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

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Title: A Song Flung Up to Heaven

Author: Maya Angelou

Narrator: Maya Angelou

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-09-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 35 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

The culmination of a unique achievement in modern American literature: the six volumes of autobiography that began more than thirty years ago with the appearance of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

A Song Flung Up to Heaven opens as Maya Angelou returns from Africa to the United States to work with Malcolm X. But first she has to journey to California to be reunited with her mother and brother. No sooner does she arrive there than she learns that Malcolm X has been assassinated.

Devastated, she tries to put her life back together, working on the stage in local theaters and even conducting a door-to-door survey in Watts. Then Watts explodes in violence, a riot she describes firsthand.

Subsequently, on a trip to New York, she meets Martin Luther King, Jr., who asks her to become his coordinator in the North, and she visits black churches all over America to help support Kings Poor Peoples March.

But once again tragedy strikes. King is assassinated, and this time Angelou completely withdraws from the world, unable to deal with this horrible event. Finally, James Baldwin forces her out of isolation and insists that she accompany him to a dinner party - where the idea for writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is born. In fact, A Song Flung Up to Heaven ends as Maya Angelou begins to write the first sentences of Caged Bird.

Members Reviews:

My my my mmm mmm mmm

All people of color should listen or read this journal for themselves to their children sometimes your children are quiet not because they are "just your quiet one" they are waiting the hear what truly inspires one RIP Maya Angelou.

Maya's amazing

I like the story. Ms. Angelo's stories are interesting and inspiring. The narration was a little annoying because she pronounced every single letter of every single word with an emphasis on the T. Sounded stilted. But the content was well written and the journey for me enjoyable.

A fabulous read, Ms. Angelou never disappoints.

A fabulous read, Ms. Angelou never disappoints. Always a pleasure reading her work. hearing the story in her words makes it all the more enjoyable!

Thank you Mother Maya... continuously inspiring

Like Mother Maya, I'm on colourful journey with a colorful group of individuals... Thank you for the map....I'm using it accordingly...

MAYA AT HER MOST VULNERABLE WITH VERVE

Would you consider the audio edition of A Song Flung Up to Heaven to be better than the print version?

YES! For the main reason that Maya's notable and memorable raspy brogue carries here story. I love her inflections and her attention to her living prose. The audio book, for me was a better way to drink from Maya's illustrious well.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Song Flung Up to Heaven?

For me, it was Maya's struggle to let go of her mothering brain so to speak, when it came to her son Guy. The beauty she learnt in the strength that Guy needed to discover himself without her close input. I was struck by Maya's calm resolve to watch and listen from ringside as her baby fought his own fight and won gloriously. The relationship between her and her son was a classic one shared with candor.

What does Maya Angelou bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you had only read the book?

Her voice.

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Title: The Prisoner's Wife

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: asha bandele

Narrator: Myra Lucretia Taylor

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-12-12

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 13 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

In her senior year of college, asha bandele and a group of other writers went to a prison to read their works for a Black History Month program. There, she met Rashid, a man who was serving 20 to life for murder, a man who spoke softly and wisely, a man who would become ashas soul mate. This is her account of a relationship that has thrived despite terrific odds.

Critic Reviews:

This is a romantic but realistic story, told with a directness and honesty that makes us know that, however impossible the problems asha and Rashid face, we can question neither her motives nor sanity. (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Beatlutifully written memoir

Asha Bandele can write! I enjoyed every chapter of this book. It is deep, poetic, descriptive, passionate. I have discovered a great writer!

Fantabulous

Very well written and narrated. I'm ready for part 2. Was this a true story? I finished this in a few short hours.

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Title: Then Again

Author: Diane Keaton

Narrator: Diane Keaton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-15-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 319 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word THINK. I found THINK thumbtacked on a bulletin board in her darkroom. I saw it Scotch-taped on a pencil box shed collaged. I even found a pamphlet titled THINK on her bedside table. Mom liked to THINK.

So begins Diane Keatons unforgettable memoir about her mother and herself. In it you will meet the woman known to tens of millions as Annie Hall, but you will also meet, and fall in love with, her mother, the loving, complicated, always thinking Dorothy Hall. To write about herself, Diane realized she had to write about her mother, too, and how their bond came to define both their lives. And so, in a remarkable act of creation, Diane not only reveals herself to us, she also lets us meet in intimate detail her mother. Throughout her life, Dorothy kept eighty-five journals - literally thousands of pages - in which she wrote about her marriage, her children, and, most probingly, about herself. Dorothy also recorded memorable stories about Dianes grandparents. Diane has sorted through all these pages to paint an unflinching portrait of her mother - a woman restless with intellectual and creative energy struggling to find an outlet for her talents - as well as her entire family, recounting a story that spans four generations and nearly a hundred years.

More than just the autobiography of a legendary actress, Then Again is a book about a very American family with very American dreams. Diane will remind you of yourself, and her bonds with her family will remind you of your own relationships with those you love the most.

From the Hardcover edition.

Diane Keaton has starred in some of the most memorable movies of the past forty years, including the Godfather trilogy, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Reds, Baby Boom, The First Wives Club, and Somethings Gotta Give. Her many awards include the Golden Globe and the Academy Award. Keaton lives with her daughter and son in Los Angeles.

Members Reviews:

Wonderful. Sad. Hopeful.

Such a heartfelt biography I have never previously had the pleasure to listen to. Diane Keaton comes across as a beautiful caring soul, as does her mother, who suffered from depression (as well as many of life's frustration as a woman of her era. ) Diane's story is interwoven with her mother's story from both of their many journals. This is not a name dropping type of book, but a book of much introspection, both on Diane's part, and her mother's own struggles to find her "voice" Diane Keaton doesn't hold herself back, and one realizes, that however famous one is, or not, life's struggles, heartaches, and passions remain the same for all.

Sadly...

I really looked forward to listening to Diane's book. She is a wonderful actress and I've really enjoyed watching her in films, but her writing and reading did not inspire me to stay with the audio book.

Candid, truthful, down to earth

I was honored to be able to hear so candidly the ups and downs of this beautiful, graceful actor. I have always admired her and now having read her story along with her mother's story, I am more in awe of her. She speaks with such truth.

A Very Engaging Book

I never knew much about Diane Keaton but I have always enjoyed the way she didn't seem to take herself too seriously.

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Title: The Story of Charlotte's Web

Subtitle: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic

Author: Michael Sims

Narrator: Nick Sullivan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-04-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 22 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

As he was composing what was to become his most enduring and popular book, E. B. White was obeying that oft-repeated maxim: "Write what you know." Helpless pigs, silly geese, clever spiders, greedy rats - White knew all of these characters in the barns and stables where he spent his favorite hours. Painfully shy his entire life, "this boy", White once wrote of himself, "felt for animals a kinship he never felt for people." It's all the more impressive, therefore, how many people have felt a kinship with E. B. White.

With Charlotte's Web, which has gone on to sell more than 45 million copies, the man William Shawn called "the most companionable of writers" lodged his own character, the avuncular author, into the hearts of generations of readers.

In The Story of Charlotte's Web, Michael Sims shows how White solved what critic Clifton Fadiman once called "the standing problem of the juvenile-fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole" by mining the raw ore of his childhood friendship with animals in Mount Vernon, New York. Translating his own passions and contradictions, delights and fears, into an all-time classic. Blending White's correspondence with the likes of Ursula Nordstrom, James Thurber, and Harold Ross, the E. B. White papers at Cornell, and the archives of HarperCollins and The New Yorker into his own elegant narrative, Sims brings to life the shy boy whose animal stories - real and imaginary - made him famous around the world.

Critic Reviews:

"A fine stylist, Mr. Sims portrays these scenes with a beauty and an economy of language that would make the co-author of The Elements of Style proud." (The Wall Street Journal)

"An affectionate biography. Packed with the same kind of sensory detail its subject reveled in, this account is an honorable addition to the literature of letters." (Kirkus Reviews)

"The Story of Charlottes Web is a paean to a great work and a window into the uniquely gifted man who created it." (Christian Science Monitor)

Members Reviews:

Read E.B. White's book instead!

This is a book about the author of a book I loved: "Charlotte's Web". It is about how that book I loved came to be. It is not written with the charm nor the humor of that original book. Sims' book is interesting. It tells not only of E.B. White's career; he worked for many years at The New Yorker. The story is filled out with information about prominent children's authors and illustrators during the first half of the 20th Century. If that is what you are looking for you may appreciate this book more than I did. Parts are flat, boring and stuffed with irrelevant details. Neither did I love the narration by Nick Sullivan. The book doesn't pull you in, doesn't engage you or make you care in the slightest for any of the characters. It reads like a dry text book....but sure there are interesting facts.

Hard to review

This book seemed to work hard to find a reason for existing.

IMO - it missed the entire nature of E B White.

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Title: Hemingway's Boat

Subtitle: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934 - 1961

Author: Paul Hendrickson

Narrator: Jonathan Davis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-03-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 84 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

An award-winning historian and author, Paul Hendrickson here turns his attention to one of Americas most cherished literary icons, Ernest Hemingway. Drawing on previously unpublished material, Hendrickson focuses on Hemingways life in its twilight, just prior to his suicide, and the seemingly singular constant in the mans life: his boat, Pilar. On this vessel, Hemingway would entertain and travel, but it would also be the scene of some of his greatest tragedies.

Critic Reviews:

A lyrical and expansive search for the essence of a famous writerheart, soul, and hull. (Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune Top Picks of 2011)

The author, an accomplished storyteller, interprets myriad tiny details of Ernest Hemingways life, and through them says something new about a writer everyone thinks they know. (The Economist Books of the Year 2011)

Hendricksons engrossing book offers a fresh slant on the rise and fall of a father figure of American literature. (San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of 2011)

Members Reviews:

A Hemingway biography for the 21st Century

Would you listen to Hemingway's Boat again? Why?

No. So many books. So little time.

What other book might you compare Hemingway's Boat to and why?

I don't know of a good comparison because it is such a novel contemporary approach. A lot has been written about EH and his story is well documented in many books. Hendrickson's approach is different and fresh. The most moving parts of Hemingway's Boat are those that focus not on EH, the ostensible subject, but on three rather unknown men and on how their lives were impacted, for better and for worse, by their association with the great writer.

What about Jonathan Daviss performance did you like?

Magnificent. Davis' pace is deliberate. Slower than most. It is crystal clear. I found it nuanced and not flat. A five star performance. I will look for other books performed by Davis.

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

It neither made me laugh out loud or cry. It is a very sad story, especially the penultimate chapter about Hemingway's son Gigi.

Any additional comments?

This is a biography of a deeply flawed man who was a great artist. EH lived an outsized macho life and was the kind of man that the "air guitarists" relish in taking down. His current literary reputation is still not fully recovered. He was a wonderful writer whose best work (and there is a lot of it) is among the very best that an American writer has ever produced. The blurbs suggest that this is a more sympathetic biography. I didn't find it particularly sympathetic. Nor did I find EH particularly likeable. I had intended to read only a portion of this book about Cuba and fishing in the 1930s. It is so well written and performed that I ended up listening to, reading and enjoying the entire book.

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Title: The Big Sea

Subtitle: An Autobiography

Author: Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad

Narrator: Dominic Hoffman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-26-11

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 45 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

Langston Hughes, born in 1902, came of age early in the 1920s. In The Big Sea he recounts those memorable years in the two great playgrounds of the decade - Harlem and Paris. In Paris he was a cook and waiter in nightclubs. He knew the musicians and dancers, the drunks and dope fiends. In Harlem he was a rising young poet - at the center of the "Harlem Renaissance."

Arnold Rampersad writes in his incisive new introduction to The Big Sea, an American classic: "This is American writing at its best - simpler than Hemingway; as simple and direct as that of another Missouri-born writer...Mark Twain."

Members Reviews:

The Big Sea

I totally enjoyed this book. It was like reminiscing about old friends from long ago. It is a must listen.

Mixed Review

Would you listen to The Big Sea again? Why?

Yes, I bought the book and I plan to listen along so I can mark in the margins things I want to learn more about.

What did you like best about this story?

Learning a whole segment of history no one ever shared before.

How could the performance have been better?

Oh the performance was awful. The narrator was stiff and wooden. Mispronounced important words, and put the emphasis on the wrong parts of many sentences.

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

?

A must read

What did you like most about The Big Sea?

Hughes' seemingly honest and vivid portrayal of his life is a must read. The way that the book centres on travel is a very interesting thread to follow, and an important example of a black man's experiences at the time

Slow and rambling

What disappointed you about The Big Sea?

An interesting live, told in a slow boring way. If you wanted to know what Harlem in the 20s was like then this tells you nothing. Alot of name dropping and moving from place to place. There's no plot, no characters, no description of Paris and Harlem in the 20s. One of his reviewers wrote: "Langston Hughes displays his unusual ability to say nothing in many words". I enjoyed a bit about working in Paris but that was 1h out of 10

Would you ever listen to anything by Langston Hughes and Arnold Rampersad again?

no

Which character as performed by Dominic Hoffman was your favourite?

Jocko the monkey was the most animated character. There were no characters

What character would you cut from The Big Sea?

Langston Hughes

Any additional comments?

To sum it up. You get no insight into the poet. It is not poetically written. It is just a list of places and menial jobs he did, people he met and occasionally poems he wrote.

I love this book

This is by far my favourite boom of all time. have read it on my own but Hoffman makes a great narrator. I love Hughs simple but poetic style and his sense of adventure.

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Title: The Commitment

Subtitle: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family

Author: Dan Savage

Narrator: Paul Michael Garcia

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-27-11

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 450 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

In a time when much of the country sees red whenever the subject of gay marriage comes up, Dan Savageoutspoken author of the column Savage Lovemakes it personal.

Dan Savages mother wants him to get married. His boyfriend, Terry, says no thanks because he doesnt want to act like a straight person. Their six-year-old son, D.J., says his two dads arent allowed to get married but that hed like to come to the reception and eat cake. Throw into the mix Dans straight siblings, whose varied choices form a microcosm of how Americans are approaching marriage these days, and you get a rollicking family memoir that will have everyonegay or straight, right or left, single or marriedhowling with laughter and rethinking their notions of marriage and all it entails.

Critic Reviews:

The strongest argument here, which [Savage] brilliantly plays down, is that family means everything to these people: married, not married, blended, gay, straight, whatever. (Washington Post)

Members Reviews:

Amusing, but missed Dan's voice

A very funny, honest accounting of a little slice of Dan Savage's life. I enjoyed it a lot, but missed Dan's characteristic voice. I know he's busy these days, but I would have liked to have him read this himself.

Entertaining, but not life changing

I like Dan Savage, so I enjoyed the book and found it entertaining. I could see that some might find it a bit preachy. My main gripe is that Dan didn't read the book himself. The narrator did a fine job, but didn't sound anything like Dan which was just strange to listen to.

Always a good listen

I missed Dans voice but still enjoyed the book. As always his books are funny, smart, and incredibly entertaining.

Good book; prefer a Savage narration

I enjoyed the book as I have all of Dan's books, but this is the only one I heard with a different narrator. The characters (Dan's family members) come across much differently in his voice.

Thought provoking for anyone thinking of marriage

Whether you're gay or straight (or somewhere in between) this book is a good read for an objective look at what it means to be married from someone who isn't allowed.

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Title: My Place

Author: Sally Morgan

Narrator: Melodie Reynolds

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 06-14-11

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

In 1982, Sally Morgan travelled back to her grandmother's birthplace. What started as a tentative search for information about her family, turned into an overwhelming emotional and spiritual pilgrimage. My Place is a moving account of a search for truth into which a whole family is gradually drawn, finally freeing the tongues of the author's mother and grandmother, allowing them to tell their own stories.

Members Reviews:

A tale of a long hard road to understanding

What made the experience of listening to My Place the most enjoyable?

The story of My Place was not always enjoyable as it made me look into my own heart and soul and see what fears and sins lie there. But the overall enjoyment of listening to the book was what I can only describe as fulfilling as the story unfolded into a still uncertain but better enlightened future for a young woman and her family.

What other book might you compare My Place to and why?

My place reminds me of another Australian auto biography "A Fortunate Life" by Albert Facey, a tale of overcoming hardship through great strength of character.

What about Melodie Reynoldss performance did you like?

The reader gave a wonderful performance, I could see and feel the story through her voice.

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

A tale of a long hard, but fruitful road, to understanding herself and her family in a country afraid to face its history.

not my cup of tea ñot good not good not good not.

do not have anything else to say not my cup of tea didn't in joy

A much loved story

I was first inroduced to this book 20 years ago as an undergrad student teacher. I loved it then so was delighted to revisit the story in audiobook format. It remains a warm and honest insight into a family striving to find its historical roots whilst simultaneously striving to hide from it. The narrator read well but I found her pronunctiation of some words to be odd and this distracted me from time to time but a great true story and important part of Australia's history.

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Title: Tolkien and the Great War

Subtitle: The Threshold of Middle-earth

Author: John Garth

Narrator: John Garth

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-28-11

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 71 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

A new biography exploring J.R.R. Tolkiens wartime experiences and their impact on his life and his writing of The Lord of The Rings.

To be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than in 1939 by 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead. So J.R.R. Tolkien responded to critics who saw The Lord of the Rings as a reaction to the Second World War.

Tolkien and the Great War tells for the first time the full story of how he embarked on the creation of Middle-earth in his youth as the world around him was plunged into catastrophe. This biography reveals the horror and heroism that he experienced as a signals officer in the Battle of the Somme and introduces the circle of friends who spurred his mythology to life. It shows how, after two of these brilliant young men were killed, Tolkien pursued the dream they had all shared by launching his epic of good and evil.

John Garth argues that the foundation of tragic experience in the First World War is the key to Middle-earths enduring power. Tolkien used his mythic imagination not to escape from reality but to reflect and transform the cataclysm of his generation. While his contemporaries surrendered to disillusionment, he kept enchantment alive, reshaping an entire literary tradition into a form that resonates to this day.

This is the first substantially new biography of Tolkien since 1977, meticulously researched and distilled from his personal wartime papers and a multitude of other sources.

Critic Reviews:

"Very much the best book about JRR Tolkien that has yet been written. Even if you are not a Lord of the Rings fan, I commend this book to you. It is all so interesting in itself, and I have rarely read a book which so intelligently graphed the relation between a writer's inner life and his outward circumstances." (A.N.Wilson, Evening Standard)

Members Reviews:

Enjoyed the insight

Very interesting to get a deeper look into the great War and it's effect on JRR. Very much enjoyed this book!

Great on every level

Tolkien and the Great War sheds new light on the influence of the Great War on Tolkiens thinking and writing through an astonishing amount of research.

Especially the comparison of him to the well known Great War Poets is enlightening.

The reader does an amazing job at delivering the often harrowing story of the expierience of an entire generation.

The only complaint is the butchering of the pronounciation of german names.

A touching and revealing narrative

John Garth's reading of his book strikes perfect notes in the moving story of Tolkien and the other brilliant young minds who went to war in 1914. The fall of each of his friends resounds and echoes in Tolkien's own heartrending creations. Garth's recounting of the intimate details of how the War experience shaped Tolkien's work is itself a work of painstaking craftsmanship. His reading is remarkably suited to his subject. Superb.

Incredible Scholarship

Many a Tolkien fan knows that Middle Earth was forged by the fires of World War I. Some of the Tolkien scholars out there will even know a great deal about what's in this book. But what will separate this book from others is witnessing how Middle Earth evolves in parallel to Tolkien's life and service during the war. Sometimes that evolution is followed line by line, such is the detail level of this volume.

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Title: A Jane Austen Education

Author: William Deresiewicz

Narrator: Sean Pratt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-28-11

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 296 votes

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

Publisher's Summary:

An eloquent memoir of a young man's life transformed by literature.

In A Jane Austen Education, Austen scholar William Deresiewicz turns to the author's novels to reveal the remarkable life lessons hidden within. With humor and candor, Deresiewicz employs his own experiences to demonstrate the enduring power of Austen's teachings. Progressing from his days as an immature student to a happily married man, Deresiewicz's A Jane Austen Education is the story of one man's discovery of the world outside himself.

A self-styled intellectual rebel dedicated to writers such as James Joyce and Joseph Conrad, Deresiewicz never thought Austen's novels would have anything to offer him. But when he was assigned to read Emma as a graduate student at Columbia, something extraordinary happened. Austen's devotion to the everyday, and her belief in the value of ordinary lives, ignited something in Deresiewicz. He began viewing the world through Austen's eyes and treating those around him as generously as Austen treated her characters. Along the way, Deresiewicz was amazed to discover that the people in his life developed the depth and richness of literary characters-that his own life had suddenly acquired all the fascination of a novel. His real education had finally begun.

Weaving his own story-and Austen's-around the ones her novels tell, Deresiewicz shows how her books are both about education and themselves an education. Her heroines learn about friendship and feeling, staying young and being good, and, of course, love. As they grow up, they learn lessons that are imparted to Austen's reader, who learns and grows by their sides.

A Jane Austen Education is a testament to the transformative power of literature, a celebration of Austen's mastery, and a joy to read. Whether for a newcomer to Austen or a lifelong devotee, Deresiewicz brings fresh insights to the novelist and her beloved works. Ultimately, Austen's world becomes indelibly entwined with our own, showing the relevance of her message and the triumph of her vision.

Members Reviews:

one of the best books I've heard recently

This a great book, probably better for listening than for reading I suspect. It is well-narrated, well-paced, always interesting and stimulating, and oddly enough, it might leave you a better person at the end (without any preaching at all). The author successfully interweaves his own life story (perhaps being a bit hard-hearted on himself, for effect ... hard to know), with Jane Austen's life story and her time, with the main plot points and characters of Austen's novels. The interplay between these three sets of stories is what makes the book so exciting to listen to -- things that happen to the author, to Austen and to her characters I mean. I recommend this book highly.

A real joy!

This book was like taking a collage class later in life and rereading the books you loved (or not) with the advantage of wanting to take the class. We are brought along the life of the author told with an Austen like storyline. The stroll though the books (with no spoilers) and the insights into reall life applications are so concrete and pithy as to make me wish I had thought of "that". Historical detail into Austen's life is perfectly woven though the story as well. Oh, if only Jane Austen had written more books, this book could have been longer.