The Birds & Don't Look Now by Daphne du MaurierAuthor Website Wikipedia (Peter Capaldi) Amazon (UK) Amazon.com The Copyright Group (audiobook), 1997, 2008
Narrated by Peter Capaldi
Du Maurier is of course world famous for many of her novels. These two stories are perhaps even better known as films (The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock and Don't Look Now by Nic Roeg), but here we bring you the full terrifying texts, superbly read by Peter Capaldi, who brings the true dimension of these works to the imagination.
On December the third the wind changed overnight and it was winter. Until then the autumn had been mellow, soft. The leaves had lingered on the trees, golden red, and the hedgerows were still green. The earth was rich where the plough had turned it (THE BIRDS)
Listening to an audiobook was very different from reading a book and I enjoyed it. I'm going to listen to an audiobook every day on my journey to work.
The Birds is brilliant. I've seen Hitchcock's movie and was surprised by how different the story is from the movie. The story is much more sinister and chilled me to the bone. Peter Capaldi's voice is perfect for this story. I listened to it on my MP3 player walking to work at 6am. It was dark and cold which added to the atmosphere created by Capaldi's chilling narration.
I'm sure I've seen snippets of the movie of Don't Look Now. Certain elements are familiar anyway. I loved this story as well. Du Maurier creates great atmosphere and tension throughout. The tale takes a lot of twists and turns and at one point you think something is happening, then there's another twist and you think something else is happening and there's another twist and you have no idea what the hell is going on. At the end of the story my jaw hit the ground. Capaldi's narration was also excellent.
I'd highly recommend The Birds and Don't Look Now.
