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Show i Dont miss a single word with these wonderful unabridged fail titles from HarperAudio umaSnrm Plainsong Kent Hamf JOHK IRY1G The Cider "Ts House 0DER Rules Job HORSE RIJI.F5 living EZUULHU1S3 ,v hi Ki i !. m m j at v.v in ti i't i Let's hear it for the holidays i j t BY SUKEY HOWARD Nothing could be hotter than a tape of Harry Potter, and now Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Listening Library, $33, 8 hours, 0807281751) the first of J.K. g series, the one that started the Rowlings wildly and at the top of my holiday craze and clamor is on tape best-sellin- gift list Children first, then adults, fell under Ms. Rowling's spell and fell into her magical world of witches and wizards. trolls and goblins, centaurs and unicorns, wands and flying broomsticks. classic And Harry is an hero only a boy and pitted against dark forces that would dismay and defeat a lesser soul. Its hard to know exactly what makes this tale of demng-d- o so compelling, but now that J've been initiated. I'm just w ild about Harry Reader Jim Dale, who conjures up the perfect voice for each character w ith a sorcerer's ease, may just be a wizard himself 0375408215) like it is Turovs fifth book and. predecessors, it's a legal thriller set in Kindle Count). It is also, like its predecessors, a fine novel that looks closely at the intricacies of love and loyalty, ambition and morals, and goes beyond the bounds of genre. Turow 's protagonist, Robbie Feaver, involved up to his eyeballs in judicial corruption, is a liar and a cner, but not without qualities that could redeem his more than flawed life. Joe Mantegna reads. best-selli- The Nicholas Sparks phenomenon , its fascinating entirety, read by the author and including an interview with him. The same happy fate aw ailed Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization: The I ntold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Furope (BDD Audio, $27 50, 0553502409). one of the most extraordinarily instructive and entertaining audios I've ever heard. Lucky listeners who find this new, unabridged version in their Christmas stockings will hear Dcmal Donnelly read for eight wonderful hours. Michael Lewis's old thing was the provocative Lui 's Poker, hiv new thing. The New New Thing (Brilliance, S29 95, 9 hours unabridged, 1567404464), is a detailed profile of Jim Clark, the quintessential techie genius and mastermind of new new things, which in his case includes Silicon Graphics. Netscape, and Healtheon. Lewis, as insightful as ever, follows this on his trifascinating hi!liinaire-gee- k umphal match through Silicon Valley. the economic frontier of the '9(N. w here new new things are poised to change the world and where the creators of new new things arc poised to make big big money, Sparks's third, bestselling, get out your handkeahief" novel, A Walk to Remember (Time Warner AudioBooks. S24 98, 5 hours, 15704274), is the story of a boy w ho finds real, transforming love with an unlikely partner who changes his life forever You'll get the full force of the poignant charm Sparks's fans find so irresistible m this unabridged version read by the author Christmas classics Nothing could be more classic than Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, and there are at least three good recordings. ld Daughter of Fortune Isabel Allenie m .v72 -- The Professor and the Simon I tt IMOA r Winchester tIU K 'iKrtnw.1' ton V ttj !( a(t W ti twc-pr- Mt Wife curt Portnqyb Complaint Pnilip BiwiM MH" fcf IMiM p11 f I j ! Portnoys Complaint Pbifip Roth ! I tMMI t e (M Httaii; Kftrtt y-- jj 1 st The Roddy Doyle phenomenon I Dov le, wonderful Every last word wnter and reader, inner of the prestigious Booker Pnze (the only Irish novelist ever to do so), portrayer of the gntt) underside of urban life in Ireland today, has turned the historical dock back to the first two decades of this century in A Star Called Henry (Penguin Audio, $25 95, 6 hours. 0141800828), the first of a promised, promising tnlogy. Henry, bom in 1901, goes from barefoot street urchin to active participant in the 1916 Easter Rising to loyal IRA assassin. Handsome, strong, reckless, a passionate lover of women and the cause, he's used to hard knocks and gives as good as he gets. Doyle mingles historical characters with fictional ones, but his history is impeccable This picture of the complicated political past helps explain the complicated political present. w Madman Patrick Stewart (Simon arid Schuster Audio, $16. 10 minutes). John Gielgud (BDD Audio. $9 99. I hour), and a full-cadramatization (Soundelux, $10 95, 1 hour). There is, however, listening life beyond the Carol." Dy Ian Thomass sonorous reading of his small master- The Scott Turow phenomenon Personal Injuries (Random House Audiobooks, $25 95. 6 hours. Unabridged audios offer hours and hours of unabridged pleasure and make great gifts for the listeners on your list. Here are a few recent amsals you might consider Hearts in Atlantis (Simon and Schuster Audio, $59 95, 0671582356), Stephen King's latest, is a brilliant collection of five interconnected narratives. Though the stones move in time from I960 to 1999, it is, at heart, a 60s saga, shadowed by the Vietnam War and its hollow, haunting aftermath The reading, by Mr King and W ilium Hurt (who make a dynamite duo), runs for 21 hours on 16 cassettes Simon Winchester's highly acclaimed bestseller. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder. Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (HarperAudio. $29 95, 6 12 hour., 06945224 Wi. was released in abndged form last year Now, fortunately, the linguistic detective siory of the decade is available in piece, A Child's Christmas in Males and Poems (HarperAudio, $12. 47 minutes), is a seasonal gem that never looses its appeal On a more contemporary note, author Maeve Binchy offers us This Tear It Mill Be DifTerent (BDD Audio, $21 99. 5 hours), her own special Christmas treasury " of non nostalgic stones about people dealing with problems that don't go away for the holidays. But if you are looking for nostalgia, you'll find it for sure in The Christmas Box (Simon and Schuster Audio. $12, 1.5 hours), Richard Paul Hu g Lvansc sweetly sentimental story of a widow and a young family, performed by Richard John Boy" Thomas. Andy M illiams. starting a tradition of his own. has recorded The Greatest Gift (Publishing Mi.s,$10 98. 30 minutes), the story that inspired the film Its a Hrwit lerful Ltje, and adds his rendition of It's the Most 'Aonderful Time of the Tear" to the package. super-popula- r, Sukes llotsani reHwts on spoken won 1 ataito ein h month |