Audiobooks Narrated by John Updike

John Updike Reading “Lifeguard” from Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories: From Great American Authors

"This well-known short story appears in Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories, one of John Updike's earliest books and is narrated by a divinity student at his summer job. From the heights of his wooden throne, the fastidious and aloof young narrator delivers a silent sermon addressed to the beachgoers—'the middle-aged, burdened with children and aluminum chairs.' Though full of himself and his mission, he appeals to us by virtue of his earnestness and promise, and the call for which he waits. Updike reads with a tender, ironic understanding of his haughty hero."

John Updike (Author), John Updike (Narrator)

Audiobook

Play Sample Listen For Free

Great American Authors Read From Their Works: Volume 2

"Nelson Algren reads from his most famous novel, The Man With the Golden Arm, about the decline and fall of a drug dealer and card sharp. Bernard Malamud’s devastating selection from The Magic Barrel portrays poor, embittered old Jews who achieve a moment of grace after fierce antagonism. In John Updike’s story from Pigeon Feathers, a seminary student working as a lifeguard draws a witty and lyrical contrast between saving souls and bodies. And James Jones’s account of World War II battle in Japan in The Thin Red Line shows young soldiers at their most heroic and perilous moments."

Bernard Malamud, James Jones, John Updike, Nelson Algren (Author), Bernard Malamud, James Jones, John Updike, Nelson Algren (Narrator)

Audiobook

Play Sample Listen For Free

Great American Authors Read From Their Works: Volume 2, John Updike Reading “Lifeguard” from Pigeon

"The young John Updike’s portrayal of a haughty seminary student working as a lifeguard is witty and poetic, as the naïve hero surveys the beachgoers in his care, and contemplates a future of saving souls rather than bodies. ***This title is presented as a reading***"

John Updike (Author), John Updike (Narrator)

Audiobook

Play Sample Listen For Free

The Afterlife and Other Stories: Unabridged Selections: The Man Who Became a Soprano, The Afterlife,

"A fantastic short story collection from critically acclaimed, and bestselling author, John Updike."

John Updike (Author), John Updike (Narrator)

Audiobook

Play Sample Listen For Free

Selected Stories: The Alligators, A & P, Pigeon Feathers, The Family Meadow, Witnesses, Separating

"John Updike reads six stories he has selected from the hundred-odd he has published. "A&P", recounting a moral crisis on the checkout counter, is his most anthologized story. "Pigeon Feathers," the longest story included, tells of a fourteen-year-old boy's fear of death and the answer he finds. "The Family Meadow" describes a piece of America, a picnic reunion in New Jersey. "The Witnesses" and "The Alligators" both deal with love, as felt by a middle-aged man and a fifth-grade boy. "Separating" recounts the June day when Richard and Joan Maple separate, in front of their four children. Mr. Updike, when asked to described his method of reading aloud, said "I try to picture the things describes, and to speak the words distinctly, and to let the emotion come through on its own." The method works beautifully."

John Updike (Author), John Updike (Narrator)

Audiobook

Play Sample Listen For Free