Missy
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Sovereign
- A Matthew Shardlake Mystery
- By: C. J. Sansom
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,400
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,180
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,175
Barrister Matthew Shardlake is faced with the most terrifying threat in the age of Tudor England: his own imprisonment in the Tower of London. Harsh autumn winds stir the English countryside as King Henry VIII, along with a thousand soldiers and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, make their way from London to York after a violent uprising.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very good mystery
- By Mike From Mesa on 04-11-13
- Sovereign
- A Matthew Shardlake Mystery
- By: C. J. Sansom
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
A nice mystery against the background of a clever reimagining of British history
Reviewed: 10-10-24
This is the third of the Sharlake (sp?) mystery series and is, so far, may favorite. The mystery itself is very engaging but what I most enjoy are the characters of Sharlake and Barrack.
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Kafka on the Shore
- By: Haruki Murakami
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Oliver Le Sueur
- Length: 19 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,509
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,874
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,867
With Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami gives us a novel every bit as ambitious and expansive as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has been acclaimed both here and around the world for its uncommon ambition and achievement, and whose still-growing popularity suggests that it will be read and admired for decades to come.
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4 out of 5 stars
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What's better than Murakami? More Murakami
- By Dr. Curmudgeon on 04-11-14
- Kafka on the Shore
- By: Haruki Murakami
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett, Oliver Le Sueur
Mystical approach to seemingly mundane themes
Reviewed: 05-17-23
I love murakami. His writing is beautiful and his approach to life, love, relationships, self worth is so unexpected but essentially pure. Even the most ordinary relationship is viewed through a life altering conceptual lens, that’s all the while grounded in goodness and conscientiousness. It’s weird but it’s life affirming. I love it.
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The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
- Length: 28 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,332
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,196
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,191
This is the intimate story of 20 tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence, and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries, and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Scholarly but gripping
- By William on 06-16-16
- The Romanovs
- 1613-1918
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: Simon Beale
The Romanovs
Reviewed: 04-19-22
Over the past 5 years, I’ve gotten into Russian literature (War and Peace, Anna Karinina, etc), then turn of the century Russian history (via Mike Duncan’s Revolutions) and most recently, history of the Soviet Union/perestroika (Anne Applebaum — the Gulag, David Remnick — Lenin’s Tomb, and masha Gessen — Man without a Face).
This book is about very little of that — it is about the Romanovs and I enjoyed it very much. To see this family fill in the spaces along the course of Russia’s path over 300 years was interesting, illuminating and entertaining. I liked the very personal nature of this book — details of personal habits, neuroses, daily rituals and sex lives. It all led to a very complete picture of this complicated family and a window into the psyche of the rise and fall of dynastic autocratic rule.
I enjoyed the narration — although he was a bit faster than most. I don’t really get the complaints about his accent — british with some oddly pronounced words here and there.
Overall, recommended listening for anyone looking to add to their knowledge of Russian history *or* for anyone wanting to read a juicy, sexy and horrific family story.
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Alias Grace
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Margaret Atwood, Sarah Gadon
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,928
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,422
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,406
It's 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful and Intense Story
- By Aparries on 11-27-17
- Alias Grace
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Margaret Atwood, Sarah Gadon
Tiresome
Reviewed: 06-06-18
This book suffers from being told in an 18th century dialect or manner of speaking, which includes more superfluous information than relevant. As such, what seems like it would be a historical thriller (or at least, interesting read) is transformed into a rather boring story.
The narrator has a somewhat childish voice, which plays well when she’s reading the heroines portions of the book, but less so in the other sections.
I did like the references to the quilting history of the time — it is an interest of mine and so I was pleasantly surprised that it played such a large role in this story. But it didn’t save the book for me.
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1 person found this helpful