Sue C

Why did I wait so long?

Revisado: 04-21-22

To begin with Anna Bentinck could read the telephone directory and I would probably listen more than once.Her reading is nothing short of extraordinary. 10**********.
This is the first book that I have read written by Penelope Lively.
I know it’s a cliché but I really couldn’t put it down. Anton learning to read,Rose’s husband trying to mend things. Henry reminding me of Mr Cazabon in George Eliot’s Middlemarch.This disparate group of characters leapt off the page. I was deeply moved and will probably listen to it again.

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Lightweight name dropping WHERE is the detail?

Revisado: 10-24-21

Am I the only reader who was bitterly disappointed? Name dropping ad infinitum. I was hoping for the real story behind the designers,the craftsmanship. I didn’t even finish it. The only thing I found interesting was the fact that the firm wasn’t original.
The family bought it from someone else.

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A must read for dog lovers.

Revisado: 08-05-19

I wish this book had been published 10 years earlier when I adopted my first rescue. Adored the dog but took ages and some near misses ,to understand each other.
Well observed behavior with good background history. Much of the author's relationship with her dog could be adopted,
Well written and well read by the author.
No ampathamorphization: Dogs' brains are different.
We do not feed from the table! Not sure my husband could cope with not bathing my rescued, Borzoi,Collie/cross, more than twice a year, who regularly roll in something smelly, lie down in mud and swim in not so clean water. I'm going to try not to wash their bedding quite so often. We''ll see how long I hold out for the one in my bedroom. Dogs like the smells they have picked up unlike humans!
Each chapter describes a different topic with examples of how the author lives in harmony with her own dog. Both dog owners in this home loved reading it on Audible: discussing each chapter as it applied to our dogs.. I suspect I will buy a hard copy.

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Four stars if the author had left out the sex.

Revisado: 07-15-19

Good cop thriller ruined by really badly written sex scenes which stalled the momentum of the plot. Not often I fast forward sex scenes.SO predictable and boring.

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Frank could read a phone book and I wouldn’t, mind

Revisado: 06-09-19

This is is a riveting,breath holding,true story of a ship in danger that didn’t take place in war time. . I was 9 living in the UK.
15 stars would be my preference . Read all day and most of the night.

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Author do your homework

Revisado: 01-27-19

This reads like Phillipa Gregory. Not enough attention to period details For 1910-1930 and WW1 and its aftermath Read Pat Barker. ,and Vera Britain .For an intelligent sleuth of about the same period read the Harriet Vane series.

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Read it twice back to back

Revisado: 01-01-19

This exquisitely written and narrated tale is about three generations of women in one family,apparently on a path to disintegration, who are brought together and reach a rapprochement because of the inevitable death of a brother.I was so moved by the realization that my daughter had never been part of three generations of women in one family. I was estranged from my mother before she was born. I now have a lovely granddaughter and I hope that with the help of her mother we are able to sustain a gentle and loving relationship without the need of a tragedy to hold us together.

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Unusual,unlikely unforgettable

Revisado: 11-15-18

This is the first Mantel book I have read. I do not read new fiction until after the wave of enthusiasm from the reviewers has died down,and a book is holding its own.This was particularly true following the two years in succession when Mantel won the Booker Prize.
Beyond Black ,an earlier book, presents a biography of Alison a morbidly obese, kind woman with a rotten history of childhood who has the unlikely ‘profession’ as a medium in the outer suburbs of London . Alison is accompanied by spirits from her past, including one who seems to be her side kick who handles the finances.

Against this unlikely and haunting background ,we follow the life of this equally unlikely heroine following a tale which invokes another unlikely combination of unbearable terror ,sympathy and empathy. Even more unlikely, Alison’s daily life invokes laughter of the ‘out loud’ variety. We laugh with Alison not at her: This gives the reader time to draw breath. We laugh with humor not ridicule.
The end of the book arrives without a flourish and with an appropriate conclusion.

I loved this book and was irritated when I realized that I really had to get some sleep. I hope I have conveyed the essence of the book. I did not want to be guilty of ‘Spoiler Alerts’. Suffice it to say that as Woolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies are not available to Audible listeners in Canada I bought two six disc C.D.s, copied them and found out how to transfer them to my iPad.

Anna Bentinck ,the perfect reader,always catches the exact tone and voice a book deserves. Her voice itself keeps one in the book,one's mind never wanders. It is true that if she read aloud the instructions for a device that came with 'Some Assembly Required'.we would still be enthralled by her voice.We might also complete the assembly.

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Narcissist writing about his weird idea about most of we’Foodies’ like to eat.

Revisado: 10-12-18

Loved having my suspicions of Charlie Trotter confirmed.Hated listening to this man’s endless detailed description of how clever he is.He appears completely self absorbed locked in his own very odd world of culinary creations. What a disappointment. No love seems to be involved in his kitchen nor much food most of us can afford. Could not finish this book. Worse than Julia and Julia

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Magnificent writing perfectly read.

Revisado: 06-09-18

Two sisters in middle age each making poor choices missing out on life. I kept wanting to shout” Go for it” Of course with Brookner they don’t Brookner at her very best getting into the hearts and minds of women of a certain age. Eleanor Bron is a narrator who is perfect for this author.

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