Where to Get Full Audiobooks in Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs Popular Authors

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Title: Life from Scratch

Subtitle: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness

Author: Sasha Martin

Narrator: Andi Arndt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-03-15

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 46 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Sasha Martin set herself a rather ambitious goal: to cook - and eat - her way around the world, with 196 recipes from 196 countries in 196 weeks. Enter Global Table Adventure, a project that proves to be more than just a culinary challenge as Sasha attempts to navigate the vicissitudes of marriage, motherhood, and life's failures and successes, all inextricably linked to her troubled past.

For Sasha food and cooking unlock the memories of a difficult childhood and the loss and heartbreak that came with it. She and her brother lived with their mother in Boston before being placed in foster care with a family in Europe. Among the hard moments of her young life, the most difficult occurred when Sasha was just 12 years old - she witnessed her brother's suicide.

As she mines her past to make sense of her childhood, food allows Sasha to find her own place in the world - and create the home she has been craving her whole life. This is a story about food from around the globe but also about how food can transform us, about being a mother and a wife, about loving the world, and about learning to love ourselves.

Members Reviews:

Apple pie for your soul

Beautiful story that had me in tears at times, and other times grinning from ear to ear. I guess I like happy endings. There are a lot of recipes to listen to, so you might also want to pick up a hard copy for reference. Excellent narrator.

Not that much

I thought it would be a lot more enjoyable.

It's an autobiography about her personal pains and happiness. Didn't add anything to me.

Excellent Book Club Pick!

Beautifully written. And beautifully read (for those of us in book clubs who don't have the time to sit down and actually physically read the book ourselves). Lots of good points to chew over--especially over a glass of wine and cheese with good friends.

Charmingly Bittersweet

Very we'll written contemplation and explanation of Sasah's life and influences. The narrator's voice was as soothing as Sasha's story unfolds to be. Well done.

Truly about forgiveness...and food

During the course of the book, I was inspired by Sasha Martin's ability to forgive. It's easy to be angry in defense of the heroin. In the end, it isn't my place to feel anything, but empathy for this family. On the updside, it made me proud that the end setting is in Tulsa, a city and people that I love.

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Title: The Book on Flying a Learjet

Subtitle: Joey Jet's Memories

Author: Joseph Tiritilli

Narrator: John Edmondson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-18-15

Publisher: Joseph Tiritilli

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Joseph Tiritilli, aka Joey Jet, exemplifies the success possible in America today by using ambition, a willingness to take risks, and a strong work ethic to make the most of available opportunities.

Joey Jet came up the hard way in Totowa, New Jersey, 15 miles from Manhattan, the heart of New York City. His grandfather was a blacksmith in a Pennsylvania coal mine, his father an honest, hardworking truck driver, and his mother a professional switchboard operator. Joey left school at 16. He became a three-time small business owner/operator, soloed at Lincoln Park, New Jersey, N07, and became a private pilot by age 25.

Moving to Deerfield Beach, Florida, Joey Jet continued learning to fly at Pompano Beach Airpark's Pompano Air Center, earning his commercial airplane license and becoming a certified flight instructor under the tutelage of R. Dan Baker. Joey learned to fly Learjets when he was hired by Harvey N. Hop at Fort Lauderdale's Hop-A-Jet, Inc.

Joey Jet has been a Learjet captain, flying the rich and famous throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean for more than 25 years. Fasten your seatbelt and enjoy this compilation of stories from some of Joey Jet's most memorable flights. Stories include James Patterson, Roger King, a Puff Daddy imposter, James Lovell, Billy Joel, Enrique, Paris Hilton, Suze Orman, John Schnatter of Papa John's Pizza, Jackie Mason, Denzel Washington, Paulina Porizkova, Diana Ross, Shakira, Henryk de Kwiatkowski, Lee Greenwood, Elie Wiesel, Preston Henn, Patrick Park, Robert Redford, Don Whittington, Dear Abby, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Shane Sellers, Gary Player, Ted Williams, Dick Vitale, Joe Namath, Emerson Fittipaldi, Don King, James Stewart Jr., Mike Ditka, Pat Riley, Joe Amato, Jeb Bush, Govenor Jim Geringer, Governor Bill Richardson, and Senator John Edwards plus some other stories.

Members Reviews:

Five Stars

What a ride!!!

I'm a leaving on a Learjet plane

Calling all romance book readers that like billionaire and millionaires books and airplanes aficionado you will love book too.Well written book spaced apart paragraphs I love that read book faster that way.This pilot knows what he is doing. Love reading about flight and technicalities that goes with it.And all the legions he flown for. Love to see another book by author he's a good story teller.Congrats on book Chris Or Pamela. Amazon had to look hard to find this fine book.To Give the author more noteworthy put this book between Coffee Tea Or Me and Jet set readers won't have to search hard to find this fine book.

this book is great!

Get ready for an adventure, this book is great!

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Title: Atchison Blue

Subtitle: A Search for Silence, a Spiritual Home, and a Living Faith

Author: Judith Valente

Narrator: Judith Valente

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-22-15

Publisher: Ave Maria Press

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In this meditative spiritual memoir, Judith Valente, celebrated PBS religion journalist and poet, invites readers along on her transformative pilgrimages to Mount St. Scholastica monastery in Atchison, Kansas. The Benedictine sisters who invited Valente presented her with a view of monastic life and wisdom that brought spiritual healing to her fast-paced life--and promises to do the same for her listeners. The first time Judith Valente arrived at Mount St. Scholastica monastery, she came prepared to teach a course on poetry and the soul. Instead she found herself the student, taking lessons from the Benedictine sisters in the healing nature of silence, how to cultivate habits of mindful living, and the freeing reality that conversion is a lifelong process.

With the heart of a poet and the eye of a journalist, she tells how her many visits and interviews with the Benedictine sisters forced her to confront aspects of her own life that needed healing--a journey that will invite listeners to healing of their own. A beautiful and heartfelt work that crosses The Cloister Walk with Tuesdays with Morrie, Atchison Blue will resonate with readers of Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Mary Gordon, and Anne Lamott.

Members Reviews:

I love this book

Atchison Blue describes a woman's ongoing relationship with the Benedictine Sisters who live at St. Scholastica Abbey in Atchison, Kansas. The lives of these women living in community and their deep faith in God have enriched the author's life and faith. It has also enriched mine. I love this book!

Could not put this book down!

This was an amazing experience! The honesty and tenderness of this book is so refreshing! It gives the reader a chance to experience the life of a monastic community in all its dailyness and the profound effect this ancient way of life has had on the author. I felt like a close trusted friend as she wrote about her yearning for "conversatio", or conversion of life, and the changes that would require in her own attitudes toward her family and workplace. I felt like I was reading a very private, poetic journal and it was indeed a privilege.

Insightful.

While the author is describing her journey of her own shortcomings, I was seeing my own and learning through her.

This was a wonderful book. I enjoyed reading about Ms

This was a wonderful book. I enjoyed reading about Ms. Valente's struggles with becoming a blended family. I hope they have worked out their issues. I really enjoyed too reading about the monastery and how the nuns lived their lives and how at peace they were. I would recommend this book.

Five Stars

I loved this book - so real - so human

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Title: Almost Famous Women

Subtitle: Stories

Author: Megan Mayhew Bergman

Narrator: Lesa Lockford

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-21-15

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 31 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

The fascinating lives of the characters in Almost Famous Women have mostly been forgotten, but their stories are burning to be told. Nearly every story in this dazzling collection is based on a woman who attained some celebrity - she raced speed boats or was a conjoined twin in show business; a reclusive painter of renown; a member of the first all-female, integrated swing band. We see Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde's troubled niece, Dolly; West with the Night author Beryl Markham; Edna St. Vincent Millay's sister, Norma. These extraordinary stories travel the world, explore the past (and delve into the future), and portray fiercely independent women defined by their acts of bravery, creative impulses, and sometimes reckless decisions.

Critic Reviews:

"Almost Famous Women is sharp, compassionate, and strong, just like the women depicted in its pages. Megan Mayhew Bergman writes with such precision that we should all quake in her presence. This book only looks like it's made of paper - you are holding priceless diamonds in your hand." (Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers)

"Every one of these stories is as vibrant, as urgent, as surprising as the women therein. What a thrill to listen as they cohere into a chorus of powerful, affecting and often hilarious voices, each unforgettable, together undeniable. Another stunning collection from the brilliant Megan Mayhew Bergman." (Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn)

"Megan Mayhew Bergman writes with an astonishing force of empathy, a compassion as bright and illuminating as a klieg light. The reader of Almost Famous Women can't help but be seduced by these eccentric, subversive, passionate women who lived their lives with their entire souls and who were furiously unapologetic for doing so." (Lauren Groff, author of Arcadia)

Members Reviews:

Most depressing book in a year

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book is so depressing that, even though I'm was a literature grad student, I will never listen to it again. Death, disease, infirmity, sadness, senility....if this pleases the reader, I would recommend the collection of stories. The authors have terrific reputations, but I ended up depressed and dreary.

What does Lesa Lockford bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Ms. Lockford reads the stories with as much life and energy as a good narrator could..but the stories are miserable....Her voice does give the difference in inflection and pitch so that the characters are differentiated. I'm sure that she had difficulty making her voice cheerful in the midst of death and misery.

You didnt love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I suppose the stories have literary merit, but I don't listen to books to analyze the authors use of plot, character, setting, and theme..which is what college students do with texts. I don't require that the books I purchase from Audible be all sweetness and light, but this was ridiculous.

Any additional comments?

If you're borderline depressed, avoid this book at all costs.

Almost Famous Women

Would you be willing to try another book from Megan Mayhew Bergman? Why or why not?

I would not be willing to try another book from Ms.

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Title: Growing Up Country

Subtitle: Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl

Author: Carol Bodensteiner

Narrator: Dorothy Deavers

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-14-15

Publisher: Rising Sun Press

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Growing Up Country: Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl delivers a treat as delicious as oatmeal cookies hot out of the oven - a memoir of a happy childhood. In charming and memorable vignettes, Carol Bodensteiner captures rural life in Middle America, in the middle of the 20th Century. Bodensteiner grew up on a family-owned dairy farm in the 1950s, a time when a family could make a good living on 180 acres. In these pages you can step back and relish a time simple but not easy, a time innocent yet challenging. If you grew up in rural America, these stories will trigger your memories and your senses, releasing a wealth of stories of your own. If the rural Midwest is foreign territory to you, Carol's stories will invite you into a fascinating and disappearing world.

Members Reviews:

Grandma, tell me a story !

This book is a wonderful collection of real life events, with real families, & real people living real life on the farms of Iowa in the 1940s 1950s & 1960s. How do I know ? --well, As I listened, I felt as though the author was telling MY story, because I grew up on a farm in Iowa having the very same experiences. This book brought back many precious memories that I have ---growing up country.

The reader has a tone & lilt to her voice that made me visualize a Grandmother telling her grandchildren, who were listening intently, stories of when she was a girl.

The author has a true descriptive gift that makes the listener feel as though we are right there with her as she goes about her life on the farm. I loved the book & will listen to it again.

Loved this authentic and heartfelt reminiscence.

The narrator was perfect. I felt like I was on the farm, experiencing everything the writer did. The ending showed Carol's absolute passion for her subject. Awesome! Thank you, Dorothy Devers, too. Your telling was obviously well-prepared.

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Title: My Life with Piper

Subtitle: From Big House to Small Screen

Author: Larry Smith

Narrator: Larry Smith

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 43 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-16-14

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 60 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Piper Kerman's bestselling memoir and hit show on Netflix has been one of the most remarkable pop culture phenomenons in years. Yet there's one side of the story that until now hasn't been told-the story of Larry Smith, the man who has stood by Piper through the worst of times.

Orange Is the New Black is about many things: crime, punishment, a community of women who gave each other strength in the worst of times. But it is also a love story. Now, for the first time, the "real Larry" tells his side of the story with vivid color and unapologetic candor, taking us back to his first meeting with Piper, their unexpected courtship, the moment both of their lives changed forever, and the unexpected celebrity that came with having a version of their lives streamed to millions of people across the world as Orange Is the New Black captured the cultural zeitgeist.

Includes an exclusive Larry and Piper interview and Larry's reaction to Jason Biggs being selected to portray him in Orange Is the New Black.

Members Reviews:

Great follow up

This is a very fun short listen that brings Orange readers full circle. Have read Piper's book as well. This makes me want to reread it.....something I seldom do. Also really a great look into the differences between the books and the screen adaptation.

Not disappointed at all! Great listen!

I love personal narratives. Larry Smith is a writer by trade and also a lover of personal narratives. He runs an online magazine where he invites the every day person to tell their own stories and then publishes them, so it should come as no surprise that he did a great job telling his own. Just as with Piper's book, I enjoyed learning about the differences between the NetFlix series, Orange is the New Black, and the true/real life lives of Piper and Larry.

At first, I have to admit Larry's voice (he narrates his own story which I think is GREAT) annoyed me a little for maybe 5-10 minutes. However, I quickly became engrossed with what he had to say and it ceased bothering me at all for the remainder of the book - he did a great job. It was also great to learn both from this book, and Piper's book, that the real life Larry is a pretty great guy, and has a fabulous sense of humor.

The audio interview at the end of the book with Piper Kerman and Larry Bloom is also very interesting. The journalist interviewing them asks a lot of questions about their real life and what actually happened, which, again, is something I love. After hearing Piper speak throughout the interview I wish she had narrated her own audio book as well. She disagrees feeling people wouldn't like her voice, but I digress. The woman who read Piper's book did a great job.

I highly recommend this book and Piper's book, especially if you are interested in much more accurate accounts of what really inspired the NetFlix series.

Interesting enough

What made the experience of listening to My Life with Piper the most enjoyable?

I'm sure anyone who spends a credit on this purchase must be a fan of the original book or the netflix program. This serves as a neat companion to the original.

What did you like best about this story?

It was interesting to hear the 'real' Larry's perspective on Piper's incarceration.

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Title: My Forty Years with Ford

Subtitle: Great Lakes Books Series

Author: Samuel T Williamson, Charles E Sorensen

Narrator: Barry Eads

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-03-14

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

In My Forty Years with Ford, Charles Sorensen-sometimes known as "Henry Ford's man," sometimes as "Cast-iron Charlie"-tells his own story, and it is as challenging as it is historic. He emerges as a man who was not only one of the great production geniuses of the world but also a man who called the plays as he saw them. He was the only man who was able to stay with Ford for almost the full history of his empire, yet he never hesitated to go against Ford when he felt the interests of the company demanded it. When labor difficulties mounted and Edsel's fatal illness was upon him, Sorensen sided with Edsel against Henry Ford and Harry Bennett, and he insisted that Henry Ford II be brought in to direct the company despite the aging founder's determination that no one but he hold the presidential reins. The Ford story has often been discussed in print but has rarely been articulated by someone who was there.

First published in 1956, My Forty Years with Ford is both a personal history of a business empire and a revelation that moves with excitement and the power of tragedy.

Members Reviews:

Valuable info but very dry.

If your an automotive enthusiast, car culture lover, or "Ford Man" than this book is definitely worth a listen. The information and insight into the world and company known as Ford Motor Company is rich and plentiful. Sadly, this book often reads (listens) like an accounting ledger... in other words, pretty dry and boring.

If you don't mind a bit of a dry story, then the overall picture once you get to the end of it is worth it IMO.

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Title: My Best Friend's Funeral

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Roger W. Thompson

Narrator: Kaleo Griffith

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-11-14

Publisher: christianaudio.com

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

There's a certain kind of lost a boy feels in this world without a father. Tim felt it. I felt it. And we realized our only way out would be together. In an openhearted memoir of faith on the fringe, Roger Thompson meditates on the life and premature death of his best friend and business partner, Tim Garrety, cofounder of Skate Street Ventura. Roger and Tim's 25 friendship was forged in the surf and on the streets of 1980s California. Together they hazarded countless waves and every rite of passage - from guitars to girls to God - and influenced the lives of thousands of skateboarders, musicians, surfers, and otherwise disconnected youth in the process. With unrestrained honesty and a punk-rock soundtrack, My Best Friend's Funeral is a memoir of friendship, doubt, surfing, and the complex relationships between fathers and sons. If life has ever left you feeling abandoned - or if you simply prefer a rock show to a sermon - My Best Friend's Funeral is a memoir you won't want to miss, and a confirmation that you are never alone.

In an openhearted memoir of faith on the fringe, Roger Thompson meditates on the life and premature death of his best friend and business partner, Tim Garrety, cofounder of Skate Street Ventura. Roger and Tim's 25 friendship was forged in the surf and on the streets of 1980s California. Together they hazarded countless waves and every rite of passage - from guitars to girls to God - and influenced the lives of thousands of skateboarders, musicians, surfers, and otherwise disconnected youth in the process. With unrestrained honesty and a punk-rock soundtrack, My Best Friend's Funeral is a memoir of friendship, doubt, surfing, and the complex relationships between fathers and sons. If life has ever left you feeling abandoned - or if you simply prefer a rock show to a sermon - My Best Friend's Funeral is a memoir you won't want to miss, and a confirmation that you are never alone.

Members Reviews:

I too lost my best friend, merely a year ago

I too lost my best friend, merely a year ago. My life is forever changed. I am getting better, I guess. I am learning to feel grateful for having had him in my life for over 35 years. He was my right side, I am my left side, now I am forever unbalanced. It is the loss of the person who just plain got me. In all aspects, he got me. I never needed to explain, sitting in the same room in silence was often our best way of communicating.

Mr. Thompson found refuge in God and dove deeper into his faith. I understand that approach, but it is taking me time to accept that my loss was God's plan. Still does. I miss him daily. I am grateful to have read this book. For a brief moment, the time it took me to read the book, I was not alone in my journey. Someone understood what it feels like to walk down a safe, secure, familiar street and suddenly fall into an abyss you never knew existed. I will never be as carefree, secure or happy as I once was but I know now that I am not alone. Thank you Mr. Thompson. I'm truly sorry for your loss.

I could not put it down!

I could not put it down! I read the first 21 chapters straight and finished the book within the day. Roger's descriptive and beautiful writing transported me back to my hometown and high school where I knew Roger and Tim. Each chapter touched my soul in a unique way.

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Title: Separated @ Birth

Subtitle: A True Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited

Author: Anais Bordier, Samantha Futerman

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-30-14

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

It all began when design student Anaïs Bordier viewed a YouTube video and saw her own face staring back. After some research, Anaïs found that the Los Angeles actress Samantha Futerman was born in a South Korean port city called Busan on November 19, 1987 - the exact same location and day that Anaïs was born. This propelled her to make contact - via Facebook. One message later, both girls wondered: Could they be twins? Thus begins their remarkable journey to build a relationship as sisters, continents apart.

Over Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, they learned that they shared much more than a strikingly similar appearance. Eventually, they traveled to Korea together to discover more about the land of their separation. Separated @ Birth is a story that spans the world and peels back some of the complex and emotional layers of foreign adoption.

Members Reviews:

true love story

Before I bought this book, my wife summarized the story for me: âSeparated at birth twin sisters meet each other and live happily ever after. â She was right, that is what the story is about, pretty obvious! Well, it was a nice story to read. Now it seems like the sisters are trying to get as much publicity (and revenue) out of their new relationship as possible. I guess they would make a reality TV show if they could generate enough interest, as an expansion of the documentary they are making. But with all the youtube videos, websites, and TV appearances, they got me hooked on their story â I bought the book the day after it came out, and read it in a couple more days! The sisters are nothing if not hard working â look at all the projects they are doing now! The sisters seem like nice people; you can learn from the book what good daughters they are. I liked how the sisters alternated writing chapters. That added interest to the story - you can compare their personalities and writing styles. Their initial meeting was very touching. I enjoyed reading how Anais was stressed out about the constant filming and lack of privacy when the sisters went to Korea. Overall, the book was well written and enjoyable to read.

I guess the best word is "magic."

I am prejudiced as I have 2 beautiful daughters adopted from 2 different countries (One of the countries is Korea).

I loved reading, laughing and at times tearing up at what happened.

I guess the best word is "magic."

I appreciated hearing from both sets of parents and the University of Minnesota Twin Study. (I am originally from the Twin Cities). Dr. Nancy Segal's input and assistance to Anais and Sam added a wonderful dimension to the read.

As for the magic? I know my 2 daughters, though they do not share biology they share the magic of sisters.

A fun and thoughtful read.

GREAT JOB , Anais & Sam !

Separated at birth is the book version of the documentary Twinsters , starring identical twins Anais and Samantha .

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Title: The Republic of Imagination

Subtitle: America in Three Books

Author: Azar Nafisi

Narrator: Mozhan Marno

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-21-14

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 34 votes

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A passionate hymn to the power of fiction to transform people's lives, by the number one New York Times best-selling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran

Ten years ago, Azar Nafisi electrified readers with her million-copy best seller Reading Lolita in Tehran, which told the story of how, against the backdrop of morality squads and executions, she taught The Great Gatsby and other classics to her eager students in Iran. In this exhilarating followup, Nafisi has written the book her fans have been waiting for: an impassioned, beguiling and utterly original tribute to the vital importance of fiction in a democratic society. What Reading Lolita in Tehran was for Iran, The Republic of Imagination is for America.

Taking her cue from a challenge thrown to her in Seattle, where a skeptical reader told her that Americans don't care about books the way they did back in Iran, she challenges those who say fiction has nothing to teach us. Blending memoir and polemic with close readings of her favorite American novels - from Huckleberry Finn to The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter - she invites us to join her as citizens of her "Republic of Imagination," a country where the villains are conformity and orthodoxy, and the only passport to entry is a free mind and a willingness to dream.

Members Reviews:

Love

This is a beautiful love story to American literature. Read this is you love to read, or if you want to be taught how to love to read.