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Title: The Race Before Us

Subtitle: A Journey of Running and Faith

Author: Bruce H. Matson

Narrator: Lloyd James

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-28-13

Publisher: Mission Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Turning 50-years-old and facing some of life's biggest questions are daunting challenges. A crisis of faith and crisis of health lead towards significant changes in one's life. For Bruce Matson, a family man with a successful law practice, the struggles of health and doubt led to action. Combining podcasts from notable Christian leaders Ravi Zacharias, Allistair Begg, and Tim Keller, careful research and preparation, and encouragement from family and friends, Bruce ran his race for physical and spiritual health.

The Race Before Us by Bruce Matson is a wonderful memoir detailing the path of doubt to faith and spiritual malaise to running with God. Come alongside Bruce as he navigates the windy roads of faith and health in his pursuit of physical and spiritual well-being.

Members Reviews:

An Inspired Writing and a Convincing Case for Christ!

Side by side with his story of experiencing the fragility of physical life, Bruce neatly presents to his readers what Christians believe and why we believe it. He challenges secular worldview with plain and sobering observations such as "Absent a perfectly just judge's final word, all we have are competing truth claims waiting for the strong to impose their truth claims on the weak." Bruce thoroughly dissects the arguments of leading skeptics by exposing the deceptions that frequently underlie such arguments. And he points compellingly to "human longing" for justice as a symptom of humankind's greater ache for the goodness that flows from a reconciliation with God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Bruce shares the struggles and triumphs of his physical race but, far more importantly, Bruce speaks to the eternal victory that is assured when one permits spiritual truths to be liberated from whatever might ensnare them. For the mature Christian, those new to the faith, and to those who pine for more than the grind of daily life, this book is highly recommended.

A Book that Addresses Fitness and Faith

Bruce Matson has an amazing story to tell and he shares it in a power way. Starting in a pretty dark place, Bruce tells his story of running back to spiritual, mental and physical health. I think the authorâs journeys of physical fitness and spiritual faith will inspire his readers to consider their own walk with the Savior, to live life with a renewed commitment to transformation, and even to think about running a marathon â or maybe a 5K. Check out this book if youâre are interested in understanding the physical and mental preparation for running a long distance race or investigating the case for biblical Christianity.

Unique & Creative Book; Worth the Read

The Race Before Us is an honest journey of self-discovery. Throughout this book the author makes a conscience effort to get physically healthy while on a quest to see if what he practiced was what he really believed. The content was a hybrid of two books; making the presentation creative and unique. What I loved about this book, is that while the author searched and researched for many years it was evident that God pursued him throughout this journey of coming into faith. In the end, the conclusion presented was very compellingly.

Being a runner, I also enjoyed the authors adventure into the world of running and races.

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Title: Alanbrooke

Author: David Fraser

Narrator: James Adams

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-12-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

"Alanbrooke," wrote General MacArthur, "is undoubtedly the greatest soldier that England has produced since Wellington." He fought with the artillery in the First World War, had a brilliant career as a peacetime soldier, and conducted his Corps with exemplary calm and courage in the retreat to Dunkirk. In November 1941 Churchill selected him as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and from that moment he became indispensable in Whitehall, the one man who could never be spared for the more spectacular feats of war on the battlefield which he longed to undertake.

Alanbrooke was the master strategist of the British military effort. His partnership with Churchill - the statesman's imagination and inspired energy perfectly complementing the soldier's clarity of mind and unflinching realism - was often turbulent, yet endlessly fruitful. Under his chairmanship the Chiefs of Staff became the most efficient machine for the conduct of war which Britain, perhaps the world, had ever seen. His influence in the shaping of global strategy was immeasurable.

Born the son of Brigadier The Honourable William Fraser (1890-1964) DSO MC, who had been the military attache in Paris when the Second World War begun, David Fraser was educated at Eton College and Christ Church College, Oxford. He left school to enlist at earliest opportunity after the Second World War begun, and joined his father's regiment, the Grenadier Guards in 1940, serving for much of the War with the Guards Armoured Division, later in North West Europe, ending the war in the rank of Major. He was appointed General Officer Commanding 4th Division in 1969, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Policy) in 1971 and Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1973. He went on to be British Military Representative to NATO in 1975, and Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1977 before retiring in 1980.

Members Reviews:

Excellent Piece of Work

What did you love best about Alanbrooke?

Alan Brook was at the very centre of decisions made in every theatre in WWII. He was a thoughtful and educated man with an excellent strategic mind. The book paints very well the circumstance, the evidence and finally the decision. Its a fascinating insight into the man who gave the nod to world changing events and the advice he gave on why he did. Its well researched, its well written and an excellent company. I would advise it to any history buff's looking for a demanding picture of the relationship between senior military men and senior politicians and the fine line they both much tread.

Absorbing

What triggered me to read this book was the comment in the advertisement quoting General MacArthur that Alanbrooke was the greatest soldier that England has produced since Wellington. This book was published in 1982. The book is 786 pages long and the audio book is 23 hours long.

Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke (1883-1963) fought with the artillery in WWI. This book gives an excellent report of artillery use in WWI. Alanbrooke served in the Army during the peace, and was in command of his Corp during the retreat at Dunkirk. In November, 1941, Churchill selected him as Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

General Fraser used the Alanbrooke diaries as well as other archival documents as research material for this biography.

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Title: The Urban Hermit

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Sam MacDonald

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-17-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Faced with the truth that his debts and his waistline had both ballooned out of control, Sam MacDonald devised a plan to change his life.

When Sam graduated from Yale in 1995, he watched a classmate make inroads as a head-office guy in professional baseball, another become a day-trading millionaire, and another develop connections at the Playboy Mansion. Struggling to make ends meet, he shrugged his shoulders at their success and raised a tall one to them.

It wasn't until April 2000 that Sam got his wake-up call. He weighed 340 lbs. He was flat broke. And the IRS had caught up with him.

In a desperate attempt to save himself, Sam decided to limit himself to a budget of $8 a week and 800 calories a day. He called it "The Urban Hermit Plan."

He thought he would do it for a month. Instead, he embarked on a bizarre year-long journey. He lost 160 pounds in the process, befriended rent-dodging trailer-park denizens, flew to Bosnia on assignment, traveled to a peace festival in a hippie van, had a run-in with Cooter from The Dukes of Hazzard, and met the woman who would later become his wife.

The Urban Hermit is a wildly hilarious story about backwoods living, as told by a man who should have known better.

Members Reviews:

Engaging but ... Intellectual Junk Food?

I found this book hard to put down, and I'm not quite sure why. It was like opening a bag of potato chips - I couldn't eat just one. Yet, at the end, I'm not sure of the nutritional content.

In this first-person narrative, author Sam MacDonald finds himself a few years out of college with a Yale diploma. Living near Baltimore, he lets himself go to seed, both physically and vocationally. His big accomplishment is his ability to ingest mass quantities of beer and liquor. He has become a 300+ pound lard-ass. Making matters worse, he mismanages his finances and finds himself being hounded by creditors and the IRS.

In response, he embarks on a draconian frugality kick. He lives on lentils and beans. Spends little money. Scrounges for writing jobs and other sources of income.

The story is traced by the reduction in his waistline and his steady progress toward financial equilibriums. His journalistic duties take him to Bosnia and to a hippie gathering at the Rainbow Gathering.

With hit swigs of single-malt whiskey and hits of Ecstasy, MacDonald at times evokes the travels and journalistic approach of Hunter Thompson.

Nevertheless, MacDonald comes across as an earnest, likeable guy who - by sheer dint of iron will power - is able to transform himself physically and fiscally. CAUTION: do not try this at home.

As a journey in self discovery and self-transformation, the "Urban Hermit" was a relatively quick and fun read. I can't decide whether it was the reading equivalent of fast food, however.

Interesting...Sort of...

OK. Here's the presmise: This guy goes on a diet of very simple and basic food and gives up drinking and drugs -- all this intended, mostly, to save money not lose weight. Because he knows he would slip back into drinking and drugs if he were to go out to bars and hang out with his friends there, which, as he tells it, seems like was the main focus of his life before the diet, he considers his life like that of a hermit in the city -- an "urban" hermit, get it?

First of all, I considered the guy before the diet as something of a loser.

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Title: The Final Mission of Bottoms Up

Subtitle: A World War II Pilot's Story, American Military Experience Series

Author: Dennis R. Okerstrom

Narrator: Gary Regal

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-10-13

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

On November 18, 1944, the end of the war in Europe finally in sight, American co-pilot Lieutenant Lee Lamar struggled alongside pilot Randall Darden to keep Bottoms Up, their B-24J Liberator, in the air. They and their crew of eight young men had believed the intelligence officer who, at the pre-dawn briefing at their base in southern Italy, confided that their mission that day would be a milk run. However, that 21st mission out of Italy would be their last. Bottoms Up was staggered by an anti-aircraft shell that sent it plunging earthward, the pilots recovering control at just 5,000 feet. With two engines out, they tried to make it to a tiny strip on a British-held island in the Adriatic Sea and in desperation threw out everything not essential to flight: machine guns, belts of ammunition, flak jackets. But over Pula in what is now Croatia, they were once more hit by German fire, and the focus quickly became getting out of the doomed bomber.

Seemingly unable to extricate himself, Lee Lamar all but surrendered to death before fortuitously bailing out. He was captured the next day and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at a Stalag on the Baltic Sea, suffering the deprivations of little food and the coldest winter in Europe in a century. He never saw most of his crew again.

Then, in 2006, more than 60 years later, Lamar received an email from Croatian archaeologist Luka Bekic who had discovered the wreckage of Bottoms Up.

In this absorbing, alternating account of World War II and its aftermath, Dennis R. Okerstrom chronicles, through Lee Lamar's experiences, the Great Depression generation who went on to fight in the most expensive war in history. This is the story of the young men who flew Bottoms Up on her final mission, of Lamars trip back to the scene of his recurring nightmare, and of a remarkable convergence of international courage, perseverance, and friendship.

Members Reviews:

Great account of a WW2 flyer saga.

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

Yes, if you like to learn about personal history of a WW2 pilot's experiences.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The pilot.

Which scene was your favorite?

When his B-24 is shot down.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

Great read, personal account of one man who travels full circle.

Great Book

What made the experience of listening to The Final Mission of Bottoms Up the most enjoyable?

Great story, well written, a great story of an ordinary American.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Final Mission of Bottoms Up?

Learning of the relationship between US flyers and the people of Croatia

Brilliant

Very interesting audio, probably the best I have listened to. The details given are enough to build a vivid picture in your mind of Lee's experience.

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Title: Outback Stations

Subtitle: The Life and Times of Australia's Biggest Cattle and Sheep Properties

Author: Evan McHugh

Narrator: David Tredinnick

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-01-13

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 16 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

"From the helicopter I could see the property's waterholes surrounded by paperbark trees, its red-stone cliffs lit by the rising sun. And grass, endless seas of grass. Here was the vision splendid: Nat Buchanan's grass castle. Gurindji country. And my country, Australia."

This is big country, the outback, home to the largest cattle and sheep stations in the world. Yet as these properties are closed to visitors, few of us know what goes on behind the farm gate. So what's life really like when next door is 500 kilometres away, and mustering livestock in their tens of thousands, backbreaking physical labour, and dealing with extreme heat and long hours is all in a day's work? And why would these tough stockmen and women not have it any other way?

Best-selling author Evan McHugh gets behind the wheel of his four-wheel drive to find out. Given special access to these properties, Evan goes behind the scenes at Adria Downs in the dead heart of Central Australia, helps drove cattle from the air at Wave Hill, and gets a lesson in trapping dingoes at the remote Commonwealth Hill station. Following in the footsteps of the pioneering greats, Evan reveals the fascinating history of these outback stations, and what it takes to work on one today.

Critic Reviews:

"McHugh is a clever mixture of curious outsider and eager participant... Written in a simple but elegant style where honesty and thoughtfulness build an accurate picture of the richness of life in one of Australia's most famous outback towns." (

The Age (for Birdsville))

"McHugh tells the stories of these great achievers simply and without romantic or other embellishment, which is how these characters would have wanted it." (

Courier Mail)

Members Reviews:

outback Stations

I like the story and it had lot of information I did not know..Great story

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Title: A Summer Life

Author: Gary Soto

Narrator: Daniel Duque-Estrada

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-01-13

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Gary Soto writes that when he was five "what I knew best was at ground level." In this lively collection of short essays, Soto takes his listener to a ground-level perspective, recreating in vivid detail the sights, sounds, smells, and textures he knew growing up in his Fresno, California, neighborhood. The "things" of his boyhood tie it all together: his Buddha "splotched with gold", the taps of his shoes, and the "engines of sparks that lived beneath my soles", his worn tennies smelling of "summer grass, asphalt, the moist sock breathing the defeat of baseball". The childs world is made up of small things - small, very important things.

A respected poet and an innovator of the short essay form, Soto offers nearly snapshot-like glances of moments unique in form yet universal in content. Growing up Chicano and male, Soto gives us a rag-tag race through his neighborhood, speaking equally as well to the childhood experiences of us all.

Anyone who remembers the '50s or who knows anything about growing up in the '50s, will relish Sotos rich poetic descriptions. Teachers and students of writing will relish Sotos rich poetic descriptions. Teachers and students of writing will also find inspiration in these tightly knit and highly imaginative stories. Soto offers much more than humorous and poignant recollections; he wraps each memory in a poetry that lingers pleasantly in the readers mind.

Members Reviews:

Fantastic Book

This is the absolute best book ever. All children should read this well for their reading assignments. It's a story of a man, living out his summer life. And then how he feels in the summertime and the friends he has during these periods of time. You can't ask for more in a book, really.

Five Stars

Classic

Two Stars

It is just really boring,all Mr. Soto does is talk about his uninteresting life.

Boring

I had to read this for a summer homework assignment and it was boring. had nothing dramatic happening like in some other books. it just isn't interesting for the young mind.

Five Stars

This book is great for summer

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Title: Bitter Memories

Subtitle: A Memoir of Heartache & Survival

Author: Sue Julsen

Narrator: Roni Gallimore

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-17-13

Publisher: Sue Julsen

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Multiple personalities take over Sarah's mind...only so they can protect her.

Abducted by her father when she was three, Sarah found herself in a world of criminal neglect and unfathomable oppression as her father and stepmother perpetrated more and more horrible acts of verbal, mental and sexual abuse on the innocent girl. So continually terrified was Sarah that she began to form separate personalities so that she herself did not have to face the hideous reality of her day-to-day life. Only through the nightmare pictures that the other personalities sometimes presented to her while she slept did Sarah have any hint about the horrific abuse she was being subjected to. The personalities would block out time for Sarah and bear the horror of the experiences themselves so that their dear Sarah would not have to.

Although the names in this unforgettable story have been changed from those in real life, the horrors that occurred are factual. This tale of the author's early life - a life on the run, hungry, terrified, and molested - is a true and unnervingly gripping account of the extremes of neglect and mistreatment a child can undergo.

Bitter Memories: A Memoir of Heartache and Survival is dedicated to all adult survivors of abuse and is written with the hope that exposing these horrors will help to prevent them from happening to others.

Child abuse is a national epidemic. By sharing my story, I hope people will get involved when they see, or suspect, child abuse. Call the police! You could make a difference in a child's life so he or she wouldn't have to endure a life of pain. To the survivors of abuse, by telling my story it can give hope. They will learn they are not alone and there is healing on the other side of those feelings that try to destroy a life of happiness.

Members Reviews:

Terrible! Ugh!

The story is unrealistic, and the narrator's preschool voice is grating. This is the most boring waste of time I have experienced in quite some time.

Interesting

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The book was interesting.

What didnt you like about Roni Gallimores performance?

I hated that the narrator spoke in character voices, save that for the kids.

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Title: Biggles

Subtitle: The Authorised Biography

Author: John Pearson

Narrator: Gideon Emery

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-15-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

For over 50 years James Biggles Worth, D.S.O., D.F.C., M.C., has flown the skies. The mythical ace to end all flying aces, the fearless pilot of everything from Sop with Camels to the earliest jets, he emerged with glory from devilish scrapes all over the world. Yet until now Biggles has often been seen as a storybook caricature. A dashed fine chap, certainly. But not the extraordinary man he really was. Here, for the first time, is an insight into the 'real' man who made these adventures possible. John Pearson has unravelled the missing strands in Biggles' life; delving vigorously into subjects that were once taboo.

Why did Biggles never marry? What was the truth about his tragic first love? And what were Biggles' real regrets and frustrations as he tried to come to terms with a rapidly developing world in peacetime? The truth - so long hidden behind a stiff upper lip and an equally stiff pink gin in the Officers' Mess - is at last revealed.

John Pearson was born in 1930, and educated at King's College School, Wimbledon and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he read history. He has worked on various newspapers, including the Economist, The Times, and the Sunday Times where for a time he wrote the Atticus column. After the success of his Life of Ian Fleming, he decamped with wife and family to Rome, where he lived for some years. Mr Pearson returned to England to research and write the life and times of the Kray brothers.

Members Reviews:

An interesting chronological compilation

A great Biggles fan for decades, I got the first in a London bookstore when traveling in 1990's... I read the books as I acquired them, as a yank they were mostly on eBay.... so I read them bouncing between decades, wars & aerial races.... this alternative approach did a big new role of covering about 50% of the books, but in a narrative form told chronologically by Biggles in later life & also adding the unique twist to explain how old Biggles' would have died. Well worth the listen for a serious Biggles fan!

Nice to have a Biggles book to listen to.

Well narrated, ripping yarns, very much in the style of the Biggles books. A little trip down memory lane.

A truely great listen.

What did you like best about this story?

A great action packed story wrote as though it was by W.E Johns himself. A must read/listen for all Biggles fans.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I found myself making excuses to go for a drive so that I could listen to more of this book.

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Title: Dream So Big

Subtitle: Our Unlikely Journey to End the Tears of Hunger

Author: Gregg Lewis, Steve Peifer

Narrator: Adam Verner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-03-13

Publisher: Zondervan

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A Dream So Big is the story of Steve Peifer, a corporate manager who once oversaw 9,000 computer software consultants, who today helps provide daily lunches for over 20,000 Kenyan school children in 35 national public schools, and maintains solar-powered computer labs at 20 rural African schools.

Steve and his wife, Nancy, were enjoying a successful management career with one of Americas high tech corporate giants during the dot-com boom of the 1990s when, in 1997, he and his wife Nancy discovered they were pregnant with their third child. Tragically, doctors said a chromosomal condition left their baby incompatible with life. The Peifers only spent 8 days with baby Stephen before he died.

Seeking to flee the pain, Steve and Nancy began a pilgrimage that thrust them into a third-world setting where daily life was often defined by tragedy - drought, disease, poverty, hunger, and death. They didnt arrive in the service of any divine calling, but the truth of their surroundings spoke to their troubled hearts. A short-term, 12-month mission assignment as dorm parents for a Kenyan boarding school turned this ordinary man into the most unlikely internationally recognized hero, and his story will inspire you to pursue similar lives of service.

Members Reviews:

Thumbs up

Loved it! The narrator did a great job and the story was inspiring. It really helped me to get an idea of life in Kenya. I would definitely recommend this book.

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Title: The Shaman in Stilettos

Author: Anna Hunt

Narrator: Antonia Beamish

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-04-13

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

When Anna Hunt takes a break from her job to live in Peru, none of her friends take her seriously. With a love of stilettos, chocolate, and Sauvignon Blanc, how will she manage in a developing country?

Anna's quest takes her from the wilderness of the Amazon jungle, to a passionate affair with Maximo Morales, a seductive and charismatic shaman who offers her the opportunity to become his apprentice

Members Reviews:

Beautiful and Powerful

This is a revelation of what is real in us all, particularly women who struggle to find Truth in today's repression of innate feminine power.

Disappointing

Would you try another book written by Anna Hunt or narrated by Antonia Beamish?

I don't think I'd rush for another Anna Hunt book but I thought Antonia Beamish did a fantastic job.

Has The Shaman in Stilettos put you off other books in this genre?

Given that I'm not entirely sure what the genre was, I can't say I've been put off.

Have you listened to any of Antonia Beamishs other performances? How does this one compare?

This was my first Beamish experience but I shall certainly seek her out.

Do you think The Shaman in Stilettos needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I found this book dragged on and on without arriving anywhere. No follow up book for me, for sure.

A light read that could've been much more

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I wanted to read this book for ages because I think a lot of people wonder if there's something different, better or more meaningful out there, but unfortunately I found it didn't live up to expectations. The start was slow and I found it tricky to sympathise with Anna and to understand her motivation to run off to Peru to see a Shaman. The story and language was superficial and the questions Anna constantly asks the Shaman made it feel like a book written for teenagers as there was no subtlety to the prose. I did enjoy the descriptions of Peru, the ruins and the jungle and warmed a little to the character in the second half as she seemed to get more confident in persuing her own path rather than chasing after the Shaman.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was fine for the voice of the main character, Anna (her natural voice) but the other voices had really silly fake accents to the point of irritation, especially the voice of Maximo who is supposed to be Peruvian. In the end, I imagined Anna was telling the story to a group of friends and doing the voices herself. In this way it became funny rather than irritating.

Any additional comments?

A light read, maybe something for holiday but overall not a deeply meaningful look at life choices or a very well written book. No beautiful prose to describe such amazing surroundings as the Peruvian jungle and Mayan ruins.