story, though I felt that characters at times did unlikely things simply because the plot demanded the character to dig in the sand, to give one early example.  Although the writing, specifically the ending, is sometimes clunky, I found this book to be an entertaining quick listen.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: Cima is a blast as a reader. He gives his characters so many different accents and voices that part of the fun is listening to what he'll come up with for the next voice. The novel is split into individual files by chapter, some of them extremely short. This can cause some exasperation when you have to listen to the Candlelight Stories intro and copyright notice multiple times in quick succession, but then again, this book is being given away for free and the intro isn't terribly long.

Note: I originally downloaded this book from Podiobooks.com.  As of this writing, that site is down and asking for donations. If you're able and if you've enjoyed free books from them before, please donate to their website.

"The Lady or The Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton

Source: Librivox (mp3)
Length: 17 minutes
Reader: David Federman

The story:  In a faraway kingdom, the king has devised a crowd-pleasing spectacle for executions. The accused in placed in an arena and allowed to open one of two doors. Behind one waits a man-eating tiger and the prisoner's certain death. Behind the other waits a woman who will become his bride. When the princess's paramour is captured and sentenced to the arena, an additional wrinkle is added to the problem.

This story is often included in English literature textbooks to introduce the concept of ambiguity in stories. Children can have low tolerance of unclear endings: "And then what happened?"  But part of developing an appreciation for literature is being able to consider the psychology of characters in a story when not enough information is available to know for certain what the character is really thinking. This story explicitly asks that question, and becomes a more complex story than if the ending was simply stated.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Since this is such a widely-anthologized story, there are several recordings available at LibriVox as well as on other websites. From the sampling I did of these, Federman's recording is the best. He uses inflection and dramatic pauses to create a fairytale-like telling of the story, which complements its "long ago and far away" setting. He speaks in distinct enunciation and varies both the pitch and loudness of his voice like a professional storyteller. The recording is well-produced with almost no background noise.

(Tiger background Creative Commons by attribution licensed from didbygraham)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Source: LibriVox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 10 hours
Reader: John Greenman

The book: When I read this book in high school, I remember it being good for the about the first two-thirds of the book, then interminably boring for the last third. Now that I've read several books by Mark Twain, I can recognize a pattern in his books. Twain often starts his books with a great premise. He strings together some amusing anecdotes with very little overarching plot, but with often hilarious characters. As the book goes along, though, Twain tends to grow bitter towards his own characters and the tone turns from gentle humor to a darker misanthropy.

Huck Finn follows this pattern in that the opening chapters are filled with great episodes, like the formation of Tom Sawyer's gang, Huck dressing up as a girl, and Huck's stay with the Grangerfords. Later, after the Duke and the King join Huck and Jim on the raft, the writing turns more mean-spirited. Instead of innocent pranks, the characters are now involved in more harmful swindles, culminating in the two con-men betraying Jim. The rest of the book portrays Jim more as a racist stereotype and the adventures lose the fun quality that they had at the beginning. These final chapters mar the book's reputation and brought my personal enjoyment of the book down.

Rating: 7/10

The reader: John Greenman is a great narrator of Mark Twain. Greenman has the ability to bring out the Midwestern tone of Twain's writing. He delivers the humor without overselling it and has a light breezy style of speech that reflects the conversational style of the book. For more of Greenman's excellent narration, check out his work in Tom Sawyer.

Call of the Wild by Jack London

Source: Uvula Audio (Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 )
Length: Approx 4 hours
Reader: J. Campenella

The book: I first read Call of the Wild for my middle school English class. Reading it again, I am struck by two things: 1) it's an better story than I remember and 2) it's way more violent than I remember. Even though I, like many before me, have classified it as a children's book, it is definitely a book for older children, as well as adults.

London, writing from first-hand knowledge, explores the boundary between civilization and the wild. Unlike many writers, he neither extols the progress in taming the wilderness nor does he romanticize the purity of Mother Nature. Nature only cares for survival by any means, he says, and civilization is a luxury that must be abandoned where it is not practical. These are harsh statements, directed at an adult audience, and the way in which London goes about illustrating his view make it worth revisiting Call of the Wild as an adult.

Rating: 9/10

The reader: Campanella is an excellent reader, though he has a tendency in this book to fall into a up-and-down cadence that can lull the inattentive listener away from the words in long descriptive passages. His voices for each character are a delight, however, and enliven the reading. The recording is well-produced, though it includes sound effects. I find these sound effects to be often intrusive, particularly the sounds of the whimpering and growling of the dogs. London's text is descriptive enough without the additions.

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

Young Adult audiobook giveaway

For a limited time this summer, Sync is giving away free audiobooks, mostly in young adult fiction. The books are free, but there are some hoops to jump through. First, you have to sign up for Audiobook Community. Then you have to join the Sync group in Audiobook Community and download them from there. To download the files, you'll have to install Overdrive Media Console (presumably a DRM program). Some of these books may not be available outside the US and I have no idea what players the Overdrive DRM is compatable with, so listener beware.

After the break, I've listed the available books.

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Source: LibriVox
Length: 9 hr, 34 min
Reader: Rachelellen

The book: Anne of Green Gables is like a female version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer set in the Canadian maritime provinces rather than the American Midwest. Like Tom Sawyer, this book doesn't have so much of a plot as a series of interrelated humorous episodes. But while Tom has adventures in getting into fights, faking his own death, and tricking his friends, Anne's adventures consist of making friends, having tea parties, and going to poetry recitals.

While they may express it differently, Anne and Tom have a similar view of the world as a place of adventure to be explored. Tom's adventures get more outrageous as the book goes on until he finally ends up in mortal danger. Anne, on the other hand, channels her sense of adventure into pathways deemed acceptable to society. Yet, even though this may appear to be a capitulation to the pressures of adulthood, Anne still keeps her sense of wonder and vivacity. Montgomery seems to be propounding a philosophy that one can grow up without leaving behind the essential spirit of childhood.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: This is an excellent recording of an amazing reader. Rachelellen voices fill the characters with so much life, I can't imagine reading this book without her. Her voicing of Anne, Marilla, and Matthew, not to mention her hilarious acting of Mrs. Rachel Lynde, made me love the characters and kept me listening. Rachelellen's narrating voice is clear and bright, with wonderful phrasing and diction. I think Anne herself would applaud Rachelellen if she were to go to a recital.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Source: Librivox
Length: 6 hr, 47 min
Reader: John Greenman

The book: To my mind, Tom Sawyer is the quintessential book of summer. No other novel captures quite as well the possibility, freedom, and laziness of being released from the obligations of school. Even now that I'm an adult summer still carries an echo of the magic that Twain distills into this book.

I've mentioned before that Twain does not write novels so much as a series of short stories connected by place and character. Most of Tom Sawyer follows this pattern, but toward the end, Twain brings several threads together into something resembling a plot. It is not the plot, however, but the humorous episodes that most people remember when they think of this book: Tom convincing the other boys to whitewash a fence, Tom and Huck faking their deaths, Tom cheating to win a Bible at Sunday School. These episodes are what makes Tom such an unforgettable character and what makes this book a true classic.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Reading aloud a book like this requires considerable talent in order to convey Twain's unique brand of humor, which can range from subtle to slapstick. John Greenman does an admirable job of translating this humor to the spoken word. His voices for characters like Huck Finn and Aunt Polly are particularly memorable while his narration carries the hint of a smirk at the outrageous pranks that Tom pulls.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Source: Librivox (zipped mp3s)
Length: 7 hr, 33 min
Reader: Adrian Praetzellis

The book: This classic boy's adventure follows Jim Hawkins out of his innkeeper's life and into the world of pirates, danger, and buried treasure. Stevenson's imaginative mind introduced several new concepts into pirate literature, including the parrot on the shoulder and "X marks the spot" pirate maps. The story takes a few chapters to get underway as Stevenson takes extra time to build up a sense of foreboding, which pays off later in dividends of excitement as the action comes to fruition. On the other hand, the ending seems to arrive too quickly, with room for a sequel that Stevenson never got to write (though others have tried).

I first tried to read Treasure Island as a boy, but the combination of nautical terms and antiquated language made it a frustrating attempt. Coming back to the book with the experience of reading many 19th century books and a few Patrick O'Brian novels, I am now able to enjoy it more thoroughly. I find it incredible that a book written for boys such a long time ago still has the power to thrill an adult of the 21st century.

Rating: 8/10

The reader: Adrian Praetzellis is my favorite Librivox reader. As I mention above, Stevenson's language can be a barrier to the enjoyment of the story, but Praetzellis's narration goes a long way toward bypassing this difficulty by making the meaning clear through his tone. Each character is given an interesting voice, using a multitude of accents. His acting of Long John Silver brings out the Sea Cook's beguiling friendliness as well as his hidden danger. When all the pirates sing "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum", Praetzellis overdubs his voice to produce a chorus of buccaneers. This type of attention to every aspect of the recording reflects why this audiobook is so enjoyable.