Glenn Close has narrated 7 audiobooks on Listento.it by 4 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.8★ across 30 ratings. The most-rated is From Song of Myself (A Poem from The Poets' Corner).
From Song of Myself (A Poem from The Poets' Corner)
Summary
From listening to his grandmother recite epic poems from memory to curling up in bed while his father read funny verses, award-winning actor John Lithgow grew up with poetry. Ever since, John has been an enthusiastic seeker of poetic experience, whether reading, reciting, or listening to great poems. The wide variety of carefully selected poems in this book provides the perfect introduction to appeal to listeners new to poetry, and for poetry lovers to experience beloved verses in a fresh, vivid way. William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Dylan Thomas are just a few names among Lithgow's comprehensive list of poetry masters. His essential criterion is that "each poem's light shines more brightly when read aloud." This unique package provides a multimedia poetry experience with a bonus MP3 CD of revelatory poetry readings by John and the familiar voices of such notable performers as Eileen Atkins, Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, Billy Connolly, Jodie Foster, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Lynn Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Gary Sinise, and Sam Waterston. Every listener will enjoy reciting or listening to these poems with the entire family, appreciating how each one comes to life through the spoken word in this superlative poetry collection.
©2007 The Watershed Company (P)2007 Hachette Audio
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
Summary
From the New York Times best-selling, Booker Prize - winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves — and our world today. For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times. In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art — namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?” He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible. This audiobook includes a PDF of the tables, outlines, figures, and appendices from the book.
©2021 George Saunders (P)2021 Random House Audio
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Summary
"I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall." A heartwarming story about two children, Anna and Caleb, whose lives are changed forever when their widowed papa advertises for a mail-order bride. Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton from Maine answers the ad and agrees to come for a month. Sarah brings gifts from the sea, a cat named Seal, and singing and laughter to the quiet house. But will she like it enough to stay? Anna and Caleb wait and wonder -- and hope. Performed by Glenn Close
©2001 Patricia MacLachlan (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers
Sarah, Plain and Tall Audio Collection
Summary
Sarah, Plain and Tall, Skylark, and Caleb's Story, all unabridged and all performed beautifully by Academy Award-winning actress Glenn Close, make up this exquisite audio collection. "I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall," Sarah writes Papa. And so begins the journey for Sarah, Papa, Anna, and Caleb in Patricia MacLachlan's masterpiece, Sarah, Plain and Tall. In Skylark, a drought turns the land dry and brown and Sarah takes Anna and Caleb back to the city as Papa stays behind. Will the family ever be reunited? Caleb's Story continues the saga of Sarah and her family on the prairie. All the beloved characters return for another important episode in their lives, this time narrated by Caleb, offering a new perspective.
©1985, 1994, 2001 Patricia MacLachlan (P)2003 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
More Perfect than the Moon
Summary
Cassie spends her days watching Grandfather and Caleb in the barn, looking out at Papa working the fields, spying on Sarah feeding the goslings. She's an observer, a writer, a storyteller. Everything is as it should be. But change is inevitable, even on the prairie. Something new is expected, and Sarah says it will be the perfect gift. Cassie isn't so sure. But just as life changes, people change too. And Cassie learns that unexpected surprises can bring great joy. More Perfect than the Moon invites us back to the Witting family farm, visited in the Newbery Medal-winning Sarah, Plain and Tall, Skylark, and Caleb's Story. With her lyrical prose, Patricia MacLachlan writes about a family's boundless capacity for love.
©2004 Patricia MacLachlan (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Skylark
Summary
Sarah came to the prairie from Maine to marry Papa. But that summer, a drought turned the land dry and brown. Fires swept across the fields and coyotes came to the well in search of water. So Sarah took Anna and Caleb back east, where they would be safe. Papa stayed behind. He would not leave his land. Maine was beautiful, but Anna missed home, and Papa. And as the weeks went by, she began to wonder what would happen if the rains never came. Would she and Caleb and Sarah and Papa ever be a family again?
©1994 Patricia MacLachlan (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers
Caleb's Story
Summary
Anna has done something terrible. She has given me her journal to fill. In Anna's journal the words walk across the page like bird prints in the mud. But it is hard for me. It is hard for me to find things to write about. "It's your job now," Anna says as she hands Caleb her journals, asking him to continue writing the family story. Caleb fears there will be nothing left to write about, until a mysterious old man is discovered in the barn. Everyone is excited about the arrival of a new family member except for Jacob, who holds a bitter grudge. Only the special love of Caleb and the gift he offers can help to mend the pain of the past. Caleb's Story continues the saga begun by the Newbery Medal-winning Sarah, Plain and Tall and its sequel, Skylark, spinning a tale of love, forgiveness and the ties that bind a family together.
©2001 Patricia MacLachlan (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers