Gather ‘Round the Sound

Holiday Stories from Beloved Authors and Great Performers Across the Globe

By: Paulo Coelho, Yvonne Morrison, Charles Dickens

Narrated by: Angele Masters, Daniel Frances Berenson, Magda Szubanski, Simon Callow, Dan Starkey, John Banks, Vern

Gather 'Round the Sound: Holiday Stories from Beloved Authors and Great Performers Across the Globe

2017 has been a monumental year for Audible, having just celebrated our 20th anniversary, a milestone that would have never been possible without our wonderful and loyal listeners. One of our major commitments is bringing new and diverse audio experiences to our members, so this year, as our gift to you, we pulled together a collection that reflects a little bit of everything we've been up to recently: a surprising and heartwarming documentary, a selection of stories from our partners around the world, and even some improvised comedic carols we hope will make you laugh as much as they did us.

The lineup includes:

Zip Code 12345

This mini-documentary centers around a peculiar holiday tradition at General Electric's headquarters in Schenectady, NY. For two decades, GE has been receiving thousands of letters from kids - children who think they're reaching Santa Claus. And every year, a handful of GE employees give up their December lunchbreaks to respond to each and every letter.

An Aussie Night Before Christmas, by Yvonne Morrison, performed by Magda Szubanksi

This rollicking rewrite of the famous old poem 'Twas The Night Before Christmas gives the original version a hilarious Aussie twist. Magda Szubanski, Australia's most trusted personality, caries this incredibly fun romp. Kangaroos pulling the sleigh, a beer for Santa, and all the over-the-top Australian lingo, it's everything you'd expect.

The Music Coming from the House, by Paulo Coehlo, performed by Daniel Frances-Berenson

In this magical story from the author of The Alchemist - the master of the modern parable - a disguised king visits a poor village, and what he sees through the window of a house changes his life, and those of the occupants.

The Signal-man, by Charles Dickens, performed by Simon Callow, Dan Starkey, and John Banks

For literature lovers, the holiday season needs a little Dickens. We dug up a story of his that you may not be familiar with, originally published in the Christmas edition of a Victorian short story periodical. Of course, ghosts are involved in this 19th century work told by Simon Callow (Outlander) and Dan Starkey (Dr. Who).

A Very Improvised Holiday Musical

What would the holidays be without some carols? Vern, a New York City-based improv troupe, performs a few improvised holiday songs.

©2017 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2017 Audible Originals, LLC

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas season - the birthday of Jesus . Great time to celebrate with families and friends.

Good christmas cheer. Easy listening.

Really sweet, will definitely have another listen this December. Recomended it to friends already. Christmas cheer

Fun

Very nostalgic. Terrific holiday treat. A sweet taste of old favorites mixed with a dash of something new.

So disappointing after last year's holiday magic!

What disappointed you about Gather ‘Round the Sound?

After last year's The Most Wonderful Tales of the Year, I was eagerly anticipating this year's holiday offering from Audible. Alas, this haphazard production was a let-down. The part about Santa and the kids was interesting, and I enjoyed the story based on n Indian tale and the Aussie Night Before Christmas. But the Dickens story seemed out of place, and the improv piece at the end was truly awful. Perhaps next year we'll be treated to a more well-written, cohesive, well-performed collection!

What do you think your next listen will be?

Alan Furst's Mission to Paris

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I found it uneven. However, I found the entire thing to be disjointed.

What character would you cut from Gather ‘Round the Sound?

Improv section at the end

Any additional comments?

Last year's Audible holiday work was excellent. Great stories, great narration, and great flow. I'd love to see something like that again next year!

Not a winner

I recently listened to Gather Round the Sound written by Paulo Coelho, Yvonne Morrison, Charles Dickens and narrated by Angele Masters, Daniel Frances Berenson, Magda Szubanski, Simon Callow, Dan Starkey, John Banks, and Vern.

This is a short collection of holiday tales put together by Audible for Christmas in 2017. Some of the stories are quite good, though some are not. One of the best, in my personal opinion, is a tale by Charles Dickens called the Signal Man. It's more appropriate to Halloween than Christmas, but 'tis still quite good.

The narration was solid on this throughout. Some stories had a single narrator and others were full cast, but it generally was well done.

Conclusion: This was a halfway decent collection of stories. Some weren't quite as good and others didn't match the intended theme, thus I would say it's one to avoid unless they give it away for free in the future. 

In the holiday spirit...

I gave it a “2”...because it seems desirous of expressing the season, but “a very improvised...etc” is exactly that...improvised...and not well, managing to be disjointed, silly, pretentious and strident all at the same time. Glad it was free.

Glad it was free

Two of the five stories -- 12345 and Australian Night Before Christmas -- were enjoyable. Paulo Coelho story was meh. No idea what the Dickens story had to do with the holidays. Vern improv bit was lame.

A very appropriative Christmas

I was disappointed how the first story included a caricature of Chinese people, and the second took an “Indian” folk story (unclear if South Asian Indian or Native American Indian) and turned it into a Christmas parable. The Dickens story was a cute winter ghost story though, and the improv caroling was entertaining.

first half great second not so much.

loved the kids stories but the last one with the "improv" group was utterly boring and had zero thought put into it.

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but...

I really appreciate Audible's annual gift to us, and last year's was pretty much spot-on in terms of content worth listening to. But this piece was just way too muddled, starting off with the This American Life style reporting and going to some uneven book performances followed by an absolutely unfunny singing improvisational troupe. Just go back to having the narrator's tell us their holiday experiences. That really seemed to do the trick.