-
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
![Prime logo](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/Audible/Homestead/Prime_Logo_RGB.png)
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Great first listens
![The Housemaid Audiobook By Freida McFadden cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51+UxIo+YNL._SL240_.jpg)
![Listen for the Lie Audiobook By Amy Tintera cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51zllGBPiuL._SL240_.jpg)
![Project Hail Mary Audiobook By Andy Weir cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51b6fvQr1-L._SL240_.jpg)
![Kingdom of Ash Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51r5TOoIdRL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Housemaid's Secret Audiobook By Freida McFadden cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51WR3i5EfIL._SL240_.jpg)
![Tower of Dawn Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51JhJaNpMWL._SL240_.jpg)
![Bluebeard Audiobook By Jim Clemente, Peter McDonnell cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51VL5-GGrsL._SL240_.jpg)
![A Court of Thorns and Roses (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51nLJLtLiJL._SL240_.jpg)
![Verity Audiobook By Colleen Hoover cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/511i1nvprYL._SL240_.jpg)
![A Court of Thorns and Roses (Part 2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51tP2HmQeOL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Nightingale Audiobook By Kristin Hannah cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51lJVAGTuNL._SL240_.jpg)
![Words of Radiance Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51yEEt2q0vL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Way of Kings Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51hAwcG3oNL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Duke and I Audiobook By Julia Quinn cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51XnZ3udYnL._SL240_.jpg)
![A Court of Silver Flames (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51QE+Y0jJbL._SL240_.jpg)
![Fourth Wing (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Rebecca Yarros cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61i95pK0DoL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Inmate Audiobook By Freida McFadden cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ORE1dbOaL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Final Empire Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61rYqiz8yJL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Serpent and the Wings of Night Audiobook By Carissa Broadbent cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61VDeWSV8iL._SL240_.jpg)
![A Court of Silver Flames (2 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation) Audiobook By Sarah J. Maas cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/510m5gwwsIL._SL240_.jpg)
![James Audiobook By Percival Everett cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31FeDPikCWL._SL240_.jpg)
![Break Me Audiobook By K. A. Tucker cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/512TJtt1MlL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Well of Ascension Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61jTUT0xfCL._SL240_.jpg)
![An Offer from a Gentleman Audiobook By Julia Quinn cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51qhFc8LJqL._SL240_.jpg)
![We Are Legion (We Are Bob) Audiobook By Dennis E. Taylor cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51rt2pFIW7L._SL240_.jpg)
![Oathbringer Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51fKpuTPMdL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Viscount Who Loved Me Audiobook By Julia Quinn cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/515SoOHheML._SL240_.jpg)
![The Idea of You Audiobook By Robinne Lee cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41-CB3k8DrL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Hero of Ages Audiobook By Brandon Sanderson cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/611IBQxExyL._SL240_.jpg)
![The Great Alone Audiobook By Kristin Hannah cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51NeDaxcJwL._SL240_.jpg)
Publisher's summary
This is one of the defining novels of English writer Julian Barnes. An entertaining melange of stories, starting with a contemporary account of the launch of Noah's Ark, takes us into unexpected areas of human foibles, activities, and tendencies.
After success with the main novels of Haruki Murakami, Naxos AudioBooks turns its attention to other major literary works of recent times.
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
Galapagos
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Galapagos takes the listener back one million years to AD 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galapagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, totally different human race. Kurt Vonnegut, America's master satirist, looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry - and all that is worth saving.
-
-
The survival of the human race is a total bore!
- By Darwin8u on 12-13-16
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Freddy and Fredericka
- By: Mark Helprin
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 25 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling, critically acclaimed author Mark Helprin's work has drawn favorable comparisons to an elite group of literary legends, including James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Edgar Allan Poe, and Thomas Mann. Helprin's sheer comic brilliance shines in this ingenious farce.
-
-
Can't rate it high enough (and I'm a tough grader)
- By Annette on 09-06-05
By: Mark Helprin
-
Galilee
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 23 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Barbarossa family’s roots are far more ancient and ethereal, but they are bound to the Gearys by a shared history of murder, insanity, and adultery. When Rachel Geary and Galilee, the seductive prince of the Barbarossa clan, fall in love, they unleash powerful enmities that could destroy both dynasties. Shorter and more conventional than some of Barker’s other work, this novel is especially rich with complex, passionate, three-dimensional characters, lush settings, and elegant language.
-
-
An Audiophile's Dream
- By Joseph on 09-01-11
By: Clive Barker
-
The Satanic Verses
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel’s publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie’s comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The book begins with two Indians plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their airliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations.
-
-
Use an audiobook to really enjoy Satanic Verses
- By David Edelberg on 11-24-12
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Hannay: His 5 Adventures
- By: John Buchan
- Narrated by: Graham Scott
- Length: 49 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Thirty-Nine Steps, Hannay struggles to thwart an assassination plot designed to hasten war between Britain and Germany. Later he is plucked from the trenches first, in Greenmantle, to frustrate a plot to ferment an uprising in the Islamic world; and then, in Mr. Standfast, to undertake a vital secret mission against a German spy ring operating among pacifist elements in England. After the war, his adventures continue in The Three Hostages; and then in The Island of Sheep, when an old oath to protect the son of a friend from his days in Africa draws him into new danger.
-
-
Values of a bygone era
- By Barbara on 03-16-24
By: John Buchan
-
Offshore
- By: Penelope Fitzgerald, Stephanie Racine, Alan Hollinghurst - introduction
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Alan Hollinghurst
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Battersea Reach, a mixed bag of the temporarily lost and the patently eccentric live on houseboats, rising and falling with the tide of the Thames. There is good-natured Maurice, by occupation a male prostitute, by chance a receiver of stolen goods. And Richard, an ex-navy man whose boat, much like its owner, dominates the Reach.
-
-
S.O.S
- By SB on 03-26-22
By: Penelope Fitzgerald, and others
-
Galapagos
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Galapagos takes the listener back one million years to AD 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galapagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, totally different human race. Kurt Vonnegut, America's master satirist, looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry - and all that is worth saving.
-
-
The survival of the human race is a total bore!
- By Darwin8u on 12-13-16
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Freddy and Fredericka
- By: Mark Helprin
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 25 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling, critically acclaimed author Mark Helprin's work has drawn favorable comparisons to an elite group of literary legends, including James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Edgar Allan Poe, and Thomas Mann. Helprin's sheer comic brilliance shines in this ingenious farce.
-
-
Can't rate it high enough (and I'm a tough grader)
- By Annette on 09-06-05
By: Mark Helprin
-
Galilee
- By: Clive Barker
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 23 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Barbarossa family’s roots are far more ancient and ethereal, but they are bound to the Gearys by a shared history of murder, insanity, and adultery. When Rachel Geary and Galilee, the seductive prince of the Barbarossa clan, fall in love, they unleash powerful enmities that could destroy both dynasties. Shorter and more conventional than some of Barker’s other work, this novel is especially rich with complex, passionate, three-dimensional characters, lush settings, and elegant language.
-
-
An Audiophile's Dream
- By Joseph on 09-01-11
By: Clive Barker
-
The Satanic Verses
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inextricably linked with the fatwa called against its author in the wake of the novel’s publication, The Satanic Verses is, beyond that, a rich showcase for Salman Rushdie’s comic sensibilities, cultural observations, and unparalleled mastery of language. The book begins with two Indians plummeting from the sky after the explosion of their airliner, and proceeds through a series of metamorphoses, dreams and revelations.
-
-
Use an audiobook to really enjoy Satanic Verses
- By David Edelberg on 11-24-12
By: Salman Rushdie
-
Hannay: His 5 Adventures
- By: John Buchan
- Narrated by: Graham Scott
- Length: 49 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Thirty-Nine Steps, Hannay struggles to thwart an assassination plot designed to hasten war between Britain and Germany. Later he is plucked from the trenches first, in Greenmantle, to frustrate a plot to ferment an uprising in the Islamic world; and then, in Mr. Standfast, to undertake a vital secret mission against a German spy ring operating among pacifist elements in England. After the war, his adventures continue in The Three Hostages; and then in The Island of Sheep, when an old oath to protect the son of a friend from his days in Africa draws him into new danger.
-
-
Values of a bygone era
- By Barbara on 03-16-24
By: John Buchan
-
Offshore
- By: Penelope Fitzgerald, Stephanie Racine, Alan Hollinghurst - introduction
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Alan Hollinghurst
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Battersea Reach, a mixed bag of the temporarily lost and the patently eccentric live on houseboats, rising and falling with the tide of the Thames. There is good-natured Maurice, by occupation a male prostitute, by chance a receiver of stolen goods. And Richard, an ex-navy man whose boat, much like its owner, dominates the Reach.
-
-
S.O.S
- By SB on 03-26-22
By: Penelope Fitzgerald, and others
-
Stand on Zanzibar
- By: John Brunner, Bruce Sterling - foreword
- Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world...and kill him. Society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers and mass-marketed psychedelic drugs.
-
-
perfect audio experience
- By Darryl on 03-24-14
By: John Brunner, and others
-
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Salman Rushdie is widely considered one of a handful of truly great living writers. The internationally acclaimed, Booker Prize-winning author's storytelling shines in this epic love story, a modern retelling of the myth of Orpheus.
-
-
Okay, Salmon, We get that you're a genious already
- By Julie A Quinn on 04-23-09
By: Salman Rushdie
-
The Stranger House
- By: Reginald Hill
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For years, the Stranger House has stood in the village of Illthwaite, offering refuge to travellers. People like Sam, a brilliant young mathematician, who believes that anything that can't be explained by maths isn't worth explaining. And Miguel, a historian running from a priests' seminary, who sees ghosts. Sam is an experienced young woman, Miguel a 26-year-old virgin.
-
-
an OK read
- By Jen Terry on 01-18-08
By: Reginald Hill
-
The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These stories display Twain's place in American letters as a master writer in the authentic native idiom. He was exuberant and irreverent, but underlying the humor was a vigorous desire for social justice and a pervasive equalitarian attitude.
-
-
Great but incomplete
- By Tad Davis on 03-23-10
By: Mark Twain
-
Gateways
- Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl
- By: Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It isn’t easy to get a group of bestselling SF authors to write new stories for an anthology, but that’s what Elizabeth Anne Hull has done in this powerhouse book. With original, captivating tales by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Gene Wolfe, and others, Gateways is a SF event that will be a must-buy for SF readers of all tastes, from the traditional to the cutting edge; from the darkly serious to the laugh-out-loud funny.
-
-
Spectacular.
- By Steve Reid on 08-21-15
By: Greg Bear, and others
-
The Testament of Gideon Mack
- By: James Robertson
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Gideon Mack, faithless minister, unfaithful husband, and troubled soul, the existence of God, let alone the Devil, is no more credible than that of ghosts or fairies - until the day he falls into a gorge and is rescued by someone who might just be Satan.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Christopher on 07-06-08
By: James Robertson
-
Archangel
- Samaria, Book 1
- By: Sharon Shinn
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A tale of the distant future by the author of The Shape-Changer's Wife brings listeners to a world in which the fate of all life rests on the voice of an angel.
-
-
An All-TIme Favorite
- By Carol on 02-27-11
By: Sharon Shinn
-
Wicked Autumn
- A Max Tudor Novel
- By: G. M. Malliet
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Max Tudor has adapted well to his post as vicar of St. Edwold's in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip. The quiet village seems the perfect home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past as an MI5 agent. But this new-found serenity is quickly shattered when the highly vocal and unpopular president of the Women's Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Max's training as a former agent kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play.
-
-
A Classic Cozy English Village Mystery
- By Sara on 10-08-14
By: G. M. Malliet
-
Dreamers of the Day
- A Novel
- By: Mary Doria Russell
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A 40-year-old schoolteacher from Ohio still reeling from the tragedies of the Great War and the influenza epidemic, Agnes has come into a modest inheritance that allows her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land. Arriving at the Semiramis Hotel just as an historic Peace Conference convenes, Agnes, with her plainspoken American opinions - and a small, noisy dachshund named Rosie - enters into the company of the historic luminaries.
-
-
Little Big Woman
- By W.Denis on 10-02-08
-
The Schooldays of Jesus
- By: J. M. Coetzee
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simon and Ines take care of him in their new town, Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog, Bolivar, to watch over him. But he'll be seven soon, and he should be at school. And so, with the guidance of the three sisters who own the farm where Simon and Ines work, David is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky.
-
-
SEXUAL PERVERSION PRESENTED AS BRILLIANT
- By Amazon Customer on 09-29-18
By: J. M. Coetzee
-
Driving on the Rim
- By: Thomas McGuane
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unforgettable voyager of this dark picaresque is I. B. "Berl" Pickett, M.D., whose die was probably cast the moment his mother thought to name him after Irving Berlin. Other insults piled on apace thereafter: the spasms of Pentecostal Sunday worship; the social debilitation of following his parents' itinerant rug-shampooing business; the erotic initiation at the hands of his aunt. It's hard to imagine what would have become of him had he not gone to medical school.
-
-
Delightful
- By Roy on 01-05-11
By: Thomas McGuane
-
Levels of Life
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Julian Barnes
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
'You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed...' Julian Barnes's new book is about ballooning, photography, love and grief; about putting two things, and two people, together, and about tearing them apart. One of the judges who awarded him the 2011 Man Booker Prize described him as 'an unparalleled magus of the heart'. This book confirms that opinion.
-
-
Every love story is a potential grief story.
- By Darwin8u on 09-27-16
By: Julian Barnes
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Sense of an Ending
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour, and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is retired. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Andrew Lim on 06-14-21
By: Julian Barnes
-
The Noise of Time
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In May 1937, a man in his early 30s waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block. He waits all through the night, expecting to be taken away to the Big House. Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now, and few who are taken to the Big House ever return.
-
-
Art belongs to everybody and nobody.
- By Darwin8u on 06-13-16
By: Julian Barnes
-
Arthur & George
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Homer Todiwala
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's extraordinary real-life fight for justice. Arthur and George grow up worlds and miles apart in late 19th-century Britain: Arthur in shabby-genteel Edinburgh, George in the vicarage of a small Staffordshire village. Arthur becomes a doctor, and then a writer, George a solicitor in Birmingham. Arthur is to become one of the most famous men of his age; George remains in hardworking obscurity. But as the new century begins, they are brought together by a sequence of events which made sensational headlines at the time as The Great Wyrley Outrages.
-
-
Never Ignites
- By John on 11-03-23
By: Julian Barnes
-
The Only Story
- A Novel
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One summer in the 60s, in a staid suburb south of London, Paul comes home from university, aged 19, and is urged by his mother to join the tennis club. In the mixed-doubles tournament he's partnered with Susan Macleod, a fine player who's 48, confident, ironic, and married, with two nearly adult daughters. She is also a warm companion, their bond immediate. And they soon, inevitably, are lovers. Clinging to each other as though their lives depend on it, they then set up house in London to escape his parents and the abusive Mr. Mcleod.
-
-
The Only Story
- By KP on 09-21-18
By: Julian Barnes
-
Flaubert's Parrot
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julian Barnes pens a kind of detective story, relating a cranky amateur scholar’s search for the truth about Gustave Flaubert and the obsession of this detective, whose life seems to oddly mirror those of Flaubert’s characters.
-
-
Strange and quirky story
- By Lela Ellsworth on 01-24-24
By: Julian Barnes
-
Talking It Over
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey, Alex Jennings, Clare Higgins
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Introducing Stuart, Gillian and Oliver. One by one they take their turn to speak straight out to the camera - and give their side of a contemporary love triangle. What begins as a comedy of misunderstanding slowly darkens and deepens into a compelling exploration of the quagmires of the heart.
-
-
The Narrative Gimmick Works
- By Alan on 11-22-11
By: Julian Barnes
-
The Sense of an Ending
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour, and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is retired. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Andrew Lim on 06-14-21
By: Julian Barnes
-
The Noise of Time
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In May 1937, a man in his early 30s waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block. He waits all through the night, expecting to be taken away to the Big House. Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now, and few who are taken to the Big House ever return.
-
-
Art belongs to everybody and nobody.
- By Darwin8u on 06-13-16
By: Julian Barnes
-
Arthur & George
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Homer Todiwala
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This novel is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's extraordinary real-life fight for justice. Arthur and George grow up worlds and miles apart in late 19th-century Britain: Arthur in shabby-genteel Edinburgh, George in the vicarage of a small Staffordshire village. Arthur becomes a doctor, and then a writer, George a solicitor in Birmingham. Arthur is to become one of the most famous men of his age; George remains in hardworking obscurity. But as the new century begins, they are brought together by a sequence of events which made sensational headlines at the time as The Great Wyrley Outrages.
-
-
Never Ignites
- By John on 11-03-23
By: Julian Barnes
-
The Only Story
- A Novel
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One summer in the 60s, in a staid suburb south of London, Paul comes home from university, aged 19, and is urged by his mother to join the tennis club. In the mixed-doubles tournament he's partnered with Susan Macleod, a fine player who's 48, confident, ironic, and married, with two nearly adult daughters. She is also a warm companion, their bond immediate. And they soon, inevitably, are lovers. Clinging to each other as though their lives depend on it, they then set up house in London to escape his parents and the abusive Mr. Mcleod.
-
-
The Only Story
- By KP on 09-21-18
By: Julian Barnes
-
Flaubert's Parrot
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julian Barnes pens a kind of detective story, relating a cranky amateur scholar’s search for the truth about Gustave Flaubert and the obsession of this detective, whose life seems to oddly mirror those of Flaubert’s characters.
-
-
Strange and quirky story
- By Lela Ellsworth on 01-24-24
By: Julian Barnes
-
Talking It Over
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Steven Pacey, Alex Jennings, Clare Higgins
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Introducing Stuart, Gillian and Oliver. One by one they take their turn to speak straight out to the camera - and give their side of a contemporary love triangle. What begins as a comedy of misunderstanding slowly darkens and deepens into a compelling exploration of the quagmires of the heart.
-
-
The Narrative Gimmick Works
- By Alan on 11-22-11
By: Julian Barnes
What listeners say about A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alisa
- 01-03-13
Brilliant!
Would you consider the audio edition of A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters to be better than the print version?
Exceptional brilliant narration!
What other book might you compare A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters to and why?
A Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - maybe because of characters
Have you listened to any of Alex Jennings’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
Who was the most memorable character of A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters and why?
just in progress
Any additional comments?
I`d like to listen more books narrated by Alex Jennings
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott
- 04-18-12
A Look at our Place in History
What made the experience of listening to A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters the most enjoyable?
Good stories and a few great ones read by a talented narrator.
What did you like best about this story?
That's difficult to say but I think that the stories being so different from one another but having unifying themes was one of the collection's strengths.
Which character – as performed by Alex Jennings – was your favorite?
The character in the last story 'The Dream.' Somehow reminded me of Ricky Gervais...
If you could take any character from A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters out to dinner, who would it be and why?
I'm not sure. That's a bit of a strange question...
Any additional comments?
Overall Review: ‘A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters’ contains one of what I believe to be the best short stories I have ever listened to, the last story in the collection, titled ‘The Dream.’ For my money this story alone is worth the price of admission. I also thought the collection’s opener ‘The Stowaway’ was a standout.
I felt that the audiobook was a challenging one. The stories at first glance appear to be unrelated but are connected though the themes of voyage, discovery, and the interpretation of history. Barnes is deftly able to handle these subjects with a sense of good humor and the seemingly unconnected stories make for a unified piece once viewed together.
If you are familiar with Julian Barnes work then you should be pleased with this collection. If you are new to Julian Barnes it’s best to know that he’s a contemporary English writer who writes literary fiction. If you’re a fan of literary fiction and you like short stories then you can’t really go wrong here.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ronn McCarrick
- 05-16-19
8 1/2 out of 10 1/2
This was not as humorous as I was expecting it to be. I enjoyed eight of the 10 chapters, and those two chapters I didn't enjoy I really didn't enjoy. my opinion the first chapter was the best chapter. Overall, I would say, I was entertained and that's not a bad thing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ALai
- 05-26-19
bizarre and disturbing
I found these stories disturbing. Some are fictional, though referring to historical events, others are directly related to historical (or biblical) events. All focus on the ugliness of humanity. not my idea of entertainment.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Houghton
- 07-19-14
Top drawer!
Would you consider the audio edition of A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters to be better than the print version?
Because of Alex Jennings, yes. Though, of course, Julian Barnes is to blame. What a combination!
What was one of the most memorable moments of A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters?
Hard to say, when I was laughing so hard
Have you listened to any of Alex Jennings’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
He's always wonderful
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Laugh
Any additional comments?
I would listen to Alex Jennings read the phone book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard
- 02-11-13
More Great Julian Barnes
Where does A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
HISTORY OF THE WORLD is one of the best books I have yet to listen to, and I have listened to hundreds. Barnes is brilliant with his wide ranging intelligence and splendid writing style. Alex Jennings is one of my favorite narrators and has done equally well with other of Julian Barnes' books.
What did you like best about this story?
These are stories that are linked in the most subtle (and not so subtle) way.
Have you listened to any of Alex Jennings’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Alex Jennings' narrations of other Julian Barnes books are truly wonderful.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Some of these stories are quite funny, and others serious and philosophical.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alice
- 01-31-20
Fantastic
Best I’ve read in a long time! Perfection. (I don’t want to be forced to write long reviews.)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lauren
- 08-03-17
short stories: satirical and devastating
If you could sum up A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters in three words, what would they be?
Satirical, Devastating, short-stories
What other book might you compare A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters to and why?
Mark Twain's satirical lectures. Using the Bible as a source for satirical stories, the author writes creatively about why we believe.
Have you listened to any of Alex Jennings’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Nope. Stupid question.
If you could take any character from A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters out to dinner, who would it be and why?
None of the characters are likeable, but I would like to see what they have seen.
Any additional comments?
I choose to be a follower of Christ but I did not find the book offensive, it helped me think about faith from a new perspective. The author speaks not "against" Christianity, but the Church's inability to understand and act according to what they believe. Some chapters are hilarious and some are painfully violent and abrupt.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert Cardin
- 02-28-13
Intelligent but ponderous
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
No. It was ponderous
What do you think your next listen will be?
?
Was A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters worth the listening time?
Not for me
Any additional comments?
Interesting concept and structure; I quit before the ending. Wore me out.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sonja E Hefta
- 04-23-19
Unusual book
Don’t get me wrong I like the book very much it’s just terribly odd. Not at what I was expecting! Since it say’s it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!