You Can Select Any Audiobook in Fiction, Contemporary Most Popular

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Alan Bennett

Subtitle: Four Stories

Author: Alan Bennett

Narrator: Alan Bennett

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-19-05

Publisher: BBC Worldwide Limited

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 81 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The Lady in the Van

An eccentric old lady and her van are told to move on by the council, but a kind homeowner invites her to live in his garden. In this bizarre tale, the homeowner is Alan Bennett and the woman stays for 15 years. As heard on BBC Radio 4, this edition also includes the short story, "Uncle Clarence".

The Clothes They Stood Up In

The Ransomes have been burgled, robbed, cleaned out. Everything has gone, even the toilet paper. But, for the stuffy solicitor and his downtrodden wife, it marks a kind of liberation where nothing will ever be quite the same.

The Laying On of Hands

A darkly humorous story for our times in which the fragile state of celebrity encounters a universal leveller.

Father! Father! Burning Bright

Midgley determines not to let his dying father down and mounts a vigil by his bedside.

Whether comical or quirky, Alan Bennett's poignant stories are rightly regarded as modern classics.

Members Reviews:

Brilliant Mr. Bennett

Alan Bennett's superb short stories offer amusing and thought-provoking listening. As a writer, he is a master of English prose. As a reader, once you adjust to his English Midlands accent and high-pitched voice, he is an excellent interpreter of his own work. The four stories included here provide an excellent introduction to his writing or a wonderful way to complete your collection. As always he creates more memorable moments in a story than most novelists do in books ten times the length.

Superb stories and narration

Incredible twists in each plot that left me in awe of his writing and coupled with his laconic reading, this is one of Audible's treasures.

Fantastic Audio

I JUST LOVE THIS AUDIO ,I think Alan Bennett stories are suberb ,I love The Lady and the Van ,He brings to life all the scenes and personalities .....and I have relistened to them each time enjoying his stories.It is also a good length ,I try to use my credits to get a good length book and even though this is shorter than a normal novel,it is so good its worth using up a credit on.

If in doubt what to order : Order this.

An absolute must. Bennett has created such wonderful characters, all of which can be related to by the listener. So easy to place ones imagination into the individuals. Bennett has a wonderful speaking voice easy listening. Has the ability to evoke the listeners every emotion to associate with the characters and their circumstances. Not exceptional funny but listened to with a constant smile on ones face.

'A master at work'

All four stories have the listener intrigued, amused, sad, and evoke thoughts about ones own life. Alan Bennett's reading is a joy to listen too. Highly recommend this to anyone.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Author: Terry McMillan

Narrator: Terry McMillan

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-22-05

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 43 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The Prices are introduced by Viola, the family's outspoken matriarch: Her husband, Cecil, has shut the door behind him for the last time; and their four adult kids, scattered across the country, seem determined to send her to her grave, or at least to the hospital with worrying. Paris is divorced, mother to a nearly seventeen-year-old son and the one who always comes to everybody's rescue, although she doesn't have a clue as to how to save herself. Lewis is the scapegoat, and his troubles keep landing him in jail, which only seems to confirm what his family thinks he is. Out in Chicago, Charlotte knows she's gotten the short end of the stick for years, has "nothing in common except blood" with her parents and siblings and would just as soon divorce them all. Janelle, the baby of the family, is not only on the defensive about the course of her own life but she's facing a new crisis, a fast-brewing storm with her teenage daughter that threatens more than she's willing to admit. And don't even ask Viola about Cecil: "He's a bad habit I've had for thirty-eight years which would make him my husband." But Cecil has some ideas for taking his hardworking life into his own hands, regardless of what his wife and kids think about it.

©2001 Terry McMillan; (P)2001 Penguin Audiobooks

Members Reviews:

Loved it

What made the experience of listening to A Day Late and a Dollar Short the most enjoyable?

I love Terry McMillan and I had already read this book. Listening to it was like meeting old friends you had not seen in a while.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Viola, because she's about keeping it all together no matter what.

What does Terry McMillan bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Makes you visualize the characters.

Who was the most memorable character of A Day Late and a Dollar Short and why?

Lewis, because you know at some point his family is going to love him into being a better person. He may have been a day late and a dollar short, but you leave the book knowing he is going to be alright.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed listening to the book because I had already read it and I felt like I knew the characters, but I would have enjoyed it just as much being introduced to them the first time.

Another audible must have.

I absolutely love this book. Terry McMillan can sure weave a good story. I also like that the author herself narrated the book. She give the right amount of attitude to her characters that is sometimes lacking when other people tell the tale. Great book

This book A day late and a dollar short

I've listened and listened to this book watch the movie on life time and brought the book this is a book that will NEVER get old

Good Story

Great Story, good author. The Narration was really good & it was easy to follow. I enjoyed listening to the book.

Great Audiobook, Couldn't Stop Listening

This was a great novel, as always. It was great because it was not the outcome you'd expect. It kept my mouth wide open like "What!?!" If you like Terry McMillian, your gonna love this one, just as all the others. Interruption of Everything was my very favorite. A Definate must read.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Jonathan Wild

Author: Henry Fielding

Narrator: Jill Masters

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-27-05

Publisher: Jimcin Recordings

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

He was a great organiser, and he controlled various bands of robbers whose lives he did not hesitate to sacrifice when his own was in danger. Naturally he was so hated by many of his underlings that it is a wonder he was able to maintain his authority over them as many years as he did. His rascality had been notorious a long time before his crimes could actually be proved.

That Jonathan Wild is for the most part a magnificent example of sustained irony, one of the best in our literature, critics have generally agreed. Admirable, too, is the ironical humour, in which Fielding so excelled, and which in Jonathan Wild he seldom drops.

Members Reviews:

Such excellent writing

This point of this book is hard to grasp so I went to Wikipedia to pick up the main idea. That helped a lot. It is a satire on politicians of the early 1700s that shows how "great" politicians are just like great criminals. Altogether, it shows the power of humor to attack political enemies (in this case, Prime Minister Horace Walpole).

I got onto this book by listening to Tom Jones by the same author. That is a great book which I better recommend. It has the same extraordinary writing and a pretty good story.

Jonathan Wilding is better viewed as an example of great satire that could be used today. It is in the line of "Onion" newspaper.

What a classic.

Somebody needs to make a movie here, although I doubt they'd match the mystery and insight of the story and its main character. Such perspective and wisdom in short story form I doubt has ever been exceeded.

Jonathan Wild

Boring, boring, boring. The narrator talks in a dull monotone and after a brief while, you don't even care about the character she is speaking about. Sorry I spent my money on this one.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Pinned

Author: Alfred C. Martino

Narrator: Mark Shanahan

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-04-05

Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Ivan Korske is the pride of Lennings, a rural town tucked away in the farmlands of western Jersey, and the odds-on favorite to be crowned state champion in the 129-pound weight class. For Ivan, the stakes are impossibly high. A state championship fulfills a promise he made to his mother before she passed away nine months earlier and will, perhaps, stem his father's continued withdrawal from life. But mostly, Ivan dreams of getting a scholarship to a college far from his dreary hometown. To him, anything short of the title is failure.

In Short Hills, a wealthy town on the other side of the state, Bobby Zane protects his younger brother Christopher from the fallout of their parents' impending divorce, while searching for comfort from Carmelina Carrillo, a girl from a depressed part of Newark. Despite the distractions from the intense pressures of adolescent love and the family's breakup, Bobby realizes his quest for the coveted 129-pound state title may be his only hope for salvation.

Pinned chronicles Ivan and Bobby's season-long efforts toward overcoming forces within and beyond their control toward a title that only one of them can capture.

Critic Reviews:

"A great show of the drive and intensity necessary to be a champion." (Rulon Gardner, U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist, Greco-Roman Wrestling)

Members Reviews:

Well done!

This was a fantastic listen. I have been involved in the sport of wrestling for over 40 years and this is, by far, the best fictional piece on our sport I have ever read/heard (Yes, even better than Vision Quest!). The technical description of the matches and the preparation for the matches was dead on. Aside from the wrestling the interaction between the characters and the everyday struggles the boys endure are common themes that everyone will be interested in. This is a must read for every wrestling fan and fun for everyone else.

Pinned

I bought this book for my son who is a seventeen year old high school wrestler. It is a great book for any kid who is a wrestler and who is going through normal teenage problems. It is a little too heavy on the drama and I wish that it had had more action descriptions of the matches but it was very good. The big problem with the book is the ending. It was a terrible ending and left me very disatisfied.

Kept me following until. . .

Would you listen to Pinned again? Why?

I would listen to Pinned again, the story brought me back to high school so many years ago and yet seemed so relevant to what I imagine kids experience today. The end was a let down - spoiler alert - it leaves you hanging. That was quite a disappointment as I was really interested into learning how things turned out for these characters, if it hadn't been so well written up to that point I probably wouldn't have cared.

Great sports fiction !

Pinned is a book about the high school wrestling scene however the messages and situations presented in this book are those that are part of the lives of most student athletes, regardless of their sport. The story is well read and the novel itself is fast paced and becomes more complex as the story progresses. If you have played sport or enjoy sport you will likely be able to relate to the issues that arise for the students in this novel.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Final Confession of Mabel Stark

Author: Robert Hough

Narrator: Betty Bobbitt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-05

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 48 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

This vibrant and moving fictional autobiography begins in 1968. Mabel is turning 80 and is about to lose her job. Faced with the loss of her beloved cats, she looks back on her life, her escapades and tragedies, her love affairs with tigers and men. She confronts her darkest secrets, her guilt at committing "the worst thing one person can do to another". Now, with the end of life in sight, there is one thing above all else she needs to do. Mabel wants to confess.

Exuberant and inventive, The Final Confession of Mabel Stark transports its readers to the carnival world of the Big Top to an age before cinema and television, when circus performers were superstars.

Editorial Reviews:

Within seconds, listeners will realize theres no one more fit to perform this wild and magical biography than veteran narrator Bobby Bobbitt. With her slight twang and raspy authority, Bobby brings to life Robert Houghs fantastical version of Mabel Starks moving story. The Final Confession of Mabel Stark is an inventive and clever combination of fact and fiction, as Houghs Mabel looks back on her life as one of the greatest tiger trainers in history. Full of all the romance, tragedy, and conquests that is associated with the real Mabel Stark, this audiobook is an extraordinary marriage of fact and fiction that will have listeners glued to their headphones.

Critic Reviews:

"Robert Hough pulls together fact and fiction to unfurl a life that invites sheer, slack-jawed fascination." (Time)

"A marvelous debut narrated with delicious humour and warmth. Just about perfect. One of the most entertaining novels in many a year." (Kirkus)

"Listeners are treated to Betty Bobbitt's performance of the indomitable, unconventional Mabel Stark....Bobbitt's raspy voice and full-throated chuckle perfectly draw Mabel's sassy attitude, complete with period diction, circus lore, and Kentucky twang." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

Couldn't stop listening

What an incredible idea... to take the known events from the life of an historic figure and, through research, empathy and imagination, create a novel that reads as though it were that figures autobiography. This is what Robert Hough has done with great success in The Final Confession Of Mabel Stark.

Stark, as you may be aware, was a circus superstar back in the 1910s and 1920s. She was a sensation with an act in which she, a tiny blond woman, wrestled a 500 pound tiger.

Working with tigers is a hazardous undertaking. So is setting out on your life adventure as an uneducated orphan. Both left huge scars on Mabel Stark. These scars, emotional and physical, create the theme of the book. With each trauma, Mabel learned more and grew as a person at least the fictional Mabel did and for that reason one has to cheer for her and ultimately empathize with her final heart break.

One also has to cheer for Mr. Hough whose visual metaphors, colorful Kentuckyisms and ear for dialog created such a compelling book. The tale is incredibly plausible and the telling so convincing that you believe it is coming from the mouth of Mabel Stark or that Mr. Hough spent years training big cats with a tent show.

Big applause is also due to Betty Bobbit, the actress whose reading brings Mabel to life so vividly.

Escuche este audio libro completo gratis en https://hotaudiobook.com

Título: El Demonia Vestido de Azul [Devil in a Blue Dress] (Texto Completo)

Autor: Walter Mosley

Narrador: Walter Krochmal

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 6 hrs and 34 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 11-24-04

Editor: Recorded Books

Calificaciones: 3.5 de 5 de 10 votos

Categorías: Fiction, Contemporary

Resumen del editor:

Easy Rawlins has few illusions about the world, at least not about the world of a young black veteran in the late 1940s in Southern California. Fired from his job on the line at an aircraft plant, he accepts a white man's offer to pay him for finding a beautiful, mysterious Frenchwoman.

Crítica Comentarios:

"A superb storyteller, Mosley explores the paradoxes and complexities faced by a decent individual forced to make a living in a chaotic and dangerous city". (Criticas)

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Magic Seeds

Author: V.S. Naipaul

Narrator: Aasif Mandvi

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-16-04

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 36 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Willie Chandran feels as though the life he lives is not his own. When he moves to Berlin, his listlessness washes away in a flood of encouragement from his radically political sister. Inspired, he joins an underground liberation movement in India in an attempt to break the chains shackling the lower castes. But after years of revolution and incarceration, he grows disillusioned and returns to England, still hoping to find his true self.

A powerful tale of the search for identity, Magic Seeds emphatically reminds us why Naipaul is an icon of modern literature.

Critic Reviews:

"Naipaul...is a modern master of the multiple ironies of resentment, the claustrophobia of the margins. In a world in which terrorism continually haunts the headlines, Naipaul's work is indispensable." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Read Half a Life first

This book completes the story begun in Naipaul's _Half a Life_, and I don't think the book stands very well on its own. It would be best to listen to the first book before tackling this one.

Smoking?

Would you be willing to try another book from V.S. Naipaul? Why or why not?

Yes. Hoping to get a broader view of life in Africa.

Would you be willing to try another one of Aasif Mandvis performances?

Probably not. It was very distracting. I kept having the feeling that he was smoking while reading. At least that's the way it sounded.

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: The Queen of the Big Time

Author: Adriana Trigiani

Narrator: Adriana Trigiani

Format: Abridged

Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-15-04

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 19 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The industrious Castellucas farm the land outside Roseto. Nella, the middle daughter of five, aspires to a genteel life "in town", far from the rigors of farm life, which have taken a toll on her mother and forced her father to take extra work in the slate quarries to make ends meet. But Nella's dreams of making her own fortune shift when she meets Renato Lanzara, the son of a prominent Roseto family. Renato is a worldly, handsome, devil-may-care poet who has a way with words that makes him irresistible. Their friendship ignites into a fiery romance that Nella is certain will lead to marriage. But Nella is not alone in her pursuit: every girl in town seems to want Renato. When he disappears without explanation, Nella is left with a shattered heart. Four years later, Renato's sudden return to Roseto the night before Nella's wedding to the steadfast Franco Zollerano leaves her and the Castelluca family shaken. For although Renato has chosen a path very different from Nella's, they are fated to live and work in Roseto, where the past hangs over them like a brewing storm.

An epic of small-town life, etched in glorious detail in the trademark Trigiani style, The Queen of the Big Time is the story of a determined, passionate woman who can never forget her first love.

Members Reviews:

Really enjoy Adriana Trigiani

This is an interesting study of family dynamics. I enjoy having Adriana's books narrated by herself. One of her books was narrated by another person and the effect was startling... really lost something. I am hoping that Adriana comes out with a new series of stories, as I really enjoy her writing. She always does studies of families and relationships. My only complaint is that the female protagonists often "mess up their relationships" and Ms. Trigiani walks the reader through the knowledge on the part of the protagonist that she is aware that her thinking and behaviour is faulty. This can occasionally get annoying. However, the stories are always worth the listen.

Another winner from Adrianna Trigiani

The reader made the most of this wonderful poignant story. This author does a marvelous job of painting a visual picture. I look forward to reading more from her

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Sleeping with Schubert

Author: Bonnie Marson

Narrator: Staci Snell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-23-04

Publisher: Books on Tape

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Brooklyn lawyer Liza Derbin has a most unusual problem. Her mind and body have, at least in part, been taken over by the spirit of Franz Schubert, the long-dead Romantic composer. He doesn't like how things went after his "Unfinished Symphony" came out, and Liza is going to be his unwilling vessel. Much to Liza's consternation, her parents are overjoyed at her possession, and think that they have given birth to a veritable Jesus. A mentor from Juilliard, a determined therapist, and a mysterious elderly fan all want to help. Her vagabond boyfriend, back from Italy, is peeved to find this ghostly third person in their relationship. As the media closes in, Liza must fight to preserve her own identity, both from Franz and from those around her.

©2004 Bonnie Marson; (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic Reviews:

"Marson is at her best in capturing the power of music to transform and (literally) inhabit performers and composers." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Suspension of Disbelief

I have to say that in spite of my bias against the paranormal in my fiction choices, I loved this book! Its unusual and groundbreaking premise is of immense appeal, and the novel is full of all the complex characters and situations of the music and entertainment world, as well as the logistical dilemmas of being inhabited by the spirit of a dead genius, and the sudden management nightmares of instant fame. The only downside (in my book) is the narrator, who makes the voice of Franz Schubert sound like a cranky old curmudgeon instead of a sensitive twenty-something musical phenom. She also somehow manages to give the talk show segments the quality of a badly acted puppet show ("Jill...Gordy...Jill...Gordy..." blah blah blah). And to top it off, she mispronounces Debussy and Pouilly Fuiss?! Ack! My ears! However, this did not dampen my enjoyment of this book and I heartily recommend it. Brava!

Dull and boring

This book started out well, but then quickly fell apart. I did't care much for the reader, voice was weak and unconvincing.

Music to my ears?

I found the plot of this book interesting for the most part. I know very little about Schubert or the life of a concert pianist, and it got me interested enough to listen to some of his music. However, the narrator's voice is irritating as she sounds half asleep most of the time. There is also one scene that prevents me from recommending the book to family or friends. It was all right, but I won't listen to it again.

Captivating

This book kept me listening into the wee small hours... It is so convincing that you end up sharing everything with Lisa... and being haunted by Schubert yourself... right to the end.

Do not miss this one!!!

Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Broken Ground

Author: Kai Maristed

Narrator: Johanna Ward

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-30-04

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Kaethe's journey from America to the broken ground of contemporary Germany becomes an act of recovery: of the lives intertwined by politics and passion, of memory and the invented self, and of Kaethe's search for a daughter lost to her, now grown and living in uncompromising isolation from her mother's past and present, somewhere in vast, resurgent Berlin.

Critic Reviews:

"The prose is stupendous as Maristed's entangled layers of plot allow a look at modern Berlin through the eyes of its turbulent past." (Booklist)

Members Reviews:

Broken Story

Save your credit for something better. This tedious story is told from shifting times, so I kept feeling lost and disinterested. I could not identify with any of the characters, or even like them. I was so happy to finally reach the ending so I could try something else. The reader is my favorite which is why I chose the book.