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Title: Rumpole and the Primrose Path

Author: John Mortimer

Narrator: Bill Wallis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-10-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 47 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

We last left Rumpole in his hospital bed after his sudden collapse in court. Now our hero finds himself in the Primrose Path nursing home - or a hospice as he persists in describing it. Things aren't looking good for Rumpole - until suddenly he begins to sense there's something wrong with the place, and all his intelligence and formidable insight into human behaviour come to the fore again. And once he has solved the mystery of the Primrose Path nursing home, Rumpole finds the briefs fly thick and fast again.

This collection of six Rumpole stories shows the legendary advocate on top form.

Members Reviews:

Rumpole and Wallis--an excellent combination!

After hearing others read Rumpole, I've come to appreciate Bill Wallis's rendering enormously. He gives Rumpole just the right combination of self-deprecation and bombast--so that I to continue to delight in hearing about Chateau Thames Embankment, the Timsons, QCs, and, of course, She Who Must Be Obeyed.

always love these stories, Rumpole cleverness

narrator is wonderful, stories are skillfully intertwined, it's more of the Rumpole world at the Old Bailey

Superb understated wit. I laughed out loud!

Good story, Rumpole is a wonderful character and well-read. Anyone can identify with this wonderfully flawed, brilliant detective and his evasions of "she who must be obeyed".

Rumpole Wins Again

What can anyone say about any of John Mortimer's Rumpole books except that they're brilliant? Once again Horace goes to battle with the Forces of the Bailey; She Who Must Be Obeyed and assorted bent coppers and devious criminals. You don't need to know the stories - just sit back and giggle, as the wonderful Rumpole triumphs (or doesn't) against the odds. Don't listen in a public place, though, as people do tend to look at you in a strange way when you burst out laughing on the bus.

As good as ever

I really enjoyed the stories. With a good variety of subjects. Just right for relaxing to of an evening. Thanks.

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Title: Lights & Laughter

Subtitle: Joel ben Izzy Spins Hanukkah Tales

Author: Joel ben Izzy

Narrator: Joel ben Izzy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-08-09

Publisher: Joel ben Izzy

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Traveling storyteller Joel ben Izzy recounts the story of Hanukkah, as you've never heard it before, along with seven other tales to keep you laughing for all eight nights of the festival of lights. Through it all, Joel manages to capture both the warmth and humor of the holiday, with the stories woven together by the lilting music of The Kings of Klezmer.

©2001 jbi; (P)2001 jbi

Critic Reviews:

"In this sterling collection of Hanukkah tales, the gifted storyteller relays the history of the holidays with rollicking irreverence." (Booklist)

"If you like a) Garrison Keillor or b) Daniel Pinkwater or c) both, check our Joel ben Izzy....This master of the wistful and funny is just the thing for those long holiday car treks." (The Washington Post)

Members Reviews:

Well done!

Very well read, great collection! Enjoyed by our entire family! Entertaining, Educational and Fun!! Great!!

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Title: The Suicide Run

Subtitle: Five Tales of the Marine Corps

Author: William Styron

Narrator: Mark Deakins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-06-09

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

In "Blankenship," written in 1953, Styron draws on his stint as a guard at a stateside military prison at the end of World War II. "Marriott, the Marine" and "The Suicide Run" - which Styron composed in the early 1970s as part of an intended novel that he set aside to write Sophie's Choice - depict the surreal experience of being conscripted a second time, after World War II, to serve in the Korean War. "My Father's House" captures the isolation and frustration of a soldier trying to become a civilian again. In "Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco," written late in Styron's life, a soldier attempts to exorcise the dread of an approaching battle by daydreaming about far-off islands, visited vicariously through his childhood stamp collection.

Perhaps the last volume from one of literature's greatest voices, The Suicide Run brings to life the drama, inhumanity, absurdity, and heroism that forever changed the men who served in the Marine Corps.

Members Reviews:

Wonderful, poignant stories immediately Post World War II

Real writers - and William Styron is firmly in the 20th century ranks - can record history in ways that straightforward accounts are not able. The prose shows both talent and care: it's beautiful, lofty and requiring a dictionary near-at-hand. The writer's care in expressing and recording important things in just the right words is evident throughout the stories. At the heart of each is a Marine either serving during WWII or recently returned. However, the war still rests on him. Besides instructing us in the post-war time, the book of stories reminds us of the high bar ambitious, good writers set for themselves in Styron's time.

Remembrance of War

I finished these "five tales of the Marine Corps" wishing that Willam Styron had written more, specifically that he had finished the section called "My Father's House," which he wrote in 1985 and was the opening section of a novel never finished. As always with this great writer, these stories convey the complexity of that animal known as a human. The narrator of "My Father's House" is Paul Whitehurst, recently returned to Virginia-- the time is 1946-- from a three year stint in the Marine Corps fighting in "the Good War, that is, the second War to End All Wars" who can see the awful contradiction that, in order to be a good soldier, he has to hate the Japanese enemy, described by his commander as "subhuman," while feeling guilty over his memento of the war, an exquisite gold locket obviously taken from a dead Japanese soldier Paul won from a tipsy warrant officer in a poker game in Saipan. At first Paul thinks the locket is solid gold but then discovers a photograph inside of two little girls "who appeared to be sisters" on a ferryboat. "So I kept the picture in the locket and from time to time stole a peek at the ferryboat children, always making my mind an absolute blank whenever my thoughts began to stray toward the father from whose dead neck my trophy had been torn."

Then there is the specter of race. In "Marriott, the Marine," it is rumored that half dozen or so black people had committed suicide rather than be uprooted from their homes to make way for what would eventually be called Camp Lejeune.

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Title: Rumpole and the Age for Retirement

Author: John Mortimer

Narrator: Leo McKern

Format: Abridged

Length: 1 hr and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-24-09

Publisher: Audio Holdings, LLC

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Horace Rumpole is back! Leo McKern reads from John Mortimer's second volume about the life and trials of the eccentric barrister famous for his infinite knowledge of blood stains, blood groups and forgery by typewriter. Witty and cynical as ever, Rumpole will once again delight listeners with his irreverent behavior and legal triumphs in Rumpole and the Age for Retirement.

©1979 John Mortimer; (P)2009 Audio Holdings, LLC

Editorial Reviews:

Wisecracking Rumpole returns in this second volume of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories. Actor Leo McKern portrays the old barrister as Rumpole's wife, Hilde, "she who must be obeyed", and Rumpole's son join together in a conspiracy to get Rumpole to retire. McKern's uproarious performances as Rumpole just keep getting better. Rumpole and the Age for Retirement is a true comedy of errors that will have listeners laughing out loud and rooting for Rumpole as he gets to the bottom of this mystery.

Members Reviews:

A Horrifyingly funny book!

Rumpole of the Bailey, one of the best known and loved lawyers of British history does it again with this funny tale of daily life. Being forced into Retirement without knowing it, by his wife "She who must be obeyed" Hilda, and his son. It seems that everybody knows it but him!

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Title: Deadly Allies

Subtitle: Private Eye Writers of America - Sisters in Crime

Author: Sue Grafton, Lia Matera, Margaret Maron, Sara Paretsky, Rob Kantner, Jeremiah Healy

Narrator: Lorena Swift, David Dukes, Bess Armstrong, Stephen Macht

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-18-09

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 20 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

An exciting mystery anthology of short stories by assorted writers including Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton.

©1992 Sue Grafton; (P)2009 Phoenix

Members Reviews:

by FAR the worst audio quality

This is so disappointing that I really should be seeking a refund. The audio is absolutely in"audible" in many places. I put it on a car stereo to increase the volume but it only increased the distortion. Several times I just had to fill in the gaps for what I couldn't hear. I've had probably hundreds of hours of perfect audio on books I've purchased on this website. These 6 hours were dismal. Beyond the "must have been copied from an old stretched out cassette tape" sound, some of the reading was simply bad. Mispronounced words and odd breaks in the sentences are jarringly different from anything I've come to expect, and beyond any simple personal preference.

BAD, BAD AUDIO

The first story, by Sue Grafton, is a duplicate of a book I bought on here. About halfway through the audiobook...the audio quality drops off to unlistenable.

Great stories , terrible audio

How could the performance have been better?

Very hard to listen to

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Really disappointed. The first audible book I have bought that I could not listen to because of half of the audio

Poor Audio Quality

This file has very pure audio quality. The volume and frequency sampling seems to be fragmented like it was pieced together out of purely ripped tracks.

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Title: Almost Home

Author: Mary Carter, Judy Duarte, Cathy Lamb, Debbie Macomber

Narrator: Laural Merlington, Joyce Bean, Sandra Burr, Tanya Eby

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-04-09

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 31 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Queen of Hearts" by Judy DuarteHer high school reunion is coming up, and advice columnist Jenn Kramer couldn't be dreading it more - until she lays eyes on Marcos. Jenn hardly noticed him when they were kids, but now he's all grown up...and how deliciously he's changed...

"The Honeymoon House" by Mary CarterIt doesn't get more romantic than Andy Beck's cottage on Martha's Vineyard. But love is the last thing on his mind - he just wants to get the cottage ready for his best friend's honeymoon. At least that's the plan, until he finds the gorgeous Maid of Honor ransacking his house - in the most irresistible way...

"The Marrying Kind" by #1 New York Times best-selling author Debbie Macomber

High school sweethearts Katie and Jason haven't seen each other in 10 years - and now she's walked back into his life. With one look, the love they shared comes flooding back - only now the odds seem stacked against them. But when something's meant to be, all bets are off...

Please note: This is a compilation of short stories

Members Reviews:

neither good nor bad

Collection of four short stories: 1 very entertaining, 2 rather average and 1 I couldn't finish because of the boring narration. All of them have the same storyline: Woman seeks man, don't realise that she has already found THE one, some laughing and crying in between and always a happy end.

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Title: A Scandal in Bohemia

Subtitle: Sherlock Holmes

Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Narrator: Edward Raleigh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-09-09

Publisher: Audio Holdings, LLC

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

In Sherlock Holmes' first mystery short story, the great detective saves the future king of Bohemia from a possible blackmailer.

(P)2009 Audio Holdings, LLC

Editorial Reviews:

"A Scandal in Bohemia" served as many Victorian readers' introduction to ingenious investigator Sherlock Holmes, even though he spends much of the story in disguise. It was the first Holmes story published in The Strand Magazine and was the first story included in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). Holmes' uncanny powers of deduction prompt his associate Dr. Watson to declare that, "You would certainly have been burned if you had been born a few centuries ago".

The incomparable audio actor Edward Raleigh performs this tale of Bohemian kings, Scandinavian princesses, and American opera singers. Raleigh's classical British accent captures the mastery, irony, and charming arrogance of Arthur Conan Doyle's heroic sleuth.

Members Reviews:

Good Morning Irene from Amazon

This story was my introduction to Sherlock Holmes. It was a short story that was published in a newspaper and one of the few times Holmes is outwitted, this time by a woman. What sparked my interest was book discovered in a local bookstore titled Chapel Noir: An Irene Adler Mystery by Carole Nelson Douglas, the fourth book in the series. It's the continuation of Irene Adler after Scandal in Bohemia. I already ordered the first book, Good Morning Irene from Amazon. It will be a summer read. As to Mr. Holmes! I plan to read more and join the only Holmes Society on the West Coast in my neck of the Gold Country.

Fast Read

After watching the series Sherlock from BBC I decided I was going to go back and read the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books. The Sherlock episode was entitled A Scandal in Belgravia versus Bohemia. They were very faithful to the book despite it being modernized. I read this book in under 2 hours it was that good. I will read his others as I have the time. I would recommend this book for an insight into Sherlock himself.

a good read

I had seen the TV version which was very interesting with a confusing plot.so I wanted the book version to read. And it was not disappointing but I am a Sherlock Holmes nut.

Conan Doyle never disappoints

This brief classic tale has become iconic. It is much quoted in spin off stories written by others. Indeed, Irene Adler is a clever woman!

Three Stars

FUN READING

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Title: The Wisdom of Father Brown

Author: G. K. Chesterton

Narrator: John Graham

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-01-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 44 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

The stories included are: 'The Absence of Mr. Glass', 'The Paradise of Thieves', 'The Duel of Dr Hirsch', 'The Man in the Passage', 'The Mistake of the Machine', 'The Head of Caesar', 'The Purple Wig', 'The Perishing of the Pendragons', 'The God of the Gongs', 'The Salad of Colonel Cray', 'The Strange Crime of John Boulnois', and 'The Fairy Tale of Father Brown'.

Members Reviews:

Actually, just eight of the twelve stories

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

If it had been truly, as your listing proclaimed, "unabridged."

What about John Grahams performance did you like?

Graham's performance is superb -- giving each character his or her own distinct voice, but not so much that it annoys (as happens all too frequently on audiobooks, where readers sometimes break into jarringly exaggerated accents). Also, judging by the words Graham chooses to emphasize in each sentence, he seems, at least, to be gratifyingly familiar with the stories.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The audiobook was a disappointment because it contains only eight of the dozen stories that make up "The Wisdom of Father Brown." For the record, here are the contents of the audiobook:

1 The Absence of Mr Glass

2 The Paradise of Thieves

3 The Duel of Dr Hirsch

4 The Man in the Passage

5 The Head of Caesar

6 The Purple Wig

7 The Perishing of the Pendragons

8 The Mistake of the Machine

(Let me note, too, that this last story is the fifth story in the collection, so why it's been moved to the end on this version is ... well, a mystery.)

Incomplete - missing 5 of 12 stories

The 7 stories included are complete and well-read, and the recording quality is good.

However, since 5 of the stories are omitted, this audiobook is, most certainly, abridged.

Abridged!

Watch out! This version, like many, is missing several stories from the original: "The God of the Gongs", "The Salad of Colonel Cray", "The Strange Crime of John Boulnois" and "The Fairy Tale of Father Brown." Note that it is labelled "unabridged". A lie!

Abridged: missing the last 4 stories

Great stories and great reader, but sadly lacking the last 4 stories of the collection. Those that are there are, in fact, unabridged.

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Title: Who Is Mark Twain?

Author: Mark Twain

Narrator: John Lithgow

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-21-09

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

In "Jane Austen," Twain wonders if Austen's goal is to "make the reader detest her people up to the middle of the book and like them in the rest of the chapters." "The Privilege of the Grave" offers a powerful statement about the freedom of speech while "Happy Memories of the Dental Chair" will make you appreciate modern dentistry. In "Frank Fuller and My First New York Lecture" Twain plasters the city with ads to promote his talk at the Cooper Union (he is terrified no one will attend). Later that day, Twain encounters two men gazing at one of his ads. One man says to the other: "Who is Mark Twain?" The other responds: "God knows - I don't."

Wickedly funny and disarmingly relevant, Who Is Mark Twain? shines a new light on one of America's most beloved literary icons - a man who was well ahead of his time.

Editorial Reviews:

This collection of unpublished essays and stories is a real find for Twain lovers; even the pieces left incomplete are amusing. John Lithgow doesn't make the mistake of trying to imitate or channel Twain, à la Hal Holbrook. On the other hand, he doesn't quite have the cadence or lilt or tone that would fit Twain; there's something a bit dry or stiff or abstract about his performance. Still, it's clear, energetic, and well paced, and his comedic timing is (no surprise) excellent. He brings out, subtly but plainly, Twain's use of irony, exasperated satire, and joshing. He shines when there are characters to play, though one piece, in "black" dialect, is rather painful. Overall, a fine performance of a batch of hidden treasures.

Members Reviews:

Eccentric

And enjoyable but eccentric selection of previously unpublished pieces by Mark Twain. John Lithgow is an excellent Twain narrator: I would love to hear more from him in this vein.

The pieces are uneven in quality and some are unfinished. The collection doesn't really answer the question posed by the title. But it's a fun listen.

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Title: Best of the West Expanded Edition, Vol. 2

Subtitle: Classic Stories from the American Frontier

Author: Zane Grey, Elmer Kelton, Matt Braun, Loren Estleman, Gary McCarthy, Bill Gulick

Narrator: Roseanne Cash, Gary Morris, Ed Asner, Crystal Gayle

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-04-09

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

America's richest legends come from the frontier - from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. Here is the most varied collection of short stories by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers, including works from Spur Award Winners Zane Grey, Will Henry, Elmer Kelton, Matt Braun, Loren Estleman, Gary McCarthy, Bill Gulick and more! Featuring performances by Roseanne Cash, Gary Morris, Ed Asner and Crystal Gayle.

(P)2009 Phoenix Audio

Members Reviews:

Very entertains. Good relaxing stories.

Very entertaining. Good relaxing stories to listen to before going to bed.

These stories were a good mixture of suspense and excitement.