Gather ‘Round the Sound  By  cover art

Gather ‘Round the Sound

By: Paulo Coelho,Yvonne Morrison,Charles Dickens
Narrated by: Angele Masters,Daniel Frances Berenson,Magda Szubanski,Simon Callow,Dan Starkey,John Banks,Vern

Publisher's summary

Gather 'Round the Sound: Holiday Stories from Beloved Authors and Great Performers Across the Globe

2017 has been a monumental year for Audible, having just celebrated our 20th anniversary, a milestone that would have never been possible without our wonderful and loyal listeners. One of our major commitments is bringing new and diverse audio experiences to our members, so this year, as our gift to you, we pulled together a collection that reflects a little bit of everything we've been up to recently: a surprising and heartwarming documentary, a selection of stories from our partners around the world, and even some improvised comedic carols we hope will make you laugh as much as they did us.

The lineup includes:

Zip Code 12345

This mini-documentary centers around a peculiar holiday tradition at General Electric's headquarters in Schenectady, NY. For two decades, GE has been receiving thousands of letters from kids - children who think they're reaching Santa Claus. And every year, a handful of GE employees give up their December lunchbreaks to respond to each and every letter.

An Aussie Night Before Christmas, by Yvonne Morrison, performed by Magda Szubanksi

This rollicking rewrite of the famous old poem 'Twas The Night Before Christmas gives the original version a hilarious Aussie twist. Magda Szubanski, Australia's most trusted personality, caries this incredibly fun romp. Kangaroos pulling the sleigh, a beer for Santa, and all the over-the-top Australian lingo, it's everything you'd expect.

The Music Coming from the House, by Paulo Coehlo, performed by Daniel Frances-Berenson

In this magical story from the author of The Alchemist - the master of the modern parable - a disguised king visits a poor village, and what he sees through the window of a house changes his life, and those of the occupants.

The Signal-man, by Charles Dickens, performed by Simon Callow, Dan Starkey, and John Banks

For literature lovers, the holiday season needs a little Dickens. We dug up a story of his that you may not be familiar with, originally published in the Christmas edition of a Victorian short story periodical. Of course, ghosts are involved in this 19th century work told by Simon Callow (Outlander) and Dan Starkey (Dr. Who).

A Very Improvised Holiday Musical

What would the holidays be without some carols? Vern, a New York City-based improv troupe, performs a few improvised holiday songs.

©2017 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2017 Audible Originals, LLC

What listeners say about Gather ‘Round the Sound

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Don’t waste your time

The only part of this even remotely worth a listen is the Australian Christmas poem. The Charles Dickens story is dark and not appropriate for children, don’t think this is a warm fuzzy holiday listen for the family.
The Christmas carols at the end have terrible “acting” and are cheesy to the point of being unbearable.
Absolutely don’t waste your time.

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62 people found this helpful

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A Merry Thank You Audible Staff!

I loved the GE story .....it brought to mind the "Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus" story and when all is dark and dreary and the task of family obligations and such looms high, it is nice to sit back and enjoy (and remember) what Christmas is all about .

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56 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing

Almost depressing. Not uplifting, except for the first story (zip code 12345). Dickens story was not a ‘holiday’ story. My time was not well spent listening to this.

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44 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

There's a reason this is free

Having stories from the US, Australia and the UK were cute, but the poorly put together portions of this piece prevent me from ever wanting to listen to this again.

The Zip Code 12345 story goes on for way too long and is narrated in a weak imitation of Serial/This American Life type of podcast, which is highly jarring and prevents listeners from getting into the actual story.

Also, STOP LISTENING as soon as the last improv Christmas carol skit begins. Every bit of it is awful and not worth it, like the worst of SNL and office holiday parties vomiting all over a fake Christmas tree.

The Charles Dickens story was great, but it was an extreme disservice to the story to include it with this mismatch disaster. Last year's Christmas stories were 1,000X better.

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Neat

Nice collection though in honesty the caroling part made my head hurt. The GE Christmas letter tale was heart warming. The Dickens tale unique. Thank you

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34 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Starts great, gets really bad on the last two bits

The 12345 story was fun and inspiring.
The King story was touching.
The Dickens tale had nothing to do with Christmas.
The musical skit lasted about twenty seconds after they started singing, skipped through it at ten second intervals and all of it was terrible.

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33 people found this helpful

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Please say Merry Christmas!!!!

Too much Secular holiday this and holiday that. Would it kill the them to say Merry Christmas just once?

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26 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

unique assembly. funny, sad, interesting.

would recommend, funny, sad, heart warming, inspirational. unique assembly of stories n music. loved it.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Holiday enjoyment

Was great holiday entertainment. Family enjoyed the Australian version of Night before Christmas. Over an enjoyable listen and addition to my audible collection. Thank you.

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22 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

touching and amusing collection of Holiday storie

especially loves the Zip Code 12345 piece...reminded me why we honor Christmas! thank you, audible!!

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21 people found this helpful