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Title: About Last Night

Author: Adele Parks

Narrator: Juanita McMahon

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-09-11

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

How far would you go for you best friend? For thirty years, best friends Stephanie and Philippa have been practically inseparable. There's nothing they would not do for one another. Until a few simple words change everything. 'I need you to say that I was with you.' Both women have always believed that friendship is built on mutual selflessness, compromise and trust. Are those beliefs now to be tested beyond endurance?

Members Reviews:

GET TO THE POINT FOR PITY'S SAKE!!!!

If this book wasnt for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

maybe a middle class housewife?

What was most disappointing about Adele Parkss story?

I love details and character development but oh my! this writer goes on and on with irrelavant detail,i googled this author and cannot believe this is one of the bestselling 'chick lit' authors in the uk, i mean is this what women want? is it? just rambling about everyone their thoughts their present their past on every page....... a conversation will start and will be interjected with a long monolgue about the person why is this necessary i dont get it!

I wouldnt mind some but its just getting on my nerves now this story could have been told in so much less time.

How could the performance have been better?

the performance wasnt the problem

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from About Last Night?

oh my! too much to count

Any additional comments?

unless you like froth ,a snails pace story,annoying characters'an author obviously trying to just fill pages AVOID.

Thoroughly enjoyable

This book was excellent. Adele Parks is one of my favourite authors and I was not disappointed with this book. The characters are all fully developed with lots of detailed back story which only makes them all the more credible and three dimensional. The only thing I would say is that if you prefer a story where the tale grabs you excitedly from the outset then you may find it a little challenging because the main thrust of the story is not until a good halfway through. I did not find this a problem as I like well defined characters and of course I love Parks' prose and vivid descriptions. The narrator's voice took a little while to get used to but once I'd increased the pace to x 1.5 it was even more enjoyable. Well worth it!

Excellent read

A captivating read, showing that friendships can be tested in many ways. It captures your imagination.

About last night

A nice book. Gentle and easy to get into. If you are looking for something that ticks alone - this is it. Nicely read to you.

Suburban drama

What made the experience of listening to About Last Night the most enjoyable?

The reader was competent, characters were easy to differentiate by voice. The characters are defined well and the plot was easy to follow.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Kirsten - what a manipulative tart, but actually sad in her own way. What chance did a middle aged man stand. Having said she was my favourite character, I could happily give her a slap.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The start of the story, explains the friendship between the two main characters.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I wouldn't make a film of this book.

Any additional comments?

It is a bit frustrating in parts. No friend would grass up a mate so easily.

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Title: Generation A

Author: Douglas Coupland

Narrator: Anthony Barclay, Christopher Simpson, Drew Marquardt, Katie Burnett, Paddy Wallace, Sez Niederer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In the near future, bees are extinct - until five unconnected individuals, in different parts of the world, are stung. Immediately snatched up by ominous figures in hazmat suits, interrogated separately in neutral Ikea-like chambers, and then released as 15-minute-celebrities into a world driven almost entirely by the internet, these five unforgettable people endure a barrage of unusual and highly 21st-century circumstances. A charismatic scientist with dubious motives eventually brings the quintet together, and their shared experience unites them in a way they could never have imagined.

Generation A mirrors the structure of 1991's Generation X as it champions the act of reading and storytelling as one of the few defences we still have against the constant bombardment of the senses in a digital world. Like much of Coupland's writing, it occupies the perplexing hinterland between optimism about the future and every day, apocalyptic paranoia. It is his most ambitious and entertaining novel to date.

Members Reviews:

Five years on... worth a revisit.

While the title and format of the recalls Coupland's first work, Generation X, this novel shows with deftness and subtly how the author has grown in the nearly twenty years since X and A. Gone are the quirky marginal definitions that seeped into pop culture (e.g., McJob, poverty jet set, and so on) but present is the speculative fiction that cropped up in both Life After God and All Families are Psychotic.

Full disclosure here: I'm a Canadian ex-pat in England who has a signed first edition copy of this book when it first came out in hardback. I've buried my treasures (of which my copy of Gen-A is one) back in Canada but reached for this Kindle edition during a particularly dull and dreary English day. What does this matter? How might these facts help you in a review: there's a comfort and strangeness in this book. A feeling of displacement and home for lack of a better term, there is a lonely worldliness in this novel.

Five years on from its initial publication this book feels just as much or more of the moment than it did in 2009 and in light of Coupland's most recent effort (which I found disappointing and not of this moment) Worst. Person. Ever. If you're thinking of revisiting Doug's world, do yourself a favor and start here. If you're new to Coupland, it'd be interesting to read this novel first and then go back to Gen X.

The fluid prose will drag you in and entertain you, but keep an eye out for some themes that'll feel all too familiar. Social-media's insidious pervasiveness. Big pharma. Big data. Globalization. They're all here and they're entertain instead of pedantic.

Four Stars

If you like Douglas Coupland , you'll like this.

love this author

I haven't read anything by this author that I haven't liked. I love that it's just a story as you read it but then when you finish and begin to reflect, you realize how much bigger the story is.

fun read, but not coupland's best

i love coupland's writing, and have read every single one of his many books over the years. i enjoyed this one, but liked the concept of it better than the actual experience of it.

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Titel: Der Schatten des Windes

Autor:: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Erzähler: Matthias Schweighöfer, Michael Habeck, Sylvester Groth

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 2 hrs and 34 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 12-01-11

Herausgeber: Der Hörverlag

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Das Stimmengewirr von Barcelona, das gedämpfte Raunen der Bibliotheken und die Stimmen schöner Frauen werden zum Hörerlebnis. Mit Matthias Schweighöfer als Daniel und Erzähler, Michael Habeck als Fermin Romero de Torres, Sylvester Groth als Julián Carax und Laín Coubert und vielen anderen.

Redaktionelle Rezensionen:

Mit Der Schatten des Windes gelingt Carlos Ruiz Zafón eine Hommage an das alte Barcelona mit seinen engen, dunklen Gassen und geheimnisumwitterten Stadtpalästen. Uve Teschner überträgt die schaurige und mystische Geschichte auf gelungene Weise ins Hörbuch.

Im Hörbuch wird die Geschichte des jungen Daniel Sempere erzählt, der von seinem Vater in die Geheimnisse des Friedhofs der Vergessenen Bücher eingeführt wird. Dort stößt er auf das Buch Der Schatten des Windes, das von nun an sein weiteres Leben bestimmen soll. Vor dem Hintergrund des Spanischen Bürgerkriegs und der Franco-Diktatur wird eine geheimnisvolle Liebesgeschichte erzählt.

Uve Teschner gelingt eine grandiose Interpretation des Ausnahmeromans von Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Nicht nur die Charaktere des Buches, sondern vor allem die düstere Stimmung und die schaurige Atmosphäre von Barcelona werden Ihnen darin nahegebracht und gehen direkt unter die Haut. Daniels Geschichte bleibt bis zur letzten Minute spannend.

Audible wünscht gute Unterhaltung!

Kritik Bewertungen:

(...) ein faszinierendes Hörspiel, das auf 154 Minuten Spielzeit eine atmosphärische Verdichtung von Zafóns Bestseller liefert.

-- Sonntagsjournal

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Title: Fridays Daughter

Author: Patricia Houck Sprinkle

Narrator: Christina Moore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-08-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Georgia resident Patricia Sprinkle writes about the South with charm and authenticity. In Fridays Daughter, Sprinkle composes a compelling tale about one womans fight to find independence in middle age. After giving up her own dreams to take care of her dying father, Teensie is shocked to discover that her father has not, as he promised, left her his Georgian estate. Instead, Teensie must share the place with her two sisters, who have strong opinions about what to do with the house - and what Teensie should be doing with her life.

Members Reviews:

Friday's Daughter

Patricia Sprinkles book about three sisters and their families is a charming view of a family at odds with one and another.The story revolves around "Itsy" and her caring too much for too many and being under appreciated by her two older sisters. The book will hold your interest till the end and has a delightful younger girl "Wonder" who will win your heart. There are many references to the Cherokee Indians that live in the area ande their ancesters and folk lore that are enchanting.

This is an easy read and anyone going on vacation should take it with them.

Excellent Read!

I'm very sorry that the writer for "Publisher's Weekly" didn't appreciate this book. But I'm hoping that other readers will give it a chance. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I have every other Patricia Sprinkle book I've had the chance to read.

Go-to gift

I didn't read it. My wife raves around all of Patricia Sprinkle's books. It's an easy go-to-gift.

I Could Not Finish It

I disliked every character in this story; particularly the "heroine". For starters, why would any adult female want to be addressed by her childhood nickname of "Teensie"? I guess it suits her though because by the middle of the book (which is as far as I got)she still cannot stand up to her two "wicked" older sisters who are fighting with her over their late father's estate. They don't even invite her for Thanksgiving dinner; they are so loathsome - but she still wants to be with them. She has a 4-year old great-niece (previously unbeknownst to most of the family). Of course, being the only character in this book who is without greed or vice,she naturally does not mind spending time with the little girl although this too, is evidence of her servitude to her family. The child's dialogue is filled with "de's, dat's, dem's, and dose" to the point where it becomes unbearable to read(and the child has a lot of dialogue) -ironically the author has given her the wisdom, observational skills, and wit of a much older child. I could not root for anyone in this book and gave it away this morning to someone I hope will find something to appreciate in it.

Review

As usual, Patricia Sprinkle did not disappoint. I loved this book - I love how real her characters are and true to life. Keep on writing!

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Title: Northwest Corner

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: John Burnham Schwartz

Narrator: Robertson Dean, Chuck Carrington, Rebecca Lowman, Kim Mai Guest, Amanda Carlin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

The New York Times Book Review called Reservation Road a triumph, and the novel was universally acclaimed. Now, in a brilliant literary performance by one of our most compelling and compassionate writers, John Burnham Schwartz reintroduces us to Reservation Roads unforgettable characters in a superb new work of fiction that stands magnificently on its own.

Northwest Corner is a riveting story about the complex, fierce, ultimately inspiring resilience of families in the face of lifes most difficult and unexpected challenges. Twelve years after a tragic accident and a cover-up that led to prison time, Dwight Arno, now 50, is a man who has started over without exactly moving on. Living alone in California, haunted yet keeping his head down, Dwight manages a sporting-goods store and dates a woman to whom he hasnt revealed the truth about his past. Then an unexpected arrival throws his carefully neutralized life into turmoil and exposes all that hes hidden.

Sam, Dwights estranged college-age son, has shown up without warning, fleeing a devastating incident in his own life. In its way, Sams sense of guilt is as crushing as his fathers. As the two men are forced to confront their similar natures and their half-buried hopes for connection, they must also search for redemption and love. In turn, they dramatically transform the lives of the women around them: the ex-wives, mothers, and lovers they have turned to in their desperate attempts to somehow rewrite, outrun, or eradicate the past.

Told in the resonant voices of everyday people gripped in the emotional riptide of lived life, Northwest Corner is at once tough and heart-lifting, an urgent, powerful story about family bonds that can never be broken and the wayward roads that lead us back to those we love.

Critic Reviews:

"Stark and deeply effecting... readers will grow to care deeply about whether and how [the characters] lives can be redeemed." (Kirkus Reviews)

"[Schwartz is] exceptional at describing the chemistry of desire, creating emotional tension, and making his characters feel more like flesh and blood than fictional constructs. Imaginative and taut, Schwartzs writing is seamless and infinitely inspired." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Brilliant Sequel to Reservation Road

Northwest Corner by Jonathon Burnham Schwartz flows like a river. It has deep eddies, grade four rapids and places where the water is so clear that it's like looking in a mirror; places were a reader can rest and catch their breath. It reads as langorously as a William Stafford poem and there is even a nod to Stafford in the book.

Northwest Corner is a sequel to Reservation Road, taking place twelve years after Reservation Road ends. Dwight is working in a sporting goods store in Santa Barbara and has been seeing a woman, Penny, who knows nothing of his past. His son, Sam, has just been involved in a serious bar fight where he beat someone up with his baseball bat so badly that the other young man may not live. Sam leaves Connecticut and takes the bus to Santa Barbara, appearing on Dwight's doorstep. They have not seen each other in twelve years and the meeting is more than awkward. Sam sees his father's rage inside himself and so he heads there, to be with someone like himself.

Meanwhile, Ruth is struggling with the aftermath of breast cancer treatment.

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Title: Passing Through

Author: Colin Channer

Narrator: Robin Miles

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-08-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

From the national best-selling author of Waiting in Vain and Satisfy My Soul comes a sexy, witty collection of connected stories set on San Carlos, a tiny island with an old volcano in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning the early 1900s up to modern times, the stories trace the intersecting lives of travelers, expatriates, and local folks in ways that shock, illuminate, and reveal. From the American photographer who finds her world disturbed by new forms of love and lust, to a charismatic priest confronted by the earthly perks of fame and stardom, the diverse mix of characters are united by the universal search for love and understanding - a challenge on an island simmering with issues of politics, power, and race.

Written with poetic grace and titillating candor, each story shines against its own tableau: World War II, the rise of Fidel Castro, Mt. Pelee devastating Martinique, import-export trading, Bob Marley in the days before his music echoed all around the world. As men and women fall in love, marry and remarry, face moral conflicts and new identities, the volcano sees it all. From plantation days to the roots of revolution, it is a silent witness to the turbulent century that engulfs this tiny island of eternal humor, passion, and allure.

Members Reviews:

Kind of a let down

I'm not sure what others were getting from this novel, but I didn't find the book lyrical or masterful. I absolutely love novels from writers who can give me insight into other cultures, places and people. I was hoping for such from this novel, and got very little of that. The setting was poorly described, in only the coarsest of terms. It wasn't until the last story that I even learned that the Pacific harbor of the island was a nearly closed ancient caldera, despite the fact that Estrella, one of the very first characters introduced, got to the capital exclusively by boat to sell fish. The characters struck me as very vanilla. All the men experienced sex and love the same way as all the other men, they were virtually all unsure of their standing with their women. All the women experienced sex and love the same as all the other women in the story, they all dominated their men, yet yearned to be dominated.

The plot was interesting, the island experienced world history in the same way a peanut vendor might experience a baseball game: completely detached and only peripherally aware. That part I liked. I would have loved to feel more detail about the island culture, the island itself, and how the experiences of the different people of these times and places contrasts with my own, so I could gain insight into a different world. In this respect, the novel failed me.

Channer has outdone himself this time!

Having read all of Colin Channer's previous works (including his contributions to several compilations and anthologies), I was eager to begin reading "Passing through". As everyone knows, the better the work the artists produces, the higher the expectations on subsequent works -- thereby making the artist his/her worst enemy and stiffest competition.

Mr.

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Title: Mistlers Exit

Author: Louis Begley

Narrator: Paul Hecht

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-29-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

A PEN/Hemingway Award winner, Louis Begley creates multi-faceted characters that come to life under the spell of his crystalline prose. Returning his readers to the wealthy and privileged world of About Schmidt, he introduces them, this time, to an especially poignant protagonist. A happy man, as the world goes, Thomas Mistler feels an odd sense of liberation now that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. This hard-driving Madison Avenue mogul suddenly has an excuse to live for the moment. But spending time alone in Venice is not the free-wheeling, self-indulgent experience he had hoped for. As growing evidence of his physical decline intrudes, Mistlers sense of control diminishes. With one final impulsive purchase, though, he boldly plans his exit on his own terms. Bitingly candid and sometimes funny, this small gem of a novel addresses the complexities of responsibility, pleasure, and suffering. Narrator Paul Hecht renders the subtle, understated, and intimate prose with amazing ease.

Members Reviews:

Six Months to Live

Thomas Mistler, a very successful (but not especially ethical) CEO, learns he has terminal cancer. To cope, he takes a solitary trip to Venice, where his goal is to explore his past and to adjust to his six-months-to-live medical status.

On the plus side, Begley shows how Mistler uses the art and locale of Venice, as well as the people he meets, to come to terms with his life and familial regrets, as well as the world of achievements and missed opportunities he will leave behind. From this perspective, the book describes an intriguing, albeit depressing, vacation. This is the story of a man tying together loose ends.

On the other hand, I read this book as a comment ONLY on the life of Thomas Mistler who, to use Tom Wolfe's term, is a master of the universe. For me, its revelations and resolutions made sense for Mistler. But universality is absent.

A good book for Louis Begley fans.

Good book for book clubs

Very interesting story. Characters were well developed. Our book club had a very long discussion. Everyone liked the book, but not Mistler.

Contemplating A Death in Venice.

Thomas Mistler, the founder and CEO of a world-renowned, New York advertising agency, is not a very likable person. A self-indulgent WASP who enjoys the high life, he is accustomed to getting his own way both in business and in his personal life. Married to an "appropriate," pedigreed wife, with whom he has an appropropriate, conventional home life, he also pursues other women attracted to his "glitz." Suddenly, Mistler discovers that he has liver cancer, too far advanced to make treatment a viable option without interfering with the quality of his remaining days.

With remarkable sang-froid, Mistler decides not to tell his family, feigning a business trip to Europe so that he can have a week by himself in Venice to prepare for the inevitable. To his surprise, he discovers a young woman in his hotel room, a photographer he has just met at a dinner party who is attracted to him but also wants to work for his agency.

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Titel: Die fernen Stunden

Autor:: Kate Morton

Erzähler: Esther Schweins

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 6 hrs and 55 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 12-09-10

Herausgeber: Random House Audio, Deutschland

Bewertung: 4 von 5 von 3 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Nie ist sie nach Millderhurst zurückgekehrt, doch das Auftauchen eines lange verschollenen Postsacks führt ihre Tochter Edith auf die Spur einer geheimnisvollen Vergangenheit. Innerhalb der düsteren Gemäuer kommt mehr ans Licht, als Edith sich je hätte vorstellen können. Damals geriet auch die Welt der jungen Juniper Blythe aus den Angeln, doch vielleicht ist es noch nicht zu spät, Vergangenheit und Gegenwart miteinander zu versöhnen.

Kritik Bewertungen:

Wenn man Esther Schweins zuhört, wie sie Kate Mortons Geschichte vom Modermann erzählt, dann ist es, als steige dieses Wesen mit dem gebrochenen Herzen tatsächlich aus dem schlammigen Schlossgraben.

-- Brigitte.de

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Titel: Elf Minuten

Autor:: Paulo Coelho

Erzähler: Nadja Schulz-Berlinghoff, Markus Hoffmann

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 7 hrs and 29 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 09-08-10

Herausgeber: Diogenes Verlag AG

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Maria träumt von Abenteuern, fernen Ländern und der großen Liebe. Doch eine Woche Badeferien in Rio de Janeiro ist der einzige Traum, den sie sich leisten kann. Am Strand wird sie von einem Europäer angesprochen, der ihr anbietet, als Tänzerin im Nachtclub zu arbeiten. Für Maria klingt das wie der Anfang eines Märchens; doch in Wirklichkeit ist sie gezwungen, sich als Sexarbeiterin durchzubringen: Sie tut es ohne Scham, denn ihr Herz ist nicht dabei, und sie hat sich geschworen, sich nicht zu verlieben. Da trifft sie jemanden, der sie bezaubert und zu ihr in einer neuen, unverständlichen Sprache spricht. Der Sprache der Seele...

©2010 Diogenes; (P)2010 Diogenes

Mitglieder Bewertungen:

Five Stars

A must read to every adult

Four Stars

Very interesting

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Titel: Ehrenwort

Autor:: Ingrid Noll

Erzähler: Peter Fricke

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 7 hrs and 26 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 09-08-10

Herausgeber: Diogenes Verlag AG

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Ingrid Noll zeigt in ihrer bitterbösen Komödie, dass es ebenso wenig heile wie heilige Familien gibt.

Kritik Bewertungen:

Auf charmante Weise amoralisch, elegant geschrieben und mit einem Schuss schwarzem Humor - so sind Ingrid Nolls Bücher.

--Deutsche Welle

Mitglieder Bewertungen:

Nice read

Ingrid Noll created another typical, nicely dark written story. I could see my family in this one! Thank you, Ms. Noll.