The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling Audiobook By Peter Ackroyd cover art

The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling

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The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling

By: Peter Ackroyd
Narrated by: Keith Moore, Toby Leonard Moore, Colin McPhillamy, John Curless, John Keating, Graeme Malcolm, Davina Porter, Steven Crossley
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Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.

©2009 Peter Ackroyd (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC Anthologies & Short Stories Classics European Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Poetry Short Stories World Literature Comedy Witty Funny
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I was searching for an easier to read version of the Canterbury tales and discovered this true gem! The voice actors really bring each character and their story to life!

Excellent variety of narration

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It surprised me how bawdy the stories were- and how easily the various characters teased one another, and how the clergy were seen as corrupt. How little has changed in almost 700 years!

So little has changed!

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What did you love best about The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling?

The translation was great. The telling of the stories was sublime.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Wife of Bathe because she tells it like it is.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

The summoner

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

A must listen

WOW

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The voices actors nailed it! I like the variety of the voices for the different stories.

Errrmazing

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I'd searched in vain for a Middle English recitation of the Canterbury Tales. But, on the strength of Peter Ackroyd's wonderful books, I chanced his "retelling" of Chaucer's great work. This is a lively Modern English version of all the prologues and tales, told in the tongues of the various Canterbury pilgrims and their host, with sensitivity, great good humor, and differentiation of character and diction. A real gem, and a wonderful resource for anyone not quite up to reading the Middle English original. But, still, I'd love to hear the Tales in Geoffrey Chaucer's own words.

An engaging retelling

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A lot of the flavor of Chaucer is lost - or maybe I just prefer it as poetry rather than prose or maybe different readers would help.

Modern retelling ruins

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What would have made The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling better?

A less snobbish narrator and a better translation.

Has The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling turned you off from other books in this genre?

yes

What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?

His odious tone.

What character would you cut from The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling?

The pompous introduction, the bland writing, and the awkward vocabulary landmines like "succor".

Any additional comments?

Chaucer is rolling in his grave...

Pretentious

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This book skips. I've tried it on my desktop and two different phones. horrible experience.

download skips

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