HearingBooks

BUY DIGITAL BUY PHYSICAL

"Cry, the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton Length: 9 hours and 5 min. ISBN: 0-7861-0426-0 Oprah Book Club Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

This is the most distinguished novel that has come out of South Africa in the 20th century, and it is one of the most important novels that has appeared anywhere in modern times. Cry, the Beloved Country is in some ways a sad book; it is an indictment of a social system that drives the native races into resentment and crime; it is a story of Fate, as inevitable, as relentless, as anything of Thomas Hardy’s. Beautifully wrought with high poetic compassion, Cry, the Beloved Country is more than just a story, it is a profound experience of the human spirit. And beyond the intense and insoluble personal tragedy, it is the story of the beautiful and tragic land of South Africa, its landscape, its people, its bitter racial ferment and unrest.

Tags: cry, the beloved country, alan paton, classics, education, fiction, k-12 educators, parents & family, students, south africa, oprah book club, oprah, book club

BUY DIGITAL BUY PHYSICAL

"We Were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates Length: 7 hours ISBN: 1-56511-495-7 Oprah Book Club Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

The Mulvaneys are blessed by all that makes life sweet: a hardworking father, a loving mother, three fine sons, and a bright, pretty daughter. They are confident in their love for each other and their position in the rural community of Mt. Ephraim, New York. But something happens on Valentine’s Day, 1976 - an incident that is hushed up in the town and never spoken of in the Mulvaney home - that rends the fabric of their family life.

As the years pass the secrets they keep from each other threaten to destroy them, but ultimately they bridge the chasms between them and reunite in the spirit of love and healing. Rarely has such an acclaimed writer made such a startling and inspiring statement about the value of hope and compassion.

Tags: we were the mulvaneys, joyce carol oates, classics, fiction, oprah book club, book club

BUY DIGITAL BUY PHYSICAL

"Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden Length: 17 hours and 41 min. ISBN: 0375405372 Publisher's Weekly Best Seller New York Times Best Seller Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

Nitta Sayuri tells us in a voice at once haunting and startlingly immediate of her life as a geisha. Her story begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl’s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion.

It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction - at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely unforgettable.

Tags: memoirs of a geisha, arthur golden, classics, education, fiction, higher education faculty, k-12 educators, parents & family, students,

BUY DIGITAL BUY PHYSICAL

"Seven Classic Plays" by William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, Alexandre Dumas, and more Length: 11 hours and 32 min. ISBN: 0-7861-2291-9 Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

Now, for the first time in audio, Blackstone presents seven great plays in one volume: Euripides’ Medea, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid, Dumas’ Camille, Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Shaw’s Arms and the Man, and Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. These productions illustrate the development of European drama from ancient times to the threshold of the modern theater. A superb repertory company has been assembled for these recordings, all under the direction of veteran producer Yuri Rasovsky, who has won both the Audie Award for book production and the George Foster Peabody Award for broadcasting.

These are not mere readings. Rather, they are full performances using all the resources of audio to full advantage. Just as stage plays are “opened up” when adapted to film, so these selections create greater intimacy. “Staginess” is avoided, lively theatrics enhanced, while the substance of the works remains intact. For instance, in Arms and the Man, audio makes possible the judicious integration of the author’s witty scene settings, written for the published version of the play, with the play itself. This is the play that established Shaw’s reputation as one of the greatest wits of the London drama scene.

Music accounts for another noteworthy aspect of these productions. The Imaginary Invalid employs the score that Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed for Moliere’s own premiere. It is conducted by Steven Ovitsky, artistic director of the Milwaukee Symphony.

The Tempest, composed by Shakespeare as a multi-sensory theater experience, features music on Elizabethan instruments still extant from Shakespeare’s own production, resulting in lyrical textual passages, overflowing with exotic images, tantalizing sounds, and a palpable lushness.

Tags: seven classic plays, william shakespeare, henrik ibsen, anton chekhov, alexandre dumas, and more, classics, education, k-12 educators, parents & family, poetry & drama, students, euripides, medea, william shakespeare, the tempest, moliere, the imaginary invalid, alexandre dumas, camille, henrik ibsen, an enemy of the people, george bernard shaw, arms and the man, anton chekhov, uncle vanya

BUY DIGITAL BUY PHYSICAL

"Hedda Gabler" by Henrik Ibsen Length: 2 hours and 8 min. ISBN: 9-62634-265-X Listen to an excerpt with:     Windows Media Player     Real Player

Hedda Gabler, the daughter of a deceased General, marries dull George Tesman and foresees a life of middle class tedium stretching ahead when they return from their honeymoon. Increasingly, she is drawn into the clutches of her admirer, Judge Brack, who seeks to establish a ménage a trois. Then the brilliant but dissolute Eilert Lovborg, a former flame, arrives to rival her husband for an academic post.

This new audio production, with Juliet Stevenson giving an unforgettable performance as the passionate Hedda, brings this classic drama to life.

Tags: hedda gabler, henrik ibsen, classics, education, fiction, parents & family, poetry & drama, students,