Ralph's mother
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- reviews
- 26
- helpful votes
- 66
- ratings
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Apeirogon
- A Novel
- By: Colum McCann
- Narrated by: Colum McCann
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 656
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 556
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 560
Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. They inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on, to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints, both physical and emotional, they must negotiate. Their worlds shift irreparably after 10-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet and 13-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of each other’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Too many chapters & interruptions
- By sara robbins on 03-02-20
- Apeirogon
- A Novel
- By: Colum McCann
- Narrated by: Colum McCann
Excellent, stimulating and challenging.
Reviewed: 03-11-22
The structure was somewhat challenging; however, the accuracy of the details as well as the richly drawn characters kept me reading/listening through the long novelization of this history of current Israeli history. I am looking forward to another of the author's books and am even contemplating a visit to Israel based on the picture I drew of contemporary Israeli society.
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Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 24 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,012
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,899
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,866
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 best-selling 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.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, not crazy about the narrator
- By Cathi on 07-20-13
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
What an amazing founding father
Reviewed: 01-10-22
His life was fascinating. His skill in designing the nation we have and his ability to understand what is needed in implementing the start of this nation are all essential to who we are today. I totally enjoyed this biography of on of the most important individuals who helped create this democratic nation.
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Oh William!
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Strout
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,887
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,651
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,639
Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are. So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret—one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us.
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1 out of 5 stars
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My God, this is dull
- By Rhonda Morrison on 10-20-21
- Oh William!
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Strout
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
Another wonderful Elizabeth Stout novel
Reviewed: 12-28-21
Her characters are genuine and both likeable and annoying. Her stories are simultaneously real and unique. She knows the relationships of love, dependency and irritation while still being about very true individuals. In the end i am pleased and sad with each book if hers that i read.
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Deacon King Kong
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,599
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 5,756
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,715
In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Masterpiece
- By Linda G McDonough on 05-17-20
- Deacon King Kong
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
Sweet, kind and caring story
Reviewed: 11-05-21
Characters with whom it was easy to connect A story that kept me engrossed and a gentle ending in which growth and change was found for each individual. Complex events that continued to twist until the very end.
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The King's Justice
- A Maggie Hope Mystery
- By: Susan Elia MacNeal
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 478
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 429
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 427
London, December 1943. As the Russian army repels German forces from Stalingrad, Maggie Hope takes a much-needed break from spying to defuse bombs in London. But Maggie herself is an explosion waiting to happen. Traumatized by her past, she finds herself living dangerously - taking huge risks, smoking, drinking, and speeding through the city streets on a motorbike. The last thing she wants is to get entangled in another crime.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Very disappointing!
- By Dr Dina on 03-23-20
- The King's Justice
- A Maggie Hope Mystery
- By: Susan Elia MacNeal
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
Another good read by Susan Elia Mcneil
Reviewed: 03-05-20
Fast paced, rich characters with solid environmental picture of the world in which the story occurs. I like her writing. She doesn’t skimp on violence and she gives her characters depth with which the reader can connect.
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1 person found this helpful
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Friends Divided
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
- By: Gordon S. Wood
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 449
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 401
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 399
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams could scarcely have come from more different worlds or been more different in temperament. Jefferson, the optimist with enough faith in the innate goodness of his fellow man to be democracy's champion, was an aristocratic Southern slave owner while Adams, the overachiever from New England's rising middling classes, painfully aware he was no aristocrat, was a skeptic about popular rule and a defender of a more elitist view of government.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Great Read
- By Jean on 12-22-17
- Friends Divided
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
- By: Gordon S. Wood
- Narrated by: James Lurie
Stimulating exploration of relationship of two founding fathers
Reviewed: 07-25-19
Excellent writing. Clear discussion if a fascinating relation that is the foundation of this nations political and moral life. It brings to life complex issues in the development of the philosophy guiding this nations political roots.
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Princess Elizabeth's Spy
- A Maggie Hope Mystery
- By: Susan Elia MacNeal
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,357
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,215
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,201
Susan Elia MacNeal introduced the remarkable Maggie Hope in her acclaimed debut, Mr. Churchill's Secretary. Now Maggie returns to protect Britain's beloved royals against an international plot - one that could change the course of history. As World War II sweeps the continent and England steels itself against German attack, Maggie Hope, former secretary to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, completes her training to become a spy for MI-5.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Terrible Narration
- By Person on 11-22-12
- Princess Elizabeth's Spy
- A Maggie Hope Mystery
- By: Susan Elia MacNeal
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
Another fun Maggie Hope mystery
Reviewed: 04-03-19
A pleasure to read and fun to follow. Limited violence and a good sense of time. Very interest picture of WWII environment. Overall fun, light and fast read for times with limited fun or integrity.
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Mr. Churchill's Secretary
- A Maggie Hope Mystery
- By: Susan Elia MacNeal
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,861
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,513
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,512
In this daring debut, Susan Elia MacNeal blends meticulous research on the era, psychological insight into Winston Churchill, and the creation of a riveting main character, Maggie Hope, into a spectacularly crafted novel.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Lovely
- By Katherine on 10-22-12
- Mr. Churchill's Secretary
- A Maggie Hope Mystery
- By: Susan Elia MacNeal
- Narrated by: Donada Peters
Pleasant WWII mystery
Reviewed: 03-31-19
Nice characters and interesting plot. Good historical details. Sufficiently entertaining that I will read another book with these characters. The writing was decent and the environmental details added greatly to the pleasure of reading. Compared to the writing of Louise Penny which I would give a grade of A for overall quality, I would give this book a B.
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The Great Believers
- By: Rebecca Makkai
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 18 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,931
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,497
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,483
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A story for all time
- By Carla jo Thompson on 08-06-18
- The Great Believers
- By: Rebecca Makkai
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
Excellent picture of the AIDS crisis
Reviewed: 01-22-19
And aftermath. The characters are involving and substantive. The picture of the tragic loss of life, beauty and creativity are well drawn and satisfying. I look forward to reading other projects by this writer.
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Rising Strong
- How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
- By: Brené Brown
- Narrated by: Brené Brown
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 18,855
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 16,321
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Story5 out of 5 stars 16,180
Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability—the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome—is the only path to more love, belonging, creativity, and joy. But living a brave life is not always easy: We are, inevitably, going to stumble and fall.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Gem, But Not Her Best
- By Gillian on 08-26-15
- Rising Strong
- How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
- By: Brené Brown
- Narrated by: Brené Brown
Pragmatic approach to self care
Reviewed: 12-14-18
The author supports her concepts with citations of interviews she and her team conduct. Her ideas are good basic common sense and may be helpful in assisting readers in letting go of psychic pain. Perhaps a writer who was less invested in acceptance for her concepts would have felt more like teaching than preaching. I felt I would never be good enough to benefit from her advice. I have too many flaws and she presents herself as so wonderful at understanding her own and everyone else's mistakes. I felt I could never measure up to how good she is.
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