The Book That Matters Most
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Narrated by:
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Nina Alvamar
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By:
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Ann Hood
About this listen
An enthralling novel about love, loss, secrets, friendship, and the healing power of literature, by the best-selling author of The Knitting Circle.
Ava's 25-year marriage has fallen apart, and her two grown children are pursuing their own lives outside of the country. Ava joins a book group, not only for her love of reading but also out of sheer desperation for companionship. The group's goal throughout the year is for each member to present the book that matters most to them. Ava rediscovers a mysterious book from her childhood - one that helped her through the traumas of the untimely deaths of her sister and mother.
Alternating with Ava's story is that of her troubled daughter, Maggie, who, living in Paris, descends into a destructive relationship with an older man. Ava's mission to find that book and its enigmatic author takes her on a quest that unravels the secrets of her past and offers her and Maggie the chance to remake their lives.
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- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When it happens to you, you will be surprised. That thing they say about how you knew all the time, but just weren't facing it? That might be the case, but nevertheless, there you will be. Molly Ringwald mines the complexities of modern relationships in this gripping and nuanced collection of interlinked stories. Writing with a deep compassion for human imperfection, Ringwald follows a Los Angeles family and their friends and neighbors while they negotiate the hazardous terrain of everyday life - revealing the deceptions, heartbreak, and vulnerability familiar to us all.
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Narrated by Molly!
- By JillHen on 03-01-13
By: Molly Ringwald
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Tapestry of Fortunes
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Cecilia Ross is looking for a change. She has decided to take time off from her job as a successful motivational speaker and sell her home. She moves in to a beautiful old house in St. Paul, Minnesota, complete with a big front porch, a wild garden, a chef's kitchen - and three roommates. The four women are different ages, but all are feeling restless, and want to take a roadtrip to find the people and things they miss.
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Mellow story
- By Amazon Customer on 04-24-17
By: Elizabeth Berg
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Orange Mint and Honey
- By: Carleen Brice
- Narrated by: Cherise Booth
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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After grad school, Shay Dixon feels like she's had enough for awhile. Inspired by her spiritual adviser - a soul-soothing blues player named Nina Simon - Shay calls her estranged mother Nona for the first time in years, and shocks herself by asking if it would be okay to come home for a while.
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One For The Money
- By DiaRose on 09-25-17
By: Carleen Brice
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Coming Up for Air
- By: Patti Callahan Henry
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Ellie Calvin is caught in a dying marriage, and she knows this. With her beloved daughter away at college and a growing gap between her and her husband - between her reality and the woman she wants to be - she doesn’t quite seem to fit into her own life. But everything changes after her controlling mother, Lillian, passes away. Ellie’s world turns upside down when she sees her ex-boyfriend, Hutch, at her mother’s funeral and learns that he is in charge of a documentary that involved Lillian before her death. He wants answers to questions that Ellie’s not sure she can face....
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Unable To Recommend
- By Gailgo on 08-31-11
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Chanel Bonfire
- By: Wendy Lawless
- Narrated by: Wendy Lawless
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time Wendy Lawless turned 17, she'd known for quite some time that she didn't have a normal mother. But that didn't stop her from wanting one.... Georgann Rea didn't bake cookies or go to PTA meetings; she wore a mink coat and always had a lit Dunhill plugged into her cigarette holder. She went through men like Kleenex, and didn't like dogs or children. Georgann had the ice queen beauty of a Hitchcock heroine and the cold heart to match.
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Not an Engaging Listen
- By Sobriquet on 03-13-13
By: Wendy Lawless
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
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Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
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Family Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Thayer
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Though Diane Randall’s jewelry business is a great success, her marriage is not, and she finds herself growing lonely as her children near adulthood. Meanwhile, her eighteen-year-old daughter Julia is falling dangerously in love, and Diane’s mother, Jean, is relishing her newfound freedom as a single woman in Europe. Distracted by their individual concerns, the three women are ill-prepared for the crisis that suddenly appears on Diane’s doorstep in the form of a handsome FBI agent asking about an explosive secret that’s laid buried for decades.
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Nancy! Is there a sequel? What?
- By PattieLynn on 12-02-22
By: Nancy Thayer
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Death by Cashmere
- Seaside Knitters, Book 1
- By: Sally Goldenbaum
- Narrated by: Julie McKay
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Not long after Isabel "Izzy" Chambers opens up a knitting shop in the sleepy fishing town of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, a diverse group of women begins congregating each week to form the Seaside Knitters. Izzy raises some eyebrows when she rents the apartment above her shop to Angie Archer, whose reputation for loose behavior and a quick temper has made her unpopular with many locals. But could any of them have wanted her dead? Angie's body is discovered drowned in the harbor, her long red hair tangled like seaweed in a lobster trap.
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Great first book in a new series
- By BayHighBaby on 03-03-16
By: Sally Goldenbaum
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The Ramblers
- A Novel
- By: Aidan Donnelley Rowley
- Narrated by: Erica Sullivan
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the most magical parts of Manhattan - the Upper West Side, Central Park, Greenwich Village - The Ramblers explores the lives of three lost souls bound together by friendship and family. During the course of one fateful Thanksgiving week, a time when emotions run high and being with family can be a mixed blessing, Rowley's sharply defined characters explore the moments when decisions are deliberately made, choices accepted, and pasts reconciled.
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Lovely Portrait of The City
- By Dingo27 on 02-19-16
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The Other Mother
- By: Rachel Harper
- Narrated by: January LaVoy, William DeMeritt
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
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Jenry Castillo is a musical prodigy, raised by a single mother in Miami, who arrives at Brown University on a scholarship—but also to learn more about his late father, Jasper Patterson, a famous ballet dancer who died tragically when Jenry was two. On his search, he meets his estranged grandfather, Winston Patterson, a legendary professor of African American history and a fixture at the Ivy League school, who explodes his world with one question: Why is Jenry so focused on Jasper, when it was Winston’s daughter, Juliet, who was Jenry’s mother’s lover?
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Very good.
- By Roland Harper on 05-22-22
By: Rachel Harper
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Too Similar to Other Stories
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Katherine shows up at Lucy’s Manhattan doorstep having run away from the marriage altar. Lucy isn’t thrilled to see her former sorority sister—her own life as a children’s book illustrator is complicated enough, especially as she may be falling out of love with her boyfriend. Along with Lucy’s oddball best friend, Julia, the women tackle the complicated challenge of being young, lost, and in search of life in New York City.
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listening to these makes me uncomfortable
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listening to these makes me uncomfortable
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What listeners say about The Book That Matters Most
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Susan Broersma
- 10-01-19
The Book That Matters Most
Perfect in every way! One for a repeat performance. Second book by Ann Hood that I've listened to. There will be more.
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- Becky Valdez
- 06-05-23
Good story
Well done! I loved the twists and turns. Well written and the characters were relatable.
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- Dora
- 01-09-21
Unrealistic ending
If the ending is unrealistic, I'm extremely disappointed in the whole story. I found it very interesting and entertaining...but the ending annoyed me very much.
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2 people found this helpful
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- cindy Ullman
- 01-07-21
This Book Matters
highly enjoyable book Club recommendation. highly liked and enjoyed and so very many discussion points.
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- Aparries
- 03-06-18
This book is why I read books
This is the epitome of simple and brilliant. Hood does an amazing job of weaving storylines in a coherent and uncomplicated way that takes the reader on an epic journey. The story is told through several characters each having a very different experience, but on a similar path. It is thought provoking and the author proves that you don’t need gimmicks to evoke emotion. Nina Alvamar does a wonderful job bringing each character to life. Her narration is true to the writing and isn’t overly fussy while giving each character a life of their own.
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- Jennifer
- 02-09-17
Loved the concept, not the book
The underlying concept of this book - choosing the book that matters most to you in your life - was what intrigued me most, and it was probably what kept me reading throughout the story. It made me reflect on what books have really had that kind of impact on me throughout the different phases of my life. I really enjoyed seeing what books the members of the book club in the story selected and added a few to my to-be-read list.
"Could a writer understand how her book had saved someone long ago, when the world was a fragile, scary place and the people she loved weren't in it anymore? Could a writer understand that her book had mattered more than anything?"
Unfortunately, for most of the book I was distracted by so many subplots, back and forth in time, undeveloped characters, and loose pieces of the story the author doesn't tie up. The entire storyline of Ava's daughter in Paris had me skimming pages and fast-forwarding past those pieces. Had it not been for the decent story buried throughout, I probably would have put this book down early on.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Angela
- 10-25-22
Unexpected
I bought this book and couldn’t get into it. So it sat unlisten to. Finally trying to listen to all the books I have not listened to, so I listened. About 40 minutes in I couldn’t stop listening.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-29-17
lovely book
good book. narrator was perfect for this novel. very easy to listen to. I would recommend, but don't know if I'd read again.
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1 person found this helpful
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- AJG16
- 03-19-18
A definite thumbs up
Through the first half I wondered where the book was going, but as I got further in it became more apparent. The ending was one I did NOT see coming, but I loved it.
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- Jennifer Pengelly
- 12-23-19
Hate to say good-bye
This book was not only fun to listen to, but it was deep and meaningful. I feel that everyone has life stories that they can relate to the story and the theme. I cried with sadness, for fear, for discovery, and of course for laughter. When I started it I thought it was just going to be this fun easy breezy read, but it is so ugh more than that! I hate to say good-bye to the “friends” I felt like I made in the book. So many times I wished I could jump into the pages and be a part of all the characters we’re going through. Read and figure out what is the most important book in our life!
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