Audiobooks

Scoop read by Simon Cadell Sons and Lovers read by Ian McKellen

Avoid at all costs HarperCollins's abridged audio of Geoffrey Archer's The Fourth Estate, a cruel revelation of the weaknesses of the original book. Evelyn Waugh's unabridged Scoop (Cover to Cover, 8hrs, pounds 19.99) is infinitely funnier and much more perceptive on the workings of great newspapers. On the other hand, the abridged D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers (Argo, 3hrs, pounds 7.99) is remarkably good, almost improved by being pruned of purple passages. It is superbly interpreted by Ian McKellen, a reader with the magnetic charm of the Pied Piper of Hamlin.

Christina Hardyment