Robert's Audio Book (mostly audible.com) Recommendation List
Having maxed out on length allowed for post, this post now contains only a sample of what you will find in
Robert's Complete Audio Book Recommendation List (click here) or on link 7 in signature below). The titles are sort of literary or non fiction -- few mysteries, fantasies, or page-turners. One sci-fi.
Partial List of Really Liked Audio Books (4-5 stars):
5+*Reading Lolita in Tehran UA Azar Nafisi
Click here Interview with author A true account of seven young women gathering in authors home once a week as their lives intertwine with discussion of literary characters of forbidden Western literature.
5+*Washingtons Crossing UA David Hackett Fischer. National Book Award nominee. Non-fiction reads like excellent novel. Follows Washington & the Continental Armys increasing competence & effectiveness in the first crucial year of Revolutionary War. Newly discovered material brings understanding to many of institutions & practices developed then & now taken for granted.
5+*The Kite Runner UA Khaled Hosseini. Novel about friendship & betrayal, redemption, the price of loyalty, & the bonds between fathers & sons. Set in recent Afghanistan.
5+*Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress UA Dai Sijie. During Cultural Revolution, narrator & best friend exiled to the countryside for "re-education," find their meager distractions are a violin, the daughter of local tailor, & forbidden stash of classic literature. Surprise ending elevates the seamstress importance.
5+* Life of Pi UA Yann Martel A realistic, rousing adventure & a classic meta-tale of survival. Winner of 2002 Booker Prize. Best book I read in 2003.
5+*The Otori Trilogy UA Lian Hearn, Books 1-3,:
Across the Nightingale Floor, Bk 1 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, one of Book magazine???s best novels of the year, & one of School Library Journal???s Best Adult Books for High School Readers. Medieval Japan with magic thrown in. Brilliant! Finely developed characters & plot! The three books flow seamless from one to other, must begin with book one. Medieval Japan warlords fight & intrigue with a young contender. Modicum of magic & fantasy thrown in.
Grass for His Pillow, Bk2
Brilliance of the Moon: Tales of the Otori, Bk3 Book Browse Link to author Lian Hearn pseudonym of noted female Aussie playwright&author of children's books.
Click here for a (Fascinating) Conversation With Lian Hearn
5-*Cloud of Sparrows UA Takashi Matsuoka. Much like the Otori Trilogy w supernatural powers limited to visions of future.
5+*No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency UA Alexander McCall Smith. Enigmatic Botswana lady detective. Warm, clever, and fun.
5*Bel Canto UA Ann Patchett Opera's most revered soprano mesmerizes the guests with her singing at a party for a visiting Japanese dignitary. Perfect until terrorists take party. Love, great singing (Bel Canto), endurance, and surprise ending.
5*The Heart is a Lonely Hunter UA Carson McCullers
This novel written in and of the 1930's is as fresh as it was when the author wrote it in 1940 at age 23. Wonderfully real characters, including the main 4, placed artfully in depression era GA mill town. Not a page turner or all happiness.
5*The Cider House Rules UA by John Irving "Gardner serves up the beautiful prose and fascinating characters with considerable aplomb." (AudioFile)
5*The Known World UA Edward P. Jones, African American, first novel. 2004 Pulitzer Prize Fiction Winner. More than blacks owning blacks -- complex story of American slavery that involves good people, bad people, & wonderful & terrible things happen. "Property" are slaves. Well-developed, easy to identify with characters. Story line woven in elaborate time warps & beautiful language.
5* Pompeii UA, Robert Harris. Historic Fiction about the eruption from viewpoint of the engineer of the aqueduct.
5*The 9-11 Commission Report - National Commission Final Report. "We Have Some Planes" Chapter accounts for every step of the four hijacked planes -- gripping &, in & of itself, worth the price. Goes on to describe the organization of the plot. Non-fiction surpassing most suspense writing. Well-written & narrated. Fitting & permanent reminder of those who were lost.
free m4b file at http://www.freeclassicaudiobooks.com/ & in pdf at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/ -- includes maps & end notes.
5*The Piano Tuner A Daniel Mason. 18th century adventure of piano tuner going to Burma to tune a grand for an eccentric British Officer. I wish I had gotten UA.
5*Angelas Ashes UA, - Frank McCourt. Pulitzer Prize-winning story of how Frank endured. Irish immigrant parents in US, later raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Well read by author
5*Heart of Darkness UA dark Joseph Conrad classic.
5*The Bonesetters Daughter UA - Amy Tan. Mother & daughter discover themselves backward from modern San Francisco to mother???s tumultuous times in a village in china.
5*Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight UA Alexandra Fuller’s poignant and delightful autobiographical remembrance of her white-African childhood. Beautifully narrated & told with sharp insight into herself, family, Africa & the people who inhabit it, & dramatic changes occurring during transition from colonial to native rule.
5*John Adams UA David McCullough
5*The Namesake UA Jhumpa Lahiri enriches the themes that made her Pulitzer Prize-winning
Interpreter of The Maladies an international bestseller: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, &, poignantly, the tangled ties between generations...--BookBrowse.com
4++*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time UA Mark Haddon Endearing & poignant glimpse, with heart-stirring grit of daily life, into the life of a 15 year old boy afflicted with an autism-like condition. Written from the boys viewpoint. Well narrated (same as Life of Pi). Pathos, humor, reality, & insight.
4++*Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell UA Susanna Clarke
"Harry Potter" for adults is more Austen than Rowling, a witty social commentary and fantasy tale of good vs. evil. Clever, endlessly intriguing, rich, luxurious epic story of two unusual magicians with faux history of magic woven into 19th century England history has feel of being written (and narrated) 200 years ago. Large supporting cast of beguiling D_ickens and Austen character types. -- Adapted from a review by Greg Changnon The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 12/26/04
An engaging must-read, do not let its languorous beginning pace or 32 hour length discourage you -- it eventually unfolds briskly.
4++*Alexander Hamilton UA Ron Chernow provides thorough insight into the life and times of Hamilton. Hamilton’s difficult childhood, his prodigious intellectual writings and incredible accomplishments, and all his many shortcomings are fluidly described in 35 hours of captivating audio.
4++*Follow Your Heart A Susanna Tamaro. Not audible. Death encroaching, Italian grandmother write letters of love, confession and advice to estranged granddaughter living in US. Relives past and reveals secrets.
Complete list of Robert's Audio Book Recommendations (click here) http://audiobookrecommendations.blogspot.com/
