Classic American Short Stories, Volume 2

By: Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, more

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

The Lost Phoebe by Theodore Dreiser
An old midwestern farmer tries to adjust himself to his new life as a widower.

To Build a Fire by Jack London
A young man in Alaska elects to go on a cross country journey in mid-winter against the advice of older, more experienced men.

The Long Way Out by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A woman loses her husband while convalescing at a sanitarium.

The Wonderful Tar Baby by Joel Chandler Harris
: An Old South story of the eternal battle of wits between rabbit and fox.

The Coup de Grace by Ambrose Bierce
In wartime, personal animosities are usually set aside so as not to interfere with the business of war.

A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett
The delicate story of a young New England girl's infatuation with a stranger and a strange bird.

After the Storm by Ernest Hemingway
Set in Key West, an adventurer tells his tale of a drunken fight during a hurricane.

The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane
This hilarious tale describes what happens when the sheriff of a west Texas town comes home with a brand new eastern bride.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
A gothic horror story by a master writer.

Torch Song by John Cheever
A woman's repeated efforts to help a variety of strange men seem to coincide with her own inability to form a meaningful relationship.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte
This is a humorous, poignant tale of a group of exiles from a California mining town who get caught up in a blizzard while en route to a nearby settlement.

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
Possibly America's most famous short story, this early fairy tale set in our colonial past is easily one of the most popular short stories ever written.

©2006 Audio Connoisseur (P)2006 Audio Connoisseur

Charlton Griffin turns classics into superhits!

I now got into the habit of searching the Audible website solely by the name of one narrator: Charlton Griffin. So far he helped me hear stories I have read, or tried to read, several times since high school in a brand new way. For instance, for many years I could never get through Poe's House of Usher. But Mr. Griffin gave Poe's rather pompous verbosity a pleasing musical quality and thus helped me finally make it to the end of the story and discover that it is indeed a very good one.
So, now I am going to order Charlton Griffin's rendition of Homer's Iliad. I have tried to read that super classic several times before, but never quite made it past page 20 or so. I'll be happy to keep everybody who is interested informed what Mr. Griffin did for me there.
Anthony Pour

Fun listening too

This had some interesting short stories. I like the twists of some of the stories. The stories tend to be a little dark at times, but many are classics and some I have never heard. I am a big fan of these short stories as a means to break up listening to longer more complicated books. I could recommend this audible selection.

Mr. Griffin drops his English accent-- hooray!

Charlton Griffin is such a great narrator, if only he would refrain from his attempts at what he thinks a Received Pronunciation English accent sounds like (he pronounces nearly every "a"vowel as "ah"). He chooses excellent material, but the falseness of his accent in so many productions is distracting to those of us from the UK. This may seem a quibble, but he does so much better with an American accent that I hope he will consider it for more of his narrations in the future. This is meant constructively; I hope it will be taken as such.

Some good, some really bad

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator was somewhat ok, but the voices and the setting music is just annoying!

Any additional comments?

It is hard to give an overall review of a collection of stories that varies so much. The total balance is that it is an ok book, but I would not listen to it again. One of the stories I really love (Rip Van Winkle), one I really hate (To build a fire), three are worth hearing again (The long way out, A white heron, and The outcasts of the Poker flat), the rest was a waste of time.

A good listen

Although I did not fully enjoy all the stories, (Poe for one), I enjoyed the idea of short stories. I would listen for an hour or so, then do something else. The perfomance was pleasant to listen to, and most of the stories were interesting.