Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Historical - U.S.    3. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography   

Editorial Review

There is a passage early in Augusten Burroughs's harrowing and highly entertaining memoir, Read more

Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (539)

Mental Illness Is Not Funny
I picked this book up after I had read that the author had been declared by some media outlet as one of the "fifteen funniest people in America."
Yes...some of it really is funny...
...But!! Not enough to grab me by the collar!I agree with others here who said they liked some of the aspects of this "memoir", save for the disturbing sex scenes. I do believe it's hard to take in when a 13 year old is having a very adult relationship with a 32 year old. I found nothing tasteful about this. Nor did I see much humor in this. However, to be fair, there are very funny moments here. Love the scenes with the shrink's family. But by page 125 or so--the writing gets a bit sloppy and the story begins to lose its muster.
This book is an act of self gratification
I bought this on a whim because a few people had told me it was "hysterical" and it was a best-seller, so I figured it must be pretty good.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Amherst (Mass.)    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Childhood Memoir    8. Literary    9. Novelists, American    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Social life and customs    12. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography   

Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (166)

Ten kids, No work-ethic
A gritty memoir of life in the white ghetto where tribal loyalty struggles with justice. A portrait of the struggle for personal responsibility a primer and how to use and abuse the system.

Accurate. From someone who didn't live in "Southie" but in "Old Colony" at that time!
You'll see some people chime in here about this book, from "Southie". But Southie and Old Colony don't equal the same thing. You can be from the point and not be anything like someone growing up in Old Colony. Old Colony wasn't the same as D street or Old Harbor.Secondly, my aunt is mentioned in the book as skoochie(sp?). I'm not particularly fond of being from Old Colony or having my aunt in this book, but it's who i am. Lastly, i was good friends with Tommy Veins before he got out of cotrol and died. It's a sad story overall, if tommysdad is here, i'd like to say that my condolences, but this portrayal is not far from fact at all. I was there and grew up where these things happened. And let me tell you, the book is pretty accurate. Slight details here and there might be slightly off, but for the overall idea, Accurate. Everyone knew his mom... she was an outcast for sure and he mentions this several times. I personally couldn't put my own mom out there, but kudos for him for trying to be accurate.
Sad but true
Growing up in Southie and now living in Florida it was good to look back. The book broke my wifes heart who is not from Southie but it was everyday life fo us. Good read! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    4. Ethnic Cultures - General    5. Regional Subjects - New England    6. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography   

Editorial Review

Closing arguments in the infamous O.J. Simpson trial hadn't even been made when the first O.J. book--the defendant's own, Read more

Reviews (66)

WITHOUT A DOUBT...O. J. IS GUILTY...
Any reasonable person who listened to the evidence at the so-called "trial of the century" knows without out a doubt that O. J. Simpson killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, the hapless waiter who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyone who watched the announcement of the verdict and saw the shock and disbelief on O. J. Simpson's own face, as the not guilty verdict was read, would know that even the defendant knew he was guilty.
A No Win Situation - But A Good Book
I read four books after the trial. I read the Schiller 1000 page saga, Outrage, the present book and a book on Johnny Cochrane. Each book was different and gives us different insights.
Race Decided This
It wouldn't have mattered who prosecuted this case. The jury were never going to convict OJ after the race card was played.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 1947-    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. California    6. Case studies    7. Criminal Law - General    8. Lawyers & Judges    9. Los Angeles    10. Simpson, O. J.,    11. Trials (Murder)    12. Trials, litigation, etc   

Editorial Review

"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood," writes Frank McCourt in Read more

Features

• Audiobook
• Unabridged

Reviews (1760)

a great account
After seeing howmany reviews "Angela's Ashes" have, I was hesitating if I should add my own. At the end, I decided to do so, without reading the other reviews. Maybe I will repeat things already said, but I wanted to express my opinion because this book deserves all the good words it gets.
IT'S A GOOD BOOK!
I have read many books, but I have never cried reading a book. This book is very sad and goes right to the heart. I could not put this book down. I wish that it never ended. I laughed at some moments and I cried. This has to be one of my favorite books. I dont have a top ten list yet but when I have one I know that this book will be in it. I recommand everyone reading this book.
Wow...
Angela's Ashes
Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Nonfiction (Unabridged)    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Ethnic Cultures - General    7. Genealogy    8. General    9. Historical - General    10. Ireland    11. Irish Americans    12. Limerick    13. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    14. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Features

• Audiobook
• Unabridged

Reviews (71)

The Great Communicator
Ronald Reagan's love amd devotion for Nancy was so beautiful.It was amazing that he felt that way.His ability to communicate the depth of this emotion was breath-taking.Iown this book as a reminder that this kind of love is possible .

Even a guy can enjoy this book
As a guy I was hoping this book was more then just mushy old love notes from Ronnie to Nancy and it was.I'm a great admirer of the man and got this book to see a side we didn't normally get to see and a glimpse into their past as a couple.I'm so glad Mrs. Reagan kept all these things and shared them.Reading this is a good reminder to all men how easy it is to take a minute to let the one you love know that they're in your thoughts and how much they've contributed to who you are, even if you happen to be the president of the United States.

I Was More of a Daughter to Ronnie than Patty or Ron...
Listen. We women can get very jaded when it comes to men. They aren't as romantic as they used to be. Our culture has encouraged that. Read this book and see how romantic and in love with pure dignity with Nancy was our great president Ronald Reagan. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Correspondence    4. First Ladies    5. Married people    6. Personal Memoirs    7. Political    8. Presidents    9. Presidents & Heads of State    10. Presidents' spouses    11. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / Political   

Features

• Abridged

Reviews (89)

Heart warming journey through a psychic life...
I have just finished reading Dr. Judith Orloff's book Second Sight where she chronicles early life confusion and bewilderment regarding her intuitive/psychic capability. Then, in the end, Dr. Orloff leads us to her full acceptance of herself, these gifts, and ways. Today, she incorporates her intuitive sense into her role as a psychiatrist. It should be noted that Dr. Orloff is board-certified. It should also be noted that an individual cannot become a psychiatrist without first becoming a medical doctor. It is this groundedness, this knowledge of healing in all its facets Dr. Orloff brings to her own healing through sharing with us her evolution in Second Sight.
An honest and moving autobiographical work, with good tips.
Dr. Orloff is a really good writer.What makes this book so interesting, aside from her rather brutal honesty and candor about self and others in her personal life, is her reconciliation of the scientific with the metaphysical/intuitive.She has harmonized these orientations in such a way as to show that they are not at all dichotomous. In other words, one helps and augments the other.
A Beautiful Story
In Second Sight, Judith Orloff, M.D. takes us to the heart and soul of her search to validate her psychic gifts. This gifted writer and healer shares her story, and gentle spirit as she becomes a psychiatrist, to give credibility to her psychic work.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Inspirational/Philosophy    2. Audiobooks    3. Biography    4. Clairvoyants    5. Inspirational - General    6. New Age    7. Parapsychology - ESP (Clairvoyance, Precognition, Telepathy)    8. Psychiatrists    9. United States    10. Mind, Body, Spirit    11. Parapsychology, psychic powers, ESP   

Editorial Review

By becoming only the fifth coach in history to lead his team to consecutive Super Bowl victories, Mike Shanahan of the Denver Broncos has certainly shown that he is a winner. In Read more

Features

• Audiobook

Reviews (12)

Think Like A Champion : Building Success One Victory at a Time
In review of the autobiography I read, Think Like a Champion: Building Success One Victory at a Time by Mike Shanahan, I learned a great deal about succeeding on the football field.But more importantly, I learned about succeeding in life.
Building success one victory at a time.
I have heard this advice before: If you want to be successful What a Success Story!Motivational!
A die-hard Broncos fan from the days dying watching those ridiculous striped socks and watching Fran Tripuka get killed, what a job Shanahan did turning it around into two Super Bowls in a row.Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Business/Professional    2. Audio - Business / Professional    3. Audio Adult: Other    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. Football - Professional    7. Football coaches    8. Motivational    9. Psychological aspects    10. Sports    11. Sports Psychology    12. United States    13. Business & Economics / Motivational   

Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (6)

Not all true
This book, as stated by a previous reviewer, is not really for younger children.Even worse, it presents rumors as fact .Warren Harding was rumored to have joined the KKK, even thoughmost of the evidence comes from Klan members themselves.Many historians doubt this happened and have sited far more reliable sources.One of my students, for example, takes this book at face value.It proved a positive learning experience about taking this stuff as is in the book, however, I wish I had not had to do that.

Lives of the Presidents
In Lives of the Presidents:Fame, Shame (and What the Neighbors Thought), the author writes brief biographical sketches about each of the presidents from George Washington to William Clinton.Included in the sketches are both historical and anecdotal information about the leaders of our nation.Also included are caricature illustrations of each president.
all the stuff you didn't know!
this is such a great book! all the other books about the presidents just tell about how "great" the first men were, while we ALL deep down know what inconsiderate jerks they REALLY are!!! cheerio, mates! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio: Juvenile    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Children's Audio - Young Adult    5. Children's audiobooks    6. General    7. Juvenile literature    8. Presidents    9. Presidents & Heads of State    10. United States    11. Biography: general    12. Political leaders & leadership    13. USA   

Editorial Review

Lois Lowry's magnificent novel of the distant future, Read more

Features

• Unabridged
• Unabridged

Reviews (253)

It Completes
When I first reviewed The Giver years ago, I loved it.Until I got to the end.It felt woefully incomplete.It wasn't simply that the reader was required to imagine possibilities.It felt like the author hadn't finished showing us her theme.Now she has with this sequel, and I only wish I could go back to increase the stars on The Giver, for the sequel has pulled up that book as well.
Gathering Blue
Kira is a child that is left with no family.Her mother now gone and taken to the field, with nowhere to live and no one to take care of her.Many people wouldn't mind if Kira and her twisted leg were left in the field to die. People thought that she was no good and couldn't do anything for the community.One of the women of the community had taken her land and made it into a place for their small children.These same women didn't agree that Kira should stay; she had gone to the Council of Guardians with the situation.
Gathering Blue, the best of Lois Lowry
The book Gathering Blue is about a crippled girl named Kira. After her mother dies from sickness, Kira is left an orphan. Most of the town is more than happy to get ridof her, especially Vandara. In an angry attempt o kill Kira, she reminds them that "If there is any death, the causer of death must die." She is brought to trail with Vandara as her accuser. Vandara's charges against Kira are that she is worthless, eats a lot yet she doesn't earn her food. Kira is speechless and has no idea how she is going to defend herself. It doesn't matter because the Council of Elders has plans for her. Kira's mother was an talented seamstress and Kira is even better. She has been asked to repair the Singer's robe and in time, create her own section of work onto the robe. Her encounters with people who know the real truth changes her life forever. Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Children's    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Children's Audio - Young Adult    5. Children's audiobooks    6. Family - Orphans & Foster Homes    7. Fiction    8. General    9. Literary    10. Orphans    11. Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic    12. Science fiction    13. Social Issues - Special Needs    14. Juvenile Fiction / General    15. Reading Group Guide   

Editorial Review

In the aftermath of the Columbine High School tragedy, a story came out about Cassie Bernall, a young woman who allegedly professed her belief in God in the moments before she was shot dead. Hailed a modern-day martyr by Christian groups and the media, detectives revealed months later that she may never have had such an exchange with her killer. Bernall's parents responded to the news with a statement:Read more

Features

• Audiobook
• Unabridged

Reviews (410)

She Said Yes
The novel She Said Yes by Misty Bernall was very touching and was one to always keep my attention.I was given the book as a gift from my parents after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999.The first day I started to read the novel it took everything of me to put it down.I beleive that Cassie's testimony was an ecouragement to every young teenager, christian or non-christian.Since her mother wrote the story, the little details like how Cassie's mind set changed from being suicidal, to giving her life over to Christ really stuck out in the novel.I was in middle school when I read the book and still have read it numerous times.Everyone, young or old, should take time out to read the novel of Cassie's strong faith and let it make an impact on your life.

She Said "yes"
Cassie Bernallhas a devil of a backround. She was a bully, and she would do some horible pranks. Now Cassie Bernall brought it all together and became a "Gods Girl". Cassie Bernall is a regular teen and (like every morning) woke up and went to school not knowing that she was going to be shot. When she got to school people were freaking out but cassie and her friends had no idea what was happening. So they went and asked some people and before the people could awnser they heard a gun shot being fired so now cassie and her friends were freaking out and cassie has a brother who ran to a friends house and was safe but cassie on the other hand was not safe and ran into a classroom and got under a table amd started to pray. Cassie couldn't belive her eyes her killers were right in front of her. The killers had one simple question they said " do you belive in god" and she said "yes" so then the killers pulled the trigger and shot cassie in the head now her parents and her brother went back to the school to look for her and found out that all of the bodies were deadand no one eles was alive.

Critics missing the point
To me, the book is not so much about Cassie's final moments as it is her story of personal transformation. Her saying yes may or may not be correct, but it was not a lie. It was later they were informed it may not have happened. Her parents did not write the book to deceive the readers.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Audio - Autobiography / Biography    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Case studies    8. Colorado    9. Crimes against    10. General    11. High school students    12. Littleton    13. Murder - General    14. Religious    15. School violence    16. Students    17. Women    18. Religion / General   

Editorial Review

Sidney Poitier wrote Read more

Features

• Audiobook
• Unabridged

Reviews (45)

A True and Honest Measure of Oneself
Sidney Poitier has always been one of my favorite actors and he has meant so much to me personally as a lover of the cinema. He is one out of a handful I can say that about. His autobiography is impressive and he is ever so modest about many of his accomplishments.
A story well told
Sidney Poitier's autobiography illuminates not only why he is true hollywood royalty, but why he is also to be considered a royal man.There is nothing pompous or egotistical about his journey from the island to Hollywood, but rather it is a very human story told with humility and grace.

Insightful into a surprisingly diverse number of areas
Poitier recounts his very humble childhood on Cat Island in the Bahamas. He then tells us stories about coming to the USA, making it into Hollywood, his experience with racism and civil rights, his reflections on life and spirituality, and the making of his movies. The book is a little uneven: I loved his stories about getting started in acting and making his films, while I got impatient with some of his thoughts on the nature of the world. But overall, this memoir is insightful and entertaining.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    2. Actors    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audiobooks    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses    8. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    9. People of Color    10. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography    11. United States    12. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

"I fell for the great American dream, female version, hook, line, and sinker," Marya Hornbacher writes. "I, as many young women do, honest-to-God believed that once I Just Lost a Few Pounds, suddenly I would be a New You, I would have Ken-doll men chasing my thin legs down with bouquets of flowers on the street, I would become rich and famous and glamorous and lose my freckles and become blond and five foot ten." Hornbacher describes in shocking detail her lifelong quest to starve herself to death, to force her short, athletic body to fade away. She remembers telling a friend, at age 4, that she was on a diet. Her bizarre tale includes not only the usual puking andstarving, but also being confined to mental hospitals and growing fur (a phenomenon called lanugo, which nature imposes to keep a body from freezing to death during periods of famine). ... Read more

Features

• Abridged
• Audiobook

Reviews (366)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
I never truly left this book until it was done. I stopped at points and it took perhaps a week to finish, but it was always on my mind. I rolled over her story in my head as I went about my days (or daze).
Excellent, witty and very honest book
I've read a few lame teenage oriented, moralistic, politically correct books about eating disorders, but THIS is something completely different! Not only because Marya is a real, tallented writer, but even more because her writing is so honest, detailed and yet humorous in some strange way. She doesn't whin about her situation, she doesn't blame all the world and society, but she neither powders herself with ashes. She just tells her story, a story of a very seriuos, determined, tallented and unique girl who decided to become really thin and pushed her dieting obsession to its very limits, to the very edge of death. Details of her starving and purging practices, and of her inventive, deceiving methods to convince her family, friends and medical personel that she's fine, are scary, but this brutal realism makes you really think about eating disorders. Her eating disorder is not just a disorder, it's a real full-time job, a lifestyle, a dedication, and it's extremly frightening. I found her comments about her recent life very good and revealing too.
Fantastic Book
Marya Hornbacher paints a real and vivid image of her experience with anorexia. This is the best book on anorexia and bulimia I have ever read. I keep coming back to this book- I could read it again and again just because of Hornbachers talent for writing. She truely has a gift!
Read more

Subjects:  1. Anorexia nervosa    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Bulimia    7. Patients    8. Psychopathology - Eating Disorders    9. United States    10. Women    11. Self-Help / Eating Disorders   

Features

• Unabridged

Reviews (34)

A must read for any hunter
In this rare non-fiction work from Ernest Hemingway he brings to life a month long hunting expedition that he spent with his wife Pauline in Africa in nineteen-thirty-three, but he writes it in the true Hemingway tradition. Rather than having it read like a documentary he writes it in the form of a novel.
Classic lit
Green Hills of Africa is set (surprise) in Africa, and it primarily concerns hunting for Kudu and Rhino. Hemingway draws you into the realm of the physical; he draws in precise detail the machinery of the rifles, the approach of the rhino, the canvas of Africa's deep and beauteous terrain.
Entertaining Travelogue - not EH's best
This is a travelogue of Hemmingway's experiences hunting big game in East Africa in the 1930s.EH uses an evocative language to paint a beautiful and romantic picture of an Africa that is now gone forever.The reader can feel the African heat, and sense the frustration when the quarry escapes.There are some glimmers of the best of EH in this book (when he is discussing American literature or the philosophy of writing, for example), but this is certainly not his best work.There are some graphic descriptions of hunting in this book, and a few historical anecdotes.I thought the discussion about the campaigns of von Lettow to be interesting.This must have been common knowledge for Europeans or Americans at the time, but has, I suspect, been completely forgotten by most.The reader will also glean some insights into Hemmingway as a person, and his obsessions with writing and with hunting.It is interesting that EH described himself as jealous and petulant, wanting to have the best trophy to take home, and having a serious case of bad attitude when bested.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Africa, East    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Authors, American    5. Big game hunting    6. Biography    7. Classics    8. Fiction    9. Historical - U.S.    10. Hunters    11. Literary    12. Unabridged Audio - Autobiography/Biography