Audiobooks narrated by Alan Cumming

Book at Bedtime: A BBC Radio Collection: 10 Unmissable Classics

A bumper collection of accessible classics from the perennially popular BBC Radio 4 series This diverse, wide-ranging anthology features readings of 10 of the greatest books in the English language, taken from the BBC's Book at Bedtime and performed by a stellar cast of narrators. Here are nearly 27 hours of sensational stories, from iconic romances and humorous travelogues to pioneering Modernist masterpieces and compelling explorations of the human heart. Comprising much-loved favourites as well as neglected classics, this genre-spanning selection has something for everyone. This collection includes abridged readings of: Persuasion by Jane Austen: Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth get a second chance at love following their broken engagement seven years earlier. Read by Juliet Stevenson. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: An orphaned young woman discovers romance when she meets the charming Mr Rochester. Read by Anne-Marie Duff. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: Independent Bathsheba Everdene must contend with three very different suitors all vying for her affections. Read by Douglas Hodge. Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson: Stephenson's travelogue from his 12-day hike, taken to distance himself from his love affair with a married woman. Read by Alan Cumming. The Aspern Papers by Henry James: A nameless narrator goes to Venice to persuade American poet Jeffrey Aspern's lover to let him read Aspern's letters. Read by Samuel West. Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome: The Three Men in a Boat return for a bicycle tour through the German Black Forest. Read by Hugh Laurie. Dubliners by James Joyce: Form-defining stories about life in Dublin at the start of the 20th century. Read by Stephen Rea. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford: Two couples, two marriages; both seemingly perfect. But beneath the surface lies deception and betrayal. Read by Toby Stephens. The Rector's Daughter by F.M. Mayor: Mary has spent thirty-five years taking care of others, but with the arrival Robert Herbert her quiet, ordered existence is changed forever. Read by Juliet Stevenson. Orlando by Virginia Woolf: A playful mock biography of a chameleonic historical figure, immortal and ageless, who changes sex and identity on a whim. Read by Amanda Hale. First published 1817 (Persuasion), 1847 (Jane Eyre), 1874 (Far from the Madding Crowd), 1879 (Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes), 1888 (The Aspern Papers), 1900 (Three Men on the Bummel), 1914 (Dubliners), 1915 (The Good Soldier), 1924 (The Rector's Daughter), 1928 (Orlando) © 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Brontë, F.M. Mayor, Ford Madox Ford, Henry James, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Jerome K. Jerome, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, Virginia Woolf (Author), Alan Cumming, Amanda Hale, Anne-Marie Duff, Douglas Hodge, Hugh Laurie, Juliet Stevenson, Samuel West, Stephen Rea, Toby Stephens (Narrator)

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A Rhyme A Dozen - Roses

‘A dime a dozen’ as known in America, is perhaps equal to the English ‘cheap as chips’ but whatever the lingua franca of your choice in this series we hereby submit ‘A Rhyme a Dozen’ as 12 poems on many given subjects that are a well-rounded gathering, maybe even an essential guide, from the knowing pens of classic poets and their beautifully spoken verse to the comfort of your ears.1 - A Rhyme a Dozen - 12 Poets, 12 Poems, 1 Topic. Roses - An Introduction2 - A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns3 - The Rose Has Flushed Red by Hafiz4 - A Wild Rose by Alfred Austin5 - Laughing Rose by William Henry Davies6 - Amid the Roses by Alice Dunbar Nelson7 - The Secret Rose by W B Yeats8 - Sonnet 54 - O! How Much More Doth Beauty Beauteous Seem by William Shakespeare9 - The Rose by John Cournos10 - Roses of a Dream by Damon Runyon11 - No Rose That in a Garden Ever Grew by Edna St Vincent Millay12 - Where Roses Would Not Dare to Go by Emily Dickinson13 - Tis the Last Rose of Summer by Thomas Moore

Hafiz, Robert Burns (Author), Alan Cumming, Ghizela Rowe (Narrator)

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The Caretaker

Following the death of a renowned and eccentric collector-author of Stuff, a seminal philosophical work on the art of accumulation-the fate of the privately endowed museum he cherished falls to a peripatetic stranger who had been his fervent admirer. This peculiar institution (the Society for the Preservation of the Legacy of Dr. Charles Alexander Morgan) is dedicated to the annihilation of hierarchy. A priceless Dürer and other peerless antiquities commune happily with a toothbrush, a plastic coffee cup lid, and the rest of the ignored, the discarded, the undervalued and the valueless. The caretaker, a restless devotee of Dr. Morgan's work, believes he has landed the job of his dreams. But as the years go by and the lines of identity begin to blur, the caretaker learns he must pay a terrible price to inhabit Morgan's home, his history, and the remnants of his life. The Caretaker is a profound, probing novel with the momentum and tension of a thriller and is, in the words of Publishers Weekly, an "unnerving feat of contemporary postmodernism."

Doon Arbus (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Kenny & the Book of Beasts

In this highly anticipated sequel to New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Honor–winning author Tony DiTerlizzi's Kenny and the Dragon, Kenny must cope with many changes in his life—including the fear that he's losing his best friend. What can come between two best friends? Time has passed since Kenny Rabbit's last adventure with his best friend, the legendary dragon Grahame, and a lot has changed in the sleepy village of Roundbrook. For starters, Kenny has a whole litter of baby sisters. His friends are at different schools and Sir George is off adventuring. At least Kenny still has his very best friend, Grahame. That's before Dante arrives. Dante is a legendary manticore and an old friend of Grahame's. Old friends spend a lot of time catching up. And that catching up does not involve Kenny. But there's a Witch to defeat, a pal to rescue, and a mysterious book to unlock. And those are quests for best friends, not old friends. Right?

Tony Diterlizzi (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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The Poetry of Scotland

Scottish poetry is a powerful, beautiful expression of Country and Culture. It's proud history includes such figures as Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and many other illustrious figures. This volume of poetry is a perfect compendium of the words and works of Scotland. The track list is; The TWA Corbies - Ballad; Sir Patrick Spens - Ballad; Get Up And Bar The Door - Anonymous; The TWA Books - Alan Ramsay; from A Hymn On The Seasons - James Thomson; Hymn On Solitude - James Thomson; Johnnie Cope - Adam Skirving; from O Tell Me How To Woo Thee - Robert Graham of Gartmore; from Auld Reikie - Robert Fergusson; A Red Red Rose - Robert Burns; Tam O' Shanter - Robert Burns; To A Mouse - Robert Burns; A Man's A Man For A' That - Robert Burns; Ae Fond Kiss - Robert Burns; from 'Caller Herrin' ' - Lady Nairne; Ca' The Yowes To The Knowles - Anonymous; McLean's Welcome - James Hogg; Lochinvar - Walter Scott; Proud Maisie - Walter Scott; Old Christmastide (An Extract) By Sir Walter Scott; My Native Land - Sir Walter Scott; The Dirge Of Wallace - Thomas Campbell; Ode To The Memory Of Burns - Thomas Campbell; Lord Ullin's Daughter - Thomas Campbell; Lachin Y Gair - George Gordon (Lord) Byron; Beautiful Balmoral - William Topaz McGonagall; from 'The City Of Dreadful Night' - James Thomson; from 'In The Shadows' (Sonnet 1) - David Gray; The Vagabond - Robert Louis Stevenson; Where Go The Boats - Robert Louis Stevenson; God Gave To Me A Child In Part - Robert Louis Stevenson; I Do Not Fear To Own Me Kin - Robert Louis Stevenson; Autumn Fires - Robert Louis Stevenson; Christmas At Sea - Robert Louis Stevenson; Winter - Robert Louis Stevenson; When You See Millions Of The Mouthless Dead -Charles Sorley; Such Such Is Death - Charles Sorley; Scottish Ground - Daniel Sheehan; Selkirt Grace - Robert Burns; Scots Whahae - Robert Burns; Auld Lang Syne - Robert Burns.

Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott (Author), Alan Cumming, Daniela Nardini, Gordon Kennedy, Hannah Gordon (Narrator)

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You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams

A magical concoction of the mischievous, tender, whimsical, and debauched real-life adventures of Alan Cumming, told in his own words and pictures. Described by the New York Times as "a bawdy countercultural sprite" and named one of the most fun people in show business by Time magazine, Alan Cumming is a genuine quadruple threat-an internationally acclaimed, award-winning star of stage, television, and film, as well as a New York Times best-selling author whose real-life vivacity, wit, and charm shine through every page of his third book, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams. In these forty-five picture essays, Cumming recounts his real-life adventures (and often, misadventures), illustrated by his own equally entertaining photographs. From an awkward bonding session with Elizabeth Taylor to poignant stories about his family and friends to some harsh words of wisdom imparted by Oprah that make up the title of this collection, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams is as eclectic, enchanting, and alive as its author. *** Please contact Customer Service for additional content.

Alan Cumming (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Not My Father's Son: A Memoir

Dark, painful memories can be like a cage. Or, in the case of Alan Cumming, they can be packed away in a box, stuck in the attic to be forgotten. Until one day the box explodes and all the memories flood back in horrible detail. Alan Cumming grew up in the grip of a man who held his family hostage, someone who meted out violence with a frightening ease, who waged a silent war with himself that sometimes spilled over onto everyone around him. That man was Alex Cumming, Alan's father. When television producers approached Alan to appear on a popular celebrity genealogy show in 2010, he enthusiastically agreed. He hoped to solve a mystery that had long cast a shadow over his family. His maternal grandfather, Tommy Darling, had disappeared into the Far East after WWII. Alan's mother knew very little about him, he had been a courier, carrying information between battalions on his motorbike. The last time she saw her father, Alan's mother was eight years old. When she was thirteen, the family was informed that he had died by his own hand, an accidental shooting. But this was not the only mystery laid before Alan's feet. His father, whom Alan had not seen or spoken to for more than a decade, reconnected just before filming for Who Do You Think You Are? began. He had a secret he had to share, one that would shock his son to his very core and set into motion a journey that would change Alan's life forever. With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as the celebrated actor of film, television, and stage. At times suspenseful, at times deeply moving, but always incredibly brave and honest, Not My Father's Son is a powerful story of embracing the best aspects of the past and triumphantly pushing the darkness aside.

Alan Cumming (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Not My Father's Son: A Family Memoir

Alan Cumming grew up in the grip of a man who held his family hostage, someone who meted out violence with a frightening ease, who waged a silent war with himself that sometimes spilled over onto everyone around him. That man was Alan's father, Alex Cumming. Alex was the dark, enigmatic heart of Cumming family life. But he was not the only mystery. Alan's maternal grandfather, Tommy Darling, had disappeared to the Far East after the Second World War. The last time Alan's mother saw her father she was eight years old. When she was thirteen, the family was informed that he had died in an accidental shooting. Curious to explore this second mystery, Alan committed to filming an episode of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? Then out of the blue, his father, who Alan and his brother had not seen or spoken to for more than a decade, called. He had a secret he had to share, one that would shock his son to his very core and set in motion a journey that would change Alan's life forever. At times suspenseful, at times deeply moving, but always brave and honest, Not My Father's Son is a powerful story about embracing the best aspects of the past and triumphantly pushing the darkness aside.

Alan Cumming (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Babycakes

When an ordinary househusband and his ambitious wife decide to start a family, they discover there's more to making a baby then meets the eye. Help arrives in the form of a grieving gay neighbor, a visiting monarch, and the dashing young lieutenant who defects from her yacht. Bittersweet and profoundly affecting, Babycakes was the first work of fiction to acknowledge the arrival of AIDS.

Armistead Maupin (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Macbeth

Star of stage, film and television Alan Cumming delivers a virtuoso performance playing every role in the National Theatre of Scotland's bold presentation of Shakespeare's chilling tale of desire, ambition, and the supernatural. This radical reimagining of one of Shakespeare's most deeply psychological plays is set in a psychiatric unit in which Cumming is the lone patient. Channeling the story of Macbeth, he is inhabited in turn by each of the characters of the drama, including some of Shakespeare's most complex and troubled creations. Cumming's one-man interpretation of Shakespeare's Scottish play comes to audio directly from acclaimed limited stage engagements with the National Theatre of Scotland in Glasgow and at New York's Lincoln Center. Directed for audio by the stage production's renowned directors, this exclusive studio recording of Cumming's dazzling solo performance captures the excitement, passion and poetry of a wildly original tour-de-force that is destined to become theatrical legend.

William Shakespeare (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Tommy's Tale: A Novel

Tommy is twenty-nine, lives and loves in London, and has a morbid fear of the c word (commitment), the b word (boyfriend), and the f word (forgetting to call his drug dealer before the weekend). But when he begins to feel the urge to become a father, and the pressure from his boyfriend to make a real commitment to their relationship, Tommy starts to wonder if his chosen lifestyle can ever make him happy. Faced with the choice of maintaining his hedonistic, drugged-out, and admittedly fabulous existence or chucking it all in favor of a far more sensitive, fulfilling, and-let's face it-slightly more staid lifestyle, Tommy finds himself in a true quandary. Through a series of adventures and misadventures that lead him from London nightspots to New York bedrooms and back, our boy Tommy manages to answer some of life's most pressing questions-even those he never thought to ask.

Alan Cumming (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Goliath

Alek and Deryn are on the last leg of their round-the-world quest to end World War I, reclaim Alek's throne as prince of Austria, and finally fall in love. The first two objectives are complicated by the fact that their ship, the Leviathan, continues to detour farther away from the heart of the war (and crown). And the love thing would be a lot easier if Alek knew Deryn was a girl. (She has to pose as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Service.) And if they weren't technically enemies. The tension thickens as the Leviathan steams toward New York City with a homicidal lunatic on board: secrets suddenly unravel, characters reappear, and nothing is as it seems in this thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld's brilliant trilogy.

Scott Westerfeld (Author), Alan Cumming (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Alan Cumming