Category: Audible


Review: The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year by Andy Cohen

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June 22, 2023

The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow YearThe Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year by Andy Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First of all, this is someone’s diary. Who can judge? It’s the part of his life he wanted to notate. That said, I admit wishing I was finished listening/reading less than halfway in. I did learn more about writing and reading my memoir aloud. So there’s that.

This is LGBTQ month, so it was fun to ponder Andy Cohen’s life in 2014. That part I didn’t mind. I did get tired of the name-dropping of all his friends. But like I said before, this is his diary. It gave him good feelings to know and remember later.

What I did enjoy was his pup. I loved hearing about someone enjoying receiving and living with a dog. I miss my Kali so much. But Andy loves his dog so much that he gave him an Instagram account. I may have to look that up. Wacha! What a cute name.

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Review: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

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June 18, 2023

The Last Thing He Told MeThe Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rebecca Lowman (Narrator) made this story come to life so much so that I forgot to turn off the Fire and go to sleep. I remember it being light outside as I made myself put the story away.

Here’s the blurb that grabbed me:

We all have stories we never tell.
Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her.

Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.

It wasn’t a murder mystery, but it kept you wondering if Hannah was foolish in trying to find her husband. And you wonder if her step daughter will ever accept Hannah.

It was fun, and I enjoyed a new kind of woman. She was strong and had her own life but was open to caring for her stepdaughter with a full-blown love of her own.

I was lucky to find this on Libby to borrow. Hope you like it too.

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Review: Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson

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June 15, 2023

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on CivilizationStarry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, this one will keep you awake at all hours. It did me. I found it intriguing. Sometimes I wanted to say he was wrong, and then he would say something that left me thinking. Lots of thinking. I felt more open after the outer space aliens gave their observations about life and most humans, and I felt I could see things from different points of view than I came into the book. THAT is what reading is supposed to cause. Thoughts.

Though I listened to Mr. Tyson reading his own book on an audio-Libby loan, I think I will try to buy a paper copy. I’d like to take this much slower and mull everything through my filters.

If you like reading things that can kick you in the head with new ideas or angles you might not have thought of, this book is for you. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s voice kept me interested in all of it!

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Review: The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

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June 12, 2023

The StorytellerThe Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jodi Picoult has written another winner. A well-written story told by all these narrators made this experience feel alive. Some of that was great, but the story is about actual horrific historical events. Mozhan Marno (Narrator), Jennifer Ikeda (Narrator), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator), Suzanne Toren (Narrator), and Fred Berman (Narrator) made me think of the old radio shows. I never got to listen to them, but there have been a few vacation road trip replays.

I have to admit that reading this at bedtime was often a mistake. My dad had been in a concentration camp as a prisoner of war. I learned about what really happened just before he passed. As children, he told us it was like Hogan’s Heros, and that was how he learned German. A nice guard taught him. But the reality was far different, and he wasn’t Jewish. Just a US infantry grunt. Like most of them, he was an 18-year-old draftee. Too young. They all were. But somebody had to fight the monsters.

The Storyteller is a good title for this book. I highly recommend this read. I got this audio copy from Libby.

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Review: Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love by Laura Dern

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June 5, 2023

Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding)Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love by Laura Dern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fun read. Maybe a little too loud. Okay, they weren’t too loud. I giggled too loud on occasion. Laura Dern and her mother, Diane Ladd, share their relationship with us. That includes love and joy and a squabble once in a while. I think that made this memoir special. And to feel like Diane was trying to get healthy and Laura was trying to save her mother’s life. In the meanwhile, we, the listener/reader, get brought into this beautiful relationship. They share their struggles of the past while dealing with the health issues of the moment. I think mothers and daughters everywhere can relate and learn from these two and their walks.

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Review: Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

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June 1, 2023

Pineapple StreetPineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m not sure where I heard about this book. Maybe GMA? As a writer, it was fun to watch the character development. But as a reader, that was about the extent of it. Yet the writing style was fun. I loved some of the authors’ idioms in descriptions or dialogue.

This was a Libby library audiobook. Marin Ireland (Narrator) kept it fun. Her voice sounded like Kelly McCreary, Maggie Pierce, of Grey’s Anatomy. The same kind of energy that was fun.

Sadly there wasn’t a lot of growth for these children of wealth, but there is some. Mostly it was a fun little read if you don’t want depth. A good beach read, if you know what I mean.

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Re-review: A Singular Woman by Janny Scott

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May 23, 2023

I can’t believe I read this before. But it was in 2016, so I may give my poor memory a break. Here is what I wrote way back then. I like it so much better than I would have written today. So here is a repeat. Still worth the read. January La Voy’s narration kept this interesting all the way through.

~~~June 23, 2016~~~

What a woman! I was very impressed with this book. I do not usually read non-fiction. But this was the first book available for Kindle from my local library. I downloaded the Audible version to help hold my attention to the text.

If there were any book that could bring the plight of women to light, it is this book. Here we have a woman who had a family who was college educated and encouraged their offspring to seek the highest education possible. This woman went to Indonesia to study the poor, especially the women.

Don’t think about this book as an extension of the President. She was her own person even before her son was born. It seems she had all the breaks, got to travel and all, but she had the courage of her convictions and goals to help others.

I think many women who read this will see a part of themselves reflected back. Had my mother had the opportunity that Stanley Ann Durham had, I think she would have been a happier person. Having a happy, well define parent could only result in happy, well-defined children.

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Review: The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter–One Month at a Time by Jennifer Ashton

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May 19, 2023

The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter--One Month at a TimeThe Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter–One Month at a Time by Jennifer Ashton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Doctor Jen does her own narration and does a great job of it. She keeps the reader’s interest.

I love the idea she promoted here of attacking one habit a month. I always feel there are so many habits I’d like to form or eliminate, but how does one do that with the hope of success? Ms. Jennifer takes us with her on her own journey, so we see how it all works and occasionally doesn’t work for her.

Since this was a Libby audiobook, I felt I missed the stats and ways to connect with the ideas. So I have ordered the hardback to actually start my own Self-Care odyssey.

Are there some habits easier for a doctor than a person on Social Security to form or banish? Absolutely! But I think her methods could work with any that one would like to try. And the bonus is that by the end of the book, she had learned lessons along the way and kept many habits, and could keep track of those ideas she didn’t want anymore.

I highly recommend this book and these ideas for change.

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Review: The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

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May 16, 2023

The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the longest torture. It took me weeks to finish reading (listening) to this book.

On the one hand, Kate Reading, the narrator, could make a phone book or dictionary sound good. There were times when it felt that was exactly what she was reading. There is a lot of background knowledge that Anne Rice included in the book that didn’t seem necessary. But Ms. Kate kept my attention even through that.

On the other hand, there were exciting parts that kept me awake for hours as the narrator could do all the voices and give each character their own personality. So many voices she needed to create for this book!

There are books a person should probably save for daytime. This is one of those. Yet I did it before sleep every night. Ugh! I would try to end the experience on a boring part or positive note.

I don’t think I will read the rest of the Mayfair Witches series. I’ll stick with the television program. There are so many begats, like the Bible. The show does that in a different and concise way. I am hoping the birth of Lasher isn’t at all like the book. And I can’t stand that idea. The incest issues were also off-putting. That birth procedure creeped me out like the ending of Demon Seed. I wanted to throw the book! Ugh!

And Rowan is so much more interesting in the show. She’s barely there in the book and then disappears.

I hope I haven’t turned off others to try the book. But I must warn those who have the issues that I mentioned above. I’m not a fan of horror, and I would put this book in that category.

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Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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May 2, 2023

Where the Crawdads SingWhere the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After finishing the book, I determined I couldn’t wait to see the show. This was quite intriguing. I think Cassandra Campbell’s narration was perfect. There were many nights I couldn’t stop reading. It was well after 3 AM that I would force myself to put the book away.

I was lucky enough to pick up the audio version from the library app Libby.

Most of the time, I don’t include the author’s blurb, but this time I think it might help.

“For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.

Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.”

Worth the read!

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