It’s the strength of a story and the power of a voice. If you’re into audiobooks, then The Classic Tales with B J Harrison is a fabulous source. And it’s only a click away...I am a huge fan of classic literature. Full stop. But now that my uni days are long behind me (not that young, but not that old, and treading a fine line, my friend), I no longer get the chance to read as many classics as I’d like to. Enough and more modern stuff fall into my lap, but the classics seem to escape me.
So I went hunting – on iTunes, and that’s when I came across this gold mine – The Classic Tales podcast with B J Harrison. Oh, the relief! I was ecstatic and I’ve never looked back.
What is it?
The Classic Tales with B J Harrison is actually a website he runs, made up of his own audio recordings of classics written in English or translated into English. To date, he has recorded tales from well known authors such as Baroness Orczy, Leo Tolstoy and Jules Verne to relatively unknown writers such as Raphael Sabatini and M R James.
There are well over 60 authors, so you can imagine the number of books he has covered. It’s a treasure trove of classics, and possibly the best way to introduce yourself to his work is to sample one of his podcasts.
Why audiobooks?
Well, why not? It’s the best thing to carry around – on the bus, while doing chores, on your weekly walks, etc. they are the best way to entertain yourself. You will hardly notice time passing. If you have kids, audiobooks are one of the easiest ways to introduce them to literature.
It’s not the same as reading – I will not contest the comfort that comes of a good book, a warm corner, a hot cup of tea and some spicy delicacies! But it certainly breathes life to those words on a page and fires up the imagination on the go.
The neatest features
- The accents, the dramatisations, the tonal qualities, the impressions – you name it, B J has the voice for it.
- All the recordings are of professional quality with no awkward glitches.
- The recordings can go wherever you go, so enough said about accessibility.
- These audiobooks are very affordable and start at USD0.99
- The recordings are 15% lower than at competitor sites and there are also special sales for teachers who’d like to use these recordings in their classrooms.
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| The man behind the voice: B J Harrison |
One of the best things to enjoy here is B J’s voice. It’s a rich voice that can take on the yearning love of Lucy Honeychurch (from A Room With A View by E M Forster), the commanding tones of Zorro (from The Mark Of Zorro by Johnston McCulley) and the clipped cleverness of Monsieur Poirot (from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie). It’s an absolute given that these authors have produced some brilliant work, and bringing them to life without doing any injustice to them is a challenging task. But the master storyteller that he is, B J is up to the task.
His aim is to make the classics available for the masses. He himself used audiobooks to make the time fly while he worked long hours as a sculptor. It was a friend’s encouraging words that put him on to a career of recording, and now he’s completely committed to it.
Connect now
There are several ways to connect with B J and his work:
- The website at www.thebestaudiobooks.com where you can order your favourite audiobooks
- The podcasts, which come out every week. These can be accessed on iTunes via a subscription. Longer works are broken down to hour-long episodes, so as not to be overwhelming.
- Forums that are on the website that encourage fans to make suggestions for future readings, access past newsletters, join conversations on the latest podcast episodes, etc.
- Seasonal fundraisers (includes sales and donations). It would be great if you can contribute and keep buying to make sure things continue.
Images © 2011 Classic TalesTM (as published on www.thebestaudiobooks.com)
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