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Title: Fresh from the Country

Author: Miss Read

Narrator: Gwen Watford

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-02-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Anna Lacey had spent most of her 20 years on her Essex farm. Her doting parents, rural friends and country childhood had not prepared her for the shock of relocation to a raw new neighbourhood for her first year as a teacher. But Anna was gifted with the abilities to make friends and to learn as she taught.

©1961 Mrs D J Saint

Members Reviews:

Great buy for my wife!

The book is a favorite for my wife, so I consider it a good buy! I got this one used, and everything was in good order when I received it.

fresh from the country

It was in good shape for a paperback its age. That was just as you had described it. thank you

Not That Great

This is not the best Miss Read book. It is kind of a downer - London is dreary and she longs for her country home. Sad, really.

--Endearing story--

FRESH FROM THE COUNTRY is the story of Anna Lacey a charming young woman who is filled with anticipation as she is assigned to her very first teaching position. The story is set in England and takes place in the late 1940's or early 1950's.

Nothing is quite what Anna expected. The cozy school of her dreams turns out to be large and located in an ugly urban area. Her class is filled with 46 students, so many that a teacher has barely the time to get to know the individual children. Keeping order among the students is another difficult issue for the young teacher. Anna's other big problem is housing. Rooms to let are not abundant and she's forced to move in with Mr. & Mrs. Flynn. Her bedroom is tiny and the overall accommodations leave a lot to be desired. Mrs. Flynn is ill spirited and the meals given to Anna are miserly and tasteless. Anna does befriend two other young teachers who often invite her to tea and add a little color to her otherwise regulated life. Just getting out of Mrs. Flynn's dreary house for a few hours makes her feel better.

As the year progresses Anna learns that there is a lot more to being a teacher than she had guessed. She also realizes that she really loves teaching, but knows that she will be happiest living in the country and working in a small school. The year ends with Anna anticipating the next year, a possible romance and life in general.

There are quite a few books written by Miss Read. She has the most wonderful knack of taking what might seem a rather bland scenario and turning it into a most interesting and satisfying story. Miss Read's real name is Mrs. Dora Saint. I recommend this book for anyone, but I think it would be especially interesting for a young person who is considering a teaching career.

My absolute favorite "Miss Read" book....

Culture shock was not something I'd expected to read about in this gentle story, written probably around the era of 1940s. A young girl moves from her country home to begin the life of a school teacher in a new suburb. However, her sense of fun and country standards bring her through to a new understanding at the end of her first term. Absolutely and quite simply lovely. I wish her story could go on and on.

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Title: Thicker than Water

Author: Anthea Fraser

Narrator: Anna Bentinck

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 10-22-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Callum Firbank is successful, with a loving family and a comfortable home. But he has always been evasive about his childhood.

Jill Irving runs a hotel in Dorset and has everything she could wish for. She also has secrets in her past.

What links these three very different people? And who is the mysterious stranger whose appearance in their lives seems to cause such terror?

Members Reviews:

Suspenseful

I really enjoyed this book. It was quite suspenseful and eery at times but not overbearing. This one had me glued to my headphones.

It was OK

This book did keep me listening, although the latter half was definitely a lot less involving than the first half, and the whole genesis for the murders required a complete suspension of belief (unless you accept as fact that a heretofore solid citizen can be derailed into a psychotic killer within days after learning of a decades-old event). Also, I still want to know what the episode was that split the three siblings completely asunder in young adulthood; unless I dozed off, that was referred to but never explained, and since some of the plot hinged on the fact, it needed to be. But Anna Bentinck has a very pleasant reading voice (I will look for more of her work), and I wanted a nice, long story to listen to during a day in the garden, and this book filled that bill admirably.

Intriguing read

I have read many crime novels, and found Thicker than Water quite refreshing, as the story unfolds in quite an unnusual way. Each victims story is related seperately, and each one is obviously targeted by the same killer, the connection between them only becomes apparent quite late in the story when the perspective of the story changes from the victims perspective to the killers, making an intruiging read. Would recommend to any crime thriller fans.

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Title: The Post-Birthday World

Author: Lionel Shriver

Narrator: Laurel Lefkow

Format: Abridged

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-13-09

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Using a parallel universe structure, we follow Irina's life as it unfolds under the influence of two drastically different men. Lawrence is Irina's partner of nearly 10 years. Ramsey is the ex-husband of a sometime friend, a once-a-year acquaintance to whom Irina has never paid a great deal of attention. Where Lawrence is supportive and devoted; Ramsey is flighty and spontaneous. Lawrence is emotionally withdrawn to the point of repression; Ramsey is fiery and passionate, but volatile.

The contrasts between the two men have ramifications for Irina's relationships with friends and family, for her career as an illustrator, and more importantly, for the texture of her daily life.

Members Reviews:

Confusing unless you know that it's two alternate universes

Because I read Kindle books I can't read the jacket copy, and because I don't usually read reviews I don't spoil a book. I guess I was the only one who read this cold and was completely at sea. I read it because I love Lionel Shriver's writing, and I kept reading even through I was thoroughly confused. One minute she would be married to Ramsey and the next chapter she was cosily sitting on the couch eating popcorn with Lawrence watching Ramsey play snooker. One chapter she won a prestigious prize for children's literature, then in another chapter she lost to her rival. I finished the book because it was written by Lionel Shriver, but I never understood it.

Then I went to Goodreads to read the other reviews posted and found out that seemingly everyone but me had advance notice that the book was an alternative universe with Irina kissing/not kissing Ramsey on his birthday, the pivotal event in her life.

I feel a book should stand on its own, and there is an indication of what it is contained in the book that Irina writes that wins/doesn't win the children's prize. Unfortunately it came too late to rescue the book for me.

A let down

When I read the description of this book I was immediately intrigued and bought it right away. I love the concept of two alternating lives after a decision by the novel's main character, Irina. However, the book unfortunately, did not live up to my expectations. I found the characters irritating and I could not relate to any of them. I also found each chapter very repetitive. When I read multiple chapters in one sitting, I wanted to pull my hair out. When I only read one at a time, it was easier to get through and more enjoyable. The issue with reading many chapters at once, is that each event in the story happens two ways, and reading it both ways gets exhausting at times, especially when the event is not very interesting, which is often. I wanted to give up on this book so many times, but never let myself. The ending was quite beautiful and came together very nicely, but getting there was a definite struggle. I also found it to be way too long. In each chapter I found multiple paragraphs that could be cut out and the story would probably be stronger if they were. Shriver seemed to get side tracked by politics and, for lack of a better word, random anecdotes that really did not matter one bit. The end saved the book for me, and even though I love to concept of the two stories, I would not recommend this book.

I thought it was brilliant

I read the preview the day the book went on sale.

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Title: Life after Genius

Author: M. Ann Jacoby

Narrator: Paul Michael Garcia

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-06-09

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Theodore Mead Fegley has always been the smartest person he knows. By age 12 he was in high school, and by 15 he was attending a top-ranking university. And now, at the tender age of 18, he's on the verge of proving the Riemann Hypothesis, a mathematical equation that has mystified academics for almost 150 years. But only days before graduation, Mead suddenly packs his bags and flees home to rural Illinois. What caused him to flee remains a mystery to all but Mead and a classmate whose quest for success has turned into a dangerous obsession.

©2008 M. Ann Jacoby; (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Members Reviews:

Life After Genius

The book, "Life After Genius" is a very interesting read. It is not a book I would have chosen to read, however, my book club selected it, and I enjoyed it very much and the discussion that followed was quite interesting. I highly recommend it.

I liked the book.

It was not was I expected, it had been recommended to me. I didn't like the ending of this book.

unlikeable characters but the story still has me hooked

I'll try not to give any spoilers. I'm 3/4 of the way through the book, and would like to read the other reviews, but I don't want any spoilers myself. I'm finding Mead very unlikeable -- he's so whiny and self-absorbed, and people keep trying to help him but he keeps pushing them away -- but I very much want to know what Herman did that swayed Mead to leave college. The author trumpets it from the outset that it's because of Herman that Mead left college, and I'm getting annoyed with her for drawing it out so long in telling us what it was that Herman did that was so terrible. But hey, I suppose that means she did a good job making it suspenseful. And she does a good job in wry little authorial quips here and there.

I did glance at some of the reviews some time ago. I've had a book for a few years, and was finally considering reading it a few months ago. One reviewer complained about excessive use of the word 'shit' in the book. That put me off from reading the book then, but then a couple weeks ago I did finally start it. I agree with that reviewer about that word in this book. That word works well in some books -- "Catcher In The Rye" if it's in there a lot (I'm not sure, long time since I read it) -- but it flops in this book. It seems somehow not apt to play the role for a mathematical mind (or heart) that the author has it play for Mead.

It's a treat to have fiction about math. (And there really is a Hugh Montgomery, mentioned on Page 279, known for Riemann Hypothesis results. I even had a class from him, in complex analysis, at the University of Michigan, around 1990.) And I'm enjoying the novelty of a novel written in present tense.

Bazinga! Some sort of joke? (Spoilers)

This review CONTAINS SPOILERS.

I can't help but think that this book started out as someone's senior project in a Master of Fine Arts program and was at first intended seriously, but that during the workshopping it became more of an "Eye of Argon" satire, put out there to see if people would buy it. The title promised me a look at someone who left the intellectual life and went on to do SOMETHING, at least, but I'm so sorry to say that this book disappointed me greatly.

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Title: My Sister's Keeper

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Shirley Lord

Narrator: Shirley Lord

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-17-09

Publisher: Phoenix Books

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

My Sister's Keeper is a story that only Shirley Lord could tell with authenticity, bases on her life spent in the beauty industry and her inside knowledge of international society.

Members Reviews:

My Sister's Keeper

I loved this book, it kept my attension and only took me two days to read it. I Hope she wrote a sequel to this.

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Title: Six Steps to a Girl

Author: Sophie McKenzie

Narrator: Tom Lawrence

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-04-09

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Luke spots Eve at his dad's funeral. She's hot - and she's the perfect distraction from his messed up family life. There's only one problem - she's got a boyfriend. Still, Luke's not going to give up that easily.

©2007 Sophie McKenzie;

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Title: The Crossing Guard

Author: David Rabe

Narrator: Dick Hill

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-30-09

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Quenching his thirst for vengeance with alcohol, Freddy Gale waits for John Booth's release, planning his revenge. He becomes a man obsessed. On the day of Booth's release, with his soul howling in agony, he is ready.

John Booth, at once strengthened and weakened by his prison experiences, also waits. Still seeking a final penance, he endures his own agonies until the day he gets a gun to reclaim his life.

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Title: Irreplaceable

Author: Stephen Lovely

Narrator: Phil Gigante and Tanya Eby Sirois

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-09

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Janet Corcoran, a young, headstrong mother of two and an art teacher at an inner-city school in Chicago, is sick with heart disease. She is on the waiting list for a transplant, but her chances are slim. She watches the Weather Channel, secretly praying for foul weather and car accidents. The day Isabel dies, Janet gets her wish.

Flash forward a year. Janet sends Alex a letter. She'd like to learn something about the woman who saved her life. But Alex isn't interested in talking to the recipient of his dead wife's heart. Since Isabel's accident, he's still grief-stricken. Meanwhile, a local blues musician named Jasper, the man responsible for Isabel's death, attempts to atone for his misdeed.

Irreplaceable is the story of what happens after the transplant - not only to Alex but within the concentric circles of family that spiral outward from him and from Janet. Stephen Lovely takes us vividly inside the lives of these characters to reveal their true intentions - however misguided - and gives us a stunning debut novel of loss and love.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

great read

Boring!

This book was so difficult to read. To start, there were way too many characters that were mentioned in the book even if they were not actual apart of the story lines. This book was too confusing. You would be in the present, and without warning, it took you back into the past and right back to the current . In my book club, I was the only one to finish the book out of 9 other ladies. They too stated that there was just too much going on in the beginning and it was not enough to keep their attention. I had download to my Kindle, but could not stay focused to continue to read until I changed avenues and read it online....I would not recommend this book to anyone.

I liked it.

I actually liked the book. My sister recommended it. Glad I read it before I read these reviews. I thought the characters were drawn true to life. I've known a couple of people like Jaspar (scary isn't it?). I thought the author had laid the groundwork for what happens between the mother and the son-in-law. Likely? No. Plausible? Yes.

I thought it seemed well-researched. In fact, could have done with less of the details about heart transplants.

Life-altering, must-read

This is a book that I 'consumed', letting everything else fall

by the wayside. The characterizations, details in descriptions

of events in the main characters' lives made me by turns weep

and laugh. It is a wonderfully inspiriing book that I would

recommend for anyone interested in grief, romance, hope, love

and joy. This is a book I read and then passed on to a friend,

and wouldn't hesitate to give as a gift.

Thought provoking story

One of my favorites. Complex subject from so many perspectives. Really surprising views. Very thought provoking and a great story.

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Title: In the Dark

Author: Mark Billingham

Narrator: Adjoa Andoh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-02-09

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The result is disaster for another unlikely family: DS Paul Hopwood and his girlfriend Helen Weeks, who's carrying a baby that may or may not be his. Relations have been cool between Paul and Helen ever since he found out about the fling she had at a particularly inopportune time. Now they're never going to warm up again. It's a sad story of random gang violence, but not, it seems, an uncommon one - except for a series of dark revelations.

First, the accident may have had less to do with drugs than an internal investigation by the police; second, there's a growing suspicion that the freak accident may not have been so accidental after all; third, somebody is evidently closing the case a step ahead of the authorities by killing the friends in Theo's gang, leaving him the odd man out in more ways than one.

In a city where violence can be random or meticulously planned, where teenage gangs clash with career criminals and where loyalty is paid for in blood, anything is possible. Secrets are uncovered as fast as bodies, and the story's final twist is as breathtakingly surprising as they come.

Members Reviews:

Social study with looney tunes

I had a hard time getting into this story at the beginning, as a large cast of seemingly unrelated people got introduced and the story seemed to be going nowhere slowly. But around the middle it picked up and the web linking all these people started to emerge. I finally quite liked it overall, but there were a lot of loose ends as the tale was more about the environment than than the individuals.

I added whispersync after about 20% of the book to speed me up - big mistake! The narrator makes no effort to make the listener aware of changes in perspective (which are happening quite often) and gives really weird voices (straight out of looney tunes) to some individuals that do not fit the book at all.

Gangsters old and new and just a little Thorne

This book sees Mark Billingham on form and to form. The story explores the London underclass of small time gangstas counterbalanced by traditional East End Gangsters you might find in a guy Ritchie film.

The plot drives forward though there are a few time twists and plot tricks to keep you smiling through quite a bleak and violent tale. It?s always interesting when crime writers write a book that is not about their familiar character. It?s even more fun when our old friend gets a bit part as Tom Thorne does in this one I wasn?t quite convinced by the plot?s central premise it really stretches credulity in a way that might be OK in a country house murder but not in something as authentic as this. The atmosphere and some unlikely sympathetic characters carry the book through though and it is a very haunting piece of work.

A special mention has to go Adjoa Andoh for an absolutely superb performance of the text; she got the street chat just right and was also great in central role of the pregnant heroine.

Overall a gripping and memorable book full of Mark Billingham?s characteristic hard edged humanity.

Different, but just as brilliant...

I've read all of Mark Billingham's Tom Thorn novels and last year's non-Thorn (or "Thorn-lite" novel "Rush of Blood", and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect of this.

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Title: The Savage Garden

Author: Mark Mills

Narrator: Jamie Glover

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-30-09

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

But tragedy has hit the Docci family more recently. The German occupation during World War Two had a devastating impact on them, and the tensions between collaborators and partisans were played out within their own tight circle.

Adam is fascinated by the Doccis and increasingly aware that there are dangerous secrets hidden within the family domain. The garden itself starts to exercise a powerful influence over his imagination, its iconography seeming to point to some deeper, darker truth than was first apparent. And what really lay behind a killing at the villa towards the end of the war?

Past and present, love and intrigue, intertwine in an evocative mystery which vividly captures the experience of an innocent abroad in the uncertain world of post-War Italy.

Members Reviews:

Excellent

A beautifully descriptive book!