The Life of Samuel Johnson, Vol. II

Boswell shares letters, conversations, he had with Johnson.

Robert Cruthirds

This continues Boswell's approach of using letters, conversations, etc., which allows Johnson to describe himself and his views on a variety of topics. There's an interesting exchange of correspondence seeking Johnson's advice on an issue involving Boswell's inheritance. Traditionally, only males could inherit property yet Boswell's father was apparently going to stipulate that an elder daughter would receive at least part of the inheritance. The readers were generally quite good, although it probably could have been better if more British readers had been available to better simulate how English might have been spoken in the middle of the 18th century. And it would have helped in the pronunciation of various names and places.

Alexandra Veres

A very enjoyable text, although it’s a shame that Justin Brett didn’t read the entire book - his pronunciation was impeccable, his Latin a pleasure to listen to, and as for his intonation and delivery, they cast all the other readers into the shade. The last reader of volume II was very poor, albeit infinitely better than the person allowed to read both volumes as the sole, named reader. The latter read so incomprehensibly that I was forced to turn to this multi-reader version. I appreciate all the readers are volunteers, but when so many of them are excellent, like Justin Brett, I can’t help wondering why any others are included.