The Classic Tales Podcasts and Audiobooks

Last Friday, marked the 6th anniversary of B.J. Harrison's The Classic Tales Podcast .  This gives me the perfect opportunity to write about some of my favorite stories he has produced during the many years I've listened to the Podcast. I am trying to remember what the first story I listened to was, I think it was Arthur Conan Doyle's " The Speckled Band ."  Although I had read that story a bunch of times, B.J. really made it come alive to me.  Ever since then, each time I read a Sherlock Holmes story, it is his version of the sleuth I hear in my head. Also, if you haven't heard B.J.'s  Jeeves and Wooster you are so missing out.  But don't worry, he has bundled all of the books and stories he's recorded by P.G. Wodehouse for you.  You will love every minute of it and be in constant stitches! But getting to listen to some of my favorite stories is only part of what makes me love this podcast.  There are so many wonderful books and short stori...

The Arabian Nights originated in the oral folk tales originating from India, Persia (Iran), Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey among others. The original manuscript is now lost, consisting of a ninth-century text translated into Persian called Hazar Afsanah (A Thousand Tales). By the end of the thirteenth century, the principal tales were compiled and written down. The book’s Arabic title means Thousand and One Nights . Over the years, the collections anonymous editors added new tales to justify the title. The French scholar Antoine Galland was the man instrumental in bringing the tales to Western Culture, releasing his collection of Arabian Tales in 1704. The text used for the Classic Tales Podcast releases of the Arabian Nights tales are an English translation by H.W. Dulken, which is based on Galland’s sweeping translation. There are several other remarkable translations to date, perhaps the most notable being Sir Richard Burton’s translation (1885-1888) . The Burton tra...