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I Am a Cat
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 21 hrs and 50 mins
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Publisher's summary
Written over the course of 1904-1906, Soseki Natsume's comic masterpiece, I Am a Cat, satirizes the foolishness of upper-middle class Japanese society during the Meiji era. With acerbic wit and sardonic perspective, it follows the whimsical adventures of a world-weary stray kitten who comments on the follies and foibles of the people around him.
A classic of Japanese literature, I Am a Cat is one of Soseki's best-known novels. Considered by many as the greatest writer in modern Japanese history, Soseki's I Am a Cat is a classic novel sure to be enjoyed for years to come.
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- Unabridged
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Story
Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full. The listener is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ("Pages from a Young Girl's Journal") but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.
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Aickman is unique
- By Stark on 08-19-23
By: Robert Aickman
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The Man Without Qualities
- By: Robert Musil
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 60 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1913, the Viennese aristocracy is gathering to celebrate the 17th jubilee of the accession of Emperor Franz Josef, even as the Austro-Hungarian Empire is collapsing and the rest of Vienna is showing signs of rebellion. At the centre of this social labyrinth is Ulrich: a veteran, a seducer and a scientist, yet also a man 'without qualities' and therefore a brilliant and detached observer of his changing world.
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An unmatched intellectual epic
- By Delano on 06-23-22
By: Robert Musil
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The Crime at Black Dudley
- An Albert Campion Mystery
- By: Margery Allingham
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
When George Abbershaw is invited to Black Dudley Manor for the weekend, he has only one thing on his mind - proposing to Meggie Oliphant. Unfortunately for George, things don't quite go according to plan. A harmless game turns decidedly deadly and suspicions of murder take precedence over matrimony. Trapped in a remote country house with a murderer, George can see no way out. But Albert Campion can.
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I LIKE this narrator quite a lot!!!!
- By Meep on 11-16-13
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Lord Peter Wimsey: Novels 1-3
- By: Dorothy L. Sayers
- Narrated by: Graham Scott
- Length: 26 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The first three mysteries for Dorothy L. Sayers' aristocratic sleuth: first, a body is discovered in a Battersea bathroom, wearing nothing but a pair of pince-nez, on the same night that financier Sir Reuben Levy disappears from his Park Lane home. Then, Wimsey returns to England when his brother, the Duke of Denver, is accused of murdering the fiance of their sister, Lady Mary, and a trial in the House of Lords looms; and finally, an overheard conversation in a restaurant begins an investigation of the strangely premature death of wealthy and terminally ill old lady Miss Agatha Dawson.
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Love Lord Peter
- By Mav's mom on 10-16-24
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Fifth Business
- The Deptford Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Robertson Davies
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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This first novel in The Deptford Trilogy introduces Ramsay, a man who returns from World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross but who is destined to be caught in a no man's land where memory, history, and myth collide. As we hear Ramsey tell his story, we begin to realize that, from childhood, he has influenced those around him in a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious way.
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Been waiting for this
- By Vinity on 12-10-11
By: Robertson Davies
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The Enchanted April
- By: Elizabeth von Arnim
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
To Those who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine. Small medieaval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be Let Furnished for the month of April. This small advertisement sparks something long dormant in the reluctant hearts of two downcast London women - the possibility of happiness.
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My absolute favorite book.
- By JKJanson on 06-19-18
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Night and Day
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 18 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Written before she began her experiments in the writing of fiction, Virginia Woolf's second novel, Night and Day, is a story about a group of young people trying to discover what it means to fall in love. It asks all the big questions: What does it mean to fall in love? Does marriage grant happiness? What is happiness? Night and Day is a conventional novel; however, it maps out for us the world of Virginia Woolf in its wondrous prose: For her it was the beginning, leading on to a prolonged engagement with her search for the means to express the "inner life".
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"After all, what is love?"
- By Eman Abd Allah on 12-13-16
By: Virginia Woolf
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Dombey and Son
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 36 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
In this carefully crafted novel, Dickens reveals the complexity of London society in the enterprising 1840s as he takes the listener into the business firm and home of one of its most representative patriarchs, Paul Dombey.
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Perfect pair
- By Philip on 03-25-08
By: Charles Dickens
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Father
- By: Elizabeth Von Arnim
- Narrated by: Penelope Freeman
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Since her mother's death, Jennifer has devoted years of her life to her father, managing the family home. After the sudden announcement that he has taken a new wife, Jennifer, at 33, seizes the opportunity to lead an independent life. Quickly she secures the lease of Rose Cottage and turns her attention to her own interests. While Jennifer is desperate to experience life on her own terms within her reduced financial means, her neighbour, Alice, is pre-occupied with ensuring her position as head of her brother's household is never challenged.
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Worse Audio Book I Have Ever Heard
- By Phyllis Woodford on 11-05-21
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A Suitable Boy (Dramatised)
- By: Vikram Seth
- Narrated by: Ayesha Dharker, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, full cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A Suitable Boy is Vikram Seth's epic love story set in India. Funny and tragic, with engaging, brilliantly observed characters, it is as close as you can get to Dickens for the twentieth century. The story unfolds through four middle class families: the Mehras, Kappoors, Khans, and Chatterjis. Lata Mehra, a university student, is under pressure from her mother to get married. But not to just anyone she happens to fall in love with.
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would prefer unabridged naration
- By Tamshine on 07-07-11
By: Vikram Seth
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This story had no point.
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Enjoyable
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This story had no point.
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What a wonderful story
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The story is good but the performance is lacking
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Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape.
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Should have been better
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Chapter Six Mostly Missing?
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Natsume Soseki's Kusamakura - meaning “grass pillow” - follows its nameless young artist-narrator on a meandering walking tour of the mountains. At the inn at a hot-spring resort, he has a series of mysterious encounters with Nami, the lovely young daughter of the establishment. Nami, or "beauty", is the center of this elegant novel, the still point around which the artist moves and the enigmatic subject of Soseki's word painting.
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This beautiful novel deserves a better narration
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The story of the doomed love affair of a wealthy sophisticate, Shimamura, and the geisha Komako, at a mountain hotspring resort in western Japan, one of the snowiest regions on earth.
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Overall
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Performance
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The postman’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat, Cabbage, to keep him company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can tackle his bucket list, the Devil appears to make him an offer: In exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, our narrator will get one extra day of life. And so begins a very bizarre week....
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I couldn't finish this
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The Cat Who Saved Books
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for — or rather, demands — the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.
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Transports you to fantastical realities…
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Thousand Cranes
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
With a restraint that barely conceals the ferocity of his characters' passions, one of Japan's great postwar novelists tells the luminous story of Kikuji and the tea party he attends with Mrs. Ota, the rival of his dead father's mistress. A tale of desire, regret, and sensual nostalgia, every gesture has a meaning, and even the most fleeting touch or casual utterance has the power to illuminate entire lives - sometimes in the same moment that it destroys them.
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Painfully beautiful
- By Erez on 12-02-10
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My Annihilation
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Story
Japanese literary sensation Fuminori Nakamura’s latest novel is as a dark look into human psyche - what turns someone into a killer? Can it be something as small as a suggestion?
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Nakamura's Most Convoluted Novel. Had to Quit.
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What listeners say about I Am a Cat
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- mz
- 04-03-20
Great performance!
Narrator's performance is great. Many different voices for the characters, such that upon hearing a particular voice, you know which character it is, before the text says who is talking. This adds a lot of interest to the book. His pronunciation of Japanese and Chinese words is also better than many narrators.
The book isn't merely random observations of humans in the Meiji era by a cat, but has a story line throughout. Interesting traditional Japan and its customs, with some outdated views, interesting side stories about various happenings, sometimes even funny. The third part gets very philosophical at times but eventually does returns to the main story, which I think is more interesting.
The cat does have a superhuman knowledge of both the East and West, which had been clarified in the foreword, so that wasn't a problem. The foreword introduces the story well and clears away criticisms and questions a reader might have later.
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24 people found this helpful
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- just asking for some common sense
- 07-26-21
Mostly 5 stars, spoiler in foreward very annoying
Why would a book include a spoiler in the forward/introduction without a warning? I had never heard of this book until recently and was so excited to listen to it, but knowing a big part of the ending took a little of the enjoyment out of it. So read it after, not before, if you don't know the outcome of the book.
I very much enjoyed this otherwise. Because of the way it was originally published it does seem like it's supposed to end fairly early, but then goes on.
This book has some cat characters, but it is more of a cat's observation of humans. It is often humorous. It is a slice of Japanese life mixed in with the influences of the Western world. Some of the people are so annoying and the cat tells it like it is. The narrator does this all almost perfectly.
I listened to this after several other Japanese books. I'm moving on now, but I'll be back to more Japanese books before too long.
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8 people found this helpful
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- danny nichols
- 04-15-21
Interesting take on life from a cats point of view
This was a good book I could of been shorter there were parts that I feel it didn't make sence to put in but overall if you want a perspective of early 1900's life in Japan from an outsiders view its a good book I'd recommend it
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2 people found this helpful
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- V. H. Shaw
- 01-10-21
Great story and very good narration
I am not done yet, but more than halfway past. I believe I began this book in hard copy many years ago. I love it. It is satire in its purest form with all the humor and perspicacity and insight expected in satire. Using a cat as the observer of human behavior is brilliant.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 07-15-22
The foreword spoils the ending
I really did enjoy this book and the narrator did an excellent job, but as the header says the foreword of the translator tells you exactly how the story ends and that made it quite hard to enjoy. I'm very firmly in the camp of its not the journey it's the ending so having the whole point of reading a book ruined before it begins put a damper on it. It's a good book, just skip the foreword if you get this.
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2 people found this helpful
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- mehraj nisha
- 11-26-22
The narrator was awesome and did such a wonderful performance
The narration was fantastic. The many voices he used were just great and so wonderful
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- Jazmin D.
- 11-03-22
Okay story
Felt long and dragged at some parts. Some parts were quite entertaining. Not too exciting but not too boring. Quite an unexpected and sad ending.
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- Cinzia Laura
- 08-22-20
Loving the American-Japanese reader
The book was very well read. And it was nice to have a reader not butchering all of the Japanese words. The cat is hilarious, but you need to be into geeky academics jokes and passions.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Marek Czernek
- 05-03-23
Absolute classic
The book is a masterpiece. But what's even better is David Shih's narration, which brings it to life in a masterful way. 10/10, would recommend.
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- paul shire
- 11-08-20
Chapter one !!! then boring
Starts interesting and funny but after chapter one it’s pretty mundane I would not recommend
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