 | Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) by William Thackeray
Buy new: £6.02 / Used from: £2.00 Take this - allegedly the longest book in the English Language...
|
 | Vanity Fair (Classic Fiction) by William Makepeace Thackeray
Buy new: £17.35 / Used from: £31.84 ...Skillfully read to you by Jane Lapotaire in a mere 5 CD's! Time saved: 33 hours
|
 | War and Peace (Pocket Penguin Classics) by Leo Tolstoy
Buy new: £5.70 / Used from: £5.00 Or take this - the book you always promised you would read as a New Years Resolution. But is a tome at 1408 pages...
|
 | War and Peace: v. 1 by L.N. Tolstoy
Buy new: £53.72 / Used from: £40.00 ...Condensed down to a mere(!!) 70hours on 55 CD's! Time saved: at least 50 hours (though you will get sooo bored of his voice by then that you'll start to speak like him!)
|
 | Don Quixote (Wordsworth Classics) by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra
Buy new: £1.99 / Used from: £0.01 That other long, essential classic. Europe's first modern novel, relatively short (800 pages), but difficult to read as is an old book..
|
 | Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Buy used from: £14.99 ...Shortened to a 5 cds. Time saved: 60 hours!
|
 | The Odyssey (Penguin Classics) by Homer
Buy new: £4.79 / Used from: £1.99 Not long but the oldest novel of Europe & so difficult to read. Knowing its contents is therefore of merit...
|
 | The Odyssey (Radio Collection) by Homer
Buy new: £11.15 / Used from: £7.95 ... This dramatisation renders the Odyssey simply & effectively. Though not 100% faithful, it is still a superior rendition.
|
 | Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale (Penguin Classics) by Herman Melville
Buy new: £5.86 / Used from: £2.86 Arguably the finest work in the English language, but difficult reading and long at 720 pages...
|
 | Moby Dick (Classic Fiction) by Herman Melville
Buy new: £11.04 / Used from: £5.25 ...Bill Bailey (not the comedian!) gives a grumpy yet gritty version of the story in a staggering 3 cds! Time saved: 55 hours.
|
 | The Lord of the Rings (3 Book Box set) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Buy new: £13.00 / Used from: £11.99 You may have read this but, if you haven't, then it is 1500 words, which are frequently abridged on film...
|
 | The Lord of the Rings: "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", "The Return of the King" (BBC Radio Collection) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Buy new: £39.15 / Used from: £30.89 ... Chopped down to 12 CDs and 13.5 hours, with no abridgements. Time saved: over 100 hours!
|
 | Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus (Penguin Classics) by Mary Shelley
Buy new: £4.08 / Used from: £2.00 A treacle-like series of monologues, which will leave you despairing of mankind...
|
 | Frankenstein (Classic Fiction) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Buy new: £9.89 / Used from: £4.67 ...Reduced to a semi-dramatised 3 hours of intriguing dialogue. Time saved: 25 hours.
|
 | The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Buy new: £4.36 / Used from: £1.31 A bleak yet worthwhile story of Martians invading Earth (not done justice by the film)...
|
 | The War of the Worlds (Classic Radio Sci-Fi) by Wells H. G.
Buy new: £7.82 / Used from: £8.44 ... Undoubtedly far superior in audio format (as Orson Welles proved...) Time saved: 15 hours.
|
 | Ulysses (Penguin Modern Classics) by James Joyce
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £4.98 Hardcore,difficult book, but one which that is always pretentiously quoted by people who've read it (e.g. Neil Strauss "Style") Is 1040 pages btw...
|
 | Ulysses (Modern Classics) by James Joyce
Buy new: £57.31 / Used from: £80.98 ... Shortened to 30CD's in all AND (as a bonus) the narrative structure flows better in audio format (with the added explanatory value of Jim Norton and Mrs Riordan's voices'). Time saved: 70 hours!
|
 | Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Hardy
Buy new: £4.19 / Used from: £0.01 A classic, but difficult to approach & can be quite melancholy...
|
 | Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Hardy Thomas
Buy new: £8.99 / Used from: £6.23 ... Construed as 6 CD's, with wonderful narration by Eleanor Bron. Much shorter too - saves 40 hours!
|
 | The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
Buy used from: £0.01 The whole series of Bernard Cornwell books. Easy to read, but consumes lots of free time at 264 pages approx/ book and 7 books...
|
 | The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
Buy new: £10.26 / Used from: £6.00 ... Transformed into 12 CD's of the very best in audio book tales. Saves only 10 hours a book, but this series is good either read OR heard.
|
 | NIV Pocket Bible: New International Version by International Bible Society
Buy new: £8.82 / Used from: £5.94 The Bible? On Audio book?? You bet! 1264 pages that are compulsory reading (as even Richard Dawkins admits...)
|
 | Inspired by the Bible Experience: The Complete Bible by Various
Buy used from: £92.55 ... Simplified to 80 CD's. Unfortunately no chapter numbers & lots of annoying music, but nothing's perfect! Time Saved: at least 25 hours.
|
 | Passing Time in the Loo: v.1: Vol 1 (Compact Classics)
Buy new: £11.52 / Used from: £10.31 All in all, this list should save you 483 hours (followed faithfully! ;)). However, the inspiration for this list, will use your time far more efficiently in enabling you to blag the classics...
|
Listmania!
