American Classics on Audio

One of the best things about being a librarian is all the great questions we get, and the answers we’re challenged to come up with. Recently I was approached by a patron who grew up on another continent, and for whom English was their third language. They were particularly interested in listening to audiobooks of American classics, but they were finding it really hard to locate these in our library catalog. I agree: it is difficult! It is also a question we get a lot.

Because the way we use the term “classic” is slippery and subjective, it is generally not a reliable search term. (My own favorite definition is “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Mark Twain wrote that. That’s why he’s a classic.) Long story short, I assisted this patron by creating for them this list of American Classics on Audio in our library catalog. I’m sharing it here, because I bet some of you will find it useful as well.

USA. New York City. 1940s. Shirley JACKSON, author of “The Lottery”. Contact email: New York : photography@magnumphotos.com Paris : magnum@magnumphotos.fr London : magnum@magnumphotos.co.uk Tokyo : tokyo@magnumphotos.co.jp Contact phones: New York : +1 212 929 6000 Paris: + 33 1 53 42 50 00 London: + 44 20 7490 1771 Tokyo: + 81 3 3219 0771 Image URL: http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&IID=2K7O3RB9TZD5&CT=Image&IT=Zo

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 3: FILE: Maya Angelou poses for a portrait during an interview in Washington, D.C. on June 3, 1974. (Photo by Craig Herndon / The Washington Post)

Book lists are limited to 100 items maximum, so there were plenty of titles I had to leave out; in the case of prolific authors with lots of titles on audio, I linked to their whole body of work. Take a look at the list, and let us know in the comments what other audiobooks from our collection you think should be on an American classics list, and maybe we’ll have enough for a sequel.

     ~ Posted by David W.