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Title: Robinson Crusoe

Author: Daniel Defoe

Narrator: Martin Shaw

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-01-05

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe is the story of an adventurous young man who ignores the sound and sensible advice of his father and sets off to see the world. However, Crusoe's ship founders in a storm, and he is the only survivor. Washed ashore on a desert island, he is faced with the challenge of providing food and shelter for himself, and is forced to invent afresh many things that he had previously taken for granted. Long years of hardship and struggle follow, but eventually Crusoe becomes contented with his lot, proud of the kingdom that he has created for himself. Then, one day, he discovers that he is not alone on the island.

(P)1992 HarperCollins UK

Critic Reviews:

"Martin Shaw convincingly recounts this story which, above all, describes the strength the human spirit can muster under desperate circumstances." (Sunday Times)

Members Reviews:

Classic story, well worth rereading

The last time I read this book was close to 60 years ago, while still in high school, where it was assigned, as one of the required books for the term, in our Freshman English class. That was way back, when schools actually required students to read at least 4 books, each semester of every year, just for their English course. While the syntax and language are, at times, arcane, the story is a classic one, to which I recommend all readers.

Good man found his way

I read this book , when I was 10or 12 years old.

I was amazed how I saw Robinson Crusoe and Friday this time. I saw a man doing penance for some wrong dealings , and earning his way back to society.

A classic

I tried to read this book when I was a teenager and I was put off by the language and writing style. This time I stayed with it and was glad I did. The writing style is quite a bit different than today's. Some of the sentences in this book were three pages long. I viewed it on a Kindle and was glad to have the dictionary available to look up some of the terms used. Overall a very good book. It dragged in some spots, especially when he spends forty pages discussing why the settlers should marry the women they've lived with. The scanning was haphazard - there was no editing after it was scanned, so page numbers and odd notations are scattered randomly throughout. It was free, so I can't complain too much.

Perfect for someone who still enjoys picking up a book!

Purchased as a gift for a family member. This was not a new copy and I did not want a new one. The condition was exactly as stated in the description. Classic story and the great feel of an old book. Quite a combination.

Good read!

How do you get as old as me and not have read Robinson Crusoe? I don't know the answer to that question. My grandson suggested that I read it, and I did. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

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Title: Changing Habits

Author: Debbie Macomber

Narrator: Trini Alvarado

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-11-05

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 33 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Despite the relative seclusion of the convent house in Minneapolis, they're not immune to what's happening in the world around them. In 1972, Angie's involvement with a pregnant teenager triggers a crisis of faith. At the same time, Joanna's relationship with a Vietnam veteran brings her face-to-face with the choices she made, and didn't make, in her own life.

Then, Angie and Joanna leave the sisterhood, abandoning the convent for the exciting and confusing world outside. The world of choices to be made, of risks to be taken. Of men and romantic love. The world of ordinary women.

Debbie Macomber illuminates women's lives with compassion, with love, and with grace. In Changing Habits she proves once again why she's one of the world's most popular writers of fiction for, and about, women.

Critic Reviews:

"Macomber offers a very human look at three women who uproot their lives to follow their true destiny." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

NOT typical Macomber story.

As a Catholic woman who inderstands all these women went through, I loved it. Many others will find it disappointing. It is not a romance story as much as a look at life as a nun.

bad abridgement

I tend to avoid abridgements, so I should have known better. It was so stripped down that there was little character development and it was just a quick run-through of a story that might have been a lot more interesting in full format. Macomber's books are a bit sugar coated I admit.

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Title: The Phantom of the Opera

Author: Gaston Leroux

Narrator: Henry Butler

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-99

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Gaston Leroux's phenomenal novel, which inspired the hit Broadway musical, remains one of the most original suspense stories ever written. Erik, a brilliant but hideously disfigured musical genius, lives in the basement of Paris's National Academy of Music, where he haunts the opera crowd in his mask and fancy clothes. The Phantom falls in love with Christine Daai, a beautiful soprano, and gives her music lessons by magically throwing his voice. But Erik is stunned to learn that Christine loves Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, who disappears around the same time his brother, Count Phillippe, is found dead outside the Academy. A haunting tale of obsession, a touching story about internal beauty, and a top-notch detective drama, The Phantom of the Opera is a remarkable novel, narrated to perfection by Henry Butler.

Editorial Reviews:

This is a suspenseful tale of love, music, and obsession. Erik is a musical genius whose face is disfigured. He lives in the basement of the Paris Opera House, haunts the precincts, and torments the operagoers. He falls in love with Christine Daaé, a company Soprano, and becomes obsessed with the idea of making the girl fall in love with him at any cost. Henry Butler's performance of this French classic transports the listener into a dark and dangerous world of unfulfilled passions. Butler's voice is measured and cavernous, adding to the tension of this well-crafted story.

Critic Reviews:

"The most fantastic of tales." (The New York Times)

Members Reviews:

Great narration of one of my favorite books ever

I first read the novel many years ago after becoming a big fan of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. I am so happy that now I have such an excellent narration of it! I think Henry Butler does a really great job. He has a very good voice for audiobook narration. After listening for a few minutes I got so into the story that I didn't even notice that it was him reading anymore. You just forget that anyone is reading aloud to you and get so engrossed in the story. You even forget that it's just one person reading when there are different characters speaking and he has to alter his voice or tone a bit for each one. He does it so subtly and well that you don't even notice that it's him and you think it's each character that's speaking! I was especially impressed by how he read the "Persian's narrative" chapters with a slight Persian accent. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed listening to this audiobook!

The only drawback about this audiobook is that when I transferred it onto my Audible Otis player, it didn't allow me to skip a chapter or a few chapters at a time. Thus whenever I accidently left my player on for a long time, I had to hold the rewind botton down to rewind hundreds of minutes of the book. It wasn't the end of the world, but it was a slight inconvenience. Anyhow, I would still heartily recommend this audiobook to fans of the musical, musical lovers, and people who love the city Paris.

What a classic masterpiece!

What made the experience of listening to The Phantom of the Opera the most enjoyable?

Listening to the Old World way that people spoke to each other back in the 19th century.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Not really as I'd already heard this audiobook way back in the early 90's when I was still in high school.

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Title: Bill for Short

Author: Barry Morrow

Narrator: uncredited

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-99

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

In November of 1920, 7-year-old Bill Sackter walked through the looking glass into a state institution for the retarded. He never saw his family again. 44 years later, a much older Bill re-entered the world, hungry for all it could offer. With a job washing dishes at a country club, and a wig to cover his bald head, Bill met an intensely curious young man fresh out of college - Barry Morrow. "A man needs three things in life: A good job, a good home and a buddy." Morrow became that buddy, and learned to see the world through Bill's eyes, colored by his boundless reserve of good cheer and goofy humor. He tells Bill's story in this highly emotional performance.

Recording (P)1997 by Audio Literature

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Title: Homegrown

Author: Elizabeth Massie

Narrator: Aze Fellner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-14-12

Publisher: Crossroad Press

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Homegrown is a story of longing, despair, and hope at a children's home in the mid-1980s. Three teenaged boys - Howard, Mark, and Cooter - have lived at the Protestant Children's Home for much of their lives. Worldly and wise sixteen-year-old Howard is the role model. Fifteen-year-old Mark is the angry rebel. And fourteen-year-old Cooter, the only true "orphan" of the bunch, is the peacemaker, doing his best to make everybody happy and to diffuse bad situations with outrageous humor. They know the rules and the routines. They tolerate the adults and bond with one another, looking forward to the time when they are old enough to go off on their own to make their own rules, their own lives.

The Home is not the nightmare workhouse of Oliver Twist, but an institution that tries with imperfect understanding and limited resources to offer its charges a clean, ordered place to live. Yet when financial circumstances force the Home to accept more hardened "state kids" into its ranks, Howard, Mark, and Cooter find their world thrown upside down. Cooter does all he can to hold the threads of his life and those of his friends together, but they spiral out of control.

Told primarily as a flashback from 1994, Homegrown opens as Cooter prepares to take on the most agonizing personal challenge of his life. Yet it is while facing his past failures and his fear of the present that he discovers one true and most important fact about his life; a truth filled with hope and redemption.

Members Reviews:

A true life account

I sank into this book on a cold day and wanted to stay with it till the story ended. Careful descriptions in the beginning left me ready for the evolution toward dialogue and character development later on. As the story flowed to tell the intertwining lives of these adolescents...I wanted to see it to the end. It was a one day - don't bother me I'm in my book kind of a read. Having visited the "children's home" and heard many stories from folks who grew up there, I can say that her tale captures the essence of various experiences...with sensitivity, humor and complexity. You will be glad you went with Massie into this world - I still remember the characters months later. She makes them come alive.

Great, engaging, dynamic book!

I am a bit picky when it comes to books --- if they don't grab me from the start, I lack the patience to stick with them and therefore put them back on the shelf. "Homegrown" literally had my attention from the first page and kept it for the entire book. The descriptions are so clear and thorough without feeling forced and the flashback style is intriguing and captivating. I kept wondering exactly where the story was going but was so enamoured by the characters that I didn't want to rush to get to the end. As a high school teacher, I know teenagers and I think the author did an excellent job of portraying their complexity and making it very clear that what you see always has a backstory. Fantastic read!

A wonderful tale, beautifully written

There's something about coming of age tales that take us back to our own adolescence. I remember bieng impacted by Ordinary People and, of course, Catcher in the Rye when I was young. This book gave me that same kind of rich connection with Massie's well-developed characters. Those familiar with her extensive horror collection will appreciate her powerful prose.

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Title: Eddie Signwriter

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Adam Schwartzman

Narrator: Kevin Kenerly

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-23-10

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

This stunning novelits power and prose evocative of such diverse writers as Faulkener, Ondaatje, Nabokov, and Coetzeeis about a young Africans international odyssey of self-discovery. At its center is Kwasi Edward Michael DankohEddie Signwriter to his clientsa 20-year-old painter of murals and billboards in the city of Accra, Ghana, who is buffeted by forces beyond his control and understanding as he is swept up by the passions and machinations of others.

Struggling with a forbidden relationship, banished from school, held responsible for the death of a notable woman in the community, Eddie flees overland to Senegal and then, illegally, to France, determined to find a new life for himself among the immigrant communities of Paris. Following him across magnificently rendered African lands into precincts of Paris, where the city of light shows a darker aspect, Eddie Signwriter gives us a spellbinding tale of rootlessness and desire, of disgrace and redemption, of politics both personal and global, of art and love.

Empathic, wise, deeply humane, and luminously written, it is a novel of great importance and Adam Schwartzman a writer of great promise.

Critic Reviews:

This wide-ranging and gorgeously written novel has huge heart, and Kwasis quest for identity is as sad as it is uplifting. (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

A quick read that doesn't get to third base

The best part of this book is the enthralled mystery that serves a purpose. Forget all other suspense novels. This one adds enough of an element of mystery that the suspense keeps the reader reading instead of guessing. Its simple and there are enough characters and similarities that the presentation is clearly put. When you have finished with it, you may feel to have visited a far off country or two.

I haven't read anything from this author before. I wasn't reminded of any other books such as Alchemist or Life of Pi. There is enough dark and grittiness to be an offshoot.

A Good Beginning

I was quite enthused when I first started reading Eddie Signwriter. I thought Adam Schwartzman certainly was gifted with amazing ideas that took life with words, with action, with character, and promisingly, wisdom.

The book mostly takes place in Africa and we learn in a disjointed sort of way how the lives of a handful of characters combine, have their effect for good or ill, and then each go their separate way.

Schwartzman knows how to pile detail upon detail when he is build- ing a description of a location, but his best writing is the simplest: "Gaborone was a place of empty space and time, and it nurtured things that could not be said." Beautiful!

In the beginning of the book Schwartzman goes deep into his psyche and offers us important life insights and significant wisdom. "Who are the strong men, really? And he knew it was not the men one is taught to love, nor the men one is taught to follow, nor even the rich, but the ones who keep what is theirs, however small." He inadvertantly describes many fathers when he writes, "There remained something of an abstractness in his father's love, an overconcern for his happiness that he sensed concealed a fear of really knowing him."

Schwartzman understands grief probably more than any other emotion:

"how a person survives with the nerves so shot through and the flesh so riddled with living.

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Title: Ripley Under Water

Author: Patricia Highsmith

Narrator: Kevin Kenerly

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-24-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 154 votes

Genres: Fiction, Literary

Publisher's Summary:

Tom Ripley passes his leisured days at his French country estate tending the dahlias, practicing the harpsichord, and enjoying the company of his lovely wife, Heloise. Never mind the bloodstains on the basement floor.

But some new neighbors have moved to Villeperce: the Pritchards, just arrived from America. they are a ghastly pair, with vulgar manners and even more vulgar taste. Most inconvenient, though, is their curiosity. Ripley does, after all, have a few things to hide. When menacing coincidences begin to occur, a spiraling contest of sinister hints and mutual terrorism ensues, resulting in one of Patricia Highsmith's most elegantly harrowing novels to date.

Critic Reviews:

"One of our greatest modernist writers." (Gore Vidal)

Members Reviews:

best book of the series

I thought this was a thoroughly entertaining series. You can see where in modern times people got the idea for storylines like Dexter, etc. This is as good, if not better than the first book. The narrator, as in all the other books in the series is immaculate. I burned through this series like a fat kid through a candy dish at Christmas.

Existential ambivalence to the artistic extreme

While not my favorite of the five Ripliad novels, still Highsmith didn't disappoint. Patricia Highsmith is all about atmospherics, setting and slight imbalances. She nuances the reader right to the edge of the pond and then plop, you've fallen into the depths of swanky euro-psychopathy. This is like Camus after he went to an art show, or Sartre after having eaten a really nice afternoon meal with a good vintage red wine.

The Ripley novels are existential ambivalence to the artistic extreme. It is all French mirrors, Tunisian smoke, German duplicity and American control. We can have it all, enjoy life to the hilt. However, we just might need to occasionally kill a friend, steal some art, ignore responsibility, and maybe just maybe let someone take a permanent dive for it all.

A Satisfying Tale

This was a as very good a narration as all the other Ripley stories. I will enjoy searching for more Audible productions. These srories are

meant to be heard as read. The reader is fantastic!

Goodbye Tom Ripley

What did you love best about Ripley Under Water?

the more Ripley changes the more he stays the same: the same multi-layered characterization of the protagonist, the same mundane sociopathy, the same lucky breaks. In this last story Tom Ripley's self-absorption is more apparent than ever and the reader wonders: what is going on with his wife and her friend? why do other psychopaths fixate on Ripley? when is it all going to catch up with him? But Tom Ripley never does. He is the canniest survivor and one of the most likeable sociopath in literature. It helps us understand why and how we tolerate the sociopaths in our government, our media, and right next door.

What did you like best about this story?

the nuances of the relationship between him and his wife. and the continuing exploration of how far a man can go without a soul.

What about Kevin Kenerlys performance did you like?

as always subtle and dead on.

Any additional comments?

I wish there were more Tom Ripley but in this last book I sensed Patricia Highsmith was tiring of him. I will have to explore more of her works. There are few of her skill.

Disappointing

This was not up to par with the previous three books in the Ripley series.

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Title: Diary from My Wheelchair PLUS Willy and the Time Machine Part 1: Collection of Adventures for Kids

Subtitle: Transcend Mediocrity Book 52

Author: J.B. Snow

Narrator: Rachel Errington

Format: Unabridged

Length: 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-14-15

Publisher: JB Snow Publishing

Genres: Kids, Ages 5-7

Publisher's Summary:

"I'm sorry, sweetie," said Mrs. Rankin, "But you can't go." Natalie's face froze as she digested the words. I can't go?

"Wh - why not?" But she had a feeling she already knew the answer. Mrs. Rankin swallowed, clearly uncomfortable, but in that moment, Natalie didn't care. Her stomach was filled with dread.

"Our school buses don't have ramps, so there'd be no way for you to get on and off, or bring your chair with you." Natalie blinked, fighting back the annoyance. "Can't you just order a new bus? Or rent one, or something?"

"Tha - that - the expenses for a new bus simply aren't in our budget right now." Rubbish, Natalie thought. But she didn't say that. Instead, she looked down."

Members Reviews:

The topic was great, but poorly written

Short. The topic was great, but poorly written.

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Title: Precious and the Zebra Necklace

Author: Alexander McCall Smith

Narrator: Adjoa Andoh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-16-15

Publisher: Nudged Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Kids, Ages 5-7

Publisher's Summary:

Well before Precious Ramotswe founded her Number One Ladies' Detective Agency, as an eight-year-old girl she was already solving mysteries.

Here, in this delightful, new, enchanting tale for children, we see how the young Precious became the crafty and intuitive private investigator we all know and love!

Find out as Alexander McCall Smith tells the story in another adventure featuring Precious Ramotswe.

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Title: Two Stories of Mouse Deer and Crocodile

Subtitle: An Indonesian Folktale

Author: Bill Gordh

Narrator: Bill Gordh

Format: Original Recording

Length: 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-26-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Kids, Ages 5-7

Publisher's Summary:

Award-winning storyteller Bill Gordh (Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence winner, National Association of Parenting Periodicals Gold Award winner) presents this folk tale live with no script, accompanied only by his own dynamic banjo playing.

Mouse Deer was down by the river one day when Crocodile swam up and chomped on little Mouse Deer's leg. Mouse Deer could not pull his leg from the clamped jaws of the crocodile. Mouse Deer did some quick thinking and began talking about how lucky he was that the crocodile had accidentally chomped on a stick instead of Mouse Deer's leg. Mouse Deer picked up a stick, which he extended from his body. Without thinking about it, Crocodile let go of Mouse Deer and chomped on the stick. Mouse Deer laughed and ran away.

Another time Mouse Deer ran into Crocodile when Mouse Deer was crossing a dry riverbed. On the way across, he got tired and decided to climb onto a rock to take a nap. While he was sleeping, there was a big rainstorm up in the mountains. The rain filled the dry riverbed, and when Mouse Deer woke up he was surrounded by water. He looked around and saw Crocodile heading up the river, with many other crocodiles following. Crocodile smiled. He knew Mouse Deer could not swim. Mouse Deer thought quickly and asked Crocodile if he was going to eat Mouse Deer by himself or share him. Crocodile said he would share.

How would he know who had a bite? Mouse Deer suggested that all the crocodiles line up side by side. Then he could step on them and announce what body part each would get to eat. Crocodile agreed. They lined up. Mouse Deer called out body parts as he quickly scampered across the crocodile bridge to safety.