Christopher

Very fine dramatizations with two excellent bonuses

Revisado: 06-16-23

Eric Ambler is woefully underrepresented in Audible’s library, which makes this a very welcome collection indeed. Good adaptations of three of his best-known books — well paced and well acted. Worth the price alone. The bonus features are great as well: there’s a very interesting radio play about Ambler’s involvement with John Houston’s famous World War II documentary (or was it?) “The Battle of San Pietro”. I would love to know
how much of the narrative given here was true and how much was poetic license, but in any case it’s fascinating and quite well done. And to round out the set, there’s a nice retrospective of Ambler’s career. It’s too brief, but it’s quite nice as far as it goes, and gives a good sense of what Ambler is like as a writer.

Highly recommended, but what we really need are more unabridged readings of Ambler’s books!

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Decent performance, but this is Hammett’s weakest novel

Revisado: 02-08-23

This is widely regarded as the weakest of Hammett’s five novels, and I have to say I agree with that assessment. The plot is absurd and tiresome, the ultimate solution to the mystery is telegraphed from a long way off by what Roger Ebert used to call the Law of Economy of Characters, and there is a repellent thread of racism running through the book. On the plus side, it is perhaps interesting to see the Continental Op’s tenderer side on display following the brutality of Red Harvest, but that isn’t much to set against the problems just mentioned. The narrator, Richard Ferrone, does a fine job, as he did with the far superior Red Harvest, but even the greatest performance wouldn’t really be enough to rescue this book. A few bright spots aside, this is a pretty big misfire from Hammett. For completists only.

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Superb performance

Revisado: 12-30-22

I enjoyed this book very much, and Martin Jarvis’s performance is superb. If he occasionally overdoes it a bit (as in the chapter where young David gets drunk and makes a fool of himself), it has to be said that he is merely following Dickens himself in this regard. Jarvis’s characterizations are delightful, especially Micawber, Uriah Heep, Mr Peggotty, and dear old Betsey Trotwood. All in all, very enjoyable.

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Some of Tolkien’s best writing, and a superb audio version

Revisado: 11-11-22

To fully appreciate the material presented in this book, you should probably be familiar not just with The Lord of the Rings but also with The Silmarillion. It should also be noted that the two extensive (but incomplete) narratives that make up Part I of this book have since been incorporated into the book-length presentations of The Fall of Gondolin and The Children of Hurin — re-edited to some degree and combined with other sources bearing on those two “great tales of Middle-Earth”.

This is some of Tolkien’s very finest writing, particularly the two long fragments in Part I, covering (parts of) the tales of Tuor and Turin Túrambar. The former is stunningly beautiful, with the encounter between Tuor and Ulmo surely ranking among the most magical and stunningly realized scenes in all of Tolkien’s work. As for Turin, I have to admit that I found his tale in The Silmarillion to be somewhat hard going, though the end is very powerful. But this is brilliant — very moving, and delving into psychological areas far removed from The Hobbit or even The Lord of the Rings. I found the main chapter of Part II (Aldarion and Erendis) to be rather slow at first, though again beautifully written. It ends pretty powerfully, however — but just when things were finally starting to get moving, the fragment ends! The notes and commentary give ample evidence of how the tale might have been concluded (the broad outlines, at least, being known from other writings).

Parts III and IV move us into the Third Age, and I think a reader who hasn’t tackled The Silmarillion might begin here and find much to enjoy. These pieces are all fascinating and provide some wonderful glimpses of familiar characters (such as Saruman’s ghoulish appearance in the chapter on the disaster of the Gladden Fields).

A mere glance at the table of contents cannot begin to convey the many wonders and delights this book contains. Tolkien’s son and literary heir, Christopher Tolkien, provides extensive and wide-ranging notes and presents content from a variety of sources in addition to the items presented as the main texts. Tolkien senior strove to present his legendarium through the filter of imagined “sources” (such as the Red Book of Westmarch) that give the feel of a discovered mythology, in much the same way that our understanding of the legends of King Arthur is built up on the basis of various medieval sources. Not all of these real-world sources are complete, of course, and in a way the fragmentary nature of the pieces in this book helps to reinforce the illusion that JRR Tolkien was the compiler and editor of much older legends, not all of which are complete or consistent with one another. Where did Galadriel and Celeborn meet, for instance? Different “sources” give different accounts, and on one level this reflects the (real-world) author’s own shifting conceptions of these characters and their stories — a progression admirably elucidated by Christopher Tolkien in his notes and commentary. But on another level, Tolkien senior often explicitly says in his narratives that multiple traditions exist and it is not now possible to judge between them. To me, this gives a particular richness to these fragments, which are beautiful and interesting in their own right but also give tantalizing glimpses beyond the writings that we actually possess — again in very much the same way that an incomplete medieval manuscript can be fascinating and even thrilling for the (partial) light that it sheds on legends and tales we already know from other sources.

The audiobook edition is superbly rendered, with Samuel West reading JRR Tolkien’s writing and Timothy West reading Christopher Tolkien’s notes and commentary. There appear to be some slight adjustments to the notes and commentary for the sake of added clarity in the audio format (these are generally on the order of omitting page numbers and the like), and the notes (given as end notes in the printed book) are interpolated into the main text, so that Timothy cuts in periodically to comment on what Samuel has read. It all works wonderfully well, and both readers are outstanding. One relatively minor quibble is that when there is an actual author’s note (i.e. one written by JRR Tolkien and not by Christopher), these are quite rightly read by Samuel West, but they are not called out as author’s notes, so that the voice of Tolkien as author cuts in unannounced on the voice of Tolkien as narrator. This is very slightly confusing but didn’t in any way affect my enjoyment of the performance. With that very minor exception, I think this audiobook could not be bettered. Truly superb. Well done to all involved!

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Superb in every way

Revisado: 10-27-20

To begin with, these are some of the finest ghost stories ever written. If you’ve never had the pleasure of reading M.R. James, you’re in for a real treat!

The narrators in this set are both outstanding. David Timson reads most of the tales, and he brings out not just the tremendous atmosphere of these tales but also the wittiness of James’s writing. Stephen Critchelow’s voice and delivery are very different, but still equally well suited to the material.

James famously introduced these tales (many of them, at any rate) by reading them to his friends at Christmas. Timson and Critchelow’s performances beautifully evoke such a setting: it’s easy to imagine gathering around a fire on a cold winter’s night, and listening as they bring James’s stories vividly to life.

One last thing to note - the musical selections (brief fragments at the beginning and end of each tale) are very well chosen and add a lot to the atmosphere.

All in all, a superb collection in every way. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

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I love Bill Bryson. I couldn’t finish this audiobook.

Revisado: 10-07-19

The narrator is poorly chosen. For another book he might be fine, but his inflection is somehow all wrong for this one. His elongated vowels, combined with his habit of EMphaSIzing EVery Other SYLlable once he gets going, mean that the humor is consistently overplayed, while Bryson’s many amusingly befuddled rants come across as simply whiny. Accordingly the dominant affect is not Bryson’s usual good-natured bemusement, but rather an unappealing “can you believe how dumb/weird these foreigners are?” parochialism. McLarty also seems to think that all English people talk like Terry-Thomas.

Narrator aside, some of the material in this book has simply not aged well. A mean-spirited passage attacking a family of overweight people encountered in a hotel dining room; some pathetically xenophobic “humor” about the supposed impossibility of eating with chopsticks; a dismal passage detailing stereotypical differences between men and women that wouldn’t have passed muster at open-mic night in a small-town comedy club in the 1980s; all this is beneath Mr Bryson — and, judging by the near or total absence of such passages in his later books, he seems to have come around to that view himself.

One more thing: is it too much to ask, when producing an audiobook about England, that somebody involved actually take the trouble to find out how the names mentioned in the book should be pronounced? In the opening chapter alone, McLarty gives us “Mor-uh-KAM-bee” (for Morecambe) and “Nu Kway” (for New Quay — this despite a pun on “nookie” following immediately in the text). (He does somehow manage, later in the book, to get Blenheim right.) Nobody is born knowing these things, of course, but somebody involved with this production ought to have done a little basic homework on this point. It isn’t remotely hard to do.

The best reader of Bryson’s books is, of course, Bryson himself. But frankly I’m not sure even he could fully have saved this one. I wanted very much to like this audiobook but between the poor narration and the content issues mentioned above, I gave up on it about halfway through.

I recommend picking up Bryson’s “In a Sunburned Country” instead.

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Superb collection of essays, very well read

Revisado: 07-07-11

This is a first-rate collection of essays by one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. The reader, Frederick Davidson, is excellent (as usual). As other reviewers have pointed out, the recording skips in places; this happens especially often in the latter half of Part 2. In nearly all cases the skips are tiny and it's easy enough to fill in the missing word (and it really does seem to be just one word that's affected), but there are a few more substantial skips. This isn't really acceptable, frankly, but I found it detracted less from my enjoyment of the book than one might think. It's not ideal, but it's hardly a fatal flaw when the content is so very good.

The complete contents are as follows:

- "Such, Such Were the Joys"
- Charles Dickens
- The Art of Donald McGill
- Rudyard Kipling
- Raffles and Miss Blandish
- Shooting an Elephant
- Politics and the English Language
- Reflections on Gandhi
- Marrakech
- Looking Back on the Spanish War
- Inside the Whale
- England Your England
- Boys' Weeklies
- Why I Write

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A decent dramatization

Revisado: 06-11-11

This dramatization, in eight half-hour episodes, apparently dates from 1993. Rene Basilico's adaptation of the novel is skillful, though perhaps inevitably some important elements of the story (particularly to do with Pym's childhood) are omitted or only mentioned briefly. The production is good, and James Fox is excellent in the lead role. My only complaint is that some of the acting is at times a little cartoonish. It's as if the program came at a time of transition between an older, "stagey" style of voice acting and a modern, more naturalistic approach. Fortunately the problem is mostly confined to minor characters. Although this program is not quite up to the standard of the BBC's recent (superb) cycle of le Carre's Smiley novels, it is still effective and enjoyable overall. Here's hoping the BBC will release more le Carre dramatizations!

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Simply wonderful

Revisado: 05-05-11

Bill Bryson is always great, but this book is a particular favorite, and as a reader Bryson is marvellous -- low-key, endearing, and very funny. It's like spending hour after delightful hour in the company of a dear friend with an inexhaustible supply of fascinating and amusing anecdotes. I've never been to Australia -- yet -- but I love it dearly as a result of this book. In fact, when I read Nevil Shute's "A Town Like Alice" not long after completing this book, I got so homesick for Australia that I read the Bryson book all over again. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

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The one to get

Revisado: 05-05-11

I sampled a wide variety of readings before settling on this one, and I couldn't have been happier. David Buck's narration is superb. This is the one to get!

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