Can't say I'm a huge fan of the recording (Ray Clare's style simply isn't mine), but this is what my book club is reading this month. Feel free to join us and give it a listen. You can download in different formats and chapter-by-chapter at the source, Librivox.
While the novel is humorous (one instance has the King sitting on top of an omnibus and speaking to it as to a horse: “Forward, my beauty, my Arab,” he said, patting the omnibus encouragingly, “fleetest of all thy bounding tribe”), it is also an adventure story: Chesterton is not afraid to let blood be drawn in his battles, fought with sword and halberd in the London streets, and Wayne thinks up a few ingenious strategies; and, finally, the novel is philosophical, considering the value of one man’s actions and the virtue of respect for one’s enemies. (Summary from Wikipedia)
"Eugenics and Other Evils," by Gilbert Keith Chesterton. I think G.K. Chesterton explains his book rather well in his introduction, but it might help to start with a sense of the time in question. Chesterton started work on Eugenics and Other Evils in about 1910, but it was not completed and published until 1922. In his own introduction he talks about the period before and after "The War." The war he refers to is now called World War One. We now have a distaste for the word Eugenics,...
"Heretics," a series of essays by Gilbert Keith Chesterton. First published in 1905. Read by David "Grizzly" Smith. Chesterton had a sense of humor, had a sense of drama, and had sense. He was a man of strong opinions, and quite willing to argue vehemently for his own opinions, even with his friends -- and they remained his friends -- like George Bernard Shaw and Rudyard Kipling. Seems to me that is hard to find anymore. He wrote prolifically. He wrote humor. He wrote mystery novels,...
"Orthodoxy," a series of essays by Gilbert Keith Chesterton. First published in 1908. Read by David "Grizzly" Smith. "The only possible excuse for this book is that it is an answer to a challenge. Even a bad shot is dignified when he accepts a duel." This is how Chesterton explains "Orthodoxy," the sequel to Heretics. "I have attempted in a vague and personal way, in a set of mental pictures rather than in a series of deductions, to state the philosophy in which I have come to believe. I...
Here's a link to Volume One of a Three Volume Set of J.R.R. Tolkien reading (and singing!) the Lord of the Rings that has finally made its way into the public domain. The distributor has asked that I not hard-link to the files, so you'll just have to go there and get them.
Also, here's a bonus! The Hobbit audiobook! Here's the source commentary:
Out-of-print audiobook whose adaptation was authorized by professor Tolkien himself, this was originally put out in 1974 as a boxed set of LPs. In my view, this is pretty much the best adaptation of The Hobbit ever, rivaling even the terrific animated film adaptation. It owes its greatness to the wonderful music and simply amazing voice work of Nicol Williamson, who may be better known to some as Merlin from the film Excalibur. If there were a Criterion Collection for audiobooks, this would surely be be one of the first titles.
(HT to Mark Shea) - Librivox has produced a recording of Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus. Here's the summary from Librivox:
St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, describes several schools of Gnosticism which were prevalent among pre-Nicene Christianity. He then refutes these beliefs as heresies by contrasting them with what he describes as catholic, orthodox Christianity. Against Heresies demonstrates that earliest Christianity was a fascinating and diverse plethora of beliefs, debates, and schisms. (Summary by JoeD)
There's too much audio for me to hard link, so go there and get it yourself.
In my experience, you get what you pay for with free audiobooks. That said, this was simply too much audio to pass up. Here are the current works by G.K. Chesterton available at Librivox (w/ HT to reader Dave K.):
ChristianAudio.com is a Protestant audio-bookstore that offers one free audio download each month. This month's selection is The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Beyond making you cultured, this is an important work of Christian fiction informed by sound theology. Go to this link to download it and hear for yourself -- don't forget the promo coupon: DEC2009.
UPDATE: A hearty welcome to Mark Shea's lickspittle minions! You'll note I have a tag on the sidebar which will direct you to talks, rants and other Sheavings by the Nefarious One himself!So take off your shoes and stay a while...
LibriVox recording of The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton. Read by Joshua B. Christensen
An English epic poem that follows the exploits of Alfred the Great in his defense of Christian civilization in England from the heathen nihilism of the North. Following a string of defeats at the hands of the invading Danes, a vision from heaven in the river island of Athelney fills Alfred with joy and hope. Though it gives no promise of victory in the coming struggle, it inspires him to rally his chieftains for a last stand against the invading hordes. His adventures lead throughout the country as he gathers his men, and take him through the Danish camps disguised as a minstrel before culminating in the Battle of Ethandune and the prophesying of the enemy's subtle return in the ages to come. (Summary by Joshua B. Christensen)
This is Chesterton's Epic Poem, the last Epic Poem modernity has produced (depending on how you count). This is also one of the very few works Chesterton thought was of sufficient quality to dedicate to his wife. As Mark Shea says, "Check it thou out."
Vatican Radio has produced some audio dramas over the years. One is "To the Ends of the Earth." It was produced for the Pauline Year last year. You can still listen to the episodes if you have Real Player. Links to some of the episodes.
The Ave Maria Hour, a long-running series of radio dramas, is being released as podcasts on the Internet.
There is an audio adaptation of the famous movie Song of Bernadette provided at the following link. It is rather compressed and abridged, but if you know the movie, it will remind you of key scenes.
The ChristianAudio.com site gives away free audiobooks each month. Usually, it's a Protestant mishmash of varying quality -- I've downloaded before with mixed results. This month, however, the free audio is Dante. Go, register, listen. Worth it the price of free admission.
Last month at christianaudio was Crazy and this month promises to be Divine! For the month of August, you can get a free download of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri!
The Divine Comedy is a true literary classic. Dante's poetic masterpiece is a moving human drama. An unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise - the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.
Pam Ward narrates warmly and thoughtfully as she clearly and capably walks the listener through the unfolding drama.
A Blogger and the Blessed Mother | Mark Shea, interviewed by Carl E. Olson | Ignatius Insight | June 24, 2009
Carl E. Olson, editor of Ignatius Insight, talks to Mark Shea, well-known blogger, author, and apologist, about Mary, Mother of the Son, Mark's three-volume exploration of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice.
Mark is the man and mind behind the popular "Catholic and Enjoying It!" blog. He is also the author of several books--including Making Senses Out of Scripture, By What Authority?: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition, and This Is My Body: An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence--and a regular contributor to Catholic Exchange, InsideCatholic.com, and National Catholic Register.
In this 47-minute interview, Mark talks about his Marian trilogy, misconceptions about Marian beliefs, and Marian devotions, as well as the life of an established blogger and budding actor.
Houston Catholics set to listen through the New Testament this Lenten season
Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, recently urged Catholic leaders to get involved in a city-wide Bible listening campaign called You've Got The Time Houston.
Faith Comes By Hearing, the world’s foremost Audio Bible ministry, is coordinating this effort to reach every Houstonian with God’s Word in audio.
Most Eugenists are Euphemists. I mean merely that short words startle them, while long words soothe them. And they are utterly incapable of translating the one into the other, however obviously they mean the same thing. Say to them “The persuasive and even coercive powers of the citizen should enable him to make sure that the burden of longevity in the previous generation does not become disproportionate and intolerable, especially to the females”; say this to them and they will sway slightly to and fro like babies sent to sleep in cradles. Say to them “Murder your mother,” and they sit up quite suddenly. Yet the two sentences, in cold logic, are exactly the same.”
Familyland.org is currently hosting, for free download, more than 45 hours of Cardinal Francis Arinze giving colorful commentaries on Scripture, catechetics, and Vatican II teachings. The Nigerian-born cardinal is prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.
Do yourself a favor and register at their site so you can download the audio.
FYI, you can get a few new premium Christian audiobooks for free at Christianaudio.com. Registration is required and it's a Protestant site (so be careful what you download) but they're really very good about not spamming you -- the registration is totally worth the price you pay (free). In any case, here's my shopping cart:
Just FYI, there are some free e-books and MP3s up over at Bridegroom Press on some rather diverse topics. Presently, they have a few on Islam, a couple on the Da Vinci Code and several Theology of the Body lectures.
Ok...not really. Again. I have a post with the same title a few posts down which claims the same thing, but Jeff Miller was kind enough to point out to me that it wasn't Dr. Hahn's "new" book, but rather one of his more recent. I got confused.
Fortunately, Chris Cash (the host of the Catholic Spotlight) came to the rescue. He writes:
"[Benjamin Wiker's interview] is an interview with his co-author about his latest book. Scott did not want to do the interview himself, he said that Ben was much more knowledgeable on the topic than he was and he has 3 deadlines he was trying to meet. I will let you know when I get him on again. I did have an interview with Kimberly that will post on monday at CatholicSpotlight.com, if you are at all interested in her new book, Graced and Gifted."
Oh, in case you don't know, Dr. Hahn's (and Dr. Wiker's (Bio)) new book is called "Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins' Case Against God". You can read excerpts from it here at Amazon.
But if you're only planning on listening, here's a direct link to the Catholic Spotlight interview of co-author Dr. Benjamin Wiker. If you like what you hear, please vote for them at Podcast Alley - and feel free to vote every month to help them get their show in front of more people.
UPDATE: here's a link to Dr. Wiker's website - just FYI. Thanks to his site, I'm glad to give you the Emmaus Road Publishing's three part interview of Dr. Hahn (for reals this time!) and Dr. Wiker via YouTube. If you would like to convert the YouTube to .mp3 to listen on your way to work or whatever it is you do, here's a program for download which will do it quickly and easily (which is what I use) or a website which will do the same.
Shamelessly stolen from my competition over at A Catholic iPod:
The words of the Bishop of Antioch, The Saint Ignatius Series narrated by Joe McClane of The Catholic Hack Podcast. Download all seven epistles. Donations here, are not required but appreciated to be used to produce CDs for mass distribution.
I believe the following program was launched on Catholic Radio shortly after the Holy Father's book of the same title came out. If you've already listened to Jesus of Nazareth (tagged under audiobook and SPEAKER: The Pope), you might give the following a listen to help identify some of the finer points you may have missed the first time through:
Pope Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth" Series with Bishop Ronald Gainer
This blog is dedicated to bringing you free orthodox Catholic audio. If you have a tip or would like to report a broken link, please e-mail me by clicking the link above.
"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ."
Rom 10:17(DRV)
If you see a product review on this site it's because the Catholic Company is giving me stuff to do it. They don't ask me to be kind, but I do get stuff. FYI.
Houston Catholics set to listen through the New Testament this Lenten season
This blog is dedicated to bringing you free orthodox Catholic audio. If you have a tip or would like to report a broken link, please e-mail me by clicking the link above.
"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ."
Rom 10:17(DRV)
