In Search of Lost Time (Dramatized)

In Search of Lost Time is an extremely long, multi-volume novel. This dramatization distills it down to a few hours. It seems to focus on the romantic endeavors. It was not very engaging. Maybe it isn't worth going through the long original.

Dracula: Starring David Suchet and Tom Hiddleston

A BBC adaptation of a play based on the original Dracula book seems as good way as any to get introduced to Dracula. I was surprised at how little I knew of the original story, but how much I understood of the characters. Many of the "vampire" themes are present in this original book. There is also a distinct "vampire romance" involved. No wonder Twilight and the like of gone so far on the romance. Dracula spreads vampire-dom on other unwittingly. Some people also have managed to discover some of the defenses. The "happy" ending only occurs after great challenge.

And Then There Were None (Dramatised)

And then there were none is a sanitized version of Agatha Christie's popular mystery novel. Ten people that have caused the deaths of others are together on an island. There is a poem about 10 little soldier boys in each room. (In previous editions, there were other terms that would be offensive today.) Each one suffers death in a strange way. In the story, each of the people suffers death in a similar way. It turns out somebody was seeking "revenge" in this way. People may think they can escape their misdeeds, but they find the way back to them.

Jungle Book

The BBC produced a radio-play of some of the best stories in Kipling's Jungle Book. It was also distributed free in Britain (and is available at archive.org, with a claim that it is in the public domain.)

It tells some of the stories of a boy that was adopted by wolves and lives his life in the jungle. He does not fall victim to the trappings of wealth as do most other men. There are also other moral teachings in the book. (Modern Cub Scouts adopt some of the characters are teachings of the Jungle Book.)

The production is well done, and provides another adaption of popular stories.

Ulysses

I picked up a copy of Ulysses at the local library, not sure exactly what type of "version" it was. It turns out it was a BBC radio version of the book created a few decades ago. The performance is fairly good, though there are a couple episodes with actors talk at very different volumes. It became almost impossible to hear the quieter ones without cranking the volume (and then the louder ones were much too loud.)

The book is often near the top of people's best-of lists. However, it is long and hard to read. This seemed like a good introduction. After listening, however, I think I'll pass on the full book. It seems a clear case of style over substance. I did like the "idea" that he had. The juxtaposition of different styles may make it worth reading just to see how it all plays out on paper. However, the content is just not appealing. We have a day in a life of some Irishman. It resembles the voyage of Odysseus. I liked the way it was told. I just didn't care about any of the people or what they were doing.

War And Peace

War and Peace is a long book. I tried listening to the BBC dramatization that "only" lasts about 10 hours. It was tough to keep all the characters and events straight. I guess that is why it is such a long book. It takes place in Russia along the times of the Napoleonic invasion. Society is greatly altered both on the individual scale as well as the public scale. And the rest is just details...