Get Best Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

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Title: Great Men of Genius, Part 1

Subtitle: Bertolt Brecht

Author: Mike Daisey

Narrator: Mike Daisey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-12-08

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Over four nights, Daisey explores the nature of genius and wrestles with the pride, insanity, and chauvinism that bind these men together, and reveals how the heights and depths of their gifts have much to teach us about ourselves. Each evening is unique and can be listened to independently, but all four together form an epic oral accounting of triumph and folly told with Daisey's dark and hilarious intensity.

Bertolt Brecht - playwright, poet, lover of women, and certifiable cad who escaped Nazi Germany, sympathized with the Communists, failed in Hollywood, was persecuted by McCarthy, and redefined world theater.

Critic Reviews:

"He is a mesmerizing performer who spins words into comic and emotional gold, revealing as much about himself as the subjects he is discussing." (

Oakland Tribune)"Mike Daisey's monologues brim with subtle messages that never hammer you over the head...by association, he adds himself to the titular category." (

Time Out New York)

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Title: Great Men of Genius, Part 4

Subtitle: L. Ron Hubbard

Author: Mike Daisey

Narrator: Mike Daisey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-12-08

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

L. Ron Hubbard - bigamist, occultist, and charismatic science fiction author-turned-guru who took 1950's popular psychiatry by storm and went on to create the Church of Scientology: the most celebrity-driven and litigious organization on Earth.

Critic Reviews:

"Daisey is a master showman, combining the storytelling acumen of David Sedaris and Lewis Black's outraged humor." (Daily Californian)

"Mike Daisey's monologues brim with subtle messages that never hammer you over the head...by association, he adds himself to the titular category." (Time Out New York)

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Title: Breaking News

Subtitle: Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World

Author: Martin Fletcher

Narrator: Stephen Hoye

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-23-08

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 20 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

With humor and elegance, Fletcher describes his growth from clueless adventurer to grizzled veteran of the world's battlefields. His working philosophy of "Get in, get close, get out, get a drink," put him repeatedly in harm's way, but he never lost sight of why he did it. In a world obsessed with celebrities, leaders, and wealth, Fletcher took a different route: he focused on those left behind, those paying the price. He answers the question: Why should we care?

These extraordinary, real-life adventure stories each examine different dilemmas facing a foreign correspondent. Can you eat the food of a warlord who stole it from the starving? Do you listen politely to a terrorist threatening to blow up your children? Do you ask the tough questions of a Khmer Rouge killer, knowing he is your only ticket out of the Cambodian jungle? And, above all, how do you stay sane when you're faced with so much pain?

Editorial Reviews:

Martin Fletcher, now NBC News bureau chief in Tel Aviv, tracks his 35-year career as a foreign correspondent in the world's hottest areas of conflict. Narrator Stephen Hoye's vocal characterization of the author is elegant without being lofty. No matter how gruesome the reporting, Hoye sounds professional and in control, yet one is aware of strong emotions below the surface. Author Fletcher captures a world most of us would never want to inhabit. Among the experiences he recounts are the filming of a father as his baby dies in his arms and a woman, all skin and bones, dying an agonizing death. He also offers reflections on his own family's destruction in the Holocaust. A superb and mesmerizing production.

Critic Reviews:

"An eye-opening, deeply felt memoir that brings us behind the cameras in the world's deadliest hot spots." (Kirkus)

"A historical overview, an example of a successful journalist's career, and a journalistic tour de force." (Library Journal)

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Title: Trail of Crumbs

Subtitle: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home - a Memoir

Author: Kim Sunee

Narrator: Justine Eyre

Format: Unabridged

Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-08-08

Publisher: Books on Tape

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 26 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Twentysomething Sunee seems to have it all: beauty, talent, and a charming, wealthy, and very attentive French lover. So why is she so miserable? Sunee, who was born in South Korea, recounts her tragic beginnings (her mother abandoned her when she was 3), her pleasant but far-from-perfect upbringing with her adoptive family in New Orleans, and her passionate love affair with 40-year-old French entrepreneur Olivier Baussan, who travels the globe and owns a sprawling residence in Provence. Whenever she feels lonely, panicked, or out of place, Sunee finds solace in preparing gourmet meals. But time in Olivier's kitchen brings her no closer to discovering who she really is.

Members Reviews:

So boring

I kept waiting for something exciting to happen, but it never did. The author spent WAY too much time describing the character's self doubt and not enough time describing the people she met and places she visited.

I enjoyed the recipes at the end of each chapter.

However, you could cut out 1/2 of this book (while living in Provence) and not miss a thing....

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Title: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Author: Maya Angelou

Narrator: Maya Angelou

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-03-06

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

In this first of six volumes of autobiography, poet Maya Angelou recounts a youth filled with disappointment, frustration, tragedy, and finally hard-won independence. Sent at a young age to live with her grandmother in Arkansas, Angelou learned a great deal from this exceptional woman and the tightly knit black community there. These very lessons carried her throughout the hardships she endured later in life, including a tragic occurrence while visiting her mother in St. Louis and her formative years spent in California, where an unwanted pregnancy changed her life forever.

©1969 Maya Angelou; (P)1996 Random House, Inc.

Critic Reviews:

"I know that not since the days of my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself more moved." James Baldwin

Members Reviews:

I know why the caged bird sings

What an amazing women. I love to hear how people grow through trauma & what happened to her at eight was so well articulated it moved me beyond comprehension. It also help me to put into perspective my own life lessons.

Great

Love it great story a bit upsetting at times but I loved it Maya Angelou is a Great writer

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Title: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Subtitle: 1840 - 1893

Author: Kenneth Allen

Narrator: Richard Mayes, Steve Hodson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-06

Publisher: Ivan and Inge Berg

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

"An artist should not be troubled by the indifference of his contemporaries. He should go on working and say all that he is predestined to say. He should know that posterity alone can deliver a true and just verdict." So said Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and posterity has delivered its verdict. His music is glorious, uplifting, soulful, umourous and wonderfully melodic. Thchaikovsky regarded usic as something to be savoured and shared, and he worked hard and long to that end. This programme reveals much of his troubled life and times and presents many extracts from his marvellous music.

© & (P)1977 Ivan & Inge Berg

Editorial Reviews:

This "dramatized biography" presents a condensed look at the life of the famed Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, interspersed with brief but powerful selections from his music. Richard Mayes proves an able narrator with perfect elocution, while Steve Hodson performs dramatic quotations - a somewhat unusual format that works better than it might. Though an older recording, the sound quality here is excellent, and those interested in Tchaikovsky's life will find this an accessible introduction to the great artist.

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Title: Johann Strauss the Younger

Subtitle: 1825 - 1899

Author: David Allen

Narrator: Richard Mayes, Marcia Warren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-06

Publisher: Ivan and Inge Berg

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Its opening bars can bring a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat. It is at once the most romantic and sentimental melody ever written. It is of course the The Blue Danube Waltz, composed by the Waltz King, Johann Strauss the Younger. For more than 60 years Strauss captivated audiences with his evocations of Viennese joi de vivre; yet his own life was often sad. This programme makes use of fascinating contemporary writings as well as the wonderful music itself.

© & (P)1977 Ivan & Inge Berg

Editorial Reviews:

If on a summers evening you find yourself waltzing through the park with a song in your heart, that songs melody may well have been composed by Johann Strauss the Younger.

Ivan and Inge Berg present Johann Strauss the Younger, an audio evocation - complete with deftly interwoven selections from Strausss compositions - of Strauss the man and of his city, 19th-century Vienna. Richard Mayes and Marcia Warrens narration is spirited, lovely, and punctuated with exuberant voice-overs that sound like they were recorded on the evening of a Strauss premiere. At only an hour long, this audiobook is a great introduction for a novice, or a pleasurable romp for an afficionado...and may tempt the listener into donning an evening dress or a black tuxedo.

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Title: Giuseppe Verdi

Subtitle: 1813 - 1901

Author: John Green

Narrator: Richard Mayes

Format: Unabridged

Length: 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-06

Publisher: Ivan and Inge Berg

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Copiously illustrated by excerpts from Verdi's music, this programme tells how the composer rose from humble origins to become the unrivalled master of Italian opera. Living in the time of Italian unification, his music and his life became entwined with politics and patriotism and his melodies were taken up as battle cries in the Italian fight against foreign domination. This programme explores the fertility of his musical imagination and his deep but unconventional religious faith.

© & (P)1977 Ivan & Inge Berg

Editorial Reviews:

Whence does genius come? In Italian opera, it comes from Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). In Giuseppe Verdi, it comes from a humble upbringing, idiosyncratic but deeply held religious conviction, and a prodigious grasp of musicality, especially melody. Guided by Richard Mayes proper and endearing British voice, this audiobook is a good introduction to one of the most important composers of all time. The listener will hear clips of Verdis work and will gain much biographical detail on the man. While Verdi most certainly did not speak with an English accent, the listener will be pleased to hear readings from Verdis own diary and letters.

Members Reviews:

The Verdi One Does Not Know

Would you consider the audio edition of Guiseppe Verdi to be better than the print version?

Can't answer. Have not read the print version. I think I would enjoy the read equally a much as the audio.

What did you like best about this story?

learning about his meticulous discipline. He certainly did not do things by halves. He stuck to his guns.

Which scene was your favorite?

When he insisted that his opera not be presented until he was fully confident of the lyrics.

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

No. Not extreme. Merely a measured, informative presentation.

Any additional comments?

Worthwhile and efficiently rendered. No redundancy.

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Title: William Shakespeare

Subtitle: The Writers Series (Dramatised)

Author: Kenneth Allen

Narrator: Clifford Rose, John Green, Gary Hope, Mary Duddy

Format: Original Recording

Length: 1 hr and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-19-06

Publisher: Ivan and Inge Berg

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Shakespeare lived for only 52 years, yet enriched the English language with an astonishing number of literary masterpieces. This dramatisation tells the story of Shakespeare's life in the boisterous days of the ageing Queen Elizabeth and the early years of her successor, James the First. It covers most of the known facts of his life and presents the man as well as the poet and dramatist.

© and (P)1975 Ivan & Inge Berg

Editorial Reviews:

In Kenneth Allens dramatization William Shakespeare, the life of the greatest playwright who lived takes the center stage.

We first encounter young Shakespeare leaving his family in Stratford for London. Soon he is invited to join the Rose theater, which was one of Londons first covered theaters. The listener sees the young Bard befriending the local actors and directors in the 16th century London and then creating the plays and poems which have made him an immortal on the page.

This entertaining, enlightening dramatization skillfully mixes narration with dramatic recreations of Shakespeares early interactions in London and performances of scenes from his plays.

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Title: Flying Colors

Author: Tim Lefens

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-27-06

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Artists, Writers, & Musicians

Publisher's Summary:

Lefens created breakthrough techniques for these students that gave full, exacting control of the creative process for such remarkable young artists as Natalia with her brash wit, the brooding Mike with his Harley-Davidson hat, the mischievous Chet, the passionate cowgirl Cindy, and Angel, the volcanic Latino.

Flying Colors, an immensely inspiring story about leaping over obstacles, reveals the passion and determination of one man, his student-artists, and their emergence together from a virtual silence to luminous expression.

Members Reviews:

Great subject, bad writing

This audiobook has a lot of good things going for it, but the writing is not one of them. It's a nonfiction book written by a visual artist, not a writer. He writes about how he began a adaptive arts program for disabled people to allow them to paint. He starts the careers of many talented artists some of whom had never spoken or been able to communicate much in their lives. The narrator is excellent, but the writing style is not very mature. The author doesn't use contractions, even when reproducing very informal dialog, and the narrative is frequently punctuated with thinly veiled self-congratualtory commentary. But the subject of his story, and it's narrative, are really very worthwhile -- if you can put up with a few imperfections.

Wow!

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

This book pulls you in and you do not want to let go.... best I have read "listened to" in years!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Flying Colors?

The wheelchair painting....

What does Grover Gardner bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

His tone and intination were wonderful!

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

Yes, very extreme emotianlly intense!