House Classics

Wer Mark Twains Kinderbücher "Tom Sawyers Abenteuer und Streiche" und "Huckleberry Finn" gelesen hat, wird sich freuen, eines der vielen Abenteuer der beiden kleinen Freunde auf einem Hörbuch nacherleben zu können. Die Geschichte um den Mord an Dr. Robinson und wie es Tom und Huck schaffen, ihren Freund Muff Potter zu befreien und den wahren Mörder zu entlarven - das ist einfach spannend zu hören, da fiebert man mit. Die auf dem Hörbuch präsentierte Inszenierung wurde mit Sprechern des Deutschen Theater Berlin aufgenommen.

Mario Adorf las "In der Strafkolonie" in der JVA Frankfurt. Mechthild Großmann liest "Die Verwandlung" in einem Fitness-Studio. Dirk Bach liest "Der Hungerkünstler" im Maggi Kochstudio. Weitere Projekte werden folgen. Initiiert von Hans Gerd Koch und Christian Watty, verantwortlich für die Kritische Kafka-Ausgabe, will "Kafka: erLesen!" dem Vorurteil entgegenarbeiten, Kafka sei deprimierend und tragisch, seine Texte behandelten nur die Schattenseiten des Lebens. Stattdessen sollen die Vielschichtigkeit der Texte gezeigt und die humorvollen Seiten herausgestellt werden.

Das "Grand Hotel" im Berlin der 20er Jahre. In dieser eleganten Kulisse kreuzen sich die Wege einer Hand voll unterschiedlicher Charaktere: eine alternde russische Ballerina, ein adeliger Dieb, ein todkranker Buchhalter, ein bankrotter Unternehmer und eine lebenslustige Sekretärin. Ihre Schicksale verstricken sich, und am Ende verlässt niemand das "Grand Hotel" als der Mensch, der er vorher war.

Humphrey van Weyden, ein Mittedreißiger, "der sich nicht ganz ohne Erfolg als Kunstbetrachter in der Literatur versucht hatte", wird nach einem Schiffsunglück in der Bucht von San Francisco von dem Robbenfänger "Ghost" aufgefischt. Doch anstatt ihn im nächsten Hafen an Land zu setzen, macht Kapitän Wolf Larsen den Literaten zum Küchenjungen, denn für ihn gilt allein das brutale Recht des Stärkeren. Und Wolf Larsen ist der Stärkste.

Meinem Mann war es wichtig, die Gedichte hörbar zu machen.“ Hildegard Kempowski. Zu seinem 80. Geburtstag, das hat Walter Kempowski kurz vor seinem Tod verfügt, soll der Gedichtzyklus "Langmut" erscheinen...

V tot rokovoj vecher Ronal'd Ader vernulsja iz kluba v desjat' chasov. Ni odnogo zvuka ne donosilos' iz komnaty do dvadcati minut dvenadcatogo, poka mat' Adera, ledi Mjejnus, i ee doch' ne vernulis' domoj. Oni podnjali trevogu, i dver' v komnatu syna vzlomali. Neschastnyj junosha lezhal na polu, golova ego byla izurodovana revol'vernoj pulej. Jeto zagadochnoe proisshestvie i dolzhen rasputat' Sherlok Holms.

Katherine Mansfield's heartbreaking story of playground bullying. The Kelvey children are excluded from the schoolyard crowd because they come from a poor family with more than a hint of disreputableness about them. When the Burnell children are given a doll's house and invite their school friends two by two to see it, only the Kelveys are excluded. Until one day, Kezia Burnell decides to invite the Kelveys in to see it....

The old man had the oldest house and the oldest home furnishings. All his friends had passed on, but an unlikely friendship develops between the old man and the young boy. The houses and home furnishings speak and create a unique atmosphere when the boy visits. Perhaps the old house is a suitable euphemism for the life we give to memories.

Happy House by Jane D. Abbott (1881-1968) was recently released into the public domain. It is a lovely, articulate look at life as a recent college graduate in 1920s America. Writing in the vein of Louisa May Alcott et. al., Ms. Abbott delights in this tale of two young women who share a name and decide on an identity switch that sends one of them on the trip of a lifetime. A plethora of high-spirited New Englanders peoples this tale performed by professional actor and narrator Sara Morsey.

Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointed as guardian, John Jarndyce. They take up residence at Mr. Jarndyce’s home, Bleak House. The story of their lives and fortunes is the main thrust of the novel, and is related at times through the eyes of Esther, whose gentle point of view gives the listener a different and more intimate perspective.

The Bluesman - musician, magician, lethal killer. Thrown to Earth from a parallel universe, the Bluesman seeks to save our world from being overrun by the horrid, mutated creatures that came with him. Armed with magic, skill, and his companion, Scotch, he faces these monsters hoping to create a peaceful world for all. In Death House Jam Session, an after hours barroom jam session turns deadly when a ferocious monster that likes dark places attacks.

The year is Three Rabbit, and the storm is coming…The coronation war for the new Emperor has just ended in a failure, the armies retreating with a mere 40 prisoners of war - not near enough sacrifices to ensure the favour of the gods. When one of those prisoners of war dies of a magical illness, ACATL, High Priest for the Dead, is summoned to investigate.

This short story is taken from Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit by Joel Chandler Harris. Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore collected from southern black Americans. Many of the stories are didactic, much like those of Aesop's Fables and Jean de La Fontaine's stories. Uncle Remus is a freedman who serves as a story-telling device, passing on the folktales like the traditional African griot to children gathered around him. Award-winning audiobook narrator and producer Mike Vendetti portrays the kindly old gentleman telling the story.

A Doll's House deals with the life of a married woman who lacked opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated society. It caused a stir at the time, arousing sensation and controversy that went far beyond the world of theater.

This short story is taken from Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit, by Joel Chandler Harris. Uncle Remus is a collection of animal stories, songs, and oral folklore collected from Southern black Americans.

One of the earliest short stories of the horror genre, Ambrose Bierce’s A Vine on a House tells the compelling story of the Harding family. When Matilda Harding mysteriously vanishes, people begin to notice that a vine growing on the Harding house bears an uncanny resemblance to her. The events that unfold next are terrifying to the Harding family...and quite possibly to the listener as well. You will be riveted to the end of this old-fashioned ghost story.

A Vine on a House is a classic Gothic haunted house story. The old abandoned Harding house, which is now overgrown by an unusual vine, has a strange and sinister story behind it. Years before, the mother of the household disappeared suddenly. Two years later the family abandoned the house. More recent visitors have discovered the vine growing up the front of the house behaving very oddly. Finally the local authorities decide to dig up the vine....

In the northern outreaches of the Canadian wilderness, it was understood that the Hudson Bay Company governed all trading, and one factor named Galen Albret took his position seriously. Free traders, or those who dared try to do their trading outside of the Company, found themselves having to face Galen Albret and his methods of dealing with them. One or two offenses he might tolerate, but for those who repeatedly refuse to acknowledge his warning out, he would send them on “La Longue Traverse” through the wilderness without supplies, and from which they seldom returned.

In Craven House, among the shifting, uncertain world of the English boardinghouse, with its sad population of the shabby genteel on the way down and the eternal optimists who would never get up or on, the young Patrick Hamilton, with loving, horrified fascination, first mapped out the territory that he would make uniquely his own. Although many of Hamilton's lifelong interests are here, they are handled with a youthful brio and optimism conspicuously absent from his later work.

The house is called "Pleasance" and is rented by two sisters, Blanche and Aileen. The story revolves around the fortunes of two neighbouring families of varied social standing. The sisters' semi-detachment is to the Hopkinsons. Whilst Blanche's husband, Arthur, is abroad on a mission, the neighbours soon prove themselves invaluable as friends and Blanche and Mrs Hopkinson discover that their husbands are already acquainted!