Sunday, August 2, 2009

Free audiobooks



Depth Perception



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Depth Perception


Author : Not Known

Performed By : Not Known

Publisher : Sound Forms

Runtime : 35 minutes

Categories : Poetry

Our Price : $5.00

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Cinematically Scored Poetry.

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Duke
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Duke

Author : Ronald L. Davis
Performed By : Adams Morgan
Publisher : Blackstone Audio Inc
Runtime : 16 hours
Categories : Arts & Drama
Our Price : $44.95 $29.95
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"In a virile, red-white-and-blue biography of an ostentatiously virile man, Davis examines
how Wayne built and maintained the image that soon grew "to overshadow his private identity and. . .
came to represent America itself". . . .Plenty has been written about Wayne and his movies, but Davis'
biography is exemplary, highly informative, and eminently readable; in short, one for serious fans."
Booklist

"What moves this entertaining biography to a higher plain is that Davis, as the director of SMU's oral history
program on the performing arts for 25 years, was in a singular position to document the memories of Wayne's
family, friends and associates. . . .The exhaustive yet readable and entertaining result might explain why the
back of this book carries rave blurbs by Janet Leigh and other actors and directors who worked with the Duke."
Publishers Weekly

Decades after his death, John Wayne is still the favorite movie star of many Americans.
More than an actor, Wayne is a cultural icon whose stature seems to grow with the passage of time.
In this illuminating biography, Ronald L. Davis focuses on Wayne's human side, portraying a complex
personality defined by frailty and insecurity as well as by courage and strength.

Davis traces Wayne's story from its beginnings in Winterset, Iowa, to his death in 1979. This is not a
story of instant fame: only after a decade in budget westerns did Wayne receive serious consideration,
for his performance in John Ford's 1939 film Stagecoach. From that point on, his skills and popularity
grew as he appeared in such classics as Fort Apache, Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,
The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and True Grit.

A man's ideal more than a woman's, Wayne earned his popularity without becoming either a great actor or a sex
symbol. In all his films, whatever the character, John Wayne portrayed John Wayne, a persona he created for
himself: the tough, gritty loner whose mission was to uphold the traditional values of the frontierand the nation.

To depict the different facets of Wayne's life and career, Davis draws on a range of primary and secondary sources,
most notably exclusive interviews with the people who knew Wayne well, including the actor's costar, Maureen
O'Hara, and his widow, Pilar Wayne. The result is a well-balanced, highly engaging portrait of a man whose private
identity was eventually overshadowed by his screen personauntil he came to represent America itself.

Adams Morgan, trained in the theater, has appeared in venues around the United States. He has narrated for National Public Radio and performed radio dramas and historical re-enactments. He lives in New York City.

Audiobooks



Helen Hayes: My Life in Three Acts



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Helen Hayes: My Life in Three Acts


Author : Helen Hayes with Katherine Hatch

Performed By : James MacArthur

Publisher : Blackstone Audio Inc

Runtime : 8 hours 30 minutes

Categories : Arts & Drama

Our Price : $32.95 $16.95

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Helen Hayes, acclaimed First Lady of the American Theatre, has been on stage, screen
and television for more than fifty years. In that time she moved among the worlds most famous and
talented: actors, film stars, writers, businessmen. She speaks with wit, wisdom, and candor on topics
both public and private. She offers deft behind-the-sceens portraits of such personalities as Joan Crawford,
William Randolph Hearst, Charlie Chaplin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Burton, Lillian Gish, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, and Gloria Swanson. She tells of the advice older actors gave her and of how she in turn gave
advice, continuing the tradition. She treats us to delightful anecdotes about Ethel Barrymore, John Ford,
Al Capone. At the same time she reflects more seriouslyand with great honestyon the painful parts of
her life: the alcoholism of those close to her; the guilt of having not spent more time with her young children;
the remorse about the fact that her success overshadowed her playwright-screenwriter husband, Charles
MacArthur; the difficulty of being alone after the deaths of her daughter and husband. She tells about the
pleasures and discomforts that go with being a celebrity, about her retirement in Mexico, about her sense
of responsibility to support causes, to help others. And, finally, she expresses her strong views on what
is wrong with the American theatre today and what has always been wrong with Hollywood. An engrossing
account of a rich and productive life.

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Dr Crippen
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Dr Crippen

Author : Not Known
Performed By : Full Cast Production
Publisher : True Crime Audio
Runtime : 34 minutes
Categories : Dramatizations
True Crime
Social & Economic
Our Price : $1.00
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The tale of Dr. Crippen bears all the trademarks of the classic English whodunit. It is a thrilling tale of death, love, sin and virtue. While stereotypical in nature, it is set apart from the ordinary by the motive of its crime, Freudian in nature and, in fact, reminiscent of the Jekyll and Hyde syndrome that fascinated period writers.

"There are two sides of the story - the physical, which is sordid, dreadful and revolting, and the spiritual, which is good and heroic," writes Filson Young, editor for the "Notable British Trial Series," which published the Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen a decade after the sensational murder and subsequent trial occurred. "Such a story can only be understood by the aid of the imagination; and it should remind us, in the judgments we pass on our fellow men, never to forget the dual nature of the human character and the mystery in virtue of which acts of great moral obliquity may march with conduct above the ordinary standards."

This recording is, in essence, a melodrama tracing the events leading up to and after one of Edwardian London's most publicized crimes - and, definitely, one of the most colorful of the Twentieth Century.

Its cast of characters includes a lovelorn murderer, his wicked wife, a demure heroine, a sharp-as-a-tack Scotland Yard detective and a sleuth-playing sea captain.

Certain histrionics have been very slightly altered, for effect, but the nature of the crime - its mechanics, its motive, its chronology and its results remain intact. Certain patches of dialogue have been constructed to explain a character's inner thoughts and devices. But, the personalities involved, in all their societal and anti-societal form, are as they were.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Free audiobooks



Brad Lansky and the Alien at Planet  X



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Brad Lansky and the Alien at Planet X


Author : J.D. Venne

Performed By : full cast

Publisher : protophonic

Runtime : 57 minutes

Categories : Sci-Fi
Dramatizations

Our Price : $4.50

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Brad Lansky and Alex John are veteran space explorers. Zara, a life form scientist on Earth, is collaborating on a research project with Sandy Larkin in a distant part of the Milky Way. Sandy has discovered a new intelligent life form, but his transmissions suddenly stop without warning. Soon after, Zara is paid a visit by an alien Nomad who claims to have Sandy’s coordinates, but will only part with them at a price, claiming that a hostile life form at these coordinates destroyed his ship.



Distraught, Zara calls on Brad for help, knowing that he and Sandy were good friends back in flight school. Brad and Alex mount a rescue mission, but how should they best prepare for it? Have the Nomad’s people kidnapped Sandy, or are they dealing with a hostile new life form? And how should they prepare for an encounter with a powerful life form they know almost nothing about?


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Dozen Red Roses, A: To His Coy Mistress
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Dozen Red Roses, A: To His Coy Mistress

Author : Andrew Marvell
Performed By : Bill Wallis
Publisher : BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Runtime : 3 minutes
Categories : Poetry
Our Price : $1.65
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Andrew Marvell’s classic plea to his mistress to show her love for him while they are both still young and passionate, read by Bill Wallis.

A single poem, available also within the collection entitled  "A Dozen Red Roses: 12 Valentines Poems"

Audiobook



Jane Eyre



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Jane Eyre


Author : Charlotte Bronte

Performed By : Claire Bloom, Sir Anthony Quayle & cast

Publisher : Harper Collins UK

Runtime : 3 hours

Categories : Dramatizations
Classics

Our Price : $12.75

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Jane Eyre is the story of an unloved and penniless orphan who triumphs over harsh treatment to become a spirited and independent young woman.


She secures employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall where she transforms the life of morose and lonely Edward Rochester.


They fall in love, but Thornfield holds a dark secret that blights their happiness.


This dramatised reading captures all the passionate intensity of Charlotte Brontë's great romantic novel.



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Dozen Red Roses, A: The Sunne Rising
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Dozen Red Roses, A: The Sunne Rising

Author : John Donne
Performed By : Bill Wallis
Publisher : BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Runtime : 3 minutes
Categories : Poetry
Our Price : $1.65
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John Donne’s famous poem about two lovers surprised by the astonishingly rapid arrival of sunrise, read by Bill Wallis.

A single poem, available also within the collection entitled  "A Dozen Red Roses: 12 Valentines Poems"

Free audiobooks



Hunchback of Notre Dame, The



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Hunchback of Notre Dame, The


Author : Victor Hugo

Performed By : Frederick Davidson

Publisher : Blackstone Audio Inc

Runtime : 17 hours 30 minutes

Categories : Classic Literature

Our Price : $33.95

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"What a beautiful thing Notre-Dame is!"--Gustave Flaubert


Set amid the riot, intrigue, and pageantry of medieval Paris, Victor Hugo's masterful tale of heroism and

adventure has been a perennial favorite since its first publication in 1831. It is the story of Quasimodo,

the deformed bell-ringer of the Notre Dame Cathedral, who falls in love with the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda.

When Esmeralda is condemned as a witch by Claude Frollo, the tormented archdeacon who lusts after

her, Quasimodo attempts to save her; but his intentions are misunderstood. Written with a profound sense

of tragic irony, Hugo's powerful historical romance remains one of the most thrilling stories of all time.



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Dozen Red Roses, A: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
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Dozen Red Roses, A: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

Author : Christopher Marlowe
Performed By : Bill Wallis
Publisher : BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Runtime : 2 minutes
Categories : Poetry
Our Price : $1.65
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The Passionate Shepherd to His Love: Christopher Marlowe’s emotional appeal to his lady to run away with him and  live a romantic rural idyll with him, read by Bill Wallis.

A single poem, available also within the collection entitled  "A Dozen Red Roses: 12 Valentines Poems"

Audio books



John Bull's Other Island



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John Bull's Other Island


Author : George Bernard Shaw

Performed By : Christopher Benjamin, Patrick Duggan and cast

Publisher : Harper Collins UK

Runtime : 3 hours

Categories : Classic Literature
Classics

Our Price : $12.75

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When Thomas Broadbent, an Englishman, visits Ireland for the first time, he is accompanied by his friend Larry Doyle, an Irishman who is returning to his homeland after being away for many years.


Through the two men's differing responses to the country and also the Irish people's reactions to their two visitors, Shaw is able to explore the misunderstandings and misconceptions that have characterised relations between England and Ireland for centuries.


According to Shaw, 'John Bull's Other Island' was written in 1904 at the request of W.B.Yeats 'as a patriotic contribution to the repertory of the Irish Literary Theatre', but when Mr Yeats read the script he rejected it, claiming that it was beyond the resources of the Abbey Theatre.


In fact, for Yeats, a play which was 'uncongenial to the whole spirit of the neo-Gaelic movement' must have made uncomfortable reading, and for us today, in the light of all that has happened in the intervening years, the issues raised by the play have lost none of their urgency.



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Dozen Red Roses, A: The Owl and The Pussycat
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Dozen Red Roses, A: The Owl and The Pussycat

Author : Edward Lear
Performed By : Jenny Agutter
Publisher : BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Runtime : 2 minutes
Categories : Poetry
Our Price : $1.65
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Edward Lear’s much-loved comic poem, featuring the most elegant fowl in literature and  his beautiful feline friend, read by Jenny Agutter.

A single poem, available also within the collection entitled  "A Dozen Red Roses: 12 Valentines Poems"

Friday, July 31, 2009

Audio book



Doctor Thorne



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Doctor Thorne


Author : Anthony Trollope

Performed By : Simon Vance

Publisher : Blackstone Audio Inc

Runtime : 20 hours 30 minutes

Categories : Classic Literature

Our Price : $36.95

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Anthony Trollope once said, "A novel should give a picture of common life enlivened by humour and sweetened by pathos." Trollope admirably fulfills his own criteria in this charming third novel in the Chronicles of Barsetshire.


Doctor Thorne adopts his niece Mary, keeping secret her illegitimate birth as he introduces her to the best local social circles. There she meets and falls in love with Frank Gresham, heir to a vastly mortgaged estate; yet Frank is obliged to find a wealthy wife. Only Doctor Thorne knows that Mary is to inherit a large legacy that will make her acceptable to the otherwise disapproving middle-class society to which Frank belongs. Where fiery passion fails, understated English virtues of patience, persistence, and good humor prevail in this most appealing of Trollope's comedies.



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Dozen Red Roses, A: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day
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Dozen Red Roses, A: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day

Author : William Shakespeare
Performed By : Bill Wallis
Publisher : BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Runtime : 2 minutes
Categories : Poetry
Our Price : $1.65
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Shakespeare’s most famous sonnet, in which he tries, and fails, to find an apt comparison in nature, read by Bill Wallis.

A single poem, available also within the collection entitled  "A Dozen Red Roses: 12 Valentines Poems"