Tales From the Arabian Nights: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Other Stories by AnonymousMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The fact that British actor Toby Stephens narrates this was definitely a nudge to check out this audiobook from my trusty library. Of course, I appreciate the Arabian Nights, so that's another plus.
Overall, I was a tad disappointed with this audiobook. I enjoyed Ali Baba, Aladdin and the frame story about Scheherazade, but I was bored with the seven tales of Sinbad, and the tale about the greedy man who ended up becoming blind. They were too monotonous. I felt my mind wandering as I listened and did my Wii Fit exercises. I wish they had picked different stories besides these two for the collection, honestly. And I could have done with more narration about Scheherazade herself as well. At least I had Toby's lovely voice to narrate for me. Maybe a pet peeve for some, but all the voices sounded British, so it didn't feel as 'atmospheric' to me.
This will be a short review because it's kind of a ho-hum read for me. Nothing spectacular or really awful about it. Although I did like that they included Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade within the production. I love that music! I think my standard was higher since I read the Andrew Lang adaptation, and I absolutely adore the TV miniseries that came on ABC with Dougray Scott, Mili Avital, Rufus Sewell, Jason Scott Lee, and other great actors. I plan to read the huge, unexpurgated version of 1001 Arabian Nights someday before I die.
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