Discover Best Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary Popular Authors

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Titel: Leb wohl, Berlin

Autor:: Christopher Isherwood

Erzähler: Stéphane Bittoun

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 7 hrs and 42 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 10-08-14

Herausgeber: Hoffmann und Campe

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Ein melancholischer Abgesang auf eine verlorene Welt: Kosmopolitisch, libertin, glamourös und dekadent - mit fotografischer Präzision erfasst Christopher Isherwood die letzten Tage der Weimarer Republik in Berlin und zeichnet unvergessliche Porträts der Menschen, die seinen Weg kreuzen und unterschiedlicher nicht sein könnten: Zwei junge Männer, die in fataler Weise voneinander abhängen, eine vermögende jüdische Familie, die das nahende Unglück nicht wahrhaben will, und zahlreiche Mitglieder der Halbwelt, unter ihnen die hinreißend leichtsinnige Sally Bowles, die in der Literatur ihresgleichen sucht. Im Hintergrund der Szenerie marschieren bereits die Nazis auf. Isherwoods Figuren aber verschließen die Augen vor der drohenden Katastrophe und feiern sich um den Verstand.

©2014 Hoffmann und Campe Verlag (P)2014 Hoffmann und Campe Verlag

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Titel: In Plüschgewittern

Autor:: Wolfgang Herrndorf

Erzähler: August Diehl

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 4 hrs and 8 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 09-24-14

Herausgeber: tacheles! / Roof Music

Bewertung: 2 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Dies ist die Geschichte eines Mannes um die dreißig, der auf dem Weg aus der westdeutschen Provinz in die Szene-Quartiere der Hauptstadt wenig tut, aber viel mitmacht. Der seine Umwelt beobachtet, sie bissig kommentiert und im Übrigen an sich und der Welt leidet.

So einer passt nach Berlin, denn Berlin heißt: Endloses Gerede, viel Durst, vager Durchblick, kein Plan. Keine Arbeit sowieso, dafür ab und zu Altbau-Parties, bei denen auch schon mal jemand vom Dach fällt. Doch dann widerfährt unserem Helden ein Missgeschick: Er verliebt sich...

©2014 Rowohlt (P)2008 / 2014 tacheles! / ROOF Music

Kritik Bewertungen:

Im August 2008 auf Platz 1 der hr2 Hörbuchbestenliste: Eine Reise nach Berlin, bissige Kommentare, vager Durchblick... Wolfgang Herrndorf hat mit seinem Debütroman ein schönes Zeitgeist-Porträt geschaffen. Wäre der Begriff nicht schon anderweitig besetzt, könnte man von einem neuen frischen "Jugendstil" sprechen. Ohne Larmoyanz erzählt Herrndorf die Geschichte einer großen Orientierungslosigkeit, ebenso lakonisch gelesen von August Diehl.

-- Jury der hr2 - Hörbuchbestenliste

Und einer wie, sagen wir, Nick Hornby kann sich schon jetzt mal eine saftige Scheibe von ihm abschneiden.

-- Frank Schulz, konkret

Mir persönlich jedenfalls ist in deutscher Sprache kein Buch bekannt, das dem Fänger im Roggen näherkäme.

-- Jochen Förster, WELT

Ein Roman aus der Mitte Berlins und dem Zentrum einer verlorenen Generation!

-- Martin Lüdke, DIE ZEIT

Die lakonisch erzählte Geschichte eines Dreißigjährigen, der statt Arbeit ein feines Gespür hat für die Peinlichkeiten, die das Leben in Form von Kindheitserinnerungen, Diskothekenbekanntschaften und Familienbesuchen für jeden halbwegs sensiblen Menschen bereithält.

-- Edo Reents, FAZ

Mitglieder Bewertungen:

It is not a bad book, it can be easily read and also ...

Es ist kein schlechtes Buch, man liest es einfach und kann auch manchmal lachen, aber wenn ich das geschlossen habe, erkannte ich, dass ich nicht gut erklären kann, worum es geht.

Non é un brutto libro, si legge facilmente e fa anche ridere a volte, ma chiudendolo mi sono resa conto che non saprei nemmeno ben spiegare di cosa parla.

It is not a bad book, it can be easily read and also makes you laugh sometimes, but after closing it, I realized that I can not even explain what it's about.

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Titel: Kennedys Hirn

Autor:: Henning Mankell

Erzähler: Axel Milberg

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 09-24-14

Herausgeber: Der Hörverlag

Bewertung: 3 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Warum musste ihr Sohn Henrik sterben? War er einer Verschwörung auf die Spur gekommen? Drehte sich alles um das verschwundene Hirn des toten John F. Kennedy?

Louise Cantor kann Henriks sinnlosen Tod nicht fassen und folgt seinen letzten Spuren nach Mosambik. Sie führen in Bordelle, Slums und in ein Asyl für Aidskranke, gestiftet von einem mysteriösen Spender. Doch Louise ahnt bald, dass sich hinter der Maske der Wohltätigkeit skrupellose Machenschaften verbergen...

Axel Milberg gibt Henning Mankell, wie u. a. bereits für die Hörbücher "Der Mann mit der Maske" und "Der Tod des Fotografen", die deutsche Stimme.

©2005 / 2006 Henning Mankell / Paul Zsolnay Verlag Wien. Übersetzung von Wolfgang Butt (P)2006 Der Hörverlag

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Title: Bad Connections

Author: Joyce Johnson

Narrator: Jorjeana Marie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-03-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

The award-winning author of Minor Characters writes with delicious transparency about a love that cannot be harnessed and a woman who refuses to be deceived.

In the great wave of husband-leaving ushered in by the Sexual Revolution, Molly Held frees herself from her cold, flagrantly unfaithful husband after their final quarrel turns violent. With her five-year-old son, she lights out for an Upper West Side apartment and the new life she hopes to find with Conrad Schwartzberg - the charismatic radical lawyer who has recently become her lover. Having escaped from a desert, she lands in a swamp. While Conrad radiates positive energy, he is unable to tell Molly - or anyone who loves him - the truth. No longer the wronged wife, Molly now finds herself the Other Woman. She is sharing Conrad with Roberta, another refugee from marriage - with Conrads movements between the two of them disguised by his suspiciously frequent out-of-town engagements. Roberta either knows nothing or prefers to look the other way, but Mollys maddening capacity for double vision takes over her mind. What saves her from herself is her well-developed sense of irony, which never fails her - or the listener.

Members Reviews:

Fast read by an unsung beat writer

Joyce Johnson may best be known as one of Jack Kerouac's girlfriends, but as Kerouac realized, she is also an excellent writer. The writing pulls you into the story and flows at a swift pace.

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Title: California

Author: Edan Lepucki

Narrator: Emma Galvin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-07-14

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

The sunshine state lies in darkness. Los Angeles is in ruins, left to the angels now. And the world Cal and Frida have always known is gone.

Cal and Frida have left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can't reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in each other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant. Terrified of the unknown but unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realise this community poses its own dangers. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust.

A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and irrepressible resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love.

Critic Reviews:

"An expansive, full-bodied and masterful narrative of humans caught in the most extreme situations." (Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk)

"Stunning and brilliant... By turns funny and heartbreaking, scary and tender, beautifully written and compulsively page-turning, this is a book that will haunt me." (Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply and Stay Awake)

"It's tempting to call this novel post-apocalyptic, but really, it's about an apocalypse in progress, an apocalypse that might already be happening." (Robin Sloan, author of Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore)

Members Reviews:

A bit boring...

Would you try another book written by Edan Lepucki or narrated by Emma Galvin?

Edan Lepucki - maybe. Emma Galvin - No.

Has California put you off other books in this genre?

No.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Emma Galvin?

No.

Any additional comments?

Perhaps it's unfair for me to comment as I am only (exactly) 2/3rds of the way through the book but... it's a bit boring. Too much talk about feelings and babies and love, not enough about why they are where they are! Yes, various disasters are elluded to but, so far, not fleshed out. This is to the 'apocalypse' genre what Twilight is to the Vampire genre. And, from the reviews I have read on Amazon, the story apparently fizzles out towards the end so I am not sure I'll bother finishing it. Besides which the narrator sounds like a bored and sullen teenager which doesn't help.

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Title: The Spark and the Drive

Author: Wayne Harrison

Narrator: Quincy Dunn Baker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Justin Bailey is 17 when he arrives at the shop of legendary muscle-car mechanic Nick Campbell. Anguished and out of place among the students at his rural Connecticut high school, Justin finds in Nick, his captivating wife Mary Ann, and their world of miraculous machines the sense of family he has struggled to find at home. But when Nick and Mary Ann lose their infant son, Justin' s world is upended. Nick, once celebrated for his genius, has lost his touch; his ability to intuit and diagnose a faltering engine has begun to fade. Mary Ann, once tender toward her husband, now turns distant and cold. And just as Justin draws closer to his wavering mentor, he finds himself falling into the arms of his wife.

Now, torn apart by feelings of betrayal, Justin must choose between the man he admires more than his own father and the woman he loves.

A poignant and fiercely original debut, with moments of fast-paced suspense, The Spark and the Drive is the unforgettable story of a young man forced to make an impossible decision - no matter the consequences.

Wayne Harrison's stories have appeared in The Atlantic, McSweeney's, and Ploughshares, and one of his stories was selected for Best American Short Stories 2010. He earned a Michener/Copernicus fellowship and his short story collection Wrench was a finalist for the Iowa Book Award. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he teaches writing at Oregon State University. The Spark and the Drive is his first novel.

Members Reviews:

Brilliant Study of Complex Relationships

What did you love best about The Spark and the Drive?

The incredibly detailed interactions between dynamic and well-crafted characters, and the way Wayne Harrison positioned those interactions against the backdrop of a spiraling mechanical industry. The characters manipulate engines with a skill and focus that they lose when looking beyond the hood, though not for lack of trying.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Spark and the Drive?

The moment when you realize just how high the stakes are for everyone in the book.

Have you listened to any of Quincy Dunn Bakers other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any of Quincy Dunn Baker's other performances before, so I cannot assess how this one compares.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I didn't want to listen to The Spark and the Drive all in one sitting because Harrison packs the pages with layers of complexity and meaning. I enjoyed taking my time to digest and appreciate the entire book. To that end, it's certainly worth reading again.

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Title: Flight of the Swan

Author: Rosario Ferre

Narrator: Adriana Sananes

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

The story of a prima ballerina and her acolyte, set in Puerto Rico in 1917.

Flight of the Swan is the compelling story of a world-famous Russian prima ballerina who finds herself stranded on a Caribbean island in 1917, due to political upheavals in her own country. This charming jeu d'esprit explores the complexities of love and betrayal, as the loyal servant Masha gradually comes to recognize that in spite of what she sees as Madame's propensity to be both pretentious and vain, the ballerina is prepared to sacrifice everything for her art. Madame's unfaltering commitment to dance above all else - and her demand of nothing less from her disciples - forces Masha to question what choices she herself is willing to make when it comes to her own loves, ideals, and relationships.

Humorous, engaging, and coyly revealing, Flight of the Swan traces the decisions made by Masha, Madame, and other members of the troupe during their enforced three-month stay in Puerto Rico, and in doing so raises the question of where true happiness lies.

Members Reviews:

Flying short: Ferré's new novel cannot leave the ground

Rosario Ferré is one of my favorite writers. When I was a teenager, I went to a book store in San Juan and saw the Mexican edition of "Papeles de Pandora". I liked her picture very much. She looked smart and free. At that age that was reason enough, for me, to buy her book. I loved it. It was something very diferent from the books about colonialism, sugar cane and how much we Puerto Rican suffer because we are good people, that we read at school. She was something different. A new voice. Over the years I kept reading her, buying her books as soon as I saw them at the bookstores. I liked most of them, very much.

When I read in an interview that she was planing to publish a book about a Russian ballerina stock in San Juan, I said "great"

I just read the book. Not very interesting. The same old story, told in the same old way. The ballerina falling in love with the independentista in a back ground of political inestability. Worst than that, the characters lack resonance and the whole thing sounds like a B-class movie about revolution and love in the Caribbean. Too bad. I still think she can do better. Let us wait for her next proyect.

Historical fiction at its best

I loved this book... I started reading it in the cobblestoned streets of Old San Juan, on my way to snack on a famous buttered "mallorca" accompanied by cafe con leche from La Bombonera bakery. Before I knew it, I was enthralled in the story. I found myself walking the same streets as the characters, sitting in San Juan's main plazas while I read about the characters strolling at night in the same streets.... This book does a fantastic job of combining Puerto Rican culture and its political turmoil at the turn of the 19th century with the struggles of Russia during their revolution. The main characters are russian and they slowly become "latinized"-- more universal symbols of political struggle, characters that are displaced from their homeland to face the struggle of a new culture, language, and political struggle. This is Rosario Ferre's best book.

What we don't see counts.

It may have clean verbage and a winning premise, but the story misses at every turn.

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Title: Texas Summer

Author: Terry Southern

Narrator: Rip Torn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 1.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

An evocative, poignant coming-of-age novel set in rural Texas in the 1930s.

Through events small and large, 13-year-old Harold Stevens grows up during a pivotal summer in the red-dirt backcountry of West Texas. With his friend C.K. Crow, the black field hand who works for Harolds father, he shoots deer and quail, fishes for catfish, mends fences, grows and learns about marijuana, and tests his emerging manhood against bullies, bulls, and the irresistible charms of his horse-riding older cousin. During a hysterical trip to a circus sideshow, Harold and a buddy sneak backstage to see "The Great Hermaphrodite" and the "funny little old Monkey Man," whom they try to buy a beer. But danger waits on the fringe of this innocent time. When C.K.s brother, Big Nail, appears after escaping from a chain gang, an inevitable and violent confrontation between the brothers is set in motion - a confrontation that will mark the end of Harolds childhood.

This inside view of Southerns roots in Alvarado, Texas, where pastoral innocence belied an undercurrent of racism and violence, brings this novel of a boys transition to maturity vividly alive.

Members Reviews:

The last hurrah

A pretty good book but as is widely circulated some of the material has been rehashed. A good final outing and a long time in the making, over 30 years, a Chinese Democracy of books. Not unlike Chinese Democracy it has some high points but does not carry all the way through.

It is quite unlike his other books, not nearly as absurd but it shows that Southern was a viable writer in a manner of speaking right up until the end in. I would say read the other books first. You should not miss out on Candy, Red Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes, and the Magic Christian over this but that is an easy call. I also recommend checking out Now Dig This and Blue Movie has it's strong points.

All in all I personally find that you cannot go wrong with Terry Southern and this book carries forth in that tradition.

BASICALLY READ AND ENJOY

Four Stars

enjoyable reading

If you liked the stories about Harold and CK in Terry Southern's ...

If you liked the stories about Harold and CK in Terry Southern's "Red Dirt Marijuana," you'll like this book. Every aspect of a 12-year-old white boy's life in rural Texas in the 1950s (1960s?) is here. A farmer father, who never says more than necessary; a worried mother; a grandfather who tempts the boy to do all the worst things; a black hired hand who gives the boy much of his education about life; the boy's friends, one of whom is a gun nut. There's cruelty to animals. There's curiosity about sex on the part of the boy and a 13-year-old girl.There's a strange, cruel, memorably-described freak show at the circus that recalls "The Circus of Dr Lao" (Charles G Finney, 1935). Some dangers on the farm appear but never quite lead anywhere; that's like life. I found out only recently that this book existed, and I read it in one night. I'm very glad that the author of "The Magic Christian" and the "Dr Strangelove" screenplay was able to write this honest memory of his early life just three years before he died.

Southern would have been amused by the word re"hash".

Southern's last novel, completed in 1992, was the result of

an on-again, off-again thirty-year effort to write a real

exploration of his childhood in rural Texas.

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Title: The Last Kings of Sark

Author: Rosa Rankin-Gee

Narrator: Katie Scarfe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-08-14

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

"My name is Jude. And because of Law, Hey, and the Obscure, they thought I was a boy."

Jude is 21 when she flies in a private plane to Sark, a tiny carless Channel Island and the last place in Europe to abolish feudalism. She's been hired for the summer to tutor a rich local boy named Pip. But when Jude arrives, the family is unsettling. Pip is awkward, overly literal, and adamant he doesn't need a tutor, and upstairs, his enigmatic mother, Esmé, casts a shadow over the house. Enter Sofi: The family's holiday cook, a magnetic, mercurial Polish girl with appalling kitchen hygiene, who sings to herself and sleeps naked. When the father of the family goes away on business, Pip's science lessons are replaced by midday rosé and scallop-smuggling, and summer begins. Soon something powerful starts to touch the three together. But those strange, golden weeks on Sark can't last forever.

Later, in Paris, Normandy, and London, they find themselves looking for the moment that changed everything. Compelling, sensual, and lyrical, The Last Kings of Sark by Rosa Rankin-Gee is a tale of complicated love, only children, and missed opportunities, from an extraordinary new writer.

Members Reviews:

Weak First Person Narrator and Unbelievable Characters

I wanted so much to like this. And probably I've been spoiled by "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" that is set also in these unique British islands that are closer to the coast of France than England. One of the issues is simply this: the first person narrator is unbelievable--Jude who has gone for the summer to the smallest of these islands to be a tutor to a 16-year-old named Pip (I guess the author was trying to channel some Dickens!). The island, Sark, is essentially just out of feudalism, or so we are led to believe. At this place where the father, Eddy, finds himself conveniently having to leave the island while his very unbelievable alcoholic French wife simply stays in an upstairs room except for her weekly Sunday walks around the island three young people--there's a cook who is also a teenager (that too is hard to believe)--are essentially left to their own devices. So let me confess that maybe after page 100 the novel actually improved although the writing certainly wouldn't and I missed the best because I simply don't read beyond page 100 of any book that just isn't interesting and believable. This is neither. So I have decided that a re-reading of "Guernsey Literary..." is what I will set forth in doing. I think this author needs to find a good writing program somewhere. And soon.

I think it is one of the best examples of "showing not telling" out there

I adored this book. I think it is one of the best examples of "showing not telling" out there. The author gives you physical clues as to what's going on that allow you to reach your own conclusions about what the characters are feeling.

The book is split into two sections. In the first section, even though its narrated in first person by Jude, she isn't entirely aware of her own feelings or internal processing, so there isn't much self-reflection. Most of her observations focus on the external. But the author's choice of which external details to cite allows you to know how Jude is feeling.

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Title: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

Author: Anthony Marra

Narrator: Colette Whitaker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-03-14

Publisher: Random House Audiobooks

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In a snow-covered village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as her father is abducted in the middle of the night by Russian soldiers.

Their lifelong friend and neighbour, Akhmed, has also been watching, and when he finds Havaa he knows of only one person who might be able to help. For tough-minded doctor Sonja Rabina, its just another day of trying to keep her bombed-out, abandoned hospital going. When Akhmed arrives with Havaa, asking Sonja for shelter, she has no idea who the pair are and even less desire to take on yet more responsibilities and risk. But over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonjas world will shift on its axis, revealing the intricate pattern of connections that binds these three unlikely companions together and unexpectedly decides their fate.

Critic Reviews:

"A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is simply spectacular." (Ann Patchett)

Members Reviews:

truly wonderful

a fabulous book. beautifully read. intriguing, beguiling, original, thought provoking, with lovely turns of phrase

A moving story about the horrors of war

A well written story that traces the generations through their war torn country.

The triumph of love and compassion over adversity.