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The Summer Garden
- The Bronze Horseman Trilogy, Book 3
- De: Paullina Simons
- Narrado por: James Langton
- Duración: 34 h y 33 m
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The Summer Garden is the third volume in Simons's magnificent trilogy - a Russian Thorn Birds - which follows a love that survived the terrible siege of Leningrad during World War Two, a heartbreaking separation, and a glorious reunion in America, only to be supremely tested by the hatred, fear, and uncertainty of the Cold War. You will never forget the lovers Tatiana and Alexander and their story of enduring love and commitment, and you will cherish every moment spent in The Summer Garden.
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Couldn't Finish it!
- De Gretchen Barros en 06-15-17
- The Summer Garden
- The Bronze Horseman Trilogy, Book 3
- De: Paullina Simons
- Narrado por: James Langton
Exceptional story
Revisado: 10-21-23
I absolutely love this trilogy although at times I have also hated things about it. But the characters are incredible. In the first two books, which really have to be read first IMO, Tatiana and Alexander live through incredible horrors early in life and keep each other alive physically. And then, in this book, they very realistically, with a LOT of peaks and valleys, bring each other back to emotional life, and gradually create a beautiful world for themselves and their family.
I’m not uniformly thrilled with the performance—the choice of a British narrator in a book with many accents (Russian, American southwest and Brooklyn and Vietnamese) and not ONE BRIT—is odd to me. Also, he voices deep-voiced Alexander and Anthony perfectly but Tatiana’s soft female vocal register is out of his range, and his efforts to hit a more soprano-range don’t really work imo—and I don’t find her Russian accent credible. But he does well in so many ways, I’ll go with it overall.
Other reviewers complain about all the very graphic sex—I don’t love that about Paulina Simons’ books in general, and honestly I fast-forward through those sections since, yeah, they’re great together in bed, we get it, get on with the story please. I feel like it ALMOST turns incredibly serious historical fiction into the soft-porn category which is unfortunate, but that’s just my preference, and skipping ahead through it works fine for anyone who feels the same. I also see a lot of complaints about Alexander’s temper and profanity, but it feels like reality to me for someone who lived through the horrific violence he did in the first two books. And to me, as complicated as their relationship was, it seems that Tatiana, having seen her whole family die in front of her, the difficulties and fear and suspicion that pre-war communism created in her earlier childhood, so perfectly detailed in the Saika story in this book—escaping from Russia with violence while pregnant thinking her great love was just dead behind her—she NEEDED the security of the protection of someone capable of using that kind of violence when necessary, in order to maintain her gentle, nurturing disposition. I think this is an amazing work of art to be able to so vividly portray how ANYONE could gave lived through the horrors of that historical experience, and have come out sane and create a life of love and joy. I know I’ll listen to this book many times in years to come.
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The Final Empire
- Mistborn Book 1
- De: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrado por: Michael Kramer
- Duración: 24 h y 39 m
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For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison.
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Prepare for sleepless nights
- De tercia en 10-21-18
- The Final Empire
- Mistborn Book 1
- De: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrado por: Michael Kramer
Nicely done!
Revisado: 05-29-23
I love really long epic tales, and this fit that need for me. It started a bit slow, and it took me some weeks to get through Part 1 because I was somewhat bored and couldn’t really feel connected to the characters or story. But I’m glad I kept going because the story got interesting and beautifully complex as the book went on. This was really excellent World-building. I’m looking forward to Book 2!
Michael Kramer did well with the performance. This is a genre that he has skill and experience with, and his narration complemented the story well, moving it forward and never getting in the way.
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Demon Copperhead
- A Novel
- De: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrado por: Charlie Thurston
- Duración: 21 h y 3 m
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Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
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Wow! It’s a Masterpiece
- De Billy en 10-25-22
- Demon Copperhead
- A Novel
- De: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrado por: Charlie Thurston
Kingsolver at her best
Revisado: 03-20-23
This is pretty raw stuff. But real, accurate, believable, and even for someone like me, an older woman from New England, Demon is relatable. I cared about him. I thought he was funny. Someone in a review I had read said ‘you knew he wasn’t going to get a good life’ or something, so I kept being afraid he was writing this story from prison or dead—and love that, (spoiler alert!) he DOES get the happy ending he deserves. Also believable! Since with all the poverty and broken families, Appalachia is still an amazing place with some happy intact people caring about each other. Yeah, he got rocky teen years and all,
The hater reviewers are not wrong about the profanity, hard parts to listen to, and horny teenage boy graphicness. If you’d rather read Anne of Green Gables, then you might want to skip this one. But it will be your loss. (I didn’t love that myself, though I don’t take stars away from an author creating a genuine, real character.) But honestly, I don’t think this is any more sad than Poisonwood Bible, just really different characters and setting. And FYI, I couldn’t get through the part of the ACTUAL David Copperfield where HE gets beaten as a child. But I didn’t actually CARE about David Copperfield, he didn’t feel like a real person to me: this kid does.
The reader turned out an impeccable performance. He brought the character to life. BRAVO.
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The Name of the Wind
- Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1
- De: Patrick Rothfuss
- Narrado por: Nick Podehl
- Duración: 27 h y 55 m
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This is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.
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Not sure why the reviews are so polar opposite.
- De Aaron Altman en 06-28-09
- The Name of the Wind
- Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 1
- De: Patrick Rothfuss
- Narrado por: Nick Podehl
Extraordinary world-building and performance
Revisado: 12-05-22
This may be my favorite fantasy series of all time. I’ve loved many books since my high school days in the 1970s, so that’s saying something! If you love fantasy, this is not to be missed.
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Voices
- Annals of the Western Shore, Book Two
- De: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrado por: Melanie Martinez
- Duración: 9 h y 45 m
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Voices stars the people of Ansul, a town of scholars and traders conquered by the marauding Alds 17 years ago. When poet Orrec arrives in town, however, the people begin to garner the courage to rebel against their overlords.
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good book spoiled by awful reading....
- De Ann B Hill en 08-29-10
- Voices
- Annals of the Western Shore, Book Two
- De: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrado por: Melanie Martinez
So glad I found this!
Revisado: 06-22-22
This is a sweet, glad story. An old fan of UKL, since, in the 1970s, I found first the Left Hand of Darkness and then the Earthsea Trilogy ( love the humor if calling that a trilogy, as Leguin herself joked about, in book 5, having titled book 4, Tehanu as ‘the last book of Earthsea’ ) — this little series was a surprise to me. I see some classic LeGuin echos—some themes from her book “the Telling”, and some from Earthsea, and other short stories, but it’s also new and a unique piece of world building. And it has more HOPE than much modern sci fi/fantasy. A lonely girl finds friends, family and knowledge. A struggle for freedom doesn’t end in horrors or something too idyllic to be credible. It was just a pleasure. And the narration was very expressive, though I made the speed a bit faster than my norm to compensate for what my ear felt was just a bit too dramatically slow. Hope everyone else enjoys this as I fid ! On to book two.
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Path of Daggers
- Book Eight of The Wheel of Time
- De: Robert Jordan
- Narrado por: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading
- Duración: 23 h y 25 m
- Versión completa
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The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.
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Barely anything happens
- De Anonymous User en 08-13-19
- Path of Daggers
- Book Eight of The Wheel of Time
- De: Robert Jordan
- Narrado por: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading
Very. Mixed. Feelings.
Revisado: 09-06-21
I keep going back and forth between curiosity about how this all ends, and amazement that I keep investing so much time in a series that is sometimes just so annoying!!
So, I'll start with what I'm enjoying...first, in the story: I like that Jordan unlike most, really spends time in the head of so many different characters, from the Hero/Heroines to the evil Forsaken and everyone in between. Of course, the chapters narrating from the point of view of the hypocritical religious zealot Children of the Light characters, or the psychopathic Forsaken, are disturbing, but it adds nuance and dimension to the story, ...the Invading Army leaders from accross the sea aren't just the enemy of our hero, they're people too and we spend time in their heads. It's s rare fantasy book series that attempts to weave together so many story lines and points of view sequentially, and I love the complexity involved. It keeps me moving through the series despite it's defects.
The performances are consistently quite good, with both readers giving unique voices to the dozens of different characters. I think that is one of the things that keeps me engaged. Other reviewers comment on one or the other not doing opposite gender voices that well, and I agree, which is why I gave the performance a 4 not a 5, but, mostly it's a pretty segregated story. 90% women in some chapters, 90% men in the others, so each reader gets to stay in their own lane mostly, and I don't find that flaw in both readers too grating.
Like everyone else, I find the relationships between the men and women SO TRULY AWFUL that I've nearly dumped the series 100 times. The men are pretty clueless. They don't understand the women, and seem fine with that, though Jordan never misses a chance to have a man, ANY man, mention that women are a complete incomprehensible mystery. Also, while there are a few exceptions, generally with the guys none of them really have much depth of personality. Even Rand is more a cardboard cut-out of the Guy Who Has To Save Creation than a real human. Other than that he's scared of going insane, is very driven to do his duty and also thinks no female should ever die violently, I'm not really sure who this guy IS. The only exception, almost is Perrin: he actually has a full personality, but I think he's the only one in the crew who does.And then there's the WOMEN...
The women in Robert Jorden's world here, clearly all stopped maturing at about 12 years old. ( Reviewers say that Jordan's wife says she sees herself in all the female characters, and CLEARLY, if that's the case, she needed therapy BADLY. I can't imagine wanting anyone to see me in these women but she seems proud of it.) This covers just about every character, except possibly some of the Wise Ones among the Aiel.
They are petty, jealous, hot-tempered, dishonest, power-hungry, completely erratic, pathologically manipulative and dishonest, and utterly lacking in good judgment and a sense of proportion. Some are a bit better than the rest, I personally have a fondness for Avienda and Elaine, especially if they aren't talking/thinking about Rand. But basically all these women really dislike the entire male gender and find men stupid and childish. Though sometimes they 'fall in love' and get completely stupid about that one guy, but they still find him generally deserving of violence and a great source of irritation, only they want to kiss him all the time.
Apparently Jordan and his wife who edited his books thought this was appealing adult behavior? and that all their readers want to listen to women complain about men pretty endlessly? SERIOUSLY??
Thankfully, most of the storyline ISN'T about the men vs. women issue. I dislike that aspect but can ignore those paragraphs in the whole, and wait for something interesting to come back on. But, it brings a series with a really massive scope, down from a 5 to a 3, and, you know, it's too bad nobody ever had that conversation with Jordan and his wife back in the 1990s.
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No Happy Endings
- A Memoir
- De: Nora McInerny
- Narrado por: Nora McInerny
- Duración: 7 h y 58 m
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No Happy Endings is an audiobook for people living life after life has fallen apart. It’s an audiobook for people who know they’re moving forward, not moving on. It’s an audiobook for people who know life isn’t always happy, but it isn’t the end: There will be unimaginable joy and incomprehensible tragedy. As Nora reminds us, there will be no happy endings - but there will be new beginnings.
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Puts it together
- De Amazon Customer en 04-30-19
- No Happy Endings
- A Memoir
- De: Nora McInerny
- Narrado por: Nora McInerny
A Brave Book
Revisado: 06-01-21
I've always been drawn to stories about how people recover from grief, so this listen attracted me. I lost my mom when I was finishing junior high school, and my father's grief in many ways defined the rest of my time in his house, and thus probably my whole early adulthood.
This is a brave, funny, very often very wise memoir. ( Oh, and FUNNY. She made me laugh out loud. Which was pretty cool.) As a Baby Boomer, I often found her maybe giving a little too MUCH? Information? A little squeamish, still, about ALL the moat personal details of a person's most intimate feelings and experiences being exposed for all to see. I think that's a generational thing. My mother, born in the 1920s, would have simply had a stroke, and shd left her mark on my boundaries. I mostly think it's really incredibly mentally healthy. I repeatedly thought, you did WHAT? You felt or thought THIS and you're willing to tell, like, EVERYONE? But I kept thinking, secind thought, WOW, how absolutely empowering to be able to openly own what you feel and who you are, and to be willing to share it, normalize these typical human feelings for all those out there who have trouble admitting how messy life is.
I read the reviews before buying, and got an opinion somewhere that she seems much more interested in her first guy than her living husband. I don't think that's either fair OR accurate. This was a really fast transition from Aaron to Matt, and it's unthinkable that someone can be fully FINISHED with a really deep loss, and relationship, in that short a period of time. The two loves coexist. Obviously if Matt had a big issue with that he wouldn't have been dating a relatively recent widow. So they coexist in the book, also, and it's really remarkable how she manages to get that all onto the page.
And anyway, that's the whole point here, isn't it? No happy endings. It sounds like she is living a pretty amazing experience of love and connectedness and joy, and I loved reading the possibility of that sort of "Plan B". But so many losses within a short time before the current joys began, it's not ACTUALLY a happy ending to GET a happy ENDING! And anyway, there ISN'T any ending, til you're dead yourself. It's just, life can move on, from one phase to the next, and accepting the whole process feels rare, and brave, and truthful. Good Work, Girl. Keep shining that light.
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane
- A Novel
- De: Neil Gaiman
- Narrado por: Neil Gaiman
- Duración: 6 h y 22 m
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A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie - magical, comforting, wise beyond her years - promised to protect him, no matter what.
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Shadows Dissolved in Vinegar
- De Cynthia en 06-20-13
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane
- A Novel
- De: Neil Gaiman
- Narrado por: Neil Gaiman
Gaiman at his very best
Revisado: 04-19-21
This book is impossible to categorize. Fantasy? Allegory? Fairy tale? Horror movie script? Who ARE the Hempstocks? I mean, Living Archetyes, mythological figures, am I overthinking it? ...I love archytypal tales, AND sci-fi/fantasy, AND fairy tales, but this story is uniquely fascinating, addictive, and something of a puzzle to me even as I enjoy it. I read it in paper when it was first written, and have held off buying the audio bcz it's just so SHORT, and I prefer longer listens. But after my 4th or 5th time thru Neverwhere, I needed more Gaiman in my library. Glad I jumped finally, bcz this is a great format for this book, to read and reread, trying to ...grasp it.
If you have loved Gaiman's other original and fantastical works such as Neverwhere or Coraline, you need this book. It's pretty intense, at times with characters as seriously frightening as Croup and Vandemar at their worst (but not nearly as funny) as Croup and Vandemar at their worst. He really conveys the terror of being an introspective and unprotected child at the mercy of forces beyond your control. And seriously, if you like English comfort food, and remember how you felt about pancakes and other rich sugary breakfast foods as a 7 year old, ...Mrs. Hempstead's kitchen is the place for you. Plus black purry kittens that sleep on your pillow at night--Gaiman channels childhood pleasures in a really amazing way.
I always love his performance of his own books, and feel strongly that he gets better with each work he reads. I love that he sings the nursery rhymes in the story instead of chickening out like most people with fair-to-middling singing skills.
This is just a wonderful experience! I'd give extra stars beyond the 5, if the option was there! The "Make Good Art" slogan Gaiman is quoted for, on social media?? CHECK. Keep 'em coming.
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Chosen Ones
- De: Veronica Roth
- Narrado por: Dakota Fanning
- Duración: 15 h y 12 m
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Fifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice - catastrophic events known as Drains - leveled cities and claimed thousands of lives. Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him. After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal...for everyone but them. Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting.
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Same dull and depressed tone throughout
- De Thien-Nga Vo en 04-09-20
- Chosen Ones
- De: Veronica Roth
- Narrado por: Dakota Fanning
Interesting. Original. Quirky. Unexpected.
Revisado: 03-15-21
This is a really good book. It's very unlike the Divergent novels, so if you're looking for more of that type, you may be disappointed, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the full-cast element with the narration, the parallel universe concept, the complexity of the relationships, and while Sloane wasn't someone I'd want as a best friend, I could understand how her life had turned her into what she was. I'm hoping the Happy Ending turns up for her, and her 30s go better than her teens and 20s did! Things were looking up at the end, I think. Sort of. Hope there's a sequel. I'll read it!
YA authors transitioning to the Adult audience is a little dicey. This book is WAY more intense than the Divergent books, which given the violence, war, evil leadership and general level of death in that series is saying something! But everything is more complex here. The Good Guys/Bad Guys dichotomy is blurrier, tho of course you have to hate the Dark One. The romantic and even friendship connections aren't easy simple ones.
Also, more importantly, the thought required to follow the story is greater. Instead of going from Point A to Point B, there are more major plot points that are only gradually revealed that help you understand how these people got to where they were at the start of the book. I really came to enjoy the odd little news briefs or bits of history or medical records that began chapters. Totally cool and interesting!
Favorite line? "I don't have many rules to live by, ...but 'When a murderous psychopath tells you to do something, DON'T DO IT', is absolutely one of them.' Yay! Well stated, Slo!
I read a ton of reviews first, most of the top ones expressing disgust that there was profanity in it. Throughout it, actually, so if your ears are too pure to hear any of such language ever, find something written for middle-schoolers, or pre-1900, bcz that's kind of all that's left for novels without obscenities. I love all the Anne of Green Gables books, try those. I found the profanity pretty much like the average novel written in the last 25 years. Take a bunch of 20-somethings with PTSD coping with ongoing situations of extreme stress and danger, that IS typically what's coming out of their mouths. Whatever.
I found Dakota Fanning's narration just a LITTLE flat, for my taste, thus the 4 on performance. I turned the speed up about 10% over my normal listen, which was helpful. I think it was a book where a lot of awful things were happening, and she read as if she was always waiting in dread for the next catastrophe. I think that's an understandable artistic choice even if, for my taste, it could have been perked up just a BIT. But overall, good job. A wonderful listen. Keep them coming!
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Digging to America
- A Novel
- De: Anne Tyler
- Narrado por: Blair Brown
- Duración: 8 h y 33 m
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Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport: the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam's fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the instant babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate.
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Life in transition
- De Everett Leiter en 08-20-06
- Digging to America
- A Novel
- De: Anne Tyler
- Narrado por: Blair Brown
perfect, vintage Tyler.
Revisado: 02-23-21
I've been an Anne Tyler fan since I found a copy of Accidental Tourist in a sale bin back in the 1980s. This book shows she has only gotten better with the decades.
I love that half of her characters in this novel are Iranian, as was Tyler's own husband. My 'ear' doesn't have the subtlety to know if the narrator's Farsi accent is authentic, but I really love how she voices those characters! I also love that Tyler portrays them as such a rich and diverse group, from the slightly wacky cousin married to the Vermont Hippy hobbyist inventor, to the modern fashionable daughter-in-law interior decorator who buys her Korean-born adopted daughter the latest toys and sends her to ballet and private schools.
My favorite character? Has to be Maryam. I love her introverted perfectly-mannered interior life. She's not perfect, but you can see the heart there. Best chapter? It's gotta be the Binky Party, seen thru the eyes of the Big Sister. I kept wanting to SHAKE Bitsy throughout it, but that's the beauty of Anne Tyler novels to me: even when her characters are really ruthlessly unlikeable, they are also portrayed with such compassion and honesty, I fall in love with the whole lot of them every time.
I think I'll have to buy another Tyler novel with my next credit! So many to choose from Yay.
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