Billy Budd
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Billy Budd
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Narrated by:
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Simon Jones
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By:
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Herman Melville
About this listen
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Editorial reviews
Pull on your thickest wool sweater, don your highest rain boots, and prepare to embark on a salty nautical adventure with literary master Herman Melville in this engrossing audiobook, performed with verve by voice actor Simon Jones.
Melville is the unparalleled king of seafaring intrigue and his novella Billy Budd tells the action-packed story of one man’s forced servitude in the British navy, where he makes friends and enemies alike and experiences the harsh realities of life at sea. Jones has a hale and hearty voice, almost of another time, which perfectly suits Melville’s somewhat archaic, highly literary style, and his pacing and emphasis draw out the inherent tensions of this gripping drama.
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- By: Joseph Conrad
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 119
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
One of the great adventure novels of our language creates a most engaging central character, Nostromo. A picturesque man of action and popular hero, Nostromo lives to be "well-spoken of" by the citizens of Costaguana, the mythical South American banana republic where the story takes place. Around this figure, Conrad spins a story of revolution, politics, and racial conflict as complex as Nostromo, the man whose greatest enemy is himself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow!
- By Amazon Customer on 07-11-03
By: Joseph Conrad
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Edgar Allan Poe - The Complete Short Stories
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: Bob Thomley
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,310
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,157
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,164
All of Edgar Allan Poe’s great short stories in one 16-hour collection.
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3 out of 5 stars
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NEVERMORE
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-23-15
By: Edgar Allan Poe
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By the Mast Divided
- John Pearce, Book 1
- By: David Donachie
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Story4 out of 5 stars 110
London: 1793. Young firebrand John Pearce, on the run from the authorities, is illegally press-ganged from the Pelican tavern into brutal life aboard HMS Brilliant, a frigate on her way to war. In the first few days, Pearce discovers the Navy is a world in which he can prosper. And he is not alone; he is drawn to a group of men who eventually form an exclusive gun crew, the Pelicans, with Pearce their elected leader.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Didn't work for me
- By Michael E on 07-23-08
By: David Donachie
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The Happy Prince and other Tales
- By: Oscar Wilde
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 58
In "The Model Millionaire", the destiny of a young, ambitious, brilliant pauper changes with an act of his misplaced generosity. "The Happy Prince" is one of Oscar Wilde’s renowned fairy tales. From his vantage point, high above the city, the statue of The Happy Prince gives of himself in a way most astonishing. In "The Sphinx Without a Secret", we learn of an enigmatic woman who holds a secret so close, no suitor can win her.
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4 out of 5 stars
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"Curiouser & Curiouser"
- By Jade Dragon on 09-14-16
By: Oscar Wilde
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Captain Blood
- By: Rafael Sabatini
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 826
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 829
George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman novels, praises this hearty saga as "one of the great unrecognized novels of the 20th century." Doctor Peter Blood's quiet life is shattered when he is convicted of treason for helping a wounded nobleman in the 1685 rebellion against King James II.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding rendition of classic swashbuckler
- By Gary on 03-27-04
By: Rafael Sabatini
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Sons of the Waves
- The Common Seaman in the Heroic Age of Sail
- By: Stephen Taylor
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
British maritime history in the age of sail is full of the deeds of officers like Nelson but has given little voice to plain, "illiterate" seamen. Now, Stephen Taylor draws on published and unpublished memoirs, letters, and naval records, including court-martials and petitions, to present these men in their own words. In this exhilarating account, ordinary seamen are far from the hapless sufferers of the press gangs.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Navy Guy Recommends this Title
- By Lexcast on 06-17-20
By: Stephen Taylor
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Seize the Fire
- Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar
- By: Adam Nicolson
- Narrated by: Adam Nicolson
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
Adam Nicolson takes the great naval battle of Trafalgar, fought between the British and Franco-Spanish fleets in October 1805, and uses it to examine our idea of heroism and the heroic. A story rich with modern resonance, Seize the Fire reveals the economic impact of the battle as a victorious Great Britain emerged as a global commercial empire. Nicolson not only vividly describes the brutal realities of battle but enters the hearts and minds of the men who were there.
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5 out of 5 stars
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great narration
- By Tito on 12-06-17
By: Adam Nicolson
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The Captain of the Pole Star
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 333
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 283
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Story4 out of 5 stars 280
Word goes among the crew of the Pole Star that the captain is haunted by demons. And after the days turn into weeks in the frigid Arctic Ocean, stories begin to circulate of ghosts and midnight hauntings.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Conan Doyle wrote more than Mr. Holmes.
- By Kristi R. on 11-14-11
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Master and Commander
- Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1
- By: Patrick O'Brian
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,306
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,722
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,692
This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, Royal Navy, and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the road of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Choice of Narrators
- By Frank R. Adams on 04-23-10
By: Patrick O'Brian
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The Deerslayer
- By: James Fenimore Cooper
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 475
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 362
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 364
The Deerslayer is the first of the Leatherstocking Tales of James Fenimore Cooper. Here we meet Natty Bumppo as a young man living in upstate New York in the early 1740s. The action begins as Bumppo, called "Deerslayer", and his friend Hurry Harry approach Lake Glimmerglass, or Oswego, where the trapper Thomas Hutter lives with his daughters, the beautiful Judith and the feeble-minded Hetty. Hutter's floating log fort is attacked by Iroquois Indians, and the two frontiersmen join in the fight.
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3 out of 5 stars
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things were slower them
- By Bill on 05-08-05
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The Catalpa Rescue
- The Gripping Story of the Most Dramatic and Successful Prison Break in Australian History
- By: Peter FitzSimons
- Narrated by: Michael Carman
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 98
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 98
The incredible true story of one of the most extraordinary and inspirational prison breaks in history. Boston, 1869. Members of the Clan na Gael - agitators for an Irish republic - hatch a daring plan to free six Irish political prisoners from the most remote gaol on earth, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. Under the guise of a whale hunt, Captain Anthony sets sail on the Catalpa, risking his life to rescue the men from the prison, known among the inmates as 'a living tomb'.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Terrific yarn
- By Garrett on 05-13-19
By: Peter FitzSimons
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Edgar Allan Poe - The Complete Works Collection
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: Philippe Duquenoy
- Length: 48 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 478
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 398
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Story4 out of 5 stars 390
Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most prolific authors of his time, eventually gaining recognition for his tales of horror and his uncanny ability to paint a macabre picture with words. The Complete Works Collection of Edgar Allan Poe contains over 150 stories and poems, separated into individual chapters, including all of Poe's most notorious works such as The Raven, Annabel Lee, A Dream Within a Dream, Lenore, The Tell-Tale Heart, and many more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Would recommend to anyone!!!
- By Gail Blackwell on 03-14-18
By: Edgar Allan Poe
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The Sea Wolf
- By: Jack London
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 802
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 686
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 692
Wealthy ne'er-do-well Humphrey Van Weyden is a castaway who is put to work on the schooner Ghost, run by brutal Wolf Larsen. Toughened by life at sea, Humphrey develops the strength to protect another castaway, Maud Brewster, and stand up to the increasingly deranged Larsen. Experience the crashing, relentless power of the sea through this compelling story, made hauntingly immediate by author London's vivid prose.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great entertainment
- By Ross on 05-31-03
By: Jack London
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Mr Midshipman Hornblower
- By: C. S. Forester
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,911
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,712
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,696
Shaking off this label, a shy and lonely 17-year-old, Horatio Hornblower, embarks on a memorable career in Nelson's navy on HMS Justinian. In action, adventure, and battle he is forged into one of the most formidable junior officers in the service.
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5 out of 5 stars
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First rate historical fiction
- By Jason on 04-30-17
By: C. S. Forester
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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African
- By: Olaudah Equiano
- Narrated by: Duncan Brownlehe
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
First published in 1789, this autobiography of Olaudah Equiano comprises a variety of styles, such as a slavery narrative, travel tale, and spiritual journey. It recounts Equiano's time as a slave, and chronicles his attempts at becoming an independent man through his study of the Bible, and his eventual success in gaining his freedom.
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5 out of 5 stars
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brilliant work.
- By ugonna on 10-16-20
By: Olaudah Equiano