-
The Nakano Thrift Shop
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Alexandra Bailey
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
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 $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
From the author of Strange Weather in Tokyo comes this funny, heartwarming story about love, life, and human relationships that features a delightfully offbeat cast of characters.
Objects for sale at the Nakano Thrift Shop appear as commonplace as the staff and customers that handle them. But like those same customers and staff, they hold many secrets. If examined carefully, they show the signs of innumerable extravagancies, of immeasurable pleasure and pain, and of the deep mysteries of the human heart.
Hitomi, the inexperienced young woman who works the register at Mr. Nakano's thrift shop, has fallen for her coworker, the oddly reserved Takeo. Unsure of how to attract his attention, she seeks advice from her employer's sister, Masayo, whose sentimental entanglements make her a somewhat unconventional guide. But thanks in part to Masayo, Hitomi will come to realize that love, desire, and intimacy require acceptance not only of idiosyncrasies but also of the delicate waltz between open and hidden secrets.
Animating each delicately rendered chapter in Kawakami's playful novel is Mr. Nakano himself, an original, entertaining, and enigmatic creation whose compulsive mannerisms, secretive love life, and impulsive behavior defy all expectations.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
-
-
Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
The Ten Loves of Nishino
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling and beloved Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami (The Nakano Thrift Shop) tells the story of an enigmatic man through the voices of 10 remarkable women who have loved him. Each woman has succumbed, even if only for an hour, to that seductive, imprudent, and furtively feline man who drifted so naturally into their lives. Still clinging to the vivid memory of his warm breath and his indecipherable sentences, 10 women tell their stories as they attempt to recreate the image of the unfathomable Nishino.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Rose on 08-08-21
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
Kitchen
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikage is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend, Yoichi, and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
-
-
First Time is the Charm
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-22-19
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Lady Joker, Volume 1
- By: Kaoru Takamura, Marie Iida - translator, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan. Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan’s largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company’s corrupt financiers.
-
-
So many stories, so much time
- By Curious on 10-24-22
By: Kaoru Takamura, and others
-
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job
- By: Kikuko Tsumura, Polly Barton - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that has the following traits: It’s close to her home, and it requires no reading, no writing, and, ideally, very little thinking. Her first gig - watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods - turns out to be inconvenient. Her next gives way to the supernatural: announcing advertisements for shops that mysteriously disappear. As she moves from job to job, it becomes increasingly apparent that she's not searching for the easiest job at all but something altogether more meaningful.
-
-
I LOVED it
- By Rose on 09-29-21
By: Kikuko Tsumura, and others
-
The Easy Life in Kamusari
- Forest, Book 1
- By: Shion Miura, Juliet Winters Carpenter - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuki Hirano is just out of high school when his parents enroll him, against his will, in a forestry training program in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. No phone, no internet, no shopping. Just a small, inviting community where the most common expression is “take it easy.” At first, Yuki is exhausted, fumbles with the tools, asks silly questions, and feels like an outcast. Kamusari is the last place a city boy from Yokohama wants to spend a year of his life. But as resistant as he might be, the scent of the cedars and the staggering beauty of the region have a pull.
-
-
I wanted it to be a true story
- By Scott on 05-19-22
By: Shion Miura, and others
-
Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
-
-
Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
The Ten Loves of Nishino
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling and beloved Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami (The Nakano Thrift Shop) tells the story of an enigmatic man through the voices of 10 remarkable women who have loved him. Each woman has succumbed, even if only for an hour, to that seductive, imprudent, and furtively feline man who drifted so naturally into their lives. Still clinging to the vivid memory of his warm breath and his indecipherable sentences, 10 women tell their stories as they attempt to recreate the image of the unfathomable Nishino.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Rose on 08-08-21
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
Kitchen
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikage is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend, Yoichi, and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
-
-
First Time is the Charm
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-22-19
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Lady Joker, Volume 1
- By: Kaoru Takamura, Marie Iida - translator, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan. Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan’s largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company’s corrupt financiers.
-
-
So many stories, so much time
- By Curious on 10-24-22
By: Kaoru Takamura, and others
-
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job
- By: Kikuko Tsumura, Polly Barton - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that has the following traits: It’s close to her home, and it requires no reading, no writing, and, ideally, very little thinking. Her first gig - watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods - turns out to be inconvenient. Her next gives way to the supernatural: announcing advertisements for shops that mysteriously disappear. As she moves from job to job, it becomes increasingly apparent that she's not searching for the easiest job at all but something altogether more meaningful.
-
-
I LOVED it
- By Rose on 09-29-21
By: Kikuko Tsumura, and others
-
The Easy Life in Kamusari
- Forest, Book 1
- By: Shion Miura, Juliet Winters Carpenter - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 6 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuki Hirano is just out of high school when his parents enroll him, against his will, in a forestry training program in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. No phone, no internet, no shopping. Just a small, inviting community where the most common expression is “take it easy.” At first, Yuki is exhausted, fumbles with the tools, asks silly questions, and feels like an outcast. Kamusari is the last place a city boy from Yokohama wants to spend a year of his life. But as resistant as he might be, the scent of the cedars and the staggering beauty of the region have a pull.
-
-
I wanted it to be a true story
- By Scott on 05-19-22
By: Shion Miura, and others
-
Amrita
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Alexandra Bailey
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a celebrated actress dies under shocking circumstances, she leaves behind an older sister, Sakumi, who suffers from memory loss in the wake of an accident. Struggling to remember whom she loves and what she lost, Sakumi embarks on a unique emotional journey, accompanied by her dead sister's lover and her clairvoyant kid brother.
-
-
Kind of ethereal - appealed to my taste
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-18-21
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Lonely Castle in the Mirror
- By: Mizuki Tsujimura, Philip Gabriel - translator
- Narrated by: Sarah Skaer
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bullied to the point of dropping out of school, Kokoro's days blur together as she hides in her bedroom, unable to face her family or friends. As she spirals into despair, her mirror begins to shine; with a touch, Kokoro is pulled from her lonely life into a resplendent, bizarre fairytale castle guarded by a strange girl in a wolf mask. Six other students have been brought to the castle, and soon this marvelous refuge becomes their playground.
-
-
I am so glad this book was recommended to me
- By Teresa on 01-09-24
By: Mizuki Tsujimura, and others
-
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
- A Novel
- By: Michiko Aoyama
- Narrated by: Hanako Footman, Susan Momoko Hingley, Kenichiro Thomson, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are you looking for? So asks Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian. For Sayuri Komachi is able to sense exactly what each visitor to her library is searching for and provide just the book recommendation to help them find it. A restless retail assistant looks to gain new skills, a mother tries to overcome demotion at work after maternity leave, a conscientious accountant yearns to open an antique store, a recently retired salaryman searches for newfound purpose. In Komachi’s unique book recommendations they will find just what they need to achieve their dreams.
-
-
The power of honesty and an open mind
- By ili pika on 09-10-23
By: Michiko Aoyama
-
The Memory Police
- A Novel
- By: Yoko Ogawa, Stephen Snyder - translator
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses - until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten. When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards.
-
-
A Calm, Quiet Dystopian
- By Booky Nooky on 12-13-19
By: Yoko Ogawa, and others
-
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
- Reese's Book Club (A Novel)
- By: Gail Honeyman
- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office.
-
-
Please be warned
- By N. Thompson on 06-20-17
By: Gail Honeyman
-
Lizard
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In "Newlywed", an unhappily married young man deliberately misses his stop on the train, only to be questioned by a shape-shifting homeless man about the trials of his marriage. In "Blood and Water", a woman recalls how she left the village she grew up in - which was run by a New Age cult - in order to lead a fulfilling life, even against her parents' wishes. And in the title story, "Lizard", a woman who has never before felt truly secure in her life admits a deep secret to her lover.
-
-
Profound!
- By Bonn Karla on 10-03-21
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
The Goldfinch
- By: Donna Tartt
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 32 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity. It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
-
-
Boy, am I in the minority on this one.
- By Bonny on 11-04-13
By: Donna Tartt
-
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
- A Novel
- By: Satoshi Yagisawa
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he’s been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako’s life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru.
-
-
Improtance of standing still
- By hazel hapin on 12-31-23
By: Satoshi Yagisawa
-
Don Quixote
- Translated by Edith Grossman
- By: Edith Grossman - translator, Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 39 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteenth-century Spanish gentleman Don Quixote, fed by his own delusional fantasies, takes to the road in search of chivalrous adventures. But his quest leads to more trouble than triumph. At once humorous, romantic, and sad, Don Quixote is a literary landmark. This fresh edition, by award-winning translator Edith Grossman, brings the tale to life as never before.
-
-
My Fourth Try at an Audible Quixote
- By James on 12-24-12
By: Edith Grossman - translator, and others
-
The Housekeeper and the Professor
- By: Yoko Ogawa
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He is a brilliant math professor with a peculiar problem - ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only 80 minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper - with a 10-year-old son-who is hired to care for the professor. And every morning, as the professor and the housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them.
-
-
The Wonder Of Kindness & Connection
- By Sara on 06-16-16
By: Yoko Ogawa
-
The Girl You Left Behind
- By: Jojo Moyes
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Penny Rawlins
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
France, 1916: Artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his young wife, Sophie, to fight at the front. When their small town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Edouard’s portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. As the officer’s dangerous obsession deepens, Sophie will risk everything - her family, her reputation, and her life - to see her husband again.
-
-
Exquisite Portrait of Sophie and Liz
- By FanB14 on 09-03-13
By: Jojo Moyes
-
Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
-
-
The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
Related to this topic
-
Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
-
-
Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
Don't Let Him Know
- By: Sandip Roy
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a boxy apartment building in an Illinois university town, Romola Mitra, a newly arrived young bride, anxiously awaits her first letter from home in India. When she accidentally opens the wrong letter, it changes her life. Decades later, her son Amit finds that letter and thinks he has discovered his mother's secret. But secrets have their own secrets sometimes.
-
-
another great book by Roy
- By Amazon Customer on 04-27-15
By: Sandip Roy
-
Before I Met You
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After her grandmother Arlette's death, Betty is finally ready to begin her life. She had forfeited university, parties, boyfriends, summer jobs in order to care for Arlette. Now she's ready for whatever life throws at her, and, since the will included a beneficiary unknown to her who lives in the city, she heads there to find the mysterious woman. In 1920s London, Arlette is starting her new life in a time of postwar change. Beautiful and charismatic, she's drawn into a hedonistic world, but then tragedy strikes, and she flees back to her childhood home....
-
-
Awful
- By cristina on 08-13-18
By: Lisa Jewell
-
Crewel World
- By: Monica Ferris
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Betsy Devonshire arrived in Excelsior, Minnesota, all she wanted was to visit her sister Margot and get her life in order. She never dreamed her sister would give her a place to stay and a job at her needlecraft shop. In fact, things had never looked so good - until Margot was murdered. In a town this friendly, it's hard to imagine who could have committed such a horrible act, but Betsy has a few ideas. There's an ex-employee who wants to start her own needlework store. And there's the landlord who wanted Margot out. Now Betsy's putting together a list of motives and suspects....
-
-
British style mystery set in America
- By Sara on 01-13-14
By: Monica Ferris
-
Murder Knocks Twice
- A Mystery (Speakeasy Mystery, Book 1)
- By: Susanna Calkins
- Narrated by: Sarah Naughton
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gina Ricci takes on a job as a cigarette girl to earn money for her ailing father. She’s enchanted by the harsh, glamorous world she discovers at Chicago’s most notorious 1920s speakeasy - all overseen by the club’s imposing owner, Signora Castallazzo. But the staff buzzes with whispers about Gina’s predecessor, who died mysteriously, and the brooding photographer, Marty, warns her to be careful. When Marty is brutally murdered, with Gina as the only witness, she’s determined to track down his killer.
-
-
1929 Murder in Chicago
- By Anitam918 on 09-24-20
By: Susanna Calkins
-
Christmas at Tiffany's
- By: Karen Swan
- Narrated by: Katie Scarfe
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, 10 years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is. So begins a yearlong trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London.
-
-
Perfectly Indulgent!
- By Abby Welker on 12-05-17
By: Karen Swan
-
Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
-
-
Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
Don't Let Him Know
- By: Sandip Roy
- Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a boxy apartment building in an Illinois university town, Romola Mitra, a newly arrived young bride, anxiously awaits her first letter from home in India. When she accidentally opens the wrong letter, it changes her life. Decades later, her son Amit finds that letter and thinks he has discovered his mother's secret. But secrets have their own secrets sometimes.
-
-
another great book by Roy
- By Amazon Customer on 04-27-15
By: Sandip Roy
-
Before I Met You
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Jewell
- Narrated by: Helen Duff
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After her grandmother Arlette's death, Betty is finally ready to begin her life. She had forfeited university, parties, boyfriends, summer jobs in order to care for Arlette. Now she's ready for whatever life throws at her, and, since the will included a beneficiary unknown to her who lives in the city, she heads there to find the mysterious woman. In 1920s London, Arlette is starting her new life in a time of postwar change. Beautiful and charismatic, she's drawn into a hedonistic world, but then tragedy strikes, and she flees back to her childhood home....
-
-
Awful
- By cristina on 08-13-18
By: Lisa Jewell
-
Crewel World
- By: Monica Ferris
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Betsy Devonshire arrived in Excelsior, Minnesota, all she wanted was to visit her sister Margot and get her life in order. She never dreamed her sister would give her a place to stay and a job at her needlecraft shop. In fact, things had never looked so good - until Margot was murdered. In a town this friendly, it's hard to imagine who could have committed such a horrible act, but Betsy has a few ideas. There's an ex-employee who wants to start her own needlework store. And there's the landlord who wanted Margot out. Now Betsy's putting together a list of motives and suspects....
-
-
British style mystery set in America
- By Sara on 01-13-14
By: Monica Ferris
-
Murder Knocks Twice
- A Mystery (Speakeasy Mystery, Book 1)
- By: Susanna Calkins
- Narrated by: Sarah Naughton
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gina Ricci takes on a job as a cigarette girl to earn money for her ailing father. She’s enchanted by the harsh, glamorous world she discovers at Chicago’s most notorious 1920s speakeasy - all overseen by the club’s imposing owner, Signora Castallazzo. But the staff buzzes with whispers about Gina’s predecessor, who died mysteriously, and the brooding photographer, Marty, warns her to be careful. When Marty is brutally murdered, with Gina as the only witness, she’s determined to track down his killer.
-
-
1929 Murder in Chicago
- By Anitam918 on 09-24-20
By: Susanna Calkins
-
Christmas at Tiffany's
- By: Karen Swan
- Narrated by: Katie Scarfe
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, 10 years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is. So begins a yearlong trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London.
-
-
Perfectly Indulgent!
- By Abby Welker on 12-05-17
By: Karen Swan
-
Secondhand Spirits
- A Witchcraft Mystery, Book 1
- By: Juliet Blackwell
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lily Ivory hopes for a normal life when she opens Aunt Cora's Closet. With her magical knack for vintage fashion - she can sense vibrations of the past from clothing and jewelry - her store becomes a big hit. But when a client is murdered and children start disappearing from the Bay Area, Lily may be the only one who can unravel the crime.
-
-
Needs a different narrator
- By A on 10-15-12
By: Juliet Blackwell
-
Death at the Chateau Bremont
- Verlaque and Bonnet Provençal Mystery Series, Book 1
- By: M.L. Longworth
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When local nobleman Étienne de Bremont falls to his death from the family château, it sets the historic town of Aix-en-Provence abuzz with rumors. The once-idyllic town suddenly seems filled with people who could have benefited from Bremont's death - including his playboy brother, François, who's heavily in debt and mixed up with some unsavory characters. But just as the list of suspects is being narrowed down, another death occurs. And this time, there can be no doubt - it's murder.
-
-
Narrator is awful
- By F. Miller on 05-06-23
By: M.L. Longworth
-
Wind/Pinball
- Two Novels
- By: Haruki Murakami, Ted Goossen - translator
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1978, a young Haruki Murakami sat down at his kitchen table and began to write. The result: two remarkable short novels—Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973—that launched the career of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time. These powerful, at times surreal, works about two young men coming of age—the unnamed narrator and his friend the Rat—are stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism. They bear all the hallmarks of Murakami’s later books, and form the first two-thirds, with A Wild Sheep Chase, of the trilogy of the Rat.
-
-
FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY: Extra Ball at 600,000 points
- By Darwin8u on 08-12-15
By: Haruki Murakami, and others
-
Boy, Snow, Bird
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Carra Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty - the opposite of the life she' s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she' d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy' s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white.
-
-
For Literary Lovers
- By M. Shipe on 04-25-14
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Written in Dead Wax
- The Vinyl Detective, Book 1
- By: Andrew Cartmel
- Narrated by: Ben Allen
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He is a record collector and a connoisseur of vinyl, hunting out rare and elusive LPs. His business card describes him as the Vinyl Detective, and some people take this more literally than others. For example, the beautiful, mysterious woman who wants to pay him a large sum of money to find a priceless lost recording on behalf of an extremely wealthy yet shadowy client. And so begins a painful and dangerous odyssey in search of the rarest jazz record of them all....
-
-
Outstanding narration!
- By John S. on 01-31-17
By: Andrew Cartmel
-
Secret Smile
- By: Nicci French
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miranda's sister Kerri has a new boyfriend. He's a handsome charmer who seems to dote on Kerri. But Brendan isn't the man he says he is. Miranda should know. She broke off her own affair with him just a few weeks ago when she found him reading her diary.
-
-
I want my 9 hours back
- By Ashley on 07-19-23
By: Nicci French
-
Jane Bites Back
- By: Michael Thomas Ford
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two hundred years after her death, Jane Austen is still surrounded by the literature she loves, but now it's because she's the owner of Flyleaf Books in a sleepy college town in Upstate New York. Every day she watches her novels fly off the shelves along with dozens of unauthorized sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations. Jane may be undead, but her books have taken on a life of their own.
-
-
Utterly Rediculous
- By Tenaya on 05-29-10
-
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
- By: Katarina Bivald
- Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham, Lorelei King
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It all began with a correspondence between two quite different women: 28-year-old Sara from Haninge, Sweden, and 65-year-old Amy from the small town of Broken Wheel, Iowa. After years of exchanging books, letters and thoughts on the meaning of literature and life, Sara, mousy, disheveled, who has never been anywhere in her life--has really lived only for her work in a beloved bookshop, which has just closed its doors for the last time--bravely decides to accept her unknown friend's invitation to visit. But when she arrives, she finds her house empty, the funeral guests just heading home. . .
-
-
Disappointed - no depth & poor narration
- By Kelly on 01-28-16
By: Katarina Bivald
-
Eva's Eye
- Inspector Sejer Mystery, Book 1
- By: Karin Fossum
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eva Magnus and her daughter are out walking by the river when a man's body floats to the water's surface. Eva goes to call the police, but when she reaches the phone, she dials another number altogether.
-
-
Very little of Sejer, a whole lot of Eva
- By John Barnett on 07-04-17
By: Karin Fossum
-
Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
-
-
A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
-
Spinning Forward
- By: Terri DuLong
- Narrated by: Kate Udall
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Syd never considered the possibility of turning her passion for spinning and knitting into something more than a hobby, but when the unique composition of her wool draws attention, a door is opened - the first among many. Yet even as she ventures out of her comfort zone, Syd finds herself stepping into the embrace of a community rich with love, laughter, friendship...and secrets. And as long-hidden truths are revealed, Syd faces a choice: spin a safety net - or spin decidedly forward and never look back...
-
-
Cliche with little character development
- By Laurie A. Johnson on 01-20-15
By: Terri DuLong
-
The Woman Who Met Her Match
- By: Fiona Gibson
- Narrated by: Emma Gregory
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if your first love came back on the scene...30 years later? After yet another disaster, Lorrie is calling time on online dating. She might be single in her 40s, but she's got a good job and wonderful children, and she's happy. This, Lorrie decides, is going to have to be enough. That is until she receives a very unexpected request from France. Antoine Rousseau, who had once turned a lonely French exchange trip into a summer of romance, wants to see her - after 30 years.
-
-
sweet easy read
- By lzydaizy on 02-01-18
By: Fiona Gibson
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
-
-
Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
The Ten Loves of Nishino
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling and beloved Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami (The Nakano Thrift Shop) tells the story of an enigmatic man through the voices of 10 remarkable women who have loved him. Each woman has succumbed, even if only for an hour, to that seductive, imprudent, and furtively feline man who drifted so naturally into their lives. Still clinging to the vivid memory of his warm breath and his indecipherable sentences, 10 women tell their stories as they attempt to recreate the image of the unfathomable Nishino.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Rose on 08-08-21
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
Kitchen
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikage is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend, Yoichi, and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
-
-
First Time is the Charm
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-22-19
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Sweet Bean Paste
- By: Durian Sukegawa, Alison Watts - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape.
-
-
Judging Others Makes Us Blind - Dietrich Bonhoeffe
- By Billye Kay on 09-06-24
By: Durian Sukegawa, and others
-
Breasts and Eggs
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Breasts & Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own. It tells the story of three women: the 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent.
-
-
Masterful Writing and Performance
- By Noelle on 03-01-21
By: Mieko Kawakami
-
All the Lovers in the Night
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Mirai
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copyeditor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyoku stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it.
-
-
Enjoyable listen
- By Rose on 05-16-22
By: Mieko Kawakami
-
Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
-
-
Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
The Ten Loves of Nishino
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling and beloved Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami (The Nakano Thrift Shop) tells the story of an enigmatic man through the voices of 10 remarkable women who have loved him. Each woman has succumbed, even if only for an hour, to that seductive, imprudent, and furtively feline man who drifted so naturally into their lives. Still clinging to the vivid memory of his warm breath and his indecipherable sentences, 10 women tell their stories as they attempt to recreate the image of the unfathomable Nishino.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Rose on 08-08-21
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
-
Kitchen
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mikage is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend, Yoichi, and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
-
-
First Time is the Charm
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-22-19
By: Banana Yoshimoto
-
Sweet Bean Paste
- By: Durian Sukegawa, Alison Watts - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape.
-
-
Judging Others Makes Us Blind - Dietrich Bonhoeffe
- By Billye Kay on 09-06-24
By: Durian Sukegawa, and others
-
Breasts and Eggs
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi
- Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Breasts & Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own. It tells the story of three women: the 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent.
-
-
Masterful Writing and Performance
- By Noelle on 03-01-21
By: Mieko Kawakami
-
All the Lovers in the Night
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Mirai
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copyeditor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyoku stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it.
-
-
Enjoyable listen
- By Rose on 05-16-22
By: Mieko Kawakami
-
Heaven
- A Novel
- By: Mieko Kawakami
- Narrated by: Scott Keiji Takeda
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed as a bold foray into new literary territory, Kawakami’s novel is told in the voice of a 14-year-old student subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye. Instead of resisting, the boy chooses to suffer in complete resignation. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate who suffers similar treatment at the hands of her tormenters.
-
-
Great listen
- By Anthony on 07-30-21
By: Mieko Kawakami
-
The Guest Cat
- By: Takashi Hiraide
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A couple in their 30s live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife - the days have more light and color.
-
-
A Novel As Poetry
- By Sara on 06-29-17
By: Takashi Hiraide
-
Convenience Store Woman
- By: Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori - translator
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in - neither in her family, nor in school - but when at the age of 18 she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line-by-line in the store's manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a "normal" person excellently, more or less.
-
-
Am amazing and different story
- By D.R. on 04-10-19
By: Sayaka Murata, and others
-
The Flowers of Buffoonery
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Flowers of Buffoonery opens in a seaside sanitarium where Yozo Oba—the narrator of No Longer Human at a younger age—is being kept after a failed suicide attempt. While he is convalescing, his friends and family visit him, and other patients and nurses drift in and out of his room. Against this dispiriting backdrop, everyone tries to maintain a lighthearted, even clownish atmosphere: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, vying for attention, cracking jokes, and trying to make each other laugh.
-
-
A meandering mess
- By I Ate Your Pug For Lunch and It was Tasty on 01-17-24
By: Osamu Dazai
-
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
- A Novel
- By: Michiko Aoyama
- Narrated by: Hanako Footman, Susan Momoko Hingley, Kenichiro Thomson, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are you looking for? So asks Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian. For Sayuri Komachi is able to sense exactly what each visitor to her library is searching for and provide just the book recommendation to help them find it. A restless retail assistant looks to gain new skills, a mother tries to overcome demotion at work after maternity leave, a conscientious accountant yearns to open an antique store, a recently retired salaryman searches for newfound purpose. In Komachi’s unique book recommendations they will find just what they need to achieve their dreams.
-
-
The power of honesty and an open mind
- By ili pika on 09-10-23
By: Michiko Aoyama
-
Life Ceremony
- Stories
- By: Sayaka Murata
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi, Nancy Wu, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness.
-
-
Interesting concept but boring story
- By Roberta Marques on 09-06-24
By: Sayaka Murata
-
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
- By: Hiro Arikawa, Philip Gabriel
- Narrated by: George Blagden
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With simple yet descriptive prose, this novel gives voice to Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru, as they take to the road on a journey with no other purpose than to visit three of Satoru's longtime friends. Or so Nana is led to believe. With his crooked tail - a sign of good fortune - and adventurous spirit, Nana is the perfect companion for the man who took him in as a stray. And as they travel in a silver van across Japan, with its ever-changing scenery and seasons, they will learn the true meaning of courage and gratitude, of loyalty and love.
-
-
What a wonderful story
- By V. Brown on 11-22-18
By: Hiro Arikawa, and others
-
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
- A Novel
- By: Satoshi Yagisawa
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he’s been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako’s life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru.
-
-
Improtance of standing still
- By hazel hapin on 12-31-23
By: Satoshi Yagisawa
-
Schoolgirl
- By: Osamu Dazai, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Traci Kato Kiriyama
- Length: 1 hr and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Essentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them—a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the listener a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.
-
-
Short and introspective
- By brandy on 12-12-23
By: Osamu Dazai, and others
-
Butter
- A Novel of Food and Murder
- By: Asako Yuzuki
- Narrated by: Hanako Footman
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in the Tokyo Detention House convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination, but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew, and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
-
-
The universally complex interstice between males and females
- By Melinda on 04-24-24
By: Asako Yuzuki
-
The Housekeeper and the Professor
- By: Yoko Ogawa
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He is a brilliant math professor with a peculiar problem - ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only 80 minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young housekeeper - with a 10-year-old son-who is hired to care for the professor. And every morning, as the professor and the housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them.
-
-
The Wonder Of Kindness & Connection
- By Sara on 06-16-16
By: Yoko Ogawa
-
The Full Moon Coffee Shop
- A Novel
- By: Mai Mochizuki, Jesse Kirkwood - translator
- Narrated by: Sadao Ueda, Tomoko Komura, Yuriri Naka
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Japan, cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they'll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto moon. This particular coffee shop is like no other. It has no fixed location, no fixed hours, and seemingly appears at random to adrift young people at crucial junctions in their lives. It's also run by talking cats.
-
-
Narration ruined it for me
- By Dar Sar on 09-23-24
By: Mai Mochizuki, and others
What listeners say about The Nakano Thrift Shop
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- miguel lopez
- 05-17-22
Cute believable slice of life romance
Narrator was captivating and made me feel as if I was a spectator within the Nakano thrift shop. Nothing super exciting, but if you are a fan of slice of life growing of age stories, this is a must read. I am a fan of descriptive novels. I enjoy the works of Haruki Murakami. Other similar books to check out with slice of life atmosphere with somber undertones: "Go" by Kazuki Kaneshiro, "Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami, as well as "colorless tsukuru tazaki" by Haruki Murakami.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Billye Kay
- 07-13-21
A Series of Awkward Moments
The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami is an offbeat collection of vignettes and scenes that are presented as remembrances. This work lacks the depth of the author’s previous novel, Strange Weather in Tokyo. This is unfortunate because I believe that this book had the potential to take the author’s writing to a new level. There are story elements contained in the first part of the book that provide the structure for the story to turn quite dark a la Haruki Murakami. However, at the pivotal moment, the author chooses to bring the reader back to her original simply sweet, quirky, somewhat romantic story instead. This would have been fine if the book simply ended there. Unfortunately, the book loses focus and meanders for several additional chapters. I seldom criticize authors for what they did not do, but in this case it is necessary to acknowledge the hard work that must’ve gone into crafting an alternate storyline only to have it be partially removed and never brought to fruition. Hiromi Kawakami is a very good writer who brings a touch of romance to the mundane. This is a unique and precious gift to readers. While it is always important to honor their existing gifts, it is also the obligation of talented writers to continue to grow and expand the boundaries of their gifts. The narration performance provided by Alexandra Bailey was adequate to the task and included a wide range of distinct character voices. I would recommend this book only to existing fans of the author.
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
- mz
- 01-03-19
Entire book is a dialogue of he said she said
Almost the entire book is a dialogue of he said she said. Any description of the surroundings is through first-person impression that only conveys shallow information.
A third into the book, I got so bored that nothing ever happens and everything is just he said she said, with quite unrelated stories. The book seems to have no coherent story line but is simply a collection of events happening at the thrift shop.
Personalities of Mr Nakano and Takeo are portrayed okay, but only from an external view, as how you would know someone if you work with them. Internal thoughts of the main character is never portrayed, so we don't learn about what kind of a person she is at all. We can only assume that she is an average city girl.
Different from the author's previous book, Strange Weather in Tokyo, this book does not have any internal reflection of the characters, nor depiction of scenes that entice the reader into the culture. The events are just everyday things that could happen anywhere.
The narrator's voice and tone don't help either. Although she uses a different voice for each character, her change of tones is too dramatic. It could be because all the dialogues in this book are so meaningless that it is difficult to narrate. Unsure whether I will finish this book. Too many good books in my wish list to waste time on a meaningless one.
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
- Eclectic Reader
- 08-26-20
Pleasant . . .
I enjoy stories with odd characters, and pretty much everyone in this novel is an odd character. Lightly humorous, mildly romantic episodes throughout.
They all sort of bounce around doing odd things, getting involved with one another, becoming uninvolved, then later involved again.
It was a strangely pleasant way to spend 6.9 hours.
My one complaint: You would think that one of the first things the narrator would do is learn how to pronounce the name of the character, which comes up fifty times in the book. I'm pretty sure Nakano is pronounced nah kah noh--3 syllables equally stressed. To hear it pronounced NOK uh noh again and again and again was sort of distracting. It was also odd because she pronounced the other names (e.g., tah-kay-oh and mah-sah-yoh, NOT TAH-kay-oh, MAH-sah-yoh) properly.
It was sort of like a narrator of Don Quixote saying the main character's name "QUICKS oat" throughout the novel.
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
- Anonymous User
- 09-11-19
A book about nothing
Really, like binge watching Seinfeld- without the comedy. (Spoiler) A character is stabbed in the street, and still I found myself desperately waiting for something to happen.
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
- Amazon Customer
- 07-31-19
Cute, simple story to listen to.
The beginning of this book was hopeful, but as it reached the end it died down and would have a simple ordinary ending. Cute story, and well brought up characters. It did a good job on making you feel like a friend in the group, characters were very lovable and witty
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!