I grew up loving the Arabian Nights (or what I thought were the Arabian Nights), in no small part thanks to Nippon Animation and other bowdlerised versions. I was rather horrified, then, when I discovered the rather explicit content of the traditional tales, and what the booklet to these CDs accurately calls "a world of uncomfortable morals".
Still, my fascination holds, probably proving how great Scheherazade's storytelling skills really are. (And the tales of Sinbad and Ali Baba, which this collection chiefly consists of, are probably a little easier on the modern audience than some other tales.)
A bonus of this audio version is Philip Madoc's voice talent, managing to make the ancient tales accessible and entertaining without losing their dark and archaic tone.
I wasn't a huge fan of the Rimsky-Korsakov score though -- while this might have passed for exotic in its day, I thought it didn't fit and might have preferred something truly oriental.

I'm super sorry this is coming so late; hope you'll enjoy it still! :D

No worries on the timing~ it's going to take me many months to listen to all the books that have arrived :) I am really excited to 'read' this one, and I gather it is not the versions I saw as a child. Which I already find ironic~~that these explicit tales come from an area where now dancing is prohibited and women wear burkas.

Thank you for what looks to be a great listen,,,,, and for the chocolates.....nom nom nom :)

Wow- sorry I didn’t journal after listening, but I did very much enjoy this book! And as it’s been sitting on my shelf for far too long, I’m going to offer it in a Big John Lefty’s audiobook.