Restore information from back up CDs

I have been unsuccessful in restoring the files my mother burned to a CD. I don't know what to do at all...any help is greatly appreciated!!!

what files are they, is it documents/pictures?
What do you see when you insert the cd.. I mean can you see the files

The CDs are just some documents and pictures she wanted to save. The computer runs and runs and runs but I do not see anything in the CDs because it is running so slowly...about to try again to see what is going on.

Are you sure she have burn the cd properly.. or can be problem with the cd drive.. if you have any pc around, what i reakon is copy the files from the cd to a pen drive, then load it on the slow pc..