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

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Title: The Eaves of Heaven

Subtitle: A Life in Three Wars

Author: Andrew X. Pham

Narrator: Trieu Tran

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-13-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 39 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

From Andrew X. Pham, the award-winning author of Catfish and Mandala, a son's searing memoir of his Vietnamese father's experiences over the course of three wars.

The Philadelphia Inquirer hailed Andrew Pham's debut, Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, for evoking "the full sadness of the human condition... marveling at spiritual resilience amid irreconcilable facts." The New York Times Book Review called it, simply, "remarkable". Now, in The Eaves of Heaven, Pham gives voice to his father's unique experience in an unforgettable story of war and remembrance.

Once wealthy landowners, Thong Van Pham's family was shattered by the tumultuous events of the 20th century: the festering French occupation of Indochina, the Japanese invasion during World War II, and the Vietnam War.

Told in dazzling chapters that alternate between events in the past and those closer to the present, The Eaves of Heaven brilliantly recreates the trials of everyday life in Vietnam as endured by one man, from the fall of Hanoi and the collapse of French colonialism to the frenzied evacuation of Saigon. Pham offers a rare portal into a lost world as he chronicles Thong Van Pham's heartbreaks, triumphs, and bizarre reversals of fortune, whether as a South Vietnamese soldier pinned down by enemy fire, a prisoner of the North Vietnamese under brutal interrogation, or a refugee desperately trying to escape Vietnam after the last American helicopter has abandoned Saigon.

This is the story of a man caught in the maelstrom of 20th-century politics, a gripping memoir told with the urgency of a wartime dispatch by a writer of surpassing talent.

Members Reviews:

Terrible narration

Narrator sounded like a 4th grader. Stilted and awkward reading. Totally ruined the story for me

well written, insightful, reflective

This is a very well written work, telling the story of the Japanese, French and American wars in Vietnam, through the eyes of one man. A life full of dramatic events, dispossession, loss, and being forced into situations with little choice, gives a great insight into the climate of war, and the cruelty, generosity and humanity that entails.

Atmospheric non-fiction

What did you like best about The Eaves of Heaven? What did you like least?

This was very atmospheric. Since being to Vietnam, I have yet to find a book that adequately describes the environment and the people there. This DID IT. There is something so distinctly genuine about the narrative, that I felt I was in Vietnam all over again - even though the book and my experiences are several decades apart.

The jumps between time periods was definitely my least favourite. I have liked non-chronological books before, but I just felt that in this situation, it actually did not benefit the development of the narrative at all.

Would you be willing to try another book from Andrew X. Pham? Why or why not?

Perhaps.

Did The Eaves of Heaven inspire you to do anything?

It inspired me to learn even more about South-East Asian history. Even though I think my knowledge of history is above average, I was still surprised by how much of this book was new to me.

Any additional comments?

I'm really glad I read this, but it IS one the more difficult audiobooks I've chosen.

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Title: Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD

Author: Beth Alison Maloney

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-09-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 196 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The summer before entering sixth grade, Sammy, a bright and charming boy who lived on the coast of Maine, suddenly began to exhibit disturbing behavior. He walked and ate with his eyes shut, refused to bathe, burst into fits of rage, slithered against walls, and used his limbs instead of his hands to touch light switches, doorknobs, and faucets.

Sammy's mother, Beth, already coping with the overwhelming responsibility of raising three sons alone, watched helplessly as her middle child descended into madness. Sammy was soon diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and later with Tourette syndrome. Unwilling to accept the doctors' prognoses for lifelong mental illness and repeated hospitalizations, Beth fought to uncover what was causing this decline. Racing against time as Sammy slipped further from reality, Beth's quest took her to the center of the medical community's raging debate about whether mental illness can be caused by infection. With the battle lines firmly drawn, Beth searched until she found two cutting-edge doctors who answered that question with a definitive yes. Together, they cured Sammy. Five years later, he remains symptom free.

Driven by her desire to help others, Beth Maloney has infused every page of this triumphant journey with heart and passion. An important story, Saving Sammy is part manifesto, part medical mystery, but is at its heart the empowering and inspiring story of a mother's determination to save her son, take on the medical establishment - and win.

Members Reviews:

Real Life Battle and Victory over OCD and PANDAS

This is an amazing human interest story. It shows the resilience of the human mind and body. A mother fighting for the life of her son. Doing incredible amounts of research to find the answer to her son's illness. My heart grieved for the hardship the Mom went through in caring and battling for her son. She went from doctor to doctor until she found the one with the answer that matched her research. You feel the son's pain as he is caught in his many obsessions and tics. It takes him two hours to leave the house, only to have something happen and have to start all over again. She has the patience of Job as she lives with her son and his disability. You see how it impacts the rest of the family too.

This book was written by the mom to share a lot of the information she learned in her journey. She promised God that she would tell others of the help she had found. If you are looking for help with a child who has mental illness this book may give you direction and hope. If you don't, this book is still a great story to listen to. You won't want to stop until it's over. This book is a fascinating real life listen!

Incidentally, my teenagers listened along and really enjoyed it.

Amazing

You have heard people say they drove around the block or sat in the garage because they could not stop listening to a book? Well, that actually happened to me with this book.

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Title: A Thousand Lives

Subtitle: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown

Author: Julia Scheeres

Narrator: Robin Miles

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-13-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1183 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

They left America for the jungles of Guyana to start a better life. Yet what started as a Utopian dream soon devolved into a terrifying work camp run by a madman, ending in the mass murder-suicide of 914 members in November 1978.

In A Thousand Lives, the New York Times best-selling memoirist Julia Scheeres traces the fates of five individuals who followed Jim Jones to South America as they struggled to first build their paradise, and then survive it. Each went for different reasons - some were drawn to Jones for his progressive attitudes towards racial equality, others were dazzled by his claims to be a faith healer. But once in Guyana, Jones' drug addiction, mental decay, and sexual depredations quickly eroded the idealistic community.

For this groundbreaking book, Scheeres examined more than 50,000 pages of newly released documents that the FBI collected from the camp after the massacre - including diaries, crop reports, and letters that were never sent home - as well as hundreds of audiotapes of Jones addressing his group.

Scheeres's own experience at a religious boot camp in the Dominican Republic, detailed in her unforgettable debut memoir Jesus Land, gives her unique insight into this chilling tale.

Haunting and vividly written, A Thousand Lives is a story of blind loyalty and daring escapes, of corrupted ideals and senseless, searing loss.

Critic Reviews:

"Chilling and heart-wrenching, this is a brilliant testament to Jones's victims, so many of whom were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." (Publisher's Weekly)

"Scheeres shows great compassion and journalistic skill in reconstructing Jonestowns last months and the lives of many Temple members (including a few survivors).... [A] well-written, disturbing tale of faith and evil." (Kirkus)

"Julia Scheeres' A Thousand Lives... tells the tragic tale of Jonestown - in its way, a peculiarly American apocalypse." (Los Angeles Times)

Members Reviews:

Experiencing a New Emotion at the End of a Book

What are the typical responses you feel after finishing a book? If you are like me you have had awe or happiness after finishing an uplifting story, engagement after an informative one, and after a difficult or boring one a sense of relief for getting to the end.

This is the first time I have felt extreme anger as the "One Thousand Lives" story wound down. On finishing the tale at midnight, my state of mind was set to fuming for an hour and sleep eluded me.

Jim Jones was a charlatan and a liar. Through trickery and manipulation he was able to distort many peoples noble aspirations into a grisly society. My heart went out to those who started to realize the truth about Jones. They were trapped in an isolated community by a majority of blind acolytes. Although we all know the ending of this story of one thousand lives where over 200 innocent children were murdered in Jonestown, the author skillfully fills in the details with important firsthand information.

It is ironic that the biggest lesson from this riveting book was hung above Jim Jones throne on that fateful day. "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

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Title: Awakenings

Author: Oliver Sacks

Narrator: Jonathan Davis, Oliver Sacks

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 331 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Awakenings - which inspired the major motion picture - is the remarkable story of a group of patients who contracted sleeping sickness during the great epidemic just after World War I. Frozen for decades in a trance-like state, these men and women were given up as hopeless until 1969, when Dr. Oliver Sacks gave them the then-new drug L-DOPA, which had an astonishing, explosive, "awakening" effect. Dr. Sacks recounts the moving case histories of his patients, their lives, and the extraordinary transformations which went with their reintroduction to a changed world.

PLEASE NOTE: Some changes have been made to the original manuscript with the permission of Oliver Sacks.

Critic Reviews:

"One of the most beautifully composed and moving works of our time." (The Washington Post)

Members Reviews:

Absolute classic!

Sachs does a marvelous job of taking one through the science of "sleepy sickness" and then immersing one in the lives of the poor souls affected by it. We see their "rebirth" into life and how some came to chose the return to total immobility once more. Like so much of Sachs' work, this is a strange and wondrous portrayal of neurology and this bizarre and glorious experience we call human life. (If you saw the movie years ago... be prepared for a rather long--but necessary primer on the science of the illness in the beginning of the book. It is not a novelization. It is first and foremost a science book.)

A living Klein bottle

Any additional comments?

Not until I got the the very end of the book (the chapter dealing with stage/film/radio adaptations) did I became aware of the nearly 'Klein bottle' structure Dr. Sacks writes with and tries to explore in his patients here. The book, and the patients, begin with the outbreak of encephalitis lethargica, they survive, however, become severely Parkinsonian and are prisoners in their own bodies, yet to a person still retain their own uniqueness and can't actually be defined by their disease. When they are 'awakened', each person is effected differently and often profoundly, sometimes uniquely each time they are given L-Dopa, and some even get better. Then the strange happens when the actors who portray these people, especially Robert DeNiro, almost become Parkinsonian themselves, to the point that Sacks can't actually tell what's going on. Just like many of the patients could almost 'choose' to get better or not, so too could the actors choose their own methods and the levels of profundity.

When these actors mirror back what Sacks studied, we get a strange picture of illness and health, of a sound mind and a hallucinatory mind, of the reality that the patients invented to survive and the imaginary the actors invented to achieve a great performance. I almost felt like Sacks wanted to hook up the actors to lab equipment and run a battery of tests on them to see if what some of his patients went through would mirror the test results of what the actors put themselves through.

And at the heart of all this is identity. Most profoundly, and the point Sacks truly wanted to make (and still makes) is that patients are, in fact, human beings who are not defined by a disease but are wholly just human beings who need the treatment from a doctor who treats them as a human being.

This is where the controversy comes in, too. Medical science is supposed to deal in cold, hard facts.

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Title: Waiting for Snow in Havana

Subtitle: Confessions of a Cuban Boy

Author: Carlos Eire

Narrator: David Drummond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-16-11

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 172 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2003

A childhood in a privileged household in 1950s Havana was joyous and cruel, like any other - but with certain differences. The neighbor's monkey was liable to escape and run across your roof. Surfing was conducted by driving cars across the breakwater. Lizards and firecrackers made frequent contact.

Carlos Eire's childhood was a little different from most. His father was convinced he had been Louis XVI in a past life. At school, classmates with fathers in the Batista government were attended by chauffeurs and bodyguards. At a home crammed with artifacts and paintings, portraits of Jesus spoke to him in dreams and nightmares. Then, in January 1959, the world changed: Batista was suddenly gone, a cigar-smoking guerrilla took his place, and Christmas was cancelled. The echo of firing squads was everywhere. And, one by one, the author's schoolmates begin to disappear - spirited away to the United States. Carlos would end up there himself, without his parents, never to see his father again.

Narrated with the urgency of a confession, Waiting for Snow in Havana is both an ode to a paradise lost and an exorcism. More than that, it captures the terrible beauty of those times when we are certain we have died - and then are somehow, miraculously, reborn.

Critic Reviews:

"As painful as Eire's journey has been, his ability to see tragedy and suffering as a constant source of redemption is what makes this book so powerful." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Disappointing narrator

This National Book Award-winning memoir is a delight. Eire's observations of his time in Havana as a young boy growing up in a well-to-do family, before the revolution, reflect the unique perspective of youth on family and daily events yet also reveal glimpses into the future as a "lost boy" evacuated from Cuba shortly after Castro came into power. I loved his "voice" as the author, but I did not care at all for the reader's interpretation of the book. His mostly flat, predictably metered reading I found tedious. He did manage some different voices for the female characters and the odd sound effects. But I don't think he did the story justice. I would still recommend the book, just listen to a sample first to see if you're willing to spend so many hours with that voice.

Wonderful

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both, and for the same reasons... The people, the country, the times and the culture.

Any additional comments?

Just wonderful, I can finally recommend a book to my American friends that explains what we Cuban American immigrants really experienced in pre and post-revolutionary Cuba. I am so glad that this story is finally being told and hopefully understood.

Poorly chosen narrator

I am the child of a Cuban immigrant and was very excited to listen to this book. The story is very different from my family's, as is every immigrant story. It was interesting, but I really struggled with the narrator. I'm sure he's great when imparting another story, but this one is told in the first person by someone who not only speaks Spanish as a first language, but throws Spanish words in throughout the story.

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Title: A Big Little Life

Subtitle: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog Named Trixie

Author: Dean Koontz

Narrator: Dean Koontz

Format: Abridged

Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-11-11

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 234 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In a profound, funny, and beautifully rendered portrait of a beloved companion, best-selling novelist Dean Koontz remembers the golden retriever who changed his life. A retired service dog, Trixie was three when Dean and his wife, Gerda, welcomed her into their home. She was superbly trained, but her greatest gifts couldnt be taught: her keen intelligence, her innate joy, and an uncanny knack for living in the moment. Whether chasing a tennis ball or protecting those she loved, Trixie gave all she had to everything she did, inspiring Dean and Gerda to trust their instincts and recapture a sense of wonder that will remain with them always. Trixie lived fewer than 12 years; in this wide world, she was a little thing. But in every way that mattered, she lived a big life.

Critic Reviews:

A humorous, poignant portrait of [a] remarkable dog. (Kirkus Reviews)

One dog book that everyone... will deeply enjoy. (Booklist)

A delightful read... an unusually effective brief for the joy that dogs bring us. (The American Spectator)

Members Reviews:

A very good read

What can you say about a dog book? Especially if it is non-fiction but has all the elements of a good novel? I really enjoyed this book and getting to know Trixie. My only drawback is that maybe the Koontzes have gone a big too far, authoring books "by Trixie" and all that. Also, one statement that got to me was their asserting that no human child was loved more than they loved their dog. Now granted they never had children of their own so don't really have anything to compare it to, but that is a statement that is over the top. I have had children I love and I have had dogs that I love. If I had to make a choice, there would be no choice. Dogs can be trained to be much better behaved!

Haha jk. As much as I have loved some pets, it comes nowhere close to the love of a parent for a child. But on the other hand, sometimes I think my dog Harley is my only friend. His loyalty to me is mind-boggling, and I am grateful to have him as a companion through thick and thin right now. It is always "thick" for the dog, even though I want to kick his little hairy fanny sometimes. If you are really a dog lover, look up a youtube video called "God and Dog" by Wendy J. Francisco. It sums up the human/canine relationship pretty well, and I always get choked up when I see it.

Koontz reads his memoir himself, and does a great job of it.

An Unapologetic Anthropomorphizer

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would highly recommend it to all my dog-lover friends. It's definitely a book for those of us who know that our dogs are the only perfect kids we'll have.

Have you listened to any of Dean Koontzs other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any other books which Dean Koontz has read himself. Generally, I am disappointed in books read by the authors (with the bright exception of Alice Walker reading Possessing the Secret of Joy, which Audible really ought to offer, but I digress). I was not disappointed in this. Not only is Mr. Koontz obviously brilliant, but this was really a singularly personal book and hearing him read it made it even more sincere and touching.

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

Not really. I wanted to savor it more than that.

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Title: Through My Eyes

Author: Tim Tebow, Nathan Whitaker

Narrator: Tom Wayland

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-31-11

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 300 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Over the course of the last five years, Tim Tebow has established himself as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of college football and a top prospect in the NFL. During that time, he amassed an unparalleled resume - winning two BCS national championships; becoming the first sophomore in NCAA history to win the Heisman trophy; and in the face of massive public scrutiny, being drafted in the first round of the NFL draft by the Denver Broncos.

Now, in Through My Eyes, Tebow brings listeners everywhere an inspirational memoir about life as he chose to live it, revealing how his faith and family values, combined with his relentless will to succeed, have molded him into the person that he is today. As the son of Christian missionaries, Tebow has a unique story to tell - from the circumstances of his birth, to his home-schooled roots, to his record-setting collegiate football career with the Florida Gators and everything else that took place in between.

At every step, Tebow's life has defied convention and expectation. While aspects of his life have been well-documented, the stories have always been filtered through the opinions and words of others. Through My Eyes is his passionate, firsthand, never-before-told account of how it all really happened.

Members Reviews:

The ultimate role model for your son

Bought the audio book to share with my 14 year old son. Turns out we both loved it and are amazed what a guy can accomplish with the right mind set and vales. HIGHLY reccomend this book.

Informative and encouraging!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I highly recommend this book to get a look into the life of a very interesting young man.

What did you like best about this story?

Although there were times when all the detail behind each play/game seemed boring, it provided a foundation for the story. I enjoyed learning about his family and the role they played in his life and how a 'homeschooled' young man has grown to be a light in the ever darkening wold of pro sports.

Any additional comments?

I read this book for one reason. To learn more about the young quarterback who seems to be in the news weekly and sometimes daily. I am not a sports 'nut' but I enjoy reading about a success story of a young man who is making a positive difference in the sporting (entertainment) industry. Too often stars in the sport world are horrible role models filled with self pride and are very arrogant. This young man is setting a good example and is destined to be a great role model for young aspiring athletes.

Tebow fan

Being a Florida Gator and Jacksonville native, it was with anticipation that I read Tim Tebow's story. Our youngest is the same age as Tim and competed against him when he played at Trinity. We thoroughly enjoyed listening to his story and as Christians, appreciated that he kept true to his faith in telling his story. Our disappointment was in the performance. The individual reading the story mispronounced many of the Florida city names which was disappointing. If you're going to read a book, be sure to know the names in the story.

Thank you for including this in Audible.

Better than expected

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes.

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Title: Until Tuesday

Author: Luis Carlos Montalvan

Narrator: Luis Carlos Montalvan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-04-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1261 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

"We aren't just service dog and master; Tuesday and I are also best friends. Kindred souls. Brothers. Whatever you want to call it. We weren't made for each other, but we turned out to be exactly what the other needed."

A highly decorated captain in the U.S. Army, Luis Montalvan never backed down from a challenge during his two tours of duty in Iraq. After returning home from combat, however, the pressures of his physical wounds, traumatic brain injury, and crippling post-traumatic stress disorder began to take their toll. Haunted by the war and in constant physical pain, he soon found himself unable to climb a simple flight of stairs or face a bus ride to the VA hospital. He drank; he argued; ultimately, he cut himself off from those he loved. Alienated and alone, unable to sleep or bend over without pain, he began to wonder if he would ever recover.

Then Luis met Tuesday, a beautiful and sensitive golden retriever trained to assist the disabled. Tuesday had lived amongst prisoners and at a home for troubled boys, blessing many lives; he could turn on lights, open doors, and sense the onset of anxiety and flashbacks. But because of a unique training situation and sensitive nature, he found it difficult to trust in or connect with a human being until Luis.

Until Tuesday is the story of how two wounded warriors, who had given so much and suffered the consequences, found salvation in each other. It is a story about war and peace, injury and recovery, psychological wounds and spiritual restoration. But more than that, it is a story about the love between a man and dog, and how together they healed each other's souls.

Editorial Reviews:

For Luis Carlos Montalvan, Until Tuesday is the story of how a service dog led him through the darkest days following his return from service in the United States Army in Iraq. For the listener, his narration of Until Tuesday offers the rare experience of hearing a soldier discuss his journey of coming home from war. To hear Montalvan narrate his own story of transition from constant emotional and physical pain to successfully integrating back into his normal life at home is riveting and unforgettable.

Montalvan is a returning veteran whose homecoming and assimilation back into society has proven to be one of the greatest struggles of his life. After years of daily experience with horrifying combat, a mere trip to the grocery store seems like an insurmountable task. Enter Tuesday a service dog trained to help veterans and the disabled put the pieces of their lives back together. Like Montalvan, Tuesdays unethical training and serial abandonment suggest that he was treated as a soldier, too. Montalvan and Tuesday, wounded veteran and broken service dog, together find a way to bring each other back to life, to cope with the significant psychological damage that comes with post-traumatic stress. Montalvans erudite storytelling offers a deep exploration of what service dogs do for the disabled and of what its like for a soldier to come home from the war in Iraq. The profound impact of this service dog pervades the narration; Montalvans tone demonstrates his unwavering gratitude to Tuesday.

While Until Tuesday tells the story of a soldiers experiences in Iraq, Montalvan does so without straying into too many political tangents.

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Title: The Devil in Pew Number Seven

Subtitle: A True Story

Author: Bob DeMoss, Rebecca Nichols Alonzo

Narrator: Pam Ward

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-18-11

Publisher: christianaudio.com

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 115 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Rebecca never felt safe as a child. In 1969, her father, Robert Nichols, moved to Sellerstown, North Carolina, to serve as a pastor. There he found a small community eager to welcome him - with one exception. Glaring at him from pew number seven was a man obsessed with controlling the church. Determined to get rid of anyone who stood in his way, he unleashed a plan of terror that was more devastating and violent than the Nichols family could have ever imagined. Refusing to be driven away by acts of intimidation, Rebecca's father stood his ground until one night when an armed man walked into the familys kitchen...and Rebecca's life was shattered.

If anyone had a reason to harbor hatred and seek personal revenge, it would be Rebecca. Yet The Devil in Pew Number Seven tells a different story. It is the amazing true saga of relentless persecution, one family's faith and courage in the face of it, and a daughter whose parents taught her the power of forgiveness.

Members Reviews:

Compelling

Would you listen to The Devil in Pew Number Seven again? Why?

Actually yes I would. Not only did it have a great story, but it also taught me alot about forgiveness.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I would have to say it was Becky. She was an absolute rock through everything that she had endured.

Which scene was your favorite?

Gosh, there were so many. I think it would have to be when Mr. Watts called Becky after his release from prison to ask for forgiveness.

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

Having trouble forgiving?

Evil in the Sanctuary

Would you consider the audio edition of The Devil in Pew Number Seven to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version.

What did you like best about this story?

A true story of an evil parishioner that seems hell bent on destroying a church congregation ,it's Godly Leader and young family.

Reminded the reader that there is literally a constant war going on between good and evil.

What about Pam Wards performance did you like?

The narrator seem to enjoy the telling of the tale.

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

Yes

Any additional comments?

This book is a good incentive to delve deeper into the study of spiritual warfare.

Inspirational

If you could sum up The Devil in Pew Number Seven in three words, what would they be?

The power of forgiveness...WOW

Any additional comments?

I saw this story on the Dr. Phil show and was so impressed by the level of composure and confidence in the guests. I did not realize that the book was not about the killer, but more about the manipulator. This story was truly inspiring. I will not soon forget the lessons taught in The Devil in Pew Number Seven. I have recommended it to everyone I know!

What an amazing story!

What a roller coaster ride of emotions I felt reading this book! This is a book that you cannot read in one sitting because it can be very overwhelming emotionally and there is so much that goes on throughout this book that it takes time to process. The author does an incredible job of painting the picture of her life in Sellerstown, NC that you feel like you are truly right there with her viewing everything through her eyes!

Rebecca kind of Tarantino's the story by starting off with a snippet of the chaotic scene of one of the biggest things to happen to her.

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Title: Soul Surfer

Subtitle: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board

Author: Bethany Hamilton

Narrator: Eleni Pappageorge

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-10-11

Publisher: Oasis Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 125 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

She lost her arm in a shark attack and nearly died, but she never lost her faith. Now a major motion picture, Soul Surfer is the moving story of Bethany Hamiltons triumphant return to competitive surfing and has continued to be a beacon of inspiration to all who hear it.

They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the passion that drives her to surf? Or that nothingnot even the loss of her arm - could come between her and the waves? That Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii, Bethany responded to the sharks stealth attack with the calm of a teenage girl with God on her side, resolutely pushing aside her pain and panic while being rescued and brought back to shore.

When can I surf again? was the first thing Bethany asked after her emergency surgery, leaving no doubt that her spirit and determination were part of a greater story - a tale of personal empowerment and spiritual grit that shows the body is no more essential to surfing, perhaps even less so, than the soul.

Members Reviews:

Totally absorbing.

Would you listen to Soul Surfer again? Why?

I got this book because I watched the movie of the same title. I enjoyed listening, mostly because the narrator, Eleni Pappageorge, had a voice that completely embodied the character of Bethany Hamilton. I felt like it was being read by a teenager, and -- to borrow a metaphor -- I couldn't put it down. Just a total delight to listen to.

Which character as performed by Eleni Pappageorge was your favorite?

I enjoyed listening the most when she was "performing" Bethany herself.

Great Summer Read

I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie and I am glad I did. I enjoyed the read and thought Bethany gave some great insight to her life as a christian, a surfer and what she is doing post accident. I didn't care much for the music played between each chapter, I saw it as a filler for the audible book as it seems to be a fairly short read. The load music was the only reason why I gave it three stars.

Different from what I expected

The narrator of this book was not my favorite. She read the book as though it was geared toward adolescent girls.....The story itself was inspiring but I couldnt finish it....way too many spiritual references....

Amazing!!

I truly loved this book! Bethany is so humble but so faithful in her friends, family, and God. She is someone I now really look up to! I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Awesome

Very good story. Inspiring story. Recommend it to anyone. This review is being forced. Done done done done done do e