Talking Books

Yet another category of recorded sound items I have collected over recent years is that which is termed “Speaking Books.” (Strange, I’ve never yet come across a book that can speak!), but I’m sure you know what it means – stories recorded on to Cassette or CD so that you don’t have to read them. My collection grew rapidly when I purchased (at different times) 3 different vastly reduced collections of talking books on CD. These were a 44 CD collection of Classics, a 26 CD collection of Ronald Dahl children’s stories, and a 35 CD set of James Bond Thrillers.

The vast bulk of my talking books are fiction, with the exception of around twelve recordings which are autobiographies, which is somewhat unusual, as I tend to read lots more none fiction books than fiction!

Looking down the categories listed under talking books you will find:

Mystery, Horror, Crime, Suspense, Classics, Children’s Stories, Autobiography, Ghost Stories, Nature, Poetry.

Among the list of titles I see that quite a number of them have been made into films.

Talking Books which fall into this category include:

The Invisible Man [H G Wells], Dracula [Bram Stoker], The Lost World [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle] , The Silence of the Lambs [Thomas Harris], Psycho [Robert Bloch] , The Thirty Nine Steps [John Buchanan], David Copperfield [Charles Dickens], A Christmas Carol [Charles Dickens] , The Hound of the Baskervilles [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle], Rebecca [Daphne Du Maurier] , The Birds [Daphne Du Maurier] , The Day of the Jackal [Frederick Forsyth] , The Third Man [Graham Greene] , The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Victor Hugo], Ring of Bright Water [Gavin Maxwell], Dr Zhivago [Boris Pasternak], The Phantom of the Opera [Gaston Leroux] On the Beach [ Nevil Shute], Frankenstein [Mary Shelley] , Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson] , Billy Liar [Keith Waterhouse] , The Day of the Triffids [John Wyndham] , A Study in Scarlet [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle] , Porterhouse Blue [Tom Sharpe] , Tarka the Otter [Henry Williamson], Oliver Twist [Charles Dickens], Tom Jones [Henry Fielding], War of the Worlds [H G Wells], The Maltese Falcon [Dashiell Hammett, Rob Roy [Sir Walter Scott], Treasure Island [Robert Louis Stevenson], Great Expectations [Charles Dickens], The Big Friendly Giant [Roald Dahl], All the James Bond Stories [Ian Fleming].


Plots of some of my favourite Talking Books:


The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth

This is a short story which tells of a wartime pilot who becomes disorientated due to fog, but is guided in by another plane to land safely on a runway of what turns out to be an abandoned aerodrome. The guiding pilot had flown from here previously and had been killed…..




The Monkey’s Paw by W W Jacobs


The story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their grown-up son, Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend of the Whites who has been part of the British Armed Forces in India, leaves them with the monkey's paw, telling of its mysterious powers to grant three wishes, and of its journey from an old fakir to his comrade, who uses his third and final wish to wish for death.
Mr. White wishes for 200 pounds. Their son is killed by machinery at his company, and they get compensation of 200 pounds.
Ten days after they bury Herbert, Mrs. White, almost mad with grief, asks her husband to wish Herbert back to life with the paw. He is very reluctant, but does so. After a delay there are knocking sounds on their door. Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in an attempt to open the door. Mr. White knows however, that he cannot allow their son in; as he was mutilated by the accident (Mr. White had been required to witness and identify the body), and had been dead and buried for more than a week. He wishes his third wish; that Herbert be "...dead again, and at peace". The knocking stops. Mrs. White opens the door to find no one there.

The last page of the classic horror story "The Monkey's Paw"

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

A shy ladies' companion, staying in Monte Carlo with her stuffy employer, meets the wealthy Maxim de Winter. She and Max fall in love, marry and return to Manderlay, his large country estate in Cornwall. Max is still troubled by the death of his first wife, Rebecca, in a boating accident the year before. The second Mrs. de Winter clashes with the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and discovers that Rebecca still has a strange hold on everyone at Manderlay.

Early Edition of "The Hound of the Baskervilles"

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When Sir Charles Baskerville dies unexpectedly, his nephew and heir Sir Henry returns from South Africa. Dr. Mortimer. the local doctor, is concerned about Sir Henry's safety as he is convinced that Sir Charles was literally frightened to death. He consults Sherlock Holmes and recounts the tale of one Sir Hugo Baskerville who, several generations previously, had been killed by a huge hound and which now is believed by some to be a curse on the family. Holmes agrees to take on the case and it almost immediately becomes apparent that Sir Henry's life is in danger. Holmes doesn't believe in the legend of the Baskervilles or the supposed curse place upon them and sets out to find a more practical solution.