
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
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Narrated by:
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John Keating
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By:
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Laurence Sterne
About this listen
Laurence Sterne's beloved comic novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, is the "biography" of Tristram Shandy - a wonderfully humorous and eccentric narrator who guides the listener from his conception to his birth and on to his life as an adult. The twists and turns of Tristram's life expose him to such memorable characters as Uncle Toby, Corporal Trim, Parson Yorick, Dr. Slop, and the Widow Wadman - whose own stories enrich the central narrative of Tristram's life.
Published in nine separate volumes from 1759 to 1767, Tristram Shandy is recognized today as one of the first modern novels in English literature.
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Mansfield Park
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Shy, fragile Fanny Price is the consummate "poor relation". Sent to live with her wealthy uncle Thomas, she clashes with his spoiled, selfish daughters and falls in love with his son. Their lives are further complicated by the arrival of a pair of witty, sophisticated Londoners, whose flair for flirtation collides with the quiet, conservative country ways of Mansfield Park.
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Nicely narrated
- By SLB on 06-16-14
By: Jane Austen
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The Adolescent
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Richard Pevear - translator, Larissa Volokhonsky - translator
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 28 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The narrator and protagonist of Dostoevsky's novel The Adolescent (first published in English as A Raw Youth) is Arkady Dolgoruky, a naive 19-year-old boy bursting with ambition and opinions. The illegitimate son of a dissipated landowner, he is torn between his desire to expose his father's wrongdoing and the desire to win his love. He travels to St. Petersburg to confront the father he barely knows, inspired by an inchoate dream of communion and armed with a mysterious document that he believes gives him power over others.
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An Oft-Forgotten Dostoevsky Gem
- By Ben on 02-09-20
By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others
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Cakes and Ale
- or The Skeleton in the Cupboard
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Neil Hunt
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Of all Somerset Maugham’s novels this is the most entertaining and arguably his best ever. Rosie is a barmaid with a heart of gold and a skeleton in her closet. Maugham’s portrait of her makes his novel fairly glow with witty observations of the contemporary literary scene. Features Willie Ashenden, who resurfaces in Maugham’s Ashenden.
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Great character, a little slow towards the end
- By Thomas on 01-03-19
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The Jungle
- By: Upton Sinclair
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Few books have so affected radical social changes as The Jungle, first published serially in 1906. Exposing unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry in Chicago, Sinclair's novel gripped Americans by the stomach, contributing to the passage of the first Food and Drug Act. If you’ve never read this classic novel, don't be put off by its gruesome reputation. Upton Sinclair was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who could turn even an exposé into a tender and moving novel.
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Why We Have Unions
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-29-17
By: Upton Sinclair
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Tristram Shandy
- By: Laurence Sterne
- Narrated by: John Moffatt
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
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Tristram Shandy is an ironic masterpiece, a work of extraordinary originality, wit, and learning. It is a work of considerable philosophical complexity but at the same time it is just a piece of flim-flam; it has been called the longest shaggy dog story in English literature. It is both a classic novel and an anti-novel. It includes passages of seemingly serious theology - but it can also be read as an elaborate bawdy joke.
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Excellent comic novel, superbly read!
- By Thomas on 02-11-04
By: Laurence Sterne
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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
- By: Laurence Sterne
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in nine volumes over the years from 1759 to 1767, The life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is a, comic, bawdy, humorous, satirical novel. It purports to be the autobiography of Tristram Shandy beginning at his conception but, famously, Sterne's egoistic character digresses and side-tracks the listener with so many colorful observations of his family and cast of supporting characters that his birth doesn't take place until Vol 3.
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A rich glimps into our past or the longest Shaggy
- By D. Lockwood on 10-11-21
By: Laurence Sterne
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Bleak House
- By: Charles Dickens, Marty Ross
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton, Ambika Mod, Mackenzie Crook, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Original Recording
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London. A city drowning in fog. Amid that fog, a man with no name dies above a strange junkshop. Threads of mist and intrigue weave around a court case with no resolution, linking great country houses with the lowest slum in the city, mingling the high-born with a boy who sweeps the filthy streets, enshrouding devious plots and sudden murder, bringing together two extraordinary women – Lady Dedlock and Esther Summerson - who seem to have nothing whatsoever in common but who will find themselves inextricably linked.
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What can one say - it’s Dickens!
- By Patsy on 09-29-24
By: Charles Dickens, and others
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The Virginian
- By: Owen Wister
- Narrated by: Jack Garrett
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Owen Wister’s The Virginian pre-dates the classic novels of Zane Grey and Max Brand and is considered by many to be the original Western. Dedicated to Wister’s friend and fellow outdoorsman Theodore Roosevelt, this timeless tale almost single-handedly established the cowboy archetype in literature. A quiet, noble foreman of a Wyoming cattle ranch in the 1870s, the Virginian falls for pretty schoolteacher Molly Wood. But when a rival suitor challenges his honor, the Virginian struggles to make his beloved Molly understand the harsh justice of the West.
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What a Stunning Surprise this novel is!
- By Chiwiz on 09-04-12
By: Owen Wister
The narrator seemed quite good to me. I don't think his performance had anything to do with my problems. Without hearing a better performance it's hard for me to imagine what else he could have done. He was incredibly clear and gave a subtly different voice to each character.
This Book is Beyond Me
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Thick but rewarding
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I will not try to review the book as many more capable than I have walked this path. Suffice to say that I am delighted to have read this book and highly recommend its lecture or hearing. Whatever suits your taste.
Excellent
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A marvelous work, a dull performance.
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A discovery of bawdy satire
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