Until I Say Good-Bye
My Year of Living with Joy
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 $22.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Karen White
About this listen
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. One trip takes Spencer-Wendel and her 14-year-old daughter, Marina, to New York City’s Kleinfeld's Bridal to shop for Marina's future wedding dress - an occasion that Susan knows she will never see.
Co-written with Bret Witter, Until I Say Good-Bye is Spencer-Wendel's account of living a full life with humor, courage, and love, but also accepting death with grace and dignity. It's a celebration of life, a look into the face of death, and the effort we must make to show the people that we love and care about how very much they mean to us.
©2013 Susan Spencer-Wendel (P)2013 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Bright Hour
- A Memoir of Living and Dying
- By: Nina Riggs
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exquisite memoir about how to live - and love - every day with "death in the room", from poet Nina Riggs, mother of two young sons and the direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in the tradition of When Breath Becomes Air.
-
-
Awe inspiring legacy of A Brave Young Woman.
- By Julia on 06-18-17
By: Nina Riggs
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
Never Say Invisible
- A Memoir of Living and Being Seen with ALS
- By: Jeremy Schreiber
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeremy Schreiber was on top of the world—athletic, newly married, successful. And then something went terribly wrong. In this moving memoir, he shares his journey after he received a terrifying diagnosis: ALS. As the devastating disease robbed him of movement and speech, he was abandoned by his wife and betrayed by a society that shuns people with disabilities. But it’s not all doom and gloom. He found love, support, and a powerful purpose. While fighting for his independence and then for his life, Jeremy gave his all to the ALS and disability communities.
-
-
Informative and Sad at the same time
- By smurfvet on 01-16-23
By: Jeremy Schreiber
-
Everything Happens for a Reason
- And Other Lies I've Loved
- By: Kate Bowler
- Narrated by: Kate Bowler
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God's disapproval. At 35, everything in her life seems to point toward "blessing". She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son. Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.
-
-
Please give me back the lost hours of my life!
- By Charles on 03-24-19
By: Kate Bowler
-
Tuesdays with Morrie
- 20th Anniversary Edition
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.
-
-
Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live
- By AudioAddict on 04-17-16
By: Mitch Albom
-
The Last Lecture
- By: Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow
- Narrated by: Erik Singer, Randy Pausch
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" - wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have... and you may find one day that you have less than you think").
-
-
How to Live
- By Kelli G on 04-21-08
By: Randy Pausch, and others
-
The Bright Hour
- A Memoir of Living and Dying
- By: Nina Riggs
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exquisite memoir about how to live - and love - every day with "death in the room", from poet Nina Riggs, mother of two young sons and the direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in the tradition of When Breath Becomes Air.
-
-
Awe inspiring legacy of A Brave Young Woman.
- By Julia on 06-18-17
By: Nina Riggs
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
Never Say Invisible
- A Memoir of Living and Being Seen with ALS
- By: Jeremy Schreiber
- Narrated by: Ramiz Monsef
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jeremy Schreiber was on top of the world—athletic, newly married, successful. And then something went terribly wrong. In this moving memoir, he shares his journey after he received a terrifying diagnosis: ALS. As the devastating disease robbed him of movement and speech, he was abandoned by his wife and betrayed by a society that shuns people with disabilities. But it’s not all doom and gloom. He found love, support, and a powerful purpose. While fighting for his independence and then for his life, Jeremy gave his all to the ALS and disability communities.
-
-
Informative and Sad at the same time
- By smurfvet on 01-16-23
By: Jeremy Schreiber
-
Everything Happens for a Reason
- And Other Lies I've Loved
- By: Kate Bowler
- Narrated by: Kate Bowler
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God's disapproval. At 35, everything in her life seems to point toward "blessing". She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son. Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.
-
-
Please give me back the lost hours of my life!
- By Charles on 03-24-19
By: Kate Bowler
-
Tuesdays with Morrie
- 20th Anniversary Edition
- By: Mitch Albom
- Narrated by: Mitch Albom
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.
-
-
Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live
- By AudioAddict on 04-17-16
By: Mitch Albom
-
The Last Lecture
- By: Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow
- Narrated by: Erik Singer, Randy Pausch
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" - wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have... and you may find one day that you have less than you think").
-
-
How to Live
- By Kelli G on 04-21-08
By: Randy Pausch, and others
-
Option B
- Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
- By: Sheryl Sandberg, Adam Grant
- Narrated by: Elisa Donovan
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. "I was in 'the void,'" she writes, "a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe." Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build.
-
-
Books is ok but completely misadvertised
- By Alex Carpenter on 10-08-17
By: Sheryl Sandberg, and others
-
Mean Baby
- A Memoir of Growing Up
- By: Selma Blair
- Narrated by: Selma Blair
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention. In a memoir that is as wildly funny as it is emotionally shattering, Blair tells the captivating story of growing up and finding her truth.
-
-
Poor little privileged girl...
- By Tesa Fisher on 09-20-22
By: Selma Blair
-
Stay
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1969, 14-year-old Lucas Painter carries a huge weight on his shoulders. His brother is fighting in Vietnam. His embattled parents are locked in a never-ending war. And his best friend, Connor, is struggling with his own family issues. To find relief from the chaos, Lucas takes long, meandering walks, and one day he veers into the woods.
-
-
Excellent read/listen!
- By Grammamikki on 12-18-19
-
The Year of Magical Thinking
- By: Joan Didion
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Life changes fast....You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." These were among the first words Joan Didion wrote in January 2004. Her daughter was lying unconscious in an intensive care unit, a victim of pneumonia and septic shock. Her husband, John Gregory Dunne, was dead. The night before New Year's Eve, while they were sitting down to dinner, he suffered a massive and fatal coronary. The two had lived and worked side by side for nearly 40 years.
-
-
Great book to Read, but I didn’t like it
- By Michael on 05-08-15
By: Joan Didion
-
Tell Me More
- Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I'm Learning to Say
- By: Kelly Corrigan
- Narrated by: Kelly Corrigan
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's a crazy idea: trying to name the phrases that make love and connection possible. But that's just what Kelly Corrigan has set out to do here. In her New York Times best-selling memoirs, Corrigan distilled our core relationships to their essences, showcasing a warm, easy storytelling style. Now, in Tell Me More, she's back with a deeply personal, unfailingly honest, and often hilarious examination of the essential phrases that turn the wheel of life.
-
-
hard but worth it
- By erssmith on 09-19-18
By: Kelly Corrigan
-
A Long Way Home
- By: Saroo Brierley
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia. Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family.
-
-
Hard book to rate... 3 or 4?
- By Jan on 06-22-14
By: Saroo Brierley
-
What Remains
- A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love
- By: Carole Radziwill
- Narrated by: Carole Radziwill
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What Remains begins with loss and returns to loss. A small plane plunges into the ocean, carrying John Kennedy, Anthony's cousin, and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Carole's closest friend. Three weeks later Anthony dies of cancer. The summer of the plane crash, the four friends were meant to be cherishing Anthony's last days. Instead, Carole and Anthony mourned John and Carolyn, even as Carole planned her husband's memorial.
-
-
I just couldn’t finish this book
- By Cheryle Medeiros on 10-11-15
By: Carole Radziwill
-
In Love
- A Memoir of Love and Loss
- By: Amy Bloom
- Narrated by: Amy Bloom
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease.
-
-
A helpful,healing memoir
- By Helen on 03-31-22
By: Amy Bloom
-
This Life I Live
- One Man's Extraordinary, Ordinary Life and the Woman Who Changed It Forever
- By: Rory Feek
- Narrated by: Rory Feek
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Life I Live, Rory Feek helps us not only to connect more fully to his and Joey’s story but also to our own journeys. He shows what can happen when we are fully open in life’s key moments, whether when meeting our life companion or tackling an unexpected tragedy. He also gives never-before-revealed details on their life together and what he calls “the long goodbye,” the blessing of being able to know that life is going to end and taking advantage of it.
-
-
This Life I Live
- By Blueyes512 on 02-16-17
By: Rory Feek
-
Wild and Precious Life
- By: Deborah Ziegler
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written by Deborah Ziegler, the mother of Brittany Maynard - a 29-year-old woman with a terminal brain tumor - this touching and beautiful memoir captures and celebrates her daughter's spirit and the mostly untold story of Brittany's last year of life as she chose her right to die with dignity, a journey that inspired millions.
-
-
Powerful
- By k9doctor on 12-07-22
By: Deborah Ziegler
-
Left Neglected
- By: Lisa Genova
- Narrated by: Sarah Paulson
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Nickerson is like any other career-driven supermom in Welmont, the affluent Boston suburb where she leads a hectic but charmed life with her husband Bob, faithful nanny, and three children—Lucy, Charlie, and nine-month-old Linus.
-
-
Left Neglected?
- By Pamela Harvey on 01-06-11
By: Lisa Genova
-
Love Anthony
- By: Lisa Genova
- Narrated by: Debra Messing
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning New York Times best-selling author of Still Alice and Left Neglected, comes a heartfelt novel about an accidental friendship that gives a grieving mother a priceless gift: the ability to understand the thoughts of her eight-year-old autistic son and make sense of his brief life. Two women, each cast adrift by unforseen events in their lives, meet by accident on a Nantucket beach and are drawn into a friendship.
-
-
Not what I expected.
- By Judith on 12-21-12
By: Lisa Genova
Related to this topic
-
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Counting Your Blessings and Having a Positive Attitude
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, and others
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Jim Bond
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
101 True Stories about how Positive Thinking can change your life! Everyone needs a little attitude adjustment once in a while, and these amazing true life stories reveal how real people used positive thinking to improve their lives and overcome challenges. You’ll read stories about how you can make every day a special day, incorporate gratitude and joy into your daily life, count your blessings and change your outlook, use a few well-chosen words to reorient your life, manage cancer and other health challenges through a positive attitude, simplify and have a more meaningful life and more!
-
-
Good overall.
- By Sergey Makeev on 02-21-24
By: Jack Canfield, and others
-
Driving Miss Norma
- One Family's Journey Saying ""Yes"" to Living
- By: Tim Bauerschmidt, Ramie Liddle
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Nan McNamara
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Norma - newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage - rose to her full height of five feet and told her doctor, "I'm 90 years old. I'm hitting the road." Packing what she needed, Norma took off on an unforgettable cross-country journey with three professional nomads - her retired son, Tim; his wife, Ramie; and their standard poodle, Ringo.
-
-
so moving and inspiring
- By Travis Stone on 07-10-19
By: Tim Bauerschmidt, and others
-
Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin
- A Memoir
- By: Nicole Hardy
- Narrated by: Nicole Hardy
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Nicole Hardy’s eye-opening "Modern Love" column appeared in the New York Times, the response from readers was overwhelming. Hardy’s essay, which exposed the conflict between being true to herself as a woman and remaining true to her Mormon faith, struck a chord with women coast-to-coast. Now in her funny, intimate, and thoughtful memoir, Nicole Hardy explores how she came, at the age of 35, to a crossroads regarding her faith and her identity.
-
-
This Book Spoke to Me
- By Allison on 04-08-14
By: Nicole Hardy
-
Everything You Ever Wanted
- A Memoir
- By: Jillian Lauren
- Narrated by: Jillian Lauren
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her younger years, Jillian Lauren was a college dropout, a drug addict, and an international concubine in the Prince of Brunei's harem, an experience she immortalized in her best-selling memoir, Some Girls. In her 30s, Jillian's most radical act is learning the steadying power of love when she and her rock star husband adopt an Ethiopian child with special needs.
-
-
Great for adoptive families
- By berry bomb on 07-06-22
By: Jillian Lauren
-
Apocalypse Child
- A Life in End Times - a Memoir
- By: Flor Edwards
- Narrated by: Flor Edwards
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the first 13 years of her life, Flor Edwards grew up in the Children of God. The group's nomadic existence was based on the belief that, as God's chosen people, they would be saved in the impending apocalypse that would envelop the rest of the world in 1993. Flor would be 13 years old. The group's charismatic leader, Father David, kept the family on the move, from Los Angeles to Bangkok to Chicago, where they would eventually disband, leaving Flor to make sense of the foreign world of mainstream society around her.
-
-
A truly unique background and story
- By Asaph on 04-13-18
By: Flor Edwards
-
A Fine Romance
- By: Candice Bergen
- Narrated by: Candice Bergen
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Fine Romance begins with Bergen's charming first husband, French director Louis Malle, whose huge appetite for life broadened her horizons and whose occasional darkness never diminished their love for each other. But her real romance begins when she discovers overpowering love for her daughter after years of ambivalence about motherhood.
-
-
up the speed to 1.5 and Candace sounds way better
- By Susan M. Mitchell on 06-03-15
By: Candice Bergen
-
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive
- 101 Inspirational Stories about Counting Your Blessings and Having a Positive Attitude
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, and others
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Jim Bond
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
101 True Stories about how Positive Thinking can change your life! Everyone needs a little attitude adjustment once in a while, and these amazing true life stories reveal how real people used positive thinking to improve their lives and overcome challenges. You’ll read stories about how you can make every day a special day, incorporate gratitude and joy into your daily life, count your blessings and change your outlook, use a few well-chosen words to reorient your life, manage cancer and other health challenges through a positive attitude, simplify and have a more meaningful life and more!
-
-
Good overall.
- By Sergey Makeev on 02-21-24
By: Jack Canfield, and others
-
Driving Miss Norma
- One Family's Journey Saying ""Yes"" to Living
- By: Tim Bauerschmidt, Ramie Liddle
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Nan McNamara
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Miss Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer, she was advised to undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But instead of confining herself to a hospital bed for what could be her last stay, Norma - newly widowed after nearly seven decades of marriage - rose to her full height of five feet and told her doctor, "I'm 90 years old. I'm hitting the road." Packing what she needed, Norma took off on an unforgettable cross-country journey with three professional nomads - her retired son, Tim; his wife, Ramie; and their standard poodle, Ringo.
-
-
so moving and inspiring
- By Travis Stone on 07-10-19
By: Tim Bauerschmidt, and others
-
Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin
- A Memoir
- By: Nicole Hardy
- Narrated by: Nicole Hardy
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Nicole Hardy’s eye-opening "Modern Love" column appeared in the New York Times, the response from readers was overwhelming. Hardy’s essay, which exposed the conflict between being true to herself as a woman and remaining true to her Mormon faith, struck a chord with women coast-to-coast. Now in her funny, intimate, and thoughtful memoir, Nicole Hardy explores how she came, at the age of 35, to a crossroads regarding her faith and her identity.
-
-
This Book Spoke to Me
- By Allison on 04-08-14
By: Nicole Hardy
-
Everything You Ever Wanted
- A Memoir
- By: Jillian Lauren
- Narrated by: Jillian Lauren
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her younger years, Jillian Lauren was a college dropout, a drug addict, and an international concubine in the Prince of Brunei's harem, an experience she immortalized in her best-selling memoir, Some Girls. In her 30s, Jillian's most radical act is learning the steadying power of love when she and her rock star husband adopt an Ethiopian child with special needs.
-
-
Great for adoptive families
- By berry bomb on 07-06-22
By: Jillian Lauren
-
Apocalypse Child
- A Life in End Times - a Memoir
- By: Flor Edwards
- Narrated by: Flor Edwards
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the first 13 years of her life, Flor Edwards grew up in the Children of God. The group's nomadic existence was based on the belief that, as God's chosen people, they would be saved in the impending apocalypse that would envelop the rest of the world in 1993. Flor would be 13 years old. The group's charismatic leader, Father David, kept the family on the move, from Los Angeles to Bangkok to Chicago, where they would eventually disband, leaving Flor to make sense of the foreign world of mainstream society around her.
-
-
A truly unique background and story
- By Asaph on 04-13-18
By: Flor Edwards
-
A Fine Romance
- By: Candice Bergen
- Narrated by: Candice Bergen
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Fine Romance begins with Bergen's charming first husband, French director Louis Malle, whose huge appetite for life broadened her horizons and whose occasional darkness never diminished their love for each other. But her real romance begins when she discovers overpowering love for her daughter after years of ambivalence about motherhood.
-
-
up the speed to 1.5 and Candace sounds way better
- By Susan M. Mitchell on 06-03-15
By: Candice Bergen
-
Bettyville
- By: George Hodgman
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself - an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook - in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure - the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict...
-
-
Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
-
Fairyland
- A Memoir of My Father
- By: Alysia Abbott
- Narrated by: Alysia Abbott
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A beautiful, vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and 80s San Francisco with an openly gay father. After his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation - few of whom are raising a child. Steve throws himself into San Francisco's vibrant cultural scene.
-
-
Great representation of the time
- By AvidReader22 on 06-07-19
By: Alysia Abbott
-
Why I Hate Green Beans
- And Other Confessions About Relationships, Reality TV, and How We See Ourselves
- By: Lincee Ray
- Narrated by: Lincee Ray
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If there is one thing Lincee Ray has learned over the years, it's that the majority of women on the planet struggle with insecurities. Our skinny jeans mock us. Our just-trying-to-help mothers are just driving us crazy. Our social media feeds taunt us with everyone else's picture-perfect lives. It's enough to send you on a gummy-bear bender while binge-watching Friends reruns and not showering for a week. Lincee knows. She's been there. Right there, in fact. Gummy bears and all.
-
-
Perfect in every way!
- By Anonymous User on 10-19-22
By: Lincee Ray
-
In the Country
- Stories
- By: Mia Alvar
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu, Don Castro
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These nine globe-trotting, unforgettable stories from Mia Alvar, a remarkable new literary talent, vividly give voice to the women and men of the Filipino diaspora. Here are exiles, emigrants, and wanderers uprooting their families from the Philippines to begin new lives in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere - and sometimes turning back again.
-
-
My introduction to Filipino literature and culture
- By Amazon Customer on 03-28-16
By: Mia Alvar
-
My Year with Eleanor
- A Memoir
- By: Noelle Hancock
- Narrated by: Emily Beresford
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After losing her high-octane job as an entertainment blogger, Noelle Hancock was lost. About to turn 29, she'd spent her career writing about celebrities' lives and had forgotten how to live her own. Unemployed and full of self-doubt, she had no idea what she wanted out of life. She feared change - in fact, she feared almost everything. Once confident and ambitious, she had become crippled by anxiety, lacking the courage required even to attend a dinner party - until inspiration struck one day in the form of a quote on a chalkboard in a coffee shop.
-
-
Right on time!
- By Leah on 02-19-18
By: Noelle Hancock
-
The Wednesday Sisters
- By: Meg Waite Clayton
- Narrated by: Julie Dretzin
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 35 years, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally have met every Wednesday at the park near their homes in Palo Alto, California. Defined when they first meet by what their husbands do, the young homemakers and mothers are far removed from the Summer of Love that has enveloped most of the Bay Area in 1967.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Denise Wallace on 06-26-09
-
The Portable Veblen
- By: Elizabeth Mckenzie
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant New Yorker contributor. The Portable Veblen is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars looming across its words, The Portable Veblen is an unforgettable look at the way we live now.
-
-
Not what it was cracked up to be
- By Linda on 02-03-16
-
Your Voice in My Head
- A Memoir
- By: Emma Forrest
- Narrated by: Emma Forrest
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emma Forrest, a British journalist, was just 22 and living the fast life in New York City when she realized that her quirks had gone beyond eccentricity. In a cycle of loneliness, damaging relationships, and destructive behavior, she found herself in the chair of a slim, balding, and effortlessly optimistic psychiatrist--a man whose wisdom and humanity would wrench her from the dangerous tide after she tried to end her life.
-
-
Great, quick read
- By Amazon Customer on 02-12-21
By: Emma Forrest
-
I'm Supposed to Protect You from All This
- A Memoir
- By: Nadja Spiegelman
- Narrated by: Nadja Spiegelman
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a long time, Nadja Spiegelman believed her mother was a fairy. More than her famous father, Maus creator Art Spiegelman, and even more than most mothers, hers - French-born New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly - exerted a force over reality that was both dazzling and daunting. As Nadja's body changed and "began to whisper to the adults around me in a language I did not understand", their relationship grew tense.
-
-
Aweful
- By Haley Abreu on 07-05-17
By: Nadja Spiegelman
-
The Longest Trip Home
- By: John Grogan
- Narrated by: John Grogan
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the highly anticipated follow-up to Marley & Me, John Grogan again works his magic, bringing us the story of what came first. Before there was Marley, there was a gleefully mischievous boy growing up in a devout Catholic home outside Detroit in the 1960s and '70s. Despite his loving parents' best efforts, John's attempts to meet their expectations failed spectacularly.
-
-
As real as it gets
- By bclmb on 12-06-08
By: John Grogan
-
If I am Missing or Dead
- A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation
- By: Janine Latus
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 2002, Janine Latus' youngest sister, Amy, wrote a note and taped it to the inside of her desk drawer. "Today Ron Ball and I are romantically involved", it read, "but I fear I have placed myself at risk in a variety of ways. Based on his criminal past, writing this out just seems like the smart thing to do. If I am missing or dead this obviously has not protected me...."
-
-
All About Janine
- By Ellen on 07-02-07
By: Janine Latus
-
How to Be an American Housewife
- A Novel
- By: Margaret Dilloway
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington, Emily Durante
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How to Be an American Housewife is a novel about mothers and daughters and the pull of tradition. It tells the story of Shoko, a Japanese woman who married an American GI, and her grown daughter, Sue, a divorced mother whose life as an American housewife hasn't been what she'd expected. When illness prevents Shoko from traveling to Japan, she asks Sue to go in her place. The trip reveals family secrets that change their lives in dramatic and unforeseen ways.
-
-
big disappointment
- By Kirsten on 04-12-12
What listeners say about Until I Say Good-Bye
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bonny
- 03-19-13
Until I Say Good-Bye is a paradox for me.
Let me start by saying that I am neither capable nor even allowed to pass judgement on such a personal memoir, thus Until I Say Good-Bye presents quite a paradox for me. If I could have given my perspective without first entering a rating, I would certainly have done so. I admire Susan Spencer-Wendel for many characteristics - her ability to live with ALS unflinchingly, her humor, grace, acceptance, desire, and perseverance in writing the book. The author states, "First and foremost, I wrote the book for my family and friends to have, to jog their memories after I'm gone." In this capacity, she succeeds immensely. In the face of her rapid neuromuscular decline until she is left with only the ability to type with her right thumb on her iphone, she manages to write this book with the help of Bret Witter.
The paradox for me is that I think this book is most successful as a very personal memoir, for the author's children, family, and friends, but the publication of this book, along with a movie deal, will allow Spencer-Wendel and her family the ability to "Live with joy. And die with joy, too.” This is such an intensely personal story that while I can admire the author, I don't think I can ever really understand her circumstances along with those of her family. It does serve as a reminder of how lucky most of us are, something which we will most likely not be able to acknowledge so personally until we experience our own unlucky circumstances.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LJ Web
- 04-16-13
spunky gal goes out LIVING & writing
The author bravely bares much of her family life, her work life, and her physical struggles with ALS. She is a courageous reporter on the crime beat for her newspaper for 20 years, until she can no longer make it up and down the courthouse steps without falling. Unlike some who might stop working before that humiliating point, she does not. We begin to see she's like that throughout all the domains of life, including this writing.
Many parts of this rather short memoir are full of juice, others are a little flat, obviously padded out to complete the book she was rushing to publish before she could no longer communicate. She typed much of this book on an iPhone, using only 1 finger, so who am I to complain about any of it, including the fact that it feels like this was a magazine article stretched out to become a book.
The writing itself is good. It's the content that left me feeling there was a point in her life after being diagnosed with ALS where she started pushing friends and family into colorful situations in order to create material to write about, and the material suffers for this.
She's careful to not invade the privacy of her husband and children too much, and so we see them only glancingly, and only in specific anecdotes. One of the most fascinating aspects of her story might have been how a marriage relationship endures, changes, suffers, or grows in such a struggle, but she avoids that mostly, and it leaves a yawning gap in the picture.
But clearly, this memoir screams the message that she is doing ALS and end-of-life on her own terms, and so she does. Despite its flaws and gaps, the book is compelling reading.
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
- Library Volunteer
- 08-14-14
No Mother Wants to Think About This
The grace and grit that Susan Spencer-Wendel displays in coping with her ALS diagnosis is awe-inspiring. Few of us would have the financial or social resources that she had in living her final months so elegantly, yet it is the heart of this woman I respect, not her travels and purchases. Her husband's tender care-giving is almost beyond comprehension.
Readers are likely to have tears from time to time, but this is no cheap tear-jerker. It is beautiful and poignant. I recommend it highly.
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
- Charlena
- 03-31-13
Sad but inspirational
Susan Spencer-Wendel's story is remarkable, yet sad. Susan choosing to accept her fate and live with joy is a great lesson for us all. The performance was very good. The book itself made me "google" Susan to see where she is now and how she is doing. Although parts of the book are a bit repetitive, the story is very emotional with an uplifting message.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gillian
- 01-26-15
5-Star End of Life; 3-Star Book
Boy, do I feel bad giving somebody with ALS 3 stars, but, while this book had a quite a bit going for it, it did indeed have a few notable drawbacks.
First the drawbacks. It wanders and could've used somebody to draw in the threads tighter so it didn't feel like we were jumping from one epiphany/adventure/loving thought to another without proper segues.
Two: Sure, this is about Life, not Death, but the ALS is soooo sanitized, you'd think it was easy. I'm working on my second novel, and a character of mine has ALS, so all I know about it comes from research, and it is brutal. I certainly don't expect Susan to make her book all about her suffering (especially as this is something her children will be reading later), but perhaps she could've put in some more about how hard the illness is. Her children could only be that much prouder of her, and people with ALS (PALS), and their friends and families could use the inspiration she provided. She missed a chance there. Really, it comes off as easy. She travels. Easy. Carried on the beach. Easy. Eats all her favorite foods. Easy. She wants this/that/the other and her family says no? Well, she wants it, so they're gonna do it for her anyway.
It's only at the end where she needs help toileting, and that's only a blip on the radar without embarrassment. Communication is the one thing that is difficult. For a woman whose life was words, I expected more emotion I suppose. Then again, I'm just big into emotion, so make of it what you will.
The best part of this book is that this is a loving family, and an adopted woman fitting pieces together before she dies, saying yes to life as much as she can.
And Karen White, who BRUTALIZED "Daring Greatly," does an admirable job here.
This is a good, credit-worthy book, well worth the listen, just park some expectations by the door.
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
- Julia
- 03-02-18
Last Chapter In Sassy Shoes!
Susan Spencer - Wendel was a force to be reckoned with. Frankly I am surprised that Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was brave enough to take her on. This book chronicles her journey, strength and focus. Susan knew that ALS was going to limit her time on this earth. She was honest with her children and more than anything else she was honest with herself. Rather than listen to everyone who had an opinion but did not have a life limiting illness she decided to refrain from taking a ton of medications or looking for the next 'miracle cure. She chose to grab the rest of her life and bathe is it's glorious warmth and light. She didn't have a bucket list but an 'ocean list' filled with trips. These trips were special times with each of her family members, her best friend and linking up with....no not telling....read the book!
Yes it is sad when someone is young and struck down with something so dreadful that we literally shy away because we have no words but it is worse when they die emotionally whilst still breathing. This book may help in that situation. Death is the end of our journey on this earth but it can be trod in beautiful shoes as with Susan as she still wore gorgeous shoes even in her wheel chair. She was still a woman.
I am sure that Susan is in Heaven rocking out in her gorgeous pumps.
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
- SummersL33
- 03-25-19
All About Perspective
This book was an amazing reminder that none of us get out of this alive, and how we choose to live is very important. Susan continued with a positive attitude in the face of such a frightening disease. She chose to live with joy, and we should all strive to do the same.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jasmine
- 07-17-14
Until We Meet You Again Mrs. Spencer-Wendel
This was such a moving account of a woman's journey through her diagnosis and day to day life of living with ALS. Before reading this book, I was quite unfamiliar with ALS but Spencer-Wendel does a phenomenal job of explaining how debilitating this disease could be. My mouth dropped to the ground when she described how transculent her hand was right before she started seeking medical care that led up to her diagnosis. I sympathized for her when she detailed her gradual loss of all of her muscles - even her tongue. It was devastating to hear someone go through this - I can't imagine what her family and her had to endure.
With that being said, her title did her story justice. She did in fact live with joy. Little things that healthy women take for granted - such as applying make-up - she became proactive about. For example, she made sure that she wouldn't need to worry about not being able to put on make-up or having someone else do it. She simply had make-up permanently tattooed to her! How ingenious! She discovered (spoiler alert) her birth parents and even traveled to Greece to reconnect with some family. There are healthy people that haven't been able to travel anywhere outside of the States so to hear her travel, not once but twice, to Greece was commending.
I was inspired by her bravery and her refusal to succumb willingly to ALS. Even though she had a definite death sentence, she managed to still live her life. It was amazing - a very inspirational read! Unfortunately, she recently passed but I hope that her legacy continues to live on through her family and children. It's never good-bye Mrs. Spencer-Wendel, but we will see you later!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shannon Shreeve
- 05-21-15
Inspiring Story
Excellent story - inspiring and heart wrenching. It will give you a renewed perspective about life and how you choose to live yours
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lvtotravl
- 11-17-13
You will laugh & you will cry
What an example Susan Spencer-Wendel sets for parents everywhere! To accept her fate so gracefully -- and concentrate on the things that really count in life…children, family & friends, she's the ultimate inspiration. Her honesty about her situation is refreshing. This book is the one I'm choosing for book club this month. It will make for a thought-provoking discussion as we head into 2014 about what really matters in our lives. Loved, loved, loved the book -- and am following Susan's life on Facebook now.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful