Discover the New Releases Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs Top 100

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Title: Tracks

Subtitle: A Woman's Solo Trek across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback

Author: Robyn Davidson

Narrator: Angie Milliken

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-19-14

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

"I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back." So begins Robyn Davidson's perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company. Enduring sweltering heat, fending off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chasing her camels when they get skittish and nursing them when they are injured, Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation.

Members Reviews:

1970s adventure across Australia - different times

Across Australia by camel, or more correctly from Alice springs to the Indian Ocean by camel. The first half of this book was, to me, difficult going. Robyn came across as someone unsure of herself, but adamant she was right in whatever that was. She wants a character that warranted sympathy in the troubles she faced ahead of making her journey.

However, once the journey started, the transition from an insecure girl, unsure of her aim, to a determined adventurer, on her own terms, is palpable. It is also a story of making a journey in the public eye, one that she, in turns, detested and was dependent upon.

This is not a book of modern day society, but one of the 1970s in Australia, a time of old fashioned morals and ideas, and Robyn is definitely at odds with many of these. Perhaps this is why she comes across in the early stages of the book as contrary and uncertain of why, why was she doing this.

In her own words, the journey wouldn't be possible now, through many reasons not least modern controls and monitoring would get in the way.

Two of Robyn's quotes, one personal to her, one that rings very true for me.

Camel trips do not begin or end, they merely change form

We can all escape the limitations imposed upon us

Brilliant story of determination

I recently watched the film of the same name. I was entranced by the film and decided to listen to the Audible version of the book. Rarely do I find that films even get close to the original story written down in a book and once again this is true here. The film was good but the book is brilliant. Robyn Davidson is a tremendous writer and describes her struggles to organise her trip. She first had to learn how to handle the camels. She came across total charlatans who promised one thing then went back on their promises. Her description of her trip has you on the edge of your seat. The disasters - one in particular but I won't elaborate for fear of spooling the story - are beautifully documented. Her joy is obvious when things are going well. The kindness that she experiences. Her relationship with the National Geographic photographer who becomes an integral part if he book. All these things make this a terrific book to listen to. I don't know who narrates the story but she is very good too. I think you can tell that I really enjoyed this Audible book!

Amazing story

I was drawn into this tale so wonderfully narrated, I looked forward to my commute home so I could listen to it. It has been a pleasure.

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Title: Someday You Will Understand

Subtitle: My Father's Private World War II

Author: Nina Wolff Feld

Narrator: Nina Wolff Feld

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-05-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Walter Wolff was the son of a Jewish merchant family that fled their German home when the Nazis came to power and took refuge in Brussels, Belgium. On the eve of the German invasion, in May 1940, the family began its second escape. Their sixteen-month odyssey took them through the chaos of battle in France and the dangers of living clandestinely as Jews in occupied territory, before they finally boarded the notorious freighter SS Navemar in Cadiz, Spain, to be among the last Jewish refugees admitted to the United States before Pearl Harbor.

Within two years of his arrival in the States, Walter was ready to take the fight back to the Nazis as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Trained for the Intelligence Corps at Camp Ritchie, he was sent first to Italy and then to Germany and Austria, where he interrogated POWs for potential prosecution as war criminals at Nuremburg. At the same time, on his travels in Europe he returned to the confiscated properties of his extended family, throwing out the occupiers and reclaiming ownership. Telling the rousing story of a Jewish boy who fled persecution and returned to prosecute the Nazi oppressors, Walter Wolff's daughter Nina has reconstructed these events from family lore and her fathers own cache of more than 700 wartime letters and 200 photographs, which he revealed to her shortly before he died.

Members Reviews:

LETTERS FROM MY FATHER DURING WW2

I have always loved stories fiction or nonfiction about WW2. However, it took all I had to complete this book. If the author didn't "understand" by the time she finished this book, well? I really don't know what to say. This book seemed to have every minute detail of her father's life over there, and hardly anything about the war. I'm all for recollections, that's why I bought the book, however, I was looking for a piece of history/anything, and sadly learned about how her grandmother was going to be so mad that her father wasn't eating she was going to "have a fit!" I have the Kindle edition

also, and there are pictures in there that's why I gave it a 4 star review. I do want to say she did a great job narrating!

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Title: Haatchi & Little B

Subtitle: The Inspiring True Story of One Boy and His Dog

Author: Wendy Holden

Narrator: Gabrielle Glaister

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-01-14

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 56 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A number-one international best seller

When Owen met Haatchi, the lives of one adorable little boy and one great, big dog were destined to change forever.

Owen - known to his family as "little buddy" or "Little B" - has a rare genetic disorder that leaves him largely confined to a wheelchair. Before being united with Haatchi, Little B was anxious and found it difficult to make friends. Haatchi - an adorable Anatolian Shepherd puppy - was abused and left for dead on railroad tracks. He was struck by an oncoming train, and although his life was saved, his leg and tail were partially severed. Haatchi was left massively disabled and totally dispirited.

But kind-hearted Will and Colleen Howkins, Little B's father and step-mother, decided to introduce the big dog and the little boy to each other, and an unbelievable bond was formed that transformed both boy and dog in miraculous ways.

Haatchi & Little B is the true story of an astonishing little boy, a very special dog, and the inspiring, inseparable pair that they make together.

Members Reviews:

They Needed One Another

Haatchi had been abandoned on a railroad track. He was a survivor and an oncoming train did sever his back leg but he was able to lay low enough so that each succeeding train missed him.

A watchman did report him and he was picked up by what we, in America, refer to as the SPCA, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Haatchi had surgery and his hind leg was removed as well as his tail. Although it was thought that Haatchi had lost his complete tail, the doctor was wrong. He had a small stump of a tail that could waggle as fast as any long tail could.

Little B, a boy born with a rare disease, was confined mostly to a wheelchair. He was sullen, unhappy and had no friends. Little B isolated himself from people and when outside or in school, he would keep his head lowered as much as possible. He did not want to see all of the people who stared at him.

Little B's father and stepmother did visit the pound where there was this a puppy, an Anatolian Shepard, who continued to have difficulty recovering from his injuries. He had been abused and was still trying to adapt to walking on three instead of four legs. Haatchi needed a forever home.

Little B, when introduced to Haatchi, was absolutely ecstatic and wanted to bring the puppy home. Haatchi and Little B formed a especially unbelievable bond with one another.

The narrator, Gabrielle Glaister, was excellent. She made the book quite an enjoyable listen. I did listen to this true story all in one sitting. I did cry occasionally. I have to promote this book to others. I don't think you will be disappointed if you purchase this book. Remember, there is a boy who will be forever short and then there is this dog who is one of the largest dog's around who come together and restore each other's happiness.

Excellent! A must listen!

A heart warming story about two disabled beings - a dog and a boy. I love how the two of them along with the support of loving family and friends lead to the recovery of their damaged spirits.

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Titolo: L'arte di amare [The Art of Loving]

Autore: Catulle Mendès, Ovidio

Narratore: Silvia Cecchini

Formato: Unabridged

Durata: 4 hrs and 8 mins

Lingua: Italiano

Data di pubblicazione: 06-06-14

Editore: Collina d'oro

Categoria: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Riepilogo Editore:

Questa è una raccolta di due testi, di Ovidio e di Catulle Mendès, che l'editore ha sottotitolato come fisiologia comparata degli amori degli antichi romani e dei parigini moderni, affidando la prefazione dell'opera appunto ad un fisiologo, il medico e scienziato Paolo Mantegazza. Ma è inutile dire che l'accenno alla medicina è volutamente paradossale, tanto il celebrato amore terreno sia impenetrabile agli innumerevoli sforzi di razionalizzarlo.L' Ars Amandi di Ovidio offre agli uomini strategie di conquista delle donne, e alle donne consigli su come attrarre il proprio amante. Si ritiene che il testo risalga all'1 a.C. o all'1 d.C., quando il poeta doveva avere circa cinquanta anni. E' decisamente interessante osservare quante convinzioni esposte nel testo siano ancora radicate nella società di oggi.Proprio per questo motivo l'editore scelse di accostare a questo antico testo uno scritto da lui definito moderno e che è dell'inizio del 1900. Catulle Mendès, poeta decadente nato a Tolosa e vissuto a Parigi, ha avuto una intensa vita amorosa, pertanto parla anche per esperienza personale, e i suoi accenti sono spesso davvero amari, nonostante l'ironia di cui li avvolge.Starà al lettore contemporaneo osservare se le affinità fra i due testi e le convinzioni espresse resistano ancora, a cento anni di distanza... Cornici musicali di Kevin Mac Leod e di Bizet.

Please note: This audiobook is in Italian.

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Title: Impossible Motherhood

Subtitle: Testimony of An Abortion Addict

Author: Irene Vilar, Robin Morgan (foreword)

Narrator: Susannah Jones

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-23-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Irene Vilar was just a pliant young college undergraduate in thrall to her professor when they embarked on a relationship that led to marriage - a union of impossible odds - and 15 abortions in 15 years. Vilar knows that she is destined to be misunderstood, that many will see her nightmare as an instance of abusing a right, of using abortion as a means of birth control. But it isn't that. The real story is part of an awful secret, shrouded in shame, colonialism, self-mutilation, and a family legacy that features a heroic grandmother, a suicidal mother, and two heroin-addicted brothers. It is a story that looks back on her traumatic childhood growing up in the shadow of her mother's death and the footsteps of her famed grandmother, the political activist Lolita Lebrn, and a history that touches on American exploitation and reproductive repression in Puerto Rico. Vilar seamlessly weaves together past, present, and future, channeling a narrative that is at once dramatic and subtle.

Impossible Motherhood is a heartrending and ultimately triumphant testimonial told by a writer looking back on her history of addiction. Abortion has never offered any honest person easy answers. Vilar's dark journey through self-inflicted wounds, compulsive patterns, and historical hauntings is a powerful story of loss and mourning that bravely delves into selfhood, national identity, reproductive freedom, family responsibility, and finally motherhood itself - today, Vilar is the mother of two beautiful children.

Members Reviews:

Beautifully written...

For such a dark and controversial subject, Ms. Vilar writes with dignity and beauty. I believe the author is a courageous woman for writing about her experiences and to let us in on feeling her pain. It is impossible to not feel something as you read Ms. Vilar's words, whether it's sadness, anger, sympathy, love, hate, etc. And isn't that the point of reading others' stories? To feel and to learn, as long as you open your mind and open your heart. The book is beautifully written and I appreciate the author's honesty.

Great Book

I really liked this book. The content and stories were interesting, and the protagonist is incredibly easy to relate to, even if you've never had an abortion, lived in Puerto Rico, etc.

This book isn't really about abortion. It is about a woman's struggle with herself and the people in her life.

9/10 would read again.

five stars

brave lady for sharing this story. it had me hooked

This is a good read.

Kept my attention. This is a good read.

A brilliant read!

A haunting yet brilliant book! I could not put it down. Vilar offers a beautifully written work of her life's enormous challenges.

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Title: Shoes of a Servant

Author: Diane Benscoter

Narrator: Diane Benscoter

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-06-14

Publisher: Diane Benscoter

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Diane Benscoter grew up in the heartland of America in a small Nebraska town with a loving family. At 17, motivated by her idealism and inspired by the lyrics of her favorite songs, she left home in search of a way to end war. She found easy answers to life's hard questions in the form of a religious cult commonly known as the Moonies. In Shoes of a Servant Benscoter weaves a gripping story of her servitude in the cult, the deprogramming staged by her desperate family, and her subsequent involvement in the underground world of deprogramming, culminating in her arrest for kidnapping. Often humorous and always heartbreaking, Benscoter's story carries the reader on a journey into the world of mental manipulation, providing compelling insight on how human vulnerabilities open the door for extremism.

Members Reviews:

Moving story

Would you consider the audio edition of Shoes of a Servant to be better than the print version?

A moving story - well read and heartbreaking. Linking to current events and other similar situations was interesting and well drawn out.

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Title: I Can Hear You Whisper

Subtitle: An Intimate Journey Through the Science of Sound and Language

Author: Lydia Denworth

Narrator: Karen Saltus

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-17-14

Publisher: Gildan Media, LLC

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Lydia Denworths third son, Alex, was nearly two when he was identified with significant hearing loss that was likely to get worse. Her sweet boy with the big brown eyes had probably never heard her lullabies. Denworth knew the importance of enrichment to the developing brain but had never contemplated the opposite: Deprivation. How would a childs brain grow outside the world of sound most of us take for granted? How would he communicate? Would he learn to read and write - werent phonics a key to literacy? How long did they have until Alexs brain changed irrevocably? In her drive to understand the choices - starting with the angry debate between supporters of American Sign Language and the controversial but revolutionary cochlear implant - Denworth soon found that every decision carried weighty scientific, social, and even political implications. As she grappled with the complex collisions between the emerging field of brain plasticity, the possibilities of modern technology, and the changing culture of the deaf community, she gained a new appreciation of the exquisite relationship between sound, language, and learning. It became clear that Alexs ears - and indeed everyones - were just the beginning. An acclaimed science journalist as well as a mother, Denworth interviewed the worlds experts on language development, inventors of ground-breaking technology, Deaf leaders, and neuroscientists at the frontiers of research. She presents insights from studies of everything from at-risk kids in Head Start to noisy cocktail party conversation, from songbirds to signal processing, and from the invention of the telephone to sign language. Weaving together tales from the centuries-long quest to develop the cochlear implant and simultaneous leaps in neuroscientific knowledge against a tumultuous backdrop of identity politics, I Can Hear You Whisper shows how sound sculpts our childrens brains and the life-changing consequences of that delicate process.

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: Labor Day

Subtitle: True Birth Stories by Today's Best Women Writers

Author: Anna Solomon (editor), Eleanor Henderson (editor)

Narrator: Hillary Huber, Cris Dukeheart

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-15-14

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

It's an elemental, almost animalistic urge - the expectant mother's hunger for birth narratives. Bookstores are filled with month-by-month pregnancy manuals, but the shelves are virtually empty of artful, entertaining, unvarnished accounts of labor and delivery - the stories that new mothers need most. Here is an audiobook that transcends the limits of how-to guides and honors the act of childbirth in the 21st century. Eleanor Henderson and Anna Solomon have gathered true birth stories by women who have made self-expression their business, including Cheryl Strayed, Julia Glass, Lauren Groff, Dani Shapiro, and many other luminaries. In Labor Day, you'll hear about women determined to give birth naturally and others begging for epidurals; women who pushed for hours and women whose labors were over practically before they'd started; women giving birth to twins and to 10-pound babies. These women give birth in the hospital, at home, in bathtubs, and, yes, even in the car. Some revel in labor, some fear labor, some feel defeated by labor, some are fulfilled by it - and all are amazed by it. You will laugh, weep, squirm, perhaps groan in recognition, and undoubtedly gasp with surprise. And then you'll call every mother or mother-to-be that you know and say "You must hear Labor Day."

Members Reviews:

Not your typical pregnancy or birth book (in a good way!)

I really enjoyed this book - lots of short first-person birth stories encompassing a range of scenarios and circumstances from home birth to hospital from fantastic writers. Reading this book as an expecting mom, I found some of the stories to be a little unsettling (not every one ended happily), but such is life and the nature of birth. In that sense, it is a very realistic read and the kind of book where you find yourself laughing, crying, cringing, and curios from story to story. Would highly recommend - more like listening to girlfriends chat about their birth experiences than reading a clinical birth book.

Love this book

Love this book! I really enjoy reading this while pregnant and preparing myself for my own baby to come into the world. I love hearing the stories of other women, and not all nightmare stories, but of women who actually enjoyed and had a wonderful experience bringing their baby here.

Loved it!

Even though I am way past childbearing age, I still love to read about having babies. Well written, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Thank you!

As encouraging and empowering as Ina May Gaskin's books!

I am pregant with my second child and I have immensely enjoyed reading through the true stories in this book. It has helped prepare me for labor. I have a stronger confidence in my body and what it can do during labor and birth.

Tells the good, bad and the ugly

I loved the way these true stories told the full range of experience in childbirth. No two births are alike and things can go very wrong but whatever the experience it is your experience and your story. I would recommend it to expectant mothers in the hope that it would give them realistic expectations and perhaps courage.

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Title: New Life, No Instructions

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Gail Caldwell

Narrator: Gail Caldwell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-01-14

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of Lets Take the Long Way Home now gives us a stunning, exquisitely written memoir about a dramatic turning point in her life, which unexpectedly opened up a world of understanding, possibility, and connection. New Life, No Instructions is about the surprising way life can begin again, at any age.

What do you do when the story changes in midlife? When a tale you have told yourself turns out to be a little untrue, just enough to throw the world off-kilter? Its like leaving the train at the wrong stop: You are still you, but in a new place, there by accident or grace, and you will need your wits about you to proceed.

Any change that matters, or takes, begins as immeasurably small. Then it accumulates, moss on stone, and after a few thousand years of not interfering, you have a glen, or a waterfall, or a field of hope where sorrow used to be.

I suppose all of us consider our loved ones extraordinary; that is one of the elixirs of attachment. But over the months of pain and disrepair of that winter, I felt something that made the grimness tolerable: I felt blessed by the tribe I was part of. Here I was, supposedly solo, and the real truth was that I had a force field of connection surrounding me.

Most of all I told this story because I wanted to say something about hope and the absence of it, and how we keep going anyway. About second chances, and how theyre sometimes buried amid the dross, even when youre poised for the downhill grade. The narrative can always turn out to be a different story from what you expected.

Members Reviews:

stunning and intense

More than just a memoir, this is an intense, focused insight into the dying process, addiction, love of pets and family, identity, and so much more. having Gehl Caldwell read it in her mild Texas twang, modulated by years of living in Cambridge, is an added bonus.

A KIND OF COURAGE

Living life takes a kind of courage. Gail Caldwells memoir, "New Life", is a glimpse of her courage. Challenged by early life polio, Caldwell fashions a universal story. Most children learn how to walk before they are two. Caldwell took a little longer, but her experience resonates with every persons success in mastering a new skill. All feel a sense of being a captain of their soul and master of events when they learn to walk or stand alone.

Courage is most clearly evidenced in Caldwells memoir when she advances into middle age. Unlike being late to walk, Caldwell is early to immobility at 61. Through chance, Caldwell is seen by a doctor who properly diagnoses premature hip damage. (Previous doctors failed to x-ray Caldwells hip.) The damage can be corrected with a surgically implanted titanium hip-joint. Caldwell chooses to have the operation. That choice means six months of excruciating rehabilitation.

One can draw different conclusions from Caldwells memoir. Every life has its challenges. No life is offered a list of instructions; either at birth, adolescence, maturity, or death. Every person has chances and choices. It takes a kind of courage to make choices. Caldwells choice is to never give up.

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Titel: Der lange Weg zur Freiheit

Autor:: Nelson Mandela

Erzähler: Thomas Balou Martin

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 28 hrs and 42 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 03-31-14

Herausgeber: Der Hörverlag

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Kaum ein anderer Politiker dieses Jahrhunderts symbolisierte in solchem Maße die Friedenshoffnungen der Menschheit und den Gedanken der Aussöhnung aller Völker auf Erden wie der ehemalige südafrikanische Präsident und Friedensnobelpreisträger Nelson Mandela, dessen Rolle für seinen Kontinent mit der Gandhis für Indien verglichen wurde. Seine trotz langer Haft ungebrochene Charakterstärke und Menschenfreundlichkeit haben nicht nur die Bewunderung seiner Landsleute, sondern aller friedenswilligen Menschen auf der Welt gefunden.

Obwohl als Häuptlingssohn, hochgebildeter und sprachenkundiger Rechtsanwalt gegenüber der schwarzen Bevölkerung privilegiert, war er doch nicht von vornherein zum Freiheitskämpfer und international geachteten Politiker prädestiniert. Erst die fast drei Jahrzehnte währende Gefängnishaft hat ihn zum Mythos der schwarzen Befreiungsbewegung werden lassen.

Nelson Mandelas Lebensgeschichte ist über die politische Bedeutung hinaus ein spannend zu hörendes, kenntnis- und faktenreiches Dokument menschlicher Entwicklung unter Bedingungen und Fährnissen, vor denen die meisten Menschen innerlich wie äußerlich kapituliert haben dürften.

©1994 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela / S. Fischer Verlag (P)2014 Der Hörverlag