Rocio J Blanco
- 12
- reviews
- 1
- helpful vote
- 76
- ratings
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The Yarn Whisperer
- My Unexpected Life in Knitting
- By: Clara Parkes
- Narrated by: Clara Parkes
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 180
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 148
In The Yarn Whisperer: Reflections on a Life in Knitting, renowned knitter and author Clara Parkes ponders the roles knitting plays in her life via 22 captivating, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny essays. Recounting tales of childhood and adulthood, family, friends, adventure, privacy, disappointment, love, and celebration, she hits upon the universal truths that drive knitters to create and explores the ways in which knitting can be looked at as a metaphor for so many other things.
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2 out of 5 stars
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I was expecting a great story with great wisdom!
- By LoRe Bolling on 05-18-19
- The Yarn Whisperer
- My Unexpected Life in Knitting
- By: Clara Parkes
- Narrated by: Clara Parkes
Thank you, Clara Parkes!
Reviewed: 08-16-23
What a wonderful collection of knitterly stories! Forget bedtime stories, these will calm any mind. ❤️
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Vanishing Fleece
- Adventures in American Wool
- By: Clara Parkes
- Narrated by: Clara Parkes
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 893
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 783
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 782
Join Clara Parkes on a cross-country adventure and meet a cast of characters that includes the shepherds, dyers, and countless workers without whom our knitting needles would be empty, our mills idle, and our feet woefully cold. Travel the country with her as she meets a flock of Saxon Merino sheep in upstate New York, tours a scouring plant in Texas, visits a steamy Maine dyehouse, helps sort freshly shorn wool on a working farm, and learns how wool fleece is measured, baled, shipped, and turned into skeins.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book.
- By Josemiguel Gomez on 03-02-20
- Vanishing Fleece
- Adventures in American Wool
- By: Clara Parkes
- Narrated by: Clara Parkes
Save the wool please!
Reviewed: 01-27-23
This absolutely beautifully written love letter to wool made me cry at several points. I was completely immersed as this immensely talented author and story teller invites the reader to come along on a journey of discovery. At times hilarious, charming, and heartbreaking, but always completely heart felt. I look forward to seeking out Clara Parke's many good works wool-related or otherwise. ❤️🧶
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Delicious!
- A Novel
- By: Ruth Reichl
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,444
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,300
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,301
In her best-selling memoirs, Ruth Reichl has long illuminated the theme of how food defines us, and never more so than in her dazzling fiction debut about sisters, family ties, and a young woman who must finally let go of guilt and grief to embrace her own true gifts.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I really enjoyed this book. Really well read.
- By Diane Cates on 04-17-18
- Delicious!
- A Novel
- By: Ruth Reichl
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
Aptly titled!
Reviewed: 10-03-22
My highest praise and recommendation for another Reichl triumph in food writing and prose! Bon Appetit!
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Signal Moon
- A Short Story
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Andrew Gibson
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,169
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,952
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,946
Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption. One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help.
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5 out of 5 stars
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fun fantasy science + historical fiction
- By Leslie MN on 09-01-22
- Signal Moon
- A Short Story
- By: Kate Quinn
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Andrew Gibson
Weeping like a baby at this love letter
Reviewed: 09-22-22
Kate Has done it again! Another masterpiece, and this time it's personal to me as a recently retired Intell Sailor who didn't always get a fair shake despite unwavering dedication over the years. This one is for those who actually do the work screwing up their hearing and typing or writing their hands off while 'scribing and spinning and grinning. Thank you, Author Quinn. For folks like me, this one's a must read right up there with anything else about our long and varies history from Bletchley Park to the On the Roof Gang and beyond. From those past, current, and future working in a building, underground, in the air, on a battlefield, or at sea to those in the future who may even work in space, this one really is for you personally. READ IT NOW.
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Lab Girl
- A Memoir
- By: Hope Jahren
- Narrated by: Hope Jahren
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,019
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,618
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,599
Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she's studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book might have been a revelatory treatise on plant life. Lab Girl is that, but it is also so much more. Because in it, Jahren also shares with us her inspiring life story, in prose that takes your breath away.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A paradigm-shifting perspective on plant life
- By Elizabeth on 05-20-16
- Lab Girl
- A Memoir
- By: Hope Jahren
- Narrated by: Hope Jahren
Great information but not great narration
Reviewed: 09-04-22
The author expertly interweaves her vast knowledge of her life sciences field with the ups, downs, and trauma throughout her life. I feel a more practiced narrator would read the difficult parts with less tears and additional trauma to the author. This book is a love letter to all 'green' things, but lost me a several times. For example, I disagree with the desert being a 'dead' place. Rather than ugly, half-dead things, the plants in the desert are among the hardest working organisms in the world. Also, I disagree with touting the greatness of the penny-pinching NSF while deriding the good works of NASA, and especially omitting all the life scientists at NASA trying to grow things in the vacuum of space. Jahren may speak for many, but does not speak for all life scientists. Mildly recommended but take some Prozac before reading this well-written volume.
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The Plastic Magician
- A Paper Magician Novel
- By: Charlie N. Holmberg
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,012
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,797
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,788
Alvie Brechenmacher has arrived in London to begin her training in Polymaking - the magical discipline of bespelling plastic. Polymaking is the newest form of magic, and in a field where there is so much left to learn, every Polymaker dreams of making the next big discovery. Even though she is only an apprentice, Alvie is an inventor at heart, and she is determined to make as many discoveries - in as short a time frame - as she can. Luckily for her, she’s studying under the world-renowned magician Marion Praff, who is just as dedicated as Alvie is.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By lowell on 08-21-18
- The Plastic Magician
- A Paper Magician Novel
- By: Charlie N. Holmberg
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
Fascinating and Charming
Reviewed: 07-22-22
A fascinating alternate story to the development of plastic and its many uses. As always, Holmberg features a charming female lead with the brightest of minds for discovery! Highly recommended
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The Lost and Found Bookshop
- A Novel
- By: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,642
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,453
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,446
In the wake of a shocking tragedy, Natalie Harper inherits her mother’s charming but financially strapped bookshop in San Francisco. She also becomes caretaker for her ailing grandfather Andrew, her only living relative - not counting her scoundrel father. But the gruff, deeply kind Andrew has begun displaying signs of decline. Natalie thinks it’s best to move him to an assisted living facility to ensure the care he needs. To pay for it, she plans to close the bookstore and sell the derelict but valuable building on historic Perdita Street, which is in need of constant fixing.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A wonderful book and a satisfying read (or listen)
- By Saleety on 08-03-20
- The Lost and Found Bookshop
- A Novel
- By: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin
Simply Charming
Reviewed: 07-20-22
Charming story of many kinds of love: mother and daughter, father and daughter, grandfather and granddaughter, and best of all: true friendship. Highly recommended; trigger warnings for death of a loved one and illness of a loved one.
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1 person found this helpful
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The Oysterville Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- By: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,415
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,254
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,247
At the break of dawn, Caroline Shelby rolls into Oysterville, Washington, a tiny hamlet at the edge of the raging Pacific. She’s come home. Home to a place she thought she’d left forever, home of her heart and memories, but not her future. Ten years ago, Caroline launched a career in the glamorous fashion world of Manhattan. But her success in New York imploded on a wave of scandal and tragedy, forcing her to flee to the only safe place she knows. And in the backseat of Caroline’s car are two children who were orphaned in a single chilling moment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best listen I’ve had all year! I loved it!
- By WAYNE on 08-14-19
- The Oysterville Sewing Circle
- A Novel
- By: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
An important read
Reviewed: 07-17-22
Poignant story that includes timely mentions. Trigger warnings: domestic abuse, substance abuse, and death of a loved one. Highest recommendation
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Starry Skies Over the Chocolate Pot Cafe
- By: Jessica Redland
- Narrated by: Emma Swan
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,191
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,103
Everyone is getting into the festive spirit on Castle Street - snow is falling, fairy lights are glistening and Christmas shopping is underway. But for Tara Porter, owner of thriving cafe The Chocolate Pot, this is the most difficult time of the year. From the outside, Tara is a successful businesswoman and pillar of the community. Behind closed doors, she is lonely. With a lifetime of secrets weighing on her shoulders, she has retreated from all friends, family and romance, and shut her real self away from the world.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Depressing
- By Old West Reader on 10-05-21
- Starry Skies Over the Chocolate Pot Cafe
- By: Jessica Redland
- Narrated by: Emma Swan
Delightful!
Reviewed: 07-09-22
Another charming story from Whitsborough Bay! This time we get to know Tara and her house bunny Hercules. Highly recommended.❤️
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Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me
- Depression in the First Person
- By: Anna Mehler Paperny
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 325
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 282
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 280
In her early 20s, investigative journalist Anna Mehler Paperny had already landed her dream job. On the surface, her life was great. Nevertheless, she spiraled out, attempted suicide (the first of more attempts to follow), and landed in the ICU and then in a psych ward before setting out to tackle her recovery. In Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me, Mehler Paperny turns her journalist's eye on her own experience and others' - in the ward; as an outpatient; facing family, friends, and coworkers; finding the right meds; trying to stay insured and employed.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I enjoyed this experience
- By Azu on 06-11-21
- Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me
- Depression in the First Person
- By: Anna Mehler Paperny
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
Thank you, Author!
Reviewed: 07-07-22
Finally, an account and focused rant regarding conditions from which so many people suffer. This includes me, and I heartily thank the author for having the courage, candor, and talent to relate her experience and extensive research on this urgent global problem.
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