Deborah H. Holloway
- 65
- reviews
- 15
- helpful votes
- 98
- ratings
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I Capture the Castle
- By: Dodie Smith
- Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,899
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,697
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,697
In this coming of age story, Dodie Smith introduces the visionary and eccentric character of seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. The youngest daughter in a family of impoverished artists, it is her imagination and writing that takes us away from the ramshackle old English castle where they live, and towards an intriguing tale of husband-hunting and light-hearted sibling rivalry.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well, that was a surprise
- By Matthew on 12-16-13
- I Capture the Castle
- By: Dodie Smith
- Narrated by: Jenny Agutter
Wonderful coming of age in England
Reviewed: 05-25-24
I read this years ago and forgot a lot of story, so it a delight to return to scenes and characters.
Of course the castle itself is as real as can be. I love all of it! I felt for each person involved equally!
Lovely story, well read!
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Love
- By: Elizabeth von Arnim
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 279
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 259
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Story4 out of 5 stars 258
gentle romance begins innocently enough in the stalls of a London theatre where Catherine is enjoying her ninth and Christopher his thirty-sixth visit to the same play. He is a magnificent young man with flame-coloured hair. She is the sweetest little thing in a hat. There is just one complication: Christopher is 25, while Catherine is just a little bit older. Flattered by the passionate attentions of youth, Catherine, with marriage and motherhood behind her, is at first circumspect, but finally succumbs to her lover's charms.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sensible, touching and hilarious
- By Mitzi on 10-13-20
- Love
- By: Elizabeth von Arnim
- Narrated by: Eleanor Bron
What is love?
Reviewed: 04-12-24
I love Elizabeth von Arnim. I have all of her books. I wish more were available on Audible.
This novel is not as witty as most, but it does, as all of hers do, make you think! I love the social satire, I love the open ending. It really works in this story. Excellent narrator.
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The Book of Salt
- By: Monique Truong
- Narrated by: J. Paul Boehmer
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 84
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 85
In Paris, 1934, Bính has accompanied his employers, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, to the train station for their departure to America. His own destination is unclear: will he go with "the Steins", stay in France, or return to his native Vietnam? Bính has fled his homeland in disgrace, leaving behind his malevolent charlatan of a father and his self-sacrificing mother. For five years, he has been the live-in cook at the famous apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful novel, poor reading
- By Kate Georgia on 10-27-20
- The Book of Salt
- By: Monique Truong
- Narrated by: J. Paul Boehmer
I will go back for more
Reviewed: 04-09-24
I love this type of book. Taking me to countries, times, lifestyles, and thoughts I could never explore in any depth on my own, Nor would I wish to, to be honest.
The narrator did an excellent job, I thought. The loneliness and anguish of Bin's life were so well done. The self-centered world of his madames so complete.
I don't love excessive descriptions of gay and lesbian love affairs, so I probably would have skipped this one had I known what it contaoned. However, I am glad I I stuck with it. The intimacy is necessary, not gratuitous at all in this story.
I look forward to another by this author!
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Cutting for Stone
- A Novel
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 23 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,723
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 10,357
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,349
Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Epic Medical Novel
- By Audiophile on 07-11-09
- Cutting for Stone
- A Novel
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
So very Excellent!
Reviewed: 04-02-24
As a medical professional, I could really appreciate all of the details! Wow. I imagine it is a bit much for some readers, but I think it is great that it isn't " dumbed down".
I also loved the narrator. So fun to hear his accents!
I was disappointed that the author dropped the whole tie-in to cricket. Was that edited out? if so, it was awkwardly done.
I also love any book that takes me to a different time and place, and this one did that in a big way! I learned a lot about Ethiopia.
Disliked everything about the author's approach to relationships with women and sex, almost none of which were healthy and straightforward.
Overall, highly recommend!
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The Stone Diaries
- By: Carol Shields, Penelope Lively - introduction
- Narrated by: Deborah Drakeford
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 18
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Story4 out of 5 stars 18
Born in 1905, Daisy Goodwill Flett drifts through the chapters of childhood, marriage, widowhood, remarriage, motherhood, and old age, bewildered by her inability to understand her own role in the unsettled decades of the twentieth century. At last, reflecting on her unobserved and unconventional life, Daisy attempts to find a way to tell her story within a novel that is itself about the limitations of autobiography.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Narrative
- By Deborah H. Holloway on 03-10-24
- The Stone Diaries
- By: Carol Shields, Penelope Lively - introduction
- Narrated by: Deborah Drakeford
Excellent Narrative
Reviewed: 03-10-24
Enjoyed the whole story. The feminist ideas, the historical details, the ways in which the author shows what we think we know about each other versus what is really in the other person's mind, the arc of time. Wonderful.
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2 people found this helpful
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The 1619 Project
- A New Origin Story
- By: Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New York Times Magazine, Caitlin Roper - editor, and others
- Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones, Full Cast
- Length: 18 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,659
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,047
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4,030
The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together 18 essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with 36 poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Comprehensive and Cutting
- By Thomas Ray on 12-30-21
- The 1619 Project
- A New Origin Story
- By: Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New York Times Magazine, Caitlin Roper - editor, Ilena Silverman - editor, Jake Silverstein - editor
- Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones, Full Cast
Way too much. way too long.
Reviewed: 03-02-24
I understand that this is important. But it is unpalatable. Major editing would have helped.
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The Bride of the Wilderness
- By: Charles McCarry
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4 out of 5 stars 31
Young, high-spirited Fanny has been fortunate in her civilized upbringing, but the London she has grown up in is riddled with danger and brutality. When a sinister stranger traps her family into debt in order to advance on Fanny, she is forced to take refuge in France, where she meets a young French soldier, Philippe de Saint-Christophe.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Just didn't hold my attention
- By Kelly on 07-07-08
- The Bride of the Wilderness
- By: Charles McCarry
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
unforgettable
Reviewed: 02-13-24
I read this book years ago. I couldn't remember the title or the author, but I remembered the deep impression it left. The essences of love and hate and lust and stillness and numbing strangeness in a new land.
The romance most of all. unlike any other!
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The House of Doors
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: David Oakes, Louise-Mai Newberry
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 328
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 290
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 290
The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert’s, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one. Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is beleaguered: Having long hidden his homosexuality, his unhappy and expensive marriage of convenience becomes unbearable after he loses his savings—and the freedom to travel with Gerald.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great, but no “Garden”
- By Susan on 10-30-23
- The House of Doors
- By: Tan Twan Eng
- Narrated by: David Oakes, Louise-Mai Newberry
Layers upon layers
Reviewed: 01-29-24
This is a book I know I will buy in paper form and read again and again. I love the language, the tropical feel, the mystery and the history. I loved getting to know Somerset Maugham (even though I'm not sure I would have enjoyed his company!). I didn't even mind the back and forth between the different time periods.
It all comes together beautifully. The narrators are excellent.
I also downloaded L'Heure exquise, which I'd never heard before. Wonderful. Thank you.
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8 people found this helpful
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The Old Forest
- By: Peter Taylor
- Narrated by: Randall Caudwell
- Length: 2 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 8
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8
Enjoy 2 American masterpieces from the pen of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Peter Taylor. In "The Old Forest," a young girl who was with Nat in a car accident is now missing - and it falls upon Nat's fiancie to find her.
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4 out of 5 stars
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One of the best short stories ever written
- By Anonymous User on 06-01-25
- The Old Forest
- By: Peter Taylor
- Narrated by: Randall Caudwell
unusual but interesting
Reviewed: 01-18-24
It is an old fashioned story told from the point of view of an engaged, somewhat immature upper class 20 something. I liked the subtle ways the author shows how he changes over the course of the story. I also liked the way it describes women in that time.
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Year of Wonders
- A Novel
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,052
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,738
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,736
When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Great Story- Awful Narrator
- By Diana Dunn on 07-12-12
- Year of Wonders
- A Novel
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks
bleak history of the plague
Reviewed: 01-17-24
I have everything I've read by Geraldine Brooks. Her research is so deep and detailed, her use of the vernacular of that time is wonderful. I could easily suspend my doubts about a poor servant girl raising herself to such heights.
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