Creator: Jack Shepherd
Publication date: 1999-09-06
RRP: £9.99
Price: £24.95
Review Bomber: A BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation. Starring Tom Baker & Cast (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Authors
- Elizabeth Pound
- Jane Austen
Publication date: 1997-05
RRP: £11.00
Price: £4.99
Review Mansfield Park: Starring Hannah Gordon & Cast (BBC Classic Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Publication date: 2003-01-27
RRP: £11.00
Price: £5.90
Review Huckleberry Finn: Dramatisation (Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Creator: Geraldine McEwan
Publication date: 2001-04-02
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £15.99
Price: £6.45
Review Great Expectations: Starring Douglas Hodge & Geraldine McEwan (BBC Classic Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:An absorbing mystery as well as a morality tale, the story of Pip, a poor village lad, and his expectations of wealth is Dickens at his most deliciously readable. The cast of characters includes kindly Joe Gargery, the loyal convict Abel Magwitch and the haunting Miss Havisham. If you have heartstrings, count on them being tugged.
Run time: 145 min.
Creator: carole boyd
Publication date: 1995
Review talking classics 49:charlotte bronte's villette (audiobook) / orbis:classic audiobook from the talking classics collection:no 49.
Creator: Jenny Agutter
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 2001-04
Dewey code: 823.912
RRP: £53.99
Price: £55.98
Review I Capture the Castle: Complete & Unabridged (Chivers Sound Library) / Chivers Audio Books:
Creator: Elizabeth McGovern
Edition: Abridged
Publication date: 1996-10
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £11.99
Price: £15.70
Review The Portrait of a Lady (Classic Fiction) / Naxos AudioBooks:
Creator: Stephen Thorne
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 2002-11
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £36.37
Price: £38.36
Review The Next Big Thing: Complete & Unabridged / Chivers Audio Books:After a lifetime of personal restraint and servitude, Julius Hertz, the protagonist of Anita Brokkner's new novel The Next Best Thing is in a quandary. Finally free to make his own decisions and choices in life, he rattles around his central London flat, pounds the familiar streets and sits quietly on the same park bench on nodding terms with the world. At 73, he decides it is time for action of some kind. Time to move on, physically and spiritually. The big question is, where and with whom? As Hertz struggles with his self-induced dilemma, he looks back over his life, searching for an answer. If he can only think things through rationally, perhaps the way forward was always there, hidden somewhere in the past, waiting for him to finally realise its significance? With a mixture of pathos and mild distaste, he reflects on his distant, ordered childhood in pre-war Germany, his unrequited love for his beautiful, haughty cousin Fanny, to whom, in desperate middle age, he would rashly propose. He remembers the family's enforced exile to London, their role as polite refugees, obligated to kindly compatriots. And then the onset of his brother's "illness", precipitating the end of his career as a concert pianist, the crumbling of his mother's dreams and his own rise as family carer. And his brief respite marriage to Josie whose pragmatism could never dovetail with his own servility. Anita Brookner has, herself, moved on with The Next Big Thing. [+]Her 21st novel is a finely wrought, painfully elegant treatise on old age: the wearing loneliness, the reflections, regrets and recriminations and the occasional stirrings of now-fading desires. And instead of the familiar middle-aged Brookner women, the protagonist is a man, albeit a passive and docile creature, whose lonely life has been shaped at every turn by the needs of others. Reading The Next Big Thing is not an easy experience. Brookner has stripped her characters of their flesh and, with her unique insight, let us into the distant recesses of their minds, their hearts and their souls, so often revealing how each can harbour its own conflicting desires. The only certainty in life is the inevitability of our end-in the meantime our duty to ourselves must be one of brutal self-honesty and personal fulfilment. -Carey Green.
Publication date: 1999-03-04
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £8.99
Price: £5.69
Review HMS "Unseen" / Random House Audiobooks:
Creator: Hugh Laurie
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 1998-08-27
RRP: £4.99
Price: £1.44
Review The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me: Unabridged (Puffin Audiobooks) / Puffin Audiobooks:
Publication date: 1994
Review Bravo Two Zero / Telling Editions:The True Story of an SAS Patrol behind the lines in Iraq.
Publication date: 1998-04-30
RRP: £9.00
Price: £0.01
Review Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing: Complete & Unabridged (Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Publication date: 2003-08
Price: £7.24
Review Talking to Addison / Brilliance Audio:Jenny Colgan's second novel Talking to Addison arrives with a flourish following the success of her debut Amanda's Wedding. Sharp, quirky one-liners complement merciless observations of human foibles and the London scene to make this romantic comedy a cut above the rest. The story opens with the modern-day heroine Holly trapped in the flatshare from hell with members of "Scary Clean Freaks Incorporated", ruled by the obnoxious Carol who "dispensed. Robert de Niro-to-doomed gangster stares". Even when Holly escapes the suburban inquisition, life still isn't a bed of roses: she's an unemployed florist, in love with a recluse and she's being bullied. She's in good company though when she moves in with a bunch of equally maladjusted misfits: Josh, a terminally nice boy, has issues; Kate, the high-flying and no-nonsense career girl, wilts every time a married man comes along and then there's Addison-the drop-dead-gorgeous lodger ("Johnny Depp in geek form")-who never leaves his room, already has a girlfriend (albeit over the Internet) and is a certified Trekkie fan. With Talking to Addison, Colgan ties together her comedic talents with her flair for storytelling to create an offbeat, hilarious tale about an ordinary girl's search for Mr Right with the inevitable Mr Oddballs getting in the way. -Nicola Perry.
Creator: Paul McGann
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 2003-04-07
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £10.99
Price: £6.00
Review Sharpe's Havoc / HarperCollins Audio:One thing is as sure as death and taxes: that each successive Bernard Cornwell novel will be as exhilarating as its predecessor. Sharpe's Havoc continues the trend, demonstrating once again why the Richard Sharpe books by Cornwell are among the most cherished examples of historical derring-do around. While the novels are all assiduously detailed, with a precise sense of period, Cornwell knows how essential it is that his hero, the danger-prone Richard Sharpe, is as vividly characterised as ever. True to form, in Sharpe's Havoc we never lose sight of the character of the protagonist and the many members of the idiosyncratic supporting cast. This time, we are taken to the spring of 1809 when a few British soldiers are stationed in Lisbon as Marshal Soult undertakes his assault on the garrison of Northern Portugal. It's not for Sharpe and his trusty crew of riflemen to dwell on the finer points of politics when they are sent into the city of Oporto to save the lives of two British women who have elected to stay. But when one of the women, Kate Savage, goes missing, Sharpe (along with Sergeant Patrick Harper and several battle-hardened colleagues) finds himself besieged in the city when the bridge over the river falls to the enemy. The English are forced on in a desperate journey back to the safety of the British encampment, but things become very murky when an enigmatic English officer informs them that they will be staying in the hellhole that is Northern Portugal. Cornwell admirers will know exactly what to expect, and all the heady pleasures that distinguished such earlier books as Sharpe's Battle and Sharpe's Company are fully in place here, with the added impetus that comes from a notably picaresque narrative. All the central characters are drawn with the customary forcefulness, and instead of the expected tension and release that is the hallmark of most Cornwell novels, there's a steadily increasing excitement engendered here that leads to an all-stops-out finale. [+]-Barry Forshaw.
Creator: Tim Pigott-Smith
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 1999-10-04
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £14.99
Price: £8.78
Review Stonehenge: A Novel of 2000 BC / HarperCollins Audio:From the earliest times, human beings have looked at the sun and the moon, and at life and death, and have imagined gods who control such things, and looked for ways to control those gods. In Stonehenge, Bernard Cornwell, famous for his novels about Rifleman Sharpe's adventures in the Napoleonic wars and for a sequence of brutally realistic Arthurian novels, considers the men and women who built Stonehenge and Avebury. These stone circles are impressive enough today; but all the more so if you imagine shifting stones from Wales to Salisbury Plain by raft and roller, dressing them with burning fat and grindstones, hauling the lintel stones up tiers of platforms. "The oxen were goaded again, and, finger's breadth by finger's breadth, the huge stone eased forward until half of it was poised and then the oxen tugged once more and Saban was shouting at the beasts' drivers to halt the animals because the stone was tipping at last. For a heartbeat, it seemed to balance on the ramp's edge, then its leading half crashed down onto the timbers, then the great boulder slid down the ramp to lodge against the hole's face. " It is the story of Saban, made architect against his will; of his brothers Lengar, the aspiring conqueror and Camaban, the cripple-turned-magician. It is the story of Derrewynn, princess-turned-witch, and Aurenna, sacrifice-turned-priestess queen. Stonehenge is an epic tale of people as smart as us, inventing religion and mythology and forcing their wills on the world and each other. -Roz Kaveney.
Creator: Robert Hardy
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 1999-11-01
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £10.99
Price: £4.93
Review Blue at the Mizzen / HarperCollins Audio:Why do the sea-faring adventure novels of Patrick O'Brian enjoy such a phenomenally devoted readership? Actually, O'Brian enthusiasts can take their pick from a variety of qualities of excellence: the sheer command of writing technique; the adroit characterisation of his heroes, every bit as rich and well-rounded as anything in serious fiction; and, of course, the bracingly-realised atmosphere of the sea on which the author sets his tales of derring-do. The latest volume, Blue at the Mizzen, represents an even greater refinement of O'Brian's art. His long-time protagonist Jack Aubrey is about to achieve his ambition. Unusually, his finances are in good order and his professional life is ship-shape. But as he reaches the upper echelons of the Captain's list, his prospects of gaining that final promotion are in the balance. In the powder-keg revolutionary atmosphere of South America, his shipmate Stephen Maturin is coming to terms with the loss of his wife by throwing himself into the intelligence work he so enjoys. Both men become involved in a series of labyrinthine intrigues, splendidly punctuated by the action that O'Brian delivers so well. And the writing is as non-pareil as ever: "Then came the repeated broadsides: this was not the dumb show of usual practice at divisions, but the shattering din of battle, the flashing stabs of fire, the shriek of each gun's very dangerous recoil, the heady scent of powder-smoke along the decks. " Blue at the Mizzen is a treat for lovers of O'Brian and a perfect introduction for those who have not yet read him. -Barry Forshaw.
Publication date: 1999-10
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.99
Review The Last Lighthouse Keeper / Simon & Schuster Audio:"Viking, North Utsira, South Utsira, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight. " The exotic names of the shipping forecast-the opening words of Alan Titchmarsh's second novel-never fail to evoke an annoyingly patriotic nostalgia in Brits: no matter what else changes, their country is still an island with miserable weather. The fictional Cornish world of Pencurnow Cove seems at first sight to be the forecast's literary equivalent: the kind of village where the landmarks (pub and post office) are populated by obligingly eccentric locals; where Loaded and FHM are sold under the counter, as overly racy; and where borderline criminals are easily identified by hints of foreignness ("Len Gryler looked as if he was of Italian ancestry") or a loud London accent ("Bladdy hell, woman"). It's the kind of world only Enid Blyton ever lived in. But Titchmarsh's nostalgic Cornwall is no life-enhancing, organic community: it serves primarily as a retreat for battered victims of the real world. Will Elliott has spent the last six years in Prince Albert Rock Lighthouse, failing to grieve for his pregnant wife, killed in a hit-and-run; Amy Finn is a one-time Ballet Rambert ballerina, felled by a knee injury and plagued by her ex-lover and dance partner. When the lighthouse closes, Will buys a motor launch and attempts to build a new life; his attraction to Amy threatens to make him face his grief. Titchmarsh seems unsure what to make of the dilemmas facing the inhabitants of Pencurnow Cove. Though mourning the passing of the lighthouses, he appears to embrace the possibilities of the new world. Following his more upbeat bestseller Mr MacGregor, The Last Lighthouse Keeper is a gentle, well-written tale, whose picturesque setting will no doubt appeal to the tourist in us all-but in the sudden, deeply-felt sufferings of its hero, there's a glimpse of something much tougher. [+]-Alan Stewart.
Authors
- Charles Hart
- Peter Bishop
- David Nobbs
- David McKellar
Publication date: 1996-07-25
RRP: £9.99
Price: £6.99
Review The Frankie Howerd Show: 4 Saucy Helpings from the 60s and 70s (BBC Gold) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Publication date: 1996-02-05
Dewey code: 813
Price: £11.00
Review The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes: With Clive Merrison & Michael Williams as Heard on Radio 4 Vol 1 (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Publication date: 1997-11
Price: £10.00
Review The Pickwick Papers (BBC Classic Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
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Models & Brands:
Bomber: A BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation. Starring Tom Baker & Cast (BBC Radio Collection), Mansfield Park: Starring Hannah Gordon & Cast (BBC Classic Collection), Huckleberry Finn: Dramatisation (Radio Collection), Great Expectations: Starring Douglas Hodge & Geraldine McEwan (BBC Classic Collection), talking classics 49:charlotte bronte's villette (audiobook), I Capture the Castle: Complete & Unabridged (Chivers Sound Library), The Portrait of a Lady (Classic Fiction), The Next Big Thing: Complete & Unabridged, HMS "Unseen", The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me: Unabridged (Puffin Audiobooks), Bravo Two Zero, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing: Complete & Unabridged (Radio Collection), Talking to Addison, Sharpe's Havoc, Stonehenge: A Novel of 2000 BC, Blue at the Mizzen, The Last Lighthouse Keeper, The Frankie Howerd Show: 4 Saucy Helpings from the 60s and 70s (BBC Gold), The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes: With Clive Merrison & Michael Williams as Heard on Radio 4 Vol 1 (BBC Radio Collection), The Pickwick Papers (BBC Classic Collection) |
