Fairy Tales & Folklore Audiobooks | Literature

"Imagine that there are American MIAs who chose to remain missing after the Vietnam War. Imagine that there is a family in which four generations of strong, alluring women have shared a mysterious connection to an outlandish figure from Japanese folklore. Imagine just those things (don’t even try to imagine the love story) and you’ll have a foretaste of Tom Robbins’s eighth and perhaps most beautifully crafted novel--a work as timeless as myth yet as topical as the latest international threat. On one level, this is a book about identity, masquerade and disguise--about “the false mustache of the world”--but neither the mists of Laos nor the smog of Bangkok, neither the overcast of Seattle nor the fog of San Francisco, neither the murk of the intelligence community nor the mummery of the circus can obscure the linguistic phosphor that illuminates the pages of Villa Incognito. A female fan once wrote to Tom Robbins: “Your books make me think, they make me laugh, they make me horny and they make me aware of the wonder of everything in life.” Villa Incognito will surely arouse a similar response in many readers, for in its lusty, amusing way it both celebrates existence and challenges our ideas about it. To say much more about a novel as fresh and surprising as Villa Incognito would run the risk of diluting the sheer fun of reading it. As his dedicated readers worldwide know full well, it’s best to climb aboard the Tom Robbins tilt-a-whirl, kiss preconceptions and sacred cows goodbye and simply enjoy the ride."

Tom Robbins (Author), Barrett Whitener (Narrator)

Audiobook

Anansi Time

"While Bobby Norfolk was visiting the town of Kumasi in Ghana in the summer of 1993, a woman told him, 'At four-thirty every afternoon, we try to gather together and have Anansi time.' At her invitation, Norfolk attended the community-wide afternoon break and heard elders tell stories of Anansi, the tireless trickster of Ghanian tradition."

Bobby Norfolk (Author), Bobby Norfolk (Narrator)

Audiobook

Baby Hawk Learns to Fly

"Award-winning storyteller Bobby Norfolk brings his talents to six traditional stories. A mixture of classic stories and lesser-known folktales, these are all performance-tested audience favorites, capturing Norfolk's trademark energy and humor. Whether the story is from the American South, Japan, or the Caribbean, Norfolk pinpoints the message of the story and invites his listeners to celebrate the best in all of us."

Bobby Norfolk (Author), Bobby Norfolk (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Mothman Prophecies

"West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare that culminates in a strategy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery...."

John A. Keel (Author), Craig Wasson (Narrator)

Audiobook

World Tales of Wisdom and Wonder

"World Tales of Wisdom and Wonder is a collection of folktales told in a weave of poetry, prose, original melody, and guitar. Drawn from cultures around the globe, these colorful tales offer a leap into fantasy and some homespun wisdom passed down through the oral tradition. The sequel to Wonder Tales From Around The World. © and (P)2001 Heather Forest"

Heather Forest (Author), Heather Forest (Narrator)

Audiobook

Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears

"Emmy Award-winning storyteller Bobby Norfolk brings his electrifying energy to this diverse collection of folktales, which come from the African, British, European, and Appalachian traditions. From Anansi, the African trickster, to Jack, the bumbling, lucky, persevering Everyman of tradition lore, Norfolk's characters instruct while they entertain."

Bobby Norfolk (Author), Bobby Norfolk (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fat Cat and Friends

"Featuring Margaret MacDonald's storytelling accompanied by Richard Scholtz's autoharp and dulcimer, this recording is full of lively, playful fare. These selections are ideal for expanding into song, dance, and creative drama. Includes stories adapted from MacDonald's picture books, Fat Cat (Denmark) and Mabela the Clever (Limba, Sierra Leone), as well as several from her resource collection Shake-it-up Tales."

Margaret Read Macdonald (Author), Margaret Read Macdonald (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Best of Texas Folklore Volumes 1 & 2

"Wise, Witty Original Research on Texas Old & New - From Texas Folklore Society Members Hear the funny, inspirational papers that were spoken at annual meetings of the Texas Folklore Society. Members of this legendary organization "talk fancy" about Texas peddlers, fly paper, funeral homes, horny toads, Jesse James, possums, babies, grandparents, cow chips, crazy women in the rafters, dogwood hoops, windmills that "steal air," early radio DJs and…much, much more! Elmer Kelton - Paul Patterson: Teacher, Mentor, Friend Tom Breedlove - A Fly Paper Phyllis Bridges - La Quinceañera: Hispanic Folk Custom Georgia Caraway - Texas Kitsch and Other Collectibles Kenneth Davis - Peddlers in the 1930's / Pepe's Panaderia: Bread Lore Patrick Dearen - Somewhere Over the Pecos: A Patterson Oz Jim Harris - Texans on the Road: The Folklore of Travel L. Patrick Hughes - Praising Potted Pork Parts: Austin's Spamarama James Ward Lee - Talking Fancy / Hell Is for Heroes Faye Leeper - Technology and Fast Foods Can Speed Up Aging Becky Matthews - E-Lore Archie McDonald - Uppity Women 'Wildwood Dean' Price - Survival Value in Fannin County, Texas Joyce Gibson Roach - Baby Lore / Horny Toads in Fact, Fiction and Folklore Mildred Sentell - Funeral Homes in Small West Texas Towns Evelyn Stroder - Paul Patterson, Master Teacher Lucy Fischer West - Three Decades with John O. Henry Wolff Jr. - Madame Blackley: Seer of South Texas"

Elmer Kelton, Various Artists (Author), Elmer Kelton, Various Artists (Narrator)

Audiobook

Tales of Irish Myths

"Three key stories from the mists of Irish legend retold by Benedict Flynn, with atmospheric music and sound effects. Enter a mysterious world where the line between the fantastical and the real is blurred mortals and immortals live strange entwined lives and nature and high magic exist side by side."

Benedict Flynn (Author), Dermot Kerrigan, Marcella Riordan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

"One of the most beloved and bestselling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following. This special twenty-fifth anniversary edition features a new foreword and afterword by the author. "A thoughtful, fearlessly low-key novel about the role of our species on the planet . . . laid out for us with an originality and a clarity that few would deny."-The New York Times Book Review Teacher Seeks Pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person. It was just a three-line ad in the personals section, but it launched the adventure of a lifetime. So begins an utterly unique and captivating novel. It is the story of a man who embarks on a highly provocative intellectual adventure with a gorilla-a journey of the mind and spirit that changes forever the way he sees the world and humankind's place in it. In Ishmael, which received the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship for the best work of fiction offering positive solutions to global problems, Daniel Quinn parses humanity's origins and its relationship with nature, in search of an answer to this challenging question: How can we save the world from ourselves? Explore Daniel Quinn's spiritual Ishmael trilogy: ISHMAEL • MY ISHMAEL • THE STORY OF B Praise for Ishmael "As suspenseful, inventive, and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction you are likely to read this or any other year."-The Austin Chronicle "Before we're halfway through this slim book . . . we're in [Daniel Quinn's] grip, we want Ishmael to teach us how to save the planet from ourselves. We want to change our lives."-The Washington Post "Arthur Koestler, in an essay in which he wondered whether mankind would go the way of the dinosaur, formulated what he called the Dinosaur's Prayer: 'Lord, a little more time!' Ishmael does its bit to answer that prayer and may just possibly have bought us all a little more time."-Los Angeles Times"

Daniel Quinn (Author), Anthony Heald (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Commemorative

"In this short story by bestselling author Myla Goldberg (originally published in Harper's magazine), an unemployed artist lands a freelance job that gives him a strange brand of influence over the population of a distant island nation and places him in an equally strange relationship with the woman who hires him."

Myla Goldberg (Author), Oliver Wyman (Narrator)

Audiobook

How & Why Stories

"Did you ever look carefully at a spider's web? Did you ever wonder what causes thunder and lightning? Why do dogs chase cats? Why does it look like there's a man in the moon? In this delightful recording of tales from around the world, each story explains why an animal, plant, or natural object looks or acts the way it does. Four of the stories are told by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss, authors of the companion book, How & Why Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read and Tell. Because the authors wish to inspire children to tell stories, the remainder are told by eight guest kid tellers. So listen to these stories, retell them, and then make up your own 'how and why' stories."

Martha Hamilton, Mitch Weiss (Author), Martha Hamilton, Mitch Weiss (Narrator)

Audiobook

Fairy Tales & Folklore Audiobooks in Literature