Discover Best Sellers Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary

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Title: The Book of Joe

Author: Jonathan Tropper

Narrator: Tom Cavanagh

Format: Abridged

Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-24-04

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 22 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Joe's father lies in a coma, and Joe must return to the town he turned his back on seventeen years earlier. So with years of emotional baggage packed into the trunk of his shiny new Mercedes, Bush Fall's most notorious prodigal son is coming home.

Within hours of his arrival, Joe's return ignites a maelstrom of reaction. The basketball coach's wife throws a milkshake in his face. The town book club throws their copies of Joe's book at his house. And a jock-turned-thug threatens to blow up his car, or worse. Everyone's a critic.

But while Bush Falls may not be pleased to see Joe, it's becoming clear that Joe needed to see Bush Falls. As he walks the familiar streets of his hometown, Joe revisits the past he thought he'd purged in his book. After seventeen years of hiding from it, Joe is now ready to face his past, and with the help of some old friends, he could actually learn something...if he manages to survive the homecoming.

Critic Reviews:

"A beautifully crafted book of enormous heart, humility, wit, honesty, and vulnerability. You want to call your friends at 3 a.m. and read whole passages out loud. You want to press it into the hands of strangers. You cannot stop thinking about it because it has rearranged your very molecules. You know that kind of book? This is that kind of book. The Book of Joe is utterly magnificent. I wish I'd written it myself. "(Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors)

"[Tropper] does it with wit, insight, and a lot of fun cultural references." (Booklist)

"The Book of Joe is an elegiac, wickedly observant look at a small town and its secrets. In Jonathan Tropper's highly readable novel, the problem isn't that you can't go home again, it's that eventually you have to, whether you like it or not." (Tom Perrotta, author of Election and Joe College)

Members Reviews:

So well written

I am taken with J Trotter ' writing style, so my opinion is biased toward him - he is dark and funny and real. Loved everything about this book. Wish I would've been a little more warned about the sad shocks in the storyline - wound up crying in the bathroom getting through the last half and scurrying off to be alone to finish it.

So worth the read, if you like full, loving, angry, giving, holistic stories.

A good read

Good story and Tom Cavanagh fits the tone and style of the main character perfectly.

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Title: The Time Machine

Author: H.G. Wells

Narrator: Simon Prebble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-99

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 45 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

H.G. Wells' visionary novel is credited with creating the science fiction genre because of its tantalizing glimpses into our distant future. Wells presents the exciting diary of the Time Traveler, whose machine crash-lands in the year 802,701. He encounters lush landscapes and a small, highly civilized group of people known as the Eloi, who live in blissful peace. The Traveler attempts to go back in time to share their secrets with his troubled society, but his machine disappears when the sun sets - and the fearsome Morlocks arrive to attack the cowering Eloi. The Time Machine is an astonishing odyssey into the future, and this thrilling presentation brilliantly captures Wells's unlimited imagination and sense of adventure.

Critic Reviews:

"Prebble's calm, solid British voice is comforting and believable." (Kliatt)

Members Reviews:

Accessible and entertaining classic

The Invisible Man is one of those classics that has been on my TBR for ages, always getting posponed to read other titles instead. But after a mention that this classic was actually quite entertaining, I decided to finally pick it up. And they were right, because I actually found myself having a lot of fun while readingÂThe Invisible Man. Not only is the prose quite easy to read, but the plot itself is both intriguing and entertaining as things start escalating. The character development has been really well done and shows the effects being invisible can have on a man... If you are looking for an accessible and entertaining classic to read,ÂThe Invisible Man is the choice for you.

Insightful

Read this book for an English class and I thought it was very insightful. It gave very convincing theories on human nature and what possibly could lay ahead of us in the future. to me this book gave the illusion of mystery by not giving some people names. This mystery exemplified the imagery the time travler gave about the future. the ending heightened the mystery seven fold. I was left wanting more, wanting to know more, and wanting to go back to the future with the time traveler. Made me really think about how the time travelers theories are thought out and could potentially actually happen. Definitely a thought invoking read

A Great Old War!!

This is a good old fashioned yarn. I read the book through in one or two sittings. HG created a sense of menace and despair through the book, which I loved. His descriptions were evocative of the times, and I could almost visualize the destruction taking place, as the book weaved along.

The writing is, for our times, old fashioned, yet timeless. The almost forgotten craft of writing is something that was displayed through the book. I lost the part where the Martians were 'destroyed'. It would have been really nice to have had a nice description of this, but you can't have everything in life!

If you want a good book to read by the fireside, then this is one I can recommend.

Classic Still Has the Attraction and Impact of A Fresh Story!

The Time Machine, like all of H.G. Well's works, are classics. However, they still are enjoyable even after the umpteenth reading! I like the old (not the newer) version of the movie as well. This is a Victrorian story, keep it Victorian! Trying to update it in the newer movie was doomed to failure. The raw adventure into unknown territory for its time was just short of fantastic. H.G.

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Title: Jacob's Hands

Subtitle: A Fable

Author: Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley

Narrator: Burt Reynolds, William Windom

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-99

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 34 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Jacob Ericson, a shy, enigmatic, and somewhat inept ranch hand learns that his hands possess the mysterious gift of healing: a gift he uses to cure animals and Sharon, the woman he adores. His gift is quickly exploited and the boundaries of his charm and naïveté begin to stretch. Following Sharon to Los Angeles, Jacob offers his healing powers for free at a church in Los Angeles, and then at a seedy stage show where his beloved Sharon also works. It is when Jacob's gift is recruited to heal Earl Medwin, an eccentric, ailing young millionaire, that the love and security for which he has worked so hard begin to collapse. Jacob's Hands is a seamlessly crafted tale showing the dangers that a magical gift will undoubtedly bring to even the sincerest of characters.

Members Reviews:

Love it

Lovely story and the performances were awesome! Like a radio play with all the different actors! Stoked with this book.

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Title: A Happy Boy

Author: Bjrnstjerne Bjrnson

Narrator: Ella Porter

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-25-17

Publisher: Audioliterature

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

"A Happy Boy" by Bjrnstjerne Bjrnson is a Norwegian peasant tale.

Excerpt:

"What makes you cry?" "Oh, my goat - my goat!" "Why, where is the goat?" asked the mother, glancing up at the roof. "It will never come back any more," said the boy. "Dear me! how can that be?" Oyvind would not confess at once. "Has the fox carried it off?" "Oh, I wish it were the fox!" "You must have lost your senses!" cried the mother. "What has become of the goat?" "Oh - oh - oh! I was so unlucky. I sold it for a twisted bun!" The moment he uttered the words he realized what it was to sell the goat for a bun; he had not thought about it before. The mother said, - "What do you imagine the little goat thinks of you now, since you were willing to sell it for a twisted bun?" The boy reflected upon this himself, and felt perfectly sure that he never could know happiness more in this world - nor in heaven either, he thought, afterwards.

©2017 Audioliterature (P)2017 Audioliterature

Members Reviews:

The waiting is the hardest part

A Happy Boy was originally published in 1860 under the Norwegian title of En glad Gut. It was written by Bjrnstjerne Bjrnson, who won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature. The novel tells the story of Oyvind Thoresen Pladsen, beginning when heâs about four years old. In the first chapter, he meets a young girl named Marit from a neighboring farm, and immediately develops a fascination with her that will prove enduring as he grows older. At first it seems as if the novel will focus chiefly on the concerns of childhoodâgrowing up on a farm, attending school, the social life of children, etc.âbut despite the title the story does follow young Oyvind into early manhood. The main thrust of the narrative revolves around an issue so central to any ladâs adolescence: what sort of a man will this boy grow to be? What kind of a life will Oyvind make for himself, and will Marit be a part of it?

Matters are complicated by issues of class. In the English translation by Rasmus B. Anderson, one word thatâs ubiquitous throughout the text is âgard,â which is essentially synonymous with âfarm.â (I donât know why he chose not to translate it as such.) To own a gard is to be a member of the landed class. Oyvind is merely the son of a houseman, which is roughly equivalent to a tenant farmer or sharecropper. As Oyvind grows up, he slowly and painfully develops a consciousness of class. Though he may be the brightest student in his school, his lower-class status looms as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in his quest for a happy and successful life.

If thereâs one thing Iâve learned from reading the literature of Bjrnson and other Norwegian writers, itâs that Norwegians must be the worldâs greatest waiters. By âwaiterâ I donât mean a food service employee, but rather âone who waits.â Frequently, the protagonists of Norwegian novels donât win battles by conquering their enemies but by outlasting them. Heroism does not rely on strength or power but on endurance and stoicismâa resignation to oneâs present situation with the determination that one shall triumph in the end. There is a quiet gravity that underlies every action of Oyvindâs, and the steps he takes to achieve his goals are measured, deliberate, and pragmatic.

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Title: Gather Yourselves Together

Author: Philip K. Dick

Narrator: Luke Daniels

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-23-12

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Gather Yourselves Together is one of Philip K. Dicks earliest novels, written when he was just 24 years old. It tells the story of three American workers left behind in China by their employer, biding their time as the Communists advance. As they while away the days, both the young and naïve Carl Fitter and the older and worldly Verne Tildon vie for the affections of Barbara Mahler, a woman who may not be as tough-as-nails as she acts. But Carls innocence and Vernes boorishness could end up driving Barbara away from both.

Members Reviews:

Ambitious, But Overlong

This one's difficult to summarize, in part because it's the length of two novels, and seems to me to have been written at different times. Much of the book is backstory, told in flashback, for each of three main characters. The first 40-50% of the book reads like something that is relatively polished - vivid and atmospheric detailing, of characters and times. The latter half of the book is a tougher read, full of less mature writing and more idiosyncratically the work of a young PKD (full of psychological and philosophical insight, and fascination with history, but in this case grindingly repetitive in places and generally hard to empathize with).

Taken as a novel to be enjoyed in and of itself, it's a flawed work that will bore most readers, though it's beautifully written in many parts. I'd give it three stars for a general audience.

Taken as a part of PKD's ouvre, it's definitely worth reading. Many of his lifelong ambitions are on display here. If you want to understand Dick's backstory, this is indispensable - you can't read the Carl character and not understand that Dick lived through much of this. He didn't quite have the maturity level to create this as a great novel, but he wasn't very far off the mark here.

A beautiful, if flawed, book

As someone who has enjoyed the work of Philip K Dick for a third of my life, I naturally appreciated the opportunity to read this book as it gives insight into the gestation of some of his key ideas, especially near the end of the book where references to the early christians abound. To those interested, I would suggest that the ending of this book be read while keeping in mind the end of his later novel The Simulacra or any of the others which abound in little creatures. That being said, this book would probably be less interesting to someone who is not so familiar with Dick's work. Even so, I did enjoy this book on it's own merits. The characters are easy to empathize with, and the minimalism of the setting/action is handled fairly well.

Read his science fiction instead

A rather disappointing mainstream novel by scifi genius PKD. I thought it may be have some common elements twith A.E. Van Vogt's The Violent Man which also takes place in communist China in the fifties or the sixties. Dick mentionned having been influenced by Van Vogt. But there is no comparison at all between these two books. Van Vogt's novel is well-researched and quite captivating with plenty of philosophical discussions about socialism and democracy among other things, whereas Dick's novel does not show much knowledge of China at that time. My recommendation: concentrate on his science fiction novels and short stories, which are mostly excellent.

Another PKD Find

I treasure every new PKD story I find. His surreal world has become real.

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Título: Cuentos de Maria la gorda [The Stories of Maria la Gorda]

Autor: Isabel San Sebastián

Narrador: Eusebio Barroso

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 3 hrs and 17 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 10-18-10

Editor: Audiomol

Calificaciones: 4 de 5 de 1 votos

Categorías: Fiction, Literary

Resumen del editor:

Hay lugares mágicos que abren las puertas de los sueños más audaces. Isabel San Sebastíán encontró el suyo en el Caribe, en una playa de arenas blancas y aguas apacibles, cuyo nombre, convertido en personaje, da título a este libro. Los "Cuentos de María la Gorda" -su primer libro de ficción- son el fruto de ese venturoso hallazgo. Hay en ellos mucho de autobiografía, algo de metáfora y grandes dosis de pasión. Son más hijos del sentimiento que de la reflexión. Nacen de un corazón de mujer que se desnuda en esta obra. Todos ellos toman la forma de relatos de leyenda. Sus protagonistas habitan entre el brumoso pasado y un enigmático futuro: Laura, una joven de Provenza que desconoce su origen, es salvada de la muerte por un monje guerrero en pleno fragor de las Cruzadas; María y Pedro, en un Madrid maniatado por el terrorismo, se enfrentan a la brutalidad aferrándose al amor sensual; la vieja Nalú, Guardiana de la Memoria, habla de un tiempo femenino y ancestral, entre los hielos de un mundo inhóspito; hombres sedientos de sangre asisten frente al gran azul a una metamorfosis liberadora; mientras un pastor vasco, presa de un hechizo tenebroso, lleva su locura hasta el sacrificio. Y finalmente María la Gorda, subyugante esclava mulata que impera entre los cañaverales bajo el sol abrasador de la Cuba del XVIII, transforma su cuerpo espléndido en senda de libertad. Los relatos se despliegan como entradas secretas a otros mundos donde reina la fantasía y en los que es posible cambiar el destino irremediable de personajes únicos.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

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Title: The Salinger Contract

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Adam Langer

Narrator: Adam Langer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-15-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

An enthralling literary mystery that connects some of the worlds most famous authorsfrom Norman Mailer and Truman Capote to B. Traven and J. D. Salingerto a sinister collector in Chicago.

Adam Langer, the narrator of this deft and wide-ranging novel by the author of the same name, tells the intertwining tales of two writers navigating a plot neither one of them could have ever imagined. There may be no other escape than to write their way out of it.

Adam is a writer and stay-at-home dad in Bloomington, Indiana, drawn into an uneasy friendship with the charismatic and bestselling thriller author Conner Joyce. Conner is having trouble writing his next book, and when a menacing stranger approaches him with an oddand lucrativeproposal, events quickly begin to spiral out of control.

A novel of literary crimes and misdemeanors, The Salinger Contract will delight anyone who loves a fast-paced story told with humor, wit, and intrigue.

Members Reviews:

Just keep reading

Getting through the first half was tiresome and slow, last half was great. Great plot twists and turns, quick read, was glad it took such a great turn as I was considering not finishing. Good read and worth the time. Interesting story for sure

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Title: Immortality

Author: Milan Kundera

Narrator: Richmond Hoxie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-06-12

Publisher: Canongate Faber

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Milan Kundera's sixth novel springs from a casual gesture of a woman to her swimming instructor, a gesture that creates a character in the mind of a writer named Kundera. Like Flaubert's Emma or Tolstoy's Anna, Kundera's Agnes becomes an object of fascination, of indefinable longing. From that character springs a novel, a gesture of the imagination that both embodies and articulates Milan Kundera's supreme mastery of the novel and its purpose: to explore thoroughly the great themes of existence.

Critic Reviews:

"It will make you cleverer, maybe even a better lover. Not many novels can do that." (Nicholas Lezard, GQ)

Members Reviews:

Amazing and unique.

Loved it. Didn't want it to end. interesting, deep, touching. Each character resembles a part of our personalities.

Breathtakingly beautiful

Wonderful story, unique, relatable characters. I enjoyed it a lot. Love it and recommend it!

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Title: Gesturing

Author: John Updike

Narrator: Jane Alexander

Format: Unabridged

Length: 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-11-09

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

These extraordinarily evocative stories depict the generation born in a small-town America during the Depression and growing up in a world where the old sexual morality was turned around and material comforts were easily had. Yet, as these stories reflect so accurately, life was still unsettling, and Updike chronicles telling moments both joyful and painful. The texts are taken from his recent omnibus, The Early Stories, 1953-1975.

In describing how he wrote these stories in a small, rented, smoke-filled office in Ipswitch, Massachusetts, he says, "I felt that I was packaging something as delicately pervasive as smoke, one box after another, in that room, where my only duty was to describe reality as it had come to me -- to give the mundane its beautiful due."

Members Reviews:

Bittersweet - Poignant

"Gesturing" is a later short story about a fictional couple "The Maples". They are now separated. Each have new relationships. This story is about the ex husband moving to Boston, not an apartment. He stays in touch with his family, as including his ex wife. They are on speaking terms.

John Updike wrote a series of short stories about this couple over several years. I feel that the stories are best read consecutively, at least at first. I have been reading about one a day. I feel as though I have gotten to know this couple. There are times I like each of them and times that I don't like each of them.

John Updike's talent, wit, and intelligence have become completely evident to me. I have been reading these stories while listening to an audiobook narrated by Peter Van Norden. The narration is excellent and adds to the entire reading experience. I had previously read "Rabbit Run" and disliked it so much that I had developed an aversion to Updike. I have a copy of "The Poorhouse Fair". I think I will give it a try...

Thank You.

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Title: Greed

Author: Elfriede Jelinek, Martin Chalmers (translator)

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-22-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Greed is the story of Kurt Janisch, an ambitious but frustrated country policeman, and the lonely women he seduces. It is a thriller set amid the mountains and small towns of southern Austria, where the investigation of a dead girl's body in a lake leads to the discovery of more than a single crime.

In her signature style, Jelinek chronicles the exploitative nature of relations between men and women, and the cruelties of everyday life.

Critic Reviews:

"[O]riginal and provocative." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Not a good one for an audiobook

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I listen to my books while doing something else, but this book is not made for that. The story is written in an unusual way, that requires high concentration while listening. I was lost just after few sentences, it did get better later on but I still believe this book is made for reading not listening.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Surprise surprise, it's a story about greed - specifically about very, very greedy people doing bad things trying to accumulate the wealth other, weaker people have collected. It's heavy, dark and sad story really. I stopped listening after one hour, having no intention to finish this book any more.