Liberty
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Narrated by:
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Garrison Keillor
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By:
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Garrison Keillor
About this listen
Lake Wobegon is in a frenzy of preparations for the Fourth of July. This being Wobegon, lives collide and relationships develop in the oddest ways. Take Clint Bunson, the treasurer of the Lutheran church and the auto mechanic who starts cars on below-zero mornings. For six years, he has run the Fourth of July parade, turning what was once a line of pickup trucks into an event of dazzling spectacle.
The town is dizzy with anticipation - until they hear of Clint's ambition to run for Congress. They know about his episodes with vodka sours, his rocky marriage, and his friendship with the 24-year-old who dresses up as the Statue of Liberty for the parade and may be buck naked beneath her robes.
In Keillor's words, "It is Lake Wobegon as you imagined it - good loving people who drive each other crazy."
©2008 Garrison Keillor (P)2008 HighBridge CompanyListeners also enjoyed...
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An audiobook from Garrison Keillor, a man nearing age 80, on leaning into the beauty of getting old. “My life is so good at 79 I wonder why I waited this long to get here,” he writes. You learn that less is more, the great lesson of Jesus and also Buddha. Each day becomes important after you pass the point of life expectancy. Big problems vanish, small things make you happy.
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If Lazarus was a writer ?
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In Cheerfulness, veteran radio host and author Garrison Keillor reflects on a simple virtue that can help us in this stressful and sometimes gloomy era. Drawing on personal anecdotes from his young adulthood into his 80s, Keillor sheds light on the immense good that can come from a deliberate work ethic and a buoyant demeanor.
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Enjoyable and cheerful
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Boom Town
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Return to America’s most beloved fictional hometown! Lake Wobegon is having a boom year thanks to millennial entrepreneurship—AuntMildred’s.com Gourmet Meatloaf, for example, or Universal Fire, makers of artisanal firewood seasoned with sea salt. Meanwhile, the author flies in to give eulogies at the funerals of five classmates, including a couple whom he disliked, and he finds a wave of narcissism crashing on the rocks of Lutheran stoicism.
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Hope you aren't conservative in any way.
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Lake Wobegon Summer 1956
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- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
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Fourteen-year-old Gary, a self-described "tree toad" (lover of a perfect lawn, the soft-porn masterpiece of Carnal Cuties, his Underwood typewriter, and, above all, his rebellious cousin Kate), lives through one amazing Lake Wobegon summer. Gary preoccupies himself by spinning fantastic yarns about boogers, talking dogs, conversations between God and Jesus, and especially melodramas featuring himself as hero and Kate as distresseddamsel.
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Very Nice Surprise for Me
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The Lake Wobegon Virus
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A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a Keep America Truckin' motorway and amusement park.
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Really looked forward to this but.....
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Lake Wobegon Days
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Garrison Keillor is the consummate storyteller, gifted with the rare ability, both in print and in performance, to hold an audience spellbound with his tales of ordinary people whose lives contain extraordinary moments of humor, tenderness, and grace. This exclusive recording of Garrison Keillor reading a carefully edited abridgement of the book also includes a few segments taken from live performances recorded during a fundraising tour for public radio stations in 1985.
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A great shot of Garrison Keillor...
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Performance
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An audiobook from Garrison Keillor, a man nearing age 80, on leaning into the beauty of getting old. “My life is so good at 79 I wonder why I waited this long to get here,” he writes. You learn that less is more, the great lesson of Jesus and also Buddha. Each day becomes important after you pass the point of life expectancy. Big problems vanish, small things make you happy.
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If Lazarus was a writer ?
- By Chris Storey on 11-12-22
By: Garrison Keillor
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- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
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Enjoyable and cheerful
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Boom Town
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- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Return to America’s most beloved fictional hometown! Lake Wobegon is having a boom year thanks to millennial entrepreneurship—AuntMildred’s.com Gourmet Meatloaf, for example, or Universal Fire, makers of artisanal firewood seasoned with sea salt. Meanwhile, the author flies in to give eulogies at the funerals of five classmates, including a couple whom he disliked, and he finds a wave of narcissism crashing on the rocks of Lutheran stoicism.
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By: Garrison Keillor
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Lake Wobegon Summer 1956
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fourteen-year-old Gary, a self-described "tree toad" (lover of a perfect lawn, the soft-porn masterpiece of Carnal Cuties, his Underwood typewriter, and, above all, his rebellious cousin Kate), lives through one amazing Lake Wobegon summer. Gary preoccupies himself by spinning fantastic yarns about boogers, talking dogs, conversations between God and Jesus, and especially melodramas featuring himself as hero and Kate as distresseddamsel.
-
-
Very Nice Surprise for Me
- By Michael on 01-20-05
By: Garrison Keillor
-
The Lake Wobegon Virus
- A Novel
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor, Richard Dworsky - instrumental soloist
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a Keep America Truckin' motorway and amusement park.
-
-
Really looked forward to this but.....
- By Maggie & Kates Mom on 10-17-20
By: Garrison Keillor
-
Lake Wobegon Days
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Garrison Keillor is the consummate storyteller, gifted with the rare ability, both in print and in performance, to hold an audience spellbound with his tales of ordinary people whose lives contain extraordinary moments of humor, tenderness, and grace. This exclusive recording of Garrison Keillor reading a carefully edited abridgement of the book also includes a few segments taken from live performances recorded during a fundraising tour for public radio stations in 1985.
-
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A great shot of Garrison Keillor...
- By MrGee on 08-28-05
By: Garrison Keillor
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The Road Home
- Stories from Lake Wobegon
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From America's favorite storyteller, here are 18 new tales of Lake Wobegon, handpicked from live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion.
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Not Worth Full Price
- By Paul on 11-13-17
By: Garrison Keillor
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WLT
- A Radio Romance
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 6 hrs
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the spring of 1926, the Soderbjerg brothers, Ray and Roy, plunge into radio by founding Station WLT (With Lettuce and Tomato) in order to rescue their failing restaurant and become the Sandwich Kings of South Minneapolis. For the next 25 years, the "Friendly Neighbor" station produces a dazzling array of shows and stars: Dad Benson, Wingo Beals, Slim Graves and his Blue Movers, chain-smoking child star Little Becky, and household-tips maven Lucille Larson (who repeatedly broadcasts in her underwear).
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Funny!
- By Steve on 10-30-04
By: Garrison Keillor
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That Time of Year
- A Minnesota Life
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In That Time of Year, Garrison Keillor looks back on his life and recounts how a Brethren boy with writerly ambitions grew up in a small town on the Mississippi in the 1950s and, seeing three good friends die young, turned to comedy and radio. Through a series of unreasonable lucky breaks, he founded A Prairie Home Companion and put himself in line for a good life, including mistakes, regrets, and a few medical adventures.
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Fascinating Journey of a Unique American
- By David of Oyster Bay on 01-29-21
By: Garrison Keillor
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Stories
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this delightful audio collection, Garrison Keillor reads 14 of his own favorite stories from his many years as a writer for The New Yorker and from two of his best-selling books, Happy To Be Here and We Are Still Married. These selections embody all of the qualities that make Keillor such a beloved storyteller; his effortless blending of humor and poignancy, his keen observations and gentle insights, and his rare ability to bring a sense of truth to every tale he tells.
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good for fans
- By Chris Dorosky on 12-06-05
By: Garrison Keillor
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Wobegon Boy
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the millions of listeners who follow the tales of Lake Wobegon and A Prairie Home Companion every Saturday night on public radio, and for fans of Garrison Keillor's literary take on life in our times, this audiobook will be most welcome.
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This Book Makes you Think
- By Lynda on 02-06-05
By: Garrison Keillor
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The Book of Guys
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Narrated by: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 2 hrs and 53 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this collection of stories you'll meet a bunch of memorable guys including Lonesome Shorty, a cowpoke torn between the proud life in the saddle and the comforts of warm apartments and women; Buddy, the teen-age leper in Sioux Falls; Earl Grey, the great tea inventor and former Republican child; Casey, at the bat in Mudville again; Dionysus, the god of wine; and Roy Bradley, boy broadcaster.
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Intriguing but too depressing
- By Timothy Jorgensen on 08-09-06
By: Garrison Keillor
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Being Henry
- The Fonz . . . and Beyond
- By: Henry Winkler
- Narrated by: Henry Winkler
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Henry Winkler, launched into prominence as “The Fonz” in the beloved Happy Days, has transcended the role that made him who he is. Brilliant, funny, and widely regarded as the nicest man in Hollywood (though he would be the first to tell you that it’s simply not the case, he’s really just grateful to be here), Henry shares in this achingly vulnerable memoir the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia, the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own, and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you.
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Wowww what a life, what a man
- By Paul Schabes on 10-31-23
By: Henry Winkler
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Garrison Keillor at the 92nd Street Y
- By: Garrison Keillor
- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Garrison Keillor, host of A Prarie Home Companion and best-selling author of The Book of Guys, Lake Wobegon Days, and Wobegon Boy, discusses the meaning of Lake Wobegon in his books.
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I will always be in Lake Wobegon with you
- By Chris Bushnell on 01-16-21
By: Garrison Keillor
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Pride and Prejudice
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone looking for a great listen won’t be able to resist Jane Austen’s delightful classic of love and manners in Regency England. Jane Austen's story of Mrs. Bennet's finding husbands for her daughters is told with wit and charm. A must for lovers of good literature. Commuters Library presents Pride and Prejudice read by Kate Reading.
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Excellent Narrator
- By C. A. Likely on 03-12-07
By: Jane Austen
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Holidays on Ice
- Featuring Six New Stories
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters ("Us and Them"); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French ("Jesus Shaves"); and what to do when you've been locked out in a snowstorm ("Let It Snow").
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Best When In SantaLand
- By Dave on 12-06-11
By: David Sedaris
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The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jay Gatsby is still in love with Daisy, whom he met during the war when he was penniless. Having made himself wealthy through illegal means, he now lives in a mansion across the bay from the home of Daisy Buchanan, who has since married for money. Holding on to his illusion of Daisy as perfect, he seeks to impress her with his wealth, and uses his new neighbor, Nick Carraway, (our narrator), to reach her.
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Didn't realize how good this was
- By Tad Davis on 02-17-14
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11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
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I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
By: Stephen King
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- Narrated by: Chris Ciulla
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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For years, guitarist Quinn Porter has been on the road, chasing gig after gig, largely absent to his twice-ex-wife Belle and their odd, Guinness records-obsessed son. When the boy dies suddenly, Quinn seeks forgiveness for his paternal shortcomings by completing the requirements for one of his son's unfinished Boy Scout badges. For seven Saturdays Quinn does yard work for Ona Vitkus, the spry 104-year-old Lithuanian immigrant the boy had visited weekly.
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Loved it
- By Justin on 10-20-16
By: Monica Wood
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She Got Up Off the Couch
- By: Haven Kimmel
- Narrated by: Haven Kimmel
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When we last saw Zippy, she was oblivious to the storm that was brewing in her home. Her mother, Delonda, had literally just gotten up off the couch and ridden her rickety bicycle down the road. Her dad was off somewhere, gambling or "working." And Zippy was lost in her own fabulous world of exploring the fringes of Moorland, Indiana.
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Great fun !!
- By Kim on 04-20-11
By: Haven Kimmel
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Lit
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- Narrated by: Mary Karr
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Lit follows Mary Karr's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness - and her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott" awakens her to the possibility of joy, and leads her to an unlikely faith.
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Finally! One for the "Win" column
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Liberating Paris
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Woodrow McIlmore, the town's golden boy and local gynecologist, is married to his beautiful high school sweetheart, Milan, and seems by all appearances to be leading the perfect life with his two children and extended family and friends. But when Wood's daughter announces that she is smitten with a college classmate and intends to marry him, her parents are stunned.
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Deeply moving, a great listen
- By Cynthia on 11-27-05
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The Stand
- By: Stephen King
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This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.
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My First Completed Stephen King Novel
- By Meaghan Bynum on 02-20-12
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Stories
- All-New Tales
- By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, Al Sarrantonio - editor, Joe Hill, and others
- Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
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The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.
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Something for Everyone
- By Nicole on 05-24-17
By: Neil Gaiman - author/editor, and others
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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
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When Vivi and Siddalee Walker, an unforgettable mother-daughter team, get into a savage fight over a New York Times article that refers to Vivi as a "tap-dancing child abuser", the fallout is felt from Louisiana to New York to Seattle. Siddalee, a successful theater director with a huge hit on her hands, panics and postpones her upcoming wedding to her lover and friend, Connor McGill. Vivi's intrepid gang of lifelong girlfriends, the Ya-Yas, sashay in and conspire to bring everyone back together.
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As usual the book is better than the movie
- By Denzil and Judy's Account on 03-25-10
By: Rebecca Wells
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Shadow Show
- All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
- By: Sam Weller - editor, Mort Castle - editor
- Narrated by: George Takei, Edward Herrmann, Kate Mulgrew, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
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Ray Bradbury - peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors - is a literary giant whose remarkable career spanned seven decades. Now 26 of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.
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THE MAN WHO FORGOT RAY BRADBURY
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 05-27-17
By: Sam Weller - editor, and others
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Hope you aren't conservative in any way.
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A wealthy and depressed man (thanks to the economy, he's not quite rich enough to expand his cache of paintings by Vincent Van Guy, the famed Dutch realist) bound for Christmas in the tropics is abruptly summoned home to North Dakota to visit an ailing aunt. He arrives just in time to be trapped there by a blizzard. The electricity goes out, and when it does, figures from his childhood appear, and historical figures too, for a festive candlelit holiday.
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I laughed and I cried
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In the spring of 1926, the Soderbjerg brothers, Ray and Roy, plunge into radio by founding Station WLT (With Lettuce and Tomato) in order to rescue their failing restaurant and become the Sandwich Kings of South Minneapolis. For the next 25 years, the "Friendly Neighbor" station produces a dazzling array of shows and stars: Dad Benson, Wingo Beals, Slim Graves and his Blue Movers, chain-smoking child star Little Becky, and household-tips maven Lucille Larson (who repeatedly broadcasts in her underwear).
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Funny!
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Intriguing but too depressing
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From America's favorite storyteller, here are 18 new tales of Lake Wobegon, handpicked from live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion.
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Not Worth Full Price
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Cheerfulness
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In Cheerfulness, veteran radio host and author Garrison Keillor reflects on a simple virtue that can help us in this stressful and sometimes gloomy era. Drawing on personal anecdotes from his young adulthood into his 80s, Keillor sheds light on the immense good that can come from a deliberate work ethic and a buoyant demeanor.
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Enjoyable and cheerful
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In this delightful audio collection, Garrison Keillor reads 14 of his own favorite stories from his many years as a writer for The New Yorker and from two of his best-selling books, Happy To Be Here and We Are Still Married. These selections embody all of the qualities that make Keillor such a beloved storyteller; his effortless blending of humor and poignancy, his keen observations and gentle insights, and his rare ability to bring a sense of truth to every tale he tells.
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good for fans
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Good Poems
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Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence. It features the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds Good Poems includes poems about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendence.
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Very good, but. . .
- By KSmith on 01-27-11
By: Emily Dickinson, and others
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Me
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He's big. He's bold. He's brash. And as the new governor of Minnesota, Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente is the most compelling figure to appear on the state - and national - political landscape in decades.
The new King of American Politics (and former UWA World Champion) tells all to best-selling author, public radio show host, and fellow Minnesotan Garrison Keillor. This is satire at its best, delivered as only Keillor can.
By: Garrison Keillor
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Garrison Keillor at the 92nd Street Y
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Garrison Keillor, host of A Prarie Home Companion and best-selling author of The Book of Guys, Lake Wobegon Days, and Wobegon Boy, discusses the meaning of Lake Wobegon in his books.
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I will always be in Lake Wobegon with you
- By Chris Bushnell on 01-16-21
By: Garrison Keillor
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Serenity at 70, Gaiety at 80
- Why You Should Keep On Getting Older
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An audiobook from Garrison Keillor, a man nearing age 80, on leaning into the beauty of getting old. “My life is so good at 79 I wonder why I waited this long to get here,” he writes. You learn that less is more, the great lesson of Jesus and also Buddha. Each day becomes important after you pass the point of life expectancy. Big problems vanish, small things make you happy.
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If Lazarus was a writer ?
- By Chris Storey on 11-12-22
By: Garrison Keillor
What listeners say about Liberty
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Placeholder
- 06-01-16
loved it
This was unexpexcted, but I loved the story and that Mr. Keller was the one to read it.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-04-17
Delightful
Master story teller, Keillor weaves a web of Wobegon life than makes you laugh outloud
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- Kathryn Walker
- 12-18-13
Surprising
If you could sum up Liberty in three words, what would they be?
I think of Garrison Keillor as the affable host on Prairie Home Companion. This story has some elements I found surprising, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could listen to GK daily!
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- Carl R. Ehramjian
- 12-10-17
True Keilor
Love Garrison's stories and love the way he tells them. A different twist on Wobegon stories.
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- Dubi
- 10-27-14
Sixty Shades of Liberty
Clint Bunsen's midlife crisis arrives a little later than usual, the day he turns 60. His prized position as committee chair of Lake Wobegon's over-the-top Fourth of July celebration is taken away despite being so successful that it's being covered for the second straight year by CNN. His car business is withering on the vine. He has to decide whether to accept an offer to run for Congress. He may have a health issue. He has just discovered via a DNA test that he is of Spanish ancestry rather Norwegian like the other Wobegonians.
But more than anything else, his life is upended by a brief but torrid affair with the young woman who filled in last year as the Statue of Liberty in the Fourth of July parade. So much so that he regrets his long-ago decision to come home after leaving the navy and marry his high school sweetheart rather than staying in California and going to art school, and he is now considering the possibility of leaving his wife and Lake Wobegon to go to California with his new flame (a little too obviously named Angelica Pflame).
Clint Bunsen is a mainstay of Garrison Keillor's weekly NPR radio show segment, The News From Lake Wobegon. In Liberty, he gets his own novel, in which various shades of the concept of "liberty" are at the heart of his various personal crises. As usual, Clint's story is really just a fulcrum for another look at life in Lake Wobegon, filtered through the lens of its renowned multimedia chronicler, Keillor. If you're a fan of the radio show and think you would enjoy a novel-length installment about Wobegon, Liberty will work for you, especially since Keillor narrates his own book in his inimitable style.
Me, I really loved the first half of the book, when the focus was on the political machinations of the Fourth of July committee as they recap the previous Fourth and plan the next. I felt that the story lost steam when it shifted its attention to Clint's affair. I would argue that my flagging interest level was inevitable by definition once the story shifted focus because it became more about Clint than about Lake Wobegon -- fans of Lake Wobegon are fans of Keillor's satire of small-town life more than its individual inhabitants, except insofar as they interact with each other as part of the social fabric.
Nevertheless, Liberty was an enjoyable listen, wry if not laugh out loud funny, cleverly built around the concept of liberty, with the Fourth of July as an apt and grandiose metaphor as well as framing device, and, to reiterate, benefiting in the best possible way by being narrated by its golden-voiced author.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-10-17
Garrison spins a tale about middle age disillusion
Garrison is always a delight as Clint wrestles with middle age angst! a great read
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Overall
- Roy
- 01-02-11
Liberty for Lake Wobegoen
I have been a fan of Keillor for some time. Anyone who has a chance to see his radio show in person, should do so. I have enjoyed his books and have met him once to my delight. This is not one of his better books, but it is very entertaining nonetheless. The characters are familiar to readers who know him and his insights into human thought and behavior are stimulating as always. Anyone who has not heard of or read after Keillor would, perhaps, better start with another of his volumes. Also, if you are listening to this book in the car with others or around children, there are some mildly graphic segments which you may want to avoid. Otherwise, Keillor fans enjoy. The book is a grood driving across the country listen and, of course, Mr. Keillor's reading is wonderful.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Leslie Helgerson
- 06-08-14
Drive on past Lake Wobegon
I used to enjoy Garrison Keillor Lake stories. Dry, slow but funny. Now, just slow and dry and very little humor.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Richard
- 07-19-09
A must-listen for the Prarie Home Companion fan
If you're not a PHC fan, no promises. However, if you love the News from Lake Wobegon, you'll eat this up.
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4 people found this helpful
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- E. Pearson
- 11-23-11
Keillor's Essays are His Strength
I was into this story pretty well for a couple of chapters, but eventually faded out. This is my third attempt at reading Keillor's fiction, with identical reactions. It's as though his self -imposed "family-appropriate" style with essays is utterly forsaken in his fiction, and the resutlt is that the otherwise delightful story is sacrificed for the freedom of being just a little bit "naughty" with his language and characters. I can handle rough language, sex and the meandering throughts of senility-bound men as well as most readers,, but if I'm to sacrifice this much time to a novel, I feel there must be a reasonable point or artfulness to the content. It strikes me that Keillor has not yet managed to devise a reliable style of writing fiction where he can inhabit both the worlds of great story-telling and edgy content. When he does, I will be an eager reader.
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