Good evening,
Please can I thank the reader of Vanity Fair (version 2), Helen Taylor, for her wonderful reading. She really brought the story to life and turned very tedious commutes into enjoyable journeys.
Many thanks again and best wishes,
Frances
Gloucestershire, UK
I wanted to send a thank you to Elizabeth Klett for her narration of Jane Eyre. It was beautifully done and it really helped me get through the novel for uni whilst I was really really busy – it allowed me to multitask listening to the novel & doing the other things that had to be done.
Praise received for Claire (Lee Ann Howlett) and simonevers (Simon Evers) from our 'Thank a reader' feature:
I wanted to send a thank you to Lee Ann Howlett & Simon Evers for Far From the Madding Crowd! Their voice are incredibly pleasant to listen to. I alternated reading the physical book when I had the opportunity & listening to the audiobook when I had to be out and about, but the audiobook was so much more fun than reading the book itself! When reading, I also kept internally narrating in their voices.
I have just listened to Angel of Tears . I am visually dusabled x listen to many books , audible as well as libri vox x many famous actors. No one has moved me more than the voice of chuck williamson. I send him my humblethanks x admiration. I do hope I can find other recordings. With fond gratitude from ireland, karen
Dear TriciaG,
I would like to thank you for all those books you recorded by Isabella MacDonald Alden. I like how you read so clearly and make it easy to follow the story. I have been sick in bed for two and a half months, and have listened to just about all the books by her. I like how you modulate your voice to fit the different characters and ages. It is so relaxing to listen to, and listening to the audio books really helps past the time. Thank you for all the work you put into recording! Jubilee
I'm learning Portuguese and I've found that listening to an audio book
while, at the same time, also following the text in the book is an
efficient learning method.
I'm grateful for all the time and effort the volunteers put in their
work. The platform itself is an amazing resource.
Thank you everyone! You've inspired me to consider doing the same for my
native language.
I would like to thank Thomas Copeland for his excellent readings of Spenser, Ariosto, and Tasso, to which I am listening as part of my “research” for an epic poem on the English Civil War.
Excellent reading by Delmar H. Dolbier. I looked for other books read by him, but drew a blank. Why? His reading was all thagt could be hoped for and more.
I'd like to thank Winston Tharp for his brilliant recordings of the early poems of Hart Crane, (https://librivox.org/the-early-poems-of-hart-crane-by-hart-crane/), I've always thought it a tragedy that no recording of the voice of Hart Crane has been found, but Winston's recordings really do bring out the nuances, rhythms and emotions - perhaps the "aesthetic truths" of Crane's poetry. I've been listening to his recordings of Crane a lot for comfort - so I'd really like to say thank you.
and...
Dear Mr. Tharp,
I've loved John D. MacDonald’s books since I discovered them in the shelves of my local small town library as a teenager. His books were the reason I visited and eventually moved to the Gulf Coast of Florida, in face.
At the beginning of Covid-19, I learned the reason I’ve been having trouble reading is that I need to have cataracts removed in both eyes, so I’ve been dependent on audiobooks.
Then I got diagnosed with cancer and I had to delay the cataract surgery. I’m doing well and I have terrible insomnia so I listen to books when I can’t sleep.
I discovered your recording of “A Bullet for Cinderella” a couple of days ago and it is PERFECTION.
Thank you very very much. I’ve tried to listen to some of the commercial recordings of MacDonald’s books and you perform the narrative much, much better. I hope you record more. I also enjoyed your Continental Op recordings (I’m a big fan of the Op too).
What is better than getting my truck to drive with my 12 year old daughter through Tennessee rural roads, playing a new David Clarke Sherlock Holmes?
Nothing
David is Watson, and David is Sherlock. I’m unable to listen to anyone else read Sherlock anymore than him.
I have just listened to Angel of Tears . I am visually dusabled x listen to many books , audible as well as libri vox x many famous actors. No one has moved me more than the voice of chuck williamson. I send him my humblethanks x admiration. I do hope I can find other recordings. With fond gratitude from ireland, karen
Dear Mr Whitley
Thank you so much for your splendid reading of the Barsetshire novels For some reason I never got attracted enough to read them in my youth, but they are an absolute delight (for someone who 70 years ago was a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral) to listen to in your really virtuoso performance.
All good wishes - I hope Allington will be there soon!
Yours sincerely
Just a note to say I really enjoyed your reading of An Outback Marriage. Your ability to convey nuance in expression is amazing. I don't know why this makes human beings happy, or how just a shadow of a tone, one tone in a word, can express meaning, but it does. Thank you for sharing your gift with us. Janet, Santa Fe, Texas, USA
Another fine reading of Plato, this time of Lesser Hippias. I do find that you have a unique ability to bring out the dramatic aspect of Plato's dialogues.
In the introduction Benjamin Jowett discusses whether Lesser Hippias is actually by Plato. My vote is: no, I think it is not. My reasons:
Hippias is a little too full of himself to be a worthy opponent for Socrates - compare with the dignity of Gorgias or Protagoras, or the proud earnestness of Callicles, the powerful businessman and politician. Socrates' arguments are too silly. In bona fide Plato, Socrates often argues in ways that are scarcely convincing, and often tricky, but it is always in the service of an elevated point. But in Lesser Hippias Socrates is playing almost a mere verbal game, which does not have much actual content. The game becomes the thing; it is not the drama supporting the thing. One might almost call the dialogue "Lesser Socrates."
Another thing is that Hippias has made his own clothes, etc. Socrates, of course, only respects experts, and experts are, as Socrates always presents them, masters of one thing above all else - they are good navigators, or builders, or carpenters, or generals, or physicians, or sculptors, but never jacks-of-all-trades. As a way of criticizing Hippias, this making him a jack-of-all-trades is almost too easy, a cheap shot. It is as if the author of Lesser Hippias was an expert on Plato but was a bit clumsy in taking it too far, and not able to reach Plato's elevation of thought.
Of course, I know no Greek. Perhaps the style is perfect Plato. That is a very hard think to fake.
But, Plato or not, still a very interesting reading, and a fine one - thank you!
