This Is Not The Story You Think It Is...
A Season of Unlikely Happiness
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Narrated by:
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Joyce Bean
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By:
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Laura Munson
About this listen
When Laura Munson’s essay appeared in the “Modern Love” column of The New York Times, it created a firestorm. Readers sent it to their friends, therapists gave it to their patients, pastors read it to their congregations. People everywhere were struck by Munson’s wisdom. But how was she able to implement this strategy? How was she able to commit herself to an “End of Suffering” in such a critical time?
Poignant, wise, and often exceedingly funny, This Is Not The Story You Think It Is recounts Munson’s journey. Written as she experiences her crisis, moment by moment, sometimes breath by breath, This Is Not The Story You Think It Is is raw and searingly honest in the very best sense. Munson takes listeners by the hand as they embark, together, on a journey – one in which the outcome is not known. Filled with wisdom, truth, and heart – and a great tomato sauce recipe – it is a candid, powerful, and unforgettable memoir.
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Dorothea Benton Frank is a treasure of American letters with numerous New York Times best-sellers to her credit and a portfolio full of critical acclaim. “Mixing high drama and high jinks” ( Booklist), her third Lowcountry novel follows the fortunes of the dysfunctional Abbot family. Looking to set her life aright, Anna Lutz Abbot returns to her South Carolina lowcountry hometown. And as she attempts to right past wrongs, Anna receives help and support from a quirky cast of lovable locals sure to endear themselves to listeners.
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A feel good story
- By Sheryl on 02-04-13
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If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother
- By: Julia Sweeney
- Narrated by: Julia Sweeney
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since her time on Saturday Night Live, where she created the infamous androgynous character "Pat", Julia Sweeney has gone on to establish herself as a witty, captivating performer of one-woman shows, like God Said Ha!, In the Family Way, and Letting Go of God. She gave a TED talk sharing how she explained the birds and the bees to her eight-year-old daughter, Mulan, which ignited an incredible response. Now, when it comes to talking about motherhood, people want to hear what Julia has to say.
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I Love Julia Sweeney
- By Lisa on 04-05-13
By: Julia Sweeney
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Walking to Listen
- 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time
- By: Andrew Forsthoefel
- Narrated by: Andrew Forsthoefel
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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At 23, Andrew Forsthoefel headed out the back door of his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, with a backpack, an audio recorder, his copies of Whitman and Rilke, and a sign that read "Walking to Listen". He had just graduated from Middlebury College and was ready to begin his adult life, but he didn't know how. So he decided to take a cross-country quest for guidance, one where everyone he met would be his guide. In the year that followed, he faced an Appalachian winter and a Mojave summer. He met beasts inside: fear, loneliness, doubt.
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Transcends the typical trekking story
- By barefoot rabbit on 08-07-18
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The Last Rescue
- How Faith and Love Saved a Navy SEAL Sniper
- By: Howard Wasdin
- Narrated by: Daniel Butler
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The Last Rescue is an unforgettable tale of brokenness and healing, going deep into the firing line of modern warfare, through the agony of broken marriages, and onto a path of redemption and love. With a clear-eyed view of the inevitability of heartache and the power of God's faithfulness, Howard and Debbie remind us that no matter what our circumstances, we should never, ever, give up hope.
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Narrators
- By Trey Lewis on 03-27-15
By: Howard Wasdin
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Modern Loss
- Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.
- By: Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it's clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let's face it: Most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We're awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit.
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Not What I Was Expecting
- By Bessie Mae on 03-01-23
By: Rebecca Soffer, and others
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The Very Worst Missionary
- A Memoir or Whatever
- By: Jamie Wright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Lambert
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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After finding Jesus at a suburban megachurch, young Jamie Wright trades in the easy life on the cul-de-sac for the green fields of Costa Rica. There, along with her husband, kids, and the family cat, she intends to serve God and make converts. But she soon loses faith and falls into a funk of cynicism and despair. Fortunately, Knives the cat is there, looking on with just enough disinterest to make her laugh...and dare her to try another way. That other way turns out to be telling the truth. She launches a renegade blog, Jamie the Very Worst Missionary, which wins a large following.
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Didn’t like the book
- By Jonathan on 04-17-20
By: Jamie Wright
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Return to the Beach House
- Beach House, Book 3
- By: Georgia Bockoven
- Narrated by: Joell A. Jacob
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Alison arrives at the beach house in June to spend a month with her restless grandson before he leaves for his freshman year in college. Over a decade before, Alison lost her beloved husband, and has faced life alone ever since. Now she discovers a new life, and possible new love. August brings together four college friends facing a milestone. Across summer's final days, they share laughter, tears, and love-revealing long-held secrets and creating new and even more powerful bonds.
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I knew the 3rd book would be great!!!
- By Leah on 10-29-14
By: Georgia Bockoven
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All You Could Ask For
- A Novel
- By: Mike Greenberg
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Happily married Brooke discovers her loving husband has led a separate life with…another wife. Newlywed Samantha learns of her husband's cheating heart when she finds the goods on his computer. High-powered career woman Katherine works with heartbreaker Phillip, the man who hurt her early on in her career. Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine don't know one another, but their stories are about to intertwine in ways no one could have imagined. And all three are about to discover the power of friendship to conquer adversity.
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Annoyed by Hidden Theme
- By parsnip on 08-12-13
By: Mike Greenberg
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Until I Say Good-Bye
- My Year of Living with Joy
- By: Susan Spencer-Wendel, Bret Witter
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Susan Spencer-Wendel's Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy is a moving and inspirational memoir by a woman who makes the most of her final days after discovering she has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). After Spencer-Wendel, a celebrated journalist at the Palm Beach Post, learns of her diagnosis of ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, she embarks on several adventures, traveling to several countries and sharing special experiences with loved ones.
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Until I Say Good-Bye is a paradox for me.
- By Bonny on 03-19-13
By: Susan Spencer-Wendel, and others
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Mislaid
- A Novel
- By: Nell Zink
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Stillwater College in Virginia, 1966. Freshman Peggy, an ingénue with literary pretensions, falls under the spell of Lee, a blue-blooded poet and professor, and they begin an ill-advised affair that results in an unplanned pregnancy and marriage. The couple are mismatched from the start - she's a lesbian, he's gay - but it takes a decade of emotional erosion before Peggy runs off with their three-year-old daughter, leaving their nine-year-old son behind.
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Misbegotten, mishandled, misfired novel
- By Julie W. Capell on 02-07-16
By: Nell Zink
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The Unspeakable
- And Other Subjects of Discussion
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Meghan Daum
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a report tempered by hard times. In "Matricide", Daum unflinchingly describes a parent's death and the uncomfortable emotions it provokes; and in "Diary of a Coma" she relates her own journey to the twilight of the mind. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the marriage-industrial complex, of the New Age dating market, and of the peculiar habits of the young and digital.
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Complaining about her dead mom.
- By Erik Hermansen on 11-23-14
By: Meghan Daum
What listeners say about This Is Not The Story You Think It Is...
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lizzie
- 08-22-24
Inner workings in a challenging time
I loved the truthful expression of how Laura’s mind worked through all of this story. It was so relatable, yet helpful to compare vs my own experiences with Laura’s framing and positioning against all she has learned in life thru relationships, therapy, success, failures, kids, relocating, everything.. great read!
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- Marie
- 11-14-10
Living through a man's mid life crisis
Though I found the "I'm an author, why aren't I more successful?" parts annoying I was genuinely interested in the story of a wife living through her husband's mid-life crisis and attempts of divorce and separation educational. It does explore that "for worse" part of the marriage vows and I would recommend this book for those about to marry so they can ask themselves, if your spouse announced that they no longer loved you, what would you do.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Namaste
- 03-16-22
Just what I needed to hear
Listen to this book and hear its truth. You can’t change anybody else, just yourself. If you work on accepting others, releasing judgment of yourself & others, when you indeed embody love, then love is what comes back to you.
Beautiful. Thanks 🙏🏼
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- What's in a name?
- 03-17-17
A must read before you end relationship
I loved this book. The author wrote about her experience in taking a road less traveled. In the past it was shameful to leave a marriage, nowadays it's shameful to stay. In this story the author stays with her husband as he deals with financial issues and mid-life blues. He's not very nice to her, or loving and he wants to leave the marriage, yet She holds on tight and navigates the storm, and she keeps her marriage and family from capsizing. I loved this women's determination to keep her marriage and at the same time maintain her dignity. Most books on this topic do not advocate what the author has done, which makes this book a good read to see how to look at the situation differently. I was going through similar issues with my marriage when I read this book. Some days I felt like it was just me and the author fighting this battle, and I survived. I thank Laura Munson for her words and for the courage to write this personal tale. It certainly helped me and my family. I highly recommend this story.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Bobbi
- 05-31-24
This author has the gift!
It started slowly. I was just about ready to stop listening when it kicked in. The beginning is like stream of consciousness writing she needed to get out of the way in order to get to her story. But, like Willa’s Grove, it touched me right in the feels!
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- Ama
- 07-31-10
skip it
This audiobook was a waste of a credit. Listening to this book is like listening to one of your girlfriends ramble on and on and on and then on again about her husband, what didn't work, how she wished it had worked, all the things that did work over and over and then over again, you just wish at some point she would talk about something else........anything else!!!!
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4 people found this helpful
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- Donna
- 07-22-21
Tone deaf
Poor little white rich kids who inhale sushi and worry about paying their therapy bills. Ugh. I had to stop listening to such dreck.
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1 person found this helpful
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- maraguitara
- 07-06-20
Rubbish and Tripe
I have never given a book a one star rating in all my years of reading, and yet, if I could give this one zero stars I would. The title is absolutely apt, this is not the story you think it is, especially if you picked it up looking for something enlightening, genuine and/or helpful in any way.
I’m not sure what book other reviewers had read, but I am certain that the positive reviews I read before purchasing this piece of tripe could not have been written about this book. Had I not purchased it as an audiobook, I have no doubt I would never have finished it, but as I had already invested so much time listening, I saw it through to the end just hoping it would somehow redeem itself. It did not.
Please do not follow this woman’s lead if you want to be in any sort of healthy relationship, or walk through any crisis with your head held high. There were tenets of spirituality interwoven, but it was glaringly obvious that the author had not followed any of them within her heart. Her tactics with her husband were calculated, manipulative and totally unhealthy, and her mindset, while presented as centered and seeking non-suffering, was stunningly self-centered and agenda driven.
Please, please, please! Do not read or listen to this text hoping to find a healthy and genuinely loving way through ANY crisis in your life. It breaks my heart that anyone desperately seeking guidance and peace would take the author’s manipulation and self-serving motives as a path to recovery and self respect.
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2 people found this helpful
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- SJ
- 12-25-18
Save a credit
I can’t believe how bad this is. This ‘book’ is just the disjointed ramblings of a neurotic housewife with too much time on her hands. This is someone’s diary, nothing more. Not even an edited version.
I bought this because I enjoyed the Modern Love piece. Either that was highly edited by the NY Times editors or this author can only stay focused long enough to get a short essay out.
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2 people found this helpful