Mr. E
- 26
- reviews
- 7
- helpful votes
- 30
- ratings
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No Country for Old Men
- By: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Cormac McCarthy, best-selling author of National Book Award winner All the Pretty Horses, delivers his first new novel in seven years. Written in muscular prose, No Country for Old Men is a powerful tale of the West that moves at a blistering pace.
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Exceptional, engrossing, frightening.
- By P. Giorgio on 07-27-13
- No Country for Old Men
- By: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
Greed leaves its mark
Reviewed: 01-31-24
Very suspenseful story, a tale of one man’s greed and another’s unstoppable quest of retribution
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Blood Meridian
- Or the Evening Redness in the West
- By: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Author of the National Book Award-winning All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy is one of the most provocative American stylists to emerge in the last century. The striking novel Blood Meridian offers an unflinching narrative of the brutality that accompanied the push west on the 1850s Texas frontier.
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A beautiful nightmare
- By Ryan on 07-11-11
- Blood Meridian
- Or the Evening Redness in the West
- By: Cormac McCarthy
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
Good performance, gory details
Reviewed: 01-31-24
Story can be alittle meandering, but is a brutal and emotional tale of the Old West without the glamour.
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Return of the Thin Man
- By: Dashiell Hammett
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Nicola Barber, Scott Brick
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Dashiell Hammett was a crime writer who elevated the genre to true literature, and The Thin Man was Hammett’s last - and most successful - novel. Following the enormous success of The Thin Man movie in 1934, Hammett was commissioned to write stories for additional films. He wrote two full-length novellas for the films that became After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man.
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Interesting change
- By Linda on 06-17-13
- Return of the Thin Man
- By: Dashiell Hammett
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Nicola Barber, Scott Brick
A diminished, but enjoyed sequel
Reviewed: 10-18-23
Whether it’s the original book or the the movie adaptation, “The Thin Man” is hard to top. It’s characters, mystery, all are excellent. The movie as well for how little it strays from the source material. This book combines two sequels that try to recapture the magic of the first. Nick and Nora Charles are as endearing as ever, but the plots are straining to pull them back into solving murders that occur in front of them inexplicably. The fact that these stories are set almost immediately following each other may compound these issues. Still, the voice actors are giving great performances that liven up what is more of the same but familiar Hammond storytelling.
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- By: Lewis Carroll
- Narrated by: Scarlett Johansson
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson ( Lost in Translation, Girl with a Pearl Earring) brings a palpable sense of joy and exuberance to her performance of Lewis Carroll's enduring classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The young and imaginative Alice grows weary of her storybook, one "without pictures or conversations", and follows a hasty hare underground - to come face to face with a host of strange and fantastic characters.
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I underestimated
- By Midwestbonsai on 05-23-16
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- By: Lewis Carroll
- Narrated by: Scarlett Johansson
Excellent performance, so-so story
Reviewed: 09-01-23
Maybe it’s not a story for my tastes, I enjoyed “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. I’ve only seen the Tim Burton “Alice in Wonderland”, and so I wanted to get the actual story. It’s very whimsical and unfocused (not unlike Tom Sawyer in that regard). The Disney cartoon version streamlines the plot and makes it alittle more compelling from the visuals. Everything seems to be Alice meets weird character doing some activity in a weird way. The only thing that really moves the story forward is Alice chasing the White Rabbit but it’s never explained why and in the end it doesn’t matter. She and the White Rabbit end up in the Red Queen’s court at the end of book.
The one undeniable positive of the book is Scarlett Johansson’s reading. She commits to each character’s voice and even attempts a mock British accent for some. Part of that could imitating the Disney cartoon, it’s still admirable how much energy she gives to bring the story to life on her own just from her voice.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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A natural storyteller and raconteur in his own right - just listen to Paddle Your Own Canoe and Gumption - actor, comedian, carpenter, and all-around manly man Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) brings his distinctive baritone and a fine-tuned comic versatility to Twain's writing. In a knockout performance, he doesn't so much as read Twain's words as he does rejoice in them, delighting in the hijinks of Tom - whom he lovingly refers to as a "great scam artist" and "true American hero".
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Reading from a new perspective
- By jb on 11-10-16
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- By: Mark Twain
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman
An American Classic
Reviewed: 08-05-23
Took a few stars off because the plot seems to meander a bit.
Nick Offerman was a great choice as narrator, who commits to giving each character their own “voice” and brings the story to life literally . The southern dialect can come off as hokey if you’re unfamiliar with it, and Twain’s capture of it even more so. This is a time capsule to people of that place and time, and so a common turn of phrase could confuse people today. It did me a few times, which is why I recommend Twain’s books come with a glossary in the future. It’s not necessary, but it does help with immersion in the story if you understand what the character means when he says an obscure retort.
The story is Tom Sawyer being a mischievous boy in rural Mississippi with his friends and partner in crime, Huckleberry Finn. The story has a wonderful nostalgia and innocence to it framed through Tom and Huck’s perspective. For instance;they decide to run away from home to be pirates, but pirates are an exciting and “respectable” career choice for the boys. If they don’t know something, they feign a just recalled fact or detail to save face. This book seems to me to be what “The Hobbit” is to “The Lord of the Rings”. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” seems to have a lot of allegory and subtext, while the book that preceded it was simply about adventure and a story for children to enjoy. While I think the plot meanders, that could be intentional on Twain’s part to illustrate the spontaneity and common experience of youth over the course of a summer.
Nonetheless, it’s a fine tale and one I recommend for young and old who appreciate the literary classics.
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Backflash
- A Parker Novel
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Backflash finds Parker checking out the scene on a Hudson River gambling boat. Parker’s no fan of either relaxation or risk, however, so you can be sure he’s playing with house money - and he’s willing to do anything to tilt the odds in his favor. Featuring a great cast of heisters, a striking setting, and a new introduction by Westlake’s close friend and writing partner, Lawrence Block, this classic Parker adventure deserves a place of honor in any crime fan’s library.
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This one was good.
- By Jane on 05-17-13
- Backflash
- A Parker Novel
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
Gamble of a lifetime
Reviewed: 07-27-23
Strong cast of characters, a nigh impossible robbery, and some surprise wrenches in the plans make this an enjoyable listen.
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Flashfire
- Parker, Book 19
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Mark Peckham
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Between Parker's 1961 debut and his return in the late 1990s, the world of crime changed considerably. Now fake IDs and credit cards have to be purchased from specialists; increasingly sophisticated policing makes escape and evasion tougher; and, worst of all, money has gone digital - the days of cash-stuffed payroll trucks were long gone. But cash isn't everything, and now Parker's after a fortune in jewels. In Flashfire, Parker's in West Palm Beach, competing with a crew that has an unhealthy love of explosions. When things go sour, Parker finds himself shot and trapped - and forced to rely on a civilian to survive.
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This was pretty good.
- By Jane on 05-17-13
- Flashfire
- Parker, Book 19
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Mark Peckham
Where’s the money?
Reviewed: 07-27-23
Another great story, stronger than the last I want to say. Don’t know how Stark does it.
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Firebreak
- A Parker Novel, Book 20
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Between Parker’s 1961 debut and his return in the late 1990s, the world of crime changed considerably. Now fake IDs and credit cards had to be purchased from specialists; increasingly sophisticated policing made escape and evasion tougher; and, worst of all, money had gone digital - the days of cash-stuffed payroll trucks were long gone. Firebreak takes Parker to a palatial Montana "hunting lodge" where a dot-com millionaire hides a gallery of stolen old masters - which will fetch Parker a pretty penny if his team can just get it past the mansion’s tight security.
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2 ½ stars. I kept getting distracted.
- By Jane on 05-17-13
- Firebreak
- A Parker Novel, Book 20
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
Tense and engrossing
Reviewed: 07-27-23
The action begins immediately and doesn’t let up until the last page. A whirlwind of intrigue and danger. A few complaints, minor ones though. The foreword seems missing from the recording (usually they have some great insights on Stark, his writing process, or the history behind the series). The second is plot related, and I can only assume Stark did this for brevity and pacing. The returning villains who are behind Parker’s personal troubles are revealed slowly then dispatched “off-screen” suddenly. It’s makes sense but it would have been nice to hear Parker’s reaction to their current state, or how he plans to break into their lair. Even their preparation for his arrival seems cartoonishly lax. Those aside, another cracker of a story.
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Lemons Never Lie
- A Hard Case Crime Novel
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Steve Aveson
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When he's not carrying out heists with his friend Parker, Alan Grofield runs a small theater in Indiana. But putting on shows costs money and jobs have been thin lately, so Grofield agrees to hear Andrew Myers' plan to knock over a brewery in upstate New York. Unfortunately, the plan is insane, so Grofield walks out. Myers isn't a man you walk out on, and his retribution is an act of unforgivable brutality.
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Where to begin
- By Amazon Customer on 12-24-20
- Lemons Never Lie
- A Hard Case Crime Novel
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: Steve Aveson
Sour Lemons
Reviewed: 07-23-23
I saw many reviewers noting the poor performance of the narrator, while I think they were harsh I do have to agree. Steve Aveson does fall short to the previous narrators of the earlier Alan Grofield novels. I also find fault in this book in other respects, the plot seems to meander in a few places and the resolution lacks punch. As much as I want to, I never enjoy Grofield’s solo adventures as much as his team up’s with Parker. Other novels focus more on espionage or political intrigue, having this novel focus on failed jobs or personal grudges feels like small potatoes. Stark’s humor and attention to detail ramain, I just wonder if this wouldn’t have been better placed as the first novel, and let the others put Grofield in more exciting and unknown territories. After the events of “Butcher’s Moon”, I hope to see more Grofield in the remaining Parker books so this isn’t the last I see of the character.
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The Last Days of August
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
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In December 2017 the famous porn star August Ames committed suicide in a park in the Conejo Valley. It happened a day after she’d been the victim of a pile-on, via Twitter, by fellow porn professionals - punishment for her tweeting something deemed homophobic. A month later, August’s husband, Kevin, connected with Jon Ronson to tell the story of how Twitter bullying killed his wife. What neither Kevin nor Ronson realized was that Ronson would soon hear rumors and secrets hinting at a very different story - something mysterious and unexpected and terrible.
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a healing masterpiece
- By Alex Mayers on 01-04-19
- The Last Days of August
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
Surprising look at the dark side of the porn world
Reviewed: 07-20-23
Well done production and narration. I remember hearing about this person’s death when the worry over social media was more focused on mental health than disinfo. It’s engaging, and even tragic in many instances. By the end though, there’s no great shock or twist to how August Ames died. The shocking part is that almost everyone interviewed, regardless of how much they cared for August herself, was deeply flawed and unable to see their own shortcomings. It adds a tinge of mystery but it is a let-down if you’re expecting a big revelation. It’s still worth it for the psychological aspect of hearing the makers of porn try to understand why a young, beautiful woman committed suicide in a public park after a Twitter backlash.
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