This week, I’m listening to the audio edition of Franz Kafka’s classic novel The Castle.
Available from Naxos, the audiobook — which makes the absurd village bureaucracy seem all the more galling — is narrated by Allan Corduner.
Check out THIS LINK for an audio excerpt and get your copy today!
Today in Audio Reviews Spotlight, we take a look at our Starred Review of the audio edition of William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic Barry Lyndon.
The audiobook is available from Naxos AudioBooks and narrated by Jonathan Keeble.
Barry Lyndon
William Makepeace Thackeray, read by Jonathan Keeble. Naxos AudioBooks, unabridged, 11 CDs, 13 hrs., $67.98 ISBN 978-184-379-708-1
Thackeray’s classic tale of Barry Lyndon, who escapes his life on the Emerald Isle to pursue a more luxurious existence in England, is reimagined in this audio edition, narrated by Jonathan Keeble. Reading in a rich, accented voice and making use of understated narration, Keeble immediately transports listeners back to the 18th century. His tone is firm and commanding, and he digs deep into Thackeray’s prose to precisely capture the very essence of Lyndon. Keeble’s narration is well paced, his timing impeccable. And while this audiobook weighs in at about 13 hours — a lengthy commitment for the casual listener — Keeble manages to keep his audience engaged for the duration. (Jan.)
Close on the heels of the discovery of King Richard III’s bones in Leicester, England, an audio edition of the infamous monarch’s speeches from Shakespeare will be performed by Alan Cumming.
The recording entitled The Head that Wears a Crown: Speeches for Royal Men was recorded last month in New York City and features Cumming — who garnered significant praise for his one-man recording of Macbeth — in the roles of several of Shakespeare’s monarchs.
The audiobook is slated for a Spring publication and will be released worldwide by GPRrecords through Naxos. An audio clip of Cumming as Richard III can be found HERE.
Christmas? There’s an app for that.
Naxos AudioBooks recently launched a self-contained audiobook app — the first in a new series — for Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol.
The app — which features e-book text so listeners can read along with the audiobook and informative notes about the novel — features a recording of A Christmas Carol narrated by Anton Lesser, a British actor who has worked at at the National Theatre, and is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, and can be purchased at iTunes, the Amazon Appstore, and Google Play.
Up next for Naxos is an audiobook app for King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
If you’re a fan of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, then you’re going to want to check out the following video of Neville Jason talking about recording the complete, unabridged audio edition for Naxos AudioBooks.
Check out THIS LINK for more information about Remembrance of Things Past from Naxos. And, without further ado, let’s go to the videotape:
As promised, today we announce the winner of The Great Audiobook Giveaway: Summer 2012.
But before we do, let’s (1) give another big thanks to all the audio publishers that donated audiobooks and partnered with Listen Up and PW to make this contest possible; and (2) remind everyone about all the amazing audiobooks they’ve registered to win:
So, without further ado, from the more than 500 entries from audiobook fans all over the world, the randomly selected winner of The Great Audiobook Giveaway: Summer 2012 is…
Congratulations, Trish! We’ll contact you directly — and we hope you’re ready to listen to A LOT of books!
Thanks to everyone who entered. We’ll be doing another Great Audiobook Giveaway this Fall — so stay tuned for details.
Like sands through the hourglass, so is The Great Audiobook Giveaway. And, as of this morning, you’ve got a mere 24 hours to register to win a massive prize pack of audiobooks from some of the industry’s biggest and best audio publishers.
In case you’ve forgotten, here’s how you register: Simply leave a comment on our Great Audiobook Giveaway Post — tell us about one of your favorite audiobooks or audio narrators. Once you comment, you’re registered for the giveaway. Want to up your chances of winning? Leave another comment. Or, leave another five comments. There’s no limit to the number of times you can enter to win.
What will you win? I’m glad you asked. We’ve partnered with a host of great audio publishers — special thanks to all of you for your help and donations! — to put together an amazing prize that includes the following titles:
The winner will be announced right here on August 31 — tomorrow! — so good luck and happy listening!
Today, we’re very excited to announce a new and recurring feature here at Listen Up: The Great Audiobook Giveaway.
As you’ve probably figured out by now, this is a chance for YOU — the gentle Listen Up reader — to win a boatload of audiobooks from some of the industry’s biggest and best audio publishers.
We’ve partnered with a host of great audio publishers — special thanks to all of you for your help and donations! — to put together an amazing prize pack that includes the following titles:
Here’s how to enter: Simply leave a comment on this post — tell us about one of your favorite audiobooks or audio narrators. Once you comment, you’re registered for the giveaway. Want to up your chances of winning? Leave another comment. Or, leave another five comments. There’s no limit to the number of times you can enter to win.
We’ll announce the winner on August 31. Good Luck and Happy Listening!
It seems like everywhere you turn, someone’s talking about streaming audiobooks — and most of the talk is about services that are coming soon (Overdrive) or services that aren’t available here in the United States (Bardowl). But there is another option — one that is up and running and definitely worth a listen.
Available for several years now, the Naxos Spoken Word Library is a streaming audiobook service that offers listeners more than 1,200 audio titles and access to the entire Naxos AudioBooks Catalog. Additionally, most audio productions from the NSWL include on-screen text from the print edition and can be accessed via the company’s NSWL App.
“The Naxos Spoken Word Library is the first and still the most comprehensive streaming site for spoken word classics,” says Nicolas Soames, co-founder and publisher of Naxos Audiobooks. “It offers a base of some 700 classic titles, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, junior classics. All the major names are there: Austen, Dickens, Melville, Conan Doyle, Tolstoy, Joyce, Shakespeare, Wilde, Carroll, Baum and hundreds more, as well as audiobooks on philosophy, history, religion and music.” Continue reading
In celebration of Charles Dickens’ 200th Birthday, Naxos AudioBooks will — by May of 2012 — be releasing all 16 of the author’s major novels (in both unabridged and abridged forms) read by the likes of Anton Lesser and David Horovitch.
To meet all the narrators, click HERE. And be sure to check out Naxos’ Charles Dickens Podcasts, which include introductions to and excerpts from all the audiobooks.
