Best Classics

Enter into The Hiding Place to relive Corrie ten Boom's heart-pounding account as a leader in the Dutch Underground during World War II.

With spiritual insight and wry wit, Lewis suggests that demons, laboring in a vast enterprise, have horribly recognizable human attributes: competition, greed, and totalitarian punishment. Avoiding their own painful torture as well as a desire to dominate are what drive demons to torment their “patients.”. The style and unique dark humor of The Screwtape Letters are retained in this full-cast dramatization, as is the original setting of London during World War II. Master demon Screwtape, played by a marvelously diabolic Andy Serkis, can sound sympathetic, urbane, and ruthless (like the best of devils) all in a single breath when he offers a little advice to his nephew, Wormwood, regarding the temptation, persecution, and ultimate destruction of the human soul.

The original American dramatization as broadcast on National Public Radio.From the wonderful landscapes of the Shire and Lothlorien, to the stark and sunless land of Mordor, the courageous Hobbits pursue their quest, bearing the awesome Ring of Sauron, the Dark Lord! Tolkien, beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959.

In his remarkable tour de force, Joyce catalogues one day - June 16, 1904 - in immense detail as Leopold Bloom wanders through Dublin, talking, observing, musing and always remembering Molly, his passionate, wayward wife. -The final episode, which also uses the stream of consciousness technique seen in Episode 3, consists of Molly Bloom's Soliloquy: eight enormous sentences (without punctuation) written from the viewpoint of Bloom's wife. The concluding period following the final words of her reverie is one of only three punctuation marks in the chapter, the others being after the fourth and eighth "sentences." A confession: despite many attempts, I have never finished Joyce's novel to end all novels (I usually trip up during the 'Oxen of the Sun' episode). Having dipped into the excellent but edited 'dramatisation' by Stephen Rea and Sinead Cusack, I went for this unabridged, 27-hour reading by Irish actor Jim Norton.

One of the icons of modernism, Virginia Woolf is credited alongside James Joyce for redefining the novel and challenging the limitations of the form. She creates not a new but a more nuanced reading, following the interwoven streams of consciousness in a British English that lends authenticity to each voice. Leishman also draws our attention to Woolf's poetic prose: her rhythms and images, her use of hard consonants in monosyllabic words in counterpoint to long, soft, dreamy words and phrases.

This story of the Bennet family and the novel's two protagonists, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, is told with a wit that its author feared might prove "rather too light and bright, and sparkling."

Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal -- a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for literature. The tale concerns an old fisherman in a Cuban village who, after an especially bad fishing season, sets out in his skiff, determined to bring in a big fish.

Hans Christian Andersen Although April 2, Andersen's birthday, is celebrated as International Children's Book Day, the beloved Dane and author of more than 138 fairytales, wrote with a depth and sentiment that far exceeded mere bedtime stories. From then on he wrote many books, finding his true voice in his original fairy stories, which often had their basis in his life.

[Read by Simon Vance (-aka- Robert Whitfield)]. Charles Dickens, at the height of his creative powers in this great work, pursues two great themes: the murky institutional fog that darkens and cripples all of England, symbolized by the endless litigation of the Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce case in the High Court of Chancery (which is slowly devouring an inheritance in legal costs), and the familiar Dickensian concern with the capricious treatment and maltreatment of children as exemplified by the pitiful castoff Jo and the overindulged Harold Skimkpole. With a motley cast of characters to challenge the skill of any narrator, his brilliant dramatizations range from a homeless street urchin to an arrogant barrister, from a canny old windbag to a high-minded heroine who deserves the happy ending Dickens affords her.

Orwell's brilliant 1946 satire, chronicling a revolution staged by the animals on Mr. Jones's farm ( Animal Farm ). ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL. BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is the account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones's Manor Farm into Animal Farm--a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. Out of their cleverness, the pigs Napoleon, Squealer, and Snowball emerge as leaders of the new community in a subtle evolution that proves disastrous.

Enter into The Hiding Place to relive Corrie ten Boom's heart-pounding account as a leader in the Dutch Underground during World War II.

This giant work, in addition to entertaining boys and girls for generations, has defined the first-person novel in America and continues to demand study, inspire reverence, and stir controversy in our time. Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910).

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true. Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. “Lest readers think hockey is the star here, it’s Backman’s rich characters that steal the show, and his deft handling of tragedy and its effects on an insular town. While the story is dark at times, love, sacrifice, and the bonds of friendship and family shine through ultimately offering hope and even redemption.” ( Publishers Weekly ). “The sentimentally savvy Backman...takes a sobering and solemn look at the ways alienation and acceptance, ethics and emotions nearly destroy a small town and young people.” ( Booklist ). Backman cements his standing as a writer of astonishing depth and proves that he also has very broad range plus the remarkable ability to make you understand the feelings of each of a dozen different characters. The story is fully packed with wise insights into the human experience causing characters and readers to ponder life’s great question of who we are, what we hope to be and how we should lead our lives.” ( The Washington Times ).

It begins a magnificent tale of adventure that will plunge the members of the Fellowship of the Ring into a perilous quest and set the stage for the ultimate clash between powers of good and evil. As Bilbo's nephew, Frodo, and his friends take center stage to help dispose of the ring before some truly unsavory characters can obtain it, Inglis demonstrates he is up to the task of relating the original story's drama, suspense, and dark mysticism.

Therese, a struggling young sales clerk, and Carol, a homemaker in the midst of a bitter divorce, abandon their oppressive daily routines for the freedom of the open road, where their love can blossom. ''A document of persecuted love -- perfect.''. very recognizably Highsmith, full of tremor and of threat and of her peculiar genius for anxiety.''. very recognizably Highsmith, full of tremor and of threat and of her peculiar genius for anxiety.''.

A monumental project that spanned five years and cost $3 million, '' The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare '' represents the collective vision of four people: Shakespeare scholar Tom Treadwell, film producer Bill Shepherd, BBC director Clive Brill, and composer Dominique Le Gendre. Grade 9 Up--The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare offers listeners the first-ever audio set of all 38 of William Shakespeare's plays, unabridged and fully-dramatized.