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This classic is now available on Audible and thank goodness for it. Despite some repetition across the monologues, one still must go a long way to find writing this painfully insightful, witty, erudite and heartfelt. Because Alan is now something of a household name, we get the added treat of hearing top-notch actors perform the roles. One caution: due to the wide range of dynamics on this recording, this is not a good commuter listen. Save it for a quiet evening at home.

Must say that it helps to know a bit about Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, but it's certainly not essential (perhaps a nice compromise would be to listen to The Hours or rent the movie of that book first). Mitz is certainly more light hearted than The Hours and in that way, serves as a great complement to it. But it still is plenty rich in atmosphere and relationship development. And there are quite a few laugh aloud moments. I don't normally associate Virginia Woolf with chuckles, but didn't resist it for a minute. The reading is spot on, I could find nothing to fault. And when it was done, I felt sorry for that -- the best measure of enjoying a book that I know. (It also got me to dig out a few old paperbacks of Woolf's works and enjoy them again, too.)

Just prior to buying this audiobook I bought the hardcover Cloud Atlas. But it turned out it was a different novel, author Callanan. So I listened to this book (nice) and then read the other, wondering if it was in any way inspired by the more famous one. Answer, no. A completely different story, one about WWII and the little hot air balloon bombs sent aloft to the west coast of America by the Japanese as part of their war effort. It's also about some characters who seem soaked in Catch 22 sensibility, a love story involving a clairvoyant Eskimo and choices we all make about life and death. And I must say, I enjoyed it more. Relevance? If like me you've been caught up in the hype about the Mitchell book, it may prove a little disappointing. It certainly has merit and some sections are very strong, but others much less so. Be tolerant if you come on the ride.

I'd recommend it to someone who likes Holmes and perhaps mysteries, in general.

The author fixed many shortcomings of the original stories written 100 yrs ago, calling our attention to important things glossed over and evening out some unnecessary imbalances from back then. But Watson is still too daft and unsophisticated. His lack of insights are unbelievable and his over-emotionality seems one literary convenience milked dry.

Jacobi's a gem. I'd listen to him read a cereal box.

No.

The beauty of this book is that one does not have an extreme rxn to it. It resides in the shade of memory for several days as potential more than form, then grows in intensity and takes its form with increasing recognition of its sublime truth. Kieslowski, the Polish director, made a film about missed connections, misplaced emphases and self-mistrust that springs to mind when I think about this book. Melancholic, wistful, but not without a passionate push to steer you right so that you might discover a different truth for your life.

At just 4+ hrs, it's perfect for an evening (or two, over the weekend). Definitely not for cowards.

Whorter has some very interesting things to say and since he is something of an "odd man out" from majority thinking, it is natural that much of his points are "push off" points. He makes some of them very well, too, but tends to go too far, becoming guilty of the very same kind of arrogance he accuses others of displaying. The last hour is shockingly preachy and just plain odd.

This is a terrific book. I usually transfer 3-4 audiobooks to CD yearly for a listen down the road and this made the grade. It is quite simply, enthralling in its ability to communicate feeling, content and style as only a studied pro in the arms of a loving muse could do. I took time off from grad school to learn Dutch and travel through the Lowlands viewing Flemish art. This book is the closest thing I know to any device that can effectively give one the feeling I got during that wonderful period. It captures mood exquisitely. It transports one back in time as great lit should. The pacing, the words chosen, the phrasing -- all of it, subtle, yet powerfully effective. It doesn???t scream ???look how wonderfully I???ve done this,??? but it does. If this is new terrain for you, it may take awhile to ???get there.??? Given that ???there??? doesn???t exist anymore, it is worth the effort at 10x the price.

I was immediately taken by this story and the reader's presentation. The reader (if not the writer himself) does an amazing job with tone and pacing -- I wasn't just listening, I was THERE with him, walking side by side. I lent the audiobook to one friend and soon had three others knocking on my office door, forming a queue! That has never happened before. This is an extraordinary listen where the total is not just more than the sum of the parts, but something mesmerizing and unforgettable.

I love books that deftly blend historical accounts (however loose) with easily digested scientific ideas/inventions and fold them into clever stories with believable, achingly human characters. This book succeeds in several of those areas, but falls short in its presentation of characters. Too often, they are flat and predictable. Their comments seem like points taken from a storyboard to propel the plot, not natural expressions of real people swirling about in the events of their lives. To its credit, the narrative is quite fine and the reading is well-matched to the writing style. The author understands how to craft a book with foreshadowing and story tentacles that wrap back upon themselves to create that mobius strip flow that marks the complexity of quirky, rich lives. So, I can recommend this as a good read, but not a great one. If the category appeals to you, I can highly recommend A Case of Curiosities (print only, bestseller and available in trade paperback) or The Invention of Everything Else (print and Audible.com - I found the reading a delight!).

Imagine Brother Cadfael as conceived by the writers of Numbers, then edited by Charles Dickens. In short, lots of good, earthy plot lines that are embellished by a cornucopia of enduring values: forgiveness, integrity, perseverance. And the production is great fun, too, just like an old time radio play with a full cast and clever sound effects. At just over two hours, it doesn't beg the whole evening either.

Profound and memorable. My first take of the book really did it no justice as I was rushed and listening in the car. It's simply not good for that - in traffic, the book seemed thin and I was impatient with it. But at home, prepped for a listen and with the phone turned off, I found the book amazing and addictive. It is indeed slow in its pacing, but that is by design. It gradually carves out a space in you and fills it with ache, one gentle layer at a time. I rarely mark books for a second listen in a few years time. This one made the list.

The perfect reader for this book. It is the voice I imagine when I see the words (I saw the book in a store before I got the audiobook).