Listen to Top 100 Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

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Title: In Real Life

Author: Joey Graceffa

Narrator: Joey Graceffa

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-19-15

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2347 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A confessional, uplifting memoir from the beloved YouTube personality.

Joey Graceffa has captured the hearts of more than a million teens and young adults through his playful, sweet, and inspirational online presence. Yet Joey wasn't always comfortable in his skin, and this memoir features the YouTube darling at his most candid, taking us on his journey from pain to triumph.

Joey opens up about his most intimate struggles with familial hardship, educational setbacks, bullying, and rejection, sharing his story in the hopes that his young listeners will remember that it's cool to be different, that growing up can really freaking suck, and that even if it sometimes feels like too much, things can and will get better. As Joey likes to say, "You're all beautiful for spacious skies, and don't let anyone ever tell you you're not!"

Members Reviews:

I loved this book and will treasure it forever

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

I definitely would. It honestly shows a reader what it's like to take yourself out of hard times by believing in yourself, accepting yourself, and doing what you love.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved hearing Joey's personality coming across the page.

What does Joey Graceffa bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

It is so much more intimate than just reading it. I also feel like he is talking directly to me live rather than normally with a book where I consciously know it was written a minimum of months before. The audio makes me suspend my disbelief and I feel like he is telling the story. He didn't make a film called StoryTellers for nothing, because he is a damn good one.

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

My Journey into a Pixelated World

Any additional comments?

I love you all and I would recommend this book to anyone LGBT, a Joey fan, and a must read for anyone who grew up with an alcoholic in the home.

Absolutely Amazing

If you could sum up In Real Life in three words, what would they be?

Inspiring, Insightful and Real

What other book might you compare In Real Life to and why?

Shane Dawson's book i hate myselfie and Connor Franta's book work in progress, Connors is a memoir like Joey's and shane tells stories from his life, they are all brilliant books!

Have you listened to any of Joey Graceffas other performances before? How does this one compare?

Joey is a youtuber and i have watched him for 5 years this book gives us an insight into his life behind the camera.

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

A Journey Through The Camera Lens

Any additional comments?

Watching Joey on youtube for 5 years helps me understand and love this book it gives us an insight into what he is unable to tell or show us through his videos i am truly proud of how far he has came and can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

Love you Joey!!

Where to start! I love you and you're book. Some of your stories really related to me. Thank you for writing about your life so far. I would be awesome to meet you in person! Good damn bye Joey!!!

AMAZING

Joey did and amazing job writing this book. It was so good I couldn't stop listening till I finished it the day it came out

AMAZING!!

It seems that all youtubers sate writing books these days, just trying to make a buck.

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Title: Among Heroes: A U.S. Navy SEAL's True Story of Friendship, Heroism, and the Ultimate Sacrifice

Author: Brandon Webb, John David Mann

Narrator: Charlie Ray

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-08-15

Publisher: Brandon Webb, John David Mann

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1675 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Now from Brandon Webb, Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times best-selling author, comes his personal account of the eight friends and fellow SEALs who made the ultimate sacrifice.

"Knowing these great men - who they were, how they lived, and what they stood for - has changed my life. We can't let them be forgotten. So read about these amazing men, share their stories, and learn from them as I have. We've mourned their deaths. Let's celebrate their lives." (Brandon Webb)

As a Navy SEAL, Brandon Webb rose to the top of the world's most elite sniper corps, experiencing years of punishing training and combat missions from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan. Among the best of the best, he led the SEALs' clandestine sniper training program as course manager, instructing a new generation of the world's top snipers. Along the way, Webb served beside, trained, and supported men he came to know not just as fellow warriors, but as friends and, eventually, as heroes. Among Heroes gives his personal account of these eight extraordinary SEALs who gave all for their comrades - and their country.

Here are the true stories behind the remarkable valor and abiding humanity of those "sheepdogs" (as they call themselves) who protect us from the wolves of the world. Of Matt "Axe" Axelson, who perished on the Lone Survivor mission in Afghanistan. Of Chris Campbell, Heath Robinson, and J. T. Tumilson, who were among the 38 casualties of Extortion 17, the Chinook helicopter shot down in August 2011. Of Glen Doherty, Webb's best friend for more than a decade, killed while helping secure the successful rescue and extraction of American CIA and State Department diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012; and other close friends, classmates, and fellow warriors.

Members Reviews:

A solid book, but know what you are buying.

A solid book which reflects the impact fallen heroes had on the lives of the family, friends and the others. If you are looking for descriptive combat stories this book is not it nor intended. It is essentially a book about telling stories which brings out the personalized and impact of fallen Navy Seals. If you have read Lone Surivior, American Sniper, 13 Hours, and some of Webb's books than you will be familiar with the fallen he speaks of.

Respect

I really don't have the words to describe the effect this book had on me. Brandon Webb's literally memorial to his fallen brothers is nothing short of inspiring. Mr. Webb's personal words to start each chapter are an amazing touch. It is no exaggeration to say; getting to know just a small piece of these heroes stories has caused me to examine how I go about my day to day life. I am a better man for having listened to this book. Thank you Brandon and thanks to all the sheep dogs who have been, and will be down range.

Dominick Macioge

Must listen

The extras Brandon puts in this audiobook are brilliant. He truly is among heroes. I listened to it non stop from start to finish.

A MUST READ FOR ALL AMERICANS

Would you consider the audio edition of Among Heroes: A U.S. Navy SEAL's True Story of Friendship, Heroism, and the Ultimate Sacrifice to be better than the print version?

This is my second book that I've read...or listened too by Brandon Webb.

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Title: Hope

Subtitle: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland

Author: Amanda Berry, Kevin Sullivan, Gina DeJesus, Mary Jordan

Narrator: Jorjeana Marie, Arthur Morey, Marisol Ramirez

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-27-15

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1274 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Two victims of the infamous Cleveland kidnapper share the story of their abductions, their decade in captivity, and their final, dramatic rescue.

On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry made headlines around the world when she fled a Cleveland area home and called 911, saying: "Help me, I'm Amanda Berry.... I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years."

A horrifying story rapidly unfolded. Ariel Castro, a local school bus driver, had separately lured Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight to his home, where he kept them chained in the basement. In the decade that followed, the three were raped, psychologically abused, and threatened with death. Berry bore a child - Jocelyn - by their captor.

Drawing upon their recollections and the diaries they kept, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus describe a tale of unimaginable torment, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan interweave the events within Castro's house with the ongoing efforts to find the missing girls.

The full story behind the headlines - including shocking information never previously released - Hope is a harrowing yet inspiring chronicle of three women whose courage, ingenuity, and resourcefulness ultimately delivered them back to their lives and families.

Read by Jorjeana Marie, Marisol Ramirez, and Arthur Morey.

Members Reviews:

A moving read.

Would you consider the audio edition of Hope to be better than the print version?

I've not read the print version but I thought the narration was good.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the sweet irony of Amanda, the girl he loved the most(if you can call it love) being the one that escaped and got him caught. I hope it hurt him to learn that, I hope it hurt a lot.

Have you listened to any of the narratorss other performances before? How does this one compare?

I'm not sure.

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

I started crying when Amanda's mother died before getting to see her daughter again, it broke my heart and made me hate Castro even more.

Any additional comments?

I've read Michelle's book before this and found her really remarkable and wanted to know more about the story from the other girls point of view, and while I enjoyed it overall and found it really moving the way Michelle's role was minimized bugged me a lot. I mean I understand it to a degree since she's already told her story herself and this is about Gina and Amanda, but the way it just skims over her involvement in their lives comes off as sort of dismissive at times? Like when she helped Amanda deliver her baby and Amanda choose not to mention the part where she actually saved the kid's life, or the way Gina doesn't really talk a lot about Michelle and their relationship even though they went through so much together and were really close.

The way they're framing it it's like Michelle isn't really important and barely an afterthought compared to Gina and Amanda which makes me a bit offended on her behalf.

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Title: Searching for Sunday

Subtitle: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church

Author: Rachel Held Evans

Narrator: Rachel Held Evans

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-21-15

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 453 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

New York Times best-selling author Rachel Held Evans embarks on a quest to find out what it really means to be part of the Church.

Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn't want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals - Church culture seemed so far removed from Jesus. Yet despite her cynicism and misgivings, something kept drawing her back. And so she set out on a journey to understand the Church and to find her place in it.

Centered around seven sacraments, Evans' quest takes listeners through a liturgical year with stories about baptism, communion, confirmation, confession, marriage, vocation, and death that are funny, heartbreaking, and sharply honest.

A memoir about making do and taking risks, about the messiness of community and the power of grace, Searching for Sunday is about overcoming cynicism to find hope and, somewhere in between, Church.

Members Reviews:

Everything I love and hate about the church

What was one of the most memorable moments of Searching for Sunday?

After reflecting on everything wrong in today's American churches, Rachel Held Evans reminded me that rooting for the demise of "those" Christians isn't helping, either. It was a humbling reminder that we all have work to do.

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

The story about the young gay Christian in the chapter "Enough" had me in tears.

Any additional comments?

This book is funny, moving, and inspiring. Every Christian should read it.

Her best yet

I think this is RHE's best book so far. She's honest and humble. The humility was a pleasant surprise! I love how she uses the sacraments to make her own journey. Beautifully written and ruggedly honest account of her church journey so far. I sense she's just beginning to see that her church journey and her spiritual journey are two related, but different, things.

50% perfect, 50% over my head

As a Gen-Xer raised in the evangelical church, about half this book resonated so perfectly with me that I should probably be given co-authorship credit. The other half (mostly the abstract, "poetic" parts) went in one ear and out the other. Still, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Giving words to some of what spins in my own head

While I don't necessarily agree with everything RHE says in this book, she has a remarkable ability of putting into words many of the same things spinning around in my own head. We live in a Christian society that frowns on anyone questioning evangelical mainstream thought, yet if we are honest, the questions Rachel addresses are the very ones going around in our own heads. Where can we safely turn to address these questions? This is a good place to start.

Wonderful!!!

A poignant and timely book. If you go, or have ever been, to church -- this is an absolute must read.

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Title: Natural Born Heroes

Subtitle: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance

Author: Christopher McDougall

Narrator: Nicholas Guy Smith

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-14-15

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1503 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The best-selling author of Born to Run now travels to the Mediterranean, where he discovers that the secrets of ancient Greek heroes are still alive and well on the island of Crete, and ready to be unleashed in the muscles and minds of casual athletes and aspiring heroes everywhere.

After running an ultramarathon through the Copper Canyons of Mexico, Christopher McDougall finds his next great adventure on the razor-sharp mountains of Crete, where a band of Resistance fighters in World War II plotted the daring abduction of a German general from the heart of the Nazi occupation. How did a penniless artist, a young shepherd, and a playboy poet believe they could carry out such a remarkable feat of strength and endurance, smuggling the general past thousands of Nazi pursuers, with little more than their own wits and courage to guide them?

McDougall makes his way to the island to find the answer and retrace their steps, experiencing firsthand the extreme physical challenges the Resistance fighters and their local allies faced. On Crete, the birthplace of the classical Greek heroism that spawned the likes of Herakles and Odysseus, McDougall discovers the tools of the hero - natural movement, extraordinary endurance, and efficient nutrition. All of these skills, McDougall learns, are still practiced in far-flung pockets throughout the world today.

More than a mystery of remarkable people and cunning schemes, Natural Born Heroes is a fascinating investigation into the lost art of the hero, taking us from the streets of London at midnight to the beaches of Brazil at dawn, from the mountains of Colorado to McDougall's own backyard in Pennsylvania, all places where modern-day athletes are honing ancient skills so they're ready for anything.

Just as Born to Run inspired readers to get off the treadmill, out of their shoes, and into the natural world, Natural Born Heroes will inspire them to leave the gym and take their fitness routine to nature - to climb, swim, skip, throw, and jump their way to their own heroic feats.

Members Reviews:

Excellent!!

I am a big fan of Born to Run...so I gave this book a shot. It was slow to start, but it ended up drawing me in. I was a little disappointed at the end of the book...but only because it was over. I know I will end up listening to this book again.

If you liked Born to Run....you will like this story as well. It blends great information with even better stories to back it up.

I hope Chris McDougall is researching his next story right now....I am already looking forward to reading/listening to it!

A solid follow-up

Historians and health enthusiasts alike will both enjoy this book, though it takes a little while to get cooking. The story is engaging but the info about natural movement was the most compelling part. There's a little too much back and forth between the two and I never quite got the connection but I'd listen to it again and recommend it to all.

Another Great Read from McDougall

This book is a first rate thriller in the McDougall style, centering on a remarkable guerrilla campaign against the Nazis on Crete. As in Born to Run, there are fascinating digressions for biographical sketches and discussions of Greek history, parkour, the power of "fascial snapping," the anthropology of unarmed combat, sports nutrition, and hydration.

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Title: Born with Teeth

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Kate Mulgrew

Narrator: Kate Mulgrew

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-14-15

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2359 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Audie Award, Narration by Author, 2016

Raised by unconventional Irish Catholics who knew "how to drink, how to dance, how to talk, and how to stir up the devil", Kate Mulgrew grew up with poetry and drama in her bones. But in her mother, a would-be artist burdened by the endless arrival of new babies, young Kate saw the consequences of a dream deferred. Determined to pursue her own no matter the cost, at 18 she left her small Midwestern town for New York, where, studying with the legendary Stella Adler, she learned the lesson that would define her as an actress: "Use it," Adler told her. Whatever disappointment, pain, or anger life throws in your path, channel it into the work.

It was a lesson she would need. At 22, just as her career was taking off, she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. Having already signed the adoption papers, she was allowed only a fleeting glimpse of her child. As her star continued to rise, her life became increasingly demanding and fulfilling, a whirlwind of passionate love affairs, life-saving friendships, and bone-crunching work. Through it all Mulgrew remained haunted by the loss of her daughter until, two decades later, she found the courage to face the past and step into the most challenging role of her life both on and off screen.

We know Kate Mulgrew for the strong women she's played - Captain Janeway on Star Trek; the tough-as-nails Red on Orange Is the New Black. Now we meet the most inspiring and memorable character of all: herself. By turns irreverent and soulful, laugh-out-loud funny and heart-piercingly sad, Born with Teeth is the breathtaking memoir of a woman who dares to live life to the fullest, on her own terms.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Critic Reviews:

"Mulgrew's strong stage presence and genuine emotions will make listeners want to experience this audiobook all in one go." (

AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Beautiful Memoir

Given that I have never watched Star Trek and that I just began watching Orange is the New Black, I hate to admit that I did not recognize who Kate Mulgrew was. When I read the synopsis of the memoir, I was intrigued however. Even though I did not have much of an idea of who she was, her life seemed fascinating. I was not disappointed.

She had a colorful life - that she could only narrate. Her voice is beautiful and listening to her read her own words was like drinking honey. It was very soothing. At times, she did seem to overperform the narration but it made me appreciate her talent. Her narration solidified the fact that she is indeed an actress (as if her accolades don't already prove that).

Mulgrew's memoir comes with an authenticity that others seem to miss. She doesn't hesitate to discuss her failed romantic relationships and the strained relationship that she had with her sons as they were growing up. Surprisingly, she even discusses an event in her life that hardly anyone knew about until now (my, how the times have changed!). Without a doubt, this was a fascinating listen!

Captivaing story delivered with verisimilitude

Usually I only listen to audio books on long car rides, but when my ride was overI could not stop. I burned my car battery listening to her on Bluetooth. I burned out my iPhone listening to her on my bedrooms sound bar.

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Title: H Is for Hawk

Author: Helen Macdonald

Narrator: Helen Macdonald

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-03-15

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2753 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

When Helen MacDonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer captivated by hawks since childhood, she'd never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators: the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral anger mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T. H. White's chronicle The Goshawk to begin her journey into Mabel's world. Projecting herself "in the hawk's wild mind to tame her" tested the limits of MacDonald's humanity.

By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this book is an unflinching account of bereavement, a unique look at the magnetism of an extraordinary beast, and the story of an eccentric falconer and legendary writer. Weaving together obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history, H Is for Hawk is a distinctive, surprising blend of nature writing and memoir from a very gifted writer.

Members Reviews:

Mabel The Hawk--The Fire That Burned The Hurts Away

First let me start by saying that I was wary of buying the audio version of the book when I found out that the author was the narrator. This often goes terribly wrong. I was really looking forward to this book and didn't want it ruined by a narration problem. I need not have worried, MacDonald's narration was absolute perfection. The timing, the tone and her ability to capture the emotion and the energy of the story were all spot on. I loved listening to MacDonald tell her own story.

The writing was beautiful, tragic, poetic, insightful and difficult listening in parts. At first I hated the look back at TH White's life and experience training his own hawk. Then, gradually because of MacDonald's deft storytelling ability I felt sympathy for White and his misery. What's more, having recently finished reading the bio of Alan Turing and I was fascinated by the similarities in White's and Turing's childhoods and experiences in school.

This book offers a window into MacDonald's experience of complicated grief. It shows us how being in and a part of nature and wildness helped her find her way through. I found myself completely engaged and totally wrapped up in the history, detail and experience of falconry. However, be aware that this is a story about hawks--fierce predators and involves a fair amount of discussion of hunting, blood, and prey. All that said, it is a beauty of a book that allowed a glimpse at life through someone else's eyes. I loved it.

Beautifully read by Helen herself

I have a much greater knowledge of this "sport" and see through the book there are deeper meanings to it. However the exquisite reading was the reason I kept listening. I wonder if I would have even finished one chapter if it were in paper. This book moved me greatly-. Grieving for her father and her quest to understand White, as well as herself. Marvelous.

Perhaps the best book I've ever listened to

Would you consider the audio edition of H Is for Hawk to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print edition.

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Title: Scary Close

Subtitle: Dropping the Act and Finding True Intimacy

Author: Bob Goff, Donald Miller

Narrator: Webb Wilder

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-15

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 1459 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

After decades of failed relationships and painful drama, Donald Miller decided he'd had enough. Impressing people wasn't helping him connect with anyone. He'd built a life of public isolation, yet he dreamed of meaningful relationships. So at forty years old, he made a scary decision: to be himself no matter what it cost.

From the author of Blue Like Jazz comes a book about the risk involved in choosing to impress fewer people and connect with more, about the freedom that comes when we stop acting and start loving. It is a story about knocking down old walls to create a healthy mind, a strong family, and a satisfying career. And it all feels like a conversation with the best kind of friend: smart, funny, true, important. Scary Close is Donald Miller at his best.

Members Reviews:

Outstanding book frustrating recording

What made the experience of listening to Scary Close the most enjoyable?

honesty

Any additional comments?

The book is outstanding but the producer(?) cut all the pauses and silent space out of the recording. Clearly, the narrator didn't do this in his performance, so I can't imagine why someone would do this on purpose? Please! Please! Please rerecord this book or remaster it from the original narration.

Walking Away Full

Don't read (or listen) often, but I was hooked. This one had me. Addresses so many key areas of life and made me think of many people who could also benefit from the book. Scary Close is scary good.

Folksy, Religious Memoir

It's unfortunate I didn't notice this is categorized as a personal memoir as I could have skipped it and saved myself the time and money. The description suggests the book will deliver guidance on improving intimacy. If you're Christian and in reasonably good mental health you'll probably find the string of anecdotes heart-warming, and you can likely tease out some guidance in the author's experiences that may be applicable to your life. Otherwise, not so much -- there's little in the stereotypical stories that's relevant. Probably fine for most, but personally disappointing. (And, as others have mentioned, the editing work is annoying. No breaks, and at least a few repeated sections.)

Editing was poor

The content was great, the narrator was good, but it's the editing that needs work. There are no pauses between chapters or profound thoughts! Give the listener a chance to soak in truths. There are so many in this book.

Great Book, Iffy Editing

The book was fantastic, but the editing of the audio itself was a little iffy. Sometimes he would finish a very profound sentence and thenChapter2We were on the dock by the river...the lack of spaces and pauses was a little annoying, but not enough to ruin it for me. Still worth a listen!

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Title: Not That Kind of Girl

Subtitle: A Young Woman Tells You What She's 'Learned'

Author: Lena Dunham

Narrator: Lena Dunham

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-30-14

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4616 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

For readers or listeners of Nora Ephron, Tina Fey, and David Sedaris, this hilarious, poignant, and extremely frank collection of personal essays confirms Lena Dunham - the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO's Girls - as one of the brightest and most original writers working today.

"If I can take what I've learned in this life and make one treacherous relationship or degrading job easier for you, perhaps even prevent you from becoming temporarily vegan, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile. This book contains stories about wonderful nights with terrible boys and terrible days with wonderful friends, about ambition and the two existential crises I had before the age of twenty. About fashion and its many discontents. About publicly sharing your body, having to prove yourself in a meeting full of fifty-year-old men, and the health fears (tinnitus, lamp dust, infertility) that keep me up at night. I'm already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you with this book, but also my future glory in having stopped you from trying an expensive juice cleanse or having the kind of sexual encounter where you keep your sneakers on. No, I am not a sexpert, a psychologist, or a registered dietician. I am not a married mother of three or the owner of a successful hosiery franchise. But I am a girl with a keen interest in self-actualization, sending hopeful dispatches from the front lines of that struggle."

Members Reviews:

Some interesting parts, but on the whole... meh

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this book to an angsty, self-involved millennial friend with an obsession for journaling and oversharing. To other friends I may recommend the clever, hilarious autobiographies of Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling and others.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Amy Poehler's autobiography (not out yet).

What does Lena Dunham bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

I always like listening to autobiographies in the author's own voice. It feels like I am a priest at a very weird confessional.

Do you think Not That Kind of Girl needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Maybe a book that covers her more mature years? She will probably be a very interesting 50-60 year old. Right now, maybe it was a little...silly?

Any additional comments?

I didn't much love the book, but I liked that Lena Dunham just went for it. She's a hot mess in many of her stories and she knows it. But by her own admission, she doesn't particularly mind getting naked in front of a camera, so I guess this is the literary version of that. She's a good writer, and many times I liked her turn of phrase. But it was all a little too self conscious for me to feel really engaged.

I felt like an old biddy constantly rolling my eyes at one or another of Dunham's blandishments about sex or the state of her emotional health.

Eh

What did you like best about Not That Kind of Girl? What did you like least?

I remember reading " Bossy Pants" and being delighted from the very first moment. This Book is the opposite of that. It is mostly a sad mosh-mash of psychosis. a young woman that spends most of her time worrying about things that don't make a bit of sense.

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Title: The Color of Water

Author: James McBride

Narrator: J. D. Jackson, Susan Denaker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-25-14

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 556 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The New York Times best-selling story from the author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction.

Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared "light-skinned" woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her 12 black children. James McBride, journalist, musician, and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, James McBride grew up in "orchestrated chaos" with his 11 siblings in the poor, all-black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn.

In The Color of Water, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. At 17, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a black minister and founded the all- black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. "God is the color of water," Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race.

Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self-realization and professional success. The Color of Water touches listeners of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.

Members Reviews:

Awesome

The narration is awesome and deserves a 6. The characterization was outstanding, consistent and powerful.

This is the best pro-religion novel I have ever read. I am not religious myself, but I am not a bit anti-religious. I think religion is absolutely fantastic for some people. This novel expresses this pro-religion message perfectly. The color of God is the Color of Water. The novel is refreshingly Pro. Pro-Christian, Pro-Jew, Pro-Black, Pro-White, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice, Pro-Work, Pro-Play, Pro-Pro. I laughed many times, and teared up a few, and left the book entirely satisfied. Some describe this novel as a tribute the author's his mother. If I had seen that before I read this, it might have put me off (thinking it would be sappy). This was not sappy.

I loved the structure of this novel, I loved the pacing and flow, I loved the subtlety, I loved the narration, I loved the interweaving stories, I loved the characters, I loved the ambiguity, I even loved the length. I loved the end.

Few books resonate with me so strongly. My life was very different than the author's, my mother quite different than his, but almost every word of this novel resonated with me and my own life.

There are relatively few novels I would recommend to anyone. This is one of those. I am a very critical reader. I seldom finish a book without feeling there was something that could have been better. This was, for me, perfect. It is not the best book I have ever read, not even close.