-
The Egg and I
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 9 hrs
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $15.60
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
When Betty MacDonald married a marine and moved to a small chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild. With no running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, the MacDonalds had barely a moment to put their feet up and relax. And then came the children. Yet through every trial and pitfall - through chaos and catastrophe - this indomitable family somehow, mercifully, never lost its sense of humor.
A beloved literary treasure for more than half a century, Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I is a heartwarming and uproarious account of adventure and survival on the American frontier.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Plague and I
- Common Reader Editions
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
" The Plague and I" recounts MacDonald's experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly. "Anybody Can Do Anything" is a high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how "the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family" brightened their weathering of the Great Depression.
-
-
Interesting
- By Jean on 04-20-16
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Onions in the Stew
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author recalls episodes of love and humor from her experiences living on Vashon Island in Puget Sound.
-
-
A humorous tale of island living!
- By DabOfDarkness on 03-26-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Anybody Can Do Anything
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After surviving both the failed chicken farm - and marriage - immortalized in The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald returns to live with her mother and desperately searches to find a job to support her two young daughters. With the help of her older sister Mary, Anybody Can Do Anything recounts her failed, and often hilarious, attempts to find work during the Great Depression.
-
-
Great storyteller
- By Dawn H on 03-14-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Looking for Betty MacDonald
- The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
- By: Paula Becker
- Narrated by: Paula Becker
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Betty Bard MacDonald (1907 - 1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year.
-
-
Fascinating Woman - Great Biography!
- By DabOfDarkness on 04-16-17
By: Paula Becker
-
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.
-
-
Perfect for long commutes
- By Brenda F. on 10-04-18
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Plague and I
- Common Reader Editions
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
" The Plague and I" recounts MacDonald's experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly. "Anybody Can Do Anything" is a high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how "the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family" brightened their weathering of the Great Depression.
-
-
Interesting
- By Jean on 04-20-16
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Onions in the Stew
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author recalls episodes of love and humor from her experiences living on Vashon Island in Puget Sound.
-
-
A humorous tale of island living!
- By DabOfDarkness on 03-26-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Anybody Can Do Anything
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After surviving both the failed chicken farm - and marriage - immortalized in The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald returns to live with her mother and desperately searches to find a job to support her two young daughters. With the help of her older sister Mary, Anybody Can Do Anything recounts her failed, and often hilarious, attempts to find work during the Great Depression.
-
-
Great storyteller
- By Dawn H on 03-14-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Looking for Betty MacDonald
- The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
- By: Paula Becker
- Narrated by: Paula Becker
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Betty Bard MacDonald (1907 - 1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year.
-
-
Fascinating Woman - Great Biography!
- By DabOfDarkness on 04-16-17
By: Paula Becker
-
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.
-
-
Perfect for long commutes
- By Brenda F. on 10-04-18
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
The Curve of Time
- By: M. Wylie Blanchet
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when Vancouver Island was still an extremely remote and sparsely populated backwater, a young widow packed her five children into a 25-foot boat dubbed The Caprice and set off on an adventure. Summer after summer the brave young mother, who became known as "Capi," would set sail and explore the rugged coastline for months with her young crew. Although the hazards the family faced were numerous-tides, fog, storms, rapids, cougars, and even grizzlies-Capi brought them through it all.
-
-
A Memoir Of Life As An Adventure In Nature
- By Sara on 02-01-16
-
Funny Farm
- My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals
- By: Laurie Zaleski
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie’s dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream come true. Thirty years later as a successful businesswoman, she did it, buying a 15-acre farm deep in the Pinelands of South Jersey. She was planning to relocate Annie and her caravan of ragtag rescues - horses and goats, dogs and cats, chickens and pigs - when Annie died, just two weeks before moving day. In her heartbreak, Laurie resolved to make her mother’s dream her own.
-
-
Heartwarming
- By Petfan on 04-13-22
By: Laurie Zaleski
-
All Creatures Great and Small
- The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World's Most Beloved Animal Doctor
- By: James Herriot
- Narrated by: Christopher Timothy
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this first volume of his memoirs, then-newly-qualified vet James Herriot arrives in the small Yorkshire village of Darrowby, and he has no idea what to expect. How will he get on with his new boss? The local farmers? And what will the animals think? This program is filled with hilarious and touching tales of the unpredictable Siegfried Farnon, his charming student brother Tristan, and Herriot's first encounters with a beautiful girl named Helen.
-
-
A Wonderful Listen--Stories That Never Get Old
- By Sara on 09-10-14
By: James Herriot
-
Cheaper by the Dozen
- By: Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
- Narrated by: Dana Ivey
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No growing pains have ever been more hilarious than those suffered loudly by the riotous Gilbreth clan. First, there are a dozen red-haired, freckle-faced kids to contend with. Then there's Dad, a famous efficiency expert who believes a family can be run just like a factory.
-
-
Narration: Slighty Less Annoying than Fruit Flies
- By Stephanie L. Thompson on 09-07-14
By: Frank B. Gilbreth, and others
-
Little Heathens
- Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
- By: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- Narrated by: Ruth Ann Phimister
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As foreclosure fragments her family, five-year-old Mildred and her three siblings find refuge with her grandparents enjoying a modest retirement. When the "little heathens" flush the seniors and their child-rearing skills out of retirement, the grandparents deploy tough but loving bedtime schedules, Bible and prayer routines, and plenty of character-building chores. Having no electricity or indoor plumbing and with little heat or money on the farm, Mildred learns to find joy in the priceless blessings of life.
-
-
Makes you appreciate today's living
- By Susan on 03-11-11
-
Little House in the Big Woods
- Little House, Book 1
- By: Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Narrated by: Cherry Jones
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Told from four-year-old Laura's point of view, this story begins in 1871 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Laura lives in the little house with her pa, her ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their trusty dog, Jack. Pioneer life is sometimes hard for the family, since they must grow or catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But it is also exciting as Laura and her family celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do the spring planting, bring in the harvest, and make their first trip into town.
-
-
GRANDMA WAS JIGGING
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 02-16-17
-
Frontier Follies
- Adventures in Marriage and Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere
- By: Ree Drummond
- Narrated by: Ree Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From her beginnings as an early blogger, Ree Drummond has become a household name with a passionate following of devoted fans. On her blog, in her magazine, and on her cooking show, Ree shares recipes, tales of her adventures in the country, and stories of everyday life with her four children and cowboy/rancher husband.
-
-
You're my Ramona 🙃
- By Ry Sei on 03-19-21
By: Ree Drummond
-
Half Broke Horses
- A True-Life Novel
- By: Jeannette Walls
- Narrated by: Jeannette Walls
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" ( Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person voice that is authentic, irresistible, and triumphant.
-
-
A BETTER BOOK THAN "THE GLASS CASTLE"
- By Kathryn on 01-10-10
By: Jeannette Walls
-
Under the Trestle
- The 1980 Disappearance of Gina Renee Hall & Virginia’s First “No Body” Murder Trial
- By: Ron Peterson Jr.
- Narrated by: Kyle Tait
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Under the Trestle is the true story of the most compelling murder case in Virginia history. In 1980, Gina Renee Hall, a Radford University freshman, went to a Virginia Tech nightclub on a Saturday night. She was never seen again. Her abandoned car was found parked beneath a railroad trestle bridging the New River, with blood in the trunk. The investigation led police to a secluded cabin on Claytor Lake, where there was evidence of a violent attack. Former Virginia Tech football player Stephen Epperly was charged with murder, despite the fact that Gina's body was never found.
-
-
Beat Audiobook I’ve ever heard!
- By David Lane on 04-03-19
By: Ron Peterson Jr.
-
Pastoral Song
- By: James Rebanks
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a boy, James Rebanks's grandfather taught him to work the land the old way. Their family farm in England's Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognizable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song.
-
-
Peter Noble's narration ruined this book for me.
- By sarah clayton on 08-18-21
By: James Rebanks
-
A Land Remembered
- By: Patrick D. Smith
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this best-selling novel, Patrick D. Smith tells the story of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family who battle the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias MacIvey arrives in the Florida wilderness to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that the land has been exploited far beyond human need.
-
-
Excellent historical tale
- By Boysmom on 04-10-15
By: Patrick D. Smith
-
The Dirty Life
- On Farming, Food, and Love
- By: Kristin Kimball
- Narrated by: Kristin Kimball
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Kristin Kimball left New York City to interview a dynamic young farmer named Mark, her world changed. On an impulse, she shed her city self and started a new farm with him on 500 acres near Lake Champlain. The Dirty Life is the captivating chronicle of the couple’s first year on Essex Farm, from the cold North Country winter through their harvest-season wedding in the loft of the barn.
-
-
I have mixed feelings about this one...
- By Maria on 01-01-20
By: Kristin Kimball
Related to this topic
-
Running on Red Dog Road
- And Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood
- By: Drema Hall Berkheimer
- Narrated by: Bailey Carr
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gypsies, faith-healers, moonshiners, and snake handlers weave through Drema's childhood in 1940s Appalachia after her father is killed in the coal mines, her mother goes off to work as a Rosie the Riveter, and she is left in the care of devout Pentecostal grandparents. What follows is a spitfire of a memoir that feels like a novel with intrigue, sweeping emotion, and indisputable charm. Drema's coming of age is colored by tent revivals with Grandpa, poetry-writing hobos, and traveling carnivals, and through it all, she serves witness to a multi-generational family.
-
-
Narrator’s attempt at a southern accent distracting to story
- By Ryan C. Bango on 01-05-22
-
Little Heathens
- Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
- By: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- Narrated by: Ruth Ann Phimister
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As foreclosure fragments her family, five-year-old Mildred and her three siblings find refuge with her grandparents enjoying a modest retirement. When the "little heathens" flush the seniors and their child-rearing skills out of retirement, the grandparents deploy tough but loving bedtime schedules, Bible and prayer routines, and plenty of character-building chores. Having no electricity or indoor plumbing and with little heat or money on the farm, Mildred learns to find joy in the priceless blessings of life.
-
-
Makes you appreciate today's living
- By Susan on 03-11-11
-
Letters of a Woman Homesteader
- By: Elinore Pruitt Stewart
- Narrated by: Gwen Hughes
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Letters of a Woman Homesteader is a frontier classic by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, a widowed young mother who accepted an offer to assist with a ranch in Wyoming. In Stewart's delightful collection of letters, she describes her homesteading experiences to her former employer, Mrs. Coney.
-
-
Every woman in the US should read this book.
- By Dolly Jane Prenzel on 03-17-15
-
The Saturdays
- By: Elizabeth Enright
- Narrated by: Pamela Dillman
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The four Melendy children live with their father and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, in a worn but comfortable brownstone in New York City. There's thirteen-year-old Mona, who has decided to become an actress; twelve-year-old mischievous Rush; ten-year-old Randy who loves to dance and paint; and thoughtful Oliver, who is just six-years-old.
-
-
Excellent for children and adults
- By Dale on 05-15-04
-
Nothing with Strings
- NPR's Beloved Holiday Stories
- By: Bailey White
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mundane and the miraculous stand side by side in these sketches and stories of Southern small-time life by the author of Quite a Year for Plums.
-
-
A real jewel.
- By Mary on 12-31-08
By: Bailey White
-
Rascal
- By: Sterling North
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1918 Wisconsin, 11-year-old Sterling North has an almost perfect life. He keeps skunks in the backyard, goes everywhere with his enormous Saint Bernard, and is building a canoe in the living room. The only trouble is life gets a little lonely for him and his father since his mother died. While scouting around the woods one afternoon, he discovers an abandoned, month-old raccoon. Afraid the kit will die on its own, he takes it home to join his menagerie.
-
-
Very Enjoyable
- By Tad on 02-13-10
By: Sterling North
-
Running on Red Dog Road
- And Other Perils of an Appalachian Childhood
- By: Drema Hall Berkheimer
- Narrated by: Bailey Carr
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gypsies, faith-healers, moonshiners, and snake handlers weave through Drema's childhood in 1940s Appalachia after her father is killed in the coal mines, her mother goes off to work as a Rosie the Riveter, and she is left in the care of devout Pentecostal grandparents. What follows is a spitfire of a memoir that feels like a novel with intrigue, sweeping emotion, and indisputable charm. Drema's coming of age is colored by tent revivals with Grandpa, poetry-writing hobos, and traveling carnivals, and through it all, she serves witness to a multi-generational family.
-
-
Narrator’s attempt at a southern accent distracting to story
- By Ryan C. Bango on 01-05-22
-
Little Heathens
- Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
- By: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- Narrated by: Ruth Ann Phimister
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As foreclosure fragments her family, five-year-old Mildred and her three siblings find refuge with her grandparents enjoying a modest retirement. When the "little heathens" flush the seniors and their child-rearing skills out of retirement, the grandparents deploy tough but loving bedtime schedules, Bible and prayer routines, and plenty of character-building chores. Having no electricity or indoor plumbing and with little heat or money on the farm, Mildred learns to find joy in the priceless blessings of life.
-
-
Makes you appreciate today's living
- By Susan on 03-11-11
-
Letters of a Woman Homesteader
- By: Elinore Pruitt Stewart
- Narrated by: Gwen Hughes
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Letters of a Woman Homesteader is a frontier classic by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, a widowed young mother who accepted an offer to assist with a ranch in Wyoming. In Stewart's delightful collection of letters, she describes her homesteading experiences to her former employer, Mrs. Coney.
-
-
Every woman in the US should read this book.
- By Dolly Jane Prenzel on 03-17-15
-
The Saturdays
- By: Elizabeth Enright
- Narrated by: Pamela Dillman
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The four Melendy children live with their father and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, in a worn but comfortable brownstone in New York City. There's thirteen-year-old Mona, who has decided to become an actress; twelve-year-old mischievous Rush; ten-year-old Randy who loves to dance and paint; and thoughtful Oliver, who is just six-years-old.
-
-
Excellent for children and adults
- By Dale on 05-15-04
-
Nothing with Strings
- NPR's Beloved Holiday Stories
- By: Bailey White
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mundane and the miraculous stand side by side in these sketches and stories of Southern small-time life by the author of Quite a Year for Plums.
-
-
A real jewel.
- By Mary on 12-31-08
By: Bailey White
-
Rascal
- By: Sterling North
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1918 Wisconsin, 11-year-old Sterling North has an almost perfect life. He keeps skunks in the backyard, goes everywhere with his enormous Saint Bernard, and is building a canoe in the living room. The only trouble is life gets a little lonely for him and his father since his mother died. While scouting around the woods one afternoon, he discovers an abandoned, month-old raccoon. Afraid the kit will die on its own, he takes it home to join his menagerie.
-
-
Very Enjoyable
- By Tad on 02-13-10
By: Sterling North
-
Close Range
- Wyoming Stories (Selected Unabridged Stories)
- By: Annie Proulx
- Narrated by: Frances Fisher, Bruce Greenwood, Campbell Scott
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Annie Proulx's masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in this collection of stories about loneliness, quick violence, and wrong kinds of love. In "The Mud Below", a rodeo rider's obsession marks the deepening fissures between his family life and self-imposed isolation. In "The Half-Skinned Steer", an elderly fool drives west to the ranch he grew up on for his brother's funeral, and dies a mile from home.
-
-
A Wonderfully Ironic and Surprising Read
- By Susan L. Stewart on 04-21-12
By: Annie Proulx
-
Gap Creek
- By: Robert Morgan
- Narrated by: Jill Hill
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gap Creek is a powerful and touching story of a marriage at the turn of the century. For Julie and Hank, life grinds ever on without pause or concern for hard work. From devastating floods to encounters with intoxicated grifters, they survive the disappointments and triumphs of their new life together. An Oprah Book Club Pick. Browse more Oprah selections.
-
-
Painfully beautiful...
- By Eileen on 09-23-03
By: Robert Morgan
-
Coop
- A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting
- By: Michael Perry
- Narrated by: Michael Perry
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Last seen sleeping off his wedding night in the back of a 1951 International Harvester pickup, Michael Perry is now living in a rickety Wisconsin farmhouse. Faced with 37 acres of fallen fences and overgrown fields, and informed by his pregnant wife that she intends to deliver their baby at home, Perry plumbs his unorthodox childhood - his city-bred parents took in more than 100 foster children while running a ramshackle dairy farm - for clues to how to proceed as a farmer, a husband, and a father.
-
-
Meh
- By dpenney on 12-22-16
By: Michael Perry
-
So Big
- A Novel
- By: Edna Ferber
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and widely considered to be Edna Ferber’s greatest achievement, So Big is a classic novel of turn-of-the-century Chicago. So Big is the unforgettable story of the indomitable Selina Peake DeJong and her struggles to stay afloat and maintain her dignity in the face of a challenging marriage, widowhood, and single parenthood.
-
-
Excellent
- By Jean on 03-10-23
By: Edna Ferber
-
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
- An African Childhood
- By: Alexandra Fuller
- Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexandra Fuller tells the idiosyncratic story of her life growing up white in rural Rhodesia as it was becoming Zimbabwe. The daughter of hardworking, yet strikingly unconventional English-bred immigrants, Alexandra arrives in Africa at the tender age of two. She moves through life with a hardy resilience, even as a bloody war approaches. Narrator Lisette Lecat reads this remarkable memoir of a family clinging to a harsh landscape and the dying tenets of colonialism.
-
-
An African Childhood of Harrowing Proportions
- By Sara on 10-12-15
By: Alexandra Fuller
-
Father and I Were Ranchers
- Little Britches # 1
- By: Ralph Moody
- Narrated by: Cameron Beierle
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Moody family moves from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Experience the pleasures and perils of ranching in 20th Century America, through the eyes of a youngster.
-
-
Very dissappointed , too much cussing.
- By Lovelessnomore on 05-29-15
By: Ralph Moody
-
Little House in the Big Woods
- Little House, Book 1
- By: Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Narrated by: Cherry Jones
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Told from four-year-old Laura's point of view, this story begins in 1871 in a little log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Laura lives in the little house with her pa, her ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their trusty dog, Jack. Pioneer life is sometimes hard for the family, since they must grow or catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But it is also exciting as Laura and her family celebrate Christmas with homemade toys and treats, do the spring planting, bring in the harvest, and make their first trip into town.
-
-
GRANDMA WAS JIGGING
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 02-16-17
-
Prodigal Summer
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives in southern Appalachia. At the heart of these intertwined narratives is a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches them from an isolated mountain cabin where she is caught off-guard by Eddie Bondo, a young hunter who comes to invade her most private spaces and her solitary life.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Lily on 10-12-08
-
That Old Ace in the Hole
- By: Annie Proulx
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Annie Proulx's That Old Ace in the Hole is told through the eyes of Bob Dollar, a young Denver man trying to make good in a bad world. Dollar is out of college but aimless, when he takes a job with Global Pork Rind - his task to locate big spreads of land in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles that can be purchased by the corporation and converted to hog farms.
-
-
Doesn't work as a novel
- By Sarah C on 05-30-12
By: Annie Proulx
-
Chasing the North Star
- By: Robert Morgan
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free, Carra Patterson
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a moonless night in the spring of 1851, a young slave makes a bid for freedom with only the North Star to guide him. Best-selling novelist and historian Robert Morgan returns with a stunning new work of historical fiction.
-
-
Not what we thought
- By bds on 05-07-19
By: Robert Morgan
-
Ava's Man
- By: Rick Bragg
- Narrated by: Rick Bragg
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the same emotional generosity and effortlessly compelling storytelling that made All Over But the Shoutin’ a beloved bestseller, Rick Bragg continues his personal history of the Deep South. This time he’s writing about his grandfather Charlie Bundrum, a man who died before Bragg was born but left an indelible imprint on the people who loved him. Drawing on their memories, Bragg reconstructs the life of an unlettered roofer who kept food on his family’s table through the worst of the Great Depression
-
-
Deeply moving
- By Kate on 08-12-03
By: Rick Bragg
-
The Plague of Doves
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation.
-
-
Avoid this Plague
- By Andre on 05-16-08
By: Louise Erdrich
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Plague and I
- Common Reader Editions
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
" The Plague and I" recounts MacDonald's experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly. "Anybody Can Do Anything" is a high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how "the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family" brightened their weathering of the Great Depression.
-
-
Interesting
- By Jean on 04-20-16
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Onions in the Stew
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author recalls episodes of love and humor from her experiences living on Vashon Island in Puget Sound.
-
-
A humorous tale of island living!
- By DabOfDarkness on 03-26-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Anybody Can Do Anything
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After surviving both the failed chicken farm - and marriage - immortalized in The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald returns to live with her mother and desperately searches to find a job to support her two young daughters. With the help of her older sister Mary, Anybody Can Do Anything recounts her failed, and often hilarious, attempts to find work during the Great Depression.
-
-
Great storyteller
- By Dawn H on 03-14-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Looking for Betty MacDonald
- The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
- By: Paula Becker
- Narrated by: Paula Becker
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Betty Bard MacDonald (1907 - 1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year.
-
-
Fascinating Woman - Great Biography!
- By DabOfDarkness on 04-16-17
By: Paula Becker
-
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.
-
-
Perfect for long commutes
- By Brenda F. on 10-04-18
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Little Heathens
- Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
- By: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- Narrated by: Ruth Ann Phimister
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As foreclosure fragments her family, five-year-old Mildred and her three siblings find refuge with her grandparents enjoying a modest retirement. When the "little heathens" flush the seniors and their child-rearing skills out of retirement, the grandparents deploy tough but loving bedtime schedules, Bible and prayer routines, and plenty of character-building chores. Having no electricity or indoor plumbing and with little heat or money on the farm, Mildred learns to find joy in the priceless blessings of life.
-
-
Makes you appreciate today's living
- By Susan on 03-11-11
-
The Plague and I
- Common Reader Editions
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
" The Plague and I" recounts MacDonald's experiences in a Seattle sanitarium, where the author spent almost a year (1938-39) battling tuberculosis. The White Plague was no laughing matter, but MacDonald nonetheless makes a sprightly tale of her brush with something deadly. "Anybody Can Do Anything" is a high-spirited, hilarious celebration of how "the warmth and loyalty and laughter of a big family" brightened their weathering of the Great Depression.
-
-
Interesting
- By Jean on 04-20-16
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Onions in the Stew
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author recalls episodes of love and humor from her experiences living on Vashon Island in Puget Sound.
-
-
A humorous tale of island living!
- By DabOfDarkness on 03-26-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Anybody Can Do Anything
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Heather Henderson
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After surviving both the failed chicken farm - and marriage - immortalized in The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald returns to live with her mother and desperately searches to find a job to support her two young daughters. With the help of her older sister Mary, Anybody Can Do Anything recounts her failed, and often hilarious, attempts to find work during the Great Depression.
-
-
Great storyteller
- By Dawn H on 03-14-17
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Looking for Betty MacDonald
- The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I
- By: Paula Becker
- Narrated by: Paula Becker
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Betty Bard MacDonald (1907 - 1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year.
-
-
Fascinating Woman - Great Biography!
- By DabOfDarkness on 04-16-17
By: Paula Becker
-
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
- By: Betty MacDonald
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children. She can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.
-
-
Perfect for long commutes
- By Brenda F. on 10-04-18
By: Betty MacDonald
-
Little Heathens
- Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
- By: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- Narrated by: Ruth Ann Phimister
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As foreclosure fragments her family, five-year-old Mildred and her three siblings find refuge with her grandparents enjoying a modest retirement. When the "little heathens" flush the seniors and their child-rearing skills out of retirement, the grandparents deploy tough but loving bedtime schedules, Bible and prayer routines, and plenty of character-building chores. Having no electricity or indoor plumbing and with little heat or money on the farm, Mildred learns to find joy in the priceless blessings of life.
-
-
Makes you appreciate today's living
- By Susan on 03-11-11
What listeners say about The Egg and I
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sher from Provo
- 04-12-17
A "Must Read"
This book has been on my to-read list for a very long time. I am on a crusade to read more of these long-suffering books this year. The one I chose this time was "The Egg and I" by Betty McDonald. It was a good choice.
Mrs. McDonald has a great way of telling her life story, or at least the part that took place on an egg farm in Washington state. Life among her neighbors and others in this rural setting was never dull, and she tells about it with a great deal of humor and insight. She and her husband manage to make a go of their egg farm in spite of many hardships, including no electricity, but with a lot of determination. I was a little sad when I finished this book. It was a little like having great neighbors move away.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- garlic heart
- 06-20-16
can't get enough
This is the kind of story you want to keep with you and listen to over and over. The characters and entertaining, inspiring, comforting and funny.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ali - The Dragon Slayer
- 12-03-16
This is a wonderful portrayal of their life.
What made the experience of listening to The Egg and I the most enjoyable?
I was lucky enough to gain an audio copy of this and it made for very engrossing listening. The narration was spot on, I felt as though I was there shivering in that kitchen having a cup of coffee. When I started and realised it was about 9 hours long I thought it would take forever to hear it all when in fact I think I completed it in about 3 sessions because I was enthralled. I would happily listen to more stories by Betty.
What did you like best about this story?
I have always been fascinated by the 1940’s especially living ‘on the land’ and being fairly self sufficient. My parents had a chicken/egg business when I was a child and I have many happy memories of ‘collecting’ the eggs. However I live in the UK and I certainly wasn’t around in the 1940’s so that is where the similarities end!
Betty married and blindly followed her husband off to the bleak mountains in Washington state to follow his dream of owning a chicken ranch. This is her story told exactly how she lived it .. non-politically correct and with moments of what would be described these days as racism.
Any thought that it would be an easy existence rapidly disappeared as we hear about her struggling to light the stove, forgetting the kerosene, living by candlelight, scrubbing the laundry by hand, ironing with an old flat iron warmed briefly on aforementioned stove. Carrying buckets of water, walking 5 or more miles to her nearest neighbours not to mention the act of caring for the chickens!!
Their days would begin at 4am, cold, dark and monotonous. But Betty did as her husband told her. I enjoyed her descriptions of learning to sew and making anything crafty, she wasn’t naturally talented. She adored reading but books were not easy to come by.
What about Heather Henderson’s performance did you like?
Clear, concise narration with just the right inflection on the characters .. very engaging.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
This is a wonderful portrayal of their life but remember it was a LONG time ago and some of the issues may be sensitive but it’s as it was. Betty was very scathing of a lot of people around her, there are some fabulously humorous parts but I’m not sure her humour was appreciated by all. If you are of a delicate disposition then possibly some of the references to how the chicken industry works is not ideal.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rick
- 09-16-21
Amusing Book
The author recounts her experiences living on a chicken farm in rural Washington state in the late 1920s. It is a great fish out of water story in which she learns how to manage a household with no electricity, running water or any "modern" conveniences. It is the help she gets from her more experienced neighbors which made this book and the later movie famous as one set of neighbors sparked a long movie series focused on Ma and Pa Kettle. I have never see any of the movies but am familiar with the characters and what you find in the book seems very different than what you find in the movies where they are shown as uneducated country bumpkins. as you might see in a show like Beverly Hillbillies. Pa Kettle matches the stereotype, but Ma is more of a resourceful survivor who helps the author learn to cook and clean her house with the resources available. One element of the book I found particularly interesting is the insight it gives into the daily life of a woman living in such a situation. It gives you a lot more appreciation for the life of woman 100+ years ago when managing a household took precise planning similar to that of a major military operation. Ma Kettle in particular knew the value of setting priorities when you add in managing many kids. Some things just cannot be done with all the work needed and only so much time in a day. I also doubt the movie Ma was as earthy and profane as the Ma of the books. I liked the character, but I like the author's grandmother even more. I plan to watch the movie version of the book ASAP, but will probably skip the rest of the Kettle series.. I would normally warn of a spoiler, but the preface gives away the fact that the marriage depicted in the book was a short one and ended in divorce. You can certainly detect the problems in the marriage as you listen and know the outcome in advance. The reader is excellent. She really fits the voice of the plucky author well.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kallyn Keil
- 07-07-15
Love This Story
It's one of my favorites! I've read the book 5 times, only natural to also have it read to me. Funny, genuine and smart.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Beth Wade
- 12-01-16
Wry and witty and definitely of the era
What did you love best about The Egg and I?
I’ve wanted to read The Egg & I for several years, ever since I found out that my grandmother and grandfather had a small farm in Port Orchard, around the same time Betty MacDonald had the chicken ranch in Port Townsend (they would have been 60 miles apart, but experiencing similar challenges and beauty). My grandparents (all of them) died before I reached age 13, so I ever had a chance to know them as adults. It felt like reading this book would give me a better understanding, in some way, of who my grandmother was.
So when Audiobookworm Promotions advertised the release of it in audiobook format for the first time ever, I jumped at the chance. This is the kind of story very well-suited to an audiobook. The wry humor falls in the same storytelling vein as authors like Garrison Keillor, so listening to it was breezy and fun.
It’s always interesting to experience an actual historic novel- that is, written by someone living in that era, with all the ideals of the era and no consideration that these values may be incorrect. Historical fiction is fun, but always written from a modern perspective, so it lacks the raw punch of true historic accounts. Listening to Betty’s understanding (aka society’s expectation) of what it means to be a wife, her offhand racist comments toward First Nations, and her exasperation with the “current fad” of chicken ranching was both awkward and honest. Knowing this could have easily been my grandmother, I wanted to show her that she, too, could have wants and needs apart from catering to her husband. But, of course, that was the era.
Slight cringe-worthy moments aside, the dry wit applied to this memoir makes it fun. And it doesn’t romanticize the self-suficient country life or the area. It seems an apt read, given the rise of homesteading. And of course, listening to it fortified my resolve to never homestead.
I recommend it for fans of memoirs, the 1940s, homesteading and country/ranch life, western Washington, and dry humor. And I definitely recommend it in audiobook format.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rene
- 02-24-17
Delightful
Wonderful story. Great storytelling. Buying The Plague and I next. Surprised to discover this is where Ma and Pa Kettle came from.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tamara B.
- 12-02-16
This was a fun book to listen to!
Any additional comments?
The Egg and I, written by Betty MacDonald, is entertaining, witty, heartening, and uplifting. Ms. MacDonald took difficult times in her life and made them appear fun by utilizing witty and dry humor throughout. The good, the bad, and the ugly of married life on a chicken farm in the late 1920’s is written with such flare that even today I think some people will relate to some of the situations.
The Egg and I is narrated by Heather Henderson and she performed the story so well that I thought Betty MacDonald herself was sitting in my living room telling the story. Henderson’s voice is soothing and hypnotic and took an already great book to an utterly outstanding book! The ‘voice’ of Pa Kettle was perhaps my favorite, but the ‘voices’ of all the characters were distinctive and enjoyable to listen to. Ms. Henderson is a new narrator for me, but I will definitely search out more titles narrated by her in the future - especially the other books written by Betty MacDonald.
Overall, this was a fun book to listen to and I found myself laughing out loud throughout. The Egg and I is extremely well-written with charming and delightful characters and is one audio book that I will listen to again and again.
Story – 4 stars
Performance – 5 stars
Overall – 4.5 stars
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Leanne M. Matthews
- 08-11-18
It's a true gem
I have read this book many times, it is such a classic. I was not sure I would like the narrator, but after a few minutes I really found myself enjoying this version.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bill Staley
- 10-29-23
It's the Little House books, but from Ma's side
My wife and I enjoyed listening to this audiobook as we drove from Vashon Island down the Pacific Coast in Washington State. We had each read all of the "and I" books many years ago. The narrator (Heather Henderson) is perfect. Betty MacDonald's humor is a bit too arch for today's tastes. But we still laughed out loud. Her characterizations are priceless. We wondered if this was how Ma Ingalls felt about living with Pa in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful