Showing results by narrator "Ralph Ralph" in All Categories

The effervescent, well-dressed Quin, a successful book editor and fixture on the New York arts scene, has been accused of repeated unforgivable transgressions toward women in his orbit. But are they unforgivable? And who has the right to forgive him? To Quin’s friend Margot, the wrongdoing is less clear. Alternating Quin’s and Margot’s voices and perspectives, Gaitskill creates a nuanced tragicomedy, one that reveals her characters as whole persons - hurtful and hurting, infuriating and touching, and always deeply recognizable.

Seemingly granted ‘classic album’ status within days of its release in 1997, OK Computer transformed Radiohead from a highly promising rock act into The Most Important Band in the World – a label the band has been burdened by (and has fooled around with) ever since. Through close musical analysis of each song, Dai Griffiths explores the themes and ideas that have made this album resonate so deeply with its audience, and argues that OK Computer is one of the most successfully realized CD albums so far created.

Have you ever wondered…whether God exists? whether life has meaning? Whether pain and suffering have a purpose? This audiobook is my invitation to sit down with C. S. Lewis and me to think about some of the persistent questions and dilemmas every person faces in life. We’ll explore Lewis’s thoughts on everything from friendships to heaven, from the reasons for faith to the power of stories.

It is 1919 and the Great War has come to a close. But in the shadows of the world’s major cities, the killing has just begun. In this perilous time, as the division between order and chaos grows increasingly slim, a select group of visionaries have taken it upon themselves to ensure the safety of humanity. They are known as the Arcanum. In London’s stormy Hyde Park, Konstantin Duvall, the Arcanum’s founder, has been killed in a suspicious accident. Dismayed, the group’s longest-lived member, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, determines to avenge Duvall’s death.

The last case of police negotiator Jack Nightingale’s career ended in the death of nine-year-old Sophie Underwood. Since then, he’s saved his own soul from the devil...but now he is haunted by Sophie’s cries for help. When the police drag him to the hospital to meet a supposedly comatose gangbanger who keeps saying Jack’s name, Nightingale realizes that this is Sophie’s desperate attempt to reach him from beyond the grave.

Distinguished British man of letters J. R. Ackerley hardly thought himself a dog lover when, well into middle age, he came into possession of a German shepherd named Tulip. To his surprise, she turned out to be the love of his life, the “ideal friend” he had been seeking in vain for years. My Dog Tulip is a bittersweet retrospective account of their 16-year companionship, as well as a profound and subtle meditation on the strangeness that lies at the heart of all relationships.

Listeners will discover lost and forgotten women who wrote horror every bit as effectively as their male contemporaries. They will learn about their lives and careers, the challenges they faced as women working in a male-dominated field, the way they overcame those challenges, and the way they approached the genre - which was often subtler, more psychological, and more disturbing.

Check out the greats of comedy with their early routines when they were young and struggling.

Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Edith Wharton was most well known for her novels that illuminated privileged life in the 19th century, such as The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth. In addition to her award-winning novels, she also wrote poetry and short stories. Collected here are some of her best works of short fiction, including: "The Eyes", a famous ghost story; "The Daunt Diana", which tells about the love of art; "The Moving Finger", an eerie story about a man clinging to his wife's memory; and "The Debt", a story of loyalty.

In the more than 100 years since Doyle created the immortal Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson, no other mystery writer has come close to eclipsing him as the standard bearer in crime fiction. A brilliant London-based "consulting detective," Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess and is renowned for his skillful use of astute observation, deductive reasoning, and inference to solve difficult cases.

Basil of Baker’s Street, the masterful mouse detective who studied under Sherlock Holmes, is on his way to a school reunion with his old friends from Ratcliffe College. Along for the trip is his steadfast companion, Doctor Dawson. But all is not well, as they soon learn that the dastardly Ratigan has escaped from prison in London. Could the rat possibly be planning revenge against his old nemesis, Basil himself?

They are icons of the literary world whose soaring works have been discussed and analyzed in countless classrooms, homes, and pubs. Yet for most readers, the living, breathing human beings behind the classics have remained unknown - until now. In this utterly captivating book, Dr. Elliot Engel, a leading authority on the lives of great authors, illuminates the fascinating and flawed members of literature’s elite. In lieu of stuffy biographical sketches, Engel provides fascinating anecdotes.

Marlborough House is the home of Edward, the Prince of Wales (second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria). He lives there with various children and family members. Unbeknownst to the human royals, there is a corresponding clan of noblemice living there as well. At the moment, the human royal family is hosting the visiting royal family of Bohemia, along with that family’s corresponding group of stowaway noblemice. However, the teen noblemice of both houses have vanished without a trace, and everyone fears that one of the royal dogs may be responsible. Can Basil help?

In the closing months of the Second World War hundreds of thousands of Japanese, mostly civilians, died. American planes were beginning to run low on plausible targets when it was decided to use two atomic weapons in a final flourish to try to end the war. Richard Overy’s remarkable book rethinks how we should regard this last stage of the war and the role of the bombs. The popular view that bombing worked in this case has now to be set in a broader context of what was happening in Japan in the months before surrender. The easy equation ‘bombing equals surrender’ is no longer viable.

On her morning journey to earn money for her impoverished family, Tess' horse has an accident, forcing her to seek assistance from some newly rich relatives. There, she is vigorously pursued by Alec, who corners her in a field one night and takes advantage of her.

A continuation of The Jungle Book, these further adventures of Mowgli the man-cub and his animal companions are sure to delight listeners of all ages. Vibrant and crackling with intensity, these stories present Akela the wolf; Baloo the brown bear; Shere Khan, the boastful Bengal tiger who is Mowgli’s enemy; Kaa the python; Bagheera the black panther; and Rikki-tikki-tavi the mongoose, among others.

James Herriot brings back familiar and much-loved friends, including his partner Siegfried and his most lucrative patient, the delightful Tricki Woo. There are some some new arrivals too, such as the abandoned and terrified mongrol Titch who finds the perfect home with a gruff grocer and feral kittens Olly and Ginny who live in James and wife Helen's back garden. Above all, the veterinary practise in Darrowby is enlivened by a marvelouslly eccentric assistant, Calum Buchanan, who arrives with a pet badger and proceeds to add dogs, owls and a monkey called Mortimer to his growing menagerie.

Presence describes a fictional story about Jesus’ ongoing physical appearances to three people in a small mid-western town. Under the promise that they may never tell anyone about their experiences, each one meets with Jesus personally and engages the issues in their relationship with him and in everyday life. Jesus leads them personally, and then, collectively, into the experience of community and discovery of scripture’s invitation to abundant life through adoption and transformation.

Laurie Lee was a poet, novelist and screenwriter renowned for his bestselling autobiographical trilogy Cider With Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and A Moment of War. Among the best loved memoirs in the English language, the books chart Lee’s life from his boyhood summers in a remote Cotswold village to joining the Republican International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Included here are dramatisations of the first two volumes, alongside a specially written radio play and four fascinating interview programmes.

From Demotion to Promotion is the extraordinary true story of a man who turned a career in a maximum-security prison into a nationwide mission to change lives. After witnessing the staggering effects of incarceration, Ralph Simpson made a defining decision to be a proactive solution to the problem. Fueled by determination and faith, he earned his teacher’s certification, master’s, specialist, and doctorate degrees, proving that no obstacle is insurmountable. Obstacles, such as betrayal, depression, loss wages, and false allegations are tough.