Discover Best Sellers Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Other Hand

Author: Chris Cleave

Narrator: Zanubia Zafeera, Anna Bentinck

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-12-12

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 20 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn't.

And it's what happens afterwards that is most important.

Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

Members Reviews:

Gifted storyteller

What made the experience of listening to The Other Hand the most enjoyable?

Purely the storytelling ability of Chris Cleave. The story is unexpected, and manages to be both sad & delightful at once.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Probably Sarah. Someone who had the guts to do what she did not knowing what the outcome would be. But Little Bee has to be my favourite too. She is so intelligent & caring. A wonderful young person.

Which character as performed by Zanubia Zafeera and Anna Bentinck was your favorite?

Zanubia Zafeera did a wonderful job of playing Little Bee. Such warmth & beauty.

Who was the most memorable character of The Other Hand and why?

Little Bee. I am trying so hard not to give the story away at all, but I am left feeling for her after reading the story.

Any additional comments?

This read is not too light, not too heavy - just right. It's a story that would appeal to most if not all readers & there is some enlightenment in there too. Lots of questions...I found myself asking my husband if you were [insert situation from the book here] what would you do? But even more I found I was asking myself. I am a very black & white person, but nothing is straightforward.

A waste of time

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Didnt like this at all

Would you ever listen to anything by Chris Cleave again?

No

How could the performance have been better?

No idea

You didnt love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No

Any additional comments?

It was given such high regard the first I heard of it. When I checked comments after I read it most people felt the same way. A waste of time

Interesting.

This is an enjoyable story barring a few scenes that I felt marred the gentle melody of the story. It was very interesting and opened my eyes to some things I had not thought about much.I feel that the rape and murder is described in more graphic detail than was needed. The fear and unfairness of life came across clearly and for that reason the graphic scenes were not necessary and spoiled it a little bit for me. One other thing I found disappointing and that was the ending.There was no real resolution. It left me unsatisfied.

suprising

i only bought this because it was cheap and i was intriged by the info on it, when it first started i though 'this was a waste of money im not going to get into this story' boy was i wrong.

i want to know what happens next though..............

We should shout about this book!

This is a truly special story but they should tell us more about it so that it wouldn't take me years to find this book.

It's the tragic story of Little Bee who had to leave her home country Nigeria for England where's she's being kept in a refugee detention centre. By some strange coincidence she's released after two years.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Cattle King

Author: Ion Idriess

Narrator: Various Artists

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-13-11

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

This book is an inspiring tribute to the remarkable life of Sir Sidney Kidman - the Cattle King.

At the age of 13 Sidney Kidman ran away from home with only five shillings in his pocket. He went on to become a horse dealer, drover, cattle buyer and bush jockey and he also ran a coach business. Above all Kidman created a mighty cattle empire of more than a hundred stations, fighting droughts, bushfires, floods and plagues of vermin to do so. His enterprise and courage won him a huge fortune and made him a legend.

Members Reviews:

Australia's best bush businessman

I've read the hardcover book, and now this, and loved both. There were quite a few stories missed in the audible version, so if you enjoyed this then do yourself a favour and get a copy of the paper book!

A great man, a great life, and well worth a listen!

Not unabridged - great story though

Great story and well told. At times the background sound effects can be too much, but mostly I didn't mind them.

However, very disappointed that the book was advertised as "unabridged" and is very clearly not.

Disappointing

Not enough detail and to much background noise can barely hear the narrator. There is no talk about any of the stations in detail

Background noise

The story would be better without so much bird noise and hooves and music, maybe toned down a bit at times it was louder than the narrator

good read

A story that is only half told . Could have had more detail off the people he was involved with.

But never the less I still enjoyed it .

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Wingshooters

Author: Nina Revoyr

Narrator: Johanna Parker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-01-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

The author of a Book Sense 76 pick and Los Angeles Times Best Book, Nina Revoyr is a writer of rare voice and distinct talent. Wingshooters is the tale of an isolated, all-white community torn apart by prejudice after the arrival of a half-Japanese girl and a young black couple.

Critic Reviews:

Revoyr continues her unique and affecting exploration of American racism in a concentrated novel that draws breathtaking contrasts between all that is beautiful in life and the malignancy of hate. (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Thought Provoking

Would you listen to Wingshooters again? Why?

A book that keeps your interest the entire way through and then stays with you when you are finished. Thought provoking and emotional.

What did you like best about this story?

The relationship between the grandfather and granddaughter.

What does Johanna Parker bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Voice inflection really brings out the emotions felt by the granddaughter.

Who was the most memorable character of Wingshooters and why?

Michelle, the granddaughter followed closely by Charlie, the grandfather because of their unusual and special relationship.

Disturbing to know we did that

I lived throughout the Midwest and South during the 50s and 60s. In the South things were very tense. In the Midwest they seemed to me to be "above all that." I guess I was naive. I very much appreciate the non-hysterical revisiting of the era as I believe "we are doomed to repeat the past if we do not remember it." Many writers recalling the period jab us in the eye with the sharp stick of guilt. This book, counter the trend, is a well written, well narrated reminder of those days. Near perfect match of text to narrator. I'm tempted to say this is a "must read" for American high school students lest, as a society, we forget.

Depth of a Classic

In the 1970s in the north, our country often represented a Caucasian demographic. As time progressed, African Americans migrated into the north, mainly to cities but eventually to suburbs and rural areas. The story of Wingshooters is narrated by Michelle, an eight year old child and chronicles the events that occurred after a black couple moves into a rural Wisconsin town. Mrs. Garrett, the wife takes a job in a local medical clinic as a nurse while Mr. Garrett begins as a substitute teacher at the local elementary. Their presence is anything but welcome by a majority of the people in town and events and situations escalate to tragic proportions. Michelle, as narrator offers incredible insight through both observation and reflection. Michelles perspective is especially unique since she is half Japanese and suffered a great deal of racism prior to the arrival of the Garretts.

Author, Nina Revoyr, provides a great deal for discussion in this important novel. Many of the adults never call the Garretts by name, dehumanizing them and even refer to Mr. Garrett as the buck symbolizing one to be hunted. There is a great deal in this novel ripe for analysis which makes it a top recommendation. Libraries: Buy multiple copies.

Really?

What disappointed you about Wingshooters?

Story is unbelievable. I am old enough to remember the 70s. The emotions and viewpoints grafted on to the characters in this book would be over the top for the 1940s.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Fundamentals of Play

Author: Caitlin Macy

Narrator: James Daniels

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-20-11

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

George Lenhart's New York is a retro-Manhattan, a Cheeveresque world of clubs, cocktails, and cards. Heading to Wall Street after college, Lenhart takes up with his old boarding school crowd, a group of young men and women who have every intention of amusing themselves and none at all of growing up. At the center of the frivolity is a girl - "the" girl - careless, fickle Kate Goodenow, whom George watches, as he always has, as she plays Hearts with one young man after another, but never with him. The threat to this world of monied and formerly monied WASPs arrives in the form of Harry Lombardi, a middle class Catholic gate-crasher, desperate to learn the fundamentals of play. When Harry's blunders call a halt to all the fun, George must decide whether the only game he knows is worth the price of playing.

Members Reviews:

Another appointment in Samarra

Two-thirds of the way through Caitlin Macy's elegant, playfully dark comedy, "The Fundamentals of Play," her narrator, George Lenhart, Dartmouth graduate from an old WASP family that's fallen on hard financial times and now a financial analyst on Wall Street, sums up his generation, and the book's theme. Twenty-something in the early 1980s, George is narrating the book from the perspective of the turn of the century but he is writing about events during the summer New York's least-loved skyscraper, the Pan Am Building, was sold and became the Met Life building. George observes: "we were the last generation of the century to come of age, and the first one that wanted to be as much like our parents' as possible. We ought to have started a revolution; instead we bought cocktail shakers."

Macy, in a manner Jane Austen and Edith Wharton might well have admired, has George describe the adventures of the slim ash blonde Dartmouth graduate (she's two years older than he is) Kate Goodnow. Her family is old money and book centers around who she will marry. Fellow grad Chat Weathers, the "not our kind" software entrepreneur Harry Lombardi (he has a mobile phone when they're still considered geeky and the era's so _not_ Internet ready computers display green pixels on a dark grey screen), or neo-hippie Nick Beale, who spends his time sailing.

For Kate (and Macy makes you keep wondering why any of these men would desire her to the point of nervous breakdown) courtship is merely another game to be played. She is, we learn, determined to be the first in her set to get married, and so she sets about doing just that.

Comparisons with "Gatsby" are inevitable, of course, but I think that's reaching too high. However, Macy may well be tipping her hat to a contemporary of Fitzgerald when narrator George tells us that one of the characters wants to bring back the old phone exchanges like "PLaza 5 and MUrray Hill 4."

To say nothing of Butterfield 8?

But no matter. Macy's touch is assured (maybe you'll have difficulty believing this is her first novel or that she's as young as she looks in her photograph). The book needs no such comparisons at all. Macy has mastered the elements of style: "The Fundamentals of Play" reads as if Macy dipped a stiletto in hydrofluoric acid and etched her words on a glass plate.

Fascinating True and thought-provoking read

I've loved the book from the first to the last page.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Midsummer Night in the Workhouse

Subtitle: Selected Stories by Diana Athill

Author: Diana Athill

Narrator: Diana Athill

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 07-12-11

Publisher: Persephone

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

This new selection of Diana Athills stories, Midsummer Night in the Workhouse, provides a subtle counterpoint to her memoirs because the focus of the stories is autobiographical: although not in the first person, they are about facets of a life which Diana knew through and through, either because she was, as she has said, writing about herself (the story about her first kiss or the one about an Oxford undergraduate and her boyfriend) or because she had sharply observed those around her (an Englishwoman on holiday having an affair, a married couple bickering at a dinner party). Diana herself has recently recorded these perceptive, touching and funny stories.

Critic Reviews:

"These stories reveal the same wry, mischievous and essentially humane sensibility that will be familiar to readers of Athill's memoirs....she ranks among the very best writers of late 20th century English short stories." (Ruth Scurr, The Times)

Members Reviews:

True to life.

Diana Athill is a keen noticer of life as it really happens in all its paradoxes and touching ironies. No platitudes here, but well crafted writing. This is not a woman's or a man's version of life, but that of an accomplished human being.

wonderful find

I had never heard of Athill before but these stories are true gems - wonderful writing about the details and quiet crises of female experience.

excellent

Athill can write about anything - great good book and fast shipping from this seller

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Kakababu Stories

Author: Sunil Gangopadhyay

Narrator: Ranjon Ghoshal, Rinku Ghoshal

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-31-11

Publisher: booksTALK audiobooks

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Sunil Gangopadhyay is an icon of contemporary Bengali writing. Poet and author of over 200 books, he is currently the President of the Sahitya Akademi. His works have been the basis of several Satyajit Ray films like Aranyer Dinratri and Pratidwandi. His work of historical fiction, Sei Somoy, won the Indian Sahitya Akademi award in 1985, and continues to be a best-seller after 25 years. He is also the winner of the Bankim Puraskar (1982) and the Ananda Puraskar (twice, in 1972 and 1989).

Though he has written all types of fiction, the star among in novels is Kakababu, the crippled adventurist, accompanied by his young nephew, Shantu, and his friend Jojo. Since 1974, Sunil Gangopadhyay has written over 35 novels of this popular series, most of which appeared in the Anandmela magazine.

We,at booksTALK are grateful to Sunilda for his support in bringing you these audiobooks of his works. We hope this will be only the first step in bringing out many such works in Indian languages. To make it possible to reconnect to our roots - of language, literature and storytelling.

The adventures in this volume are Bijoynogorer Hirey and Shobuj Dweeper Raja.

Please note: this audiobook is in Bengali.

Members Reviews:

Kaka Babu Thriller

If you could sum up Kakababu Stories in three words, what would they be?

Thrilling Absorbing Mystery

What did you like best about this story?

The entire story

What does Ranjon Ghoshal and Rinku Ghoshal bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Voice modulation and Narration. My 12 year old son thoroughly enjoyed this story book with narration from beginning to end.

Escuche este audio libro completo gratis en https://hotaudiobook.com

Título: Nocturno de Chile [By Night in Chile]

Autor: Roberto Bolano

Narrador: Walter Krochmal

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 4 hrs and 50 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 12-22-10

Editor: Recorded Books

Calificaciones: 4 de 5 de 26 votos

Categorías: Fiction, Literary

Resumen del editor:

Del Opus Dei e importante crítico literario chileno vivió durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Sebastián Urrutia Lacroix nos narra sus recuerdos padeciendo una fiebre muy alta y nos hace partícipes de algunos sucesos históricos en los que él participó en su natal Chile y sin entender el porqué sucedió así, también nos hace ver su relación con importantes figuras del ámbito político y cultural chileno, como Neruda y Pinochet. El ritmo narrativo de Bolaño nos hace entender en su particular punto de vista que los acontecimientos históricos en gran parte son generados al libitum y no planeados como la historia lo cuenta una vez consumado el hecho

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

Opiniones de los miembros:

El narrador tiene acento n.americano con "tr"

Would you listen to Nocturno de Chile [By Night in Chile] again? Why?

Me costaba escuchar este libro porque me fijaba (quizá demasiado) en el hecho de que el narrador no puede pronunciar "tr." Le sale como los norteamericanos pronuncian "tr" en palabras como "train" o "troup" -- es decir, como "chr." Si se fija bien, escucha como el señor pronuncia todas las palabras con "tr" como "otro", "contra", "mientras", etcétera. Y ni siquiera trata de imitar un acento chileno ni fingir voces distintas para los diferentes papeles. Si quiere saber de este libro, sugiero que lo lea.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Nocturno de Chile [By Night in Chile]?

Los partes con Pinochet y el fin.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Dramatiza demasiado, como si fuera actor de telenovelas malas. Pronuncia "tr" como "chr". p.e. ochro -> otro, conchra -> contra, mienchras -> mientras, chratar -> tratar.

Good story

But it is not Bolano's best. It can't compare to "The Savage Detectives" (his masterpiece) or "2666". Good performance overall.

Good performance and better novel.

Uno de los libros de Bolaño que quizá capture de manera más breve que las otras novelas los principales temas de su obra: el fracaso de los movimientos revolucionarios en AL, la complicidad de la clase intelectual con los regímenes dictatoriales o represores, la naturaleza del mal, etc. La narración es buena, con acento chileno y fácil de seguir. Las diferentes voces que utiliza el actor son fácilmente discernibles y transmiten, dentro de lo posible, la naturaleza de cada personaje. Bastante recomendable.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: A Manuscript of Ashes

Author: Antonio Munoz Molina, Edith Grossman (translator)

Narrator: David DeSantos

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-07-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

It's the late 60s, the last dark years of Franco's dictatorship. Minaya, a university student in Madrid, is caught up in the student protests, and the police are after him. He moves to his uncle Manuel's country estate in the small town of Mgina to write his thesis on an old friend of Manuel's, an obscure republican poet named Jacinto Solana.

The country house is full of traces of the poet's notes, photographs, journals - and Minaya soon discovers that, 30 years earlier, during the Spanish Civil War, both his uncle and Solana were in love with the same woman, the beautiful, unsettling Mariana. Engaged to Manuel, she was shot in the attic of the house on her wedding night. With the aid of Ins, a maid, Minaya begins to search for Solana's lost masterpiece, a novel called Beatus Ille. Looking for a book, he unravels a crime.

Critic Reviews:

"Already a contemporary classic, this work...is an enigmatic gem in the very best metafiction tradition." (Library Journal)

"This is a brilliant novel by an important writer unafraid of ideas, emotions and genuine beauty. 'A Manuscript of Ashes could be pleasurably read out of appreciation for any one of those qualities - or, perhaps, for the intricately plotted mystery that bears the novel's characters along like travelers on a dark, treacherous river." (Los Angeles Times)

Members Reviews:

Most difficulty listen

What disappointed you about A Manuscript of Ashes?

Very difficulty to understand the reader. With his accent, it was impossible to distinguish names and you lost the thread of the story and which character was being discussed.

What do you think your next listen will be?

A Nora Roberts novel.

Would you be willing to try another one of David DeSantoss performances?

No

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from A Manuscript of Ashes?

Since I was unable to finish it, even though I listened to the first 10 chapters more than three times, I can not answer that question.

Any additional comments?

I would love to know what the story was about.

Fascinating

The narration of this book is good but it requires a few 're-takes' at first until one becomes accustomed to the longer sentences that are beautifully constructed.

I want to read this book in print now to really savour it but the audiobook is a great way to capture the characterisations which are very good.

The writer switches between viewpoints of different characters and different points in time so that we get a shifting perspective and a really facinating story about an interesting time in history and literature.

Definitely one I will re-read and highly recommended.

Clever but tedious

Simple story line. Although the twist made it interesting , the climax seem to never arrive. I found the sentences possibly unnecessarily too long to follow as an audible book.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Stars Look Down

Author: A. J. Cronin

Narrator: Arthur Blake

Format: Unabridged

Length: 27 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-17-10

Publisher: RNIB

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 34 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Set in the north of England at the turn of the century, this novel focuses on the lives and times of the people who lived there, describing the suffering of the miners and the advent of World War I.

Please note: This is a vintage recording. The audio quality may not be up to modern day standards.

Members Reviews:

A wonderful historical novel

I'll be honest, I bought this book because it was so cheap I thought it must be a mistake. I've bought some for full price I hated so figured I couldn't go wrong. It was a good choice as I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

This book was written in 1935 and is about the lives of coal miners. It covers the time period just before WWI and ends sometime before WWII. There are 3 main characters, two who begin as coal miners and the other the son of the mine owner. Their lives are all dramatically changed by the end of the story.

The narrator does well, except you can hear the paper rustling from his text. Additionally, some of the accents are so realistic it is difficult to understand much of what was said.

A True Epic Novel

This is one of A.J. Cronin's classic early works, describing the lives of miners in northern England. Long, but deeply interesting, even though it tells of a period [1909 to mid 1930's] which seems remote to us now. Coal mining, although very changed since then, has never been without danger or poverty. Cronin tells, basically, the stories of three families: Arthur Barras and his mine-owner father; David Fenwick, whose father and brothers are all miners, and his mother; and Joe Gowlan, who's determined to stop at nothing to amass as much power and money as he can. There is a huge number of subsidiary characters as well.

The narrator does the dialect very well, but to be frank, it is so thick in places as to be difficult to understand [I think Cronin meant it this way; at the time, that was the way the people spoke]. Cronin's style is both descriptive and terse; his dialogue is very believable, and the narrator does a very good job with both.

This is a book about several topics, not about miners alone. It's about the morality of power [absolute power corrupts absolutely], about war, about social injustice. A true classic, which stands alongside Cronin's other huge book, The Citadel.

Great story and cast of characters

Had never read AJ Cronin before, and was very pleasantly surprised that this classic is still entertaining and relevant. Learned afterward that "Billy Elliot" was loosely based on the coal miner's story. And that in tribute, the first song in the musical "Billy Elliot" is titled "The Stars Look Down" in tribute to this story.

Great

But for the occasional ultra-liberal, even socialist, bias portrayed at various points, I would have given this 5 stars or even more if that were possible. The writing, character prortrayal, plot development, scenic description and narration are superb. I am not familiar with the reader, but he is as good as any I have encountered. My only reservation is the obvious socialistic politics of the author. But I can forgive this because I know the world was much different at that time than now. He did not have the irrefutable evidence that socialism, communism, extreme left wing politics simply do not work in the real world. I give him credit for portraying the 'working man' as something other than the ideal hero many on the left want to portray him as.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Follow Your Heart

Author: Susanna Tamaro

Narrator: Barbara Caruso

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-26-10

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Follow Your Heart is a bittersweet tale that explores the reflections and revelations of aging. This lyrical novel has earned author Susanna Tamaro prestigious awards as it quickly became an international success, touching the hearts of readers worldwide. Over 1.8 million copies have been sold in Italy alone.

With winter and death approaching, Olga, an elderly Italian woman, writes a long letter to her granddaughter in America. In it, she shares her loves, her lifelong secrets, and the history of her tragic relationship with her daughter (the granddaughters mother). After a lifetime lived in a patriarchal society, Olga also contemplates the frailty of her family ties. Stressing the need to follow her heart, the pensive grandmother speaks to her granddaughter across the miles and years that separate them. The resulting pages convey her inner journey and hard-won knowledge to the young woman with eloquent clarity.

Members Reviews:

best book I've "heard" in a while

Would you consider the audio edition of Follow Your Heart to be better than the print version?

The narrator is superb, has pauses and inflections that bring the story to life.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Grandmother, transparency - really love the metaphors she uses.

What does Barbara Caruso bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

The narrator is superb, has pauses and inflections that bring the story to life.

This is the third time I read book

I love it! I keep come back to it over and over. Read it first time 20 years ago in Italian for a college class.