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Title: No Such Thing as a Bad Day

Author: Hamilton Jordan

Narrator: Hamilton Jordan

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 11-14-00

Publisher: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Jordan's political anecdotes are fascinating and insightful, but it is when he talks of his cancers that Jordan achieves his real impact. For this is not a story about medical miracles. It's about how a patient defeats cancer by taking charge of his own treatment and becoming a well-informed, positive-thinking partner in his cure. For cancer sufferers, their loved ones, and their caregivers, No Such Thing as a Bad Day is practical, inspirational, and indispensable.

Critic Reviews:

"The author's own voice increases the intimacy of this frank and personal history." (AudioFile)

Contact me for any questions: [email protected]

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Title: Pin Action

Subtitle: Small-Time Gangsters, High-Stakes Gambling, and the Teenage Hustler

Author: Gianmarc Manzione

Narrator: Chris Lutkin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-14

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Most of us think of bowling as a "sport" in quotation marks, and bowling alleys are places with disco balls, matching shirts, and funny shoes. But in the 1960s, New York City was the center of "action bowling", a form of high-stakes gambling in which bowlers - often teenagers - faced off for thousands of dollars every night. When money like that is changing hands, you can bet the pressure is on (and the balls are rigged), and losses come with dire consequences. But for a few kids, the world of action bowling would turn out to be a ticket off the mean streets and onto the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. For Ernie Schlegel, it would be a chance to shed his hustler ways and become a bona fide champion.

Critic Reviews:

...thoroughly entertaining slice of twisted Americana, New York gangster style... Put it on the shelf with The Big Lebowski and Jersey Boys. (Dary Matera, author of Quitting the Mob and The F.B.I.'s Ten Most Wanted)

"...a rare, cultural gem of storytelling, both brilliantly researched and masterfully rendered. Prepare to be bowled over." (Tracy Crow, author of Eyes Right)

"Pin Action took me on a wonderful trip back in time to the golden era of action bowling in the 1960s New York Tri-State area. Manzione's words brought back vivid memories of the greatest time of my life bowling action at Ave M Bowl in Brooklyn which was one of the most famous action houses of all time. He goes into great depth capturing the smell, the feel, the characters of this great bowling alley and others with his own very unique writing style." (Clifford Nordquist Sr., "AC Butch", ActionBowlers.com)

Members Reviews:

The bowling history nobody knows about

I won't do a full review here, but I will say I found this book fascinating. As a lifelong bowler, and action bowler myself, I never knew the true scope of how intense action bowling was back in the day. Great read for bowlers and non-bowlers alike.

English Prof Talks Hustle Tenpin

I no longer wonder about the massive pot game climate near NYC IN THE 40' - 60's. I felt I was there as masterful written by the author. Capped with the unbelievable Schlegel - Peterson showdown was desert.

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Title: The Voyage of Their Life

Author: Diane Armstrong

Narrator: Deidre Rubenstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-30-13

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In August 1948, 545 passengers boarded an overcrowded, clapped-out vessel in Marseilles to face an uncertain future in Australia and New Zealand. They came from displaced persons camps in Germany, death camps in Poland, labour camps in Hungary, gulags in Siberia and stony Aegean islands. There were those who had been hunted by the Nazis and those who had welcomed them; those who had followed the Communists and those who had fled them. Diane Armstrong set sail on the Derna with her parents when she was nine years old. Like a detective searching for clues, she has located over a hundred of the passengers. Through their recollections and memorabilia, as well as archival documents, she has recreated the voyage and traced what became of their hopes and dreams. The result is the unique portrayal of a migrant ship and its passengers.

Critic Reviews:

"An important book written with compassion and understanding." (The Age

Members Reviews:

Love this book

This is an amazing book! I was fascinated by this book and would recommend it to anyone

Very enjoyable with listening

I enjoyed the story and reading of this book quite a bit. This is the second book I have listened to my the same author. I enjoyed Mosaics quite a bit more there was just so much more to the story but,this book helped solidify so much of the branches that were created from the first book. Not as exciting it was well written and well read and enjoyable. If you are interested in a history lesson this is not the best of her books but, carefully researched as you will be able to tell it was quite a delight and eye-opening as to what life in Australia is really like I wish for the same today as it sounds like it would be a lovely place to raise a family.

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Title: The Formative Years of an African-American Spy

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Odell Bennett Lee

Narrator: Doug Johnson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-17

Publisher: LCCI

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

This story traces the childhood experiences of an African-American CIA officer.

Poverty and racism were lesser evils than the Cinderella-like experiences in his dysfunctional family. He endured the volatility of a no-nonsense mother who used the rod at his slightest infraction, and the loathing of two stepfathers that sought to isolate him from the family. Through adversity and chance, at an early age he learned to decouple his self-image from his turbulent childhood experiences. More importantly, he learned to keep a cool head in the face of antagonistic and ambiguous situations, and he refused to let others define his personal worth.

At 16, he dropped out of high school to join the US Navy. He welcomed the navy's carefully constructed value system that demanded teamwork, courage, and personal confidence. On his 17th birthday, he was sailing across the Pacific Ocean to such far off places as Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, and Australia. He discovered that the world was very different from the one he had known, yet he felt safe for the first time in his life.

After the navy, friends and colleagues convinced him to complete his education. He received his high school diploma at age 23 and attended undergraduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles, and graduate school at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He worked for several international businesses before coming to the attention of the CIA. The CIA offered him a unique opportunity to serve his country that he could not refuse.

Unlike most books about the CIA, this one is deeply personal and offers an insight into the mind of an African-American spy. Learning from his positive and negative experiences proved essential to his success as a case officer in the covert services of the Central Intelligence Agency and helped him formulate a rewarding philosophy of life to live by....

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Title: A Hundred & One Days

Subtitle: A Baghdad Journal

Author: Asne Seierstad

Narrator: Josephine Bailey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-16-05

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 21 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

From January until April 2003, for 101 days, Asne Seierstad worked as a reporter in Bagdad for Scandinavian, German, and Dutch media. Through her articles and live television coverage she reported on the events in Iraq before, during, and after the attacks by the American and British forces.

But Seierstad was after a story far less obvious than the military invasion. From the moment she arrived in Baghdad, Seierstad was determined to understand the modern secrets of an ancient place and to find out how the Iraqi people really live.

In A Hundred & One Days, she introduces us to daily life under the constant threat of attack, first from the Iraqi government and later from American bombs. Moving from the deafening silence of life under Hussein to the explosions that destroyed the power supply, the water supply, and security, Seierstad sets out to discover: What happens to people when the dam bursts? What do they choose to say when they can suddenly say what they like? What do they miss most when their world changes overnight?

Displaying the novelist's eye and lyrical storytelling that have won her awards around the world, Seierstad here brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters to tell the stories we never see on the evening news. The only woman in the world to cover both the fall of Kabul in 2001 and the bombings of Baghdad in 2003, Asne Seierstad has redefined war reporting with her mesmerizing book.

Critic Reviews:

"[Seierstad's] multifaceted chronicle is required reading for anyone who truly wants to delve into the complexities of life in Iraq under Saddam and during the war and its aftermath." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

A very enjoyable listen

I have enjoyed all her books and especially this one. She gives a perspective on Bagdad before and after the war like no one else. The reader is superb, too, which makes it all the more enjoyable.

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Title: Older Man Younger Man

Author: Joseph Dispenza

Narrator: Stan Jenson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-06-15

Publisher: Harbor House

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Older Man Younger Man is a memoir of the relationship between a middle-aged man and a man 30 years his junior, from their first meeting, through the challenges of living together across a wide age-gap, to a climactic confession of shame and regret, the terror of loss from a life-threatening disease, and, ultimately, the triumph of love. This is a passionate, bittersweet story of a powerful love that transcends gender, bridges generations, defies convention, and brings to the partners the richness of spiritual fulfillment.

The relationship between an older man and a younger man is one of the last taboos left in our culture's sexual closet. Older Man Younger Man is the first book to address an inter-generational gay male relationship as a path of spiritual redemption.

What makes this book unique and special is its presentation of the pairing between an older man and a much younger man as a healthy, successful relationship and as a spiritual journey.

Members Reviews:

Highest praise for Older Man Younger man. Please, read this in its entirety to fully understand the significance of this book!

Joseph Dispenza has penned a masterpiece in writing Older Man Younger Man. It is an inspiration to read in both the spiritual sense and in how it depicts love, true, unselfish, unadulterated love, can and does still exist. At times it was hard for me to make myself believe that this heartwarming tale was a memoir-that it is real. Normally when I read a work that embodies true love, self-sacrifice, over coming obstacles to form an even deeper relationship between two people, it is fictional. Having become jaded due to life circumstances, I was revived and felt a sense of renewed hope each time I would pull myself back to reality and knowing that this love story was and is real. The spiritual element furthered my renewal of hope and encouraged and prompted me to pursue a deeper spiritual awareness and to integrate it into my daily life- something I've not done for far too long. It is difficult for me to fully express the freedom,hope, peace, and call to action I gained from Joseph and mike and their journey and their love for each other, which transcends not only age difference but many other societally imposed 'norms' that only serve as barriers from finding true love, experiencing true sense of self and the denial of one's self in order to fully live a life of compassion, caring and love. I am now reading God on Your Own. I expect it to be just as wonderfully written and moving as was Older Man Younger Man. Joseph Dispenza is a masterful author, teacher and source of inspiration. Joseph and Mike- thank you for sharing yourselves, your love and your story with those of us who need hope. I feel indebted to you for how your story has so quickly and meaningfully impacted my life. I extend to you both my highest personal regards and best wishes. You are two people whom it would be an honor to know and from whom to learn. R. sanders

Lovely

I was blessed to notice this book when it was offered for free or I might have missed it. It is a lovely autobiography of a love story/spiritual journey/healing journey that is possible because of the author's great love for a man thirty years his junior. A love that is clearly so right for the pair involved.

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Title: Saddam's Bombmaker

Subtitle: The Daring Escape of the Man Who Built Iraq's Secret Weapon

Author: Khidhir Hamza, Jeff Stein

Narrator: Robert Whitfield

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Language: English

Release date: 10-03-05

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Dr. Hamza also presents a startling, unprecedented portrait of Saddam himself, his drunken rages, his women, his fear of germs, and his cold-blooded murder of underlings.

Saddam's Bombmaker is also a saga of one man's journey through the circles of hell. Educated at MIT and Florida State University, dedicated to a life of peaceful teaching in America, Dr. Hamza relates how the regime ordered him home, seduced him into a pampered life as an atomic energy official, and forced him to design a bomb. The price of refusal was torture. The tale of his escape, his first bungled contact with CIA agents, and his flight abroad will keep listeners riveted toward a climax worthy of a well-crafted spy thriller.

Critic Reviews:

"Gripping and unsettling...a rare account of privilege...with big houses, expensive cars, glittering restaurants." (The New York Times Book Review)

Members Reviews:

Saddam's Bombmaker?

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

I was initially fascinated with the story until I did a brief internet search of Khidhir Hamza and found out that he has been largely discredited as being a significant player in Saddam's nuclear program. Yet I continued to listen to this audiobook and enjoyed it for what it is, historical fiction.

Would you ever listen to anything by Khidhir Hamza and Jeff Stein again?

The book was very well written, yet I would not listen to other programs by these authors because I don't think either one of them has any credibility.

What does Robert Whitfield bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

The narrator was excellent, his performance was consistent and fluid.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I watched the movie Devil's Double about Uday Hussein's double, who has also been discredited and enjoyed it. I would see this movie.

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Title: Still Travelling

Subtitle: My Life as a Leyland Brother and Beyond

Author: Mal Leyland

Narrator: Mal Leyland

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-25-15

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Next year is the fiftieth anniversary of the making of the Leyland Brothers' groundbreaking documentary, Down the Darling, which records Mike and Mal Leyland travelling down the Darling. Their film was sold to Channel 9 and later to the BBC. It was shown in 65 countries and selected by the Australian government to be shown at Expo 67 in Canada.

Unless you were alive and watching Australian TV in the mid-'60s through to 1980, when they were at the peak of their popularity, it is hard to convey the impact of these two pioneer outback adventurers and filmmakers.

In an obituary written when Mike Leyland died in 2009, their TV program was described as a "quirky travel show" watched by more than 2.5 million people at its peak. It featured the brothers in unusual or far-flung places around Australia which viewers had asked them to visit.

This book will be Mal's memoir; he'll tell tales tall and true from the road and from their lives during and beyond the iconic show.

Critic Reviews:

"Almost everyone in Australia older than 25 has heard of the Leyland brothers, Mike and Mal. At a time when the Outback was still a forbidding, remote frontier, they single-handedly brought it into people's homes through their documentaries and a successful television series.... The Leylands have been credited with starting the four-wheel-drive revolution and huge recreational industry." (The Herald Sun)

Members Reviews:

Brought back some good memories

Watched the tv shows as a kid and loved them, great story about an Aussie icon from England.

listened, travelling all over the countryside

Any additional comments?

We used to play "the Leyland Brothers" as kids. My husband and I kept singing the theme song as we listened. Mal's story telling is captivating. In true Leyland style we finished the book under the southern cross overlooking the Indian ocean.

It would be un-Australian not to listen

Slow going in parts.

Reveals a lot about his own personality especially in tough times.

Interesting listen

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Title: Escape to Mulberry Cottage

Author: Victoria Connelly

Narrator: Jan Cramer

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-23-15

Publisher: Victoria Connelly

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Having grown up in rural Norfolk, author Victoria Connelly never thought she'd ever live in London. But after surviving 11 years in the noisy suburbs, she finally persuades her husband to move to Suffolk - to a county with no motorways, a village with no shops, and a cottage with no main drainage.

Escape to Mulberry Cottage is the first book in the Suffolk Bunch series. It follows Victoria and her artist husband, Roy, as they embrace country life with their ever-expanding family of animals.

Members Reviews:

Soothing book when you need a break for awhile.

Roses, hens and a person who knows how to enjoy a country walk, a yard full of active chickens , and a life full of country pleasures. I enjoyed all three of the Mulberry Cottage books by Connelly. The best word to describe her books is soothing. Extremely well-written, you felt you were beside her. Highly recommended for a person who needs a break from heavy reading and just wants to have quiet moments.

Moving to the English countryside

This is the account of a couple (a writer and her husband an artist) who move from London to a house in the country in Suffolk with their dog and newly acquired battery hens (I asked my friend who has chickens and she enlightened me that battery hens were hens kept in cages (like our egg factories I think). It was very interesting and different from the cozy mysteries and light romance novels I usually read.

Fantastic glimpse at country living

I was so excited when I found out Victoria was writing about her move to the country. This book is a delight. I couldn't take a break from reading it! That Molly is a lucky girl as are the hens. I hope she will write some more about her life in the country. I'd love to read about the diy on the cottage and the sheds. Did they find a dresser? I would love to hear more about the garden and to read more about the other cottages and how they are all decorated. The photos are a great addition. It would be great to see what the countryside looks like in spring and summer.

Pleasant reading

This was a very relaxing and enjoyable book about the author's return to rural living in England. The author did an excellent job of relaying her appreciation for nature and the older quaintness of the British countryside. Her descriptions made it possible for the reader to feel they were right there enjoying this setting with all its warmth and charm.

Escape plus!

Relax and enjoy this delightful story of a couple who escape the hard city life to become owners of a piece of rural paradise in Suffolk, England. Dream and wish!

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Title: Nobody Ever Dies When I'm Around

Subtitle: A Lifetime of Feeling Left Out

Author: Jane Baker

Narrator: Jane Baker

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-04-17

Publisher: Audible

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In 2002 my mother passed away. I realized then how little I knew about her life before we seven children came along. I had been focused on remembering the highs and lows of my life, but my mother shared very little. Not wanting to leave my children lacking for backstory on their mom, I decided to write about my childhood as a record for them. As often happens, life got busy and my writing fell to the side for a bit. In 2006 my eldest son, Sam, was diagnosed with stage 3b Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had read that one of my favorite authors, Roald Dahl, wrote James and the Giant Peach while he attended to his son after a terrible car accident. It was then that I returned to writing about my youth, more this time to keep my sanity through Sam's treatment and to keep Sam laughing. No one who has heard about my childhood has had an easy time believing me. I think the saying is "True dysfunction is stranger than fictitious dysfunction." Something like that.

Spoiler alert: my son is fine, healthy, and happy, and what came from my writing is what you have before you. I always felt that at the heart our family was very much like the Waltons, if the Waltons had a lot of dysfunction and humor was their only coping mechanism. I think you will feel the same!

It's in the memories and the writing about them that I see how many different roles I have played in my life. Sometimes I've been the hero, sometimes the asswipe, usually somewhere in between. These roles have been in tragedies, comedies, farces, and mysteries, and the roles have been varied. Daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, friend, girlfriend, mom, director, teacher, cancer mom, employee. If my life were my acting resume, I'd be pretty accomplished. The result of all my memorizing and analyzing and dwelling is what is written here. These are my memories and my thoughts, as disturbing as they may be.

Enjoy.

Members Reviews:

Life lessons I can relate to told with humor and heartfelt emotion.

I got this book because I knew the author. I was in theater with Jane back in my high school years and remember how funny she was. I expected the book would be entertaining and funny. What I didn't expect was that Jane would share so much of her life, including the tragic parts that I never knew about. I find it amazing that Jane went through so many hard times in her life, when I knew her, yet didn't show the outside world what was going on. She covered it with her sense of humor.

Jane writes so well that she could be sharing a difficult time in her life, and you're feeling sad with her, and the next thing you know you're laughing out loud. She has a way of making you feel better about even the hardest things life throws at you.

This book is a great read, especially if you were brought up in an Irish Catholic family and went to Catholic school. Even if that wasn't the case, there's so much here about lessons learned in life and how to make the best of it, even in the hardest situations.

A great book to take to the beach.

I truly enjoyed reading Jane's story

I truly enjoyed reading Jane's story. Growing up in a large Catholic family and attending 12 years of Catholic school resonated with me. I laughed a lot, but at the same time was touched with the courageous way Jane coped with some very challenging situations in her home and personal life.