The Classic Tales Podcast

Designed to make classic literature less intimidating, The Classic Tales Podcast has been showcasing the greatest literary authors for years. Narrating with gusto, BJ Harrison performs each word of the classic texts, elevating them with character voices, sharp accents and bridled emotion. Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Humor and more - The Classic Tales Podcast has something for everybody. It really is The Cure for the Common Commute. Winner - Outstanding Podcast Host: Arts and Entertainment , Society of Voice Arts and Sciences- 2022 Winner of w3 Silver Award by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts-2022 Winner of w3 Gold Award by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts-2021 Winner of Independent Audiobook Award for "Scaramouche", by Raphael Sabatini - 2021

Ep. 841, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 9 of 12, by Zane Grey 06/02/2023

Ep. 840, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 8 of 12, by Zane Grey 05/26/2023

Ep. 839, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 7 of 12, by Zane Grey 05/19/2023

Ep. 839, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 7 of 12, by Zane Grey Can Venters publicly call out Tull’s crimes without a serious backlash? Zane Grey, today on The Classic Tales Podcast. Welcome to The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening. We are proudly supported by our listeners. We couldn’t do this without you. Your monthly donation helps in so many ways, and it also gives you access to more classic titles. Go to and become a financial supporter today. A $5 dollar monthly donation gets you an $8 monthly coupon code for any audiobook order. Thank you so much. is happening! Be sure to subscribe to our gentleman burglar’s own show. And tell your friends! Links can be found in the show notes. It looks like it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room: The Mormonism in this story. First of all, I’ve got to say that Mormon people are some of the best people I’ve known. My parents, friends, colleagues, neighbors - I have a Mormon background. Most of the people I know locally are Mormon. And they’re wonderful – I love them dearly! Mormons, or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are great. They’re my folks. The fact that I’m producing this book now isn’t any reflection on them. The thing that’s so nefarious about this book is its villain. It’s not a person – it’s systemic religious extortion used to build wealthy empires, while neglecting the poor and needy. That’s what it’s all about – when the institutions we trust to take care of us that actually take way more than they give. Now, is this a uniquely Mormon/LDS problem? No! But it happened then, and it’s happening now. Don’t believe me? Check out 60 Minutes on CBS last week. This religious empire building they talk of in the book is still happening today. And so, like other topics that we’ve discussed over the years - racism, classism, poverty, - things that these classic authors wrote about over 100 years ago that were a problem then and are still a problem now, I’m afraid religious-oriented extortion is among them. I wish it wasn’t but here we are. Let’s see if we can do better. And now, Riders of the Purple Sage, part 7 of 12, by Zane Grey /episode/index/show/classictales/id/26887914

Ep. 838, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 6 of 12, by Zane Grey 05/12/2023

Ep. 837, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 5 of 12, by Zane Grey 05/05/2023

Ep. 836, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 4 of 12, by Zane Grey 04/28/2023

Ep. 835, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 3 of 12, by Zane Grey 04/21/2023

Ep. 834, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 2 of 12, by Zane Grey 04/14/2023

Ep. 833, Riders of the Purple Sage, Part 1 of 12, by Zane Grey 04/07/2023

Ep. 832, 2 B R 0 2 B, by Kurt Vonnegut 03/31/2023

Ep. 831, The Square Pegs, by Ray Bradbury 03/24/2023

Ep. 830, The Stainless Steel Rat, by Harry Harrison 03/17/2023

Ep. 829, Ukridge Rounds a Nasty Corner, by P.G. Wodehouse 03/10/2023

Ep. 828, The Exit of Battling Billson, by P.G. Wodehouse 03/03/2023

Ep. 827, The Long Arm of Looney Coote, by P.G. Wodehouse 02/24/2023

Ep. 826, No Wedding Bells For Him, by P.G. Wodehouse 02/17/2023

Ep. 825, Ukridge Sees Her Through, by P.G. Wodehouse 02/10/2023

Ep. 824, The Return of Battling Billson, by P.G. Wodehouse 02/03/2023

Ep. 823, First Aid for Dora, by P.G. Wodehouse 01/27/2023

Ep. 822, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Part 3 of 3, by Thornton Wilder 01/20/2023

Ep. 821, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Part 2 of 3, by Thornton Wilder 01/13/2023

Ep. 820, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Part 1 of 3, by Thornton Wilder 01/06/2023

Ep. 820, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Part 1 of 3, by Thornton Wilder Five people fall to their deaths when a bridge collapses in Peru. Can Brother Juniper discover the reason that these five individuals had to die? Thornton Wilder, today on The Classic Tales Podcast. Welcome to Season 17 of The Classic Tales Podcast. Thank you for listening. We are proudly supported by our listeners. Please sign up to be a supporter for as little as $5 a month. We’ll give you a monthly coupon code for $8 off any audiobook order. Your support on a monthly basis is vital to keep us going. Go to and become a financial supporter today. Thank you so much. Thornton Wilder won two Pulitzer Prizes: one for the novel we’ll begin today: The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and another for his play: Our Town. In The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Brother Juniper witnesses the tragedy of five people falling to their deaths when a bridge collapses in Peru. He takes it upon himself to study the lives of those who fell in the accident, in an effort to figure out why these five people had to die. In 1998, the book was selected by the American Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century. It has also been hinted that this book is the progenitor of the modern-day disaster epic, where a single disaster intertwines the lives of the victims, whose previous histories are then explored through a series of flashbacks. British Prime Minister Tony Blair quoted the final words of the book in a memorial service for the victims of the September 11th attacks. Nine days after the attacks, he read: "A witness to the deaths, wanting to make sense of them and explain the ways of God to his fellow human beings, examined the lives of the people who died, and these words were said by someone who knew the victims, and who had been through the many emotions, and the many stages, of bereavement and loss. "But soon we will die, and all memories of those five will have left earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love. The only survival, the only meaning." And now, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Part 1 of 3, by Thornton Wilder /episode/index/show/classictales/id/25522173

Ep. 819, The Case of the Missing Will, by Agatha Christie 12/30/2022

Ep. 818, The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman, by Agatha Christie 12/23/2022

Ep. 817, The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim, by Agatha Christie 12/16/2022

Ep. 816, The Kidnapped Prime Minister, by Agatha Christie 12/09/2022

Ep. 815, The Million Dollar Bond Robbery, by Agatha Christie 12/02/2022

Ep. 814, The Adventure of the Hunter's Lodge, by Agatha Christie 11/25/2022

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