A Literary Christmas
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A Literary Christmas
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Narrated by:
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Juliet Stevenson
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Simon Callow
About this listen
Read by Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow, A Literary Christmas is a seasonal anthology that collects together poems, short stories, and prose extracts by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language.
Like Charles Dickens’ ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they are representative of times old and new - from John Donne’s Elizabethan hymn over the baby Jesus to Rudyard Kipling’s "Christmas in India", from Thomas Tusser counting the cost of a Tudor feast to Laurie Lee’s "Cider with Rosie".
Enjoy a convivial Christmas Day as described by Samuel Pepys, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, or Nancy Mitford. Venture out into the snow in the company of Jane Austen, Henry James, and Dickens’ ever-popular Mr Pickwick. Entertain the children with the seasonal tales of Dylan Thomas, Kenneth Grahame, Louisa May Alcott, and George Mackay Brown.
Please note: This is a vintage recording, and the audio quality reflects the technology of the time.
©2013 The British Library Board (P)2013 The British Library BoardListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
What listeners say about A Literary Christmas
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Spiky Potplant
- 24-12-20
Well performed but stories run together
Great anthology, great performances but terribly put together. There are no pauses between the stories which spoils the stories when you listen to them. Possibly something that would better in print.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. R.
- 31-12-22
Fantastic narration!!
Audible books can be hit or miss with narration, regardless of the quality of the original texts. This one contains true Christmas classics, brilliantly narrated!! What else would one expect with Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow to do the job? Their superb grasp of regional accents and dialects truly brings the stories to life. I really cannot recommend it enough.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- waldenwitch
- 04-01-22
Great selection but editing not so great
This is a lovely collection of readings from two excellent performers. It is spoilt by the editing - there are no spaces between the readings, so they run into each other in a really distracting way.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Chrissie Ann
- 20-03-22
Great
Such a variety of authors keeps you interested till the end. I really enjoyed the readings and the performance
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 24-12-22
Brilliant Christmas anthology
A mood encapsulating entertainment - scenes from different Christmases - old fashioned, happy, sad, joyful, funny, but showing the different sides of Christmas
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dan & Kim
- 20-12-21
Lovely
I was thrilled to discover that each story had been titled in ‘chapters’, making it easy to find a particular one. Thank you audible.
A wonderful book for the week before Christmas; made me smile...
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Alžběta
- 23-12-21
Flawed but lovely and well read.
A short little collection of festive excerpts from a wide variety of mostly classics. It's not as good and carefully selected as John Julius Norwich's 'An English Christmas,' and some breathing room between individual pieces would be much appreciated, but it will do. You can never have enough festive listens before Christmas!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cee
- 11-12-21
Great stories read well!
A lovely collection with some great performances, just wish they’d give a couple of seconds between each story, each one ends beautifully, but then it marches onto the next without giving you a moment to savour it!
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- LMC
- 05-01-23
Second-best Christmas anthology
On paper, there is little wrong with this Christmas anthology (although it is considerably shorter than the print version). However, most of the excerpts are also included in John Julius Norwich's 'An English Christmas', which is three times as long and features better (if more stolid) narration. The narration is a great drawback of this set; Simon Callow, usually a fabulous voice actor, indulges himself at every opportunity in unnecessary regional accents. Do we really need to hear Stevenson read in a Scots brogue? Worse still is Juliet Stevenson who, with her 'oop North' reading of Wind in the Willows, loses this set a full star for performance. I would recommend that you investigate the Norwich set before purchasing this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- E. Lewis
- 30-12-19
Wonderful for Christmas
I loved listening to this. The performances were excellent. One criticism is that there is almost no break between one piece and the next. As soon as one poem or excerpt finishes, the next starts, almost on top of the other and it rather spoils this. There needs to be a fraction more of a pause. Take the very last poem, the moment Simon Callow finishes on a very dramatic note, you get someone saying “Audible hopes you enjoyed this...” and it ruins the moment. Please give a couple of seconds more between each reading.
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25 people found this helpful