Monday, February 29, 2016

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See

Author: Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition
ISBN: 1442375426
Language: English
Formats: Kindle,Hardcover,Paperback,Audible, Unabridged,Audio CD, Audiobook, Unabridged,
Category: Books,Literature & Fiction,Genre Fiction, FREE Shipping,


WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

It has been a while since I have found a book that I wanted to read slowly so that I could soak in every detail in hopes that the last page seems to never come.

When reading the synopsis of this novel, I never imagined that I would feel so connected to a book where one of the main characters is blind and the other a brilliant young German orphan who was chosen to attend a brutal military academy under Hitler's power using his innate engineering skills.

This novel was so much more than the above states. The idiosyncrasies of each individual character are so well defined and expressed in such ways that come across the page almost lyrically. I was invited into the pages and could not only imagine the atmosphere, but all of my senses were collectively enticed from the very first page until the last.

I was so amazed with the way that the author was able to heighten all my senses in a way that I felt like I knew what it was like to be blind. In most well-written books you get of a sense of what the characters look like and follow them throughout the book almost as if you are on a voyage, but with this novel, I could imagine what it was like to be in Marie-Laure's shoes. The descriptives were so beautifully intricate that I could imagine the atmosphere through touch and sound. It was amazing, really.

There were so many different aspects of the book that are lived out in separate moments and in different countries that find a way to unite in the end. What impressed me most was that I could have never predicted the outcome. It was as though all cliches were off the table and real life was set in motion. Life outside of books can be very messy and the author stayed true to life but in a magical and symbolic way.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is one of the best books you’ll read this year. On one hand, the title implies the lessons learned by a young German orphan boy about radio waves. On the other hand, as the author describes it, “It’s also a metaphorical suggestion that there are countless invisible stories still buried within World War II.” Add in a newly blinded French girl who is forced to leave her familiar surroundings, and you’ll soon find yourself in literary heaven.

The layered meanings run deep in this book. No wonder nearly every advanced review uses the word “intricate” to describe this masterpiece. The German boy and his sister discover an old radio, where they hear science lessons from afar. There are lessons about the brain, sitting inside the darkness of our skull, interpreting light; there are lessons about coal having been plants living millions of years ago, absorbing light, now buried in darkness; lessons about light waves that we cannot see—all applicable as the story unfolds.

Readers will appreciate the short, almost lyrical chapters of alternating characters. The author helps by italicizing earlier mentioned quotes and then leaving almost every chapter closing with a message to ponder. Take for example: “a real diamond is never perfect”, “open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever”, and “the entropy of a closed system never decreases”. All of this is explained in a natural way, but never given out in an assuming manner. The story flows and draws your heart into its deep meaning.

Having personal connections to both veterans of World War II and members of the blind community, I can attest to the authenticity of this story’s writing.
Set in World War II France and Germany, All the Light We Cannot See is my favorite kind of novel: long, rich, populated by a range of imperfect characters, some who try to transcend that imperfection, others who cannot see it.

The cast of characters includes Marie-Laure, blind since age six, with a quick mind and a great deal of self-confidence; her father, locksmith for the Museum of Natural History in Paris; Marie-Laure’s great-uncle, an agoraphobic haunted by ghosts since he returned from World War I; the great-uncle’s elderly housekeeper, who finds the courage to join the French resistance; Werner, a German orphan who is a prodigy in the creation and repair of radios; Werner’s sister Jutta, left behind when Werner is accepted into a science academy for Hitler Youth that offers more political indoctrination than science; and a whole host of others.

Anthony Doerr brings this wide assembly of individuals to life, moving among them, slowly drawing them nearer one another, fleshing each of them out so that even those we might expect to be stereotypes are much more multifaceted.

And among these multifaceted characters lies a multifaceted stone: a diamond with a legendary history. In less able hands, the diamond would have dominated this story, which would have degenerated into a variation on Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it’s the characters who are the heart of All the Light We Cannot See. There are a few we hate, but for the most part, we can’t help but see the better parts of them. The question is whether they will discover these better selves in time to make a difference of some sort in a world quite literally in flames.

I’m hesitant to provide more summary.

  • All the Light We Cannot See

    All the Light We Cannot See
    Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).


  • The Nightingale

    The Nightingale
    The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a ...


  • The Shell Collector

    The Shell Collector
    Explores the variety of the human condition in a collection of short stories about love, relationships, grief, and hardship.


  • Four Seasons in Rome

    Four Seasons in Rome
    Documents the award-winning writer's experiences of living, working, and raising twin sons in Rome during the year following his receipt of a prestigious Rome Prize stipend, a period during which he attended the vigil of the dying John Paul ...


  • Memory Wall

    Memory Wall
    Set on four continents, stories about memory.


  • The Light Between Oceans

    The Light Between Oceans
    The years-long New York Times bestseller soon to be a major motion picture from Spielberg’s Dreamworks that is “irresistible…seductive…with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page” (O, The Oprah Magazine).


  • Redeployment

    Redeployment
    Written with a hard-eyed realism and stunning emotional depth, this work marks Phil Klay as one of the most talented new voices of his generation. From the Trade Paperback edition.


  • CliffsNotes on Doerr s All the Light We Cannot See

    CliffsNotes on Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See
    Features of this Lit Note include Focused summaries of the plot and analysis of important themes, symbols, and character development Character analyses of major characters, focusing on what motivates each character Brief synopsis of the ...


  • Everything Is Illuminated

    Everything Is Illuminated
    “Imagine a novel as verbally cunning as A Clockwork Orange, as harrowing as The Painted Bird, as exuberant and twee as Candide, and you have Everything Is Illuminated .


  • The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

    The Pearl that Broke Its Shell
    Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl That Broke Its Shell interweaves the stories of these two remarkable women who are separated by a century but share the same courage and dreams. What will happen once Rahima is old enough to marry?


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    Orphan Train
    Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.


  • The Luminaries

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    It richly confirms that Eleanor Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international literary firmament.


  • The Lady in Gold

    The Lady in Gold
    Shares the events that shaped the creation of the painter's most famous portrait, covering such topics as the story of the salon hostess who was his model, contributing factors in turn-of-the-century Vienna, and the painting's fate.


  • The Road to Character

    The Road to Character
    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST • “I wrote this book not sure I could follow the road to character, but I wanted at least to know what the road looks like and how other people ...


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    The Cuckoo's Calling
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  • To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

    To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
    At once laugh-out-loud funny about the absurdities of the modern world, and indelibly profound about the eternal questions of the meaning of life, love and truth, TO RISE AGAIN AT A DECENT HOUR is a deeply moving and constantly surprising ...


  • Wittgenstein Jr

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  • Relic Volume 1

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  • Somewhere in France

    Somewhere in France
    In the dark and dangerous days of World War I, a daring young woman will risk her life to find her destiny.


  • All the Light We Cannot See 101 Amazing Facts You Didn t Know

    All the Light We Cannot See - 101 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know
    _doerrs_novel_is_as_exq.html 61. http://ift.tt/1UvyKGy 2014/04/anthony _doerrs_novel_is_as_exq.html 62. http://ift.tt/1GSTeyo .com/pw/bytopic/authors/profiles/article/61823-how-the-story-comes- ...


All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See

Author: Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition
ISBN: 1442375426
Language: English
Formats: Kindle,Hardcover,Paperback,Audible, Unabridged,Audio CD, Audiobook, Unabridged,
Category: Books,Literature & Fiction,Genre Fiction, FREE Shipping,


WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).

It has been a while since I have found a book that I wanted to read slowly so that I could soak in every detail in hopes that the last page seems to never come.

When reading the synopsis of this novel, I never imagined that I would feel so connected to a book where one of the main characters is blind and the other a brilliant young German orphan who was chosen to attend a brutal military academy under Hitler's power using his innate engineering skills.

This novel was so much more than the above states. The idiosyncrasies of each individual character are so well defined and expressed in such ways that come across the page almost lyrically. I was invited into the pages and could not only imagine the atmosphere, but all of my senses were collectively enticed from the very first page until the last.

I was so amazed with the way that the author was able to heighten all my senses in a way that I felt like I knew what it was like to be blind. In most well-written books you get of a sense of what the characters look like and follow them throughout the book almost as if you are on a voyage, but with this novel, I could imagine what it was like to be in Marie-Laure's shoes. The descriptives were so beautifully intricate that I could imagine the atmosphere through touch and sound. It was amazing, really.

There were so many different aspects of the book that are lived out in separate moments and in different countries that find a way to unite in the end. What impressed me most was that I could have never predicted the outcome. It was as though all cliches were off the table and real life was set in motion. Life outside of books can be very messy and the author stayed true to life but in a magical and symbolic way.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is one of the best books you’ll read this year. On one hand, the title implies the lessons learned by a young German orphan boy about radio waves. On the other hand, as the author describes it, “It’s also a metaphorical suggestion that there are countless invisible stories still buried within World War II.” Add in a newly blinded French girl who is forced to leave her familiar surroundings, and you’ll soon find yourself in literary heaven.

The layered meanings run deep in this book. No wonder nearly every advanced review uses the word “intricate” to describe this masterpiece. The German boy and his sister discover an old radio, where they hear science lessons from afar. There are lessons about the brain, sitting inside the darkness of our skull, interpreting light; there are lessons about coal having been plants living millions of years ago, absorbing light, now buried in darkness; lessons about light waves that we cannot see—all applicable as the story unfolds.

Readers will appreciate the short, almost lyrical chapters of alternating characters. The author helps by italicizing earlier mentioned quotes and then leaving almost every chapter closing with a message to ponder. Take for example: “a real diamond is never perfect”, “open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever”, and “the entropy of a closed system never decreases”. All of this is explained in a natural way, but never given out in an assuming manner. The story flows and draws your heart into its deep meaning.

Having personal connections to both veterans of World War II and members of the blind community, I can attest to the authenticity of this story’s writing.
Set in World War II France and Germany, All the Light We Cannot See is my favorite kind of novel: long, rich, populated by a range of imperfect characters, some who try to transcend that imperfection, others who cannot see it.

The cast of characters includes Marie-Laure, blind since age six, with a quick mind and a great deal of self-confidence; her father, locksmith for the Museum of Natural History in Paris; Marie-Laure’s great-uncle, an agoraphobic haunted by ghosts since he returned from World War I; the great-uncle’s elderly housekeeper, who finds the courage to join the French resistance; Werner, a German orphan who is a prodigy in the creation and repair of radios; Werner’s sister Jutta, left behind when Werner is accepted into a science academy for Hitler Youth that offers more political indoctrination than science; and a whole host of others.

Anthony Doerr brings this wide assembly of individuals to life, moving among them, slowly drawing them nearer one another, fleshing each of them out so that even those we might expect to be stereotypes are much more multifaceted.

And among these multifaceted characters lies a multifaceted stone: a diamond with a legendary history. In less able hands, the diamond would have dominated this story, which would have degenerated into a variation on Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it’s the characters who are the heart of All the Light We Cannot See. There are a few we hate, but for the most part, we can’t help but see the better parts of them. The question is whether they will discover these better selves in time to make a difference of some sort in a world quite literally in flames.

I’m hesitant to provide more summary.

  • All the Light We Cannot See

    All the Light We Cannot See
    Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times).


  • The Nightingale

    The Nightingale
    The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a ...


  • The Shell Collector

    The Shell Collector
    Explores the variety of the human condition in a collection of short stories about love, relationships, grief, and hardship.


  • Four Seasons in Rome

    Four Seasons in Rome
    Documents the award-winning writer's experiences of living, working, and raising twin sons in Rome during the year following his receipt of a prestigious Rome Prize stipend, a period during which he attended the vigil of the dying John Paul ...


  • Memory Wall

    Memory Wall
    Set on four continents, stories about memory.


  • The Light Between Oceans

    The Light Between Oceans
    The years-long New York Times bestseller soon to be a major motion picture from Spielberg’s Dreamworks that is “irresistible…seductive…with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page” (O, The Oprah Magazine).


  • Redeployment

    Redeployment
    Written with a hard-eyed realism and stunning emotional depth, this work marks Phil Klay as one of the most talented new voices of his generation. From the Trade Paperback edition.


  • CliffsNotes on Doerr s All the Light We Cannot See

    CliffsNotes on Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See
    Features of this Lit Note include Focused summaries of the plot and analysis of important themes, symbols, and character development Character analyses of major characters, focusing on what motivates each character Brief synopsis of the ...


  • Everything Is Illuminated

    Everything Is Illuminated
    “Imagine a novel as verbally cunning as A Clockwork Orange, as harrowing as The Painted Bird, as exuberant and twee as Candide, and you have Everything Is Illuminated .


  • The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

    The Pearl that Broke Its Shell
    Crisscrossing in time, The Pearl That Broke Its Shell interweaves the stories of these two remarkable women who are separated by a century but share the same courage and dreams. What will happen once Rahima is old enough to marry?


  • Orphan Train

    Orphan Train
    Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.


  • The Luminaries

    The Luminaries
    It richly confirms that Eleanor Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international literary firmament.


  • The Lady in Gold

    The Lady in Gold
    Shares the events that shaped the creation of the painter's most famous portrait, covering such topics as the story of the salon hostess who was his model, contributing factors in turn-of-the-century Vienna, and the painting's fate.


  • The Road to Character

    The Road to Character
    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST • “I wrote this book not sure I could follow the road to character, but I wanted at least to know what the road looks like and how other people ...


  • The Cuckoo s Calling

    The Cuckoo's Calling
    Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.


  • To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

    To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
    At once laugh-out-loud funny about the absurdities of the modern world, and indelibly profound about the eternal questions of the meaning of life, love and truth, TO RISE AGAIN AT A DECENT HOUR is a deeply moving and constantly surprising ...


  • Wittgenstein Jr

    Wittgenstein Jr
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  • Relic Volume 1

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  • Somewhere in France

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    In the dark and dangerous days of World War I, a daring young woman will risk her life to find her destiny.


  • All the Light We Cannot See 101 Amazing Facts You Didn t Know

    All the Light We Cannot See - 101 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know
    _doerrs_novel_is_as_exq.html 61. http://ift.tt/1UvyKGy 2014/04/anthony _doerrs_novel_is_as_exq.html 62. http://ift.tt/1GSTeyo .com/pw/bytopic/authors/profiles/article/61823-how-the-story-comes- ...


The Roald Dahl Audio Collection

The Roald Dahl Audio Collection

Author: Roald Dahl
Publisher: Listening Library
ISBN: 1611761956
Language: English
Formats: Audio CD, Abridged, Audiobook, CD,
Category: Books,Children's Books,Animals, FREE Shipping,


“Roald Dahl sometimes shared a tonal kinship with Ogden Nash, and he could demonstrate a verbal inventiveness nearly Seussian…[His] stories work better in audio than in print.” –The New York Times


Roald Dahl’s wickedly funny novels have turned him into the world’s number 1 storyteller. In this collection five splendiferous stories are brought to life by the author himself.
 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Abridged)
Willy Wonka’s famous chocolate factory is opening at last!
 
James and the Giant Peach (Abridged)
A little magic can take you a long way
 
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Unabridged)
Nobody outfoxes Fantastic Mr. Fox!
 
The Enormous Crocodile (Unabridged)
This greedy crocodile loves to guzzle up little boys and girls
 
The Magic Finger (Unabridged)
Horrible neighbors learn their lesson from a little girl with powerful magic!

“Roald Dahl sometimes shared a tonal kinship with Ogden Nash, and he could demonstrate a verbal inventiveness nearly Seussian…[His] stories work better in audio than in print.” –The New York Times


Roald Dahl’s wickedly funny novels have turned him into the world’s number 1 storyteller. In this collection five splendiferous stories are brought to life by the author himself.
 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Abridged)
Willy Wonka’s famous chocolate factory is opening at last!
 
James and the Giant Peach (Abridged)
A little magic can take you a long way
 
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Unabridged)
Nobody outfoxes Fantastic Mr. Fox!
 
The Enormous Crocodile (Unabridged)
This greedy crocodile loves to guzzle up little boys and girls
 
The Magic Finger (Unabridged)
Horrible neighbors learn their lesson from a little girl with powerful magic!

There are precious few audio documents of Roald Dahl's own readings, be it his adult or children's stories. However the American Caedmon label recorded 4 audiobook records of Dahl reading his own children's stories. They recorded abridged versions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, and unabridged versions of Fantastic Mr Fox, The Enormous Crocodile and The Magic Finger. In addition a British company recorded Dahl's own reading of The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me. For a time Harper Audio (the successor to Caedmon) released the four Dahl Caedmon LPs in one package. However it is good to have them back again in this Penguin audiobook reissue.

Some people might feel upset that Dahl is not dramatic in any way, and some may complain that these recordings of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach are abridged so that each book takes up one LP. However they are excellent recordings and they still manage to sparkle with Dahl's trademark writing and storytelling style.

The recording of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gives us an excellent reading of the book even in an abridged form. In this recording, Dahl might sound tentative at first because this was the first time he was recording his work. This abridged version covers the salient episodes of the book and paces itself very well. In a way this is good. I have tended to feel uneasy that the original book had a bit of padding, and this abridgement, though brief, is very welcome and paces itself better. Some might not be too keen on Dahl's brisk pace, as the producers were obliged to fit this recording onto one LP. However Dahl is still able to adjust his voice and tone for the various situations and emotions.

  • Fantastic Mr Fox

    Fantastic Mr. Fox
    Nobody outfoxes Fantastic Mr. Fox! Someone's been stealing from the three meanest farmers around, and they know the identity of the thief it's Fantastic Mr. Fox!


  • George s Marvelous Medicine

    George's Marvelous Medicine
    A taste of her own medicine.


  • Going Solo

    Going Solo
    These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.


  • Danny the Champion of the World

    Danny the Champion of the World
    Soon Danny finds himself the mastermind behind the most incredible plot ever attempted against nasty Victor Hazell, a wealthy landowner with a bad attitude. Can they pull it off? If so, Danny will truly be the champion of the world.


  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
    Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last!


  • James and the Giant Peach

    James and the Giant Peach
    Inside, James meets a bunch of oversized friends Grasshopper, Centipede, Ladybug, and more. With a snip of the stem, the peach starts rolling away, and the great adventure begins! From the Trade Paperback edition.


  • A Bear Called Paddington

    A Bear Called Paddington
    “A bear on Paddington Station?” said Mrs Brown in amazement. “Don’t be silly – there can’t be.”


  • How to Get Your Child to Love Reading

    How to Get Your Child to Love Reading
    I don't think Roald Dahl would mind this media crossover; he was an accomplished screenwriter (ever see Chitty Chitty ... More _____ The Witches You can also hear the author read his works on Caedmon's The Roald Dahl Audio Collection.


  • The Primary English Encyclopedia

    The Primary English Encyclopedia
    What then are some of the qualities we should look for in audio books and CDs? ... For older children there are such gems as the BBC audio CD of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories read by Johnny Morris, and Puffin's Roald Dahl's Phizz ...


  • Billboard

    Billboard
    This fall, Dove Kids will issue its first books with companion audio. Raffin says a number ... Another hit family film, the recently released "James And The Giant Peach," was extremely loosely based on the Roald Dahl classic. Still, it helped spur ...


  • Boy

    Boy
    As full of excitement and the unexpected as his world-famous, best-selling books, Roald Dahl's tales of his own childhood are completely fascinating and fiendishly funny. Did you know that Roald Dahl nearly lost his nose in a car accident?


  • Working Mother

    Working Mother
    Opens August 3. hear it Your grade schooler will eat up the delicious Roald Dahl Audio CD Collection. In this rare treat, the Welsh writer brings to life his most adored, and most outrageous, stories, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ...


  • Cambridge English Prepare Level 2 Student s Book

    Cambridge English Prepare! Level 2 Student's Book
    Kilpatrick/crazyguyonabike.com; p.50 (TR): Front cover of MATILDA by Roald Dahl. (First published by Jonathan Cape 1988, Puffin Books 1989, 2001, 2007). Text copyright Roald Dahl Niminee Ltd, 1988. Illustrations copyright Quentin Blake, ...


  • The Read aloud Handbook

    The Read-aloud Handbook
    ... recording of the three novels, narrated by Broadway's Elaine Stritch: The Best Barbara Robinson CD Audio Collection ... McCleery James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl A Blue-Eyed Daisy BY CYNTHIA RYLANT Grades 4-8 99 pages ...


  • A Field Guide for the Sight impaired Reader

    A Field Guide for the Sight-impaired Reader
    ... eclectic collection of original audio books with a Maine flavor, some of which carry original musical accompaniment. ... Titles include: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, Mortimer Says Nothing by Joan Aiken, Joy in the ...


  • Harlan Coben 3 Novel Collection

    Harlan Coben 3 Novel Collection
    Some of the books are awful. I fall asleep right in her bed. She lets me. I couldn't keep up with her voracious desire for books to be read to her, so I started getting books on audio. I read to ... I am reading Roald Dahl to her right now. Her eyes ...


  • Understanding Children s Books

    Understanding Children's Books
    Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake's Revolting Rhymes (Puffin), Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs byA. ... Building a collection of traditional stories to share with children or for your own interest, or a mixture of both, can be joyful and rewarding. It is not ... Both books are accompanied by audio CDs.


  • Cambridge Global English Stage 4 Learner s Book with Audio CD 2

    Cambridge Global English Stage 4 Learner's Book with Audio CD (2)
    88, 90 adapted from CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY by Roald Dahl , copyright © 1964, renewed 1992 by ... Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House Inc.


  • The Manual of Museum Exhibitions

    The Manual of Museum Exhibitions
    This is a guide to the process of planning, designing, producing and evaluating exhibitions for museums.


  • Pad

    Pad
    except that it be an audio recording of moderate length roughly three to eight minutes. ... ballads, knows all the words to the Annie soundtrack, has the complete Harry Chapin collection, or actually purchased one of Toni Tennille's solo efforts. ... Where else might you have the opportunity to hear readings from Harper's, Roald Dahl, David Sedaris, Aldous Huxley, Susan Sontag, and Star magazine?