- Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde – Written by Oscar Wilde – Narrated by Judi Dench, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, Sinead Cusak, Joanna Lumley, Samantha Bond, Robert Harris, Geoffrey Palmer, Donald Sinden, Elaine Stritch
Here is a collection of the Oscar Wilde’s famous fairy tales, read by a cast of leading British actors.
- Ulysses – Written by James Joyce – Narrated by Jim Norton
Ulysses is regarded by many as the single most important novel of the 20th century. It tells the story of one day in Dublin, June 16th 1904, largely through the eyes of Stephen Dedalus (Joyce’s alter ego from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) and Leopold Bloom, an advertising salesman. Both begin a normal day, and both set off on a journey around the streets of Dublin, which eventually brings them into contact with one another.
- Let the Great World Spin – Written by Colum McCann – Narrated by anon
It is August, 1974, and a tightrope walker is suspended between the twin towers, watched by thousands in the streets below. Elegantly weaving together their seemingly disparate lives, McCann’s powerful novel comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city’s people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the tightrope walker’s “artistic crime of the century.” Featuring a stunning ensemble performance by the narrators.
- Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha – Written by Roddy Doyle – Narrated by Aidan Gillen
Paddy Clarke is ten years old. Paddy Clarke lights fires. Paddy Clarke’s name is written in wet cement all over Barrytown, north Dublin. Paddy Clarke’s heroes are Father Damien (and the lepers), Geronimo and George Best. Paddy Clarke has a brother called Francis, but Paddy calls him Sinbad and hates him because that’s the rule. Paddy Clarke knows the exact moment to knock a dead scab from his knee. Paddy Clarke loves his Ma and Da, but it seems like they don’t love each other, and Paddy’s world is falling apart.
- Round Ireland with a Fridge – Written by Tony Hawks – Narrated by Tony Hawks
Whilst in Ireland for an International Song Competition, Tony Hawks was amazed to see a hitch-hiker, trying to thumb a lift, but with a fridge. This seemed amazingly optimistic – his Irish friends, however thought nothing of it at all. ‘I had clearly arrived in a country’, writes Tony, ‘where the qualifications for ‘eccentric’ involved a great deal more than that to which I had become used’. Two years pass but the fridge incident haunts our author. Until one night, heavy with drink, he finds himself arguing about Ireland with a friend. It is, he insists, a ‘magical place’, so magical in fact, that a man could even get a lift with a fridge. The next morning there is a note by the bed. ‘I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he cannot hitch-hike around the circumference of Ireland with a fridge within one calendar month’. The document was signed. The bet was made. This book is the story of Tony’s adventures through that incredible month. The people he meets, the difficulties, the triumphs. The fridge.
- Irish History for Dummies – Written by Mike Cronin – Narrated by Patrick Moy
Putting history into a perspective, Irish History for Dummies is an engaging, entertaining and educational trip through time, packing in equal parts fun and facts, providing listeners with a riveting history of this ancient land. The history of Ireland has shaped the world far beyond its borders. And few stories have a greater need for a balanced and light-hearted telling than the complex and often controversial saga of Ireland and her people.
- W. B. Yeats: Selected Poems – Written by W. B. Yeats – Narrated by Donald Sutherland
William Butler Yeats, the first Irishman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, is not only one of the greatest poets of the 20th century but one of the most widely read. The landscape, myths, legends, and folklore of his homeland lie at the heart of his poetic imagination, and the unique musicality of Ireland adds to the richness of his verse. But the themes of his poetry are universal and timeless: the conflict between life and death, love and hate, and the meaning of man’s existence in an imperfect world.
- Waiting for Godot – Written by Samuel Beckett – Narrated by Sean Barrett, David Burke, Terence Rigby, Nigel Anthony
There is now no doubt that not only is Waiting for Godot the outstanding play of the 20th century, but it is also Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece. Yet it is both a popular text to be studied at school and an enigma. The scene is a country road. There is a solitary tree. It is evening. Two tramp-like figures, Vladimir and Estragon, exchange words. Pull off boots. Munch a root vegetable. Two other curious characters enter. And a boy. Time passes. It is all strange yet familiar. Waiting for Godot casts its spell as powerfully in this audiobook recording as it does on stage.
- How the Irish Saved Civilization – Written by Thomas Cahill – Narrated by Liam Neeson
From the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne – the “dark ages” – learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the European continent. The great heritage of Western civilization – from the Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works – would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of unconquered Ireland.
- The Irish Americans: A History – Written by Jay P. Dolan – Narrated by Jim McCabe
Jay Dolan of Notre Dame University is one of America’s most acclaimed scholars of immigration and ethnic history. In The Irish Americans, he caps his decades of writing and teaching with this magisterial history of the Irish experience in the United States. Although more than 30 million Americans claim Irish ancestry, no other general account of Irish American history has been published since the 1960s. Dolan draws on his own original research and much other recent scholarship to weave an insightful, colorful narrative. He follows the Irish from their first arrival in the American colonies through the bleak days of the potato famine that brought millions of starving immigrants; the trials of ethnic prejudice and “No Irish Need Apply”, the rise of Irish political power and the heyday of Tammany politics; to the election of John F. Kennedy as president, a moment of triumph when an Irish American ascended to the highest office in the land.
Quite often when you plan to go the cinema, it can be difficult to find a film that appeals to both you and the person you’re going with. Some people love historical dramas like Lincoln, while others find them tedious and slow to watch. Others love action movies like the Die Hard series, while some people would rather spend an afternoon at the dentist’s instead!
