Audiobooks Books - Page 10

Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment on Its Ear

Kaylene Johnson, Cassandra Campbell (Narrator)

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Editorial Review:

Sarah Palin, a hockey mom and small town mayor, thought her dream of making a difference in the male-dominated realm of Alaska politics was over when she clashed with the state chairman of her Republican Party and went head to head with the powerful Republican governor. In 2006, she became a long-shot candidate for governor, demanding a higher ethical standard in state government. Then fate intervened. Her populist reform message suddenly became front-page news when a major political scandal rocked Alaska politics, Alaskans began listening to her, and they liked what they heard.

Shakespeare Low Price CD

Amazon Price: $10.92 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperAudio Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $8.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.

Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, from academics to eccentrics. Emulating the style of his famous travelogues, Bryson records episodes in his research, including a visit to a bunker-like basement room in Washington, D.C., where the world's largest collection of First Folios is housed.

Bryson celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of unimaginable talent and enormous inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish into thin air," "foregone conclusion," "one fell swoop") that even today have common currency. His Shakespeare is like no one else's—the beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.

Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey

William Least Heat-Moon

Amazon Price: $26.39 List Price: $39.98 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hachette Audio Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $20.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Quoz 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 19 people found this review helpful.

I wasn't sure there was a word for what happens to me when I read Heat-Moon's works. I find treaures in them that seem to be written just for me to find. How can that be?

"PrairyErth" was such a treasure-box; I have read it every year since it was written, each time finding something new. "Roads to Quoz" is also such a book. Its wisdom, depth and humor take you on journeys that are pure joy for the intellect and the imagination.

Heat-Moon's "roads to Quoz" cover a vast area, so I was suprised that one of his Quoz stories mentioned a tiny town in Kansas called "Otis". It is where my mother grew up. I cannot explain such crossings of paths, but at least now I have a word for them: Quoz.

This is simply a gem of a book. It looks forward and backward at the same time, giving insights along the way, and finding wonder.
Gary Gackstatter, St Louis

Editorial Review:

About a quarter century ago, a previously unknown writer named William Least Heat-Moon wrote a book called Blue Highways. Acclaimed as a classic, it was a travel book like no other. Quirky, discursive, endlessly curious, Heat-Moon had embarked on an American journey off the beaten path. Sticking to the small places via the small roads--those colored blue on maps--he uncovered a nation deep in character, story, and charm.
Now, for the first time since Blue Highways, Heat-Moon is back on the backroads. ROADS TO QUOZ is his lyrical, funny, and touching account of a series of American journeys into small-town America.

The Unquiet Mind

Kay Redfield Jamison

List Price: $18.00 By: Random House Audio Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $72.03

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 332 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Too cerebral and tedious 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Right from the start, I did not find this book engaging. Unlike The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness which I have recently read and in which your heart absolutely breaks for the author, Ms. Jamison tends to recount her experiences with the cold, clinical eye of science, rather than expressing in what way her illness affects her feelings.

This book reads like a thesis paper. Ms. Jamison "reports" on her illness, with no emotion behind the words. Even as she talks about the death of one of her patients as well as her own suicide attempt and resultant coma, the words are cold and critical, making it hard to empathize with her.

As you read, she suddenly throws in statements such as "I was married by then," and "I was seeing patients by then." There was no mention up to that point that she was even dating someone, or that she was building a client base. I would think there would be some emotional account leading up to these milestones, describing what part her illness played in these important events, but they seem to be an afterthought.

She constantly provides lists of activities and accomplishments. A great deal of the book centers around her research and treatment of patients, and her fears seem to revolve only around whether or not she may be forced to give up her clinical practice and teaching if "found out," rather than providing any details as to how her illness directly affected her otherwise.

I feel she oversimplifies a complex illness which manifests in many different forms. She repeatedly overuses the word "madness," and at one point even uses the phrase "being crazy," which I find totally unsympathetic, especially for someone suffering from the illness. I believe this has unpleasant connotations, and contributes to societal stigma and misunderstanding.

A typical sentence: "In the cold light of day, however, the reality and destructiveness of rekindled illness tend to dampen the evocativeness of such selectively remembered, wistful, intense, and gentle moments." A bit too cerebral for me, bordering on what I might call "difficult to follow." She quotes Eliot, Byron, Melville and Lowell, among others, with whom the casual reader may not be entirely familiar (I am referring to myself).

This account does to some degree open a window into the world of bipolar disorder, but it left me cold without much new understanding into the emotions of the sufferer. It's definitely not the most moving or poignant account I've read about living with this type of illness. It's worth a look, but it's not the first book someone trying to understand this illness needs on his or her shelf.

Editorial Review:

This is the revelation of Jamison's own struggle since childhood with manic-depression and how it has shaped her life. 2 cassettes.

Founding Brothers

Joseph J. Ellis

Amazon Price: $29.95 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Recorded Books Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $5.29

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 390 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic--John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

During the 1790s, which Ellis calls the most decisive decade in our nation's history, the greatest statesmen of their generation--and perhaps any--came together to define the new republic and direct its course for the coming centuries. Ellis focuses on six discrete moments that exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new nation: Burr and Hamilton's deadly duel, and what may have really happened; Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison's secret dinner, during which the seat of the permanent capital was determined in exchange for passage of Hamilton's financial plan; Franklin's petition to end the "peculiar institution" of slavery--his last public act--and Madison's efforts to quash it; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address, announcing his retirement from public office and offering his country some final advice; Adams's difficult term as Washington's successor and his alleged scheme to pass the presidency on to his son; and finally, Adams and Jefferson's renewed correspondence at the end of their lives, in which they compared their different views of the Revolution and its legacy.

In a lively and engaging narrative, Ellis recounts the sometimes collaborative, sometimes archly antagonistic interactions between these men, and shows us the private characters behind the public personas: Adams, the ever-combative iconoclast, whose closest political collaborator was his wife, Abigail; Burr, crafty, smooth, and one of the most despised public figures of his time; Hamilton, whose audacious manner and deep economic savvy masked his humble origins; Jefferson, renowned for his eloquence, but so reclusive and taciturn that he rarely spoke more than a few sentences in public; Madison, small, sickly, and paralyzingly shy, yet one of the most effective debaters of his generation; and the stiffly formal Washington, the ultimate realist, larger-than-life, and America's only truly indispensable figure.

Ellis argues that the checks and balances that permitted the infant American republic to endure were not primarily legal, constitutional, or institutional, but intensely personal, rooted in the dynamic interaction of leaders with quite different visions and values. Revisiting the old-fashioned idea that character matters, Founding Brothers informs our understanding of American politics--then and now--and gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history.

Assassination Vacation

Amazon Price: $20.47 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Audio Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $15.00

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Popular Culture

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 141 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no other--a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage.

From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas, Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue--it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature, architecture, sculpture, and--the author's favorite--historical tourism.

Though the themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are lighter diversions into the lives of the three presidents and their assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.

IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

Conan O'Brien Robert Todd Lincoln

Eric Bogosian John Wilkes Booth

Stephen King President Abraham Lincoln

Dave Eggers Mike Ryan

Catherine Keener Gretchen Worden

Jon Stewart President James A. Garfield

Tony Kushner John Humphrey Noyes

Brad Bird Charles Guiteau & Emma Goldman

Daniel Handler President William McKinley

Greg Giraldo President Theodore Roosevelt

David Rakoff Leon Czolgosz

A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Macmillan Audio Amazon Marketplace: 60 new & used starting at $9.62

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to unfurl. Something dark and secretive that could not be named.Betrayal after shocking betrayal ensued, and Augusten's childhood was over. The kind of father he wanted didn't exist for him. This father was distant, aloof, uninterested.

With A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs makes a quantum leap into untapped emotional terrain: the radical pendulum swing between love and hate, the unspeakably terrifying relationship between father and son. Told with scorching honesty and penetrating insight, it is a story for anyone who has ever longed for unconditional love from a parent.

In an innovative collaboration, four musicians--Patti Smith, Ingrid Michaelson, Tegan Quin, and Sea Wolf--composed and recorded original and exclusive songs for the audiobook of A Wolf at the Table. Augusten himself was deeply involved in the scoring and sound design for the audiobook program, explaining his vision for the project as "a truly cinematic, theatrical experience for the listener in which the musical score reflects what is happening in the story throughout." Though harrowing and brutal, it will ultimately leave you buoyed with the profound joy of simply being alive. It's a listening experience that is not to be missed.

Running with Scissors: A Memoir

Amazon Price: $14.68 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Macmillan Audio Amazon Marketplace: 61 new & used starting at $0.25

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 829 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of being Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead ringer for Santa and a lunatic in the bargain.

Suddenly, at age twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian house in perfect squalor. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients, and a pedophile living in the backyard shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules. There was no school. The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, and Valium was eaten like Pez. And when things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock-therapy machine under the stairs...

Running with Scissors is at turns foul and harrowing, compelling and maniacally funny. But above all, it is a truly amazing chronicle of an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

 

Running with Scissors Acknowledgments
Gratitude doesn’t begin to describe it: Jennifer Enderlin, Christopher Schelling, John Murphy, Gregg Sullivan, Kim Cardascia, Michael Storrings, and everyone at St. Martin’s Press. Thank you: Lawrence David, Suzanne Finnamore, Robert Rodi, Bret Easton Ellis, Jon Pepoon, Lee Lodes, Jeff Soares, Kevin Weidenbacher, Lynda Pearson, Lona Walburn, Lori Greenburg, John DePretis, and Sheila Cobb. I would also like to express my appreciation to my mother and father for, no matter how inadvertently, giving me such a memorable childhood. Additionally, I would like to thank the real-life members of the family portrayed in this book for taking me into their home and accepting me as one of their own. I recognize that their memories of the events described in this book are different than my own. They are each fine, decent, and hard-working people. The book was not intended to hurt the family. Both my publisher and I regret any unintentional harm resulting from the publishing and marketing of Running with Scissors. Most of all, I would like to thank my brother for demonstrating, by example, the importance of being wholly unique.

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl (Audio Editions)

Anne Frank

List Price: $15.95 By: Audio Partners Amazon Marketplace: 10 new & used starting at $24.26

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 636 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Face of the Faceless 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

After I visited the building in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family had to hide during WWII, I finally decided to read her famous diary for myself. And I have to say: I was impressed. The book works very well on a variety of levels:

As History
This is an important historical witness of how the daily life of a teenager was restricted and finally squashed by the Nazi regime in Amsterdam. The humanity of Anne's daily thoughts - free-flowing and turbulent - make for a stark contrast to Hitler's cold machinery of might and control. Anne does not embody a perfect human but a real human. She becomes the face for all the faceless who were sucked into a totalitarian system.

As Literature
Considering that the diary is written by a thirteen to fifteen year-old, it is incredibly well written. The Nazis have deprived the world of a witty, pensive and creative writer.

As Psychology
Anne's diary is filled with insights into human nature. Her reflections on herself and her fellow humans are detailed and instructive, sometimes consciously so and sometimes unconsciously by eloquently voicing the feelings of someone her age.

As Child Education
This is an important book both for teenagers and parents. Anne's honesty about her feelings, development (physical and otherwise), problems and joys might help teenagers to deal better with their own development - and parents might be moved by Anne to more sympathy for that age group.

In short, this is essential reading, and ideal when discussing the Holocaust and the Second World War with a young teenager.

Editorial Review:

This moving personal document is a life-affirming tribute to the beauty and tenacity of the human spirit in the face of horror. Anne kept track of her thoughts about life, human nature, her relationship with her family, and allowed a tender love story to emerge. Julie Harris' dramatic reading enables the listener to hear Anne Frank as she expresses her doubts, convictions, wonder, and perplexity. Her diary is not a lament, but a song to life, reflecting Anne's belief in the innate goodness of people. 2 cassettes.

Benjamin Franklin : An American Life

Walter Isaacson

Amazon Price: $19.80 List Price: $30.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Audio Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $8.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 206 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us -- an ambitious urban entrepreneur who rose up the social ladder, from leather-aproned shopkeeper to dining with kings.

In bestselling author Walter Isaacson's vivid and witty full-scale biography, we discover why Franklin turns to us from history's stage with eyes that twinkle from behind his new-fangled spectacles. In Benjamin Franklin, Isaacson shows how Franklin defines both his own time and ours.

The most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America's first great publicist, he was consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity. His guiding principle was a "dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people." Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively.

In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, from his days as a runaway printer to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father. He chronicles Franklin's tumultuous relationship with his illegitimate son and grandson, his practical marriage, and his flirtations with the ladies of Paris. He also shows how Franklin helped to create the American character and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.