The Decameron


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(3.4 stars; 26 reviews)

The Decameron (subtitle: Prencipe Galeotto) is a collection of 100 novellas by Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio, probably begun in 1350 and finished in 1353. It is a medieval allegorical work best known for its bawdy tales of love, appearing in all its possibilities from the erotic to the tragic. Many notable writers such as Shakespeare and Chaucer are said to have borrowed from The Decameron. (from Wikipedia) (32 hr 41 min)

Chapters

Proem. 7:23 Read by Kristine Bekere
How It Came About 47:53 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 1, The First Story 33:35 Read by musil
Day 1, The Second Story 11:37 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 1, The Third Story 7:57 Read by Jc Guan
Day 1, The Fourth Story 9:44 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 1, The Fifth Story 7:40 Read by Gesine
Day 1, The Sixth Story 6:07 Read by Anna Simon
Day 1, The Seventh Story 11:44 Read by ontheroad
Day 1, The Ninth Story 3:37 Read by Luigina
Day 1, The Eighth Story 6:31 Read by Philippa
Day 1, The Tenth Story 10:42 Read by miette
Day 1, Conclusion 8:16 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 2, Introduction 1:59 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 2, The First Story 13:32 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 2, The Second Story 15:28 Read by ontheroad
Day 2, The Third Story 27:20 Read by miette
Day 2, The Fourth Story 11:59 Read by Philippa
Day 2, The Fifth Story 32:13 Read by Gesine
Day 2, The Sixth Story 29:50 Read by Anna Simon
Day 2, The Seventh Story 56:55 Read by musil
Day 2, The Eighth Story 40:58 Read by Luigina
Day 2, The Ninth Story 34:37 Read by Jc Guan
Day 2, The Tenth Story 18:50 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 2, Conclusion 7:40 Read by miette
Day 3, Introduction 8:38 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 3, The First Story 15:10 Read by ontheroad
Day 3, The Second Story 17:26 Read by miette
Day 3, The Third Story 23:23 Read by Jc Guan
Day 3, The Fourth Story 13:39 Read by musil
Day 3, The Fifth Story 16:29 Read by Luigina
Day 3, The Sixth Story 21:26 Read by Gesine
Day 3, The Seventh Story 38:24 Read by Anna Simon
Day 3, The Eighth Story 24:02 Read by Philippa
Day 3, The Ninth Story 24:52 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 3, The Tenth Story 14:15 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 3, Conclusion 8:28 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 4, Introduction 18:40 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 4, The First Story 26:56 Read by Gesine
Day 4, The Second Story 30:52 Read by miette
Day 4, The Third Story 16:47 Read by Philippa
Day 4, The Fourth Story 14:22 Read by Luigina
Day 4, The Fifth Story 9:55 Read by Jc Guan
Day 4, The Sixth Story 19:54 Read by musil
Day 4, The Seventh Story 9:31 Read by Anna Simon
Day 4, The Eighth Story 14:58 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 4, The Ninth Story 7:59 Read by ontheroad
Day 4, The Tenth Story 20:32 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 4, Conclusion 7:15 Read by ontheroad
Day 5, Introduction 2:41 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 5, The First Story 29:33 Read by musil
Day 5, The Second Story 13:30 Read by Anna Simon
Day 5, The Third Story 18:53 Read by Luigina
Day 5, The Fourth Story 12:22 Read by ontheroad
Day 5, The Fifth Story 16:01 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 5, The Sixth Story 19:01 Read by miette
Day 5, The Seventh Story 16:42 Read by Philippa
Day 5, The Eighth Story 15:05 Read by Jc Guan
Day 5, The Ninth Story 17:05 Read by Gesine
Day 5, The Tenth Story 20:11 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 5, Conclusion 6:33 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 6, Introduction 5:55 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 6, The First Story 4:08 Read by Jc Guan
Day 6, The Second Story 11:59 Read by miette
Day 6, The Third Story 4:59 Read by Philippa
Day 6, The Fourth Story 7:13 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 6, The Fifth Story 6:09 Read by musil
Day 6, The Sixth Story 5:59 Read by Gesine
Day 6, The Seventh Story 6:50 Read by ontheroad
Day 6, The Eighth Story 3:43 Read by Anna Simon
Day 6, The Ninth Story 6:26 Read by Luigina
Day 6, The Tenth Story 19:52 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 6, Conclusion 15:41 Read by Luigina
Day 7, Introduction 3:54 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 7, The First Story 9:55 Read by Anna Simon
Day 7, The Second Story 10:54 Read by ontheroad
Day 7, The Third Story 14:33 Read by Luigina
Day 7, The Fourth Story 10:41 Read by Philippa
Day 7, The Fifth Story 19:59 Read by Gesine
Day 7, The Sixth Story 13:10 Read by miette
Day 7, The Seventh Story 14:59 Read by Jc Guan
Day 7, The Eighth Story 22:01 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 7, The Ninth Story 27:31 Read by musil
Day 7, The Tenth Story 9:24 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 7, Conclusion 7:00 Read by Jc Guan
Day 8, Introduction 1:54 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 8, The First Story 7:51 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 8, The Second Story 14:43 Read by musil
Day 8, The Third Story 22:58 Read by Luigina
Day 8, The Fourth Story 11:34 Read by Anna Simon
Day 8, The Fifth Story 8:00 Read by ontheroad
Day 8, The Sixth Story 16:08 Read by Jc Guan
Day 8, The Seventh Story 1:13:26 Read by miette
Day 8, The Eighth Story 12:28 Read by Gesine
Day 8, The Ninth Story 37:26 Read by Philippa
Day 8, The Tenth Story 27:53 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 8, Conclusion 5:52 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 9, Introduction 3:16 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 9, The First Story 15:16 Read by Jc Guan
Day 9, The Second Story 8:33 Read by Luigina
Day 9, The Third Story 10:25 Read by ontheroad
Day 9, The Fourth Story 11:56 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 9, The Fifth Story 21:32 Read by Gesine
Day 9, The Sixth Story 12:15 Read by musil
Day 9, The Seventh Story 7:28 Read by miette
Day 9, The Eighth Story 8:47 Read by Philippa
Day 9, The Ninth Story 11:43 Read by Anna Simon
Day 9, The Tenth Story 9:05 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 9, Conclusion 5:34 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 10, Introduction 2:19 Read by Kristine Bekere
Day 10, The First Story 8:34 Read by Ruth Golding
Day 10, The Second Story 12:52 Read by Luigina
Day 10, The Third Story 16:06 Read by ontheroad
Day 10, The Fourth Story 17:49 Read by Philippa
Day 10, The Fifth Story 11:06 Read by Anna Simon
Day 10, The Sixth Story 16:55 Read by Gesine
Day 10, The Seventh Story 23:37 Read by miette
Day 10, The Eighth Story, part 1 26:13 Read by Jc Guan
Day 10, The Eighth Story, part 2 24:33 Read by Jc Guan
Day 10, The Ninth Story 47:01 Read by musil
Day 10, The Tenth Story 27:12 Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
Day 10, Conclusion 9:03 Read by Gesine
The Author's Epilogue 13:29 Read by Kristine Bekere

Reviews

excellent stories, lackluster performance


(0 stars)

I realize that this is a labor of love, but many of these short stories are unlistenable due to the reader's inability to perform the material. Day 1 the 7th story is read by some fellow who inflects at least 3 or for question marks into each sentence that reads. There is no way for me to follow the story, because of stilted and unnatural delivery. Again, I commend him for taking the time, but the editors of this archive should exert some level of quality control. It is as though someone were in the process of xeroxing a page from this book haphazardly, allowing the book to scoot across the photoglass while being copied; smearing all the words of the story on the copied page to illegibility. What good is that?

Wonderful


(3 stars)

Great tales. Ruth Golding and Andy Minter especially did a wonderful job reading and bringing Boccaccio's stories to life. As always, I'm not a fan of readers who have a thick non-native accent (sorry) as I find it hard to get used to their particular inflections and thus hard to focus.

Great BUT


(2 stars)

This is a marvellous collection, but a number of the ‘readings’ in English here are very poor, in fact, barely understandable. It is a great tragedy. This well-wrought translation would be greatly improved if narrated by those whose native tongue was English.

Wonderful, funny, amazing stories


(5 stars)

Have not listened yet (dling now), but read this delightful book some years ago. The stories are amazingly contemporary, or love, lust, greed and intrigue have not changed at all in hundreds of years. Great book.

the Decameron readers


(2 stars)

Unable to understand the reader - disappointed. Was very much looking forward to this book

Better in smaller sections than listening as a single work, I feel.


(0 stars)

Without commenting on the readers as other reviewers have done, I'd like to suggest that I may have spoiled the book for myself by listening to The Decameron as a single run through, rather than accepting it is a great monolithic doorstopper and say, listened to something else after every day or second day.


(4.5 stars)

Very well done. Length though is close to 32 hours.