Three Men in a Boat (1994) by Jerome K. Jerome, read by Hugh Laurie

[@donkfail1]

Perfect reader for this one. I just saw Laurie as Wooster while listening. 🤵‍♂

[@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn]

Happy to report that the BBC persuaded him to read the second book a few years later, and that'll be on the channel soon.

[@임혜민-l3u]

What a bless this channel is... I didn't even know this exist and I'm excited af

[@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn]

I've got a reading of the sequel (Three Men on a Bummel) by Hugh Laurie, too - though the choice of music dividing each episode has proved controversial...

[@blobbybobs1]

This is simply marvellous. Thank you so much for uploading this.

[@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn]

It is wonderful; there's a BBC reading of the sequel on the channel, also read by Hugh Laurie - though I'm afraid most people don't like the music very much...

[@blobbybobs1]

@@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn thank you, I will listen. 🙂

[@blobbybobs1]

@@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn thank

[@thisisdriveingtohell]

Absolutely amazing reading

[@thisisdriveingtohell]

Is it an abridged version, isn’t it? Don’t you know maybe where it could be possible to find the text of this version? I’m trying to learn English and would be very thankful if you can point to it. And thank you very much for downloading, this is absolutely amazing reading Best wishes to your channel!

[@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn]

You're quite right, this is abridged - but I'm afraid there is no text available of this version. This was originally part of a series called 'Talking Classics', a magazine released in the early 1990s and every book in that series was cut down to 2hrs and 25 minutes so it would fit onto two compact discs. So the abridgement was made for the audiobook, rather than already being available as a text. I'm sorry not to be able to help more than this - but of course I'm very glad you enjoy the reading, which is indeed wonderful. Strange to think that this reader is now best known as 'House M.D.'...

[@thisisdriveingtohell]

@@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn talented guy, I believe)) He is Bertie Wooster for me))) By the way, as a native speaker, don’t you think the language of the audio a little bit a outdated to be good material to learn to use in daily conversations? I mean, for example, wouldn’t it be too much to say “I was impelled to conclusion” instead “I came to the conclusion” or “it came to me”?

[@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn]

@@thisisdriveingtohell You're quite right, it's far from everyday language. But in fact that's part of the humour - even native British English speakers (even at the time the book was published) would find a phrase like 'I was impelled to conclusion' to be pretentious and overcomplicated. That's a deliberate part of the book's tone of self-mockery - you're hearing quite an everyday, silly story recited as if it was a grand, heroic narrative. Though to be clear, the narrator is clearly making that joke so we laugh at his self-mockery rather than at his self-importance.

[@thisisdriveingtohell]

@@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn omg! It looks like that as a non native who doesn’t really understand difference between just old-fashioned and intendedly over-pretentious language I scarcely can catch even half of humour vibe of the book. Pity, but good to know Really appreciate for your detailed explanation. Tanks a lot. Should be reading on my native language apparently

[@MysticalMagpie-wo5fn]

Translation can rarely convey everything in an original work, and sometimes translators simply choose not to. You might find that a translation of this book doesn't convey the subtlety of language that I've described - but of course I don't think you need feel you're missing out too much if this stuff isn't obvious to you. In this case Hugh Laurie does a lot of the work with his voice, making himself sound pompous but self-mocking... it's not so very far away from the humour of Jeeves and Wooster after all.