Discover Best Sellers Audiobooks in Fiction, Contemporary Best Sellers

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Title: The Tractate Middoth

Subtitle: The Complete Ghost Stories of M R James

Author: M R James

Narrator: David Collings

Format: Unabridged

Length: 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-14

Publisher: Andrews UK Ltd

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

This is the unabridged audio recording of M R James' excellent ghost story The Tractate Middoth. Read by David Collings, this is sure to scare and delight in equal measure.

Critic Reviews:

"David Collings Reads Wonderfully Well" (The Observer)

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Title: Butterflies in November

Author: Audur Ava Olafsdottir

Narrator: Angele Masters

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-09-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In Butterflies in November, internationally best-selling author Auur Ava lafsdttir crafts a "funny, moving, and occasionally bizarre exploration of lifes upheavals and reversals" (Financial Times).

After a day of being dumped - twice - and accidentally killing a goose, a young woman yearns for a tropical vacation far away from the chaos of her life. Instead, her plans are thrown off course by her best friends four-year-old deaf-mute son, thrust into her reluctant care. But when the boy chooses the winning numbers for a lottery ticket, the two of them set off on a road trip across Iceland with a glove compartment stuffed full of their jackpot earnings. Along the way, they encounter black sand beaches, cucumber farms, lava fields, flocks of sheep, an Estonian choir, a falconer, a hitchhiker, and both of her exes desperate for another chance. As she and the boy grow closer, what began as a spontaneous adventure unexpectedly and profoundly changes the way she views her past and charts her future.

Butterflies in November is a blackly comic, charming, and uplifting tale of friends and lovers, motherhood, and self-discovery.

Members Reviews:

A Very Quiet, Enjoyable Book

Low-key Icelandic novel. Well narrated to convey the dry humor of the story. Good characters.

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Title: God Jr.

Author: Dennis Cooper

Narrator: P. J. Ochlan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-09-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Dennis Cooper's sparely crafted novels have earned him an international reputation - even as his subject matter has made him a controversial figure. God Jr. is a stunningly accomplished novel that marked a new phase in Cooper's noteworthy career.

God Jr. is the story of Jim, a father who survived the car crash that killed his teenage son, Tommy. Tommy was distant, transfixed by video games and pop culture, and a mystery to the man who raised him. Now, disabled by the accident, yearning somehow to absolve his own guilt over the crash, Jim becomes obsessed with a mysterious building Tommy drew repetitively in a notebook before he died. As the fixation grows, Jim starts to take on elements of his son - at the expense of his job and marriage - but is he connecting with who Tommy truly was?

A tender, wrenching look at guilt, grief, and the tenuous bonds of family, God Jr. is unlike anything Dennis Cooper has yet written. It is a triumphant achievement from one of our finest writers.

Members Reviews:

So, what's up with the bird on the cover?

Amazing sentences. The, "What is this about" is sort of Lifetime-like. Dad & son are involved in car crash (with light post) and dad kills son because son goes through windshield. (But if son wasn't wearing seat belt ...right?) After that, rest of book is pretty inventive. Dad is obsessed with drawings he believes son drew. Begins to play Banjo Kazooie-esque video game his son played a lot. Son was a pothead. Dad is a pothead. Wife is wanting to leave dad. Kind of funny to read something so intellectual about what equivocates to a stupid video game overall. The vide game bits probably make up 2/3 of the book. Anyway, dad becomes super-involved in said video games and then novel sort of ends super abrupt-like. A little infuriating as I feel the one thing I really loved (Cooper's use of sentence structure here) was also, at the same time, sort of confusing to me. In the way that Cooper never really explicitly states or ever explains exactly what is happening. A lot is implied and then <> left up for interpretation. I don't like that. Sometimes, I like to be told what is actually going on. And Cooper doesn't do that a lot here. But certainly, I have never read another book like this (yet). Sort of shows that you can really meditate on just about anything and make it your own story. There's a part (actually, there are a lot of parts) where the dad just watches the video game character of the bear sitting there idly, but as is the case in many modern video games, characters rarely ever sit there idly doing nothing, so he sort of zones out a lot (the dad) and ends up watching the video game character (a bear) do things like scratch his ass and huff & puff and then we are privy to his inner-musings. Overall, this is three and a half stars, but it was the classic, "More questions asked than answered." And I dunno, I guess I was more in the, "Let's get some answers here, please," camp, while reading this. Definitely going to have to revisit in the coming years. And now that I think about it some, the abrupt ending sort of definitely makes sense.

Weird, idiosyncratic, and beautifully simple.

I've often wondered why someone as talented as Cooper never explored another genre. I was curious how his stripped-down writing style would feel in a world not brimming with violence, murder and sex.

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Title: Volcanic Airs

Subtitle: A Mountjoy Novel

Author: Elizabeth Aston

Narrator: Dawn Murphy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-05-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Where would you rather be? Lonely and fog-bound in an ancient English castle... or sitting under the stars with friends on a magical Mediterranean island? Magdalena Mountjoy, furious with her impossible husband, the rakish Valdemar, doesn't hesitate when she has the chance to run away to Aeolus, a jewel of an island off the coast of Sicily. Yet every Eden has its serpent. As friends and relations arrive to share the bliss, fleeing from their own problems with life and love, Magdalena begins to wish herself back at Mountjoy Castle. Meanwhile Dido, once a dancer and now a nanny, listens to her voices and foretells just where this complex dance of love and betrayal will end for her companions as they enjoy the idyll of an Italian summer. Love conquers all - but will it this time? An irreverent and warmly witty look at marriage, relationships - and love. Escape into another world and delight in the lives of a host of fascinating characters. This is the England of Wodehouse and Downton Abbey, where wickedness and scandal lurk beneath the superb self-confidence of the upper classes.

Best-seller Elizabeth Aston's six Mountjoy novels were originally written under the name Elizabeth Pewsey and published by Sceptre, an imprint of Hodder Headline.

Members Reviews:

The Mountjoys in Italy

This book is centered on Val and Magdelena and is much easier to keep the characters straight than the previous books. There is still the pervading theme of music and oddly, a little mysticism, which has also been a very minor theme.

Four Stars

I am enjoying the saga of this family with its twists and turns

Four Stars

Entertaining story in the Mountjoy series.

So Amusing and So Much Fun!

I just like all of Elizabeth Edmondson/Aston's books and this one is no exception. The Mediterranean island location helps to make this one of my favorites. I have read all 6 of the Mountjoy books and am sad to know that there will not be a 7th or an 8th - I will miss them.

Sunshine and Squalls

This delightful installment of the Mountjoy series takes place in one of Aston's Italian settings and involves her characteristic mix of suspense, comedy, romantic intrigue and self-discovery. Some of the characters are old friends from other volumes in the sequence, while others are newly introduced. A wonderful addition to a most entertaining serial.

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Title: The Road Back

Author: Di Morrissey

Narrator: David Tredinnick

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-21-14

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

From the mountains to the valleys, from big cities to tiny towns, to the outback and our islands, Di Morrissey knows this country. She's been there. In The Road Back, Di weaves a tale of reconnection and starting over. Journalist Chris Baxter is at a crossroads. Returning with his teenage daughter to his mother's house in the beautiful township of Neverend, Chris hopes to pick up the pieces after his life takes an unexpected turn.Sometimes taking the road back is the start of a journey forward.

Critic Reviews:

"Di Morrissey writes long juicy page turners; flowing sensational sagas." (The Age)

Members Reviews:

Family life is better in small Australian towns

The small town of Neverend, on the Australian eastern seaboard, is where people can relate honestly and safely to each other, have time to value relationships and the environment. It is where school students have the advantage of community life and families are more likely to have fewer economic (and therefore relationship) pressures than those in the more expensive cities. Where there is history and continuity.

Life events propel journalist Chris Baxter back to Neverend where he confronts his role as father to his teenage daughter, is offered wisdom from his mother (retired from teaching there for 40 years and is thus an integral part of the community) and, now unemployed, needs to recreate his role in society. In turn, he becomes a catalyst for his mother to revisit key life events as they dove-tail into the present where their repercussions still lie dormant.

As a background rumble, Neverend is juxtaposed against the violent politics of Indonesia of the 1960s and their implications for the contemporary relationship between Australia and this crucially important neighbor.

Rich pickings here.

Morrissey's invariably worthy themes are delivered with craft and care in her many novels. In The Road Back there is an all pervading feeling that she really wants people to accept her major themes, which she clearly believes are important for the future well-being of the places and people she cares about. As a result she over repeats and reiterates her central ideas. This amounts to something like a lack of confidence which is even reflected in the structure: rather than presenting ideas that will thread through the book and hold the reader: the beginning is slow and earnest and there is little to engage.

But Morrisseys well deserved reputation will entice the reader to persevere and this will be rewarded.

The experienced narrator, David Tredinnick, failed to lift the slow beginning where his reading was occasionally breathy and with unexpected pauses. He succeeded in creating satisfying voices without excessive tone change but his Australian accents bordered on the patronising. Nevertheless he was a sympathetic reader.

Brilliant listen !

What a great book! I really enjoyed this listen. In fact I kept looking at how long to go as I didn't want it to end. Another great book by this author and brilliant narration. THANKYOU

The narrator was extremely difficult to listen to!

The story was pretty slow and predictable but nowhere near as slow as the narration.

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Title: The Railway Station Man

Author: Jennifer Johnston

Narrator: Terry Donnelly

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-23-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Seeking solace in the wake of her husbands death, a woman embarks on a new life on the Irish coast, where her mysterious new neighbor offers a rekindled sense of happiness, however short-livedHelen moved to a small ocean-side village for the isolation - to be alone with the waves, birds, and changing seasons. Newly widowed, she spends her days painting in her glass-walled studio atop a hillside on Irelands northwest coast. From her perch she can study the rocks and dunes of the land sloping into the sea, the fishing boats rocking in the tide, and the railway station, abandoned for forty years, now being refurbished by Roger, an Englishman and veteran of the Second World War.

Her friendship with Roger develops slowly, but in tandem with her growing affection for him is an intractable suspicion over his past. As the Troubles continue to settle over Ireland, Helen experiences sparks of happiness with Roger. Meanwhile, her son Jack, a radical living in Dublin, is increasing his involvement with an impassioned group of Irish guerillas, unwittingly setting in motion a series of events that lead to a shocking conclusion for both him and his mother.

Members Reviews:

Four Stars

I had a problem with the lack of dialogue tags at first but overcame that

Unusual novel of fleeting happiness

"The Railway Station Man" is an unusual novel. It is not terribly long, and we are offered only a very brief snapshot into the lives of the characters around which the story evolves. The main character is a widow who seeks a new life in a small coastal village in Ireland after her husband is tragically killed and finds a sort of guilty hard won happiness with her painting and her cat. Her loneliness is broken occasionally by the visits of her distant son, and eventually she finds a different sort of happiness with the eccentric war hero who has bought the local abandoned railway station with a view to restoring it.

If this is a novel of anything however, it is how fleeting any happiness can be. In the background of this seemingly innocent tale is the great Irish "troubles" - hints of the IRA and matters far from innocent. It has all the ingredients for a rich and fascinating tale.

However, all of these ingredients do not really make for the wonderful tale that it could be - it falls a little far from the mark. We do not get to know these pivotal characters very well - things are hinted at in their past but never elaborated on. There is some issue brewing in the background, and somehow this is only hinted at until the shocking conclusion - shocking in both what happens and how abruptly it finishes the book. It is certainly well written, and has the promise of a far greater novel, but that is all it is - the promise of a great novel, and one that falls way short.

Strange and haunting

This is an odd book about love found, and hinted at, and lost. In the midst of all of this there is the spectre of the violent times in Ireland, and I felt quite uncomfortable with these hints, which are never fully explained.

It is really different, but I am not really sure that I liked it. Well written, but still not sure!

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Title: Ark Angel

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Narrator: Oliver Chris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-26-14

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Number one best-selling series. After a chance encounter with the son of multi-billionaire Nikolei Drevin, superspy Alex Rider finds himself in the middle of a war. The connection Ark Angel, a revolutionary space hotel with catastrophic potential.Alex Rider is back and this time there are no limits.

Members Reviews:

Amazing story with mystery

The book was amazing. It was read very well and the book was full of suspense. At the end of every chapter you would be wondering what was going to happen next.

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Title: No River Too Wide

Subtitle: The Goddesses Anonymous, Book 3

Author: Emilie Richards

Narrator: Karen White

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-24-14

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 25 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Some betrayals are like rivers, so deep, so wide, they can't be crossed. But - for those with enough courage - forgiveness, redemption, and lovemay be found on the other side.

On the night her home is consumed by fire, Janine Stoddard finally resolves to leave her abusive husband. While she is reluctant to involve her estranged daughter, she can't resist a chance to see Harmony and baby Lottie before she disappears forever.

Harmony's friend Taylor Martin realizes how much the reunited mother and daughter yearn to stay together, and she sees in Jan a chance to continue her own mother's legacy of helping women in need of a fresh start. She opens her home, even as she's opening her heart to another newcomer, AdamPryor. But enigmatic Adam has a secret that could destroy Taylor's trust - and cost Jan her hard-won freedom.

Members Reviews:

Good story, didnt like narration

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It is a very good story, had a hard time listening however, the narrations sounded like yelling with little emotion, sort of monotone

How could the performance have been better?

Not so much yelling as she read, it felt like someone reading loud as she seen the words with little emotion or pauses

Was No River Too Wide worth the listening time?

Yes

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Title: The Reading Circle

Author: Ashton Lee

Narrator: Kate Baldwin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-14-14

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Welcome to the quirky town of Cherico, Mississippi, where potluck meetings at the local library provide a feast for mind and stomach alike. . .If some folks had their way, the Cherico library would have shut down long ago. Councilman Durden Sparks aims to divert funding to a cause dear to his heart - and his wallet. With the aid of gumption and good friends, librarian Maura Beth Mayhew has finagled a one-year reprieve, and the burgeoning book club is raising the library's profile one mouthwatering meeting at a time. But more members mean more opinions. . . While the Forrest Gump -themed shrimp dishes are a universal hit, meetings don't always go according to plan.

Between spirited debate over book choices and surprising revelations and relationship hiccups - including Maura Beth's fledgling romance - there's a lot to discuss. And just when bad luck threatens to finish the library for good, the Cherry Cola Book Club may learn that the best stories have twists--and heroes--you never expected. . .

Members Reviews:

Can Maura Beth keep the library open?

The Cherry Cola Book Club of Cherico, Mississippi is on it's one year reprieve from Councilman Spark's determination to close the town's library down and use the funds to build his "Legacy", an industrial park--(THE CHERRY COLA BOOK CLUB). But librarian, Maura Beth Mayhew, still has tricks up her sleeve and a growing number of friends and patrons who are backing her efforts to keep the library open.

As with the first book, there's interesting information on just what it takes to keep a library open. There's also an intriguing discussion of another book, FOREST GUMP, that gets it's members lives and view points front and center. The characters are becoming much more developed, with some romances and secrets revealed. The southern charm, humor, and gumption continues making this a terrific read. Secrets revealed give this story the bases for lots more books in this series--I hope!!

I listened to the Audible version of this book which added lots of enjoyment to an already great read!

Nice Story - Poor Performance

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Just a very dull, drab voice. She has no distinct voices for characters, which makes it boring.

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Title: The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle

Author: Kirsty Wark

Narrator: Siobhan Redmond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 03-13-14

Publisher: John Murray Press

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Born just before the First World War, Elizabeth Pringle has been a familiar yet solitary figure on the Scottish island of Arran. A dutiful daughter, an inspirational teacher, a gardener. But did anyone really know her? When Elizabeth dies, her will contains a surprise. She has left her home and her belongings to someone who is all but a stranger, a young mother she watched pushing a pram down the road more than 30 years ago. Now it falls to Martha, the baby in that pram, to find out how her mother inherited the house in such strange circumstances, and in doing so, perhaps leave her own past behind. But first she has to find the answer to the question: who was Elizabeth Pringle?

A captivating and haunting story of the richness beneath so-called ordinary lives and the secrets and threads that hold women together.

Dear Mrs Morrison,

A long time ago, almost thirty-four years past, you wrote to me requesting that I contact you should I ever wish to leave my home. I knew then that I would never live anywhere else, and so there was no point in my replying to you.

I saw you almost every day, pushing your pram along Shore Road. You looked very young. I remember that on one occasion you waved to me, and I think I tilted my head towards you. Perhaps you did not see. There have been times when that scene has come to me vividly, and I have wondered what has become of you both.

I am instructing my solicitor to write to you at the address on your letter. Holmlea is yours if you still wish it.

Elizabeth Pringle

Members Reviews:

Uneven and Ultimately Annoying

I bought this audiobook from Audible on the rec. of Karen of Cornflower Books, whose taste I generally appreciate. In the long run, however, I found it uneven: in the beginning, it's too sad, with two parallel stories of women who are dealing with the inevitable losses of old age; then it becomes too predictable, with WWi and WWII stories that we've all heard before and miraculously "I knew he was The One" relationships; it winds up with a big helping of "spooky-wooky" "I could feel her spirit near me" intimations and that revelation of the hidden secret that we had no idea had existed from the very beginning of the tale. So. I guess I'd say that there are some interesting/lovely aspects of the story, and the narration is beautifully done. However, my "okay" rating remains. Overall, it became an annoying book.

*Reader was great, though Saul's "American accent" grated a bit.

Disappointing

Though the narration was excellent and the author demonstrates a fine command of the language, the story rambled with no point. The main character Elizabeth could have been anyone with a story that simply did not matter. Elizabeth's "tragedy" did not lead to any moment of self-awareness. The plot dragged to a conclusion with no point.

The parallel contemporary story was equally pointless with characters that were neither compelling nor unique.

I couldn't stop listening!

Once I started listening, I could not stop. Before I knew it the book was done but not before there there a few twists and turns. I enjoyed the thorough descriptions in the author made of the island, the people and their seemingly ordinary lives, which were not so ordinary underneath.