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Title: Blueeyedboy

Author: Joanne Harris

Narrator: Colin Moody

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-21-10

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Once there was a widow with three sons, and their names were Black, Brown and Blue. Black was the eldest; moody and aggressive. Brown was the middle child, timid and dull. But Blue was his mother's favourite. And he was a murderer.

Blueeyedboy is the brilliant new novel from Joanne Harris: a dark and intricately plotted tale of a poisonously dysfunctional family, a blind child prodigy, and a serial murderer who is not who he seems. Told through posts on a web journal called badguysrock, this is a thriller that makes creative use of all the multiple personalities, disguise and mind games that are offered by playing out a life on the internet.

Members Reviews:

www...What?

You know when you watch a film and it suddenly ends and you are like, 'What?!'. That's what this book was like. I didn't know who the baddie was, and the deliberate twisting of characters, made it impossible to know what was real or fiction.

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Title: Cleave

Author: Nikki Gemmell

Narrator: Kate Hosking

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-19-10

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Snip Freeman is a painter with a waitressing problem, a wanderer in search of her past. She'll visit a place, find a man and a studio and a scrap of a job, until the zing of uncertainty pulls her on. She is anchored nowhere, touches the earth lightly. Then she turns her back on a drowning man. And suddenly she has reason to stay put.

Taking up Shiver's theme of women in tough places, Cleave illuminates the troubled relationship between wandering and settling, belonging and freedom, parents and children, partners and lovers; between white and black, secretive silences and the truth. It is a novel of great power and lyricism.

Editorial Reviews:

Kate Hosking proves she is more than up to the task in portraying the sharp-tongued, nomadic, and emotionally fraught protagonist Snip Freeman in Nikki Gemmells engrossing novel, which finds Snip venturing to the Australian Outback, or The Centre, to track down her father and quench her burning desire to find out why he abandoned her and her mother years ago.

Apart from imbuing the seemingly headstrong but emotionally fragile Snip with a humanism, she manages to capture the vastness and cultural nuances of the Outback and its natives in this engrossing Australian tale.

Members Reviews:

Great Modern Australian Story

I am making my way through all of Nikki Gemmell's books and I found this one a surprisingly light and easy read though with plenty of food for thought. It was the kind of book that had me thinking about it in between reading sessions. I wasn't a big fan of the main female character and some of her choices left me wondering - particularly her attraction to Dave.

Excellent writer

I love Nikki Gemmell's writing style, and her mastery of the written word. Being an Aussie, I readily identify with her descriptions of Australian environment both physical and social. A jolly enjoyable story, this one, with an unexpected tweak at the end, yet different (surprisingly and refreshingly so) from the other books of hers that I have read.

Five Stars

A great read about family and connection to country, hard to put own.

There is no home and no hope of one for a true artist

In spite of all it is not a book about Australia, Sudney, the desert, the Aborigenes and Tasmania. It is not abook about Helen, but Snip and Dave, a mother, a father, a daughter, a lover. Ot is a book about inspiration in art and how you can get plugged on the deepest energies of life only if you take a trip to the unknown, regularly and alone, and that unknown has to be different everytime, be it only to be unknown. It is a book athat has nothing to do with the sex of the heroin. It could have been a hero, even if it would have been so much more  natural  and hence less meaningful. Better have a woman in that role. The artist has to assume her family, her broken family, her mother and father, till the end, till the very ultimate moment of the father's pilgrimage to the very limits of the world where life and death don't matter anymore and where life is only a vision of death. The artists has to get liberated from her mother and father by learning the truth about why they separated, and why she was taken kind of hostage by her father and looked after from afar by her guardian angel mother. And when she knows, when the father has told, he is ready to pass ouot of the picture of life but she has to give him the blessing go ahead silent sign. And she does.

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Title: The Swimmer

Author: Roma Tearne

Narrator: Patience Tomlinson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-14-10

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A gripping, captivating novel about love, loss and what home really means.

Forty-three year old Ria is used to being alone. As a child, her life changed forever with the death of her beloved father and since then, she has struggled to find love.

That is, until she discovers the swimmer.

Ben is a young illegal immigrant from Sri Lanka who has arrived in Norfolk via Moscow. Awaiting a decision from the Home Office on his asylum application, he is discovered by Ria as he takes a daily swim in the river close to her house. He is 20 years her junior, and theirs is an unconventional but deeply moving romance, defying both boundaries and cultures and the xenophobic residents of Orford. That is, until tragedy occurs.

Members Reviews:

Left me feeling traumatised

I've fortunately never lost a child - the portrayal of grief of the mother left me feeling physically sick. I thought this was a brilliant constructed and believable story.

One thing I would say about the reader though, although she read the female voice very well, all her male characters sounded like the two fat men in French and Saunders.

A truly tragic read.

I have read two of Roma Tearne's previous novels so I was not expecting this to be a joyful read. Even so, the tragedy referred to in the book's blurb occurs so early on in the narrative that it left me reeling, wondering how it could redeem itself. I did manage a few tears of joy at the end but the majority of the book is truly sad. Having said that, I enjoyed it, but then I am a bit of a morbid reader.

43 year old Ria is a bit of a loner following the loss of her much loved father while she was still young. She has inherited his cottage on the Fens of Norfolk, where she is living alone, working as a poet, when she starts to be aware of a presence around her house. She is understandably nervous, given the recent killing of animals and suspicion of illegal immigrants in her area.

Ben is a young refugee from Sri Lanka, having escaped the purging of the Tamils by travelling by lorry via Moscow. A qualified doctor in his home country, he is working as a farm worker to survive.

Ria and Ben form an unlikely alliance, given their different backgrounds and huge difference in age - then the tragedy strikes.

There are other vivid characters who are also introduced: Rias's bully of a brother and his family, Ben's mother, and Eric, an elderly farming man who catches eels in the river at the end of Ria's garden and who has known her since she was a child. It is Eric who holds the whole story together, though at times he is a bit too good to be true.

Tearne is excellent on expatriation and the struggles of the Tamils in Sri Lanka but there is so much tragedy and death in this story, both past and present, that you'd have to be in a strong frame of mind to read it. It is, however, lifted by the vivid descriptions of the harsh Norfolk countryside.

The Audible version was well read by Patience Tomlinson. Unfortunately she read Ben's mother's thoughts with an English accent and then used a slight accent for her spoken word. I would have preferred a native speaker for her voice.

thoughtful and delightful

I find like all audiobooks and written books that it is hard to get into at the beginning and sometimes well worth listening to the first chapter twice before proceeding. However this book is definately worth pursuing.

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Title: A Weekend with Mr Darcy

Author: Victoria Connelly

Narrator: Victora Brazier

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-12-10

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Dr Katherine Roberts is a lecturer at Oxford University and an expert on all things Austen. But she has a guilty secret; a love of racy Regency novels by Lorna Warwick. She's even struck up a long-distance friendship with the novelist and the two of them have been sharing their closest confidences. When Katherine gets her yearly invite to a Jane Austen Conference at the magnificent Purley Hall in Hampshire, she sincerely hopes that Lorna will be in attendance as well. She can hardly wait to meet her new friend, but it seems that Lorna may not have been completely honest with her.

Meanwhile, hopeless romantic Robyn Love is at her happiest when her head is stuck in one of Jane Austen's novels - if only her boyfriend Jace Collins could be more like Colin Firth. The weekend retreat is the perfect opportunity for Robyn to escape from reality for a few days - especially when she meets handsome stable hand Dan. But Jace isn't going to be so easy to shrug off.

With misunderstandings, muddles and a few shocking revelations, the weekend proves to be even more than they bargained for. Like all true Jane Austen heroines, Katherine and Robyn will discover that finding their own Mr Darcy is far from easy.

Members Reviews:

For all romantic readers out there

Where does A Weekend with Mr Darcy rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

The narrator was well suited to the story and very easy and believable to listen to. The story was easy to listen to and would be classed as a romance. You wouldn't have to be a huge Jane Austen fan to enjoy it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I liked the four main characters. You did feel like you got to know them and although you predict they will end up pairing off, you find yourself really wanting them to end up together.

What about Victora Braziers performance did you like?

Yes. Really good tone to her voice, represented the characters well and very well suited to the story. I found her one of the most pleasant voices to listen to on an audio book

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really. I just found it quite easy to follow, good escapism.

Enjoyable mush

I did enjoy this audiobook, at times it was a bit too mushy for my liking. The middle bit was too long and the end could have been developed more especially regarding the character Robin Love.

Fantastic

I was intrigued by this book and was initially hesitant to buy it but I am thoroughly glad I did. The interwoven story with Jane Austen's work was fabulous and the thoughts of the characters in the book invariably matched my own. I often listen to the book whilst walking the dog and would turn a corner whilst laughing out loud and nearly bump into someone.

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Title: The Blasphemer

Author: Nigel Farndale

Narrator: Colin Mace

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-07-10

Publisher: Isis Publishing Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

On its way to the Galápagos Islands, a light aircraft ditches into the sea. Daniel Kennedy faces an impossible choice should he save himself or the woman he loves? In a parallel narrative, it is 1917 and Daniels great grandfather Andrew is preparing to go over the top at Passchendaele. He, too, will have his courage tested, and must live with the moral consequences of his actions.

Members Reviews:

The Blasphemer - ok read

The Blasphemer - ok read

The book was an OK read.

I expected more of the story to be about the grandfather than the grandson

Narration ok

great story!

highly recommended. an amazing insight into war, survival and how we used to treat our own.

Brilliant

I was looking for books by this narrator who is excellent and I was totally enthralled from start to finish. Well written, interesting and very different from the type of books I usually buy but I will now be looking for more from Nigel Farraday.

Started slow but loved it in the end

enjoyed the tone of the narrators proper voice. Good story line slow start but loved the way the story weaved it's way thru time periods connecting them all in the end.

A bit confusing at times

Would you listen to The Blasphemer again? Why?

Possibly, mainly to try and make sense of some of the scenes.

Any additional comments?

Although I listened intently to the whole book, I still felt a little confused about some things and I just did not get the one big thread that ran through it so that the ending left me somewhat confused. I was pleased that on the whole, the WW1 research had been carried out well so that was a plus in my book. I just wish that not every WW1 book would feature something that happened in very, very small numbers because it seems to be "topical" but this time it did have an interesting twist. I think I would actually like to read this next to see if it does make a little more sense!

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Title: A Murder of Crows

Author: Jack Bates

Narrator: Dave Giorgio

Format: Unabridged

Length: 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-05-10

Publisher: Mind Wings Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The former lead singer of a heavy-metal band cheats his former group out of their severance pay and sets out on the road with no particular plan. Three years later, he finds himself running from mistakes hes made, and it puts him on a path with a dangerous young woman who shares his similar lack of morals. When an opportunity for a big score presents itself, the drifter finds himself sticking around the woman, even when he knows he would be better off getting back on the road. Is it too late to save himself or will he, once again, make the wrong choice, which could very well jeopardize his life?

Editorial Reviews:

Dave Giorgios reedy voice heightens the seedy despair of novelist and playwright Jack Batess lean prose in A Murder of Crows. A 23-year-old former lead singer of a heavy metal band has reached a dead end. Three years earlier, as his music career was fizzling out, he stole a large chunk of change from his bandmates. He hit escaped on a motorcycle, and found himself living day-to-day, flirting with danger. Now the money is gone, but there are still opportunities: an alluring woman and the possibility of a big score. The threat of death lurks steps behind him, but hes not ready to get back on the road. Will the past catch up with him?

Members Reviews:

overactive imagination, self-indulgent soul

This short story reminded me of an episode of Tales from the Crypt (without the paranormal element). Kind of a noirish "Sons of Anarchy meets Body Heat." It was a fun read. I'll look for more from this author.

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Title: Minding Frankie

Author: Maeve Binchy

Narrator: Kate Binchy

Format: Abridged

Length: 7 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 10-01-10

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group Limited

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Baby Frankie is born into an unusual family. Her mother is desperate to find someone to take care of her child and she doesn't have much time.

Noel doesn't seem to be the most promising of fathers but despite everything, he could well be Frankie's best hope.

As for Lisa, she is prepared to give up everything for the man she loves; surely he's going to love her back?

And Moira is having none of it. She knows what's right, and has the power to change the course of Frankie's life... but Moira is hiding secrets of her own.

Minding Frankie is a story about unconventional families, relationships which aren't quite what they seem, and the child at the heart of everyone's lives....

Members Reviews:

Not the Best Of Maeve Binchy

First off, let me say I generally love Maeve Minchy's novels. But this novel was just too simplistic. The main character visited Ireland to see relatives & within 48 hours was on the way to knowing & solving all of the local residents problems.

That being said, it was a pleasant read, & new and interesting characters were introduced, as well as previous characters, known to this author's readers. (no need to have read previous books)

If you're new to Maeve Binchy, I would recommend starting with "The Copper Beech", an oldie, but probably my favorite.

Heart-Warming and Comforting

First of all, I love Maeve Binchy! For many years, when the world just became too much for me, I have turned to her novels for reassurance that the world is really not as scary as it seems, and people are, as Anne Frank said, "really good at heart". This was not my absolute favorite of her works, but it was very good. My only criticism would be that there were simply so many characters that I had trouble keeping track of them and their place in the plot. Still, if you are looking for something heart-warming and comforting on a chilly fall evening, I highly recommend this book.

An interesting book

The condition of this book was cleaned. The story of this book was a little sad and happy and was not a bored reading.

I have been reading other author's books that I enjoy

Good for your heart and soul

Ms Binchy does it again...finds a way to tell of a seemingly ordinary year as a heartfelt journey through the lives of unforgettable characters.

Entertaining, endearing read

Minding Frankie is the sort of book that reminds me of why I fell in love with reading to begin with. This book is just so alive with feeling, drama, humor, community, romance and even food and a real villian who's not a vampire or serial killer. So refreshing! There is no formula writing in this novel. All the people in the book feel real and their feelings for each other and their personalities are sheer delight (even though I wanted to shake Lisa and tell her to snap out of it). Minding Frankie is just full of great characters and this brings a lot of energy to the book.

I found myself cheering Noel and Frankie on, while hoping a building would fall on Moira and squash her. I loved hating Moira and even feeling a little sorry for her too. I loved Emily and how she rallied everyone to become their better selves. This I feel is so true to life--that it sometimes takes an outsider to bring people together and open them to new ways of thinking and being. I was happy she found a love interest of her own.

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Title: The Brave

Author: Nicholas Evans

Narrator: Michael Emerson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-16-10

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The motto of the boarding school to which Tommy Bedford is dispatched is Fortune Favours the Brave. Its 1959 and the school bristles with bullies and sadistic staff. Tommy, a quirky loner, obsessed with cowboys and Indians, needs all the bravery he can summon. Salvation comes when his glamorous actress sister is swept off to Hollywood by one of his heroes, TV cowboy Ray Montane.

But with the Cold War looming, the sinister side of Tinsel town seeps through and Tommy and Diane soon find themselves in jeopardy.

Forty years on, Tommy has to confront his boyhood ghosts when his own son finds himself charged with murder.

Members Reviews:

not bad

What disappointed you about The Brave?

Main character was distant and cold. Felt like I was just watching a story roll by, not a lot of reader interaction.

Would you ever listen to anything by Nicholas Evans again?

read a few books already. Good mid-day movie fodder.

How could the performance have been better?

too contemplative as far as story content

What character would you cut from The Brave?

??Gina, there were a few too many characters and happenings to follow.

Not Nicholas Evans at his best

I've read all of Nicholas Evans's books, and mainly they are enjoyable, atmospheric and moving, if a little trashy romance. But this doesn't come close to the mark of the others (The Horse Whisperer is still the best) even though there was quite a strong story behind it in the flashbacks of the story.

The early chapters set in Britain are hard to listen to, as the narrator cannot do accents. Despite being set in Birmingham, he clearly only has The Artful Dodger and Dumbledore for reference (ALL of the school masters sound the same), and his Welsh accent for the matron made me laugh out loud: Wales is not in the West Indies.

Thankfully, most of the action takes place in the narrator's native USA, so gets easier to listen to after that. The flashbacks tell a good and interesting story, even though you know how it ends from the first chapter of the book. But the present day action just isn't very interesting - and is frankly in quite bad taste. It's hard to feel sympathetic for his son.

There's a potential love interest but [SPOILER ALERT], he ends up dating her mum, which is a bit icky. And none of it relevant - it's basically a footnote.

All in all - read another Nicholas Evans. Any other one.

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Title: Vengeance

Author: Brian Pinkerton

Narrator: Dave Courvoisier

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-07-10

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

How far would you go for justice? Rob and Beth are very much in love. He has just proposed to her, but she wont live to see the wedding. Instead, Beth is intentionally sideswiped by an angry driver and knocked off her bike - to her death. Rob witnesses the whole thing, but he can only stand by helplessly as the driver gets off with a slap on the wrist. Rob is devastated. He becomes obsessed with making Beths killer pay.

Then, one day, a strange man approaches Rob with what seems to be the answer to his prayer. He offers Rob the justice hes been so desperately seeking. He tells Rob about The Circle, a small group of people with one thing in common: They all want revenge for something. Together they will find it. But Rob will learn only too late that there is a catch.

Critic Reviews:

"Energetically plotted, never-sure-where-it's-going pure entertainment." (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Members Reviews:

vengeance

This was a great story,you have to feel sorry for the character,what a mess he gets into you can sympathise with him all the way great stuff well written .

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Title: Nothing Happens Until it Happens to You

Subtitle: A Novel Without Pay, Perks, or Privileges

Author: T. M. Shine

Narrator: Paul Michael Garcia

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-07-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Jeffrey Reiner is stalling. After being laid off from a mundane job he held for eighteen years, he is in no hurry to get back to work, so he quickly dispenses with the nonsense of job counseling and resume building. Still, he knows that in order to make it through these economic times, he has no choice but to throw himself at any opportunities that come his way, no matter how humbling or embarrassing. In Nothing Happens Until It Happens to You, the listener is witness to a man doing just that - leaving behind the security and predictability of his past to face the realities of his dysfunctional family and a world disinclined to do him any favors. With wry humor and perfect comic timing, this is a story of picking up the pieces and using them to create an entirely new self.

Critic Reviews:

"There's nothing amusing about getting laid off---except when it's a story told by the brilliant Terry Shine, one of the funniest writers I know." (Dave Barry, author of I'll Mature When I'm Dead)

Members Reviews:

Thoughtful & Sardonic Comedic Take On Living Within Your Means

This is a fun read that helps put perspective on how normal our bloated lifestyles have become in everyday American suburbia. It asks a lot of questions, through first person prose, about what someone who kept his head down and played by the rules can do now, unemployed, since he's become so used to security and 'working' on automatic pilot, etc, etc. It, again, comically makes observations on how a wife and teenage children could react to suddenly having to cut back and what to say when your friends, family and neighbors start talking to you like a pitiful victim.

Louie CK's humor seeps through the pages at such a level that it's hard to not picture him as Jeffery, the main character. They're even about the same age. Should a movie ever 'happen' then it'd be a shame if Louie didn't take a shot. But then Louie would just be playing himself essentially. That's OK lots of big actors have been doing that for years!

Honest, Touching, Hysterical

"We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars." I don't know who said this, but I think of it whenever I read TM Shine (his narrative non-fiction work is worth googling). Shine puts a human face on the unraveling economy in the story of one man who slowly loses his job and family but has done nothing wrong beyond having not made a fortune.

The novel avoids the standard tropes of a Horatio Alger story-- throughout Shine is blunt and honest in exploring the question of how our identities are locked into our work, and how the former can unravel when the latter is suddenly taken.

All of that said, Nothing Happens... is a very funny book. Shine has a keen eye for the absurdities of American life and seems to revel in the role of court jester.

Cult Classic Written All Over It

This is one of those novels that, as soon as you finish, you want to start reading all over again. And then you want to read your favorite parts to whoever is in the room with you, only it turns out that ALL of it is your favorite part. Shine is one of those rare writers whose voice is both startlingly original and uncannily familiar. The familiar part is inside the reader. It's the shock of recognition, and what we recognize is our own innermost experience.