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Title: Tyranny to Freedom

Subtitle: Diary of a Former Stalinist

Author: Ludwik Kowalski

Narrator: Jon Diienno

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-03-15

Publisher: Ludwik Kowalski

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Based on diaries written between 1946 and 2004 in the USSR, Poland, France, and the US, this is the story of one man's struggle to find his identity. For Polish-born Kowalski, writing this book was a moral obligation to all victims of Stalinism, including his parents. The testimony traces his professional development as a nuclear physicist and his ideological evolution from one extreme to another - from dedicated communist student in Poland to active anti-communist after retirement. Religion, ethnicity, and pursuit of happiness are also presented.

Members Reviews:

quite good and better than expected

My expectations in starting the read of an edited journal was that it might be too cryptic, without balance. But to my surprise the writer and author does a wonderful job of interrogating and arguing with himself throughout. This creates a mental conversation that's portrays various points of view, and also the internal mental struggle of discovery (or evolution of thinking). Bravo; hand me another volume of writing from this literate scientist !

Intellectual and Spiritual Odyssey

Full disclosure: L. Kowalski and I worked at Montclair State University: he in physics, I in classics.

This little book is a fascinating melange of autobiography and diary fragments. K. can admit that his memory of events may be faulty, but the documentary evidence of the diaries is an accurate record of his thoughts and feelings as the actual events were unfolding. The earliest memory finds K enrolled in a Moscow kindergarten and elementary school during the thirties. He was so well indoctrinated in the communist world view "to faithfully serve the cause of Lenin and Stalin" that even the unjust arrest and deportation of his father to Siberia (where he perished) could not shake his faith in the righteousness and eventual triumph of world communism.

One of the main themes of the book is the gradual undoing of that blind faith, which survived even the Hungarian Uprising, and the growing realization that the whole system was corrupt and terroristic: "one of the two most destructive ideologies of the twentieth century (113)."

A second theme is the relationship between a scientific education (nuclear physics) and a communist society. After the war and the move back to Poland, K's intellectual career was almost short circuited when the Ministry of Security discovered that his father had been arrested in the Soviet Union and deported as an enemy of the people. K was lucky and survived the investigation. Subsequently he was even permitted to continue his physics studies in Paris under the supervision of the son-in-law of Marie Curie, Frederic Joliot-Curie, himself a Nobel Prize winner. After Joliot-Curie's death K remained in his institute where he earned his doctorate.

The relationship of K to his Jewish family origins constitutes a third theme. A diary entry describes how his mother regretted that the family had not emigrated to Israel. K's reaction is to insist that he was Polish and not Jewish. Yet after his emigration to the United States and his marriage to Linda, he and his wife in 1975 joined a synagogue.

K. is not at all reticent in mentioning his many both serious and transitory sexual affairs (a fourth theme) on his way to a lifelong commitment to his wife Linda.

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Titel: Sterben sollst du für dein Glück

Untertitel: Gefangen zwischen zwei Welten

Autor:: Sabatina James

Erzähler: Sabatina James

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 2 hrs and 42 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 04-02-15

Herausgeber: Verlag Herder

Bewertung: 5 von 5 von 1 Stimmen

Kategorien: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Ihre Eltern sind Muslime. Sie leben in einem kleinen österreichischen Dorf. Hier wächst Sabatina auf. Doch dann wird sie 16 und ihre Eltern sind der Meinung, dass sie zu westlich geworden ist. Sie schicken sie in eine Koran-Schule nach Pakistan, wo sie geschlagen und misshandelt wird. Als Sabatina gegen ihren Willen heiraten soll, flieht sie und kehrt nach Europa zurück. Doch trifft sie dort die harte Antwort des Islam umso mehr: Ihre Familie kündigt an, sie zu töten.

©2014 Herder (P)2014 Herder

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Title: Lillian

Author: Dorothy Blake

Narrator: John Paul Nicholas

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-01-15

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Lillian Vickers, a pretty working class girl, is sent to work at a young age on a farm in Ludborough, Lincolnshire. It is around the start of the 20th century. In Lillian, we follow her story as she negotiates her way through life: marriage, motherhood, the trials of family, and health. Through the eyes of her daughter, Dorothy Blake, we see the vicissitudes of family bonds, both strong and wicked, and how they stretch relationships between illness and healing, from blame to forgiveness. Lillian is a heartfelt story touching on pathos but always drawing back to a hope that is held in continuation and in the future.

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Titel: Kaleidoskop

Autor:: Hermine Stampa-Rabe

Erzähler: Hermine Stampa-Rabe

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 2 hrs and 48 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 04-01-15

Herausgeber: Moewen Studios

Kategorien: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Das Hörbuch "Kaleidoscop" erzählt von spannenden Kindheitserlebnissen von Hermine Stampa-Rabe mit einem hierfür komponierten Song "Kaleidoscope".

©2015 Hermine Stampa-Rabe (P)2015 Hermine Stampa-Rabe

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Titel: Sex bitte nur in der Suite

Untertitel: Aus dem Leben eines Grand Hoteliers

Autor:: Carsten K. Rath

Erzähler: Rudolf Guckelsberger

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 2 hrs and 39 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 04-01-15

Herausgeber: Verlag Herder

Kategorien: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Blicken Sie hinter die Kulissen einer geheimnisumwitterten Branche: 12 Hotels. 12 Stories. 12 Meilensteine eines Lebens im Zeichen der fünf Sterne. Alles für ein Ziel: den besten Service der Welt. Carsten K. Rath nimmt seine Hörer mit auf eine heitere und manchmal irrwitzige Reise hinter die Kulissen der Haute Hotellerie - und einmal um die Welt.

In den erlesenen Kreis der Luxushoteliers stieg der Junge aus der rheinischen Provinz aus eigener Kraft auf. Er fing als Terrassenkellner auf der untersten Stufe der Hierarchie an und kämpfte sich bis nach ganz oben durch. Die WELT nennt ihn den "Rockstar unter den Grand Hoteliers". Von Nelson Mandela über Margaret Thatcher und Helmut Kohl bis hin zur ersten Liga der Hollywood- und Musikstars der letzten Jahrzehnte: Carsten K. Rath hat ihnen allen ein Dach über dem Kopf gegeben. Aus eigener Erfahrung kann er berichten, wie man reagiert, wenn ein Rockstar in weiblicher Begleitung die Hoteltreppe mit dem Bett in seiner Suite verwechselt, wie man den mächtigsten Mann der Welt empfängt und wie echte Prinzessinnen auf Situationen reagieren, die anderen die Schamesröte ins Gesicht treiben würden.

Gespeist aus über 25 Jahren Erfahrung in den besten Hotels der Welt auf vier Kontinenten erzählt er kuriose und amüsante Geschichten mit Lerneffekt. Er verrät, was erstklassigen Service wirklich ausmacht, woran man ein richtig gutes Hotel erkennt und wie man - nicht nur in seiner Branche - an die Spitze gelangt.

©2015 Herder (P)2015 Herder

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Titel: Nicht mein Bein

Autor:: Klaus Fehling

Erzähler: Samuel Weiss, Bernd Kuschmann, Andreas Laurenz Maier, Sigrid Burkholder, Volker Risch

Format: Unabridged

Spieldauer: 34 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 04-01-15

Herausgeber: WDR

Kategorien: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

Eines Tages versteht er sein Bein nicht mehr. Es verweigert ihm für einen kurzen Moment den Gehorsam und zittert. Das ist das erste Zeichen. Was dann folgt, ist der lange Weg in das Gefängnis des eigenen Körpers. Die Handschrift versagt, die Arme schwingen beim Gehen nicht mehr mit, die Mimik wirkt mehr und mehr wie eingefroren. Körperlicher Ausdruck und inneres Befinden stimmen nicht mehr überein. Das alltägliche Leben wird immer schwieriger.

Nach acht Jahren, falschen Diagnosen und Ratschlägen vieler verschiedener Ärzte erhält er durch eine komplizierte Gehirnuntersuchung Klarheit. Wie wäre sein Leben verlaufen, hätte er die tatsächliche Ursache früher erfahren? Was hätte er anders gemacht, was wäre vielleicht anders ausgegangen?

©2007 WDR (P)2015 WDR mediagroup

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Title: Girl in the Dark

Subtitle: A Memoir

Author: Anna Lyndsey

Narrator: Hannah Curtis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-30-15

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

A gorgeous memoir of an unthinkable life: a young woman writes of the sensitivity to light that has forced her to live in darkness and of the love that has saved her.

"Something is afoot within me that I do not understand, the breaking of a contract that I thought could not be broken, a slow perverting of my substance."

Anna was living a normal life. She was ambitious and worked hard; she had just bought an apartment; she was falling in love. But then she started to develop worrying symptoms: Her face felt like it was burning whenever she was in front of the computer. Soon this progressed to an intolerance of fluorescent light then of sunlight itself. The reaction soon spread to her entire body. Now, when her symptoms are at their worst, she must spend months on end in a blacked-out room, losing herself in audiobooks and elaborate word games in an attempt to ward off despair. During periods of relative remission, she can venture cautiously out at dawn and dusk, into a world that, from the perspective of her normally cloistered existence, is filled with remarkable beauty.

And throughout there is her relationship with Pete. In many ways he is Anna's savior, offering her shelter from the light in his home. But she cannot enjoy a normal life with him, cannot go out in the day, and even making love is uniquely awkward. Anna asks herself, "By continuing to occupy this lovely man while giving him neither children nor a public companion nor a welcoming home - do I do wrong?"

With gorgeous, lyrical prose, Anna brings us into the dark with her, a place from which we emerge to see love and the world anew.

Members Reviews:

Living in the Dark

This is the memoir of a young woman who became so allergic to light that she was forced to live large parts of her life in a darkened room, emerging at dusk to go for a walk or attempt any sort of normality. What started out as a sensitivity to the light emitted by her computer screen, gradually developed into a severe reaction to all forms of light, apparently with no cure. At one point I felt that the treatment she received had actually aggravated her condition, though she didn't say exactly that. When in the light her skin would burn with such severe pain that could take days to subside.

Throughout these trials she was supported by her boyfriend, Pete, who stuck by her and eventually married her, even after the first marriage ceremony had had to be cancelled due to the worsening of her condition. He was really a genuine, sympathetic guy who gave her a reason to go on.

During the bad periods she was dependent on audio-books, which was kind of appropriate as I was listening to this on Audible myself. I totally related to her observation that "When I finish a book, I find I cannot start another one immediately. Each book needs time to settle in my mind, to be digested like a meal of many courses.

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Titel: Was uns wirklich trägt

Untertitel: Über gelingendes Leben

Autor:: Walter Kohl, Anselm Grün

Erzähler: Walter Kohl, Anselm Grün

Format: Abridged

Spieldauer: 2 hrs and 34 mins

Sprache: Deutsch

Veröffentlichungsdatum: 03-27-15

Herausgeber: Verlag Herder

Kategorien: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Zusammenfassung des Herausgebers:

"Ja" zum eigenen Leben sagen. Selbst Verantwortung übernehmen. Außergewöhnlich persönlich, berührend, spannend.

Zwei Menschen, zwei Lebensläufe, die auf den ersten Blick unterschiedlicher nicht sein könnten: Der eine, Sohn des früheren Bundeskanzlers Helmut Kohls, geprägt von Jahren der persönlichen Ausgrenzung und Stigmatisierung sowie der Terrorismusgefahr, persönlich und beruflich durch Tiefen und Krisen gegangen: Scheidung, Selbstmord der Mutter, familiäre Tragödien, Neuanfang als Unternehmer. Heute erfolgreicher Unternehmer und Berater. Der andere, im Kloster seit nahezu 50 Jahren, ging konsequent den Weg monastischer Gottsuche, mit einer scheinbar geradlinigen "Karriere" als Mönch, als erfolgreicher Cellerar, der das einfache Leben ins Zentrum stellt und als Autor und geistlicher Begleiter von vielen gehört wird.

Und doch verbindet beide die Suche nach Sinn. Beide sagen: Wir sind nicht am Ziel. Wir sind auf dem Weg. Beide fragen, was Leben ausmacht. Was es gefährdet, und was wirklich Sinn stiftet. Was sie auf ihrem Weg hält und was anderen helfen könnte. Spannend. Berührend. Und sehr persönlich.

©2014 Herder (P)2014 Herder

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Title: Thirsty for Love

Subtitle: Compassion Beyond Abuse

Author: Vivian Brown

Narrator: Melissa Madole

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-18-15

Publisher: Tate Publishing Company

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Author Vivian Brown shares the story of her life in Thirsty for Love: Compassion Beyond Abuse, as she traveled down uncertain paths, leading to empty love and shattered dreams.

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Title: Black Suede Jacket

Author: Julio Bonilla

Narrator: Marie Debonair

Format: Unabridged

Length: 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-17-15

Publisher: Julio Bonilla

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Monday morning. I woke up from my nap and looked at time in the car: 2:30 a.m.

Then I snapped out of it and realized I had been waiting on two friends as if I were their chauffer.

It was at this point that I decided to drive home. I had lent Angela my favorite jacket and she had forgotten her pack of cigarettes in my car.

I wondered when I would get my jacket back....

Members Reviews:

Good Story

I like your story, but I wish you paid Angela more attention. It seems from your writing that she liked you.

I also think the price maybe a bit much, other than that great story.

I also like how everything you own was given to you, that means everything you have has some kind of special meaning. I can see why you wanted your jacket back.

pretty good for a first one

Nice work for a first shot. But please reassure me and tell me the last chapter is sarcasm. Haha.

NO ONE'S GOING TO STOP ME. Carpe Diem. SEIZE THE DAY. OR IN THIS CASE, NIGHT.

"Where have you been for the past four nights? I missed you--I need you." (at 84%)

Another nocturnal party cruise through Julio Bonilla's San Francisco with his sharply-dressed protagonist Frank. It's a very special Sunday night: his friend Angela's birthday! This tale ends with a bizarre bonus "How-To."

Thanks for reading.