Discover Popular Titles Full Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary New Releases

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Title: To Become a Whale

Author: Ben Hobson

Narrator: Ric Herbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-05-17

Publisher: Wavesound Audio

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

To Become a Whale tells the story of 13-year-old Sam Keogh, whose mother has died.

Sam has to learn how to live with his silent, hitherto absent father, who decides to make a man out of his son by taking him to work at Tangalooma, then the largest whaling station in the Southern Hemisphere. What follows is the story of a gentle boy trying to make sense of the terrible reality of whaling and the cruelty and alienation of his new world.

Critic Reviews:

"A powerful tale of fathers and sons and all that can't be spoken between them. Rare, original...it made me feel so much." (Sofie Laguna, author of the Miles Franklin Award-winning The Eye of the Sheep)

"Hobson takes us to the depths of cruelty to show us life. A boy tries to be a man, a man tries to be a father, and both struggle to navigate what it means to be men. A great study in masculinity." (Willy Vlautin)

Members Reviews:

a brilliant debut novel

âIt seemed to be the way with his father; in the midst of a lesson the boy would feel both forgotten and loved all at once. As though his fatherâs aim was off. His father teaching him to shake hands wasnât what the boy really needed. He needed a home, a bedâ

To Become A Whale is the first novel by Australian teacher and author, Ben Hobson. Itâs 1961, and Walter Keogh is a seasonal worker at the Tangalooma Whaling Station on Moreton Island. His short stature, his upbringing and his damaged right hand have given rise to a deep-seated insecurity. It manifests as an unstinting work ethic: he works extremely hard and has the respect of his colleagues.

This solitary man surely loves his son, Sam, but now, with him, is taciturn, occasionally cruel (with the intention of toughening the boy up), sometimes thoughtless and often completely clueless about what is needed to father a thirteen-year-old boy who has just lost his mother. To wit: he decides to sell up the family home with everything still in it.

âNow his father said it again he knew all his feelings were no longer dormant, that his motherâs death had not rendered him permanently numb, because now he felt sick, like throwing up. Somebody else was walking around in their home, using their things. Wearing his motherâs clothes. Asleep in the bed where sheâd died. The life he had lived up to this point, he realised now, was truly gone, more of it than heâd imagined, stolen by a stranger. Some other kid wearing his things, being friends with his friends.â

And only immediately after the funeral, does Sam learn that, rather than staying with his grandparents and attending school, he is to accompany his father to Tangalooma where he will work (unpaid) learning his fatherâs job, flensing whales in twelve hour shifts. Surrounded by dead whales, he muses: âPerhaps no dignity was possible in death. The boy remembered his motherâs made-up cheeks and the look on his fatherâs face as he shut the coffin lid. He remembered too the colour of her sickness. All death was ugly; why not present it so?â

Sam is afraid. Afraid of his fatherâs occasional bouts of temper. Afraid of disappointing him. Afraid he will lose the kindness, sensitivity and compassion that his mother gave him. Afraid he might just die of exhaustion. Afraid that this is his future.

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Title: Rzeka tesknoty (Zemsta i przebaczenie 3)

Author: Joanna Jax

Narrator: Elzbieta Kijowska

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-02-17

Publisher: Heraclon / storybox.pl

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Kolejne lata wojny odzieraja mieszkanców Europy ze zludzen na rychle jej zakonczenie. Nie tylko na terenie Polski ludzie stykaja sie z okrucienstwem, takze wycienczajaca wojna na wschodzie odkrywa barbarzynskie praktyki, gdzie pojecie czlowieczenstwa zostaje zdewaluowane i ludzkie zycie wydaje sie nie miec wartosci. Los rozdziela czwórke bohaterów i stawia przed nimi kolejne wyzwania, a brzemie wojny odciska na nich glebokie pietno.

Czy uda im sie pokonac pietrzace sie przeszkody? Czy milosc i przyjazn wygraja z nienawiscia i egoizmem, gdy ludzkie sciezki wyznacza historia? Kiedy biografie naznaczone sa bólem i krwia, kazdy stara sie ocalic to co jeszcze dobrego tli sie w czlowieku.

Please note: this audiobook is in Polish.

©2017 Wydawnictwa Videograf (P)2017 Storybox

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Title: My October

Author: Claire Holden Rothman

Narrator: Jean Brassard

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-25-17

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Shortlisted for the 2014 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize

Luc Lévesque is a celebrated Quebec novelist and the anointed Voice of a Generation. In his hometown of Montreal, he is revered as much for his novels about the working-class neighborhood of Saint-Henri as for his separatist views. But this is 2001. The dreams of a new nation are dying, and Luc himself is increasingly dissatisfied with his life.

Hannah is Luc's wife. She is also the daughter of a man who served as a special prosecutor during the October Crisis. For years, Hannah has worked faithfully as Luc's English translator. She has also spent her adult life distancing herself from her English-speaking family. But at what cost?

Hugo is their troubled 14-year-old son. Living in the shadow of a larger-than-life father, Hugo is struggling with his own identity. In confusion and anger, he commits a reckless act that puts everyone around him on a collision course with the past.

Weaving together three unique voices, My October is a masterful tale of a modern family torn apart by the power of language and the weight of history. Spare and insightful, Claire Holden Rothman's new novel explores the fascinating and sometimes shocking consequences of words left unsaid.

Members Reviews:

Four Stars

Well written and interesting story.

Highly recommend

I highly recommend this fascinating novel.

I think I read it in three days. I kept returning to it to see what would happen with the very human characters and to learn more about what life is like in Quebec.

Claire is beautifully skilled in observing people and places through loving eyes and then deftly describing them in a way that brings me to love them, too.

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Title: The Romantic

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Barbara Gowdy

Narrator: Stephanie Einstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-13-17

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

From the author of The White Bone, a piercing novel of passionate attachment and of the fear and freedom of letting go.

Louise Kirk learns about love and loss at an early age. When she is nine years old, her former beauty queen mother disappears, leaving a note that reads only - and incorrectly - "Louise knows how to work the washing machine". Soon after, the Richters and their adopted son, Abel, move in across the street. Louise's immediate devotion to the exotic, motherly Mrs. Richter is quickly transferred to her nature-loving, precociously intelligent son.

From this childhood friendship evolves a love that will bind Louise and Abel forever. Though Abel moves away, Louise's attachment becomes ever more fixed as she grows up. Separations are followed by reunions, but with every turn of their fractured relationship, Louise discovers that Abel cannot love her as fiercely and exclusively as she loves him. Only when she faces another great loss is Louise finally forced to confront the costs of abandoning herself to another.

Skillfully interweaving the stories of Louise and Abel at different ages, Barbara Gowdy produces a powerful exploration of love's many incarnations: a motherless daughter who yearns to be adopted, a husband eternally linked to a wife who has left him, a girl bewitched by the boy next door, a woman who refuses to let go of a magnetic, elusive man. Haunting and profound, The Romantic is a story about love in all its exquisite variations.

Members Reviews:

Barbara's Best

I am a huge Barbara Gowdy fan and all because of reading The Romantic. Her writing is compelling and draws you into the characters life, dream and thoughts. The Romantic is a timeless tale of boy meets girl, but is unlike any story you've ever read. Louise isn't your typical girl but is relateable on so many different levels. Her instant love for Abel is beautiful to say the least yet sad at the same time with how helplessly devoted she is to him. This novel is a girl's bible to getting over a meaningful relationship of any sort. Read it if you've ever been heartbroken or want a good laugh or even a small cry. Five out of five no doubt.

It made me laugh and cry and glad that it found me

I read this book years ago while visiting Nicaragua. It was lent to me and I finished it in three days.

I am not a fast reader, but it captivated me and so I didn't put it down. This book was one of rare beauty, and language that poetically reveals the complexity of human emotions.

It made me laugh and cry and glad that it found me.

Outstanding!

This is the first book by Gowdy I've read, and I feel lucky that I happened to find this true literary gem. The characters are ordinary people with ordinary lives, but they are made extraordinary through Gowdy's profound insights, humour, and her obvious ability to give her characters great emotional depth. The two main characters are Louise and Abel, who grew up on the same street in suburban Toronto in the 60s. Both are only children in families that defy the nuclear norm, and as is typical of children, because they are different they are subsequently outcasted from their peer group. Their strong friendship is an oasis for Louise, and Abel lets Louise into his world of exploring the ravine in their neighbourhood.

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Title: Nie pytaj dlaczego

Author: Magdalena Trubowicz

Narrator: Joanna Gajór

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-08-17

Publisher: Heraclon / storybox.pl

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Kontynuacja losów Matyldy Nowickiej - bohaterki znakomitej powiesci "Drugie zycie Matyldy".

Po niespodziewanym rozstaniu z ukochanym synem Matylda podejmuje heroiczna walke o jego odzyskanie. Wspiera ja ukochany Rafal, rodzenstwo, przyjaciele... a takze detektyw Dawid Jarosz - kolejna mroczna postac z przeszlosci Matyldy.

Kobieta toczy bój z milionami falszywych tropów, ale takze z sama soba i nekajacymi ja wciaz watpliwosciami. Okazuje sie bowiem, ze odzyskanie Oskara wymaga wiecej poswiecenia i ofiar, niz ktokolwiek jest w stanie sobie wyobrazic. A zupelnie nowe, zaskakujace okolicznosci i zwroty akcji dokladaja kolejnych kamieni na juz i tak wyboistej drodze.

Kiedy sposród mglistej nawalnicy zdarzen zaczynaja sie wylaniac klarowne rozwiazania, w Matylde Nowicka wstepuje nowa sila i wiara w nadchodzacy kres jej zyciowych zakretów. Nie wie jednak, ze - jak mawial Charles Dickens: "Zycie to lancuch polaczonych z soba rozstan".

©2017 Magdalena Trubowicz (P)2017 Storybox

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Title: Niedomówienia

Author: Anna Sakowicz

Narrator: Joanna Domanska

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-07-17

Publisher: Heraclon / storybox.pl

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Swiat moze byc pelen niespodzianek, jesli tylko potrafimy sie na nie otworzyc. Przekonuje sie o tym bohaterka audiobooka, Janka, której zycie zawirowalo za sprawa tajemniczych fotografii ukrytych pod cokolem pomnika Gutenberga w Gdansku. Nietuzinkowa czterdziestolatka podejmuje intrygujaca, pelna niedomówien gre. Przy okazji dowiaduje sie wiele nie tylko o starej, cennej ksiedze, lecz takze o sobie samej.

To juz piaty audiobook Anny Sakowicz. Sluchacze cenia jej pelne dobrej energii opowiesci, w których w lekkiej, zaprawionej inteligentnym dowcipie formie, poruszane sa trudne i wazne tematy.

©2016 Anna Sakowicz (P)2017 Storybox

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Title: Flyboys

Author: Tobias Wolff

Narrator: Anthony Heald

Format: Unabridged

Length: 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-03-17

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In this short story from Our Story Begins, three friends confront their relationships to one another as they work on plans to build their very own airplane.

Clarks parents are rich, supplying the boys with all they need to follow their pursuits, making films and building catapults. Meanwhile, Freddys family is dealing with the loss of his older brother, and Freddys friends are having a hard time knowing how to act around him anymore. The boys all have their troubles, but maybe their airplane can help them escape....

Members Reviews:

"The Chain" is about a chain of events that ends in tragedy.

âThe Chainâ, a short story by Tobias Wolff in his collection THE NIGHT IN QUESTION, begins with a dog attacking Brian Goldâs daughter Anna. Anna is saved, but Brian is still upset, and thus a chain of events is set in motion that leads to the murder of Marcel Foley by an enraged Victor Barnes, who believes his car has been damaged by the drug-pusher to whom he owes money.

When Victor forces his way into the home where Marcel Foley is staying, he ends up murdering Marcel with the crowbar that was used to damage his car. After Marcelâs death, Victor drops the crowbar, runs downstairs and drives to his grandmotherâs house where she comforts him. This is a truly wonderful story, which repays close study. Five Stars.

Love that the sell these books on amazon.

exactly what my son needed for the fraction of the price as the bookstore on his campus.

Astonishing

His choice of words and masterful use of imagery were thrilling. I'd never read anything of his before and now he is one of my favorites.

Three Stars

ok

Brilliantly ironic and insightful...

I've only read Tobias Wolff's short stories--both this book and the ones from "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs"--but this collection has continually left me speechless. Story after story focuses on the everyday happenings of mostly "ordinary" people with an attention to detail that reminds me of eastern poets. Yet Wolff blends his take on things with a distinctly "American" flavor--that is, he's an American writer at his best. Stories like "The Chain" and "Bullet in the Brain" are emphatic in their declarations of the human condition. After reading many of them, I couldn't wait to share some particular passage or insight with a loved one--or a stranger, for that matter. In this collection, moreso than "In the Garden of the North American Martyrs", I got the distinct impression of a vibrant, funny, quietly wise writer who--as Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye" might have said--I really wish were a personal friend.

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Title: Hétköznapi Szócsépl

Subtitle: Unalomtól megment rímeket rittyent

Author: Árokszállási Edit

Narrator: Kis Kata

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-22-17

Publisher: Hétköznapi Szócsépl

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Súghatok valamit? Nem veszem komolyan magam. Már nem. A problémáimat sem. Rájöttem, hogy nincsenek is problémáim. Imádom az életem! Nem férek a borömbe. Huncutnál huncutabb ötletek gyötörnek. Adhatok belole neked is? Mennyit? Két kilót? Kicsit több lett... Maradhat?

Please note: this audiobook is in Hungarian.

©2017 Hétköznapi Szócsépl (P)2017 Hétköznapi Szócsépl

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Title: Once, in Lourdes

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Sharon Solwitz

Narrator: Phoebe Strole

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-30-17

Publisher: Random House Audio

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In the turbulent summer of 1968, four high school friends make a pact that will change their lives forever.

As the Vietnam War rages overseas, four friends make a vow. For the next two weeks, they will live for each other and for each day. Then, at the end of the two weeks, they will sacrifice themselves on the altar of their friendship.

Loyal Kay, our narrator, dreams of being an artist and escaping her stifling family - the stepmother and stepsister she gained after her mother's early death, and the father she no longer feels she knows. As she struggles with her weight, her schoolwork, and her longing for her mother, she feels loyalty only to her three friends, determined to keep their group together at any cost. Brilliant, charismatic CJ appears to have everything - though even those closest to him can't see him as he really is. Steady, quiet Saint wants to do right by everyone, trying not to let his emotions destroy himself and those around him. And beautiful Vera's family secrets are too dark to share, even with her closest friends; caught in a web of family dysfunction, she can only hope the others won't get tangled up in the danger she senses around her.

In the two-week span in which the novel takes place, during the summer before their senior year of high school, the lives of Kay, CJ, Saint, and Vera will change beyond their expectations, and what they gain and lose will determine the novel's outcome. Once, in Lourdes is a gripping, haunting novel about the power of teenage bonds, the story of four young people who will win your heart and transport you back to your own high school years. As the heady 1960s shift the ground beneath their feet, all of them must face who they are - and who they want to be.

Critic Reviews:

"After writing a spate of short stories, [Sharon Solwitz] returns to the longer form with a ravishing sense of place...and a heightened, almost surreal, feel for how intense emotions alter our perception of the world, especially in youth. Solwitz's surging, many-threaded, complexly insightful tale dramatizes not only personal crises, but also the violence of the infamous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Timely and timeless." (Booklist)

"[An] honest and soul-baring novel about choice, fate, and the consequences of youthful idealism...a dark novel that knowingly depicts the confusion of being a teenager and the strong bonds of friendship that form at that young age." (Publishers Weekly)

"Sharon Solwitz has an ear so attuned to teen speech, teen humor, and, finally and most convincingly, teen angst that her novel crackles with urgency. She follows the rise and fall of adolescent moods, patient with their extremes and sympathetic to the neediness her characters struggle to hide. Once, in Lourdes will make you think you're eavesdropping on what you're not supposed to hear." (Rosellen Brown, New York Times best-selling author of Before and After)

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

great characters moving through 1968

Misfit Teens in the Summer of '68

I was at times in awe of the writing. The story is original and the characters unique. The story of a group of misfit teens in a small town in Michigan in the summer of 1968 is, overall, very interesting and at times riveting.

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Title: The Choir on Hope Street

Author: Annie Lyons

Narrator: Stephanie Racine, Ellie Heydon

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-06-17

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

The best things in life happen when you least expect them.

Nat's husband has just said the six words no one wants to hear - 'I don't love you any more'.

Caroline's estranged mother has to move into her house, turning her perfectly ordered world upside down.

Living on the same street, these two women couldn't be more different. Until the beloved local community centre is threatened with closure. And when the only way to save it is to form a community choir - none of the Hope Street residents, least of all Nat and Caroline, expect the results....

This spring, hope is coming!

Critic Reviews:

"If you're looking for a gorgeous read that will give you warm, fuzzy feelings aplenty then Life or Something Like It is definitely a read for you...." (Bookaholic Confessions)

Members Reviews:

Feel good read

This is a good read for curling up and immersing in a predictable but enjoyable story. The power of music to bring people together is a perfect anchor for telling the story of a group of middle class people who discover more about themselves while trying to save their community hall.

Three Stars

Perfect for a wash-over you book in the hot sun!

Five Stars

Just lovely!

A wonderful, emotional, upbeat story.

Wow, this book was so much more than I anticipated. It covers a roller coaster of emotions with real world situations. Each chapter alternates with Natalie and Caroline, the two main characters, telling the story. They are very different women. Natalie is fun, loves to joke around, is a children's author who has a very good relationship with her eight year old son Woody. Unfortunately, her marriage falls apart in the book. Caroline, is a perfectionist. She is very closed emotionally and wants to run everything. She is the president of the PTA and it is her goal to save the Hope Street Community Centre. Her family is well off financially, but she and her daughter Matilda (Tilly) do not have a very close relationship. That is one regret that Caroline has. Caroline is also dealing with her mother who has dimentia.

Even though their children are friends, Caroline and Natalie do not seem to know one another. They meet when Caroline knocks Natalie over by accident outside the school gates. Natalie is thinking about her marriage and not paying attention. Caroline offers to drive Natalie home and they discover they both live on the same street. Shortly after this, Caroline asks/demands/persuades Natalie and her friend Doly to join her committee to save Hope Street Community Centre. When they decide to start a Community Choir to draw attention to the campaign, Guy enters the story. He is the music teacher at their children's school and he agrees to conduct the choir. There is something mysterious about him. He looks familiar to Caroline, yet he is very closed and does not want to discuss his past. The story evolves from there.

I do not want to say anymore about the plot at this point except to say that the story moves quickly and I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. The author was able to tell the stories of the personal lives and problems the characters were dealing with in an entertaining way, yet not diminishing the emotional impact. Getting to know the characters has me changing my opinions of them throughout the story. I did not like Caroline at the beginning. She seemed very selfish and self-involved. She was rather snobbish and very unlikable.