Cape Cod


Read by PhyllisV

(4.2 stars; 6 reviews)

Cape Cod is one of several excursion books by Henry David Thoreau. The travel itinerary frames his thoughts about geography, natural and local history, and philosophy. (Summary from Wikipedia) (10 hr 22 min)

Chapters

Introduction 8:46 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 1 Part I - The Shipwreck 21:46 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 1 Part II - The Shipwreck 12:34 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 2 - Stage-Coach Views 25:29 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 3 Part I - The Plains of Nauset 25:32 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 3 Part II - The Plains of Nauset 32:20 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 4 Part I - The Beach 29:40 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 4 Part II - The Beach 19:50 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 5 Part I - The Wellfleet Oysterman 28:00 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 5 Part II - The Wellfleet Oysterman 22:41 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 6 Part I - The Beach Again 33:51 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 6 Part II - The Beach Again 29:29 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 7 Part I - Across the Cape 24:01 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 7 Part II - Across the Cape 24:44 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 8 Part I - The Highland Light 28:35 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 8 Part II - The Highland Light 30:14 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 9 Part I - The Sea and the Desert 29:57 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 9 Part II - The Sea and the Desert 32:31 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 9 Part III - The Sea and the Desert 18:58 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 10 Part I - Provincetown 26:34 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 10 Part II - Provincetown 34:36 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 10 Part III - Provincetown 36:42 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 10 Part IV - Provincetown 35:31 Read by PhyllisV
Chapter 10 Part V - Provincetown 10:26 Read by PhyllisV

Reviews

Well Written and Read....


(3 stars)

This book is well-written and is read well too, but this Thoreau sounds different from the one who wrote Walden: Life in the Woods. In Walden, he wrote spiritually of Nature. In this, he is often sardonic and critical of his fellow man. He seems to have lost his innocence and positive focus. He is amusing in his jaundiced eye, but I prefer the clear-eyed younger man. Plus he opens this book with a rather gruesome, emotionally-detached account of a shipwreck. The reader is... good...modulating her tone well; and reading without rushing. However, she mispronounces an oft-used word -- Eastham. Most places-names ending in "ham" are pronounced properly as "em". But Eastham is different. It is properly pronounced East-HAM...as in a cut of pork. She also mispronouces other words...autumnal , gunwale, Scylla, Elysian, Charybdis, etc. It jars the ear, and breaks the flow of the story. Another word she mispronounces is the author's name -- Thoreau. But then, most people do; it should be enunciated as in " thorough."

Gratitude for Contribution


(5 stars)

I am grateful to the narrator for her time, effort, and enthusiasm. Her reading was expressive of the author's voice and tone. I am thankful for all of us to have access to our cultural heritage. As a native of Cape Cod, I was bewildered to hear Thoreau's description of a desolate, lunar landscape of dunes too moist to hold great amounts of snow. There was a small farm just down the road from us. We went sledding and cross-country skiing every winter. Our house was surrounded by thick woods of pines and oaks. Our yard contained a mulberry tree that must be over 200 years old. Our house was bordered by a lichen-covered stone wall, and there seemed to be no shortage of large field stones in our soil. However, I am fascinated by his travelogue. Thanks!