Listen and learn

Monroe Free Library now offers 17 CiffNotes titles on compact discs Monroe — For decades, CliffsNotes have provided a helping hand to students struggling with the themes in Fahrenheit 451, or the cast of characters in Romeo and Juliet. But a lot of time-strapped commuters and auditory learners have a simple objection: “If I had time to read, I’d read the book.” The Monroe Free Library has added a category: CliffsNotes on compact disc. Seventeen titles, including English-class regulars like Catcher In The Rye and Macbeth, are covered on compact-disc box sets, which can be played on a CD player or an iPod. The CDs, packaged by Brilliance Audio, feature the same content as the popular guides, but read on a series of discs. The discs were donated to the library’s collection with funds raised from the Holiday Boutique. The all-volunteer boutique, mounted by volunteer employees and friends of the library, raises money from the sale of books, baked goods and a popular raffle. Funds from the annual event have been used to buy recorded books and a motorized DVD cleaner. This year’s Holiday Boutique is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3 and 4. The prize at this year’s raffle is an Apple iPad. The list The 17 CliffsNotes titles on compact disc are: Animal Farm by George Orwell Beowulf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger The Crucible by Arthur Miller Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Great Expectations by Charles Dickens The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Hamlet by William Shakespeare The Iliad - Homer Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Lord of the Flies by William Golding Macbeth by William Shakespeare The Odyssey by Homer Othello by William Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens