Discover the Libray of Best Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary

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Title: Boy's Life

Author: Robert McCammon

Narrator: Richard Thomas

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-18-11

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 58 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In me are the memories of a boy's life, spent in that realm of enchantments. These are the things I want to tell you....

Robert McCammon delivers "a tour de force of storytelling" (BookPage) in his award-winning masterpiece, a novel of Southern boyhood, growing up in the 1960s, that reaches far beyond that evocative landscape to touch readers universally.

Boy's Life is a richly imagined, spellbinding portrait of the magical worldview of the young - and of innocence lost.

Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson - a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake -- and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him. From an ancient mystic who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown - for his father's sanity and his own life hang in the balance....

Critic Reviews:

"Wonderful...filled with enough adventures, joy, discovery, and heartache for a dozen boys' lifetimes." (Houston Chronicle)

"No one can paint word pictures as vividly as Robert McCammon." (Sandra Brown)

"It's McCammon's The Prince of Tides.... Incredibly moving." (Peter Straub)

Members Reviews:

This book must be unabridged!

This is one of my 2-3 most favorite novels, period. I was excited to find it on Audible and bought it before I realized it is an old ABRIDGED version read by Richard Thomas. OK with Thomas, not with abridgement. McCammon is one of our great prose stylists - it's a crime to chop it up. I'm sure Audible will get the message and produce a full length reading, after the great response to the new rendition of McCammon's Swan Song.

I stopped listening to this one after 20 minutes. I'll wait for the real thing.

DON'T GET THE ABRIDGED VERSION

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

A friend recommended this to me. After listening to the abridged version, I was wondering what he was thinking, because the story was kind of pointless and had a lot of unfollowed threads. Then I scanned a summary on Wikipedia, and I think this thing was abridged with a weed whacker. TERRIBLE job. Audible should drop this version immediately and carry the unabridged version. I feel like I wasted my money.

This is abridged!!!! Too Bad!

This book has been a favorite of mine for years. My son is almost 13 and I thought it would be perfect to listen to during a car trip. Well, it was- sort of.

The story is eerie and wonderful and takes you back in time to the US of the 1960s in a way that reminds me a little of To Kill A Mockingbird. The narrator, Richard Thomas is wonderful, his voice, accents and characters all completely believable and compelling.

So why does it only get 3 stars? It is ABRIDGED. I should have noticed before I bought it how short the audible book was, but I was so happy to see it that I didn't.

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Title: Take the Lead

Subtitle: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You

Author: Betsy Myers

Narrator: Betsy Myers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-06-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 22 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Why do some people motivate us to rise to our best abilities while others drain our spirit? What is that quality that certain people have that causes those around them to engage fully and feel connected? From her front row seat at some of the worlds most prestigious governmental, academic, and business institutions, Betsy Myers has witnessed a new kind of leadership that prizes flexibility, openness, and individuality, and now she explores how all of us - and women in particular - can benefit from it. Drawing on her years as a senior official in the Clinton administration, her work as Executive Director of Harvards Center for Public Leadership, her experience as the Obama campaigns COO, as well as her experiences as a wife, daughter, and mother, Myers identifies the shared characteristics of effective leaders in all types of organizations and contexts, locating the qualities that allow them to live their lives to the fullest and in turn inspire those around them to an exceptional level of contribution and commitment. Even more importantly, Myers shows how we can harness these same principles in the service of our own lives in order to reach our highest potential, creating passionate engagement in friends, colleagues, and family members. Personal, practical, and profoundly inspiring, this is a perfect book for anyone who wonders where all the great leaders have gone. Betsy Myers helps us see that leadership is all around us - and within us.

Members Reviews:

Leadership basics and political anecdotes

Where does Take the Lead rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

First audio book I listened! I got hooked right away.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Take the Lead?

Enjoyed the leadership basics and the political anecdotes of the 2008 Obama Campaign.

Have you listened to any of Betsy Myerss other performances before? How does this one compare?

Just Take the Lead, but I am eager to hear more of her books.

If you could take any character from Take the Lead out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Betsy Meyers

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this title.

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Title: Peake's Progress

Subtitle: Selected short stories and poems

Author: Mervyn Peake, Maeve Gilmore

Narrator: Sebastian Peake, Fabian Peake

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-27-11

Publisher: British Library Publishing

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Mervyn Peake was a writer, artist, poet and playwright, best known for his gothic masterpiece, the Gormenghast trilogy. This selection of works from Peakes Progress includes some of his most characteristic and memorable poems and short stories, from memories of the horrors of the concentration camps at Belsen to the fantastic wit of his nonsense poetry. The selection includes 'The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb', 'The Weird Journey', 'Mr Slaughterboard' and 'Danse Macabre'. It is read by Mervyn Peake's sons, Sebastian and Fabian Peake.

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Title: The Forgotten

Author: Elie Wiesel

Narrator: George Guidall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-21-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Malkiel Rosenbaum agrees begrudgingly to revisit the events of his fathers wartime experiences in Romania fighting the Nazis and, as a result, discovers another side to the stories, and a truth his own generation is in danger of forgetting.

Critic Reviews:

"A book of shattering force that offers a message of urgency to a world under the spell of trivia and the tyranny of amnesia." (Chicago Tribune Book World)

Members Reviews:

Loved it, love it. Always will.

I first read this book near the time of its first publication. I loved it then and it hasn't lost its appeal. I feel in love with it again.

Elie Wiesel is a gifted story telling. His use of the written word and its place within structure and punctuation is like nothing I've ever read before.

As a Jew I find his words and wisdom to be indelibly imprinted on my heart and my wish is that as my children read his words that their hearts will also feel and see the truth in Elie Wiesel's books.

Memory as a character/plot

In preparing for teaching about dementia, I found this book fascinating in its exploration of all the quandaries of losing one's memory. Mr Wisel explores what it means to be human in the face of suffering and how memory defines. Very intriguing but the plot does lag at times. More philosophical than an active storyline.

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Title: A Scattered Life

Author: Karen McQuestion

Narrator: Teri Clark Linden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-23-11

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 79 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In A Scattered Life, Karen McQuestion proves to be an adept chronicler of unforgettable female characters. Poignantly written, she thoughtfully examines how women love, learn, and come to accept themselves and others, as well as lifes often harsh realities of deception and loss. Skyla Plinka has all she could ask for - at least thats what her mother-in-law Audrey thinks. On most days, Skyla agrees, yet theres a part of her that longs for her free-spirited days before husband, child, and the humdrum life of rural Wisconsin. Close friend Roxanne (and the five sons she cant seem to keep tabs on), offers a reprieve, but it isnt until Skyla takes a part time job at her local bookstore that she starts to feel at home in her own skin. Her growing independence causes conflicts with her husband, her in-laws, and even her best friend, but in the end, Skyla learns what it means to love and be loved in this unsure journey called life....

Members Reviews:

Eh...

The narrator sounded like she was reading a children's book. I'm still not really sure what the point of the story was overall...

just ok

it was a good book sad ending. I think the thing that ruined the book was the narration. she sounded like a robot at times so it made the characters hard to relate to.

Too sad!

I thought this would be a light, funny listen -- not so much. Also the narration was really rough in the beginning. It either got better or I got used to it, but I ended up sticking it out and kind of wish I didn't.

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Title: Girls in their Married Bliss

Author: Edna O'Brien

Narrator: Edna O'Brien

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-06-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Kate and Baba are in London, playing out the tragicomedy of their married lives to its surprisingly level-headed conclusion. Kate, feeling trapped in her grey stone house with her increasingly cold husband, tearfully looks for her dreams of romance elsewhere. And when Eugene takes terrible, implacable revenge, she naturally turns to her brazen friend Baba for help. But Baba, the bored trophy wife of builder Frank, vulgarly flashing his wealth and ignorance to the world, has her own problems without Kate drooping self-pityingly over her. And both women find unsuspected qualities in themselves as they learn to face reality.

The last book in the 'Country Girls' Trilogy, which began with 'The Country Girls' and was followed by 'Girl with Green Eyes'.

Members Reviews:

Devastating Final Chapter

This third and final volume of O'Brien's celebrated trilogy alternates point of view between the two "girls." It starts out with the spiky mix of rueful comedy and earned anger over the oppressive expectations for Irish women of the first volumes. It has some fantastically funny set pieces, and Baba continues to be a tremendously witty, hard-edged foil to more passive and earnest Kate. As the book progresses, things turn darker, and the epilogue is so sad and bitter, at times it's painful to listen to. I think some readers felt betrayed by the sadness of the final installment, but it exposes the reality of life for women raised in deeply Catholic countries and living in a society that keeps them in inferior roles, surrounded by men addicted to alcohol and misogyny. O'Brien's narration is riveting!

Best of Country Girls Trilogy

I have the suspicion that many people buy The Country Girls trilogy but read only the first novel. If you are a guilty non-completer of this justly famed trilogy, listening to OBrien herself read is the way to go. She is a beautiful reader of her own work, and the final novel abd epillogue are what push the whole trilogy to the calibre of greatness. By all means listen to this!

Marriage is not going to easy for the girls.

They didn't seem to have a reason to get beyond the joke of life, so were absorbed in it.

Haunting and acid accurate

Reading by author herself may not be the best quality audio wise, but stunning nevertheless.

Here we go again

This novel was hailed in its day (mid-60s) as one of the first feminist portrayal of women. In some ways, it is.

Unfortunately, this description seems to ignore the fact that the "heroine", who spent the first book (The Country Girls) in ardent pursuit of a married man and the second chasing relentlessly yet another, is now married, looking for something better and is sniffing around yet another married man.

Quite why she does this is never explained. There's never any sign of a single man she could make a play for or who make a play for her, but the fact that this tramp gets her comeuppance in the end seems to be a "bad thing". Hmm. Not from MY point of view!

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Title: The Year We Left Home

Author: Jean Thompson

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-03-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 71 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

From National Book Awardfinalist Jean Thompson comes a mesmerizing, decades-spanning saga of one ordinary American family - proud, flawed, hopeful - whose story simultaneously captures the turbulent history of the country at large.

In The Year We Left Home, Thompson brings together all of her talents to deliver the career-defining novel her admirers have been waiting for: a sweeping and emotionally powerful story of a single American family during the tumultuous final decades of the twentieth century. It begins in 1973 when the Erickson family of Grenada, Iowa, gathers for the wedding of their eldest daughter, Anita. Even as they celebrate, the fault lines in the family emerge. The bride wants nothing more than to raise a family in her hometown, while her brother Ryan watches restlessly from the sidelines, planning his escape. He is joined by their cousin Chip, an unpredictable, war-damaged loner who will show Ryan both the appeal and the perils of freedom. Torrie, the Ericksons youngest daughter, is another rebel intent on escape, but the choices she makes will bring about a tragedy that leaves the entire family changed forever.

Stretching from the early 1970s in the Iowa farmlands to suburban Chicago to the coast of contemporary Italy - and moving through the Vietnam Wars aftermath, the farm crisis, the numerous economic booms and busts - The Year We Left Home follows the Erickson siblings as they confront prosperity and heartbreak, setbacks and triumphs, and seek their place in a country whose only constant seems to be breathtaking change. Ambitious, richly told, and fiercely American, this is a vivid and moving meditation on our continual pursuit of happiness and an incisive exploration of the national character.

Jean Thompson is the author of Who Do You Love: Stories, a 1999 National Book Award finalist for fiction; City Boy; and Wide Blue Yonder, a New York Times Notable Book and Chicago Tribune Best Fiction selection for 2002. She lives in Urbana, Illinois.

Editorial Reviews:

Jean Thompson's The Year We Left Home is a melancholy love-letter to America told through the eyes of the dysfunctional Erickson clan, specifically the children: unhappily married Anita, rebellious teenager Torrie, and Ryan, who's desperate to escape the rural abyss of Grenada, Iowa. There's also cousin Chip, who roams around the world to forget the horrors of Vietnam. From 1973 to 2003, the flawed Ericksons navigate wars, changing political climates, the '80s farming crisis, personal tragedies, and disillusionment over the "American dream."

Award-winning narrator Cassandra Campbell (who has lent her voice to everything from Kathryn Stockett's The Help to David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas) brings her warm, assuring style to Thompson's prose. Campbell's voice is reminiscent of actress Dana Delaney, while her narrating style is subtle and conversational. With a half-dozen characters to juggle, the easiest route might be to find different voices for each one, but Campbell smartly uses slight tonal shifts a hint of gruffness for Chip and Ryan, for instance rather than hit the listener over the head with caricatures.

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Title: Night: CliffsNotes

Author: Maryam Riess, M.A.

Narrator: Luke Daniels

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-16-11

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

This CliffsNotes study guide on Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel's Night supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, and critical commentaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. This study guide was written with the assumption that you have read Night.

Reading a literary work doesnt mean that you immediately grasp the major themes and devices used by the author; this study guide will help supplement you reading to be sure you get all you can from Wiesels Night.

CliffsNotes Review tests your comprehension of the original text and reinforces learning with questions and answers, practice projects, and more. For further information on Eliezer Wiesel and Night, check out the CliffsNotes Resource Center at www.cliffsnotes.com.

Members Reviews:

Grandson's Homework

I purchased this along with the novel since my grandson is reading this in high school. Perfect addition for the book.

Five Stars

just what I needed.

Useful tool for the classroom. It makes the novel easier to understand -- for teacher and students.

Useful when teaching the novel -- helps with the backgrround and history of the Jewish faith. Powerful tool in English or history class.

I ordered cliff notes for Elie Wiesel's Night and got ...

I ordered cliff notes for Elie Wiesel's Night and got cliff notes on Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. I needed it for English class and now I have to order another one. I hope this time I get what I need.

get if you need help understanding the novel

didn't read the book but my son had to for school. I purchased this so I could use it to help him understand the book and so I wouldn't have to read it also.

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Title: The Circle of Reason

Author: Amitav Ghosh

Narrator: Simon Vance

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-15-11

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 38 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Amitav Ghoshs extraordinary first novel makes a claim on literary turf held by Gabriel García Márquez and Salman Rushdie. In a vivid and magical story, The Circle of Reason traces the misadventures of Alu, a young master weaver in a small Bengali village who is falsely accused of terrorism. Alu flees his home, traveling through Bombay to the Persian Gulf to North Africa with a bird-watching policeman in pursuit.

Critic Reviews:

A remarkable storyteller, a Scheherezade effortlessly spinning tales within tales, the possessor of a strong narrative voice quite like no other. (Newsday)

"Ghoshs writing soars, producing electric images. (Baltimore Sun)

Members Reviews:

Ghosh, I was disappointed

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

only to an avid Ghosh fan.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It seemed contrived.

Have you listened to any of Simon Vances other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes I have and he is consistently good, especially in a book with many characters.

Do you think The Circle of Reason needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

please no more on this story line.

Any additional comments?

Compared to Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, Glass Palace, Hungry Tide, Circle of Reason had a less steady hand on the plot. The characters were thinner and less compelling: I gladly said goodbye to them at the end. In contrast, I have grieved for my own loss at the sound of "audible hopes you have enjoyed this content" (or turned the last page, in some cases) for all the other Ghosh titles.

What was this about

Authors trilogy was quite good. However this book seems to have no purpose or direction. The descriptions seem very interesting but they go no where. I like the unusual names but because there are so many central characters there is no way to know who is who

Ok

I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed The Glass Palace. It is a bit aimless but enjoyable

Circles within circles

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Although Amitav Ghosh is one of my favorite writers, I found this book confusing and not very interesting. Too many people moving around without compelling purpose.

What three words best describe Simon Vances voice?

Excellent as usual.

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Title: Final Payments

Author: Mary Gordon

Narrator: Kate Mulligan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-28-10

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

When Isabel Moore's father dies, she finds herself, at the age of 30, suddenly freed from eleven years of uninterrupted care for a helpless man. With all the patterns of her life suddenly rendered meaningless, she turns to childhood friends for support, gets a job, and becomes involved with two very different men. But just as her future begins to emerge, her past throws up a daunting challenge. A moving story of self-reinvention, Final Payments is a timeless exploration of the nature of friendship, desire, guilt, and love.

Members Reviews:

Heartfelt and realistic

Incredibly deep and insightful, yet also a page-turner! Isabel was a truly complex, intelligent and realistic character. Although this book might be especially relevant to Catholics, this Protestant felt it illuminated issues all women contend with. Beautifully written.

Five Stars

Wonderful copy of this entrancing first novel.

Final Payments

Mary Gordon is a superb writer..it a pleasure to re-read this one. I have recommended it to my family. Thank you

Five Stars

Very satisfied.

Another Beautiful Novel by Mary Gordon

If you are a Mary Gordon fan, then this is another "must" for you. Other reviewers have left more detailed information. I merely recommend it.