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Title: Ah, Rat

Author: Richard Babcock

Narrator: Daniel Thomas May

Format: Unabridged

Length: 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-17-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Kindle Singles best-selling author Richard Babcock (My Wife's Story) returns to the scene of simmering domestic conflict with this witty and harrowing tale of a husband who battles a marauding rat that seems determined to avenge the man's secret infidelity. Babcock is a novelist and former magazine editor.

Members Reviews:

"scratch, scratch, scratch"

A couple, burdened by guilt and anger, rent a cabin on Martha's Vineyard one summer. Here, the husband, Doug, is eager to atone, hoping to salvage his marriage, but his wife is quick, and right, to point out that a "marriage is made up of moments," and each one counts in the life of a marriage. And in this cabin, Doug is given the odd chance of proving himself to his wife, a chance to make her appreciate him again.

I really liked this idea of moments, of those very things that make or break a relationship: the moment you do something, right or wrong, and the moment that such things are found out. There are always secrets we keep, and in this story, we see two secrets, one more innocuous than the other but just as profound in its effect on the marriage. So, will this man prove himself and win his wife back?

This is maybe a forty-minute read, but it's one of those stories that's more complex than it seems at first. It seems only to be a simple story about a man trying to kill a rat, but it's more than that. I'm usually not one to feel any sympathy for a guy like Doug, but the author wrote this character in such an honest, and even in an almost endearing way, that I found myself liking him and hoping he did soften Ellen's anger. He's every man who's had a bad moment and hopes to make a wrong right. A very nicely written short story that's both simple and complex in what it presents, and skillfully told in an easy but smart voice.

Ah, Richard Babcock

When I first read Richard Babcock's Kindle Single "My Wife's Story" I knew I had found an author I liked. More than anything, I was delighted to see another Single by Babcock called "Ah, Rat." This one is just as good, with the humor, truth and honesty.

Doug, Ellen and their baby son Jeffrey are on Martha's Vineyard for two weeks of vacation. Doug made a mistake after the baby was born with a woman in his office, and Ellen found out and now he is trying to make amends and get the marriage back on track again. He wants to prove himself to Ellen that he is husband and father and protector. He wants the peace and quiet of their vacation rental house as a backdrop against which he can make his attempts.

Enter the rat. He scratches around in the house all night and is a master of evasiveness. Doug is up all night listening for him. He worries that the rat might get into the baby's crib and bite little Jeffrey. Ellen worries about the same thing and about facing the rat herself.

I love this story and wound up loving the rat, too. This is one that you really should read and for the quality of writing and the story itself, it's a bargain. Plus, how the rat fits into the marriage is quite important in the grand scheme of things.

A Spooky Tale of Modern Man vs. Rat

This short novella kind of sneaks up on you. There is a bucolic beginning with a couple settling into a secluded bungalow for two. But then the suspense builds as there are signs of an unwanted intruder. Food is spilled in the kitchen. The husband assumes it is a mouse.

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Title: Maverick: Solitary Travelers

Subtitle: Maverick, Book 1

Author: Bill Craig

Narrator: Brit Whittle

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 11-13-14

Publisher: Bill Craig

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

He awakened in a burnt out wagon train below the Rockies with no memory of who he was. There was nothing to tell him either. So he took the name that Texans called unbranded cattle and made his way into the mountains to try and carve out a new life for himself in the wild west. However the man calling himself Maverick has enemies on his back trail anxious to put a bullet in his back and the only thing keeping him alive is courage and a deadly hand with a gun. As Maverick travels into the Rockies, he meets other solitary travelers riding the same trail

Members Reviews:

A very good book to read

I would like to recommend this book to everyone that wants to read a very interesting and exciting story where the action never stops. I'm finding that these books are very hard to put down. I'm looking forward to reading the next book from this author.

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Titel: Dunkelsprung

Untertitel: Vielleicht kein Märchen

Autor:: Leonie Swann

Erzähler: Andrea Sawatzki

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 11-10-14

Herausgeber: Der Hörverlag

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Fiction, Contemporary

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Der neue große Roman der Bestsellerautorin:

Julius Birdwell, Goldschmiedemeister, Flohdompteur und unfreiwilliger Einbruchkünstler, wünscht sich nichts sehnlicher, als endlich eine ruhige, unbescholtene Existenz führen zu können. Doch als seine Flohartisten einem plötzlichen Nachtfrost zum Opfer fallen und die geheimnisvolle Elizabeth Thorn in sein Leben tritt, überstürzen sich die Ereignisse.

Ein Magier wird ohnmächtig, eine alte Dame macht sich in einem gestohlenen Lastwagen davon, ein Detektiv mit Konzentrationsstörungen findet zu einem ungewöhnlichen Haustier. Und plötzlich steht Julius vor einer Reihe ungelöster Fragen: Wie befreit man eine Meerjungfrau? Wie viele Flöhe passen auf eine Nadelspitze? Und warum ist das Leben trotz allem kein Märchen? Julius bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als sich weit über den Tellerrand seiner Welt hinauszulehnen und den Sprung ins Unbekannte zu wagen. Ein phantastisches Abenteuer beginnt...

©2014 Leonie Swann / Goldmann Verlag (P)2014 Der Hörverlag

Mitglieder Bewertungen:

Unforgettable

What did you love best about Dunkelsprung?

The best part of this book is Leonie Swann's writing - she has a beautifully fresh, wonderfully descriptive and unique style, which I immediately fell in love with. I enjoyed every minute of this book and of these words... they kept surprising me, delighting me and making me laugh out loud.

What did you like best about this story?

This is an original story unlike anything I have ever read. There are quite a few points of view here, various strange, quirky characters who we get to inhabit, but my absolute favorite experience was slipping into the strong, sleek bodies of Julius' bold and beautiful fleas. Die Floehe wuerden dieses Buch bestimmt als einen "grossen Sprung" bezeichnen :)

What about Andrea Sawatzkis performance did you like?

The narrator did a really good job of capturing the tone of the book. Her reading definitely brought out subtleties, ironies and humor in the story. She is not by any means a master narrator, didn't really have different voices for different characters or any fancy tricks up her sleeve, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of the book at all. Tiny complaint: this is a German book but it is set in London, so the characters and places have English names. I was slightly irritated by the narrator's heavy German accent every time she said "Julius Birdwell" or any other name.

If you could rename Dunkelsprung, what would you call it?

Dunkelsprung is the perfect name for this book.

Any additional comments?

This one is something special. December is about to commence, so I feel confident in saying that this is and will remain my favorite book this year. You may want to skip this if your German is not very good, but if you are a (near) native speaker I don't see how you could not love this book for the gorgeous language alone.

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Title: A Trick of the Mind

Author: Penny Hancock

Narrator: Laura Kirman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-06-14

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Driving to the cottage she's newly inherited, Ellie is so excited that she barely notices when the car bumps against something. That evening Ellie hears a news flash; a man was seriously injured in a hit and run.

Could she have been responsible for putting a man in hospital? Unable to hold the doubts at bay, she decides to visit the victim, little knowing that the consequences of this decision will change her life forever.

Critic Reviews:

Praise for the author: Beautifully worked and with a sharp eye for the menace in the commonplace' (Daily Mail)

Members Reviews:

Mind games.

What made the experience of listening to A Trick of the Mind the most enjoyable?

The story line kept my mind engaged during the reading. The characters were believable and in keeping with the plot.

What did you like best about this story?

It was paced in a way which led the reader/listener on into the story in a way which did not drag but neither did it overwhelm with detail all in a rush. Of course the quality of the narration helped with this

Which character as performed by Laura Kirman was your favourite?

Ellie enchanted and infuriated me by turns. A maddening obsessive betrayed by her sense of guilt. This was a relatively straight reading by Laura Kirman - a reading rather than a performance - which was well paced, articulate and engaging.

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

Right at the end came a twist I did not see coming - a life affirming twist. Out of evil good can come. You will know it when you get to it.

Any additional comments?

A good book enhanced by the reader. There was a naturalness about the reading; almost touching on simplicity. This takes real talent to achieve. Some readers try too hard, they overcomplicate their reading with effects; they place themselves between the book and the listener. Laura Kirman brought this book to life. I shall look forward to hearing more of her work.

Great read.

really loved this and couldn't stop listening to it. would say that it is a little predictable in parts but it had me hooked.

little predictable but enjoyable

I pretty much guessed the outcome quite early on however I enjoyed it non the less

Not her best

Having read Penny Hancocks other two books Tideline and The darkening Hour I was quite disappointed this book wasn't of the same standard. This story seems a little far fetched with too many coincidences, to be believable.

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Title: Amnesia

Author: Peter Carey

Narrator: Colin Friels

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-06-14

Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Has a young Australian woman declared cyber war on the United States? The Justice Department thinks so. Or was her Angel Worm intended only to open the prison doors of those unfortunates detained by Australia's harsh immigration policies? Did America suffer collateral damage? Can she be extradited to a country with the death penalty? Is she innocent? Can she be saved? Enter her mother, the actress Celine Baillieux.

With Celine comes the outrageous Woody Townes, a Melbourne property developer, millionaire, and patron of left wing causes. Murray delivers half a million dollars bail to the court, appoints a distinguished lawyer, and hires an old mate to write a biography to vindicate the young woman.

The old mate is Felix Moore, known to his fellow journalists as Felix Moore-or-less correct. His politics are far too left. His grasp of reality is sometimes unreliable. He is a magnet for law suits. His career is over, and then he gets this chance. I had fought the good fight all my life , he confesses, but I had also become an awful creature along the way.

It will be our great good fortune to live inside Felix's comic, cowardly, angry, fundamentally humane character as he attempts to find redemption.

Amnesia is a masterful novel, both dark and funny, whose tangled roots drive deep into the denied history of the United States, the CIA, and its relationship with it's old friend and client, Australia.

Members Reviews:

A vivid book, a little let down by the performance

What made the experience of listening to Amnesia the most enjoyable?

I've only just started listening to audio books, so can't rank it, but how fantastic to be 'reading' in the otherwise dead time while driving, doing chores etc.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Amnesia?

Why the school-ish comprehensions questions ? Surely an open-ended review format would be better?

How could the performance have been better?

By narrator, do you mean in the literary sense, or to indicate the actor reading the piece? If the latter, you mean "reader", not "narrator", and there are unnecessary slips by the reader, especially in pronunciation (see below).

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

Again - why the school-ish comprehensions questions ? Surely an open-ended review format would be better?

Any additional comments?

The reader, Colin Friels, for some reason can't pronounce "valium" (I don't think "vaylium" is mere an Australianism), and gives up completely when confronted with a foreign word. Thus "scandale" (French, presumably) is pronounced to rhyme with the Gipsy King's "volare", "reportage" to rhyme with "porridge" and "basso" as "base-oh". If you've ever heard Peter Carey read his own work, you'll know how beautifully the rhythm of his prose delivers when spoken. Friels, though, fudges it. Rushing where he should linger, and making elisions which suggest he's not completely into what he's reading. It's good, enough, I suppose, but I wish they'd had Carey read it himself.

Important reminder.

I'm pleased I now know about the history at the heart of this book. Now want to find out more.

Carey is a very skilled writer, but I felt strangely uninvolved with the characters. Maybe if it was the rather macho delivery of narrator.

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Title: Mistress of Greyladies

Author: Anna Jacobs

Narrator: Penelope Freeman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-14

Publisher: Soundings

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

During WWI Greyladies is requisitioned by the government as a POW internment centre. Harriet is now a widow, as she has always known she would be with such a frail husband as Joseph, but now has a son and daughter to care for. The three of them go to live with Josephs family when Greyladies is requisitioned.

Harriet is worried that all her careful renovations will be destroyed and her search for other Latimer women has to be abandoned temporarily because of the war.

Members Reviews:

good story

good story, well read, want to have more books from the writer for this story run.

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Title: The Bubble Reputation

Author: Cathie Pelletier

Narrator: Christine Marshall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Rosemary O'Neal lived for eight years with William, in a rambling country house in Maine. Then William committed suicide on a trip to London, leaving her with questions, anger, and no way to say goodbye. When her zany family descends on the house, bringing a tidal wave of casseroles and their own petty problems, Rosemary retreats with her cat from the chaos of the world around them. (Her cat understands human nature better than Homo sapiens anyway.) It takes an unsettling turn of events to shock her back into the pitfalls of living and realize that life is a fleeting experience to be carefully savored.

Award-winning author Cathie Pelletier has been called "a bitingly funny, highly original novelist". In The Bubble Reputation, she redefines "dysfunctional" in this bittersweet, life-affirming story about the idiosyncrasies of family, the anguish of grief, and finding peace after chaos.

Members Reviews:

Delightful Realism of Grief

I started this book 3 times and kept thinking at the beginning-"oh great another book about death," but today for some reason I let it keep running and it turned out to be humorous and

sarcastic, about friendships and family, the earth and sky and always a bit of loneliness. I lost a child ten years ago and this book made me laugh, feel sad but peaceful. No matter how many years the grief is always with you, it is just what you do with the grief. I recommend this book highly.

Not Quite Like Anything I Have Ever Read Before!

This is a short novel about a woman whose significant other commits suicide, and the seclusion, depression, and slow healing that occurs afterward.

But just as you are beginning to feel such empathy for this woman, along come her wild relatives who totally invade her space. These people have spent a lot of time riding the crazy train. They are so socially inappropriate, they are hilarious. They have no respect for death or anyone suffering from loss.

Yet, somehow, these quirky people help begin the healing process for this broken woman who is so lost and in such pain.

The narration could have been better.

Sad, funny, and socially inappropriate. I liked it.

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Title: The Precipice

Author: Virginia Duigan

Narrator: Virginia Duigan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-14

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Thea Farmer, a reclusive and difficult retired school principal, lives in isolation with her dog in the Blue Mountains. Her distinguished career ended under a cloud over a decade earlier, following a scandal involving a much younger male teacher.

After losing her savings in the financial crash, she is forced to sell the dream house she had built for her old age and live on in her dilapidated cottage opposite. Initially resentful and hostile towards Frank and Ellice, the young couple who buy the new house, Thea develops a flirtatious friendship with Frank, and then a grudging affinity with his 12-year-old niece, Kim, who lives with them.

Although she has never much liked children, Thea discovers a gradual and wholly unexpected bond with the half-Vietnamese Kim, a solitary, bookish child from a troubled background. Her growing sympathy with Kim propels Thea into a psychological minefield. Finding Frank's behaviour increasingly irresponsible, she becomes convinced that all is not well in the house. Unsettling suspicions, which may or may not be irrational, begin to dominate her life, and build towards a catastrophic climax.

Critic Reviews:

"Duigan's approach to truth-telling in fiction in some ways harks back to Dostoyevsky. Thea dares us to disbelieve her and the more she does so, the more powerful her account becomes. Is it possible for an unreliable witness, a witness who might be, by her own admission, paranoid, to tell a truth others are too blind, lazy or self-absorbed to see?" (The Sydney Morning Herald

Members Reviews:

Could be good but I'll never find out

This award winning story is probably absolutely compelling but the performance by the author is just unlistenable. A thin voice that stumbles through the text and makes the main character almost impossible to like. Just shows what an incredible difference a good performance makes.

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Title: Blow Hot, Blow Cold

Author: Ellery Queen

Narrator: Rebecca Mitchell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-29-14

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

There is an epidemic of death in the town. Lila Connor, neighborhood flirt and sex goddess, lay dead in her home, victim of a nill-placed letter opener. Larry Connor, successful accountant and distraught husband, lay dead in his office, slain by the giant Mickey Finn. And at Shady Acres, Nancy Howell is crazy wondering who killed Lila and Larry. Is a killer even now hidden in Shady Acres, waiting for a chance to slay again?

Members Reviews:

A VERY DISAPPOINTING BOOK BY THE USUALLY TALENTED ELLERY QUEEN

BLOW HOT, BLOW COLD (1964) by Ellery Queen (pen name of two cousins, Frederick Dannay and Manfred B. Lee) is a very poor short murder mystery. Most readers who are paying attention should be able to make a correct "educated guess" about the solution 50 to 60 pages before the book ends, but this novel is by no means a Fair-Play Puzzle.

The location of the action is never made clear, but we can assume that is it in a small town a few dozen miles from Kansas City, Missouri. Whether the town is in Missouri or Kansas is anyone's guess. Absolutely no "local color" is provided. The mystery's nine primary characters are, first, four upper middle class couples (all childless) who hang out together, sunbathing, playing golf, having cookouts in their yards, and engaging in a lot of drinking and flirting and a little bit of adultery, and then later (after one couple--Lila and Larry Connor--is found dead, apparently a murder-suicide case) Augustus Masters, a balding and supposedly comical-looking police lieutenant.

Roughly three-fourths the book focus on the actions and thoughts of two of these nine characters--the "ugly" police lieutenant, who is the professional investigator, and beautiful Nancy Howell, the smarter half of one of the surviving couples, who makes many discoveries on her own ... and who was perhaps half wittily named after Nancy Drew, the amateur girl detective. When they first meet, Lieutenant Masters has contempt for Nancy's brains, but gradually, as he transitions from boyish lust to a very strong boyish crush on her, he unprofessionally seeks out any excuse to get close to her.

The characters are essentially shallow stereotypes, shallowly portrayed, with few facets of their lives covered and few of their thoughts or words having much interest for readers. It's as though the sticky, oatmeal-like matrix of their lives has been created as a place for the authors to hide a small number of finely chopped walnut-like clues from us readers.

Furthermore, a huge plot hole (pertaining to a phone call that is NOT made, requesting an ambulance with medics for a poisoned man) seriously weakens the entire structure of the story.

In my judgment, this little mystery novel deserves a "D-" grade.

POSTSCRIPT: By coincidence, right after I got out of the Army, I worked on a graduate degree from 1965 to 1970 in a university town just a few dozen miles from Kansas City ... so I know the area well and also recall a great deal about the mores and habits of many sorts of people in that area. My own direct knowledge further increased my disappointment with this little book's shallowness.

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Title: God Save the Dork

Author: Sidin Vadukut

Narrator: Merrill Sequeira

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-22-14

Publisher: Reado

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Maestro management consultant and strategy guru Robin 'Einstein' Varghese has been dispatched to London to the Lederman account. Things in the mother country are not all tally-ho as Einstein must make do with convoluted remuneration, temperamental digestion and a comely coworker who revels in mixed signals - not to mention a bizarre conspiracy by museums all over the city to frustrate his every attempt to imbibe in high culture.

Things are not all that much better with his love life. Gouri insists that he go to Madame Tussaud's and take a photo with the Shah Rukh Khan statue. But who will pay for the entry ticket? Gouri's father is not the proprietor no? Then? Just when things look like they can't get any worse, Lederman threatens to shut down the project. Panic ensues. Once again, Dufresne Partners turns to their most resourceful, inventive, original, strategic, out-of-the-box-thinking employee.

Members Reviews:

funny as hell

if ur indian, this is a must buy. 4star bcoz I think one chapter has been skipped. and last chapter cuts in middle if it.