All Ears Audiobooks discussion

I just finished reading American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield. I have enjoyed her novels in the past and had to see what this one was all about!

I have to say I loved this book - couldn't put it down! I felt as though I knew the main character, Alice, personally. I found myself wishing she were real - I enjoyed her personality throughout. Having said that, this novel has made me interested to learn more about Laura Bush seeing as it is loosely based on her life.

The last 100 pages were not as great as the first 400 or so. The story line seemed to dry up - just wasn't as intriguing. I would highly recommend this book. It has also given me a greater appreciation for the former First Lady, and perhaps even her husband! This novel shows that they are human beings, just like the rest of us.

I just finished:
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is a short book packed with stories and colorful characters that make up the lives and times of Cannery Row (Yes, the Cannery Row) in Monterey, California.
The stories entailed are random but slowly build to a theme and a purpose. The town is alive, (often a character itself) and its citizens interact, interconnect and share tragedies and triumphs together.
Steinbeck is often an esoteric and interpretive author, and Cannery Row is no different, so far be it from me to tell you what to think about this book. Read it for yourself and see what you get out of it... all classics are a different experience for each reader.

After having so many people recommend this series, I decided to listen to Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. Now what makes the main character, Odd, so unique is that he sees dead people and has an uncanny paranormal ability to detect when something bad is going to happen. The book is fast-paced, exciting and scary. This is not a story you want to listen to alone at night! But Koontz throws in humor and some very lovable characters to make this book a fun listen. Just the endless character possibilities when you include famous dead people (we're talking Elvis here), make this story very entertaining. I'm looking forward to the other books in this series!

I just finished 'The Looming Tower' by Lawrence Wright, about the history that led up to 9/11. It's long and full of facts, but don't let that discourage you. Wright knows how to string information together and to tell a story, so much so that I sometimes found excuses to drive so that I could keep moving through the book. I learned so much about Al Queda, the weaknesses of American intelligence, and the Middle East, in a work that is written like a thriller. Alan Sklar's unctuous narration was sometimes a little irritating, but I guess the smooth basso profundo delivery is why these type of guys are successful.

I love the "Odd" books as well. A fellow Odd Tomas fan told me she did not like the most recent book....and I can't think of the title, but all of the rest in that series have been good. I can attest to that.
Kevin

I just finished Madame Bovary. Ok, I admit that I picked up this book because(according to Wikipedia!) a poll of modern authors listed this as the 2nd most important novel ever written. I'd like to have a conversation with whoever took that poll!! Does the book give an important social commentary about the lives of women? Yes. Is the book interesting? Uh, maybe. Was it earth shattering and changed my view of the world? No. But, I did find the audiobook enjoyable. Donada Peters does a wonderful job in the narration. Maybe I'm a bit jaded because I recently finished Anna Karenina and The House of Mirth - and I loved both books, but they also deal with a similar topic.

After finishing Madame Bovary, I decided to give the 'most important novel list' a rest, and picked up John Green's An Abundance of Katherines. I found this book to be funny and refreshing. Colin is a child prodigy who likes to go out with girls named Katherine. From the first Katherine (known as Katherine the Great) whom he dated for 10 minutes in first grade, to Katherine the 19th who has just dumped him, Colin is strangely attracted to girls with that name. He decides that after being dumped by 19 Katherines, he needs to come up with a mathematical formula that will predict his future relationships. The characters are quirky and funny and the story is sweet. Definitely a fun light read.

Julie at All Ears wrote: "Please share which book you just finished listening to (or reading). Did you love it? Hate it? Who would enjoy this book?"

Peaks and Valleys by Dr. Spencer Johnson. Loved it, read it twice! It was somewhat tough to hear, but good for me. The book is timely and applies to everyone on the planet at this time! I still prefer one of his other books, Who Moved My Cheese, but this book is also top notch for simplicity and deep meaning.

Is there a way to get a list of the books I have listened to? I have already forgot the name of the book I just listened to but I would like to comment on it.

Wayne wrote: "Is there a way to get a list of the books I have listened to? I have already forgot the name of the book I just listened to but I would like to comment on it."

Hi, Wayne. Next time you're in the store, you can either get a printout of your books, or we can let you know what your last couple of audiobooks were. Looking forward to seeing your comments! With 385 books on your list, no wonder you can't remember! I'm enjoying your reviews!

Julie

I just finished listening to Guilty by Karen Robards.
This book is the classic tale of "your past will evidentally catch up with you". You can hope it never does, but mostly likely it will. The main character is an assistant DA just starting out in her career and events and characters from her past force her to compromise her career and to make matters worse, she gets involved with a police detective. The saying "oh what tangle webs we weave...." is very clear in this book. You keep asking yourself throughout the book "how the heck is she going to get out of this situation". It was a very suspenseful book to the end.

Vanished by Karen Robards

This is book was a tragic book about missing children. It tells a story of a woman whose child went missing for some 18 years and she never knew what happened to her. Parents all over the world are having children abducted - some have been found, some have been murdered and many of them have never been found. This woman becomes involved with another family whose child is abducted and eventually finds out what happened to her child. The sad truth to all this is....this is really happening in our world today. Although this was fiction it certainly hits home.

I listened to The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court and thought it was great. I just stumbled into it and am very glad that I did. It's a great summary of the workings of the Supreme Court for the past 20 years. Jeffrey Toobin masterfully introduces you to each of the justices as they arrive on the scene including how they were selected, the senate hearing that confirmed them, their background, and their personalities and ideology. Then he walks through many major cases (abortion, church and state, affirmative action, homosexuality, Bush v. Gore and more) and the resulting decisions that the court rendered during this time with a good look into how the court decides, how they work together or don't work together to determine the laws of our land. He also notes some of the powerful thinking and wording of both the majority and dissenting opinions. If you are not a court watcher, this will get you up to speed fast and will give you a great understanding on how it all works, right before Obama appoints the next judge.

I just finished The Sea by John Banville. I had started this audiobook 2 other times before finally completing it. This is the story of Max Morden who has recently lost his wife. It is a stream of consciousness narrative and jumps back and forth in time. This is a good one to listen to if you are in a slightly melancholy mood. It will make you think about some pretty deep questions in life - the accuracy of memory and the indignity of dying. I loved the audio narration. John Lee is wonderful in this audiobook and throws in just the slightest Irish lilt.

Julie at All Ears wrote: "Wayne wrote: "Is there a way to get a list of the books I have listened to? I have already forgot the name of the book I just listened to but I would like to comment on it."

I need a printout, too. Just curious, how many do I have on my list?

I just finished The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. It seems to be an attempt at a grand-scale Bildungsroman with several major characters; however, due to the number of subplots it is challenging to follow the characters' development. The subject is ostensibly the Columbine shootings; however, this is simply a passing event that informs the development of some of the major characters. The idea is that our ancestors, once buried, continue dynamic as an underground stream that bubbles up to shape the lives of the living descendants. Lamb does very carefully weave a tapestry connecting past, present, and future; however, some of the details/subplots seem superfluous and confusing. The idea of belief is touched upon in a dismissive manner until the end of the novel, where the main character discovers faith in the last sentence. Quite an anticlimax.

Overall, the book is quite engaging, as all of the subplots are of interest, but I do not recommend it for someone who is particularly interested in the Columbine tragedy or who is expecting an epiphany. It doesn't come.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows I just finished listening to this book the last Potter book. The narration was fantastic! For me the best book since the first book. Much darker than the rest of the series and so much the better for the darkness. The end was just a bit too much sappiness and I thought not worthy of the darkness in the book. I would have been happy if it had ended at Kings Cross but of course not many others would have been as happy.

All in all I recommend the book for family reading. It would make a great book for a long family car driving vacation.

The Man in My Basement A Novel

I just finished reading this book. Loved it! A very intriguing concept of having a man in your basement. A white man in a black neighborhood who goes up to a house and asks to rent the basement of a black man's house. The experience changes the owner of the house in ways he would have never foreseen and gave me pause to think on what makes the world work.

I am having a difficult time getting my head around the ideas of this white man in the basement but he makes some valid points about how the world really works.

Mosley is one of my favorites and he doesn't disappoint in this book which is a much different novel than any I have read to this point. I have a feeling I would very much enjoy having Mr. Mosley over for dinner.

Briant wrote: "Julie at All Ears wrote: "Wayne wrote: "Is there a way to get a list of the books I have listened to? I have already forgot the name of the book I just listened to but I would like to comment on it..."

Hi, Briant.

I checked today and you have listened to 211 books. Impressive!! Incroyable (sorry - my French is pretty rusty - I hope I didn't say something stupid there...). Thanks for your well-written review of the latest Wally Lamb. The feedback I've gotten on the book is pretty mixed. Not sure if I'm going to pick that one up...

I am always torn between re-reading a book from my list of favorites or picking up a new book. So many books, so little time... Well I caved in and picked up the audio version of The Hobbit. The last time I read it was in high school (and yes, Michael, the printing press had already been invented). This book is definitely one to enjoy in audio. Strong narration and... What a story! Loved it!

I loved it so much that I picked up the Modern Scholar Series Rings, Swords and Monsters which is a series of lectures on fantasy literature by Michael Drout, a professor at Wheaton College. My original plan was just to listen to the one or 2 lectures about The Hobbit. I found that I could not put this down. I listened to the entire 14 lectures. If you are a fan of fantasy fiction, he covers many of the great authors of the genre - Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Ursula LeGuin, Terry Brooks, and more. His lectures were interspersed with background history, wonderful excerpts that he reads as well as the best audio narrator, and some great analysis. It was enjoyable and I learned so much. I would highly recommend this to fantasy fans. And now I have a list of fantasy titles that I want to read!

nice to find you folks. So many people look down on audio books but i find them a great way to shoehorn more great books into a busy day. There's also a couple series i now prefer listening to instead of reading. No. 1 Ladie's detective series is one of them, mostly because of the amazing reader. Jasper Fford's Thursday Next series is the other - partially reader, partially the story line.

i always have a paper book i'm reading and an audio book in the car. This year so far i've listened to a mixture of things, including "The year of magical thinking" by Joan Didion (wonderful, powerful book), "The Hunt Ball" one of Rita Mae Brown's foxhunting mysteries, "Gilead" by Marilynn Robinson, "Saving Fish from Drowning" by Amy Tan, "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse, "Sabriel" by Garth Nix, "Light from Heaven" by Jan Karon, "Morality for Beautiful Girls" by McCall Smith and the latest was "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. I'm now listening to "Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs.

One of the things i've found about audio books is a good reader can make or break a book. I picked up an audio book about the imperial court in china - exactly the kind of thing i'd read normally and stopped listening within a half hour because the reader had no natural flow or rythum to her words. Her pauses between sentences were unnaturally long and her conversation sounded unnatural.

Anyone find particular readers (actors) who they look for?

Welcome, Donna! So glad you joined us. I'm impressed by your broad selection of audiobooks - I am definitely looking forward to seeing some of your reviews!

I completely agree that the narrator can make or break an audiobook. And I find that I'll try an unknown author or audiobook based solely on the reader. Loved your question about favorite readers! Some of my favorites are:

- Barbara Rosenblat - I love all the mysteries she reads and was totally blown away by her narration of Suite Francaise
- Davina Porter (especially in the Outlander series)
- John Lee - he could be reading the phone book and I would still listen...
- Jim Dale - the Harry Potter books introduced so many people to audiobooks and I love his narration of the Stoneheart trilogy
- Simon Vance - another great narrator - hmmm, so many British narrators - I must have a soft spot for the accent!
- Scott Brick - I have listened to so many books just because he was the reader - my favorite is The Charm School (hard to find a copy of this one - but totally worth it).

Scott Brick - he narriated "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. One of the best books i've ever listened to. Scott's no-nonsense approach to it was perfect - not too heavy, and light and funny when appropriate. Made consuming a fact filled and often horrifying (did you know the food industry did that???) book much easier.

Just finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. My sister-in-law who has lived in Southern Maine most of her adult life tipped me of to Elizabeth's Strout's depiction of the inhabitants of the small coastal community of Crosby, Maine. As a result, Elizabeth Strout was invited to Book Group Expo held in San Jose last October. Strout had to cancel her appearance at the last minute due to a broken foot, which strikes me as something that would happen in the book... Who would have known that Olive Kitteridge would be award the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction? In any case, if you like insightful character development with a neo-realism slant, Olive Kitteridge is a must read. It was disturbing to me when Olive expresses her annoyance with her new daughter-in-law, who knows "everything," by surreptitiously taking 2 personal item from her room and defacing one of her sweaters. And quite satisfying when confronted by her son several years later who calmly explains that Olive has never take responsibility for her actions and that he is no longer afraid of her. It was also a bit weird to spend so much time with a character so completely devoid of ANY sense of humor. Even so, Stout creates a complex character worth understanding. Olive Kitteridge

Donna wrote: "nice to find you folks. So many people look down on audio books but i find them a great way to shoehorn more great books into a busy day. There's also a couple series i now prefer listening to in..."

I agree with Julie about Jim Dale, Davina Porter and Barbara Rosenblat, I also love George Guidall who reads a variety of books, he has such a sense of spaciousness in his reading style. In general the quality of readers on Recorded Books are consistently excellent.

I've recently finished 2 great audiobooks, Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke and The Reader by Bernard Schlink.

After so many strong recommendations for titles by James Lee Burke, I finally picked up Black Cherry Blues , the 3rd in the Dave Robicheaux series. What a great mystery! This book won the Edgar award in 1990 for best mystery novel. Normally when I read a mystery, I am completely focused on the plot. But, listening to this book, I couldn't help but appreciate the excellent writing and well developed characters. I loved how the 'bad guys' were the scum of the earth and the good guys weren't much better! The narrator, Mark Hammer, is perfect for this series. His Cajun dialect immediately places you in the heart of New Orleans. If you are looking for a gritty mystery AND a good novel, then try this series - you won't be disappointed.

The Reader was a book that I was hesitant to read. I had heard so much about how the plot revolves around the relationship between an adult woman and a 15 year old boy and I thought this would be another 'Lolita' experience - a book that you should read, but will make you uncomfortable. I loved this book! The story is so much more than the romance between Hanna and Michael. It wrestles with guilt and redemption, and the difficult issues of how a generation deals with the sins of its parents. Wow - definitely will leave you thinking. Great story and wonderful audio experience with Campbell Scott as narrator.

Mr. and Miss Anonymous
I just finished listening to this book. I really enjoyed it. It makes you think....when you donate anything, blood, sperm, eggs, etc. Is it really going where it is suppose to go? This book is about what could happen.....does it happen in real life....who knows

Harvesting the Heart
This book was not the typical type of subject that the author usually picks. I had a very difficult time figuring out what the message was. There were actually two messages....you cannot blame what happened in your childhood on how you deal with life as an adult. You cannot change the past...Get Over It. The second message is do not get so totally involved with someone that you lose your own identity and self-worth.

I was in desperate need of a lighter, yet engaging read and found it in Jennifer Chiaverini's The Runaway Quilt: book 4 in the Elm Creek Quilt series. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the Bergstroms, a 19th century german immigrant family who finds themselves drawn into the pre-civil war debate on the slavery. Christina Moore does a great job narrating, especially when present day Sylvia reads 19th century Gerda family memoir. And the story is much enhanced by all of the questioning and speculating that occurs by the present day characters in the story. This books reminds me that writing down even the most mundane events in memoir or journal form can precious to those that come after us.

ARRRRGHHHH!!!! I am listening to Friday Night Knitting Club by Karen Jacobs. I borrowed from the library. I'm on CD 6 of 10 and enjoing it a lot. And i HAVE TO RETURN IT!! because someone put a hold on it and i can't renew it! When i return it tomorrow i'm putting a hold on it next!!

Rapt: The Science of Focus and Attention (or something like that...;o)

Could be my mindset, but the thoughts "uh, gotta slog through that new book before I can get another one...." and "uhg, don't like the reader.....overly clever writing....must finish, have to finish..." kept coming to mind. Who says I must slog through and finish before moving on? Oh, that was only me!

After listening to 3.1 (out of 7 or 8) CD's, I happily returned this book and checked out another. Not that I didn't learn anything. Well I didn't. I might have eventually. But I did gain some reinforcement that how I focus and attend to my life is normal and also, dare I say it, efficient! Yay! Since FUN has always been an important ingredient in my enjoyment of whatever I'm doing, I am happy to report that I officially have researched (by Phd.'s!) evidence that creating games out of mundane or not-so-mundane tasks is a very efficient way to accomplish all projects! Plus other stuff....

I just finished listening the abridged version of "The Devil Wears Prada" from Lauten Weisberger. Listening the audio version, it is lovely to learn the correct pronunication of the famous bandnames in this book. Only one fault is I listen an abridged version, I prefer an unbridged one.
It is hard to imagine working with a demanding woman as Miranda Priestly, and getting a job that a lot of girls would die for. But it is true that working with various kind of people, who have different background, ability, expectation,..., is a challenging thing in any business and any job position. I like some phrase "I'm not sure how" or "that's not possible" that should never exist in Miranda's world. Yes, nothing is impossible. It depends on what you want and how you do it.
One last thing I just wonder is Miranda Priestly always wears Channel, why the book title is Prada?!

I just finished:

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an ongoing news quiz done through NPR with host Peter Sagal and a mixed panel of pundits and comics, like Paula Poundstone and Tom Bodat.

The Best of Not My Job is a two-disc CD containing bite-sized 10 minute segments with A-list celebrities, politicians and NPR hosts.

Contains:

Janeane Garofalo
Brian Williams
Ken Jennings
Sarah Silverman
Tom Hanks
Tom and Ray Magliozza (of NPR Car Talk)
Barack Obama
Terry Gross (of NPR's Fresh Air)
Mjr. Robert Bateman
Lee Smith
Harold Ramis
Penn Jilette

In the game Not My Job, guests are given three multiple choice trivia questions. They must get two of three correct to win. The mini interviews contained before the quiz and the interplay between the guests, host and panel are hilarious, educational and informative.

Verdict: A good pick up for fans of Wait Wait..., trivia, or NPR in general.

Worthy of my trademarked award: SO GOOD, I'M READING IT TWICE!(tm) ;)

THE WORLD MAKES SENSE! This and other thoughts flooded my mind after finishing Jim Collins latest literary release. Concise and timely, the information applies to business as well as our personal lives!

I differ with another critics' premise that Mr. Collins' claims that "companies get into trouble because they overreach..."etc. That is NOT what Mr. Collins' found to happen first. There first is an arrogance, "hubris", which creeps in to the successful company's leadership. This, in turn, 'infects' everyone inside the company down the chain. I kept thinking "Pride goeth before a fall."

The author Jim Collins did not pose a black or white scenario. While I find the research sited by critics of Mr. Collins as interesting, it is NOT either/or. They seem to miss the point which the author goes to great lengths to remind us again and again: each of the five STAGES are indicative of what MAY be happening, and indeed a PATTERN which Mr. Collins and his associates found to be consistent. The stages in and of themselves are NOT the cause, they are all SYMPTOMS which may indicate mistaken direction and/or pending destruction. The further along in the stages, the more dire and imminent may be the decline. It is not a formula, but a set of consistencies.

I loved the book How The Mighty Fall and am re-reading it. I look forward to the soon-to-be released book from Mr. Collins on what to DO in these turbulent times!(less)

I recently listened to Godless: the Church of Liberalism by Ann Coulter. I admit that I read many reviews first and thought this would be interesting because of all the polarized reviews on this book, so I give this a listen. Wow! She sure knows how to incite. With the her intensity turned passed max and her contrast set to pure black and white, Ann machine guns her views through all dimensions of life, values, and humanity to hit any target that isn't on her island. If you agree with her I can see that some of this might be funny to you, but she is so insulting that I just can't respect anything she says. Whether you agree with her or not, you have to wonder why she chooses this style to preach her message, it's not a style that will convert anyone, and I can't help but wonder how closely this captures her real personal beliefs and how much of it is just calculated sensationalism for profit. Applying my value of appreciating the richness of diversity, for those that share her views, go for it. But her acidic irreverence for other ideas has me shelving this one in humor.

I finished listening to Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies . Ever wonder what shaped the countries and civilizations of the world we live in? Why some nations are strong, why some are poor, some are large, and some are old, or why some were wiped out? This book offers some very insightful theories to explain these whys. His ideas on the east-west trade routes, the introduction of germs to previously unexposed civilizations, the migration path of humans, the natural boundaries of mountains and oceans, and the chance development of weapons play a larger role than you might expect in shaping the current power, intellectual and wealth centers of today's world. This is a very worthwhile book for the curious mind.

I just finished Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I've read many Jane Austen books before, and although I am not a 'Jane Austen fanatic', I have enjoyed them. This is the first one I've listened to in audio. I don't know if it is because Northanger Abbey is far better than the other ones I've read, but I really enjoyed this audiobook. The characters were wonderfully portrayed and there were a few plot twists. I even ended up sitting in my drive way to finish it today - not something I usually do for a classic! The book is read by Glenda Jackson and her narration is really superb. Wonderful fun read!

.Vision In White

This book goes into detail about the wedding business. A photograph, caterer, a flower designer all live together and run this business. It describes all the work it takes to pull off the "perfect" wedding for brides. Although fiction...it gives a good overview of the wedding business.

.Glitter Baby (Revised) (Formerly Titled, "Welcome to the World of the Glitter Baby")

This book tells a tale of a woman's obsession with hollywood fame and fortune. How she pushes her daughter into dancing and acting. The mom lives through her daughter's life and cannot seem to let go of that life.

It tells of the backstabbing that goes on a daily basis.

so, since i couldn't finish Friday Night Knitting Club since someone put a hold on it... I listened to The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters (or whatever she's calling herself - which actually appears in the story... but i won't spoil that) This is the "final" Vicky Bliss novel and it was entertaining.

The mystery was a light romp through the valley of the kings, and Barbara Rosenblat's narration was amazing. I enjoyed it, but i'm prone to like this type of fluff. Gotta have something to balance out some of the heavy stuff i've read this year :)

Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn is the prequel to the Tales of the Otori, particularly before Across the Nightingale floor. It is seen as the first and last book of the series, as it brings the series full circle.

Heaven's Net is Wide details the life of Otori Shigeru, Takeo's adoptive father. Not much is revealed about the man in the three books of the trilogy, which serves to create interesting milestones for readers of the book who have already finished the rest of the books.

Heaven's Net is Wide can be read after Across the Nightingale floor, but I recommend that it should be read after finishing Brilliance of the Moon, the third book of the series.

Beginning with Shigeru's childhood, the book follows the young lord through his formative years, describing his studies at Teraiyama, the Buddhist temple, his fateful meetings with both Iieda Sadamu and Lady Naomi Maruyama. The book also draws deeply on the relationship between Shigeru and his family, his brother and his treacherous uncles.

As said before, those who have read the other three books will find milestones in Heaven's Net. Readers will be anxious to get to the end, hearing how Shigeru found Takeo, but also knowing that certain events still have to take place before where Across the Nightingale Floor picks up.

Heaven's Net, unlike the rest of the series, has very little action, but all the charms of the series are still there. This book, perhaps more than all the others, focuses deeply on the customs, rituals and expectations of feudal Japanese society and the politics of the rulers and warriors. Romance, also, is a strong vein in this book, as with the rest of the series, but don't hold out for too many epic battles or action sequences. Those are the tales yet to come.

As stated in my previous review of the Best of Not My Job, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an ongoing news quiz done through NPR with host Peter Sagal and a mixed panel of pundits and comics, like Paula Poundstone and Tom Bodat.

The Best of Wait Wait... was a random collection of some of the best moments so far. Unlike Not My Job, the CDs are arranged into random moments rather than dialogues with various celebrities. The Best Of Wait Wait was much more newsworthy of a collection, entailing some of the wacky 2008 Election moments, among other things. Much of the CD was interplay between host, panelists and listener contestants, and provided a good sample of the various games and comic treats for those who are unfamiliar with the show.

Again...

Verdict: A good pick up for fans of Wait Wait..., trivia, or NPR in general.

I read all three of the Best of Fresh Air collections we have at the All Ears Store : Laughs, Stars, and Stage and Screen.

Yes, I know, more NPR, Jeff?

Fresh Air, with Terry Gross is a long running NPR show in which Terry brings big name celebrities, comics, authors and others into the studio for in-depth interviews.

I found that these three collections, if not Fresh Air in general, was very reminiscent of the past show on Bravo, Inside the Actor's Studio.

Terry Gross talks with big names like Clint Eastwood, Joan Rivers, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, Dave Chappelle and others.

Though Fresh Air was humorous at times, these interviews were heavily biographical. The meat of the interviews discussed the artists beginnings, inspirations, recollections and influential decisions. It was a fascinating listen, and I highly recommend it to any fans interested in pop culture and the developmental days of stars past and present.

Who Moved My Cheese? is a business classic and a short but invaluable read. This is one of those books that you can read, get something from it, move on and keep living, and then years later, you can re-read it and get something new out of it.

Who Moved My Cheese is a short story about two tiny people and two mice in a maze, looking for cheese. One day the cheese is moved. How each character deals with this change, however, is another story.

What the story means to you and your life is part of the fun in the reading. So give this book a read and then get out there and find that new cheese!

I listened to Black Boy by Richard Wright for this month's bookclub read. Wonderfully narrated, this is Wright's biography of growing up black in the South during the 1920s and 1930s. Wow, what a powerful book! I am definitely glad I read this book and I can see why this is required reading for so many students. What an revealing book about prejudice in the United States.

But, not very uplifting. Do you ever feel so disturbed by a book that you find it difficult to focus on your next listen? I needed something light and fun - what finally captured my interest was Gail Carson Levine's Fairest. What a beautiful fairy tale! But what really made this a fun audiobook experience was the excellent narration. The story is about a kingdom that values singing. Having a beautiful voice carries as much weight as appearance. The book is a full cast narration and is filled with great singing. A good choice for a family road trip.

I just finished "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. At first, I am not interested at this book after reading the back cover. However, I am curious why this book stay on the best seller list after long period of time. I just give myself a try.
I am surprised and stunned. I have changed my view of American after reading this book. The attitude is different from the behavior of this generation. The wisdom of Randy and his father are the most impressive part. I like "the $100,000 Salt and Pepper Shaker" the most. I like this phrase: "If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you." Everyone needs to equipe oneself and prepare for the opportunities. If there is any brick wall, break it in order to show your eagerness. I find it is similar to the Chinese wisdom.
Also, don't forget to visit www.lastlecture.com in which I find the lost chapter.

'Poppy' by Avi

I thought that this book was a realy good book. I liked how the book had all these chalenges that a normal person would think easy like when Poppy crosses the stream. I also liked how Ereth would call Poppy names like Plopy and Flopy and that cracked me up. I liked this book alot and I thought this book would be great for anyone who likes books that you can never put down and are very exciting.

Matters of the Heart
I just finished listening to this book. It deals with the phenomenon of relationship abuse. Whether it be physical or verbal, this books goes through the different phases. How a wealthy, self-confident and self-assured woman can be turned into a blindly in love, needy individual in a matter of a year, once she becomes involved with an abusive individual, charming...but a sociopath. I know this was well written because all through the book I was talking to my radio saying "what kind of stupid, get a clue, don't fall for his line, get the hell out". I would get so frustrated with the woman I wanted to strangle her.

I've just finished a few excellent audiobooks, Fall On Your Knees by Anne-Marie MacDonald and The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. Fall On Your Knees was an Oprah book club selection and has all the elements of a great book to discuss with friends - wonderfully complex characters, a few unexpected plot twists and those pivotal decision points, where a character's choice determines the fate of the book. Although this audio edition is abridged, at 10 cds, I did not feel that I was missing too many key points, and the narration was well done. If you're looking for some good literary fiction, give this one a try.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is a story about a Harvard graduate student who selects Deliverance Dane, a woman accused of witch craft during the Salem trials, as the subject for her PhD thesis. This was a fun book to listen to - it combined suspense with a bit of magic and romance thrown in. Although I loved the parts of the book that were set in the past, I didn't find this book as moving as Kathleen Kent's The Heretic's Daughter. But if you are looking for a bit of adventure and romance to round out your summer, give this one a try - it won't disappoint.

And finally, I also listened to Mrs. Dalloway. This book is the story of a single day in Clarissa Dalloway's life as she prepares for a party. Famous for its stream of consciousness narrative, I found my stream of consciousness straying away from what Clarissa was planning to do for the party, to what I was planning for dinner that night. This book is so highly regarded that I really wanted to like it. I wouldn't say the book was a bust, but you have to be in the right frame of mind for this one. I think I'll try some other Virginia Woolf titles and maybe pick this up again.

I just finished Healthy Sleep by Andrew Weil and Ruben Naiman.

Healthy Sleep seemed more like a college lecture/seminar or workshop than an audiobook. It's a short two hours of audio. The first disc is a discussion on the values of sleep and the factors in life that could be disrupting it. One of the most valuable tools is a guided sleep inventory that helps diagnose where, if any, are your problems in sleep.
The second disc is mostly guided exercises on waking and getting to sleep.

Perhaps one of the best things about this CD was that, unlike most guided exercise books, this one was very fundamental and basic. The exercises were simple, short and easy to memorize. For once I didn't feel like I'd have to own this book and constantly refer back or make notes on the exercises if I wanted to repeat them later in the future. As icing on the cake, the reader is constantly urged to make the exercises individual, or adapt them to their needs if they can be made easier. This made the exercises stress-free and flexible.

The two speakers, Andrew Weil and Ruben Naiman, complement each other well, filling in the gaps of physiology and psychology, drawing together a good blend of sound advice for body and mind.

I finished reading Redwall by Brian Jacques.

Redwall, as I was pleased to learn, is just as delightful and entrancing as it was when I first read it back in Jr. High. It's been a long time since I could not put a book down, a children's book no less.

But don't let the genre fool you, like Harry Potter, Redwall is appropriate for any and all ages. The world of Redwall is set in a forest called Mossflower, where forest creatures of all types endeavor together in peace and prosperity at Redwall Abbey. However, when Cluny the Scourge, an evil and infamous sea rat vows to conquer the abbey, it's up to Matthais and the other forest dwellers to defend their home and defeat the invaders.

Matthais concerns himself with most of the book with finding and retrieving the lost armor of Martin the Warrior, the Abbey's legendary hero. The mysteries, adventures and trials involved make up most of the book. The puzzles are especially fun, and a good challenge for readers who want to try to solve the mysteries of Martin along with the character.

I chose to read this book, rather than listen to it, but the audio is just as good as the book. Brian Jacques makes appearances in the audio, and the book is done with a full cast of narrators. Whether in book or audio, children and adults should give Redwall a try. And if you have before, it's always a thrill to return to Redwall Abbey for another reading.