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Title: The Story of a Million Years

Author: David Huddle

Narrator: Julie Dretzin, Kate Forbes, L. J. Ganser, Christina Moore, Ruth Ann Phimister, Scott Shina, Tom Stechschulte

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-10-12

Publisher: Recorded Books

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

David Huddles short fiction appears frequently in publications including Esquire, Harpers Magazine, and The Best American Short Stories. In this compelling novel, he examines the complex mixtures of longing and contentment that make up contemporary relationships.

Deeply affected by a teenaged affair with a man nearly three times her age, Marcy Bunkleman subtly shapes the lives of everyone she meets. As she and the people closest to her tell their stories, an incredible picture emerges of secrets and lies, of knowledge and ignorance, and gradually of people longing to recapture those moments of effortless goodness in their lives.

As Huddle gently strips away the layers of stories we tell ourselves and others, we find the strengths and weaknesses of people who could easily be our friends, our spouses, or ourselves. Grippingly told in a multiple-cast narration, The Story of a Million Years provides an entralling look at the drama hidden in even the most quiet lives.

Members Reviews:

Very enjoyable read.

I love his writing style and the characters are so real. l was sorry when I finished it! Am looking forward to reading more of David Huddle.

Subtle, Powerful and Unforgettable

Whenever a short story writer I admire produces a novel, I cringe, remembering the legions of talented writers of shorter works who've tried longer forms and failed. So I approached this novel with some trepidation, hoping that this gifted short story writer wouldn't taint my high opinion of his previous work. I had no need to worry -- this novel is a gem.

If you like your novels plot rather than character-driven, you need to look elsewhere. However, if you're interested in a multi-layered exploration of how people live, think and relate, then this one's for you.

Suiting Huddle's background as a short story writer, the novel is structured around chapters with each one told from a different character's point of view. Each chapter reveals new insights about the other characters, and the speaker. By the end, the reader knows something of the secrets of each of them, and your understanding (and affection) for each deepens with every turn of the page. By the end, you know much of the interior lives of all of them, and you understand how their interactions and relationships are largely motivated by that part of their history that is unknowable to anyone, even those closest to them, and which will not and cannot be shared.

Huddle's writing is unobtrusive. It hints at more than it states, and it is magnificently uncluttered. No verbal pyrotechnics here -- just good writing where every word fits perfectly and does its job. It's the prose equivalent of a Shaker chair.

This book will keep you thinking -- about relationships, about the secrets you keep, and about the secrets kept by your spouse, your closest friends, and everyone else. It holds up well on repeated readings, and it will stay with you.

About the Secrets and Subtleties of Marriage

This striking novel, relatively short (as one would expect from an accomplished short story writer attempting his first novel), is a carefully crafted book about secrets big and small, and their effect upon marital and family relationships.

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Title: The Kiss

Author: Danielle Steel

Narrator: Joseph Siravo

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-05-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

In her 53rd best-selling novel, Danielle Steel explores how a single shattering moment can change lives forever. The Kiss is at once a moving testament to the fragility of life and a breathtaking story about the power of love to heal, to free, to transform, and to make broken spirits whole.

On a warm June evening, a red double-decker bus full of passengers speeds down a London street. A few blocks away, a man and a woman climb into a limousine, reveling in a magical evening of dancing and champagne. As their driver pulls into an intersection, the couple shares their first searching kiss. For a moment etched in time, all stands still - until, in a flash of metal and glass, their limousine is struck at full speed, crushed under the bus's tremendous weight. And a long journey begins - toward healing, toward hope, toward dreams of an infinite future....

Isabelle Forrester is the exquisite wife of a prominent Parisian banker who has long since shut her out of his heart. For many lonely years, Isabelle has lived a life of isolation, pouring her passions into caring for her desperately ill son, Teddy, and into making their Paris home as happy as possible for her teenage daughter, Sophie. Isabelle allows herself one secret pleasure: a long-distance friendship by telephone with an American man, a Washington power broker who travels in the highest circles of politics and who, like Isabelle, is trapped in an empty marriage.

To Bill Robinson, Isabelle is a godsend, a woman of extraordinary beauty and intellectual curiosity - a kindred spirit who touches him across the miles with her warmth and gentle empathy. Their relationship is a gift, a lifeline that sustains them both through the heartache of marriages they cannot leave and will not betray. Agreeing to meet for a few precious, innocent days in London, Isabelle and Bill find their friendship changing. Then, amidst the sudden crash of steel against steel, they are thrust onto a new path, a path fraught with pain, but also with possibility.

Now, inside the cool, sterile wards of a London hospital, Isabelle and Bill cling to life, their bodies shattered almost beyond repair. In the days and weeks that follow, they slowly, painfully traverse a road to recovery littered with challenges of the body, spirit, and heart. Together, they must find the strength not only to embrace life again but to face what they have left behind. For Isabelle, a loveless marriage turns into a brutal power struggle. For Bill, a time of healing exposes wounds that cut deeper than steel and realities that will test him to his core. For both, a tangle of changing relationships and the tragedy of another loss conspire to separate them once again. And this time they could lose each other forever.

In a novel that is as compelling as it is compassionate, Danielle Steel weaves a story of courage in the face of unimaginable loss. With the grace of a master storyteller, she explores the strength it takes to conquer our greatest fears, showing us how the toughest choices can yield the most unexpected rewards ...

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Title: The Soldier's Wife

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Joanna Trollope

Narrator: Charlotte Anne Dore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-05-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The Soldiers Wife examines how three generations of a family struggle with the impact of war on their relationships, long after the tour of duty is over. Dan Riley is a major in the British Army. After a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, he is coming home to the wife and young daughters he adores. The outside world sees these reunions as a taste of heaven after months of hell. But are they?

Can a man trained to fight adjust again to family and domestic life? And how will the family cope if he cant? To what extent can Alexa, Dans wife, sacrifice her own needs and fulfillment to support his commitment to a way of life that demands everything, not just of him, but of her and the children as well? What happens when love and a vocation collide head-on?

With her trademark intelligence and kind, clear-eyed insight, Joanna Trollope shows us a family striving to balance duty and ambition with intimacy and understanding.

Members Reviews:

The Soldier's Wife

Another gripping novel from this experienced author, exploring the age-old problems of being a married woman. In this story the demands of an Army have to be accommodated by the wives who cannot take up work in the marketplace owing to frequent moves of Army personnel, and the absence of their husbands on duty in faraway places. Its a common occurence when men give their all to their careers without even being aware of the sacrifices required of their womenfolk. I hope some 'successful' men read this book, and consider it's message.

Military family under the microscope.

Having grown up in a military family I can very much identify with some of the issues raised in this book. The author brings back memories of moving every two years, making new friends, discovering old friends in new locales and the friction within the family as we tried to balance my father`s career with the needs of the rest of the family. It was a very thoughtfully written book and I highly recommend it.

Soldiers wife

Trollope never disappoints with her realistic approach to family matters. I'm always sad to have her novels end. You'll be glad you picked this one to read!

Two Stars

Hard to get into, after that decent story

Moving story of the effects of soldiering on those who support

Ms. Trollope does not disappoint, even if this story followed her formula pretty closely. She at least has a good command of the English language and uses it to effect in her storytelling. This was a well-written take on the difficulties spouses and families suffer when involved with a soldier who has gone to war. I like that the author included not just the eponymous wife, but also the children and parents and in-laws as those who are affected. There is another story called The Soldier's Wife written by Margaret Leroy set during World War II; if I had to choose one, I'd choose Ms. Leroy's over this one. But they are both worth reading.

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Title: Goliath

Author: Susan Woodring

Narrator: Clarinda Ross

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-24-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 68 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

When Percy Harding, Goliaths most important citizen, is discovered dead by the railroad tracks outside of town one perfect autumn afternoon, no one can quite believe its really happened. Percy, the president of the towns worldrenowned furniture company, had seemed invincible. Only Rosamond Rogers, Percys secretary, may have had a glimpse of how and why this great man has fallen, and that glimpse tugs at her, urges her to find out more.

Percy isnt the first person to leave Rosamond - everybody seems to, from her husband, Hatley, who walked out on her years ago, to her complicated daughter Agnes, whose girlhood bedroom was papered with maps of the places she wanted to escape to. The town itself is Rosamonds anchor, but it is beginning to quiver with the possibility of change. The high school girls are writing suicide poetry, the towns young, lumbering sidewalk preacher is courting Rosamonds daughter, a troubled teenage boy plans to burn Main Street to the ground, and the furniture factory itself - the very soul of Goliath - threatens to close.

In the wake of the towns undoing, Rosamond seeks to reunite the griefshaken community.Goliath - a story of loss and love, of forgiveness and letting go - is a lyrical swoon of a novel by an exceptionally talented newcomer.

Critic Reviews:

Goliathbrings small town life beautifully, achingly aliveA memorable novel. (Ann Hood, best-selling author of

The Knitting Circle)

Woodrings sense of the constraints and hardearned pleasures of home rings as true and pure as a train whistle in the night. (Michael Parker, author of

The Watery Part of the World)

Woodrings writing is so clear and moving that the reader often feels, as she says of one of her characters, as if the world had been sucked clear of true sound. This beautiful portrait of a place and its people, rendered so quietly and intimately, shuts out the world outside its pages as you read. Only the best novels can make you forget yourself as reader.

Goliathis the kind of book you dont want to put down or to end. (Brad Watson, author of

The Heaven of Mercury)

Members Reviews:

Agonizing

I don't like writing a review if I can't make it through the book. If I can save people money, that's a good reason for breaking my own review rule. Don't buy this book. If the story of a murder attracts you, consider the hundreds of other murder mysteries out there that are well written and well read. For one thing, the narrator reads as slow as a snail. I even tried the 1x reading feature of my itouch to see if that would help. Unfortunately the other problem is the actual story is just as tedious. When I made the decision to end it, I walked into my house and my first words were, "I just can't do this one." I kept thinking if I bought it in written form, I could skip over all the boring parts. The problem with that is I suspect once I get past all those, there'd be no story. I have no idea how this one got published. Save your money. Move on.

You get what you pay for - $5 sale

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone who likes listening to sloowwwwwww reading by a kindergarten teacher.

Has Goliath turned you off from other books in this genre?

No - I couldn't stand listening to the reader long enough even to guess what the story was like. What I heard was well written, though.

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Title: Wroniec

Author: Jacek Dukaj

Narrator: Jan Peszek

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-28-12

Publisher: Wydawnictwo Literackie

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Nowa powiesc autora najlepszej ksiazki XXlecia!Stan wojenny oczami Jacka Dukaja! Wroniec to magiczna basn o grudniowej nocy 1981 roku. Pelen przygód, gier jezykowych i fantasmagorii sen o utraconym dziecinstwie, zamglonej mlodosci.Dla dzieci Stanu Wojennego i dla dzieci, które Stanu Wojennego nie moga pamietac bajka magiczna o nocy grudniowej, gdy malemu Adasiowi Wroniec porwal z domu rodzine. Jak Alicja wedrowala przez Kraine Czarów, tak powedrujemy z Adasiem przez miasto czarnego snu PRLu, miedzy fantastycznymi figurami Szpiclów, Milicjantów, Opozycjonistów, Czolgów i ZOMO.

Please note: This audiobook is in Polish.

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Title: Come In and Cover Me

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Gin Phillips

Narrator: Angela Brazil

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-01-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

When Ren was only 12 years old, she lost her older brother, Scott, to a car accident. Since then, Scott has been a presence in her life, appearing with a snatch of a song or a reflection in the moonlight. Now, 25 years later, her talent for connecting with the ghosts around her has made her especially sensitive as an archaeologist. More than just understanding the bare outline of how our ancestors lived, Ren is dedicated to re-creating lives and stories, to breathing life into those who occupied this world long before us. On the cusp of the most important discovery of her career, it is ghosts who are guiding her way. But what do two long-dead Mimbres women have to tell Ren about herself? And what message do they have about her developing relationship with a fellow archaeologist, the first man to really know her since her brothers death? Come In and Cover Me is the moving story of a woman learning to let go of the past in order to move forward with her own future. Written with the same warmth and depth of feeling that drew readers to The Well and the Mine, Phillipss debut, Come In and Cover Me is a haunting and engrossing new novel.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

Very good read!

Ho, hum

I bought this based on the rave reviews. It also met some of my interests: archaeology, mystery, the supernatural & an introspectively focused novel. Unfortunately, the book was somewhat dull & fell flat for me. The archaeological info in the book was excellent & caused me to do further research of the area, the pre historic peoples & their artifacts. The main character was also well presented & sympathetic. However, the other characters weren't well fleshed out & I thought the "supernatural//mystery" plot of the storyline was dragged out & ultimately underwhelming. Unfortunately, the plot was so boring, I don't think I'm likely to pursue any other works from this author. I love to read, so that speaks volumes that I'd not buy another book from this writer.

Grief

I disagree with reviews that feel her grief was unduly long. One may never know the story of grief of another soul and I think that this book makes this point well. Yes, this woman has lost her way into her sorrow, but we can see the trail that has led her here.

I enjoyed the journey into the Mimbres culture and was intrigued with the pursuit of archeological story. I think this book leads us on a valuable journey.

Having said this, it does not have the luminosity of The Well and the Mine" by this author. The characters did not have the depth of resonance. Nonetheless, I anticipate her next book.

A good read!

I got my copy from the library, but almost as soon as I started reading I knew it would be happily read--not only by me but alsy by my granddaughter who has been out west participating in digs. I immediately ordered it and had it sent it to her as a gift. An engrossing and enjoyable read! A great blend of solid science and history with a hint of the supernatural. Good work Gin!

archeology and ?

I liked this book quite a lot. It touched on several interesting themes-ancient history, Native American culture, and supernatural. I expect if you're a Delint fan, you would especially enjoy it.

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Title: The Ghost of Lily Painter

Author: Caitlin Davies

Narrator: Annie Aldington, Julie Maisey, Mike Grady, Jilly Bond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-17-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The first time Annie Sweet sees 43 Stanley Road, the house is so perfect she feels almost as if it has chosen her. She longs to move in, but with her husband increasingly distant, and her daughter wrapped up in childhood, Annie is left alone to mull over the past.

She soon becomes consumed by the house and it's previous inhabitants, especially a young chorus girl called Lily Painter, a rising star of the music hall whose sparkling performances were the talk of the town.

As Annie delves further into Lilys past, she begins to unravel a dark episode from Edwardian London, that of two notorious baby farmers, who lured young unmarried mothers with the promise of a better life for their babies. Until Annie solves the mystery at the heart of the scandal, the ghost of Lily Painter will never be able to rest.

Based on true events from Londons rich history and spanning a century, from the journals of an Edwardian police inspector to a doomed wartime love affair, Caitlin Davies skilfully brings to life a fascinating snapshot of our sinister past.

Members Reviews:

So enjoyed it

What made the experience of listening to The Ghost of Lily Painter the most enjoyable?

First of all it's based on a true story, which I love. Next, it went from time period to time period with ease and clarity.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Anna, because of her growth and strength, dignity and humanity.

Have you listened to any of the narratorss other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The BABY FARMER'S

Any additional comments?

I think it's well worth the read

Excellent

The story was excellent. All of the narrators were excellent. I highly recomment this audiobook.

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Title: The Importance of Being a Bachelor

Author: Mike Gayle

Narrator: Paul Tyreman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-14-11

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Despite the example of their own parents' enduring marriage, the three Bachelor brothers show no signs of settling down. Adam has a string of unsuitable girlfriends; Luke bears the scars of a savage divorce; and Russell is in love with the one woman he can't have. When their father announces that he wants to try his hand at single life, everything is thrown into turmoil. Are the Bachelor brothers totally hopeless cases or just late starters?

Members Reviews:

I wouldn't fall for them

I enjoyed the performance but I'm afraid I wasn't taken in by the 'charm' of the Bachelor men. The only apparent reason why they all behaved so badly was their shared surname. The women in the story were treated appallingly and reacted in a way that was a complete mystery to me.

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Title: The Wishing Jar

Author: Penelope J. Stokes

Narrator: Linda Stephens

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-13-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Penelope J. Stokes has received critical acclaim for her many novels, which include The Blue Bottle Club. The richness of her stories and characters has attracted millions of fans. The Wishing Jar is a moving portrait of three generations of women struggling against heartbreak and adversity to find strength and peace. Narrator Linda Stephens highlights its gentle message of hope.

Members Reviews:

Penelope Stokes knows how to weave a beautiful story. I couldn't put it down.

This is a wonderful book about a family that will grab you from the first page. "The Wishing Jar" has passed down to four generations of strong Quinn women. Great-Grandma Gracie was told the Jar was magic when she bought it in 1904. But the magic only works for the pure of heart. I really enjoyed this story and I highly recommend it. Penelope Stokes knows how to weave a beautiful story.

Good read

I have read a lot of Penelope Stokes book. I didn't find this one to be as good as her other books. Not sure where it left me but it didn't capture me like before. It was good but it felt flat and too predictable. I think it could have gone more but stopped and fizzled out

Great book!

This book was really true to life and inspiring. I really enjoyed reading it! I will read more by this author.

Great Story- Well Narrated

Listened to this on Audible. Each character was well rounded and the plot revolved around family, love, understanding and working through this crazy thing we call life. I would recommend this book to everyone!

Heartwrenching & simply beautiful ...

This is the story of Edith, Abby, and Neal Grace - three generations of Quinn women who all occupy the family's ancestral home. Edith, the grandmother is a widow who has recently suffered a stroke. Abby, her daughter and mother to Neal Grace, is a widow still mourning the loss of her husband. Neal Grace, Abby's daughter and Edith's granddaughter, has lost both her father and her grandfather. She also feels that she has lost her grandmother to the stroke that paralyses her left side and slurs her speech.

Edith is very depressed as she sees that Abby and Neal Grace don't relate to her in the same way. Neal Grace can hardly bring herself to even look at her grandmother - what she sees is just a shell of the Granny Q she always loved. Abby sees her mother as feeble and pays little attention to anything she has to say. Abby races off to her work as a journalist, continually worrying over whether mother will burn the house down or have some sort of accident while she is home alone. Neal Grace begins skipping school to see a boyfriend who is emotionally and sometimes physically abusive. Believing that her whole world has come crashing down around her ears with the death of her father and her grandmother's stroke, she clings to him like a life raft. Edith, left to mourn all her losses, wishes that the stroke had taken her life. So begins the story of loving and longing ... of three people occupying the same house, yet emotionally light years away from each other.

The wishing jar itself is not central to the plot. It's a jar passed down through generations of Quinn women. It symbolizes for them the ability to change as well as a symbol of prayers answered.

This inspirational story will grab at your heartstrings as the three generations of women begin to grow and change.

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Title: The House by the Fjord

Author: Rosalind Laker

Narrator: Anne Dover

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-23-11

Publisher: Soundings

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

When Anna Harvik goes to Norway in 1946 this beautiful country is still recovering from five cruel years of Nazi Occupation. Her late husband was a pilot in the Royal Norwegian Air Force and she has come to visit his homeland and meet his family, in spite of being in doubt about how she will be received. She stays with Molly, who with other English war-brides makes her welcome. On her fist day a lawyer, Alex Ringstad, comes with what is virtually a command from her father-in-law that she accept ownership of an old house that has a unique history. In spite of many difficulties, she finds love and much more in the country that becomes her own.

Members Reviews:

most interesting

Loved this. best story I've heard in a long while. great narrator made story better.