8


Condition: New.
CHECK your CD manual BEFORE ordering. Your player must be able to play MP3 files on CD or these CDs will not play. Thank you.



Audio Source : Public Domain, Librivox

G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) better known as G.K. Chesterton was an English writer. He wrote on philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox". Time magazine, in a review of a biography of Chesterton, observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out." Chesterton is well known for his reasoned apologetics, and even some of those who disagree with him have recognized the universal appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Chesterton, as a political thinker, cast aspersions on both Progressivism and Conservatism, saying, "The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected."


1. Manalive
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

The flying blast struck London just where it scales the northern heights, terrace above terrace, as precipitous as Edinburgh. It was round about this place that some poet, probably drunk, looked up astonished at all those streets gone skywards, and (thinking vaguely of glaciers and roped mountaineers) gave it the name of Swiss Cottage, which it has never been able to shake off. At some stage of those heights a terrace of tall gray houses, mostly empty and almost as desolate as the Grampians, curved round at the western end, so that the last building, a boarding establishment called "Beacon House," offered abruptly to the sunset its high, narrow and towering termination, like the prow of some deserted ship. (Summary by Gilbert Keith Chesterton)

Genre(s): Crime & Mystery Fiction, General Fiction



2. The Incredulity of Father Brown
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Originality and humor characterize the plots of these clever detective stories. The mysteries are solved by the detective priest, Father Brown. His application of shrewd, common sense to the unraveling of a succession of strange crimes and happenings rob them of the supernatural element attributed to them by the credulous. This is the third collection of similar stories. (Summary from "The Booklist")

Genre(s): Detective Fiction



3. The Napoleon of Notting Hill
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

While the novel is humorous (one instance has the King sitting on top of an omnibus and speaking to it as to a horse: "Forward, my beauty, my Arab," he said, patting the omnibus encouragingly, "fleetest of all thy bounding tribe"), it is also an adventure story: Chesterton is not afraid to let blood be drawn in his battles, fought with sword and halberd in the London streets, and Wayne thinks up a few ingenious strategies; and, finally, the novel is philosophical, considering the value of one man's actions and the virtue of respect for one's enemies. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Genre(s): Action & Adventure Fiction, Fantastic Fiction, Humorous Fiction



4. The Man Who Was Thursday 
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Subtitled by the author as a "Nightmare", this is a fantasy, comic thriller about a plot to end the world by a group of anarchists. Generally regarded as Chesterton's most impressive novel. - Summary by Anthony Ogus

Genre(s): Crime & Mystery Fiction, Fantastic Fiction



5. The Secret of Father Brown
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

This is the fourth collection of mysteries featuring the very smart and even more devout catholic priest, Father Brown. (It follows The Innocence of Father Brown, The Wisdom of Father Brown and The Incredulity of Father Brown.)

Father Brown is probably the most unconventional detective of fiction: short and dumpy, extremely shy, unvaryingly kind, and utterly unselfconscious.

His secret? As a priest he has developed a far-reaching understanding of how we all feel and think. Being profoundly humble, he is able to imagine how he, personally, could be led to commit a given theft, murder or other crime. With this in mind, he is generally able to figure out who did commit it. - Summary by Kirsten Wever

Genre(s): Detective Fiction, Published 1900 onward, Christian Fiction



6.  The Wisdom of Father Brown
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

This is the second of five books of short stories about G. K. Chesterton’s fictional detective, first published in 1914. Father Brown is a short, nondescript Catholic Priest with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella who has an uncanny insight into human evil. His methods, unlike those of his near contemporary Sherlock Holmes, although based on observation of details often unnoticed by others, tended to be intuitive rather than deductive. Although clearly devout, he always emphasizes rationality: despite his religiousness and his belief in God and miracles, he manages to see the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation of the problem. He is a devout, educated and "civilized" clergyman, who is totally familiar with contemporary and secular thought and behavior. His character was thought to be based on Father John O'Connor (1870 - 1952), a parish priest in Bradford, Yorkshire. (Summary by Martin)

Genre(s): Detective Fiction



7.  The Innocence of Father Brown
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) is the first of five collections of mystery stories by G. K. Chesterton starring an unimposing but surprisingly capable Roman Catholic priest. Father Brown's ability to uncover the truth behind the mystery continually surpasses that of the "experts" around him, who are fooled into underestimation by the priest's unimpressive outward appearance and, often, by their own prejudices about Christianity. Combining captivating stories and insightful commentary, The Innocence of Father Brown is a delightful read. (Summary by Brian Roberg)

Genre(s): Detective Fiction




8. The Man Who Knew Too Much
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an influential and prolific English writer of the early 20th century. He was a journalist, a poet and a novelist. He wrote 80 books and 200 short stories in addition to his other work. He is perhaps best remembered for his ‘Father Brown’ stories; two collections of which are available at Librivox.org.

‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ has some similarities to the Father Brown stories: Horne Fisher the eponymous hero is connected and indeed related to many of the high-ranking politicians of his age and thus ‘knows too much’ about the background of the mysteries in which he becomes embroiled and which he unravels. (Summary by Martin Clifton)

Genre(s): Detective Fiction


9.  Tremendous Trifles
G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

“None of us think enough of these things on which the eye rests. But don't let us let the eye rest. Why should the eye be so lazy? Let us exercise the eye until it learns to see startling facts that run across the landscape as plain as a painted fence. Let us be ocular athletes. Let us learn to write essays on a stray cat or a coloured cloud. I have attempted some such thing in what follows; but anyone else may do it better, if anyone else will only try. ” (Gilbert Keith Chesterton)

Genre(s): Essays & Short Works