AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS

2010: AUDIOBOOKS


BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
01) The Killer Within: In the Company of Monsters
      (by Philip Carlo; narrated by Kent Bateman)

BUSINESS
01) Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
      (Narrated by the author Gary Vaynerchuk)
       "How badly do you want to crush it?"

DRAMA
01) The Importance of Being Ernest
      (by Oscar Wilde; performed by a full cast including James Marsters)
        "Algernon: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?"

FICTION - GENERAL
01) No Country for Old Men
      (by Cormac McCarthy; narrated by Tom Stechschulte)
       "I sent one boy to the chamber at Huntsville."
02) Beat the Reaper
      (by Josh Bazell; narrated by Robert Petkoff)
       "So I'm on my way to work and I stop to watch a pigeon fight a rat in the snow, and some fuckhead tries to mug me!"
03) The Learners
     (by Chip Kidd; narrated by Bronson Pinchot)
       "An idea ahead of its time, no matter how good it is, is *not* a good idea.
                                                                   --- No one you've ever heard of"
04) Matterhorn
      (by Karl Marlantes; narrated by Bronson Pinchot)
        "Mellas stood beneath the gray monsoon clouds on the narrow strip of cleared ground between the edge of the jungle and the relative safety of the perimeter wire."
05) The Things They Carried
      (by Tim O'Brien; Narrated by Tom Stechschulte)
        "First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey."
06) The Lotus Eaters
      (by Tatjana Soli; narrated by Kirsten Potter)
        "1975 The city teetered in a dream state."
07) The Mark of Zorro
      (by Johnston McCulley; narrated by Armando Duran)
        "Again the sheet of rain beat against the roof of red Spanish tile, and the wind shrieked like a soul in torment, and smoke puffed from the big fireplace as the sparks were showered over the hard dirt floor."
08) When the Killing's Done
      (by T.C. Boyle; narrated by Anthony Heald)
09) Deep Down True
      (by Juliette Fay; narrated by Robynn Rodriguez)

HISTORY
01) Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
     (by William L. Shirer; narrated by Grover Gardner)
      "On the very eve of the birth of the Third Reich, a feverish tension gripped Berlin."

HORROR
01) The Dark Half
      (by Stephen King; narrated by Grover Gardner)
        "People's lives - their real lives, as opposed to their simple physical existences - begin at different times."
02) The Amityville Horror
      (by Jay Anson; narrated by Ray Porter)
        "George and Kathy Lutz moved into 112 Ocean Drive on December 18. Twenty-eight days later, they fled in terror."
03) The Reapers are the Angels
      (by Alden Bell; narrated by Tai Sammons)
        "God is a slick god. Temple knows. She knows becasue of all the crackerjack miracles still to be seen on this ruined globe."
04) I am Legend
     (by Richard Matheson; narrated by Robertson Dean)
       "On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back."
05) Hell House
      (by Richard Matheson; narrated by Ray Porter)
        "3:17 p.m. It has been raining hard since five o'clock that morning."


LITERARY FICTION
01) On Chesil Beach
     (by Ian McEwan; narrated by Ian McEwan)
      - MAN Booker shortlist 2007 
       "They were young, educated and both virgins on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible."
02) Brooklyn
     (by Colm Toibin; narrated by Kirsten Potter)
       "Eilis Lacey, sitting at the window of the upstairs living room in the house on Friary Street, noticed her sister walking briskly from work."
03) The Patience Stone
      (by Atiq Rahimi; translated by Polly McLean; narrated by Carolyn Seymour)
      - Prix Goncourt 2007
        "The room is small."


MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/THRILLERS
01) Dead Center
      (by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner)
        "Do you get spiritual credit for celibacy if it's involuntary?"
02) The Maltese Falcon
      (by Dashiell Hammet; performed by Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh and, Edward Herrmann)
        "Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth."
03) Storm Front
     (by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters)
      "I heard the mailman approach my office door, half and hour earlier than usual."
04) The Patience of the Spider
     (by Andrea Camilleri; narrated by Grover Gardner)
       "He jolted awake, sweaty and short of breath."
05) The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
      (by Alan Bradley; narrated by Jayne Entwistle)
       "It was as black in the closet as old blood."
06) Play Dead
     (by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner)
       "Andy, you're not going to believe this."
07) The Lace Reader
      (by Brunonia Barry; Narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan)
        "My name is Towner Whitney."
08) Flush
     (by Carl Hiassen)
       "The deputy told me to empty my pockets: two quarters, a penny, a stick of bubble gum, and a roll of grip tape for my skateboard. It was pitiful."
09) The Black Tower
      (by Louis Bayard; narrated by Simon Vance)
        "I am a man of a certain age - old enough to have been every kind of fool - and I find to my surprise that the only counsel I have to pass on is this: Never let your name be found in a dead man's trousers."
10) The Moonlit Earth
      (by Christopher Rice; narrated by Cassandra Campbell)
"They brought her into the building through the back door so they could avoid the reporters out front."
11) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
      (by Alexander McCall Smith; narrated by Lisette Lecat)
       "Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of Kgale Hill."
12) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
      (by Stieg Larsson; narrated by Simon Vance)
        "Dr. Jonasson was woken by Nurse Nicander five minutes before the helicopter was expected to land."
13) A is for Alibi
      (by Sue Grafton; narrated by Mary Pieffer)
       "My name is Kinsey Millhone."
14) August Heat
      (by Andrea Camilleri; narrated by Grover Gardner)
15) The Track of Sand
      (by Andrea Camilleri; narrated by Grover Gardner)
16) Social Crimes
      (by Jane Stanton Hitchcock; narrated by Barbara Rosenblat)
        "Murder was never my goal in life."
17) Hallowe'en Party
      (by Agatha Christie; narrated by John Moffat)
        "Mrs. Aridane Oliver had gone with the friend with whom she was staying, Judith Butler, to help with the preparations for a children's party which was to take place that same evening."
18) Speak of the Devil
      (by Richard Hawke; narrated by Paul Michael)
        "If she had known she would be dead in another five minutes, maybe she wouldn't have swatted her son so hard."
19) The Ice Harvest
      (by Scott Phillips; narrated by Grover Gardner)
        "At four-fifteen on a cold, dry Christmas Eve a nervous middle-aged man in an expensive overcoat walked bare-headed into the Midtown Tap and stood at the near end of the bar, waiting for the afternoon barmaid to get off the phone."

SHORT STORIES/COLLECTIONS
01) Our Story Begins
     (by Tobias Wolff; narrated by Anthony Heald)
      "When she was young, Mary saw a brilliant and original man lose his job because he had expressed ideas that were offensive to the trustees of the college where they both taught."

SELF-HELP
01) The Complete Bitch aka Skinny Bitch (Deluxe Edition)
       (by Rory Freedman & Kim Barnouin; narrated by Renee Raudman)
         "Are you sick and tired of being fat?"
02) Throw Out Fifty Things
      (written and narrated by Gail Blanke)
        "Okay, let's remember the Rules of Disengagement: If it-the article of clothing, the shoes, the lamp, whatever - weighs you down or makes you feel bad about yourself, or just sits there taking up room and contributing nothing positive, it goes out."

SFF
01) Wolfbreed
      (by A.S. Swann; narrated by Grover Gardner)
        "'Please?' Manfried Hartmann did his best to ignore the voice that came from behind the heavy oak door."
02) Full Moon
      (by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters)
       "I never used to keep close track of the phases of the moon."
03) Grave Peril
      (by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters)
       "There are reasons I hate to drive fast."
04) Paul is Undead: The Bristish Zombie Invasion
     (by Alan Goldsher; narrated by Simon Vance)
       "Lyman Cosgrove and Ellington Worthson are considered among the world's foremost experts on Liverpudlian zombies."
05) Summer Knight
     (by Jim Butcher; narrated by James Marsters)


DNFs (DO NOT COUNT)
01) Alone (by Lisa Gardner; narrated by Anna Fields)
02) City of Thieves (by David Benioff; narrated by Ron Perlman)
03) Fluke: Or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings (by Christopher Moore; narrated by Bill Irwin)
04) The Bells (by Richard Harvell; narrated by Paul Michael Garcia)




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