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Simply Dickens
- Narrated by: Joff Manning
- Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins
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Publisher's summary
Oliver Twist. A Christmas Carol. David Copperfield. Bleak House. A Tale of Two Cities. Great Expectations. The novels of Charles Dickens (1812-1870) read like a "who's who" of canonical works. Yet less well known is the fact that Dickens himself was something of a created character, a larger-than-life figure who lived through his art and pursued his many passions with a theatrical zeal that could have belonged to one of his famous protagonists.
Largely self-taught, with little formal education, Dickens was catapulted to fame at the age of 24 with the publication of The Pickwick Papers in 1836. For the next 30 years, he wrote a prodigious number of novels, short stories, essays and other works while simultaneously campaigning for a variety of social reforms. As Simply Dickens colorfully describes, in life and in art Dickens threw himself into everything he undertook, from taking on the personalities of his characters as he wrote, to pursuing such causes as children's rights and universal education.
While some authors have depicted Dickens as a tormented soul or cruel misogynist who compromised his work by pandering to a wide audience, Simply Dickens convincingly shows him as a purposeful, supremely talented, and versatile personality whose popular appeal was central to his achievement.
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Story
In the early 17th century, a crippled, graying, almost toothless veteran of Spain's wars against the Ottoman Empire published a novel. It was the story of a poor nobleman, his brain addled from studying too many novels of chivalry, who deludes himself that he is a knight errant and sets off on hilarious adventures. That story, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other book beside the Bible, making its author, Miguel de Cervantes, the single most-read author in human history.
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Very Interesting and Informative, but Poorly Read
- By LCorSMT on 06-21-23
By: William Egginton
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Making History
- The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past
- By: Richard Cohen
- Narrated by: Richard Cohen
- Length: 26 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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There are many stories we can spin about previous ages, but which accounts get told? And by whom? Is there even such a thing as “objective” history? In this “witty, wise, and elegant” (The Spectator), book, Richard Cohen reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses, such as the writers of the Bible, novelists, and political propagandists, influence what becomes the accepted record. Cohen argues, for example, that some historians are practitioners of “Bad History” and twist reality to glorify themselves or their country.
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Missing 20 pages from book
- By Rick, Austin on 04-23-22
By: Richard Cohen
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Les Misérables: Translated by Julie Rose
- By: Victor Hugo, Julie Rose - translator
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 60 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the great classics of world literature and the inspiration for the most beloved stage musical of all time, Les Misérables is legendary author Victor Hugo’s masterpiece. This extraordinary English version by renowned translator Julie Rose captures all the majesty and brilliance of Hugo’s work. Here is the timeless story of the quintessential hunted man—Jean Valjean—and the injustices, violence, and social inequalities that torment him.
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A Book that Made Me a Better Person
- By Jeff Diamond on 03-29-13
By: Victor Hugo, and others
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Existentialism and Excess
- The Life and Times of Jean-Paul Sartre
- By: Gary Cox
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Jean-Paul Sartre is one of the undisputed giants of 20th-century philosophy. His intellectual writings popularizing existentialism, combined with his creative and artistic flair, have made him a legend of French thought. His tumultuous personal life - so inextricably bound up with his philosophical thinking - is a fascinating tale of love and lust, drug abuse, high-profile fallings-out and political and cultural rebellion.
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a capitalista biography of Sartre
- By Anonymous User on 01-24-20
By: Gary Cox
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Ayn Rand and the World She Made
- By: Anne C. Heller
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Ayn Rand is the author of two phenomenally best-selling ideological novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which have sold over 12 million copies in the United States alone. Through them, she built a right-wing cult following in the late 1950s and became the guiding light of Libertarianism and of White House economic policy in the 1960s and '70s. Her defenses of radical individualism and of selfishness as a "capitalist virtue" have permanently altered the American cultural landscape.
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Great history of both Rand and her era
- By Mark on 08-07-10
By: Anne C. Heller
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Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Elegant, profound, and riveting, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways these men surface in their work. Through these stories of fathers and sons, Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors.
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Eminently re-readable
- By Ellen-A on 01-02-19
By: Colm Toibin
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Nazi Literature in the Americas
- By: Roberto Bolaño, Chris Andrews - translator
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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A tour de force of black humor and imaginary erudition, Nazi Literature in the Americas presents itself as a biographical dictionary of writers who espoused extreme right-wing ideologies in the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Eerie and fascinating
- By Jikai Zenshin on 03-19-21
By: Roberto Bolaño, and others
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Ida M. Tarbell
- The Woman Who Challenged Big Business - and Won!
- By: Emily Arnold McCully
- Narrated by: Emily Arnold McCully
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in 1857 and raised in oil country, Ida M. Tarbell was one of the first investigative journalists and probably the most influential in her time. Her series of articles on the Standard Oil Trust, a complicated business empire run by John D. Rockefeller, revealed to readers the underhanded, even illegal practices that had led to Rockefeller's success.
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Excellent!
- By AKA1 on 03-16-19
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The Club
- Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
- By: Leo Damrosch
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In 1763, the painter Joshua Reynolds proposed to his friend Samuel Johnson that they invite a few friends to join them every Friday at the Turk's Head Tavern in London to dine, drink, and talk until midnight. Eventually, the group came to include among its members Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, and James Boswell. It was known simply as "the Club". In this captivating audiobook, Leo Damrosch brings alive a brilliant, competitive, and eccentric cast of characters.
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Wonderful survey
- By Tad Davis on 05-10-19
By: Leo Damrosch
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Keats
- A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph
- By: Lucasta Miller
- Narrated by: Sally Scott
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Miller, through Keats’s poetry, brilliantly resurrects and brings vividly to life, the man, the poet in all his complexity and spirit, living dangerously, disdaining respectability and cultural norms, and embracing subversive politics. Keats was a lower-middle-class outsider from a tragic and fractured family, whose extraordinary energy and love of language allowed him to pummel his way into the heart of English literature; a freethinker and a liberal at a time of repression, who delighted in the sensation of the moment.
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A Romantic Life
- By David on 05-03-22
By: Lucasta Miller
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Butterfly in the Typewriter
- The Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of a Confederacy of Dunces
- By: Cory MacLauchlin
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The saga of John Kennedy Toole is one of the greatest stories of American literary history. In Butterfly in the Typewriter, Cory MacLauchlin draws on scores of new interviews with friends, family, and colleagues as well as full access to the extensive Toole archive at Tulane University, capturing his upbringing in New Orleans, his years in New York City, his frenzy of writing in Puerto Rico, his return to his beloved city, and his descent into paranoia and depression.
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Worth it! Good biography. Informative.
- By French Quarter on 07-09-13
By: Cory MacLauchlin
What listeners say about Simply Dickens
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Susan Patterson
- 11-15-16
Boring
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
A time waster. Doesn't hold my interest.
What was most disappointing about Paul Schlicke’s story?
Too many dry facts. Needs more of a story to it.
Did the narration match the pace of the story?
Yes but needed more enthusiasm.
Was Simply Dickens worth the listening time?
No. I couldn't finish it.
Any additional comments?
"I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator.”
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-14-22
very good
Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall
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- April H.
- 11-12-16
Simply Dickens
Simply Dickens
: Paul Schlicke
A very interesting biography of Charles Dickens. I learned a few new things from this book.
The narration was well done, but a little bland. Joff Manning reads well.
"I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator."
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1 person found this helpful
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- Cheryl a DeMont
- 11-16-16
interesting
I think it was interesting there were things I did not know I think the narrator did a good job
I received this book from the publisher, author and or narrator for a honest review and unbiased options via audio book boom dot com
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ellen Oceanside
- 11-06-21
Excellent Narration
Thought it was with excellent narration and a personal inside look at this man. Informative, interesting and well done
. Given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion
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1 person found this helpful
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- Donald Jones
- 11-23-16
Some Interesting Facts on Dickens
If you could sum up Simply Dickens in three words, what would they be?
Brevity is good.
If you’ve listened to books by Paul Schlicke before, how does this one compare?
This is my first.
Have you listened to any of Joff Manning’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This is my first but I thought he did a good job.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I found the parts about his childhood interesting.
Any additional comments?
Overall pretty good book but I thought at times it seemed scattered in its approach.
I received this book free in exchange for an unbiased review from Audiobook Boom.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mel Woods
- 12-03-21
If you are interested in a short listen on Dickens
~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book.~
Recommended for those who are interested in a quick listen about Charles Dickens.
It isn’t the most compelling book as far as writing style. But it does contain a ton of information in a short amount of time. So, it depends on what you are looking for in a read/listen.
Dickens had a lot to say about social issues, in part influenced by his own childhood.
“In Oliver Twist, Dickens confronted a burning issue of the day, the system of parish relief for those unable to support themselves. In 1834, the New Poor Law was doctrinaire legislation, designed to reduce taxes through a system of “less eligibility.” It meant that relief for the impoverished would not exceed the lowest wages of a man in employment—which was, in fact, below the subsistence level. In its focus on the able-bodied, the law evinced scant concern for the needs of orphans, as well as the sick and disabled.”
It was interesting to hear about his life and influences. But the writing itself is on the dry side.
The narration is consistent and solid.
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1 person found this helpful