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Title: Pastoral

Author: Nevil Shute

Narrator: Roger Davis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-18-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

During the Second World War, Peter Marshall's crew is one of the most successful bombing teams at their Oxfordshire airbase. However, when Peter falls in love with a young WAAF officer, his concentration begins to suffer and it looks as though his perfect run of missions - and his life - may be threatened.

Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 1899 - 12 January 1960) was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He studied at Balliol College, Oxford, and published his first novel, Marazan, in 1926. During the Second World War he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he worked on developing secret weapons, but after the conflict he continued to write and settled in Australia where he lived until his death on 12 January 1960. His most celebrated novels include Pied Piper (1942), No Highway (1948), A Town Like Alice (1950) and On the Beach (1957).

Critic Reviews:

"One of the happiest books which war has called into being." (Sunday Times)

Members Reviews:

A great read--as always with a Shute novel

Nevil Shute is a great writer. His novels (and there are a lot of them) are still in print some sixty or even seventy years after he wrote them. They get reissued occasionally and you can always find them in the used book stores on line. He is a gentle soul and a perceptive observer of the human condition. This story is about a young RAF pilot and his finding his first love. There's also a good bit of accurate observation as to managers--in this case military commanders, manage the people they lead. Shute had a long career in the aviation industry and was actually CEO of a small aircraft manufacturer in the 1930's. In WW II he was the second in command of a naval research and development team that delivered unusual weapons as the need arose. You can learn a lot about the emotions of people and about how to lead and manage their efforts from a Shute novel.

An amazing story of falling in love in Aviation

It took me a while to get used to the authors run-on writing style with very little breaks as if he was telling a story over at the pub, but it is a great book and the style actually makes you want to keep reading to find out what will happen, like a good story teller in the pub who keeps you hanging on every word.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and being an Avgeek the aviation side had me before i even fell for the love story. I would recommend this book to anyone who still sees aviation life as romantic (like I do)

One of the great stories of WW II

One of the great stories of WW II. You'll read it and put it aside, and then read it againand put it aside, and then again, over and over. The descriptions of the hours of boredom and minutes of panic and struggle for survival of the bomber crews of WW II is just about the best you can find. Nevil Shute is a great story teller and you won't forget this one. Follow up by reading "A Town Like Alice, and "Round the Bend" and "Trustee From the Toolroom".

The Young Always Believe They're Immortal

Nevil Shute seems to be a very underrated author.

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Title: Truth in Advertising

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: John Kenney

Narrator: Robert Petkoff

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-22-13

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 324 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

A wickedly funny, honest, and poignant debut novel in the spirit of Then We Came to the End and This Is Where I Leave You about the absurdity of corporate life, the complications of love, and the meaning of family.

Finbar Dolan is lost and lonely. Except he doesnt know it. Despite escaping his blue-collar Boston upbringing to carve out a mildly successful career at a Madison Avenue ad agency, hes a bit of a mess and closing in on 40. Hes recently called off a wedding. Now, a few days before Christmas, hes forced to cancel a long-postponed vacation in order to write, produce, and edit a Superbowl commercial for his diaper account in record time.

Fortunately, it gets worse. He learns that his long-estranged and once-abusive father has fallen ill. And that neither of his brothers or his sister intend to visit. Its a wake-up call for Fin to reevaluate the choices hes made, admit that hes falling for his co-worker Phoebe, question the importance of diapers in his life, and finally tell the truth about his life and his past.

First-time novelist John Kenney, a regular New Yorker contributor, mines his own advertising background to weave spot-on, compelling insider detail into a hilarious, insightful, at times sardonic, and ultimately moving debut.

Editorial Reviews:

Editors Select, January 2013 - Im excited to listen to Truth in Advertising because I cant wait to hear Robert Petkoffs narration. Petkoffs performance on Beat the Reaper is what got me hooked on listening, so I have high expectations for author John Kenneys debut. Im currently reading it, and the book feels a lot like Jonathan Troppers One Last Thing Before I Go (which I loved) funny, honest, bittersweet, and real.

Members Reviews:

Great Stuff

Any additional comments?

One advantage of audiobooks is that you can distribute your attention among things other than the materiel. Commute, laundry, walking the dog, making a sandwich, all possible while simultaneously listening to a book. Reading however, means sitting in a chair with your complete attention on the book. As a consequence, my experience is that the comprehension and retention of the audiobook material is usually a fraction of that of a book book.While listening to TRUTH IN ADVERTISING it soon becomes obvious that this is a story to be savored, deserving of your full attention. The writing and the narration is so good that I found myself continually rewinding and replaying passages. Ill leave a summation of the plot to others. Ill simply say that the experience is funny, at times tragic, always for me, deeply affecting. Special mention of the narration by Robert Petkoff: it is superb. He uses accents and dramatic reading to great effect. You will enjoy this audiobook while sitting in your favorite chair, not while doing the dishes.

A Riotous, Rollicking Rollercoaster!

This is "dysfunction noir", in the tradition of Tropper and Franzen, but with many more hilarious and comedic moments. Having spent many years in a profession similar to that of Finbar Dolan, the protagonist, I could completely relate to the characters in the ad agency and to their conflicts that come from the nature of the parts they must play. Basically this particular plot arc centers on the now-trite adage that the client is always right, and it doesn't matter how creatively you solve an issue, and how many branded celebrities you bring in to a campaign if the client does not relate.

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Title: Yo-Yo Boing!

Author: Giannina Braschi, Tess O'Dwyer (translator)

Narrator: Adriana Sananes

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-04-12

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

This groundbreaking novel, set in New York City during the 1990s, is guaranteed to be unlike any literary experience you have ever had. Acclaimed Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi has crafted this creative and insightful examination of the Hispanic-American experience, taking on the voices of a variety of characters - painters, poets, sculptors, singers, writers, filmmakers, actors, directors, set designers, editors, and philosophers - to draw on their various cultural, economic, and geopolitical backgrounds to engage in lively cultural dialogue. Their topics include love, sex, food, music, books, inspiration, despair, infidelity, jobs, debt, war, and world news. Braschis discourse winds throughout the citys public, corporate, and domestic settings, offering an inside look at the cultural conflicts that can occur when Anglo Americans and Latin Americans live, work, and play together. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as "a literary liberation", this energetic and comical novel celebrates the contradiction that makes contemporary American culture so wonderfully diverse.

First published in Spanglish in 1998 to rave reviews, this is the first English audiobook of Yo-Yo Boing!

Critic Reviews:

"An 'in-your-face assertion' of the vitality of Latino culture in the U.S." (New York Daily News)

"A force to reckon with." (Ilan Stavans, The FSG Book of Twentieth-Century Latin American Poetry)

Members Reviews:

three stars... and I think they have mis-conjugated the title... on purpose!

at times brilliant, at others unreadable, and yet I give it three stars ... and not 2.5

Do it. Buy it. Read it. Excellent.

I just re read this book having gotten back into Ms Braschi after finishing her mind blowing new book United States of Banana. So glad that I did! It held up and then some. Her humor runs deep, is very dark and also makes you just giggle. Sometimes I felt like she was expressing thoughts that I assumed were only in my head but she could articulate them and give them great meaning. Ha. Yes, you have to concentrate but how lovely to do that again in this age of the quick light fix and sound bites. I don't think there are writers at present who are doing what she does, capturing the social and intellectual scene of the time and thinking in a manner that is passionate, moving and so far outside any box I could even dream of. She challenges the reader and also kind of says - hey c'mon, this will be a blast. Read it. Have a great time.

Well written, but boring

To enjoy "Yo-yo Boing!", you need to dominate both the English and Spanish languages, as the author shifts back and forth between the languages during the book.

The book is basically composed of dialogues -changing speakers, situations and characthers without transition- working as the flow of thoughts inside our minds. It is interesting, and I must grant that Braschi is a superb writer in terms of playing with words and styles.

The first half -in which she blames her boyfriend for her lack of inspiration, when she is really suffering from lazyness and writer's block- is extremely funny. However, the second half is a complete dissapointment, with a lot of so called intellectuals talking about how important they are because of poetry and art. I had to push myself to end this book.

Not my cup of tea

I found "Yo-Yo Boing" very difficult to read, confusing (perhaps it's over my head) and boring.

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Titel: Aller Tage Abend

Autor:: Jenny Erpenbeck

Erzähler: Jenny Erpenbeck

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 09-19-12

Herausgeber: Der Hörverlag

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Literary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Wie lang wird das Leben des Kindes sein, das gerade geboren wird? Wer sind wir, wenn uns die Stunde schlägt? Wer wird um uns trauern? Jenny Erpenbeck nimmt uns mit auf ihrer Reise durch die vielen Leben, die in einem Leben enthalten sein können. Von einer galizischen Kleinstadt um 1900 spannt sie dabei den Bogen über Wien und das stalinistische Moskau bis ins Berlin der Gegenwart. Meisterhaft und lebendig erzählt Erpenbeck, wie sich das, was wir "Schicksal" nennen, als ein unfassbares Zusammenspiel von Kultur- und Zeitgeschichte, von familiären und persönlichen Verstrickungen erweist.

©2012 Knaus in der Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH, München (P)2012 Hessischer Rundfunk/Der Hörverlag

Kritik Bewertungen:

Ernst, eindringlich, und klug.

-- Donaukurier

Aller Tage Abend blickt noch einmal zurück auf das schreckliche 20. Jahrhundert mit seinen Groß-Katastrophen () und zieht eines der möglichen Resümees aus diesen Erfahrungen mit nachdenklichem Ernst, doch literarisch elegant und spielerisch in der Form.

-- Sigrid Löffler, Radio Bremen "Literaturzeit"

Ein literarisches Ereignis in diesem Bücherherbst

-- Michael Hametner im MDR Hörfunk "Figaro"

Mitglieder Bewertungen:

"One death is not the end of all days"

Already the title of Jenny Erpenbeck's new novel, ALLER TAGE ABEND (THE END OF ALL DAYS), gives me pause. It is an old fashioned phrase that goes back at least to Martin Luther. The story begins at the grave site of a baby girl, and, while the grandmother accepts this death without questioning the why?, the thoughts of the mother wander into all the possible future lives that the girl might have had... "One death is not the end of all days", first spoken by the grandmother, becomes the underlying theme that weaves through the book. The author builds her novel around the fundamental question:" what if..?" What coincidences, unforeseen encounters, personal actions or external events shape our lives, could have shaped the life of this one nameless little girl? From that first scene of mourning and grief, Erpenbeck spins an extraordinary and complex narrative in which she intertwines a personal, intimate family story of three generations with pertinent political events and historical changes taking place in the course of the twentieth century - from 1902 to 1992. Brilliant! Without hesitation - very rare for me - I can say that this is the most powerful and thought provoking book I have read this year if not longer.

In five "books", each linked to the next by an 'intermezzo', the author composes the novel like a musical arrangement - a symphony maybe - where each book has its own style and rhythm, yet picks up one or another elements from the previous only to develop it into another variation of the underlying theme "what if?..." The language can be stark or lyrical, the rhythm slow or fast. All depends on the pace of the story and images created. Nonetheless, each book contains its concrete setting in time and place. This could be Galicia, home of the Jewish grandmother, Vienna, Siberia, Berlin... Each locale has a role to play in the story's events as it does in the historical contexts.

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Title: San Miguel

Author: T. C. Boyle

Narrator: Barbara Caruso

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-18-12

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 94 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Women, a historical novel about three womens lives on a California island.

On a tiny, desolate, windswept island off the coast of Southern California, two families, one in the 1880s and one in the 1930s, come to start new lives and pursue dreams of self-reliance and freedom. Their extraordinary stories, full of struggle and hope, are the subject of T. C. Boyles haunting new novel.

Thirty-eight-year-old Marantha Waters arrives on San Miguel on New Years Day 1888 to restore her failing health. Joined by her husband, a stubborn, driven Civil War veteran who will take over the operation of the sheep ranch on the island, Marantha strives to persevere in the face of the hardships, some anticipated and some not, of living in such brutal isolation. Two years later their adopted teenage daughter, Edith, an aspiring actress, will exploit every opportunity to escape the captivity her father has imposed on her. Time closes in on them all and as the new century approaches, the ranch stands untenanted.

And then in March 1930, Elise Lester, a librarian from New York City, settles on San Miguel with her husband, Herbie, a World War I veteran full of manic energy. As the years go on they find a measure of fulfillment and serenity; Elise gives birth to two daughters, and the family even achieves a celebrity of sorts. But will the peace and beauty of the island see them through the impending war as it had seen them through the Depression?

Rendered in Boyles accomplished, assured voice, with great period detail and utterly memorable characters, this is a moving and dramatic work from one of Americas most talented and inventive storytellers.

Members Reviews:

First time T.C. Boyle reader

The idea of "historical fiction" has never appealed to me much, so that pretty much leaves T.C. Boyle out. However I went to a couple of his readings, and found him to be such a charming, humorous, intelligent guy that I really wanted to read one of his books. SAN MIGUEL sounded good, so it was my first T.C. Boyle read. I enjoyed this book enormously and felt that the performance was part of the reason why. Barbara Caruso did such a good job. The characters, location, and story of the two families living on the island of San Miguel were interesting and held my attention. This may have been my first book by T.C. Boyle, but it definitely won't be my last. Now I want to move on to WHEN THE KILLING'S DONE, which takes place in the same location.

1 Island, 3 stories

Its been a while since the last time I read anything by Boyle. There was a period when I read a lot of him, but then I got caught up with new authors and well, you know how it goes. San Miguel had been on my wishlist for while so I just went for it and despite the mixed reviews its received, I enjoyed my time with it. I think Ive said this before of Boyle, that he works better when he doesnt have to drive a plot. When he can just tell a tale of what happens next with some really interesting characters, living in interesting places, doing interesting things. Even routine things he can make interesting and thats what he does here. It reminded me strongly of Wallace Stegners Angle of Repose because of the setting and spirits of the women he wrote about. Some wanted to be where they were and pursuing their hard-scrabble lives on San Miguel.

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Title: The Doula

Author: Bridget Boland

Narrator: Madeleine Maby

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-04-12

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In the powerful tradition of Chris Bohjalians Midwives and Jodi Picoults Handle With Care comes a riveting debut novel about a doula, trained to support women and their families during childbirth, on trial for her best friends death.

Raised in a funeral home, Caroline Connors saw her mother miscarry when she was just a young girl and realized that she had a calling. Unlike her family, who guided souls on their way out, Caro chose to bring them in.

As a doula, Caro spent years providing comfort and emotional support to women in labor. But when her best friend, Mary Grace, experiences complications, she makes a quick decision, taking the babys life into her hands as her lifelong friend passes away. Now, charged with medical malpractice by Mary Graces husband, Caro must endure a trial that threatens her professional future, questions her identity as a doula and friend, and forces her to confront a dark past that shes been hiding from for years.

In this poignant novel, Bridget Boland examines the sometimes contentious relationship between birth coaches and hospital staff and shows how a doula who intervenes during labor might save a life but then might also face medical and legal repercussions. The Doula reveals fascinating real-life elements about medical ethics and holistic medicine, and dissects the big issues about motherhood, spirituality, loyalty, and loss.

Critic Reviews:

"Bridget Boland has written a powerhouse of a debut novel. The Doula takes an unflinching look at some of the worst calamities that can befall a life, and shows us the grace and redemption that can grow out of our darkest moments. Never sentimental, but with real compassion that rings true on every page, Boland takes us on a hard-fought journey toward genuine wisdom." (Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk)

Members Reviews:

So inaccurate

I struggle to believe this woman is actually a doula. There is so much inaccuracy in what is supposedly her profession.

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Title: Sweet Tooth

Author: Ian McEwan

Narrator: Juliet Stevenson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-21-12

Publisher: Random House Audiobooks

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 162 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge and finds herself being groomed for the intelligence services. The year is 1972. Britain, confronting economic disaster, is being torn apart by industrial unrest and terrorism and faces its fifth state of emergency. The Cold War has entered a moribund phase, but the fight goes on, especially in the cultural sphere.

Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is sent on a secret mission that brings her into the literary world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories; then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life? And who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage trust no one.

McEwans mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal and intrigue, love, and the invented self.

Members Reviews:

Superb and surprising

If you could sum up Sweet Tooth in three words, what would they be?

Clever, empathetic and intriguing

What other book might you compare Sweet Tooth to and why?

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes- they are both brilliantly observed memoirs that utterly capture the essence of youth and early love affairs. Sweet Tooth is, however, vastly superior in my opinion with a more interesting story.

Which scene was your favorite?

The ending is superb.

If you could rename Sweet Tooth, what would you call it?

I couldn't/ wouldn't.

Any additional comments?

Great narration and delivery and a thoroughly enjoying listen. Just the right length, tense, taught and interesting.

What a twist! Thought provoking!

Would you listen to Sweet Tooth again? Why?

Yes, absolutely! Beautiful read and well-wriiten, it drove me into an almost trance-like hazy. The world so realistically sculptured by both Ian and Juliet, I began to feel like I came home to the story at the end of the day.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sweet Tooth?

The ending was one of those, "oh my word, did I hear that right?" moments. Rarely do plots surprise me, this one did and for that I am grateful

Have you listened to any of Juliet Stevensons other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, she is one voice that neither intrudes on the story nor fails to instil the necessary emotion - she is the perfect balance

Any additional comments?

Fabulous book from a great author, exquisitely read!

MI5 romance

It starts off as an interesting promise of a story of literature and espionage, just as the blurbs advertise. Halfway through you realize it's neither; it's really a story of relationships (one in particular) and the power games that go into them. Which might be interesting in itself, if it weren't, well, not very interesting. A character who's not particularly bright falls for a character who's utterly unlikable. Then half the book is spent waiting for something terrible to happen, some major disgrace that is mentioned at the beginning. Then the book ends.

I, for one, though I liked other books by McEwan, found it difficult to be interested in these characters and felt cheated in many promises, of plot or depth, that they can't fulfill. I did find it easy to read through (listen to, in fact) to the end.

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Title: Inside

Author: Alix Ohlin

Narrator: Tandy Cronyn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-07-12

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

A critically acclaimed, award-winning author, Alix Ohlin pens a masterpiece of emotional complexity with Inside. In this literary tour de force, a therapist named Grace attempts to help a man recover from his failed suicide attempt. Meanwhile, Graces teen patient Annie runs away from home to reinvent herself in New York, and Graces ex-husband leaves the comfort of a successful relationship to attempt to help native peoples in the bleak Arctic.

Critic Reviews:

A skillful storyteller attractively quick-witted and wry. (J. M. Coetzee)

Members Reviews:

A Good but not Great Debut

I found the novel hard to follow as it jumps back and forth in time and between characters. The various narratives are interesting and there are some intersections of characters. However, the book doesn't hang together well. It would have been better as a collection of short stories. The narrator is wonderful though and I could listen to her forever.

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Title: The Cranes Dance

Author: Meg Howrey

Narrator: Justine Eyre

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-15-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 69 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

I threw my neck out in the middle of Swan Lake tonight.

So begins the tale of Kate Crane, a soloist in a celebrated New York City ballet company. Kate is struggling to keep her place in a very demanding world, a world she cant help satirizing even as she balances injury and self-doubt to maintain her place within it. At every turn she is haunted by her close relationship with her younger sister, Gwen, a fellow company dancer whose career quickly surpassed Kates but who has recently suffered a breakdown and returned home to Michigan.

Alone for the first time in her life, Kate is anxious and full of guilt about the role she played in her sisters collapse. As we follow her on an insider tour of rehearsals, performances, and partners onstage and off, she confronts the tangle of love, jealousy, pride, and obsession that are beginning to fracture her own sanity.

Funny, dark, intimate, and unflinchingly honest,The Cranes Danceis a book that pulls back the curtains to reveal the private lives of dancers and explores the complicated bond between sisters.

Critic Reviews:

Smart, witty, and wise, Meg Howreys impressive debut novel is a beautiful story that in its subtlety speaks to the fundamental questions of identity and love. (James Lapine, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, on Blind Sight)

A warm and surprising debut. (New York Times on Blind Sight)

From The Red Shoes to Black Swan, Hollywood has provided unforgettable portrayals of the ballet worlds grisliness as well as its glamour. At last, The Cranes Dance brings this enchanting world alive in literature but with tremendous wit, flair, and psychological insight.(Caroline Weber, author of Queen of Fashion)

Members Reviews:

Made Me Want More

Engaging slice of life drama about Kate, a New York company ballet soloist dealing with a neck injury, the lack of her ever-present sister, and the guilt that maybe her sister's predicament is partly her fault.

The book starts you out in present day, but the story dips into flashbacks as Kate experiences something that triggers a memory. As the book goes along, my hunger to know the whole story grows with each tantalizing bit of information. At the end, I was so engaged with the characters that I wanted more. It does end rather swiftly, but not in a bad way. I feel like it mimicked Kate's sudden jerk out of her downward spiral pretty well, though I did wish for more details on the aftermath.

If you don't like slice of life books, following around one person during their day to day lives and privy to everything going on inside of their head, then you probably wouldn't like this book. I found the dip into a ballet dancer's life interesting, but it is a repetitive and constant backdrop in the story for those who aren't interested in the subject.

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Title: Back When We Were Grownups

Author: Anne Tyler

Narrator: Blair Brown

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-11-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 44 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

"Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered that she had turned into the wrong person." So Anne Tyler opens this irresistible new novel.

The woman is Rebecca Davitch, a fifty-three-year-old grandmother. Is she an impostor in her own life? she asks herself. Is it indeed her own life? Or is it someone elses?

On the surface, Beck, as she is known to the Davitch clan, is outgoing, joyous, a natural celebrator. Giving parties is, after all, her vocation - something she slipped into even before finishing college, when Joe Davitch spotted her at an engagement party in his familys crumbling nineteenth-century Baltimore row house, where giving parties was the family business. What caught his fancy was that she seemed to be having such a wonderful time. Soon this large-spirited older man, a divorcé with three little girls, swept her into his orbit, and before she knew it she was embracing his extended family plus a child of their own, and hosting endless parties in the ornate, high-ceilinged rooms of The Open Arms.

Now, some thirty years later, after presiding over a disastrous family picnic, Rebecca is caught un-awares by the question of who she really is. How she answers it - how she tries to recover her girlhood self, that dignified grownup she had once been - is the story told in this beguiling, funny, and deeply moving novel.

As always with Anne Tylers novels, once we enter her world it is hard to leave. But in Back When We Were Grownups she so sharpens our perceptions and awakens so many untapped feelings that we come away not only refreshed and delighted, but also infinitely wiser.

Critic Reviews:

You are involved before you even notice you were paying attention...Her feel for character is so keen that even hardened metafictionalists [who] would happily fry the whole notion of character for breakfast are reduced to the role of helpless gossips, swapping avid hunches about the possible fates of the characters. (Tom Shone, The New Yorker)

Wise, kind, rueful and clear-eyed . . . and her truths are as gritty as earth and as interesting as the world. (Amy Bloom, Elle)

Theres not a flat line in this book . . . not a moment that isnt tapped for all its glorious possibilities. This is storytelling at its best and most breathtaking. (Beth Kephart, Book)

Members Reviews:

Not my favorite Anne Tyler book but still good

I don't think Anne Tyler could write a lousy book, but this wasn't one of my favorites. What she does so well is character development, and the characters are so interesting they can carry the story--as long is the story is at least mildly interesting. But in this book, both the story and characters were not as developed or as interesting as usual.

Worth a listen if you are a Tyler fan and have read/listened to everything else she's written but start with the excellent ones first: Spool of Blue Thread; Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant; The Accidental Tourist; The Armature Marriage, etc.

I have listened to some of Tyler's book that I previously read in print--Blair Brown is a very good narrator, but a couple of my favorite books have such an awful narrator (judging by the audio sample) that I won't torture my ears.