A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (2007, Compact Disc)

In a 1983 introduction written 20 years after the publication of his futuristic satire, Burgess credits cinematic genius Stanley Kubrick and an electrifying performance by a young Malcolm McDowell for his book’s enduring success. His humility, as well as his dissatisfaction with his most familiar work, is disarming. Included in literary compilations of the best 100 modern novels ever written in English, the story of 15-year old Alex and his gang of “droog” hoodlums remains a classic comic portrayal of the mindless, dangerous hedonism of the youth cult, the extent to which the State should intervene to control what maturity can naturally rectify without assistance, and the ideological clash between rehabilitation methods and free will.

Reader Tom Hollander’s Alex is formidable yet affable, speaking in an expressive working class accent that resonates with all the assurance of youth. Hollander handles Burgess’s extraordinary teen argot so effortlessly that listeners will need no glossary, and he provides unique, well-chosen accents for all of the people with whom Alex comes into contact during his journey into adulthood. The novel's original ending has been restored. The final disk contains Burgess himself reading selected excerpts. Simply wonderful.