The Classics category has 3,859 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 36,161 ratings. The most-rated is The Fellowship of the Ring.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Summary
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn’s startling book led, almost 30 years later, to Glasnost, Perestroika, and the "Fall of the Wall". One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich brilliantly portrays a single day, any day, in the life of a single Russian soldier who was captured by the Germans in 1945 and who managed to escape a few days later. Along with millions of others, this soldier was charged with some sort of political crime, and since it was easier to confess than deny it and die, Ivan Denisovich "confessed" to "high treason" and received a sentence of 10 years in a Siberian labor camp. <[>In 1962, the Soviet literary magazine Novy Mir published a short novel by an unknown writer named Solzhenitsyn. Within 24 hours, all 95,000 copies of the magazine containing this story were sold out. Within a week, Solzhenitsyn was no longer an obscure math teacher, but an international celebrity. Publication of the book split the Communist hierarchy, and it was Premier Khrushchev himself who read the book and personally allowed its publication.
©1963 E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. (P)1982 Recorded Books
Obliteration
Summary
Jack is out for blood. After being manipulated by his family most of his life, and believing an even worse lie for the past few years, he has finally learned the truth. Now that he knows what V-Soft has taken from him, he’s going to take everything from them, even if the country is destroyed in the process. The plan is to strike from all sides, so that those who still live can watch their lives, and their life’s work be reduced to ashes. But in digging their grave, will Jack wind up buried alongside them?
©2018 Edward Castle (P)2018 Podium Publishing
North and South
Summary
Exclusively from Audible Written at the request of Charles Dickens, North and South is a book about rebellion; it poses fundamental questions about the nature of social authority and obedience. Gaskell expertly blends individual feeling with social concern, and her heroine, Margaret Hale, is one of the most original creations of Victorian literature. When Margaret Hale's father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience she is forced to leave her comfortable home in the tranquil countryside of Hampshire and move with her family to the fictional industrial town of Milton in the north of England. Though at first disgusted by her new surroundings, she witnesses the brutality wrought by the Industrial Revolution and becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers. Sympathetic to the poor she makes friends among them and develops a fervent sense of social justice. She clashes with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, who is contemptuous of his workers. However, their fierce opposition masks a deeper attraction. Gaskell based her depiction of Milton on Manchester, where she lived as the wife of a Unitarian minister. She was an accomplished writer, much of her work published in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words including North and South which was originally published as a serial. She was also friends with Charlotte Brontë and after her death, her father, Patrick Brontë, chose Gaskell to write The Life of Charlotte Brontë. Narrator Biography Whether she's up on stage, behind the microphone or in front of the camera, Juliet Stevenson never fails to charm her audience...whoever they may be. Acting roles in Truly, Madly Deeply, Emma, Bend It like Beckham and Mona Lisa Smile have cemented her status as one of the great British actresses of our time. Meanwhile, her popular performances of hits such as Apple Tree Yard, the book that was turned into a TV series that people just couldn't stop talking about, have earned her an overwhelming amount of well-deserved praise for her spoken word talents.
Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
Jam
Summary
We were prepared for an earthquake. We had a flood plan in place. We could even have dealt with zombies. Probably. But no one expected the end to be quite so…sticky…or strawberry scented. Yahtzee Croshaw (Mogworld, Zero Punctuation Reviews) returns to audiobooks with a follow-up to his smash-hit debut: Jam, a dark comedy about the one apocalypse no one predicted.
©2012 Yahtzee Croshaw (P)2013 Yahtzee Croshaw
Metamorphosis
Summary
Benedict Cumberbatch reads Franz Kafka's famous story of man-turned-insect, Metamorphosis.
Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile
After a night of troubled dreams, Gregor Samsa wakes to discover that he has turned into a huge, monstrous, cockroach-like creature, with an armour-plated back and multiple limbs.
Gradually, he comes to terms with his new state - but his parents and sister are horrified and increasingly revolted. To them, Gregor is unclean, verminous and entirely repellent, and as he becomes more and more of a burden, their horror turns to a terrible indifference....
First published in 1915, Kafka's surreal existential novella explores concepts such as the absurdity of life, alienation and the disconnect between mind and body. Read by Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek, The Imitation Game), this tale - often described as one of the greatest in the history of fiction - is chilling, captivating and darkly comic.
©2018 BBC Digital Audio (P)2018 BBC Digital Audio
Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey
Summary
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world’s greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns, the heroism and treachery of its combatants unmatched in song and story. Driven by fierce passions and loyalties, men and gods battle to a devastating conclusion. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife. Though the stormy god of the ocean has sworn vengeance against him, and witches and sirens try to lure him off course, Odysseus is clever and has the brilliant goddess Athena on his side. Homer (9th or 8th century B.C.) is the presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two greatest epic poems of ancient Greece. Virtually nothing is known about his life. Tradition has it that he was blind. Most scholars believe he composed the Iliad and the Odyssey by relying on oral traditions. Their value lies chiefly in the poetry itself, moving from sublime passages about the gods and heroic exploits to passages expressing deep human emotion.
Public Domain (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Foundation's Edge
Summary
Unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are one of the great masterworks of science fiction. With extraordinary vision, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of men and women devoted to safeguarding humanity against an unyielding deluge of barbarism and warfare. At last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations has come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation have proved victorious; and now they return to Hari Seldon's long-established plan to build a new Empire on the ruins of the old. But rumors persist that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all - and that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge. Now two exiled citizens of the Foundation - a renegade Councilman and a doddering historian-set out in search of the mythical planet Earth.... and proof that the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile, someone - or something - outside of both Foundations seems to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a mysterious world called Gaia and a final, shocking destiny at the very end of the universe!
©1982 Isaac Asimov (P)2011 Random House
Ubik
Summary
A mind-bending, classic Philip K. Dick novel about the perception of reality. Named as one of Time's 100 best books. Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business - deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in "half-life," a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter's face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all.
©1969 Philip K. Dick (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Summary
A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900s, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity. His wife Katie scrubs floors to put food on the table and clothes on her children's backs, instilling in them the values of being practical and planning ahead. When Johnny dies, leaving Katie pregnant, Francie, smart, pensive and hoping for something better, cannot believe that life can carry on as before. But with her own determination, and that of her mother behind her, Francie is able to move toward the future of her dreams, completing her education and heading off to college, always carrying the beloved Brooklyn of her childhood in her heart.
©1947 Betty Smith (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Stranger in a Strange Land
Summary
Valentine Michael Smith, an earthling born and educated on Mars, arrives on Earth with superhuman powers and a total ignorance of the mores of man. On his new planet, Smith is destined to become a freak, a media commodity, a scam artist, a searcher, a sexual pioneer, a neon evangelist, a martyr, and, finally, a messiah. Stranger in a Strange Land is the most famous science fiction novel ever written. It became the bible of the "love generation" and transcended the genre to achieve the status of a modern classic.
©1961 by Robert A. Heinlein (P)1996 by Blackstone Audiobooks
Small Gods
Summary
Brutha is the Chosen One. His god has spoken to him, admittedly while currently in the shape of a tortoise. Brutha is a simple lad. He can't read. He can't write. He's pretty good at growing melons. And his wants are few. He wants to overthrow a huge and corrupt church. He wants to prevent a horribly holy war. He wants to stop the persecution of a philosopher who has dared to suggest that, contrary to the Church's dogma, the Discworld really does go through space on the back of an enormous turtle. (Which is true, but when has that ever mattered?) He wants peace and justice and brotherly love. He wants the Inquisition to stop torturing him now, please. But most of all, what he really wants more than anything else, is for his god to choose someone else.... Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.
©1992 Terry Pratchett and Lynn Pratchett (P)1997 ISIS Publishing Ltd.
The Shadow over Innsmouth
Summary
The perfect H. P. Lovecraft title to follow on from 2010's At the Mountains of Madness, and the only HPL title not to appear in a periodical! Perfect also because it is split in to 5 distinct chapters...ripe for abridgement into five half-hour episodes! The Shadow Over Innsmouth tells the first-person story of a young historian, Robert Olmstead, who, while investigating his family genealogy in New England, is intrigued to learn about a hated and mysterious fishing town called Innsmouth. When he visits he finds the place to be run-down and near-deserted, with a cult-like religion and a strange, degenerate population. His investigation soon turns into a race to escape the town and the the evil creatures he sees emerging from the sea. The Shadow Over Innsmouth was written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1931 and is the only one of his works of fiction not to have initially been published as part of a periodical. It continues HPL's Cthulhu Mythos, featuring townspeople worshipping the elder sea god Dagon and mentioning the mysterious Shoggoth creature of his other works. Howard Phillips "H. P." Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 - March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction. As early as the 1940s, Lovecraft had developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fiction featuring a pantheon of humanity-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical. Although Lovecraft's audience was limited during his life, his reputation has grown and he is now regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century. Stephen King called him "the 20th century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." This 2011 adaptation comprises five episodes, originally aired on BBC Radio 4 Extra, once again read by the superb Richard Coyle and featuring music by acclaimed composer Jon Nicholls. The series is offered here in exclusive extended edition.
©2011 Ladbroke Productions (Radio) Ltd (P)2011 Spokenworld Audio/Ladbroke Audio Ltd
A Clockwork Orange
Summary
A vicious 15-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic. In Anthony Burgess' nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal, invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alex to "redeem" him, the novel asks, "At what cost?" This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, as well as Burgess' introduction, "A Clockwork Orange Resucked".
©1962, 1986 The Estate of Anthony Burgess (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers
Castle of the Noobs
Summary
Jim and his shoulder demon have survived everything the world has thrown at them. So far. However, there is an encroaching war between two great kingdoms. In between the two armies stands an ever-growing town, led by a Noob. With goblins, trolls, angry Wargs, and an expanding refugee crisis, will Jim and his companions manage to restore Windfall Valley or have they finally met their match?
©2020 Ryan Rimmel (P)2020 Podium Audio
Plato's Republic
Summary
The Republic poses questions that endure: What is justice? What form of community fosters the best possible life for human beings? What is the nature and destiny of the soul? What form of education provides the best leaders for a good republic? What are the various forms of poetry and the other arts, and which ones should be fostered and which ones should be discouraged? How does knowing differ from believing? Several characters in the dialogue present a variety of tempting answers to those questions. Cephalus, Polemarchus, Thrasymachus, and Glaucon all offer definitions of justice. Socrates, Glaucon, and Adeimantus explore five different forms of republic and evaluate the merits of each from the standpoint of goodness. Two contrasting models of education are proposed and examined. Three different forms of poetry are identified and analyzed. The difference between knowing and believing is discussed in relation to the objects of each kind of thinking. © Agora Publications
Public Domain (P)2015 Agora, New Internet Technologies
The Winter King
Summary
Uther, the High King of Britain, has died, leaving the infant Mordred as his only heir. His uncle, the loyal and gifted warlord Arthur, now rules as caretaker for a country which has fallen into chaos - threats emerge from within the British kingdoms while vicious Saxon armies stand ready to invade. Uther, the High King of Britain, has died, leaving the infant Mordred as his only heir. His uncle, the loyal and gifted warlord Arthur, now rules as caretaker for a country which has fallen into chaos - threats emerge from within the British kingdoms while vicious Saxon armies stand ready to invade. As he struggles to unite Britain and hold back the Saxon enemy, Arthur is embroiled in a doomed romance with beautiful Guinevere.
©1995 Bernard Cornwell (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Ship of Magic
Summary
Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships---rare vessels carved from wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. The fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia. For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her---a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim. For Althea's young nephew Wintrow, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard ship, Vivacia is a life sentence. But the fate of the Vestrit family---and the ship---may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider. The ruthless pirate Kennit seeks a way to seize power over all the denizens of the Pirate Isles...and the first step of his plan requires him to capture his own liveship and bend it to his will.
©1999 Robin Hobb (P)2010 Tantor
His Majesty's Dragon
Summary
Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain's defense by taking to the skies - not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo - an unhatched dragon egg - fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France's own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte's boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into a baptism of fire.
©2006 Naomi Novik (P)2007 Books on Tape
The Golem and the Jinni
Summary
Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, 2014 Helene Wecker's dazzling debut novel tells the story of two supernatural creatures who appear mysteriously in 1899 New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a strange man who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York Harbor. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian Desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Struggling to make their way in this strange new place, the Golem and the Jinni try to fit in with their neighbors while masking their true natures. Surrounding them is a community of immigrants: the coffeehouse owner Maryam Faddoul, a pillar of wisdom and support for her Syrian neighbors; the solitary ice cream maker Saleh, a damaged man cursed by tragedy; the kind and caring Rabbi Meyer and his beleaguered nephew, Michael, whose Sheltering House receives newly arrived Jewish men; the adventurous young socialite Sophia Winston; and the enigmatic Joseph Schall, a dangerous man driven by ferocious ambition and esoteric wisdom. Meeting by chance, the two creatures become unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures, until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful menace will soon bring the Golem and the Jinni together again, threatening their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice. Marvelous and compulsively listenable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of folk mythology, historical fiction, and magical fable into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.
©2013 Helene Wecker (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Summary
A nonsense classic of its time. A compelling narrative to sweep you away, from a legendary Victorian children’s author. Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland in order to entertain a friend’s daughter on a boat trip - and so generations of children have flown away on his wild imaginations. On a sunny afternoon, Alice discovers a bottle that says DRINK ME. Unable to resist, she follows the label’s instructions...and immediately shrinks to tumble down a rabbit hole into an adventure where nothing is as it seems. From The Mad Hatter to the White Rabbit, the grinning Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts, Alice meets a cast of characters who are both eccentric and memorable. But will Alice survive her nonsensical adventure...and can she get back home? She must face the challenges of eccentric puzzles, verses and riddles, with the help of intriguing new friends, in order to find the way back home. The first of four books, this is a children’s classic that promises to both entertain and charm. For fans of The Chronicles Of Narnia and Peter Rabbit, a children’s fantasy like no other.
Public Domain (P)2021 Audible, Ltd