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Title: Too Small to Fail

Author: Morris Gleitzman

Narrator: Morris Gleitzman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-09-11

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A heartwarming new book from much-loved author, Morris Gleitzman. Full of his usual trademark humour, pathos and inimitable skill at speaking directly to his audience. What do you do when your mum, your dad and 16 camels are in trouble and only you can save them? The sometimes sad but mostly funny story of a boy, a girl, a dog and four trillion dollars.

Members Reviews:

Didn't finish it

My daughter pleaded with me to stop. She found it depressing. I'm usually reluctant to stop a book partway through, but on this one I went along. I objected to the crude anti-market propoganda (bankers are thoroughly stupid and callous and just run Ponzi schemes until they collect their government bailouts).

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Title: A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García

Author: Rick Collignon

Narrator: Charles Bice

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-08-11

Publisher: Iambik Audio Inc.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A Santo is the third book of the Guadalupe Series. The gentle-hearted Flavio Montoya returns, now as the aged scion of his family, still tending his sister Ramonas fields and wondering how all of his family could have died before him. When the mountains surrounding Guadalupe erupt in flames, the history of the village seems to be set loose in the smoke. The dead arrive and the silent speak. When Flavio is accused of starting the fire that quickly threatens to consume the village, the disaster becomes one more mystery that he must fold into his own memory, though he cannot quite understand any of it. A Santo in the Image of Cristobal Garcia is a beautiful, funny, even epic tale of how all history is finally personal.

Critic Reviews:

His rich story, unfolding and refolding, flickers almost palpably between shadow and light. (The Santa Fe New Mexican)

Moving...evocative. (Booklist)

Dreamlike and melancholy...a worthy read. (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Deeply moving, full of real characters I recognize!

Northern New Mexico is unique in all the world. It has taken me more than 20 years living there to just begin to fathom the depth of its "terroir". Mr. Collignon has created magic in the pages of this book that lays bare the soul of memory and targets all small, close families and all small, close communities. Secrets become revealed fact as facts fade to secrets. Truth is an ethereal, mercurial concept in the Northern Counties' foothills.

I was struck throughout, by the lyrical style of the prose which reflects the soft cadence of local speech perfectly. I was reminded of Rudolpho Anaya's earliest work. This book belongs in the library of New Mexican literature along with Anaya, John Nichols and Tony Hillerman. For anyone who has spent time North of La Bajada, this is a must read, whether you have chosen to venture here, or were born part of the clay-rich soil.

I look forward to continuing my excursion into this author's other work.

Brilliant....

Thanks for the ride!

This was the forth book I read by Rick Collignon.

Each one took me on a terrific journey.

Each story masterfully woven.

Fantastic!

Thanks R.C.

Unique novel about northern New Mexico

An entertaining tale about a northern New Mexico village and the characters who inhabit the place, a work which includes both the real history of the area and some of the mystery which surrounds the landscape.

haunting, calming yet thought provoking

i liked this novel as it is in the same family as marquez and allende. it's beautifully written and casts a lovely slow dark shadow, if you are in this sort of mood. i love the inherent sadness but warmth between and for the characters. with aging parents, it seems revealing how older people review in a non-sequential matter, their relationships, choices, things that they thought mattered with didn't and other subjects. the ghostly spector of good and evil permeates many sections, and implies that human relations carry weighty and far-reaching consequences. while bad behaviour is a given within this community, by individuals who are family members and/or neighbors, going too far is tied up within the notions of greed, magic, forces beyond one's control, and to an extent, race. essentially, i really loved the spell this novel cast and am looking forward to reading the others in the trilogy.

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Title: Departures

Author: Adrienne Bellamy

Narrator: Sisi Aisha Johnson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-07-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Departures, from Adrienne Bellamy, has been compared to such classics as The Women of Brewster Place.

This novel is the tale of 10-year-old Amber, whose mother has all but abandoned her and her sisters in an effort to find a man to curl up with at night. Despite her abusive home situation, Amber still has other role models in her Philadelphia neighborhood. Reba, Shelia, and Lucy are three women who try to do their best for Amber, while figuring out their own relationships and desires.

Members Reviews:

Not What I Was Expecting..........

I agree with the review "Down The Stairs". The book started off great! Ambers family dramas were off the hook! Her mother Paula was crazy and as the book progressed she moved from a selfish skank to a cruel child abuser. This part of the book was fantastic. You could really feel for Amber and wonder how any woman could be so heartless towards her children. Amber suffered more than her older sister and baby Renee.

Instead of keeping focused on Amber and her family Ms. Bellamy kept swiching chapter by chapter to other characters. This is were I have the biggest complaint. The book jacket description is very misleading. Amber has little to no contact with Shelia the mother of four, Reba the mother of six or Lucy the college grad single. There was never any interaction between Amber and these women. It was if Ms. Bellamy was telling several different stories at once and there was no real connection or realistic link between the stories.

The book would have been excellent if Ms. Bellamy would have stayed focus on Ambers family. In particular Renee's dad Horace. He was a character that deserved so much more time. Instead too much of the story was spent on Sheila's live in help Lenora, her part time baby sitter Pam; Horaces baby sitter Emily and her relationship with Jared; Lucy's wirlwind romance with Kevin and so on and so on and so on........All these other people were destracting.

However, Ms. Bellamy is a talented writer and I will give her future works a chance.

Great

The book keeps you on your toe you can't just read a page at a time because every page is adding on to the story

I LOVED IT..

This is GREAT read.. it made me laugh.. cry.. and not want to put it down.. LOVED IT.. now reading the #2 I'll tell you about it.. :)

Breaking free

DEPARTURES is a welcomed change from the usual relationship fiction so readily available. This story takes place in a Philadelphia neighborhood where everyone knows each other and all their personal business. The cast of characters is a wonderful mix of people who will make you laugh out loud and think pensively.

Amber is a ten-year-old girl, who knows without a doubt her mother is going to kill her, because she hates her so much. As smart as Amber is, she cannot make her mother, Paula love her. With the pain her mother gives, will Amber be able to find true happiness?

Paula has a reputation in her circle of acquaintances. She considers herself adventuresome, but most consider her to be fast and just a little crazy. She thinks nothing of using men for money and she definitely doesn't worry about the affects her lifestyle has on her three daughters from three different men. Yet, she will experience a set back that will change her life and the life of her children.

Sheila was so mad at her husband before and after he died, that she does the unthinkable to take out her revenge and to take back her life.

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Title: Connecting

Author: Adrienne Bellamy

Narrator: Sisi Aisha Johnson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-07-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Adrienne Bellamys debut novel Departures received rave reviews for depicting strong, independent women and delivering unpredictable dialogue. Bellamy brings these spunky ladies together again in Connecting - a story packed with unexpected plot twists and turns. Their reunion is sweet, but life has plenty of new surprises in store for Sheila, Emily and Amber. No matter what obstacles are thrown their way, these indomitable Philly gals prove to be unstoppable.

Members Reviews:

Didn't make the connection

After reading Departures, I thought this book would be funny and interesting. Instead, I found it confusing, annoying and just all over the place. I read Departures years ago and after all this time, I had forgotten the character's details and stories. I shouldn't need to re-read the first book to catch up to the second. I think the author could've done a better job of refreshing my memory. I also found many of the stories (Purdy's for one) to be so farfetched that I had to take a break before continuing. I would like to continue supporting the author, but I thought some of the loose ends could've been tied up better and there were too many characters and stories in this particular book.

5 STARS

My item was received in Excellent conditions and arrived on schedule. It was a nice surprise to receive a personal note from the person who I brought the book from. Will do more shopping with them!!!!

She's Done It Again--Hooray!!!!!

I loved Connecting more than Departures. The characters came alive in this book. Ms. Bellamy captivated the audience from the first chapter, with Paula up to her usual. She is still using what she has to get what she wants. I guess in some cases, we all do. Maybe not just like Paula. Paula has no devotion to anyone but herself, it has always been about Paula and she is not going to let anyone or anything in her way to get what she wants. I think Paula had never had any sense of belonging she finds her home within her selfish desires. In Connecting, Ms. Bellamy shows you how Paula is slowly working her way up to the Warden. Paula knows he is the man that can help her have some control in the prison. I love the way Ms. Bellamy springs surprising on you. You do not have any idea that Paula's roommate, Josie has stolen the recorder. You know, Paula will make you dislike her, but all in all, she is smart, if only street smart. Look how she gets the Warden to give her a camera and then he lets her take pictures of him. Now on to other Characters-Emily and Jared, the couple made from heaven. Emily and Jared love one another unconditionally. Even when Jared felt Emily had been sleeping with Leo, he spoke to her with his heart and what could she do, but play it off. He gave it straight. Emily and Jared are meant to be, they have that connection, the karma to know that something is wrong with the other person even if they are not around. Horace is the man of my dreams. He devoted to his children. Family is the very essence that defines who he is. He believes in his children, yet he will not totally trust everything they say if it does not feel right. He supports his children whole-heartedly and gives them what they want as well as need. He believes in commitment and he commits to it. He takes control of situations and is responsible for his actions. He believes in getting to the root of the problem, by what ever means necessary.

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Title: The Journal of Antonio Montoya

Author: Rick Collignon

Narrator: Linette Geisel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-03-11

Publisher: Iambik Audio Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The Journal of Antonio Montoya is the first book of the Guadalupe series. When little Jose Montoyas parents are killed one August morning by a cow, his Tia Ramona and his Tio Flavio are troubled by how best to raise the boy. After the funeral, they drive to their childhood home behind the village office, but before they reach the house, the front door swung open and Ramonas grandfather, Epolito Montoya, who had been dead for thirteen years, stood in the doorway. Why are you out in the rain? he said. Ramona has returned reluctantly to this isolated village in northern New Mexico and to the family that never lets go. As she tries to build a modern life here on her own terms, and still to care for young Jose, she discovers that she can reach through time, see the richness of her heritage, and reclaim riches, knowledge, art that disappeared generations ago. In fact, she can speak with her ancestors and learn their stories. These, finally, are the fortunes she will try to pass on to Jose.

Critic Reviews:

"Collignon delivers his own engaging brand of magical realism with a spare style, deadpan humor and bracingly fresh descriptions." (Publishers Weekly)

"Strongly reminiscent of the magic realism of Garcia Marquez, this is an enchanting work by a new writer." (Library Journal)

"In this quirky story death is neither mighty nor dreadful enough to be climactic." (The New York Times Book Review, Andy Solomon)

Members Reviews:

Thank you Rick Collignon for the wonderful ride!

This book captures the magic of northern New Mexico. I could not put it down. Rick Collignon

has the gift of crossing the boundaries of "the known reality" and steps into the essence of life

lived mostly off the land in small isolated mountain towns.

Thank you Rick Collignon for the wonderful ride!

Great book. New Mexican surrealism at its

Great book. New Mexican surrealism at its finest

Author's debut demonstrates amazing potential

The Journal of Antonio Montoya by Rick Collignon takes place in the Sangre de Christos mountains but has a sense of timelessness. Ramona has isolated herself in her dusty hometown after returning from several years away trying to find success as an author. She lives alone in her grandparents' house with no sense of purpose or intention until her brother and his wife die, leaving their son an orphan. When the boy's mother sits up in her casket at the graveside and tells Ramona to take care of Jose, Ramona thinks that her mind is starting to slip, but when she takes the boy home, they are greeted by her long dead grandparents who proceed to take care of the pair by cooking and irrigating the fields. Her grandmother gives her an old journal that pulls into the life of the mysterious Antonio Montoya. This book is nearly impossible to summarize. The story quietly unfurls in front of the reader, gently pulling him/her in to Ramona and Antonio's lives. Collignon's quiet prose captures the steady rhythm of small town life and how it can beat down the gentlest of souls. In the end, Ramona is changed by her discoveries in the journal, and the reader may share in her revelation.

Magical Realism in a small town in Mexico

For me, this small and enchanting book defines the term `magical realism'.

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Title: Bodily Harm

Author: Margaret Atwood

Narrator: Bonnie Hurren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-02-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Rennie Wilford, a young jounalist running from her life, takes an assignment to a Caribbean island and tumbles into a world where no one is what they seem. When the burnt-out Yankee Paul (does he smuggle dope or hustle for the CIA?) offers her a no-hooks, no strings affair, she is caught up in a lethal web of corruption.

Members Reviews:

Not her best, but she's still the best

Atwood is a genius. This book takes you on an adventure, but isn't as deep as her other books.

Disturbing But Necessary

I was enchanted by Bodily Harm because of its blatantly poco premise about a Canadian journalist who inadvertently goes to a former British colony of St. Antoine during a political coup. Regardless of which real Caribbean nation it's based on, like all of Atwood's work, I found her ability to render a place and its feeling with exquisite detail remarkable. What I found more problematic in this text was her inability to fully render minor characters. I suspect this was intentional because Rennie, the heroine, despite her profession, lacks the ability to read people and their intentions. This deliberate opaqueness also adds to the element of suspense, and I would like to teach the novel in seminar with more about its context. It also provides an interesting snapshot of the third-waive malaise in North American feminism that I want to reflect upon further.

Not for the Faint of Heart

The title must tell it all: This young-ish woman, who has definitely been around the block and is a successful writer of light pieces for light magazines, is a breast cancer survivor - or maybe she won't survive. She can't be sure. She feels mutilated and unwilling to expose her now-changed and harmed body to the scrutinies of her lover, Jake; he feels somewhat squeamish too, despite his proclivity for outrageous and rough sex. Her crush on her doctor seems to be also going to prevent any such intimacies from occurring, as he is loyally married. [Well, sort of.] The climax of the first half of this book takes place when Rennie's finds her apartment broken into and a coil of rope left on her bed. Feeling, as who wouldn't, that she needs a complete change of scene, she books a flight to one of the world's least lovely spots, a small Caribbean island that has, for good reasons, been overlooked by tourists, travelers and developers. [Why she made this weird choice is worthy of discussion.] Nothing could be grimmer than her hotel and its ghastly "amenities", or the ugly, primitive town, or the cast of dubious characters she becomes involved with. Most want to do her some sort of harm by getting her involved in a political situation that quickly explodes into a chaotic and bloody revolution that turns out to be a nightmare for her and her once-acquaintance and now cell-mate, Lora. Lora becomes a staunch pal who endures tortures and [probably] rape-like sex to provide Rennie with such small perks as a hairbrush and chewing gum.

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Title: But Not for Love

Subtitle: Texas Tradition Series

Author: Edwin Shrake

Narrator: George Guidall

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-25-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A native Texan, Edwin Bud Shrake has written more than two dozen works and is best known for The Borderland, which was named one of the 10 best books of 2000 by the Los Angeles Times.

This Texas Traditions Series title takes us back to the Lone Star State during the Cold War at the beginning of the 1960s. The postwar generation is in a frenzy of high living and profligate spending. Big Texas oil is still subsidized by a federal depletion allowance and cattle still account for much of the states wealth. But these longtime mainstays of Texas finance are giving way to transistors and computers. A new millionaire class is growing up around business mergers and electronic technology.

In the opening section of the novel, we visit the Texas Gulf Coast and see the machinations of Sam Guthrie and Waddy Morris Jr. as they attempt to take over a rival technology company. Back in Dallas, idealistic attorney Ben Carpenter moves to thwart the Guthrie/Morris takeover. Then we move to Fort Worth and attend the drunken party given in honor of Ben Carpenters 30th birthday. The party moved to Mexico on Cadmus Wilkinss bus, where everyone has to confront his or her inner self - and some are found wanting.

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Title: The Hamilton Case

Author: Michelle de Kretser

Narrator: Sam Dastor

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-18-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The place is Ceylon, the time the 1930s. Set amid tea plantations, decay and corruption, this sinuous, subtle, surprising novel is a masterly evocation of time and place, of colonialism and the backwash of empire. It is the story of an embittered Ceylonese lawyer, Sam Obeysekere himself a product of empire - 'obey' by name and by nature - and of a family that once had wealth and influence but starts to crack open when Sam's charismatic father dies leaving gambling debts, an ex-beauty of a wife, an unstable daughter and an inadequate son. But the writing has been on the wall for a generation, ever since another sibling died in his cot- And at the heart of the novel is the Hamilton Case, a 'White Mischief' murder scandal that shakes the upper echelons of the island's society. Sam's involvement in it makes his name but paradoxically ensures that he will never achieve his ambition. A miracle of delicacy and restraint, full of volte faces, and narrated with perfect pitch in a voice that catches both the tragedy and comedy of their situation, this is a gripping, nuanced tale of the end of an era, suffused with 'the unbearable thought that everything might have turned out differently'.

Members Reviews:

An acquired taste

Being a devotee of the author's other works, I was prepared for the lyricism and history.

How cleverly the plot wove around characters in time and space. The listener could literally see the unreliable narrators glisten for an instant and then notice that their stories in fact clashed.

Historical truth is such a flawed idea. This novel demonstrates how the individuals make their own, egotistical marks..and mistakes.

Perhaps the author is right. The taste for Nostalgic Exotic Tales in Ex Imperial Territories has sustained a great many "successful" novelists rather for their exoticism than their skill.

This monsoon tale is not one of them.

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Title: The Lost Dog

Author: Michelle de Kretser

Narrator: Rowena Cooper

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-18-11

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 1.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Tom Loxley is holed up in a remote cottage in the bush, trying to finish a book on 'Henry James and the uncanny', when his dog goes missing, trailing a length of orange twine, tied with firm knots. Toms lonely childhood in India taught him to tie knots but not to hold on.

The house belongs to Nelly Zhang, an elusive artist with whom Tom has become enthralled. The narrative spans 10 days while Tom searches for his dog... and loops back in time to take the listener on a breath-taking journey into glittering worlds far beyond the present tragedy, from an Anglo-Indian childhood to the brittle contemporary Melbourne art scene, from Tom's scratchy, unbearably poignant relationship with his ailing mother to the unanswered puzzles in Nelly's past - her husband also disappeared in the bush. The listener will fear for Tom as well as for the dog.

Set in present-day Australia and mid-20th century India, here is a haunting, layered work that vividly counterpoints new cityscapes and their inhabitants with the untamed continent beyond. With its atmosphere of menace and an acute sense of the unexplained in any story, it illuminates the collision of the wild and the civilised, modernity and the past, home and exile. The Lost Dog is a mystery and a love story, an exploration of art and nature, a meditation on ageing and the passage of time. It is a book of wonders: a gripping contemporary novel that examines the weight of history as well as different ways of trying to grasp the world.

Members Reviews:

A review by Rob Kennedy

Michelle de Kretser writes and sounds like a poet. The short pithy perfectly constructed lines in The Lost Dog, have great appeal. The opening two lines completely set the story up; not many books have ever achieved this. The book is worth buying for those two lines alone.

Itâs good to see a modern book carrying modern connections in it, such as the references to the use of modern technology. Many contemporary books do not contain references to the things we use every day, and that makes them seem out of touch and unreal. The Lost Dog blends this into the contemporary, and into a drifting story that weaves through the life of a stubborn and sensitive man, the lead character, Tom Loxley.

Thereâs a sincere portrayal of a man and his union with a dog. The way an animal can get and remain under the skin of ever the hardest of men, not that Loxley is hard man. The book shows just how strong and permanent that union can be.

In many moments throughout the book, the image of that dog come back to Loxley, and these are some of the most poignant parts of the book. I feel itâs clear that de Kretser has a close relationship with animals, to be able to render them as she has.

Normally, Iâm not a lover of description, but when de Kretser does it, I get something out of it. The poetic imagery she is able to assign to even the smallest and most insignificant of objects, places and characters, actually adds fuel to the story, and it didnât turn me away as description does in so many other books.

At times, I did feel lost though. I havenât figured out if it was due to the depth of the story, or the sophisticated interlacing of ideas and memories; the lead does find himself in memory a lot.

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Title: When Mountains Walked

Author: Kate Wheeler

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-25-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Acclaimed author Kate Wheeler collected numerous awards for her short stories before making a splash with this atmospheric first novel. It tells the parallel tales of two women who, suffocating in oppressive marriages, travel to faraway lands and are drawn to the intensity of forbidden love.

Maggie Goodwin and her husband travel deep into the heart of Peru to establish a health clinic. They enlist the help of political revolutionary Vicente Cruz after determining that the owners of a gold mine are poisoning the local water supply. But Maggie is drawn to Vicentes idealism and begins a love affair that mirrors the romance her grandmother had years earlier. As Maggie follows her heart, she faces many of the same obstacles and momentous decisions her grandmother encountered.

As an experienced travel writer, Wheeler colorfully infuses her prose with evocative descriptions of exotic locales. Suzanne Torens powerful narration ensures that When Mountains Walked will resonate long after the final word.

Members Reviews:

Will you like this book?

When there is as much disagreement among reasonable people as this book has engendered, it makes little sense to describe it as either "good" or "bad." So, will you like it? It's pretty long; when you get to the end, will reading it have been worth your while? Put simply, if you enjoy a character's examination of their feelings and believe that a suitable ending is that the principal character has come to terms with the difficult situation in which she finds herself, then yes. If you're a plot-driven type, then no. It's tempting to say that women will love this book and men will hate it, but it's not that simple. My wife ditched it after a couple of chapters, while I finished it, though I was not especially satisfied with how things worked out for Maggie and the men in her life. A quick note on the writing, which is very good. If you are just starting this book do me a favor and count the number of times Kate Wheeler uses the word "belly"/"bellies". I think it may be one of her favorites.

A Great Story; A Gorgeous Psychic Landscape

I savored When Mountains Walked over the course of a summer to allow plenty of time to wander Kate Wheeler's exquisite psychic landscape. The juxtaposition of Althea's and Maggie's stories makes the novel fairly vibrate with emotional intensity. The dimensions of the story are amazingly complex but never confusing, one startling event resonating with another--the death of Althea's child, Maggie's wish to have a child, the conflicting claims of two men, the political and economic drama unfolding in a Peruvian village. I'm in awe of Wheeler's talent for creating characters who play out these interwoven levels with an urgency that accelerates all the way to the book's very satisfying ending. This is a book ambitious in scope and significance--geopolitical and mythic at the same time. The entire world of this novel is a feast for the senses as well as the heart. Wheeler is an elegant writer who attends to the deepest questions of how we are to negotiate desire. For a sense of her range, from the mysteries of love and spirit to the pizzazz of her wit, also read her collection of short stories, Not Where I Started From.

"A Pathetic Schmo"

An extremely weak effort by a talented "writer." Ms.