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Silksoundbooks - The Birth of Arnold BennettPosted By Billie, on 27/05/2010 15:43:10  On the 27th May in 1867 this rather dashing chap was born in Hanley, Staffordshire in England. Arnold Bennett started life working for his father, a solicitor, as a general assistant and rent collector, but it was not a happy occupation. Arnold left his father's practice at the age of 21 and went to live in London. After winning a literary competition in Tit-Bits magazine in 1889 he was encouraged to take up journalism full time. Whilst working as the assistant editor on the periodical Woman he discovered it was difficult to find decent writing for the magazine so he wrote some for it himself. It was an immediate hit and his next endeavour became the hugely successful Grand Hotel Babylon. He then devoted himself entirely to writing and began the Clayhanger series of novels, wryly describing life in the Potteries towns in which he had grown up. In 1903 he moved to Paris where he married and continued to write prolifically becoming the most acclaimed British writer in America since Charles Dickens. The Card, read for Silksoundbooks by the highly acclaimed English actor Stephen Tompkinson is a wonderful novel written by Arnold Bennett in 1911. It tells the story Henry Machin and his rise from washerwoman's son to Mayor of Bursley - a fictitious town based on the potteries towns near to where Bennett grew up. With tricks of confidence and talent, he makes his way up the social ladder with all the benefits and pitfalls that brings. His antics are regarded with affection and admiration, as shown by the book's final chapter: 'What a card!' said one, laughing joyously. 'He's a rare 'un, no mistake.' 'Of course, this'll make him more popular than ever,' said another. 'We've never had a man to touch him for that.' 'And yet,' demanded Councillor Barlow,'what's he done? Has he ever done a day's work in his life? What great cause is he identified with?' 'He's identified,' said the speaker, 'with the great cause of cheering us all up!' So - if you are in need of a bit of cheering up yourself, download The Card from Silksoundbooks!! Silksoundbooks - On this day April 15thPosted By Billie, on 15/04/2010 08:52:52  On this day - April 15th - in 1912 the 'unsinkable' Titanic sank, in 1865 President Lincoln died after being shot by an assassin and in 1843, Henry James, the American writer was born in New York City. Henry James was born into a wealthy, highly educated family and from an early age was familiar with the classic literature of England, France, Germany and Russia. Although he attended Harvard Law School he preferred reading literature to studying the law. He travelled extensively in Europe and then moved to England in 1876 where he became a British subject in 1915. The theme of the expatriate runs through most of Henry James’ work as does what he perceived to be the conflict between the new and aggressive culture of the United States and that of the ‘older’ Europe. At Silksoundbooks, we have three exclusive audiobook readings written by Henry James. Jennifer Ehle reads Washington Square, one of his funniest and most enjoyable of novels, with the suspense carried right up until the last page as to how the contest between father and daughter will end. Jeremy Northam reads two audiobooks by Henry James, The Real Thing and Other Short Stories, highlighting his ability to mix tragedy and comedy and The Aspern Papers, one of the wittiest and most scathing of his novellas. Three great Henry James audio books - only from Silksoundbooks.com Silksoundbooks - an audio book, a Birthday and a Scandal...Posted By Jake, on 11/12/2009 08:36:23  Tomorrow - December 12th - is the anniversary of the birth of the novelist Gustave Flaubert who was born in the French city of Rouen in 1821. The son of a senior surgeon, Flaubert began writing stories in his teens. His most celebrated novel - the result of five years writing - is Madame Bovary, a work that was to mark the begining of a new era in French literature. Originally serialised in Revue de Paris in 1856, Madame Bovary tells of the romantic illusions of a country doctor's wife and her adulterous liaisons. The book caused nothing short of a scandal, Flaubert was brought to trial for obscenity but he was acquitted and the novel went on to become a huge popular success. What was all the fuss about? Listen to the wonderful actress Julie Christie reading the complete unabridged audio book of Madame Bovary to find out! Silksoundbooks - On This Day in 1865Posted By Billie, on 12/11/2009 11:23:19  Today is the anniversary of the death of Elizabeth Gaskell. Sometimes simply referred to as Mrs Gaskell, Elizabeth was an English novelist and short story writer in the Victorian era. Although born in London, she spent much of her childhood in Cheshire, where she lived with her aunt Hannah Lumb in Knutsford, a town she would later immortalise as Cranford in her novel of 1853. Her time here was to be the source for so much of her highly accurate portrayal of mid-nineteenth century Britain, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. She married William Gaskell, a lecturer at Manchester University and a Unitarian Minister and they embarked on a life of social and educational work and the raising of their large family. Elizabeth Gaskell's novel My Lady Ludlow is a brilliant picture of the shift in power in a rural Northern village, from the velvety feudal Ludlows to the glitter of the new money rattling through the system courtesy of the brazen baker from Birmingham. The interruption of scenes from the French Revolution adds a crackling of horror to this quintessentially British of downfalls. Read by the legendary british actress Suzanna York with 'husky sensitivity', this unabridged audio book is perfect for long cold winter nights! Silksoundbooks - The birthday of Thomas HughesPosted By Digby, on 20/10/2009 08:39:00  On this day in 1822, Thomas Hughes was born in Uffington, Berkshire, the second of seven sons of John Hughes and Margaret Wilkinson. During his life, Hughes was a Barrister, an MP - elected as a Liberal in 1865 - and a Judge, but it was as an author that he is most well known. His novel Tom Brown's School Days, is a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby, a well-known British public school, which he attended from the age of eleven. The book was an incredible success and was the the financial making of the publishers, London's Macmillan & Company and brought Thomas Hughes both fame and a small fortune. Interestingly, much of this income was used to found a settlement in America - Rugby, Tennessee — which was designed as an experiment in utopian living for the younger sons of the English gentry. He envisioned his new community as a place where those who wished could build a strong agricultural community through cooperative enterprise, while maintaining a cultured, Christian lifestyle, free of the rigid class distinctions that prevailed in Britain. He established a school, which he named Arnold School after his headmaster at Rugby, Dr. Thomas Arnold. Unfortunately his vision was not really successful and it fell victim to financial troubles, but Rugby still exists today and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with a visitor centre and guided tours. You can even stay in two restored houses from the 1880s. Today, over 150 years after it was first published, Tom Brown's School Days is still a really gripping story. Read as an unabridged audio book by Hugh Bonneville , all the excitement and drama of Tom's days at Rugby really come to life. Silksoundbooks - On This Day - Henry FieldingPosted By Billie, on 08/10/2009 12:29:16  Today marks the anniversary of the death of Henry Fielding, author of the wonderfully named Silksoundbooks audio book The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend Mr Abraham Adams. Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist, famous for his rich earthy humour and infamous for his satirical works. So much so, that his writings are thought by many to have contributed to the passing of the Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 which brought in strict censorship to the British stage. Fielding never stopped writing political satire and he took to writing novels. Published in 1742 Joseph Andrews is an accomplished work that is considered to mark his debut as a serious novelist. Aside from his literary achievements, he has a significant place in the history of law-enforcement, having founded (with his half-brother John) what some have called London's first police force, The Bow Street Runners. The Silksoundbooks unabridged audio book of The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend Mr Abraham Adams is a wonderful tale, read by the hugely popular English actor Rufus Sewell. Silksoundbooks - Revolution on This DayPosted By Digby, on 30/09/2009 15:21:35  On the 30th September 1791 in Paris, a vain, meticulously dressed French Lawyer or avocat, his hair carefully brushed and powdered white, dissolved the National Assembly and had himself declared one of the only two incorruptible patriots in France. He was, of course, the infamous Robespierre and he ushered in the Reign of Terror that was to provide the background for one of Charles Dickens' most thrilling novels. This was a time when the rich were beheaded simply for being rich. A woman in Bordeaux was beheaded for the 'crime' of having wept at her husband's execution. Not even nuns, women and children were safe, 20,000 were guillotined in the name of the Revolution and all under the approving eye of Robespierre, by now the most powerful politician in France. Set between London and Paris, A Tale of Two Cities has adventure, betrayal and great heroism woven through this thrilling tale of the French Revolution and is read by Andrew Sachs as an unabridged audio book for Silksoundbooks. And what happened to Robespierre? Within three years he faced the same fate to which he had sent so many of his countrymen: death by guillotine. Silksoundbooks - On This Day 7th AugustPosted By Jake, on 07/08/2009 08:08:26 On August 7th 1754, the author Henry Fielding left London for Portugal in search of a healthier climate. He had suffered from ill health for some time, but sadly his journey to Lisbon fails to ease his condition and he died there two months later. During his lifetime, Henry Fielding wrote more than two dozen plays but his drama career ended when his satire Historical Register of the Year 1736 enraged the prime minister. His first full-length novel, published in 1742, The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams was also one of the first English novels. Fielding was melding and parodying the two major forces battling for control of the fiction of the time – the mock heroic, neo-classical tradition as practiced by Pope and Swift and the popular and populist fiction of the new novelists such as Defoe and Richardson. Rufus Sewell reads The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of his Friend Mr. Abraham Adams in an unabridged audiobook available only from silksoundbooks.com Silksoundbooks - On this day 200 years ago....Posted By Billie, on 07/08/2009 07:48:36  Today, Aust 6th, marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Alfred, Lord Tennyson the much loved English poet who is often often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. Alfred was born 1809, at Somersby in Lincolnshire and was the fourth of twelve children of George and Elizabeth Tennyson. After spending four unhappy years in school he was tutored at home and then studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. Tennyson wrote a number of phrases that have become commonplaces of the English language, including: Nature, red in tooth and claw, Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die and he is the second most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare. In 1850, Tennyson succeeded to the position of Poet Laureate, which he held until his own death in 1892, by far the longest tenure of any laureate before or since. He accepted a peerage and became Alfred, Lord Tennyson in 1833. Queen Victoria was an ardent admirer of Tennyson's work, and in 1884 created him Baron Tennyson. The vast and romantic poetic world of Alfred Lord Tennyson contains many fascinating women, including The Lady of Shalott, who are revealed and depicted with astonishing understanding by Lucy Fleming in the Silksoundbooks audio book Tennysons Ladies, available to download from silksoundbooks.com Silksoundbooks - On This Day 4th AugustPosted By Billie, on 04/08/2009 06:20:27  Today, August 4th, is the anniversary of the death of one the greatest children's story tellers of all time. Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author and poet, most famous for his Fairy Stories. Among his best-known are The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling and The Red Shoes. During his lifetime he was feted by royalty and acclaimed for having brought great enjoyment to a whole generation of children throughout Europe. His fairy tales have been translated into more than 150 languages and they continue to be published all over the world. His fairy tales have inspired the creation of numerous films, theatre plays, ballets and movie animations. At Silksoundbooks, we have taken the original versions of some of Hans Christian Andersen's best loved stories and recorded The Snow Queen and other Fairy Stories. Read by the Emmy award winning actress, Greta Scacchi , this marvellous audio book really brings these timeless stories vividly to life. It ls available in MP3 or iPod audiobook format for you to download at www.silksoundbooks.com Silksoundbooks - On This Day 3rd AugustPosted By Jake, on 03/08/2009 19:21:28  On this day, 3rd August 1924, Joseph Conrad died of a heart attack at Oswalds, a large house near Canterbury in Kent, England. He had turned down a Knighthood in May because he didn't like honours he felt he hadn't earned. On his tombstone in the graveyard in Canterbury his Polish name is engraved : Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. Many critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in the English language, despite his not having learned to speak English fluently until he was in his twenties and then always with a strong Polish accent. A childhood ambition to visit central Africa was realised in 1889, when Conrad travelled to the Congo Free State. He became captain of a Congo steamboat, and the atrocities he witnessed and his experiences there informed his most acclaimed work, Heart of Darkness, to which many have been introduced by Francis Ford Coppola's film, Apocalypse Now, inspired by Conrad's novel and set during the Vietnam War. Heart of Darkness is brought to life by the acclaimed actor Toby Stephens. His best selling audio book recording is available exclusively to download from Silksoundbooks. Silksoundbooks - On this 19th JulyPosted By Jake, on 19/07/2009 07:50:26  This weekend is the anniversary of the death 192 years ago of one of the most widely read and beloved writers in English literature, Jane Austen . Born in 1775 in a small village in Hampshire, England, her father was a clergyman and her mother came from a family fairly remotely connected to the aristocracy. She had five brothers and one sister. It's hard to imagine, but during her lifetime she gained little personal fame as her novels were published anonymously. Today she is admired all around the world with movies and TV adaptations of all her works. At Silksoundbooks we have recorded audiobooks two of her novels that were published posthumously in 1818. Persuasion - a very funny exploration of the eighteenth century sport of trying to find a decent husband - is read beautifully by Olivia Williams. Lynn Redgrave brings her incredible talent to the gothic horror of Northanger Abbey where we follow the story's heroine, seventeen year old Catherine Morland. These two unabridged classic Jane Austen audio books are available to download from silksoundbooks.com Silksoundbooks - on this day....Posted By Billie, on 07/07/2009 07:32:56  Today, July 7th, is the anniversary of the death of the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who will be forever remembered as the creator of the legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle studied medicine in Edinburgh and modelled his great fictional character on his University professor Joseph Bell, to whom he wrote It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes...round the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up a man. The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and his colleague Dr Watson was in A Study in Scarlet, first published in 1887. Richard E Grant reads this gripping unabridged story for Silksoundbooks. In addition to his Sherlock Holmes stories, Conan Doyle also wrote other works not involving the famous sleuth. The Tales of Terror and Mystery have all the recognisable qualities that made his work so popular, the attention to gruesome detail the meticulous logic and the intricate and wittily bemusing plotting, yet they are free of the constraints put on him by Mr Holmes and Dr Watson. Bill Paterson reads Tales of Terror and Mystery available for download from silksoundbooks.com Silksoundbooks - On This DayPosted By Jake, on 04/07/2009 08:36:15  On the 4th July 1862, the Reverend Charles Dodgson took three small sisters boating on the River Thames, near Oxford. On that boat trip, he entertained the girls by telling them a story about a bored little girl called Alice who goes looking for adventure down a rabbit hole. One of the three girls who just happened to be called Alice, aged 10, loved the story so much, she asked Reverend Dodgson to write it down for her. Two years later he published the book of the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland under the name Lewis Carroll , the rest is hallucinogenic history! Both of the Alice stories, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There are available as wonderful audio books read by the hugely talented Julia McKenzie . What a great way to keep your little Alices entertained on a holiday journey. Happy Birthday to Silksoundbooks Star Reader Bill PatersonPosted By Tess, on 03/06/2009 09:33:54  Bill Paterson was born in Glasgow in 1945. After a three year stint as a struggling apprentice quantity surveyor he escaped to the teaching course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. This was to be the start of a career in drama which has covered most aspects of the craft. He toured Britain with John McGrath’s radical and ground breaking company 7:84, appeared with Billy Connolly at the 1972 Edinburgh Festival and he took Connolly’s play An Me Wi’ A Bad Leg Tae into the Royal Court Theatre in London. He has appeared in a vast array of films, amongst them, The Killing Fields, The Rachel Papers , Truly Madly, Deeply, Miss Potter and Amazing Grace. Bill was one of the founder readers at Silksoundbooks.com and his unabridged audio book Tales of Terror and Mystery by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has become a real favourite with our listeners. Silksoundbooks - on this dayPosted By Billie, on 22/05/2009 09:33:47 150 years ago today Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland to an Irish Catholic family.He studied medicine at Edinburgh University and in spite of colleagues such as Robert Louis Stevenson and J M Barrie, he was not entirely gripped by his studies there. An adventurer at heart, he spent a year in the middle of his studies as a ship’s surgeon on an Arctic whaler. It was while he was practicing medicine in Portsmouth that he started writing A Study In Scarlet, what was to be the first of the series of tales about the most famous detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes. A series of gruesome and unexplained murders in Victorian London leave the police baffled, but Sherlock Holmes has already solved the case using his brilliant detective skills. Richard E Grant brings his famed eccentric wit to A Study In Scarlet available as an unabridged audio book from Silksoundbooks. Silksoundbooks - on this dayPosted By Billie, on 21/05/2009 08:28:37  The 21st May marks the birthday of the greatest English poet of the eighteenth century.Alexander Pope was born in the City of London in 1688 to Roman Catholic parents in exactly the year when, with the accession to the throne of William III, it became a disaster to be Catholic.He started writing at a precociously young age, completing his first successful series of poems The Pastorals, by the age of twenty. In 1713 Pope began a revolution in poetic circles by securing a subscription based publishing deal for his translation of Homer’s Iliad, which would make him the first English poet to live off his poetry alone. Emilia Fox has recorded The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems, a specially selected audio book of some of Pope’s best loved works for exclusively for Silksoundbooks. |
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