 | Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) by William Thackeray
Buy new: £6.02 / Used from: £0.41 Take this - allegedly the longest book in the English Language...
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 | Vanity Fair (Classic Fiction) by William Makepeace Thackeray
Buy new: £16.99 / Used from: £24.40 ...Skillfully read to you by Jane Lapotaire in a mere 5 CD's! Time saved: 33 hours
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 | War and Peace (Pocket Penguin Classics) by Leo Tolstoy
Buy new: £5.91 / Used from: £2.75 Or take this - the book you always promised you would read as a New Years Resolution. But is a tome at 1408 pages...
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 | War and Peace: v. 1 by L.N. Tolstoy
Buy new: £45.00 / Used from: £66.01 ...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!)
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 | 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..
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 | Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Buy used from: £14.99 ...Shortened to a 5 cds. Time saved: 60 hours!
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 | The Odyssey (Penguin Classics) by Homer
Buy new: £5.97 / Used from: £0.93 Not long but the oldest novel of Europe & so difficult to read. Knowing its contents is therefore of merit...
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 | The Odyssey (Radio Collection) by Homer
Buy new: £10.52 / Used from: £5.50 ... This dramatisation renders the Odyssey simply & effectively. Though not 100% faithful, it is still a superior rendition.
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 | Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale (Penguin Classics) by Herman Melville
Buy new: £5.96 / Used from: £3.21 Arguably the finest work in the English language, but difficult reading and long at 720 pages...
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 | Moby Dick (Classic Fiction) by Herman Melville
Buy new: £11.04 / Used from: £5.79 ...Bill Bailey (not the comedian!) gives a grumpy yet gritty version of the story in a staggering 3 cds! Time saved: 55 hours.
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 | The Lord of the Rings (3 Book Box set) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Buy new: £11.96 / Used from: £5.00 You may have read this but, if you haven't, then it is 1500 words, which are frequently abridged on film...
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 | 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: £37.64 / Used from: £183.46 ... Chopped down to 12 CDs and 13.5 hours, with no abridgements. Time saved: over 100 hours!
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 | Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus (Penguin Classics) by Mary Shelley
Buy new: £4.04 / Used from: £0.50 A treacle-like series of monologues, which will leave you despairing of mankind...
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 | 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.
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 | The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Buy new: £4.37 / Used from: £0.30 A bleak yet worthwhile story of Martians invading Earth (not done justice by the film)...
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 | The War of the Worlds (Classic Radio Sci-Fi) by Wells H. G.
Buy new: £10.48 / Used from: £6.49 ... Undoubtedly far superior in audio format (as Orson Welles proved...) Time saved: 15 hours.
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 | Ulysses (Penguin Modern Classics) by James Joyce
Buy new: £6.46 / Used from: £3.43 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...
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 | Ulysses (Modern Classics) by James Joyce
Buy new: £50.50 / Used from: £42.00 ... 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!
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 | Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman (Penguin Classics) by Thomas Hardy
Buy new: £4.99 / Used from: £0.01 A classic, but difficult to approach & can be quite melancholy...
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 | Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Hardy Thomas
Buy new: £9.51 / Used from: £6.25 ... Construed as 6 CD's, with wonderful narration by Eleanor Bron. Much shorter too - saves 40 hours!
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 | 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...
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 | The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
Buy new: £9.73 / 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.
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 | NIV Pocket Bible: New International Version by International Bible Society
Buy new: £8.88 / Used from: £6.28 The Bible? On Audio book?? You bet! 1264 pages that are compulsory reading (as even Richard Dawkins admits...)
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 | Inspired by the Bible Experience: The Complete Bible by Various
Buy used from: £69.77 ... Simplified to 80 CD's. Unfortunately no chapter numbers & lots of annoying music, but nothing's perfect! Time Saved: at least 25 hours.
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 | Passing Time in the Loo: v.1: Vol 1 (Compact Classics)
Buy new: £11.65 / Used from: £10.50 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...
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Listmania!
