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Title: This Is Not My Beautiful Life

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Victoria Fedden

Narrator: Jorjeana Marie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-27-16

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

When a squad of federal agents burst through her parents' front door, Victoria Fedden felt ill-prepared to meet them: She was weeks away from her due date, and her T-shirt wasn't long enough to hide her maternity undies. As for the question of how to raise a child when you've just discovered that your mother and stepfather have allegedly masterminded a pump-and-dump scheme? She was pretty sure that wasn't covered in What to Expect When You're Expecting - and she really hoped that Bradford Cohen, the noted criminal defense attorney who famously waived his exemption on The Apprentice, would prove them innocent.

This Is Not My Beautiful Life is the story of how Victoria lost her parents to prison and nearly lost her mind. No one ever said motherhood would be easy, but as she struggles to change diapers, install car seats, and find the right drop-off line at preschool - no easy task when each one is named for a stage in the life cycle of a butterfly - she's also forced to ask herself whether a jumpsuit might actually complement her mom's platinum-blonde extensions and fend off the cast of shady, stranger-than-fiction characters who populated her parents' world.

Critic Reviews:

"Fedden's true story of crime, comeuppance, and toughing it out will appeal to all devotees of scandalous endeavors and tabloid tales." (

Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Ready to be inspired? This is the book for you!

This book is hilarious, heart felt and truly inspirational all in one. How could it be inspirational? Because the author really does lay it all out there. No side skirting the facts. But, she also doesn't apologize for her story. See, this is where I found strength. Her life is chaotic and crazy, full blown loony at times, but she owns it! She also owns all of the emotions that come with loving life, and complicated life at that. She deals with the raw heartache, the fears and ultimately the growth of becoming a much stronger version of herself then she's started out being. It was through her struggles and her continued determined spirit, she literally helped lift me from a hole I've been in for several months, and give me the courage to live my life bravely, to just do what I think I need to do next, and to appreciate every day for the joy that it holds. None of us are promised tomorrow. Make the most of this moment in your life. Embrace trials as the catalyst for change in your own life, and don't be affraid of that change! Perfect summer book, or anytime of year! Checkout her other titles, along with her blog. So gifted, you won't be sorry.

I could not get into this book and stopped reading ...

I could not get into this book and stopped reading it about 25% in. The story did not grab my interest at all.

Ugh!

I wonder why I stuck with this book. I guess it was hard for me to believe there wouldn't be a twist to redeem it, but it never happened.

Great read. Buy it now.

A great summer read. Addicting I don't want to put it down. Hilarious, heart wrenching, you feel like you feel everything Victoria feels.

A Memoir Worth Reading

I bumbled onto this book as I searched for something non-fiction, humorous, and different. And I found all three in this wonderful, down-to-earth book written by a writer who is going places.

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Title: No Time for Fear

Subtitle: 2016 Edition

Author: Paul de Gelder

Narrator: Paul de Gelder

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-22-16

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

How a shark attack survivor beat the odds.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. These three words - the mantra of the Australian army - resonated with Paul de Gelder the first time he heard them.

Paul chased adventure wherever he could find it, from his wild ride as a hoodlum teen and his drug- and alcohol-fuelled stint working in a strip club to hauling his way up to the elite echelons of the defence forces. But trouble hunted him down in the form of a brutal shark in February 2009.

Paul lost two limbs, and his career as a daredevil navy clearance diver was flung into jeopardy. Drawing on everything his eventful life had taught him, Paul left nothing to chance in his recovery. He fought through excruciating pain, smashing challenge after challenge and amazing the medical staff with his will to succeed. His inspiring story takes 'never say die' to a whole new level.

Members Reviews:

If you love the ocean, read this book

I first heard about Paul de Gelder when he appeared on The Jason Ellis Show on SiriusXM radio, and I was immediately fascinated by his story. He was a wonderful interviewee and his sense of adventure and good humour really shone through and turned me on to him right away. I decided to check out his book on Amazon soon after I heard him on the radio, and I had the book sent straight to my Kindle for a quick summer read. And it was indeed pretty quick, because I did not want to put this book down.

"No Time for Fear" is a well-written memoir about Paul's life, his loss, and above all, his love...his love for his friends, his family, his job, and his love for adventure. I was especially touched by his descriptions of how his personal relationships developed after the shark attack. Paul really digs deep and makes himself vulnerable to the reader in this book. He starts out with his strict and impoverished childhood in the "Bush Capital" of Australia and takes the reader on a ride through his wild adolescence and young adulthood, and into his energizing and life-changing role as a member of the Australian armed forces. And he will teach you a bit about the science of sharks in the meantime, just as an added bonus! If you spend a lot of time near saltwater and have any interest in sharks at all, you will enjoy this book.

Paul's words echoed something my own father drilled into my brain as a child: "Don't live your life in fear." I also personally felt like I could really relate to Paul's story in part, as someone who grew up with a strict upbringing myself that really brought out my wild side later on. And the remainder of his story inspired me to push myself to meet my goals and to become a better individual person, as well as a better citizen of the Earth.

My only complaint is that the book - at least the Kindle version - did not include photos of Paul's injuries after the attack, which he mentions near the end when discussing his public speaking engagements. I have seen one photo on his Instagram account (@pauldegelder) that really piqued my interest, and would love to have seen more. Also, the Kindle version seems to have a few formatting issues and grammatical errors that the hard copy might not have, but it's nothing too bothersome. The book remains very engaging and is well worth the cost either way.

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Title: Queen Bees

Subtitle: Six Brilliant and Extraordinary Society Hostesses Between the Wars - A Spectacle of Celebrity, Talent, and Burning Ambition

Author: Siân Evans

Narrator: Carole Boyd

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 09-08-16

Publisher: Two Roads

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Queen Bees looks at the lives of six remarkable women who made careers out of being society hostesses, including Lady Astor, who went on to become the first female MP, and Mrs Greville, who cultivated relationships with Edward VII, as well as Lady Londonderry, Lady Cunard, Laura Corrigan and Lady Colefax.

Told with wit, verve and heart, Queen Bees is the story of a form of societal revolution and the extraordinary women who helped it happen.

In the aftermath of the First World War, the previously strict hierarchies of the British class system were weakened. For a number of ambitious, spirited women, this was the chance they needed to slip through the cracks and take their place at the top of society as the great hostesses of the time. In an age when the place of women was uncertain, becoming a hostess was not a chore but a career choice, and though some of the hostesses' backgrounds were surprisingly humble, their aspirations were anything but.

During the interwar years, these extraordinary women ruled over London society from their dining tables and salons - entertaining everyone from the Mosleys to the Mitfords, from millionaires to maharajas, from film stars to royalty - and their influence can still be felt today.

Members Reviews:

Educational and Informative!

Well read (with only a few mispronounce words) and with tremendous pace, this audiobook will keep you endlessly entertained as well as filling in gaps in historical knowledge. Well worth it!

Intriguing

Having just finished 'Flappers' it was interesting to me to explore the lives of the pre war hostesses who entertained some of the cast. I was amazed to discover that only one of them was nobly born most were rich parvenues who were ruthless in their climb to what they saw as the top.

Entertaining and hugely informative.

Very enjoyable and insightful biographies which provide a window on a time long gone. Excellently written concurrent accounts of the Queen Bees without diminishing any of them.

History in a delicious form

Beautifully read by Carole Boyd, Queen Bees is a thorough, informative and enjoyable book that addresses 6 women whose roles and influence in the early 20th C may otherwise be too easily forgotten.

Thank you Sian Evans for a delightful read

fastinating

Will have to play it again. it is just so interesting. The readers voice is perfect.

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Title: Don't Think Twice

Subtitle: Adventure and Healing at 100 Miles per Hour

Author: Barbara Schoichet

Narrator: Barbara Schoichet

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-06-16

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A late-in-life coming-of-age escapade told with humor and heart, Don't Think Twice is a moving and irreverent account of grief, growing up, and the healing power of adventure.

Within six months Barbara Schoichet lost everything: her job, her girlfriend of six years, and her mother to pancreatic cancer. Her life stripped bare, and armed with nothing but a death wish and a ton of attitude, Barbara pursues an unlikely method of coping. At the age of 50, she earns her motorcycle license, buys a Harley on eBay from two guys named Dave, and drives it alone from New York to Los Angeles on a circuitous trek loosely guided by her H.O.G. tour book and a whole lot of road whimsy.

On the open highway - where she daily takes her speed to 100 - Barbara battles physical limitations and inner demons on a journey that flows through the majestic Appalachian Mountains, the enchanting Turquoise Trail, and all along America's iconic Route 66. She is awed by the battlefields in Gettysburg, stunned by the decadence of Graceland, and amused by a Cadillac graveyard in the middle of nowhere. She meets kind strangers, odd strangers, and a guy who pulls a gun on her for cutting him off. She is vulnerable but sassy, broken but determined to heal...or die trying.

Members Reviews:

A beautifully constructed story

When one is grieving, one does some really outlandish stuff to come to grips with that loss. Barbara Schoichet is no different. Suffering from the loss of her job, her girlfriend and the sudden passing of her mother sends her into a tailspin of self-discovery and coming to terms with her losses. While sassy she is definitely broken and a bandage isn't going to fix her. However, buying a Harley Davidson motorcycle and driving across country at speeds of 100 mph, meeting other bikers, and accepting the lack of control one has on the road just might fix her. Cutting herself off from her sisters and other family members, her trip across the US and the purchase of the bike is much more than the thrill of riding; it is the painful journey of self-discovery and coming to terms with herself, her relationships and the death of her parents.

Barbaras story is told in a witty, sometimes sardonic manner with vividly rich details that makes the situation all the more real. At fifty, who in their right mind would get their motorcycle license and then drive across country on a huge hog? Especially since her experience and time spent on a motorcycle is less than the time it takes to uncork a delightful bottle of red rosé?

Her new-found friends Dave and Dave, help get her started but the people she meets along the way help to steer her on her adventure filled journey through Graceland, the Appalachians, the Cadillac graveyard and more. I found myself laughing and crying and sometimes at the same time. The bike falling over on her and her exchange with the hotel clerk was priceless as was the conversation with the police officer.

The dialog resonated with the listener as it was too real not to. Barbara Schoichets story is told from the heart and a place that every one of us has been, will be and have not yet left. Very poignant and gut wrenching but comforting too.

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Title: Summary of A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

Subtitle: Includes Analysis

Author: Instaread

Narrator: Susan Murphy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-22-16

Publisher: Instaread

Ratings: 1 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A Stolen Life is a memoir by Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped at age 11 and held captive in a hidden backyard compound in Antioch, California, for 18 years.

On June 10, 1991, in a small community near Lake Tahoe, a strange car approaches Jaycee as she is walking to the school bus. A man reaches out of the window, zaps Jaycee with a stun gun, and forces her into the back seat. He covers her with a blanket and she quickly loses consciousness. Upon waking at the man's house, Jaycee is forced inside where the man instructs her to take a shower. In the shower, he shaves Jaycee's underarm, leg, and pubic hair, and wraps her in a towel. The man leads Jaycee across his backyard through a gate and into a small, hidden room. There he handcuffs her and leaves her alone. This is just the beginning of Jaycee's 18-year nightmare.

Please note: This is summary and analysis of the book and not the original book.

Members Reviews:

Excellent summary of heartbreaking story that comes full circle to a new and joyful life

This is one of the most heartbreaking stories out there today but it does have a bit of a happy ending with the rescue of this poor girl who was kidnapped off the street in front of her own home when she was just eleven years old.

This poor child spent the next 18 years hidden in a tent pitched in the back yard of two monsters who abused her every day. At the tender age of 12, she gave birth to her first child. Imagine her confusion, her fear, her desperate wish to be home with her mother and stepfather. Despite her captors having criminal backgrounds, and despite the sheriff paying a call to the home, this poor child was not freed until she was 29 years old.

This is Jaycee Dugardâs memoir that explains how she coped for 18 years, and how she has managed since to not only recover, but to thrive in her new life with her two children and her mother. This Instaread summary is very well-written and provides all the key points of Jayceeâs story from the terror of her kidnapping to the joy of her new life. I was given this title for the purposes of review. I highly recommend it.

The world needs to know about Jaycee Dugardâs story

It does not matter how one would spin it, this memoir is about something horrific that happened to Jaycee Dugard, who got kidnapped, held captive and emotionally and physically abused by Phillip and Nancy Garrido for 18 years. If as this summary is indicating that writing this memoir provides a way for the author to let the world know her story and heal her damaged life, then we should read her story and lend some assistance. Indeed, the more I read into the summary and analysis, the more I want to read the memoir itself, especially to look into the details of how Nancy Garrido, as a woman, could allow this to happen for so long. What kinds of stories could she possibly be telling Jaycee, thinking that somehow these stories would render her actions legitimately humane? Normally, I would like to voice my opinion when someone mentioned cases such as that of Bill Cosby, who was accused but still not yet proven guilty of crimes, because until he is proven guilty of such crimes, I would like the public to be open-minded. However, taken in such context as this story about Jaycee Dugard and the protection of women against violent crimes in general, I think that this mentioning of Bill Cosbyâs case is completely appropriate.

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Title: Headstrong

Subtitle: Surviving a Traumatic Brain Injury Without Losing My Mind

Author: Donna Valentino

Narrator: Tonia King

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-19-16

Publisher: Inspire On Purpose

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

On an uncharacteristically warm February day in Texas, a young couple sets off in search of a new adventure. The quiet, isolated woods of the resort offer the perfect setting for a romantic weekend for two. They challenge each other to an ATV ride and start off energized, excited, and ready to explore. The adventure that follows, however, is not what they anticipated. After crossing several cattle guards successfully, Donna Valentino attempts to navigate another - only to crash into an unmarked and almost invisible chain. In an instant, her lovers' weekend turns into a nightmare of injuries, including what would later be diagnosed as a severe brain injury.

After months of rehabilitation and a courageous battle to regain her life, Donna wrote Headstrong: Surviving a Traumatic Brain Injury without Losing My Mind, recounting her remarkable journey of recovery and adaptation. Headstrong reveals her practical and positive outlook on life as well as her steadfast determination to make it, which she hopes will be an inspiration to others.

Members Reviews:

Very detailed and interesting....

Definitely drawn in like you are right there. Great hopeful comeback. Inspiring :) Cheers to Donna!

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Title: A Love Story: An Intensely Personal Memoir

Author: Lance Secretan

Narrator: Lance H.K. Secretan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-17-16

Publisher: Lance H.K. Secretan

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Literature and history are filled with epic, romantic love stories: Antony and Cleopatra, Napoleon and Josephine, Lancelot and Guinevere, Romeo and Juliet, Orpheus and Eurydice. But who has experienced or witnessed a real-life love story? As François de La Rochefoucauld has written, true love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen. It is exceptionally rare, and A Love Story is a book bursting with passion that describes a remarkable union of two souls, whose single powerful flame inspired everyone they touched.

It is a radiant source of inspiration that describes how two lovers met and inspired each other forever. The story is told through a rich tapestry of luscious poetry and anecdotes. If everyone lived their lives this way, the divorce courts would be empty and world peace would prevail.

Members Reviews:

True amazing love story

You can feel the passion that Lance springs through in this book. You feel the love that he has for Trish and the love Trish has for land. My heart sorrowed with being able to see what true love can look like! Thank you for sharing this book.

Celebration of love and life

An amazing piece of work celebrating life and love. The description of the landscape and wildlife is spell-binding. A very beautiful tribute to the amazing lady Tricia as told by her eternal love, Lance.

Thank you for sharing this brilliant memoir. It is an honour to hear you narrate this.

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Title: The Maximum Security Book Club

Subtitle: Reading Literature in a Men's Prison

Author: Mikita Brottman

Narrator: Beverley Crick

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-07-16

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A riveting account of the two years literary scholar Mikita Brottman spent reading literature with criminals in a maximum-security men's prison outside Baltimore and what she learned from them - Orange Is the New Black meets Reading Lolita in Tehran.

On sabbatical from teaching literature to undergraduates, and wanting to educate a different kind of student, Mikita Brottman starts a book club with a group of convicts from the Jessup Correctional Institution in Maryland. She assigns them 10 dark, challenging classics, including Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Poe's story "The Black Cat", and Nabokov's Lolita - books that don't flinch from evoking the isolation of the human struggle, the pain of conflict, and the cost of transgression. Although Brottman is already familiar with these works, the convicts open them up in completely new ways. Their discussions may "only" be about literature, but for the prisoners, everything is at stake.

Gradually the inmates open up about their lives and families, their disastrous choices, their guilt and loss. Brottman also discovers that life in prison, while monotonous, is never without incident. The book club members struggle with their assigned reading through solitary confinement; on lockdown; in between factory shifts; in the hospital; and in the middle of the chaos of blasting televisions, incessant chatter, and the constant banging of metal doors.

Though The Maximum Security Book Club never loses sight of the moral issues raised in the selected reading, it refuses to back away from the unexpected insights offered by the company of these complex, difficult men. It is a compelling, thoughtful analysis of literature - and prison life - like nothing you've ever listened to before.

Members Reviews:

I absolutely loved this book

The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men's PrisonI absolutely loved this book, The Maximum Security Book Club, Reading Literature in a Menâs Prison, by Mikita Brottman, an Oxford educated scholar who teaches humanities at Maryland Institute of the Arts (MICA). With my passion for literature and my background of teaching Literature and Language Arts in high schools with a high at-risk population, I was able to really connect with the author and what she was trying to accomplish. Dr. Mikita Brottman presents a completely candid approach to teaching literature with all of its ups, downs, distractions, protocols and sense of humanity. However, her class room is in Jessup Correctional Institution in Maryland, and her students are inmates. Brottman does this on a voluntary base. With a group of convicts, once a week, she reads, what many may say is highbrow Literature with disheartening, complicated themes, and while I donât completely agree with all of her choices, I believe she choose novels with rich challenging human experiences to foster thought and conversation with the men.

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Title: Finding Fontainebleau

Subtitle: An American Boy in France

Author: Thad Carhart

Narrator: Todd McLaren

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-17-16

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

For a young American boy in the 1950s, Fontainebleau was a sight both strange and majestic, home to a continual series of adventures: a different language to learn, weekend visits to nearby Paris, family road trips to Spain and Italy. Then there was the château itself: a sprawling palace once the residence of kings, its grounds the perfect place to play hide-and-seek. The curiosities of the small town left such an impression on him that 30 years later, Thad Carhart returned to France with his wife to raise their two children.

Touring Fontainebleau again as an adult, he began to appreciate its influence on French style, taste, art, and architecture. Each trip to Fontainebleau introduces him to entirely new aspects of the château's history, enriching his memories and leading him to Patrick Ponsot, who becomes Carhart's guide to the hidden Fontainebleau.

What emerges is an intimate chronicle of a time and place few have experienced. Finding Fontainebleau is for those captivated by the French way of life, for armchair travelers, and for anyone who has ever fallen in love with a place they want to visit over and over again.

Critic Reviews:

"Finding Fontainebleau is a fun, intriguing meditation on time, place, and nationality." (Penelope Rowlands, author of Paris Was Ours)

Members Reviews:

Didn't know it was history

How did the narrator detract from the book?

No pep. Felt more like information.

Any additional comments?

I thought it would be a story of a boy. It's only half of that, at least well into the first 16 chapters. Lots of history. Too much for me.

Interesting return to Europe/France in the 1950s

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the reminders of my own time in Europe and Paris in 1952. I was a teenager and Carhart's recollections brought my own experience back, adding details and depth I was totally unaware of at that time.

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Title: Mahler: Een hoorcollege over zijn leven en werk

Author: Leo Samama

Narrator: Leo Samama

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-31-16

Publisher: Home Academy

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was niet alleen componist, maar in zijn tijd ook een zeer beroemd dirigent. Hij componeerde in slechts twee genres: symfonie en zang. Meerdere malen combineerde hij deze naar het voorbeeld van Beethovens 9e symfonie, waarbij zijn composities de uiterste mogelijkheden van een orkest opzochten. In dit vier uur durende college analyseert Leo Samama de muziek van Mahler en schetst hij de cultuur-historische context van het Oostenrijks-Hongaarse rijk waarin deze Joodse componist zich in de 19e eeuw ontwikkelde tot één van de grootste componisten die de late romantiek verbond met de moderne klassieke muziek van de 20e eeuw.

Inhoud:

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

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