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The Tempest
- Narrated by: Randal Schaffer
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
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The Tempest
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Publisher's summary
Experience this InAudio unabridged presentation of The Tempest by William Shakespeare.
The Tempest is a beautiful and sweeping drama by William Shakespeare and is one of the Bard’s last plays. With a role written as a farewell to the theater, this emotional drama is a beautiful testament to Shakespeare’s talents as a storyteller and writer.
The play centers around Prospero, a usurped ruler and powerful sorcerer who lives out his days on a remote island with few humans with whom to interact. Prospero seeks his revenge on his brother by causing his ship to wreck on his island, and the adventure of the play begins.
The story contains many of Shakespeare’s favorite tropes: magical and devilish spirits, a passionate and exciting romance, and a powerful look at the results of seeking justice and vengeance - all wrapped up in beautiful poetry, such as a soliloquy that doubles as Shakespeare’s ode to his own career.
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By: Harold Bloom
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Gargantua and Pantagruel
- By: François Rabelais
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 34 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4 out of 5 stars 52
Here is a grotesque and carnivalesque collection of exuberant, fantastical stories that takes us from the ancient world through to the European Renaissance. At the heart of these tall tales are the giant Gargantua and his equally seismic son, Pantagruel. Containing magical adventures, maniacal punning, slapstick humor, erudite allusions, and just about any bodily function one can think of, here is quite possibly the zaniest, most risqué book ever written.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The king of all the narrators
- By amazon on 02-13-20
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Faust
- By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is a poem, translated by Bayard Taylor, which tells the beautiful and emotional story of a man who has seen and done it all. However, despite all of his learning and education, his life still feels empty and unaccomplished. He believes wholeheartedly that there is something else out there. Faust, having exhausted all other fields of study, turns to magic for fulfillment. He summons the devil and makes a pact - that if the devil can show him something rewarding and fulfilling, he will give the devil his soul.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Misleading
- By Grant Pajak on 03-29-17
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Medea
- By: Euripides
- Narrated by: Jonathan Waters
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 106
Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the "barbarian" kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason; she finds her position in the Greek world threatened as Jason leaves her for a Greek princess of Corinth. Medea takes vengeance on Jason by murdering Jason's new wife as well as her own children, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great Narrator makes this story work
- By cosmitron on 08-02-18
By: Euripides
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The Plays of Sophocles
- Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone
- By: Sophocles
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
Sophocles was born at Colonus, near Athens in about 496 BC and is considered to be one of the premier playwrights of Greek tragedy. His stories may have been filled with strife, but Sophocles himself was prosperous and came from a good family. It is said that he was handsome, wealthy, and a highly respected citizen of Athens. During his life, he wrote over 120 plays and was instrumental in how plays would eventually be performed, including the addition of stage props.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Bad Dialogue
- By Zoe Olvera on 08-12-18
By: Sophocles
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Terry Jones
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 727
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 609
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 607
A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An absolute delight!
- By Shannon Slee on 07-15-18
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
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The Decameron
- By: Giovanni Boccaccio
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale, Gunnar Cauthery, Alison Pettitt, and others
- Length: 28 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 247
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 217
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio's answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante's Divine Comedy.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not Up to the Usual Naxos Standard
- By John on 11-15-17
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Idylls of the King
- By: Alfred Tennyson
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 201
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 132
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 132
The Arthurian legend of Camelot has been told many times, but never better than by Alfred Tennyson. Employing some of the most stirring and beautiful blank verse ever written, Tennyson crafted his version of the Knights of the Round Table over the course of nearly fifty years, completing it in 1885. Despite the length of time, Tennyson managed to maintain a high level of style and continuity throughout.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful poetry
- By Roger on 01-15-08
By: Alfred Tennyson
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The Arabian Nights
- By: Andrew Lang - translator
- Narrated by: Suehyla El Attar
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 172
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 154
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Story4 out of 5 stars 154
Full of mischief, valor, ribaldry, and romance, The Arabian Nights has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved the life of Scheherazade, whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each evening, Scheherazade always withheld the ending: A thousand and one nights later, her life was spared forever.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not unabridged Burton--this is Lang
- By Richard and Diana Chicago on 06-25-12
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Oedipus the King
- By: Sophocles
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 352
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 298
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 295
In Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus discovers that he has been caught in his terrible destiny, unknowingly murdering his father and marrying his mother.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb
- By Mark on 11-24-09
By: Sophocles
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The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Keith Moore, Toby Leonard Moore, Colin McPhillamy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.
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5 out of 5 stars
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WOW
- By Mitchell Drimmer on 02-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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Tales from Shakespeare
- By: Charles Lamb, Mary Lamb
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb is a retelling of 20 of Shakespeare’s most beloved stories. Within the pages of this book, the 19th-century authors bring to life the Shakespearean plots and characters of another age in an easy-to-understand prose of a newer generation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A classic
- By Jacque Eddy on 10-07-19
By: Charles Lamb, and others
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 348
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 305
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 303
A bird of good omen is murdered. A fickle crew is punished by supernatural, spectral beings. A skeletal ship is sighted moving against the wind and tide. The figure of Death along with a singular, gruesome companion man the fiendish craft. And as they draw closer, it becomes clear that the two play at dice for the soul of the ancient mariner. The result is nothing short of cataclysmic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A classic well read
- By Gary on 08-08-16
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Don Quixote (Adapted for Modern Listeners)
- By: Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 218
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 175
Quixotic is a word that the dictionary defines as "extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary...." and that is a fitting definition, indeed, for this charming retelling of Don Quixote, the 17t- century Spanish classic by Miguel de Cervantes, now updated for the modern listener. The gallant and fragile Quixote will touch listeners, as will his faithful squire Sancho Panza and the tragically beautiful heroine of the gentle Don’s chivalries, the fair Dulcinea.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great way in
- By pxriver on 07-12-18