Get Best Sellers Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs Top Rated

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Title: Congo Mercenary

Author: Mike Hoare

Narrator: Mike Hoare

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-14-12

Publisher: St. Edmundsbury Press

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 52 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Col. Mike Hoare tells how his force of mercenaries, 5 Commando, put down a Comunist-backed rebel uprising in the Congo. As they restored law and order, town by town, he and his men freed 1,800 nuns and priests. His men also learned what it means to be real soldiers.

Critic Reviews:

"This well-written and well-illustrated book gives an accurate and useful account of the military response to the [Congolese] rebellion." (

The Daily Telegraph)

Members Reviews:

An Interesting Slice of an Unusual Life

Any additional comments?

Story: This book was written in the 60s by a British Mercenary Soldier. With that comes a militaristic outlook, some British "uppityness" and a small dose of casual racism. If you put those things aside and consider it a product of its time, it is a very interesting listen. I knew little about this conflict so I found it a fascinating look at the life and attitudes of Mercenary Soldiers in general and Mike Hoare in particular. Like most autobiographies, the author paints himself a bit of a hero, but to his credit, he confides that he made some rather large mistakes here and there.

Performance: This one is read by the author, which I always find to be a double edged sword. On the one hand you get the real feel of the story, but on the other hand you don't get a professional narration. I will say his warm, fatherly British voice was quite nice.

Summary: Due to its cheap price, this is probably worth your time. It is an unusual story, by an unusual man in an unusual conflict.

Incredible detail on a little known subject

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

Anyone interested in African "Bush" Wars or counterinsurgency in general should read Hoare's works. Congo Mercenary provides detailed accounts of the campaigns and politics of his years in the Congo in the early to mid-1960s. Hoare's storytelling is conversational, and while his ideals may seem outdated his observations are acute.

What did you like best about this story?

Hoare's descriptions of his leadership and how he developed 5 Commando into a fighting unit.

Have you listened to any of Mike Hoares other performances before? How does this one compare?

Congo Mercenary is the most action-packed and detailed of Hoare's works. It goes into detail about the planning and execution of all of the campaigns that Hoare participated in.

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

It was excellent, and I will be returning to it again.

Any additional comments?

There's also a great portrait of a young Mobutu, on the verge of seizing power in the Congo. So many of the portraits of Mobutu have been of the aging strong-man desperately holding onto power, this was an interesting contrast.

War in the Congo

Interesting listen for those with an interest in the African Brush Wars of the 60s. The book covered a lot of ground and was often a little light on operational specifics. But, that very well could have been because there were few operational specifics. Narrated by Colonel Hoare himself (Irish with a bit of Afrikaans thrown in) which made clarity a challenge.

Africa was high adventure for those participating.

Congo Story

I found this book by a mercenary to be well written and narrated. This book shows a person who is loyal, ethical and quite intelligent. Probably more the norm than Hollywood's depiction of blood thirsty mercenaries.

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Title: 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering

Author: Alice Waters

Narrator: Alice Waters

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-14-12

Publisher: The Kitchen Sisters

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 30 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering, is an audiobook collaboration between legendary food pioneer Alice Waters and NPR's Kitchen Sisters. Alice narrates the saga of her trailblazing restaurant and the food movement it helped spawn, along with the voices of some 50 of her collaborators and friends. Peabody Award-winning radio producers The Kitchen Sisters bring their signature, richly layered audio style to Alice's powerful story of the life and founding of Chez Panisse. Told decade by decade, this compelling tale of food and political transformation opens in the tumultuous 1960s and travels across 40 years, tracing how a small neighborhood restaurant in Berkeley, California, helped ignite a movement for edible education and local, organic, and delicious food.

Along with Alice we hear from dozens of people who have helped create the food movement, including Wendell Berry, Calvin Trillin, Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Ruth Reichl, Marion Cunningham, Edna Lewis, Maira Kalman, Anna Deavere Smith, Hillary Clinton, Slow Food President Carlo Petrini, theater impresario Peter Sellars, farmer Bob Cannard, and many more - including chefs, farmers, gardeners, restaurateurs, artists, musicians, and writers. These voices are mixed with readings, interviews, music, sound, archival audio and field recordings captured by The Kitchen Sisters over decades of chronicling Alice's travels and efforts. Lively, inspiring and soulful, this audiobook is over six hours of story spanning 40 years in the life of a pioneering and visionary restaurant and the woman who dreamed it up.

Members Reviews:

Tasty. Sort of.

Any additional comments?

This book praises Alice Waters to the point of canonization. She's slapped on the back so much I'm surprised the woman can walk upright. The book made me very hungry but didn't feed me. It's the descriptions of the food and the way the book was constructed that gets my three stars.

Excellent

If you could sum up 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering in three words, what would they be?

This is an excellent book to learn about the food movements in the U.S., as well as for the life and people around Chez Panisse. I was surprised to see the rating was only 4 stars for such a great book. When I examined the reviews here, I saw that many of them are composed of Amazon reviews from people purchasing old copies of the book and receiving them late or damaged from Amazon sellers. Those reviews have nothing to do with Audible. If you enjoy books about food, this one covers the life of Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse staff; and offers some insights about food and Berkeley life.

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

Yes

Local Food Movement Visionary ~ An Amazing Listen!

Where does 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Top 5

What did you like best about this story?

I listened to this audiobook and it was amazing. If you like the style of reporting commonly used by NPR, you will love it too. Not only did Alice Waters narrate a good portion of the book, but scores of others chimed in with their perspective and recollections. Music was carefully chosen to accompany the various segments. And the icing on the cake, was that this is a topic near and dear to me ... local foods over agri-business production of food.

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Title: Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter

Author: Melissa Francis

Narrator: Cris Dukehart

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-06-12

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 75 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the worlds most famous prime-time soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Despite her age, she was already a veteran actress, living a charmed life, moving from one Hollywood set to the next. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother.

While Melissa thrived under pressure, her older sister - who had tried her hand at acting and shrank from the limelight - was often ignored by their mother in a shadow of neglect and disappointment. Tiffany could do nothing to please her mother, but it wasnt until after Melissa had graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economics, found love, and married that Tiffanys personal problems culminated in a life-and-death crisis. When Melissa realized the role her mother continued to play in her sisters downward spiral, she resolved to end the manic, abusive cycle once and for all.

Diary of a Stage Mothers Daughter is a fascinating account of life as a child star in the 1980s, and also a disquieting tale of a family under the care of a highly neurotic, dangerously competitive "tiger mother". But perhaps most importantly, now that Melissa has two sons of her own, its a meditation on motherhood. She asks the questions so many of us ask ourselves: How hard should you push a child to succeed, and at what point does your help turn into harm?

Members Reviews:

Awesome book - really enjoyed it.

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

Raised during the Little House years, is what initially made me buy this book - but once you get to about the second paragraph, you are grasped by the story - the characters and their feelings and can not put it down.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Opening scene moves you right into the writers shoes.......

Any additional comments?

Excellent use of descriptive adjectives - and thank you to Melissa Francis for sharing her private story - all the best to her on her many successes she obtained all by herself!

Very well written, but a painful story.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Amazing story of survival and accomplishment by a very talented child who became a very wise and talented woman. But, her journey was more painful for me than interesting. Melissa never makes you feel sorry for her. Rather, you feel stunned and angry for her. She handles her mother in a rather matter-of-fact way that is nonjudgemental, which is amazing, considering what mother did to Melissa and her sister, Tiffany. This nonjudgemental voice makes it possible for you to listen without the emotion of sorrow, but for me, I found myself getting angry.

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Title: An Apple a Day

Subtitle: A Memoir of Love and Recovery from Anorexia

Author: Emma Woolf

Narrator: Emma Woolf

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-18-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 78 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

I haven't tasted chocolate for over ten years and now I'm walking down the street unwrapping a Kit Kat. Remember when Kate Moss said, 'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'? She's wrong: chocolate does.

At the age of 32, after ten years of hiding from the truth, Emma Woolf finally decided it was time to face the biggest challenge of her life. Addicted to hunger, exercise and control, she was juggling a full-blown eating disorder with a successful career, functioning on an apple a day. Having met the man of her dreams (and wanting a future and a baby together), she embarked on the hardest struggle of all: to beat anorexia. It was time to start eating again, to regain her fertility and her curves, to throw out the size-zero clothes and face her food fears. And, as if that wasnt enough pressure, Emma took the decision to write about her progress in a weekly column for The Times.

Honest, hard hitting and yet romantic, An Apple a Day is a manifesto for the modern generation to stop starving and start living. This compelling, life-affirming true story is essential reading for anyone affected by eating disorders (whether as a sufferer or carer), anyone interested in health and social issues and for medical and health professionals.

Members Reviews:

Triggering

What did you love best about An Apple a Day?

How honest the author is. I enjoyed her voice as well, though it does have a "sticky" quality that grates after a while.

What other book might you compare An Apple a Day to and why?

Biting Anorexia - they are both candid diary type stories about the struggle back to health.

Which scene was your favorite?

When she was describing her own fascination with Posh spice. Who wouldn't identify with her thoughts on the glamorous supermom persona Posh has adopted. Also, how she describes her and Tom's trip across the western states of the US. To see America from the point of view of an an eating disordered English woman was interesting.

Any additional comments?

It is obvious from the author's point of view that she was still firmly in the grips of anorexia while writing this. Some of her interpretations of situations or other people's advise show a deep need to hang on to her disease. I came to really root for her though, and will surely listen to it again.

Loved this

I am an eating disorder therapist who has heard and read multiple accounts of people suffering with eating disorders. This is certainly my favorite and will be my go to when helping parents understand their child's eating disorder, and helping the anorexic verbalized their struggle. Loved this book.

Can relate in many ways and yet lucky I couldn't

Would you consider the audio edition of An Apple a Day to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print, but did find it refreshing to have it read by the actual author.

What was one of the most memorable moments of An Apple a Day?

Having the points in the story where I knew just what certain feelings felt like or just how the brain works when having a ED.

Have you listened to any of Emma Woolfs other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The Idea of not being able to just have a baby because of an illness that needs to be fixed was moving.

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Title: The Glitter and the Gold

Subtitle: The American Duchess - In Her Own Words

Author: Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan

Narrator: Coleen Marlo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-16-12

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 68 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful and the heir to a vast family fortune. She was also deeply in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to fulfill her social ambitions and marry an English Duke. Leaving her life in America, she came to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home: Blenheim Palace.

The ninth Duchess gives unique first-hand insight into life at the very pinnacle of English society in the Edwardian era. An unsnobbish, but often amused observer of the intricate hierarchy both upstairs and downstairs at Blenheim Palace, she is also a revealing witness to the glittering balls, huge weekend parties, and major state occasions she attended or hosted. Here are her encounters with every important figure of the day - from Queen Victoria, Edward VII, and Queen Alexandra to Tsar Nicholas, Prince Metternich, and the young Winston Churchill.

This intimate, richly enjoyable memoir is a wonderfully revealing portrait of a golden age.

Critic Reviews:

"A woman of poise, beauty, and charm looks back on her life at the very center of the most opulent and aristocratic society of three countries, the United States, Britain, and France... and emerges... a woman of courage, public spirit, refinement, and surprisingly democratic convictions." (

The New York Times)

Members Reviews:

Entertaining w/ very distracting mispronunciation

What made the experience of listening to The Glitter and the Gold the most enjoyable?

Very enjoyable, especially if you are familiar with the public figures of the Edwardian period. Wonderful descriptions of the upper class life style of the time.

Would you be willing to try another one of Coleen Marlos performances?

Not unless I was very eager to listen to the book, which in this case, I was. She was obviously trying to affect a "posh" American accent and rightly so. However, her constant mispronunciations in her reading made me gnash my teeth!

Nice story, haughty-sounding narrator

Consuelo was a gem. Coleen, not so much. Insights on the Victorian/Edwardian eras as well as the 2 world wars from a wealthy philanthropic woman's perspective.

Vintage name dropping

What disappointed you about The Glitter and the Gold?

I was hoping for some insight into her life and times. But it's just a litany of name dropping. I guess she could't afford to offend any of the illustrious people she knew during her long life. But I would have loved a little juicy vintage gossip about some of them.

What three words best describe Coleen Marlos performance?

a little stilted

Facinating Story- Terrible reading

I looked forward to the history of this story, but the narrator did a terrible job! It was read too fast, and with little or no emotion so there was no way to discern the feeling of the Dutchess.

Not goldl

I expected a more detailed and insightful account by CV of her life as a member of the British nobility. I was disappointed. She offered little.

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Title: One Last Strike

Author: Tony La Russa

Narrator: Tony La Russa, Scott Sowers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-25-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 88 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The team that refused to give up their manager in his final season.... A comeback that changed baseball....

After 33 seasons managing in Major League Baseball, Tony La Russa thought he had seen it all - that is, until the 2011 Cardinals. Down ten and a half games with little more than a month to play, the Cardinals had long been ruled out as serious postseason contenders. Yet in the face of those steep odds, this team mounted one of the most dramatic and impressive comebacks in baseball history, making the playoffs on the night of the final game of the season and going on to win the World Series despite being down to their last strike - twice.

Now La Russa gives the inside story behind this astonishing comeback and his remarkable career, explaining how a team with so much against it was able to succeed on baseball's biggest stage. Opening up about the devastating injuries, the bullpen struggles, the crucial games, and the players who made it all possible, he reveals how the team's character shaped its accomplishments, demonstrating how this group came together in good times and in bad to become that rarest of things: a team that actually enjoyed it when the odds were against them.

But this story is much more than that of a single season. As La Russa, the third-winningest manager in baseball history, explains, their season was the culmination of a lifetime spent studying the game. Laying bare his often scrutinized and frequently misunderstood approach to managing, he explains his counterintuitive belief in process over result, present moments over statistics, and team unity over individual talent. Along the way he shares the stories from throughout his career that shaped his outlook - from his first days managing the Chicago White Sox to his championship years with the Oakland A's, to his triumphant tenure as St. Louis's longest-serving manager. Setting the record straight on his famously intense style, he explores the vital yet overlooked role that his personal relationships with his players have contributed to his victories, ultimately showing how, in a sport often governed by cold, hard numbers, the secret to his success has been surprisingly human.

Speaking candidly about his decision to retire, La Russa discusses the changes that he'd observed both in the game and in himself that told him, despite his success, it was time to hang up his spikes. The end result is a passionate, insightful, and remarkable look at our national pastime that takes you behind the scenes of the comeback that no one thought possible and inside the mind of one of the game's greatest managers.

Members Reviews:

Insight to the 2011 Cards Magical Season and More

Yes, there will be bias here - I'm a Cardinals fan, and I'm enjoying this book. I'm only on chapter 18, but the book walks the listener through the 2011 season and the subsequent post-season. As expected, LaRussa gets off on (appreciated) tangents which adds to greater insight of the game itself.

This is not just a book about Tony. It's a great course on management by getting buy-in from 25 different personalities and getting the team to focus on EFFORT, not just results. My favorite quote early on is when LaRussa describes winning as a process, not a result.

As you can expect, there are a plethora of stories added along the way.

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Title: Wherever I Wind Up

Subtitle: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball

Author: R. A. Dickey, Wayne Coffey

Narrator: Ben Hunter

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-10-12

Publisher: Mission Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 102 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The Glass Castle meets Ball Four as Mets knuckleballer R. A. Dickey weaves searing honesty and baseball insight in this memoir about his unlikely journey to the big leagues.

An English Lit major at the University of Tennessee, Dickey is as articulate and thoughtful as any professional athlete in any sport - and proves it page after page, as he provides fresh and honest insight into baseball and a career unlike any other. Fourteen years ago, Dickey was a heralded No. 1 draft choice of the Texas Rangers, only to have an $810,000 signing bonus, and his lifelong dream, ripped away by an X- ray - and the discovery that he did not have an ulna collateral ligament in his right elbow. Five years ago, he gave up a record six home runs in three innings to the Detroit Tigers - and was effectively consigned to the baseball scrap heap.

Sustained by his profound Christian faith, the love of his wife and children, and a relentless quest for self-awareness and authenticity, the immensely likable Dickey details his transformation from a reckless, risk-taking loner to a grounded, life-affirming big leaguer. He emerged as one of the premier pitchers in the National League in 2010-and the knuckleballing embodiment of the wonders that perseverance and human wisdom can produce. Dickey views his story as one of redemption. Readers will come to see it as something more - a uniquely American story of beating back demons, listening to your heart, and overcoming extraordinary odds.

Members Reviews:

Marred (for me) by unfortunate performance issues

As many have already observed in reviews of both the audiobook and print versions of this work, R. A. Dickey has a compelling story to tell. It is a classic yet personal story of struggle and redemption, and it works equally well as a sports memoir, as a tale of perseverance triumphing over adversity, and as a story about the sustaining value of faith in modern life. "Wherever I Wind Up ..." (and, believe it or not, I just now noticed the pun in the title) is a well-told story, rich with detail, some of which must have been incredibly hard for the author to relive. I applaud him for baring so much of his soul to tell this story. It is a feel-good story in the end, but it passes through some pretty dark territory along the way, so when you do arrive at the end, the positive outlook you feel seems well earned and genuine.

So what's my problem?

I am one of those many New Yorkers who followed Mr. Dickey's rise as a member of the New York Mets, and am familiar with (at least) the baseball parts of his story because I've heard a good deal of it out of his own mouth. It turns out that, in addition to being a good and literate writer (along with Wayne Coffey, who I'm sure had a lot to do with putting a little professional polish on his words), it turns out that Robert Alan Dickey is also very well-spoken in person. He gives a good and thoughtful interview; he speaks thoughtfully and usually quite eloquently on any number of subjects.

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Title: Lunch in Paris

Subtitle: A Love Story, with Recipes

Author: Elizabeth Bard

Narrator: Ann Marie Lee

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-30-12

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 45 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman - and never went home again.

Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pavé au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch in Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs - one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine.

Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales. She learns to gut her first fish (with a little help from Jane Austen), soothes pangs of homesickness (with the rise of a chocolate soufflé), and develops a crush on her local butcher (who bears a striking resemblance to Matt Dillon). Elizabeth finds that the deeper she immerses herself in the world of French cuisine, the more Paris itself begins to translate. French culture, she discovers, is not unlike a well-ripened cheese: there may be a crusty exterior, until you cut through to the melting, piquant heart.

Peppered with mouth-watering recipes for summer ratatouille, swordfish tartare, and molten chocolate cakes, Lunch in Paris is a story of falling in love, redefining success, and discovering what it truly means to be at home.

In the delicious tradition of memoirs like A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, this book is the perfect treat for anyone who has dreamed that lunch in Paris could change their life.

Critic Reviews:

"She pleasantly details her joys and obstacles . . . provides poignant revelations about cultural differences. . . . A cozy, touching story." (

Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

Lunch in Paris? I'll wait until dinner...

Would you try another book from Elizabeth Bard and/or Ann Marie Lee?

This book is not terrible, along the same lines as Eat, Pray, Love, without the divorce drama. Not a lot happens (at least up to Chapter 8), but it is a sweet story, kind of like reading a chick flick. The problem I had was the narrator. It was like listening to a kindergarten teacher reading your journal to her class. I think I will read this the old fashioned way instead.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Didn't make it to the end.

Would you be willing to try another one of Ann Marie Lees performances?

Probably not.

An Afternoon in Paris

Any additional comments?

Lunch in Paris is a lovely stroll through Paris with markets, food and a little romance. A nice afternoon read.

Glad I listened to Picnic in Provance 1st.

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

Yes I would but I prefer the author narrating her book. She has a great voice. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I would have loved to live this life. I like the romance wasn't quite as fast as the title implies.

What other book might you compare Lunch in Paris to and why?

As this is a memoir, yes there was one about the girl who was hung up on the butcher.

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Title: Love Stories of World War II

Author: Larry King

Narrator: Jill Eikenberry

Format: Abridged

Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-10-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Larry King, whose previous books have sold more than one million copies, tells the moving and heartwarming stories of couples who met by chance and fell in love during World War II, based on his original interviews.

Poignant, inspiring, humorous, and unforgettable, these are the stories of men and women who, amid the chaos of a devestating war, became the loves of each other's lives. The stories in Loves Stories of World War II cover a wonderful range of experiences, from couples who met and got married within a few weeks to those who waited years after a brief first meeting to see one another again.

There are charming stories of falling in love at first sight, stories of tragedy transformed by love, and stories of the remarkable resourcefulness that can be exercised by two people determined to be together.

A treasure trove of unique reminiscences, Love Stories of World War II offers an unprecendented view into the personal side of the World War II experience and celebrates the incredible legacy of remarkable relationships forged in the midst of tragedy.

Members Reviews:

Moving stories from couples who lived history

I found this book fantastic. To find love amongst a tempestuous time and keep it going strong in an age where modesty and privacy are at minimum is truly a wonder. Great read or listen.

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Title: The Long Walk

Subtitle: A Story of War and the Life That Follows

Author: Brian Castner

Narrator: Brian Castner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-10-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 62 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In the tradition of Michael Herr's Dispatches and works by such masters of the memoir as Mary Karr and Tobias Wolff, a powerful account of war and homecoming that grabs readers by the throat even as it touches their hearts.

Brian Castner served three tours of duty in the Middle East, two of them as the commander of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit in Iraq. Days and nights he and his team - his brothers - would venture forth in heavily armed convoys from their Forward Operating Base to engage in the nerve-racking yet strangely exhilarating work of either disarming the deadly improvised explosive devices that had been discovered, or picking up the pieces when the alert came too late. They relied on an army of remote-controlled cameras and robots, but if that technology failed, a technician would have to don the eighty-pound Kevlar suit, take the Long Walk up to the bomb, and disarm it by hand. This lethal game of cat and mouse was, and continues to be, the real war within America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But The Long Walk is not just about battle itself. It is also an unflinching portrayal of the toll war exacts on the men and women who are fighting it. When Castner returned home to his wife and family, he began a struggle with a no less insidious foe, an unshakable feeling of fear and confusion and survivor's guilt that he terms The Crazy. His thrilling, heartbreaking, stunningly honest book immerses the reader in two harrowing and simultaneous realities: the terror and excitement and camaraderie of combat, and the lonely battle against the enemy within - the haunting memories that will not fade, the survival instincts that will not switch off. After enduring what he has endured, can there ever again be such a thing as "normal"? The Long Walk will hook you from the very first sentence, and it will stay with you long after its final gripping page has been turned.

Critic Reviews:

"The Long Walk is a raw, wrenching, blood-soaked chronicle of the human cost of war. Brian Castner, the leader of a military bomb disposal team, recounts his deployment to Iraq with unflinching candor, and in the process exposes crucial truths not only about this particular conflict, but also about war throughout history. Castner's memoir brings to mind Erich Maria Remarque's masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front." (Jon Krakauer, author of Where Men Win Glory)

"Castner has written a powerful book about the long cost of combat and the brotherhood of men at arms. Remarkably, he has made the world of the EOD entertaining, occasionally hilarious, and always harrowing. His honesty is refreshing and the book is written with such candor and openness that one can't help but root for him. And did I mention that it is entertaining? There were scenes at work with the bomb disposal unit where I found myself holding my breath." (Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead)

"Do you want to know a little something about our war in Iraq? Begin with The Long Walk, Brian Castner's elegant, superbly written story about the bomb-disposal guys. As you read think of Alan Sillitoe's The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. Castner gives us that steady rhythm of one foot in front of the other. Think of Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.