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It Will Tear You Apart

Revisado: 06-21-16

The things we do to and for each other, they all matter in who we are and who we cause others to be. Let's try for more For and less To.

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Detailed Examination of the Big Picture

Revisado: 01-06-16

The political history equivalent of looking at a continent from space using Google Earth, zooming in down to the street level, then zooming back out again, repeatedly.

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Still Relevant After All These Years

Revisado: 12-14-15

Would you listen to All Quiet on the Western Front again? Why?

Yes, because it's a great story well told.

What other book might you compare All Quiet on the Western Front to and why?

A Rumor of War. Both depict the education and disillusionment of soldiers sent to fight senseless wars.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Paul becomes lost in no man's land.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but it was seriously compelling.

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Great, and Looking Forward to Greater

Revisado: 12-14-15

Would you consider the audio edition of My Brilliant Friend to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print edition.

What was one of the most memorable moments of My Brilliant Friend?

Many memorable moments, but Lila's knife-wielding defense against likely rapists stands out.

Have you listened to any of Hillary Huber’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Sometimes the strongest friendship is not between friends.

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Beautiful Narration of a Great Story

Revisado: 12-01-15

What did you love best about Let the Great World Spin?

The structure of the storytelling.

What did you like best about this story?

The multi-dimensionality of the story, constructed as it is, makes the whole greater than the sum of its individually-compelling parts.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The younger brother's unswerving compassion, throughout.

Any additional comments?

One of the few books that is better in audio form -- though I suspect it would be fantastic in print as well.

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Rhyming History

Revisado: 11-05-15

Though overly focused on a single theme to be considered a comprehensive history of the era, this is a very worthwhile overview of post-Napoleonic Europe. The detailed analysis of the birth of the modern security state, complete with paranoid justification for constant spying on citizens, helps provide lessons for our own time. (Not that we're likely to learn from them.)

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Nothing Ages As Quickly As the Future

Revisado: 10-07-15

What did you like best about The Handmaid's Tale? What did you like least?

Best: sets forth a simple fable about how bad things might get (and already are in some parts of the world)

Least: it's two dimensional and in many ways very dated -- even if many themes are still relevant.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

It would have been a better short story or a much longer, more sweeping novel. It gets caught between.

What does Claire Danes bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her character depictions added some texture to what might have been even flatter characters in the written form.

Was The Handmaid's Tale worth the listening time?

Yes

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Weird, Wild, and Wonderful

Revisado: 08-10-15

If you could sum up Oblivion in three words, what would they be?

I think I just did.

What did you like best about this story?

Nothing was predictable.

Have you listened to any of Robert Petkoff’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

If you could take any character from Oblivion out to dinner, who would it be and why?

David Foster Wallace (since he appears in one of the stories), because it would mean he would still be alive.

Any additional comments?

The imaginative and creative power displayed in these stories is awe-inspiring.

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Things Change In Unexpected Ways

Revisado: 07-30-15

Where does Within a Budding Grove rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

As a very good one.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Baron de Charlus, whose erratic nature causes him to steal every scene in which he appears.

Have you listened to any of Neville Jason’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, in other volumes, and he is always exceptional.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The scene in which the narrator has an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and loss merely from the view of a copse of trees receding on the horizon.

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Exploring the Forbidden (though Ubiquitous)

Revisado: 07-28-15

Would you consider the audio edition of Sodom and Gomorrah to be better than the print version?

Yes, because of Neville Jason's performance and apparently deep understanding of the characters.

What other book might you compare Sodom and Gomorrah to and why?

Only to the other volumes of Remembrance of Things Past

Which character – as performed by Neville Jason – was your favorite?

Baron de Charlus. Neville Jason brilliantly depicts his wild emotional swings and bombast and manages to deliver the significant situational humor while maintaining empathy for the character's plight.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Proust is too dense to absorb all at once.

Any additional comments?

Proust's humor comes across much more strongly in this volume than in the previous ones -- or perhaps I just am only now understanding it.

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