Discover the Libray of Best Audiobooks in Fiction, Literary

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Title: Powder

Author: Tobias Wolff

Narrator: Anthony Heald

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-19-13

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

With his marriage on the rocks, a father takes his son skiing for the weekend. After insisting on staying just a bit longer - despite a growing blizzard - the boy's father finds they're snowed in at the resort, the road blockaded by state troopers. To what lengths will he go to keep his marriage intact?

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Title: The Sunlight Dialogues

Author: John Gardner

Narrator: Michael Butler Murray

Format: Unabridged

Length: 30 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-13-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

John Gardner's sweeping portrait of the collision of opposing philosophical perspectives in 1960s America, centering on the appearance of a mysterious stranger in a small upstate New York town.

One summer day, a countercultural drifter known only as the Sunlight Man appears in Batavia, New York. Jailed for painting the word "LOVE" across two lanes of traffic, the Sunlight Man encounters Fred Clumly, a 64-year-old town sheriff. Throughout the course of this impressive narrative, the dialogue between these two men becomes a microcosm of the social unrest that epitomized America during this significant historical period - and culminates in an unforgettable ending.

Beautifully expansive and imbued with exceptional social insight, The Sunlight Dialogues is John Gardner's most ambitious work and established him as one of the most important fiction writers in post-World War II America.

Members Reviews:

Many, many layers

Gardner has done three things here. First, he's written a good old-fashioned American novel in the Faulkner tradition. The story is loaded with people and places, mostly focusing on one family (doomed, of course): the Hodges from the small town of Batavia in western New York. Everybody has a story to tell, and Gardner coaxes it out of them.

Second, he's tunneled through this would-be placid scene and mined the book with robberies, murders, seductions, deadly fires, and horrific accidents.

Third, he's layered on top of this a series of fascinating and bizarre debates about free will and determinism, using a contrast between supposed Judaeo-Christian values and the ancient Babylonian mindset. The antagonists in these debates are Fred Clumly, chief of Batavia's police force, and the Sunlight Man, a scarred and possibly insane man who is also a philosopher and brilliant vaudeville-style magician. The Sunlight Man is a kind of cross between Jean Paul Sartre, Penn Gillette, and Monty Python.

It's all brilliantly done, with sometimes extravagant language and a deep, deep compassion for all the characters. And for the most part, Michael Butler Murray carries it off with energy and humor. There are a couple of words, like "recalcitrant," that he consistently mispronounces. But all in all it was such an enjoyable ride I was willing to forgive him the occasional lapse.

You should know that in places the book is quite slow. Gardner seems to have squeezed in every detail of backstory he came up with in the planning stages. And a couple of the subplots, interesting as they are in themselves, aren't very well integrated with the main story. But listen to it patiently. The ending sweeps up all the emotions that preceded it in a spectacular moment of triumph.

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Title: Dirty Love

Author: Andre Dubus III

Narrator: Andre Dubus III

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-07-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 84 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In this heartbreakingly beautiful book of disillusioned intimacy and persistent yearning, beloved and celebrated author Andre Dubus III explores the bottomless needs and stubborn weaknesses of people seeking gratification in food and sex, work and love.

In these linked novellas in which characters walk out the back door of one story and into the next, love is "dirty" - tangled up with need, power, boredom, ego, fear, and fantasy. On the Massachusetts coast north of Boston, a controlling manager, Mark, discovers his wife's infidelity after 25 years of marriage. An overweight young woman, Marla, gains a romantic partner but loses her innocence. A philandering bartender/aspiring poet, Robert, betrays his pregnant wife. And in the stunning title novella, a teenage girl named Devon, fleeing a dirty image of her posted online, seeks respect in the eyes of her widowed great-uncle Francis and of an Iraq vet shes met surfing the Web.

Slivered by happiness and discontent, aging and death, but also persistent hope and forgiveness, these beautifully wrought narratives express extraordinary tenderness toward human beings, our vulnerable hearts and bodies, our fulfilling and unfulfilling lives alone and with others.

Editorial Reviews:

Editors Select, October 2013 - Celebrated author Andre Dubus III returns to the format that first gained him recognition - the short story - with four intertwined novellas in Dirty Love. These four tales explore love through the disillusioned eyes of four very different, very broken people. From a man who learns that his wife has been cheating on him after 25 years of marriage, to a young girl who runs from her damaged reputation after an inappropriate video of her is posted online, Dubus' prose is both haunting and heartbreaking, provocative and hopeful. Dubus himself narrates the audiobook, and I can't wait to hear him bring to life this interconnected, intimate world he masterfully crafted.

Critic Reviews:

Dubus is an outstanding author, for sure, and here his narrator's voice shines just as brightly as his literary one. (AudioFile)

First rate fiction by a dazzling talent. (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review)

I can think of no novelist who renders the gritty, down-and-out corners of New England better than Dubus, and those beautifully specific, contained slices of American life open into whole universes of love, violence, guilt, and betrayal. (The New Republic)

Members Reviews:

This one was tough to get through, because it rips your heart out.

With Debus III you come to know you will get people. You will be taken inside them. You will inhabit their lives and see through their eyes. But you will also feel the torpor of their loins and the fatigue in their muscles and you will bear the harpies in their heads and be enlisted to shoulder the burden of their souls. When he takes you down the lanes of these fucked up people, which we all are, that empathy he feeds you can be a very bitter pill. Maybe that best sums up Andre Debus III's writing for me, NO SUGAR COATING. And when your medicine is being administered - all his characters struggle with their medicine - you think, a little sugar might go along way. But he's unrelenting in his eye of honesty. And in his own voice reading it to you like so much truth upon truth, it all wounds and heals at the same time. There were moments in this book where I felt I couldn't go on.

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Title: Paris Was the Place

Author: Susan Conley

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-06-13

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 19 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

From acclaimed author Susan Conley comes a novel that gives us a luminous emotional portrait of a young woman living abroad in Paris in the 1980s and trying to make sense of the chaotic world around her as she learns the true meaning of family.

When Willie Pears agrees to teach at a Parisian center for immigrant girls who have requested French asylum, she has no idea it will utterly change her life. She has lived in Paris for six months, surrounded by the most important people in her life: her beloved brother, Luke; her funny and wise college roommate, Sara; and Saras do-gooder husband, Rajiv. And now there is Macon Ventri, a passionate, dedicated attorney for the detained girls. Theirs is a meeting of both hearts and minds - but not without its problems. As Willie becomes more involved with the immigrant girls who touch her soul, the lines between teaching and mothering are blurred. She is especially drawn to Gita, a young Indian girl who is determined to be free. Ultimately, Willie will make a decision with potentially dire consequences to both her relationship with Macon and the future of the center. Meanwhile, Luke is taken with a serious, as-yet-unnamed illness, and Willie will come to understand the power of unconditional love while facing the dark days of his death.

Conley has written a piercing, deeply humane novel that explores the connections between family and friends and reaffirms the strength of the ties that bind.

Members Reviews:

I wanted more about the girls seeking asylum in France!

I LOVE Paris but I struggled to connect with this story.

At the beginning, I was sucked into the section about the main character's work with the immigrants at the detention centre. It was so promising!! I expected so much more with regards to the girls seeking asylum in France and the main character's relationship with these girls. Thatâs what I was really looking forward to.

Then the story line about the main character's brother takes over.

You get the impression that this is a case of two short stories that have been linked and that the author intended the immigrant story to be the main one but maybe changed her mind along the way, so that the story about her brother takes precedence. I was disappointed.

But it's not a bad story.

3.5 stars for this one.

Paris was only sort of the place.

This book had interesting premises: a sisterâs love for her brother, dying of AIDS and the plight of immigrants in Paris in the 1980âs. The poetry that Willow taught and her research into an obscure Indian poet was also part of the story. It had a lot of potential though it somehow fell a little flat as it was a bit difficult to connect completely with Willowâs character.

Would not really recommend it to my

It was OK. Would not really recommend it to my friends

Five Stars

A friend recommended this book to me. An excellent read.

I liked the book

I very much enjoyed this book, but some of the ladies in my book club were not so complimentary. I enjoyed the two story lines, but the other ladies wanted more of the part about the girls.

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Title: Loteria

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Mario Alberto Zambrano

Narrator: Maria Cabezas

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-02-13

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Prepare to be enthralled by this lyrical, achingly human debut novel about a young girl's remarkable resilience in the face of loss. Struggling to cope as her family falls apart, 11-year-old Luz María Castillo retreats into her beloved set of Lotería cards - a Mexican game featuring riddles and vibrant images. Each card represents a different memory, and as Luz shuffles through the deck, she weaves her recollections into a compelling story of love, loyalty, tragedy, and hope.

By turns affecting and inspiring, Lotería is a powerful novel that heralds the arrival of an outstanding new writer, one who reminds us of the importance of remembering, even when we are trying to forget.

Members Reviews:

loteria very good! I

everything about this was good. . I really enjoyed it. as if it was me living it..

This probably works much better as a physical book

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It would be great with a PDF of the loteria pictures, that apparently begins each chapter of this book, and sets its theme - as it is, the name of the picture in Spanish is read - and not translated, so if like me you speak NO Spanish, it's even hard to guess how it's spelled and google it. There are also plenty of sentences spoken in Spanish, that are not translated, which makes you feel like you're missing out on a lot of character interaction, again in a physical book it would be easier to translate words you don't know. So, the enjoyment of the story is flawed a lot by it's unsuitability to the audio media - unless you speak Spanish,

I loved this book

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

I don't usually listen to fiction but I had read the book and wanted to check out the audiobook. The choice for the narrator was perfect. She really captured the character of Luz and pronounced the Spanish words perfectly. (I hate it when narrators pronounce words wrong...) What's missing on the audio version that I loved in the printed version of the book is the beautiful artwork. The book is a visual treat. The author's writing style is also a treat. His sentences are graceful, concise and elegant. There are parts of this book I would like to frame and hang on my wall. While the audiobook is nice, the printed version is a work of art.

What other book might you compare Loteria to and why?

The House on Mango Street, El Arroyo de la Llorona, The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

One of the passages struck a nerve. This is from when Luz's parents were fighting, "That time I saw them over the table, I crawled out the window and ran down the street to the corner store and stole pieces of chewing gum and put them all in my mouth at one time. I chewed so fast my cheeks burned, and they burned so much that I told myself I was crying because of the sting, not because they were fighting."

Any additional comments?

I'm looking forward to the author's next book.

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Titel: Der Hundertjährige, der aus dem Fenster stieg und verschwand (Allan Karlsson-Hörspiel 1)

Autor:: Jonas Jonasson

Erzähler: Matthias Habich, Marion Breckwoldt, Christian Redl

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 3 hrs

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 06-06-13

Herausgeber: Der Hörverlag

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Das Hörspiel macht aus der urkomischen Flucht und irrwitzigen Lebensgeschichte eines eigensinnigen Mannes, der sich zwar nicht für Politik interessiert, aber trotzdem irgendwie immer in die großen historischen Ereignisse des 20. Jahrhunderts verwickelt ist, ganz großes Kino für die Ohren. Mit Matthias Habich als Allan Karlsson und vielen weiteren renommierten Stimmen. Aufwändig inszeniert von Leonhard Koppelmann - mit Auftritten von Franco, Mao, Stalin, Truman und anderen in Originalaufnahmen.

Kritik Bewertungen:

Eine gelungene Inszenierung, die Lust darauf macht, das Buch gleich nochmal zu lesen.

-- mbeat

Sie können sich auf ein spannendes, witziges und absurdes Hörspiel freuen.

-- Walter Renneisen, hr journal

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Title: Gun Dealers' Daughter

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Gina Apostol

Narrator: Holly Fielding

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-04-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

A young woman pieces together her troubled past in this story of rebellion and romance set in the Marcos-era Philippines. Soon after she leaves home for university in Manila, Soledad, Soliman (Sol) transforms herself from bookish rich girl to communist rebel. But is her allegiance to the principles of Mao or to Jed, the comrade shes in love with? Can she really be a part of the movement or is she just a useful fool, a spoiled brat playing at revolution?

Far from the Philippines, in a mansion overlooking the Hudson River, Sol confesses her youthful indiscretions, unable to get past the fatal act of communist fervor that locked her memory in an endless loop.

Rich with wordplay and unforgettable imagery, Gun Dealers Daughter combines the momentum of an amnesiac thriller with the intellectual delights of a Borgesian puzzle. In her American debut, award-winning author Gina Apostol delivers a riveting novel that illuminates the conflicted and little-known history of the Philippines, a country deeply entwined with our own.

Members Reviews:

A beautifully, poignantly written novel for our times

Gun Dealersâ Daughter is a mesmerizing read. It is so beautifully, poignantly written, the narratorâs remorseful account of her youthful rebellion intertwined with vivid portrayal of the ruling class (with subtle humor), as well as brilliant, and sometimes heartrending, reflection on history and revolution.

Apparently a few readers had been put off by the somewhat overwritten passages in the beginning chapters, but once you get through the high-sounding superlatives you would quickly realize it is a stylistic device to let readers see through the narratorâs eyes and glimpse into the nation's psyche. The point they fail to see is, I think, the wordplay here was also meant to illustrate the dual, dialectic power of language â the way our words reveal and disguise the secrets in our hearts. The way our words allow us to heal, and indulge in, our pain. Just as the doctor says in the end, âbut you can see where the tragedy lies. It is a paradox at the heart of our human mystery perhaps. Words are all we have to save us, but at the same time, they are not enough to make us whole."

Couldnât have said it better than Brian Collins on the LA Review of Books: âIf all this seems rather distant from the here and now, one only has to reflect on how our own political institutions have kept us from reckoning with the root causes of the current crisis (â) or on the way a kind of neocolonialist rule of law appears to have come home to roost with the War on Terror. Apostol has given us a tour de force tale about late-20th-century Manila, but Gun Dealersâ Daughter is also a book for our times.â

Great Read!

It has been a very long time since I've read a book that is this complex and interesting. The first chapter was a little confusing, but everything made sense as I read further into the book. I especially enjoyed the unexpected ending.

a good read

Enjoyed reading this. Insight into revolutionary movement in the Phillipines, gun trade, rich & poor. Took awhile to get into the book, but overall very satisfying.

Passive Character, Lapidary Prose

A finely wrought novel about modern-day Philippines seen through the eyes of the society's upper class.

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Title: Good Kings Bad Kings

Author: Susan Nussbaum

Narrator: Daya Mendez, Karen Murray, Alexander Cendese, Christina Delaine, Emma Galvin, David Ledoux, Lauren Fortgang

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-28-13

Publisher: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 79 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Told in alternating perspectives by a varied and vocal cast of characters, Nussbaum pulls back the curtain to reveal the complicated and funny and tough life inside the walls of an institution for juveniles with disabilities. From Yessenia Lopez, who dreams of her next boyfriend and of one day of living outside those walls, to Teddy, a resident who dresses up daily in a full suit and tie, to Mia, who guards a terrifying secret, Nussbaum has crafted a multifaceted portrait of a way of life hidden from most of us.

In this isolated human warehouse on Chicago's South Side, friendships are forged, trust is built, and love affairs begin. And it's in their alliances that the residents ultimately find the strength to bond together and finally fight back against their mistreatment.

Told with humor and authenticity in voices that stay with you long past the last moments, Good Kings Bad Kings is at once strikingly original, baldly funny, and profoundly moving.

Performed by an ensemble cast, with Chris Delaine (Joanne Madsen), Lauren Fortgang (Michelle Volkmann), Emma Galvin (Yessenia Lopez), Alexander Cendese (Teddy Dobbs), David Ledoux (Ricky Hernandez), Karen Murray (Jimmie Kendrick), and Daya Mendez (Mia Oviedo).

Critic Reviews:

"This is fiction at its best. The story's sharp eye allows no one to take shelter, and it doesn't flinch, it is simply and breathtakingly honest. A stunning accomplishment." (Barbara Kingsolver)

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: She And Allan

Author: H. Rider Haggard

Narrator: Barnaby Edwards

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-13-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

She and Allan is a novel by H. Rider Haggard, first published in 1921. It brought together his two most popular characters, Ayesha from She (to which it serves as a prequel), and Allan Quatermain from King Solomon's Mines. Its significance was recognized by its republication by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the sixth volume of the celebrated Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library series in September 1975.

Henry Rider Haggard, KBE (22 June 1856 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire. His stories, situated at the lighter end of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential.

Editorial Reviews:

In She and Allan, H. Rider Haggard revives the characters "Ayesha" and "Allan Quatermain" from his highly successful novels She and King Solomon's Mines. British actor Barnaby Edwards brings decades of stage and screen experience to his performance. His deep and elegant timbre suggests the Shakespearean heroes that Edwards has so often played, though the actor is equally well known for his work on the series Doctor Who. Haggard's fantasy novels are always packed with adventure, but he outdoes himself in this 1921 work. The plot involves Zulu doctors, magical amulets, epic battles, and cannibals. The audiobook's premise is that the late Mr. Allan Quatermain left behind his first-person account of his travels, hence the lengthy introduction.

Members Reviews:

It's not my favorite of the Quartermain story

If you could sum up She And Allan in three words, what would they be?

Eh, uh..., sigh

What other book might you compare She And Allan to and why?

Not sure about this

What three words best describe Barnaby Edwardss voice?

He did great with both male/female and diversity of voices

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was a little annoyed how Haggard made Quartermain such a staunch disbeliever. He wasn't that bad in any of the other stories when it came to unbelievable things

Any additional comments?

I like it as the story of Quartermain and Umslopogaas' meeting

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Title: The Woman Who Married a Cloud

Subtitle: The Collected Short Stories of Jonathan Carroll

Author: Jonathan Carroll

Narrator: Robin Bloodworth, Suehyla El Attar

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-09-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 29 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Thirty-eight extraordinary stories from award-winning author Jonathan Carroll.

For more than 30 years, Jonathan Carrolls writing has defied genre conventions. Known for his novelsincluding The Land of Laughs, Bones of the Moon, Sleeping in Flame, and many other compelling and often surreal storiesCarroll has also created an eloquent body of short fiction. The Woman Who Married a Cloud brings his stories together for the first time. In the title story, a matchmaking effort goes awry and leads one woman to a harrowing moment of self-discovery. In "The Heidelberg Cylinder", Hell becomes so overcrowded that Satan sends some of his lost souls back to Earth. And in "Alone Alarm", a man is kidnapped by multiple versions of himself.

By turns haunting, melancholic, and enchanting, Carrolls richly layered stories illuminate universal experiences, passions, and griefs. Described by NPRs Alan Cheuse as "so richly imaginative, so intellectually daring," The Woman Who Married a Cloud is essential for Carroll fans and short-story lovers alike.

Members Reviews:

Great Stories, Mixed Narration

This fantastic collection of short stories has two narrators, a male (Robin Bloodsworth) for stories written from the perspective of male characters, and Suehyla El Attar for female. Mr. Bloodsworth's performance is spot-on, and a joy to listen to. However, I found Ms. El Attar's voice irritating in the extreme: overly breathy and excited like someone trying to sell you something on late-night TV, and employing several grating vocal tics including extensive use of "creaky voice" (rattling your vocal chords, especially at the end of sentences) and the "California Vowel Shift", substituting one vowel sound for another instead of using standard pronunciation ("Bast Aver" = "Best Ever", "Rast" instead of "Rest", etc). It's probably my age and that I am particularly sensitive to slight variations in sounds in general, but women who speak this way all sound like teenage girls to me and I'd prefer more standard elocution.

Prepare to become an anti-social traveler

Where does The Woman Who Married a Cloud rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

One of the better short story collections - and certainly one of the best collected works of any author - on audible. I listened in the car, on the walk into town, to the grocery store, between classes, while washing dishes... you get it. These stories reminded me of what I love about the genre of magic realism, speculative fiction and contemporary fantasy: not only are Jonathan Carroll's metaphors and language gorgeous on their own, but when they separate from the "real world," you forget that it could be any other way because what is being narrated is so full of truth and beauty and momentum. The narrators also do a wonderful job, capturing pace and inflection of the characters in each story. I'm genuinely sad that it's over. Oh wait, I can listen again...

I am only a few hours in, but wanted to share!

I have only listened to a few of the stories so far, but I wanted to share my enthusiasm! So far, the stories have been delightful, interesting, and haunting and both of the narrators are nice to listen to.