Stilton23

Fans of Bill Bryson (and Christmas) Will Enjoy

Reviewed: 12-15-22

Entertaining couple of hours with Bill Bryson sharing personal stories of Christmases past and the history of many Christmas traditions. If you enjoy Bill Bryson's style of storytelling (which is sometimes quite unique), as I do, this is worth the listen. It certainly made me think about the background of some Christmas traditions and lore that I have never really pondered. An enjoyable three hours that flew by as I listened in the car. Recommended.

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Outstanding! I Learned a Great Deal

Reviewed: 12-15-22

Really enjoyed this overview of the life and work of George Orwell. Professor Shelden knows his subject and that comes through in every section. I learned a great deal and enjoyed the time spent listening. Shelden, a professor, is not a professional narrator, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. This might be better in an on-site class, but I would still highly recommend it to anyone interested in Orwell or English literary history generally.

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It Wears Very Quickly

Reviewed: 12-15-22

Tried to like it. Great premise, but poorly executed. Dialogue is amateurish and narration makes it that much worse. I really tried to like it. I'm struggling to justify putting any more time into it, though. I realize that you need to suspend disbelief of the premise of many stories, but the dialogue still needs to be realistic. I just can't imagine characters speaking (or acting) as they do here. Maybe it's intended for YA audiences?

I just researched the author, Jay Martel, and he's very accomplished in comedy. This seems like a check-box exercise without a lot of time or effort put into the writing. In any event, I would give it a pass, even if offered as a free title.

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1 person found this helpful

A Little Skepticism Would Help

Reviewed: 09-26-22

This was OK. It was entertaining. But, I would expect even a wee bit of skepticism or balance from a former "journalist." Every single one of the stories presented is presented with a sense of amazement with little or no skepticism. There is very little discussion of "cold reading" techniques or of the hundreds of con artists, fakers and others taking advantage of people's gullibility. She frequently states that some piece of information could not be "Googled," but I was expecting Ms. Weigel to present at least one case of an obvious cold reader or just a plain bad psychic or reader. It would be fine to ultimately come down in favor of people she believed to have actual gifts or talents in psychic reading, but it would be a lot more believable if she discussed at least one bad actor in her quest to cover these self-proclaimed psychics, healers and/or mediums. She never once ran across a charlatan? Either she didn't investigate much or didn't want to throw any cold water on her readers' expectations. This is not a great book for the marginally skeptical or even for a thinking reader. It is great for those who already believe and just want further validation of their beliefs. Thankfully, this was a free download. You get what you pay for.

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1 person found this helpful

Classic text, stellar performance

Reviewed: 01-30-19

The story, of course, should be known by all. There is some irony in listening to, as opposed reading a story about the elimination of texts through burning. Nonetheless, this was a treat. Though I was skeptical before starting this, Tim Robbins does an incredible job of bringing Bradbury's story to life. One of my favorite Audible fiction selections to date.

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Couldn't take it anymore

Reviewed: 01-02-19

I wanted to like this book. I really did. The premise had promise, the reviews were encouraging and the author has apparently written some good stuff in the past. But, I found the prose tortuous and the characters much too cartoon-like. I could only imagine if a wannabe Tom Wolfe and a young Stan Lee got together to do a comic book about hedge fund managers. The prose reminded me of a romance novel (or something self-published on Amazon) and the characters were just not believable. If this is what passes for fiction from major publishers nowadays, I'll skip. How Random House found this to be publishable is beyond me.

But, this is just my opinion. Others seem to really like this book. Read all the reviews and perhaps gamble with your Audible credit. Different strokes . . .

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