Download Top 100 Full Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

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Title: Gratitude in Motion

Subtitle: A True Story of Hope, Determination, and the Everyday Heroes Around Us

Author: Colleen Kelly Alexander, Jenna Glatzer, Bart Yasso - foreword

Narrator: Colleen Kelly Alexander

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-16-18

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

It was a beautiful fall day in Connecticut when Colleen Kelly Alexander, a lifelong athlete, rode her bike home from work. She had survived both a diagnosis of lupus and brain surgery, had a fulfilling career, and was married at last to the love of her life. Everything was good as she coasted along, meeting the eyes of a truck driver as he approached the stop sign beside her.

He didn't stop. The truck hit Colleen, running over her lower body with front and back tires and dragging her across the pavement. As she bled out in the street, nearby strangers surrounded her and the driver attempted to get away. An EMT herself, Colleen knew she had to stay awake. "I've just been reconnected with my soulmate", she told the medic. "We want to have a baby. I can't die now. Please don't let me die."

Five weeks in a coma and 29 surgeries later, Colleen survived. Rather than let the trauma and PTSD control her life, she became determined to find a way to make something positive from her pain. She decided she'd run again and dedicate her race medals to the everyday heroes around us, including the medical staff and blood donors who saved her life. Since then Colleen has run 50 races and completed 40 triathlons, including four half-Ironman events. Now a spokesperson for the Red Cross, Colleen shares her incredible inspirational story to encourage others to take that first step forward.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Members Reviews:

Gripping and uplifting.

Not since one of my favorite memoirs, Mary Karr's "Liars' Club" have I been riveted and amazed at the ability to write about traumatic events with such grace and wit. Colleen suffered horribly, yet rebounds again and again with faith emerging iron woman-strong in both psyche and body. There are horrific images, but the victory is stronger.

I know of Colleen's story by following her and Sean ...

I know of Colleen's story by following her and Sean on FB. I read Matt Long's book in January 2012 and ran the same half marathon where Matt Long was her guide and can distinctly remember passing him while he waited for her so he could guide her the rest of the way. Colleen is a warrior for sure, a fighter literally to the very end and beyond. She is the epitome of no excuses, never give up, and the fact that it's ok to not be Ok, as long as you don't give up moving forward. Thank you, Colleen, for sharing your story with the world so that we can all find light in whatever we are struggling to achieve.

Colleen Kelly Alexander's story is one of inspiration, determination ...

Colleen Kelly Alexander's story is one of inspiration, determination, and true grit. She manages to find hope in dark places and teaches others to do the same. This story is not for the faint of heart - she shares intimate details of her injuries and the aftermath those injuries cause. At the end of the day, we can all benefit from her lessons in celebrating the heroes in our own lives and learning how to show gratitude for even the littlest of things.

Gratitude is right!!!!

So grateful to know Colleen and such a surreal experience to read her story in print.

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Title: I'm the One Who Got Away

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Andrea Jarrell

Narrator: Hillary Huber

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-05-17

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

As featured in the New York Times "Modern Love" column

A Redbook Magazine must-read

Fugitives from a man as alluring as he is violent, Andrea Jarrell and her mother develop a powerful, unusual bond. Once grown, Jarrell thinks she's put that chapter of her life behind her - until a woman she knows is murdered, and she suddenly sees that it's her mother's choices she's been trying to escape all along.

Without preaching or prescribing, I'm the One Who Got Away is a life-affirming story of having the courage to become both safe enough and vulnerable enough to love and be loved.

Members Reviews:

Like other compelling memoirs of messed-up families (The Glass Castle ...

Like other compelling memoirs of messed-up families (The Glass Castle and Hillbilly Elegy come to mind), Andrea Jarrellâs Iâm the One Who Got Away offers just the right tone with which to judge the grown-ups of her childhood and all the wrong turns they take. The absentee, alcoholic father, devoid of any obligatory fatherly impulses and full of delusive grandeur, could become, and sometimes does, just a hapless, aggravating deadbeat dad. But under Jarrellâs elegant prose that combines sardonic humor with genuine affection, a charming actor-gambler-cowboy emergesâone whose presence she first encounters watching TV as a child, then comes to understand, resent, and ultimately love as repeated encounters turn disillusionment into guarded acceptance and affinity.

By recounting a family situation not as egregiously dysfunctional as J.D. Vanceâs or Jeannette Wallsâ, Jarrellâs memoir offers a more relatable chronicle as a result: grandparents stepping in to compensate for the absentee father, a brilliant but un-degreed mother taking on breadwinning and nurturing with a âjust us twoâ reassurance that leaves the author forever feeling outside the norm and yearning for the white-picket-fence families of her school and college cohorts.

This yearning for stabilityâfor a mom and dad, electric bills paid in a manner timely enough to avoid outages, and consistent companionshipâdrives Jarrell into her own wrong turns that mirror the poor judgment of her parents. But disheartening detours donât mean the dream isnât worth pursuing. Jarrell tenaciously arrives at a real-life happy ending by confronting some not-so-happy issues in her past and in her marriage. The way she and her husband navigate the pain of their initially fragile union offers an admirable template for those yearning for the dream. While the ideal might seem elusive, the hard work of relationship and trust building eventually weathers the ups and downs of child rearing and arrives at a destination in which Jarrell finds herself, unbelievably and ecstatically, deeply embedded and happy, looking in from the outside no longer.

A moving ride through heartache, triumph, and loss, but mostly love.

Andrea Jarrell is one of those writers who consistently makes me murmur, "I wish I'd thought to write that passage," and rather than feeling defeat I feel abundant gratitude that the moment in time was brought to life o the page.

This book is not a book I could have written or a life I could have lived, but oh how I cared for the characters. Jarrell has a gift of marrying vulnerability and unabashed sensuality.

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Title: The Pretender

Subtitle: My Life Undercover for the FBI

Author: Marc Ruskin

Narrator: Francis J. Spieler

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-05-17

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In The Pretender, former FBI agent Marc Ruskin will pull listeners into the fascinating, elusive world of undercover operatives.

Of all the tools available to law enforcement, the living, breathing undercover operative remains the gold standard. This is true in TV shows and in the real world. In the era of electronic surveillance, UC work enforces accountability; it prevents mistakes, and of all the boots on the ground, undercover agents are often the most valuable.

The FBI generally has about 100 UC agents working full-time in the field. In the 1990s and 2000s, Marc Ruskin had the most diverse and notorious case list of all and the broadest experience within the bureaucracy, including overseas. He worked ops targeting public corruption, corporate fraud, Wall Street scams, narcotics trafficking, La Cosa Nostra, counterfeiting - and gritty street-level scams and schemes.

Sometimes working three or four cases simultaneously, Ruskin switched identities by the day: Each morning he had to walk out the door with the correct ID, clothes, accessories and frame of mind for that day's mission. Meet Alex Perez, Alejandro Marconi, and Sal Morelli, just a few of Ruskin's undercover personas.

And how is the right UC agent chosen, how is a bogus identity manufactured and "backstopped", how is the Bureau's long-term con painstakingly assembled? No one has ever given us the inside story like Ruskin. The Pretender is the definitive narrative of undercover ops - the procedures, the successes, the failures - and the changes in the culture of the new-era FBI.

Members Reviews:

Good inside view of undercover FBI agent

Many situations covered, interesting to hear how a covert agent creates their cover and how they help to build a case against suspects.

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Title: The Impossible

Subtitle: The Miraculous Story of a Mother's Faith and Her Child's Resurrection

Author: Joyce Smith, Ginger Kolbaba - featuring

Narrator: Elisabeth Rodgers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-07-17

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The Impossible reveals prayer's immediate and powerful impact through the true account of a family whose son died and was miraculously resurrected.

Through the years and the struggles, when life seemed more about hurt and loss than hope and mercy, God was positioning the Smiths for something extraordinary - the death and resurrection of their son.

When Joyce Smith's 14-year-old son John fell through an icy Missouri lake one winter morning, she and her family had seemingly lost everything. At the hospital, John lay lifeless for more than 60 minutes. They asked themselves, How could God do this to us? But Joyce was not ready to give up on her son. She mustered all her faith and strength and cried out to God in a loud voice to save her son.

Immediately, her son's heart miraculously started beating again.

In the coming days, her son would defy every expert, every case history, and every scientific prediction. Sixteen days after falling through the ice and being clinically dead for an hour, John Smith walked out of the hospital under his own power, completely healed.

The Impossible is about a profound truth: prayer really does work. God uses it to remind us that he is always with us, and when we combine it with unshakable faith, nothing is impossible.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Critic Reviews:

"Joyce's true recount of bringing her son back from the dead with her prayers is gripping from start to finish! It shows that a mother's love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. The Impossible is a must read and will inspire even the cynic to believe in miracles!" (DeVon Franklin, producer of Miracles from Heaven)

"Faith empowers us to see the invisible, embrace the impossible, and hope for the incredible. The Impossible is an amazing testament to the power of prayer - it will leave you feeling renewed in your belief in God's infinite power." (Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Latino Evangelical Association, and author of Be Light)

Members Reviews:

great book

loved the book. love to hear of miracles Jesus performs! how can you not believe?

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Title: Slow Medicine

Subtitle: The Way to Healing

Author: Victoria Sweet

Narrator: Victoria Sweet

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-17-17

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The award-winning author of God's Hotel offers a radical reimagining of how we practice medicine.

In the quarter century that Victoria Sweet has been a doctor, "health care" has replaced medicine, "providers" (vastly outnumbered by administrators) look at their laptops more than at their patients, and the ruthless pursuit of efficiency has vanquished not only trust and intimacy but also, often, the effectiveness of treatment.

Victoria Sweet knows that there is an alternative way because she has lived and practiced it. In her new book, she reflects with compassion, wit, and profound insight on experiences drawn from her time in medical school, internship, and residencies and the clinics and hospitals that lay beyond - the path to the "slow medicine" in which she has been pioneer and inspiration. Via unforgettable stories of the patients she tended and the colleagues with whom she served, she gives voice to a way of medicine that responds to bodies rather than data, that appreciates the profession as craft as well as science, and that alchemizes "fast" and "slow" into a much more humane, sustainable, and successful way of caring and being cared for.

Members Reviews:

disappointed

i loved gods hotel. I read the hard copy and found it a page turner. this one... well, I dont like her narration style. not enough to listen to the end.

Terrible recording

Could not get through the first chapter. Very poor recording and not the best narration. Had to return.

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Title: Cuz

Subtitle: Or the Life and Times of Michael A.

Author: Danielle Allen

Narrator: Danielle Allen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-10-17

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 20 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

So tender yet courageous is this fierce family memoir that it makes mass incarceration nothing less than a new American tragedy.

In a shattering work that shifts between a woman's private anguish over the loss of her beloved baby cousin and a scholar's fierce critique of the American prison system, Danielle Allen seeks answers to what, for many years, felt unanswerable. Why? Why did her cousin, a precocious young man who dreamed of being a firefighter and a writer, end up dead? Why did he languish in prison? And why, at the age of 15, was he in an alley in South Central Los Angeles, holding a gun while trying to steal someone's car?

Cuz means both "cousin" and "because". In this searing memoir, Allen unfurls a "new American story" about a world tragically transformed by the sudden availability of narcotics and the rise of street gangs - a collision, followed by a reactionary War on Drugs, that would devastate not only South Central LA but virtually every urban center in the nation. At 13, sensitive, talkative Michael Allen was suddenly tossed into this cauldron, a violent world where he would be tried at 15 as an adult for an attempted carjacking, and where he would be sent, along with an entire generation, cascading into the spiral of the Los Angeles prison system.

Throughout her cousin Michael's 11 years in prison, Danielle Allen - who became a dean at the University of Chicago at the age of 32 - remained psychically bonded to her self-appointed charge, visiting Michael in prison and corresponding with him regularly. When she finally welcomed her baby cousin home, she adopted the role of "cousin on duty", devotedly supporting Michael's fresh start while juggling the demands of her own academic career.

As Cuz heartbreakingly reveals, even Allen's devotion, as unwavering as it was, could not save Michael from the brutal realities encountered by newly released young men navigating the streets of South Central. The corrosive entanglements of gang warfare, combined with a star-crossed love for a gorgeous woman driving a gold Mercedes, would ultimately be Michael's undoing.

In this Ellisonian story of a young African American man's coming of age in late 20th-century America, and of the family who will always love Michael, we learn how we lost an entire generation.

Members Reviews:

Please read/listen to this book.

Riveting. Informative. Every Black parent should

read/hear this. I almost gave up due to the bland performance...intonation. But I soon became hooked. Thank you for sharing this story.

Everyone should read this

Dr Allen's portrayal of her cousin, her relationship with him is heartfelt and painful to read. Her indictment of the system that facilitated Michael's demise is damning. A very important work that's topical to today.

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Title: Mental

Subtitle: Lithium, Love, and Losing My Mind

Author: Jaime Lowe

Narrator: Jaime Lowe

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-03-17

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A riveting memoir and a fascinating investigation of the history, uses, and controversies behind lithium, an essential medication for millions of people struggling with bipolar disorder.

It began in Los Angeles in 1993, when Jaime Lowe was just 16. She stopped sleeping and eating and began to hallucinate - demonically cackling Muppets, faces lurking in windows, Michael Jackson delivering messages from the Neverland Underground. Lowe wrote manifestos and math equations in her diary and drew infographics on her bedroom wall. Eventually hospitalized and diagnosed as bipolar, she was prescribed a medication that came in the form of three pink pills - lithium.

In Mental, Lowe shares and investigates her story of episodic madness as well as the stability she found while on lithium. She interviews scientists, psychiatrists, and patients to examine how effective lithium really is and how its side effects can be dangerous for long-term users - including Lowe, who, after 20 years on the medication, suffers from severe kidney damage. Mental is eye-opening and powerful, tackling an illness and drug that has touched millions of lives and yet remains shrouded in social stigma.

Now, while she adjusts to a new drug, her pursuit of a stable life continues, as does her curiosity about the history and science of the mysterious element that shaped the way she sees the world and allowed her decades of sanity. Lowe travels to the Bolivian salt flats that hold more than half of the world's lithium reserves; rural America, where lithium is mined for batteries; and lithium spas that are still touted as a tonic to cure all ills. With unflinching honesty and humor, Lowe allows a clear-eyed view into her life and an arresting inquiry into one of mankind's oldest medical mysteries.

Members Reviews:

Mental Realness

Best book on audible about mental health. Hope she records her ODB biography for audible!

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Title: Molly's Game

Subtitle: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker

Author: Molly Bloom

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-03-17

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Now a major motion picture.

Molly Bloom reveals how she built one of the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker games in the world - an insider's story of excess and danger, glamour and greed.

Molly Bloom formed the most elite high-stakes poker game Hollywood had ever seen - she was its mistress, its lion tamer, its agent and its oxygen. Everyone wanted in; few were invited to the table.

In the late 2000s, Molly Bloom, a 20-something petite brunette from Loveland, Colorado, ran the highest stakes, most exclusive poker game in existence. Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at her table. Molly's game became the game for those in the know - celebrities, business moguls and millionaires. Molly staged her games in palatial suites with beautiful views and exquisite amenities. She flew privately, dined at exquisite restaurants, hobnobbed with the heads of Hollywood studios, was courted by handsome leading men and was privy to the world's most delicious gossip - until it all came crashing down around her and she lost everything.

Molly's Game is a behind-the-scenes look at Molly's game, the life she created, the life she lost and what she learned in the process.

Critic Reviews:

"It isn't often you come across a story that is both cool and has a lot of heart, and this one does." (Aaron Sorkin)

Members Reviews:

Read this bool

Its incredibly intimidating and exciting book - I wouldve wanted it to be soo much longer.

I hopeolly Bloom continues to live exciting life and writes about it more!

Average

I found the story dragged on a bit! I lost intrest towards the end of the book.

The American Mindset

Thought I would listen to the book before seeing the film. Enjoyed it but once again the theme is always compete, with the chance of wanting acceptance and praise.

Great story, but not the whole story.

Enjoyed the book and performance, but there were a couple of holes in the storyline, such as the disappearing father, no reaction from Mollys family about the charges against her, her drug use, and the more specific charges to which she pleaded guilty and those that were dropped and under what circumstances they were dropped. Other than that, highly recommend the book.

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Title: The Comfort Food Diaries

Subtitle: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart

Author: Emily Nunn

Narrator: Candace Thaxton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-26-17

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In the tradition of Elizabeth Gilbert and Ruth Reichl, former New Yorker editor Emily Nunn chronicles her journey to heal old wounds and find comfort in the face of loss through travel, home-cooked food, and the company of friends and family.

One life-changing night, reeling from her beloved brother's sudden death, a devastating breakup with her handsome engineer fiancé, and eviction from the apartment they shared, Emily Nunn had lost all sense of family, home, and financial security. After a few glasses of wine, heartbroken and unmoored, Emily - an avid cook and professional food writer - poured her heart out on Facebook. The next morning she woke up with an awful hangover and a feeling she'd made a terrible mistake - only to discover she had more friends than she knew, many of whom invited her to come visit and cook with them while she put her life back together. Thus began the Comfort Food Tour.

Searching for a way forward, Emily travels the country, cooking and staying with relatives and friends. She also travels back to revisit scenes from her dysfunctional Southern upbringing, dominated by her dramatic, unpredictable mother and her silent, disengaged father. Her wonderfully idiosyncratic aunts and uncles and cousins come to life in this audiobook, all part of the rich Southern story in which past and present are indistinguishable, food is a source of connection and identity, and a good story is often preferred to a not-so-pleasant truth. But truth, pleasant or not, is what Emily Nunn craves, and with it comes an acceptance of the losses she has endured and a sense of hope for the future.

In the salty snap of a single Virginia ham biscuit, in the sour tang of Grandmother's lemon cake, Nunn experiences the healing power of comfort food - and offers up dozens of recipes for the wonderful meals that saved her life. With the biting humor of David Sedaris and the emotional honesty of Cheryl Strayed, Nunn delivers a moving account of her descent into darkness and her gradual, hard-won return to the living.

Members Reviews:

Terrible Narration

I might buy the Kindle or paper version for the recipes, but other than that I can't really recommend this book. With such a title I was expecting something more uplifting, but instead got a continuous rant about how awful this woman thought her family had been to her. It's like going out for a coffee date with a friend who really needs a shoulder to cry on and then not leaving for several days. I like helping my friends, but I really don't appreciate paying for the privilege of helping a stranger, especially when I thought I was getting entertainment. The whole experience is made worse by a strained narration style that sounds like the reader is always out of breath. The whole experience made me tense!

A more interesting version of Eat, Pray, Love

An educated woman with a pleasantly dysfunctional Southern background, who has held one or two dream jobs, experiences tragedy and goes on an odyssey to find a new life for herself. Ms. Nunn is a good enough writer to make the parts of the story that are most valuable--the cooking stories--an interesting and entertaining read. She's also smart enough to acknowledge, at least occasionally, that she has mostly lived a privileged adult life and hers are certainly "first world" problems.

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Title: Gorilla and the Bird

Subtitle: A Memoir of Madness and a Mother's Love

Author: Zack McDermott

Narrator: Zack McDermott

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-26-17

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 52 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The story of a young man fighting to recover from a devastating psychotic break and the mother who refuses to give up on him.

Zack McDermott, a 26-year-old Brooklyn public defender, woke up one morning convinced he was being filmed, Truman Show-style, as part of an audition for a TV pilot. This was it - his big dreams were finally coming true. Every passerby was an actor; every car would magically stop for him; everything he saw was a cue from "The Producer" to help inspire the performance of a lifetime. After a manic spree around Manhattan, Zack, who is bipolar, was arrested on a subway platform and admitted to Bellevue Hospital.

So begins the story of Zack's freefall into psychosis and his desperate, poignant, often darkly funny struggle to claw his way back to sanity, regain his identity, and rebuild some semblance of a stable life. It's a journey that will take him from New York City back to his Kansas roots and to the one person who might be able to save him, his tough, big-hearted Midwestern mother, nicknamed the Bird, whose fierce and steadfast love is the light in Zack's dark world.

Before his odyssey is over, Zack will be tackled by guards in mental wards, run naked through cornfields, receive secret messages from the TV, befriend a former Navy SEAL and his talking stuffed monkey, and see the Virgin Mary in the whorls of his own back hair. But with the Bird's help, he just might have a shot at pulling through, starting over, and maybe even meeting a woman who can love him back, bipolar and all.

Written with raw emotional power, humor, and tenderness, Gorilla and the Bird is a bravely honest account of a young man's unraveling and the relationship that saves him.

Critic Reviews:

"A startlingly moving memoir of mother and son, structural injustice and inflammable mental illness.

Gorilla and the Bird is as piss-cuttin' a pieta as anyone has any right to hope for. And Zack McDermott - guy's a fleet, funny, unsentimental storyteller who manages that rare thing: He allows a damaged soul be found." (Kent Russell, author of

I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son)

"

Gorilla and the Bird will make you laugh, cry, and wonder what would happen if we were all brave enough to tell the stories of our relationships with love and madness. I needed this book." (Kiese Laymon, author of

How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America)

Members Reviews:

Thank You Gorilla for Sharing Your Story

Would you listen to Gorilla and the Bird again? Why?

Totally. I think I would gain more insight into bipolar disorder and I would love to laugh at him describing people like Jeremy and Gary. Laughed so hard in parts.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Gorilla and the Bird?

His unbelievable relationship with his mother.

Which character as performed by Zack McDermott was your favorite?

Gary and Jeremy!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

For sure and I am bummed that I binged on it for 4 days. Now it's over ;-(

Any additional comments?

As the wife of a BP2 husband, Gorilla's insight into his medications, his spiral into psychosis and mania, his recognition of the symptoms, and his relationship with his advocate, i.e., his mother were all priceless. Sick people often need advocates to help them navigate everything.