Jean the Urban Walker

Yes - definately! Like any rich story, there will be aspects that can only be revealed with future visits as you carefully peel back the layers now that you've gotten the generalities of the story. The characters are deeply human - flawed & gracious all at the same time. The crustiness of the personalities that is so fragile. True trust must be earned - and additional journeys back behind the big top can only further enhance the humanity of the deeply fragile characters.

The elder Jacob; I was hoping he somehow managed to survive the circus train & I am so grateful that he path he found himself on that seemed bent on destroying him actually ended up enriching him in ways the younger jacob never could have imagined. Rosie - you are a true gift!

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I cringed several times at the brutality inflicted upon humans & animals alike. I found myself cheering at Rosie's final revenge taken in the midst of such calamity & yet enacted with such peaceful resolve. I could feel a lump in my throat at the elder Jacob making his way to the big top - escaping from the Nursing Home where he has been narrating his story - and when he was offered the opportunity to run away & join the circus... I actually went back & listened twice more to that segment!

Whether you've dreamed about running away to the circus or simply thrilled at being an avid fan, this is a well deserved listen to what happened behind the scenes. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you be mesmorized - just like under the Big Top!

A really outstanding view into an era that has been so skewered by Hollywood, it is no wonder that Stacey Schiff has to warn you 'this is not Liz & Richard'! And as much as I enjoyed the well-written history, I would have admittedly been over-whelmed by the names & locales had I been reading the words alone. Deeply rich in history, Ms Schiff blends in fact & conjecture to bring the historical figures to life. There were several times when I found myself thinking 'wait - that wasn't what I thought...'. Cleopatra was quite the trend setter of her day - a strong, powerful, intelligent & well educated being far ahead of her time - especially as a woman in a very male-oriented world. In discussions with our Book Club, we tried thinking of what modern woman could have come close to Cleopatra... and there was no peer!

The walk through time - the culmination of various historical records to piece together a patchwork of history for which there is no one source of enlightenment

The collapse of Marc Antony - it was like Romeo & Juliet!

The Roman 'Civilization' turned out to be quite barbaric & brutish in comparison to the grace & grandeur of Alexandria & the Greeks.

Well worth a listen - I think you'll get more out of listening than you will trying to wade through all the names & places in print

This is actually the only version other than the screen exploits of this particulat novel that I have read - and honestly, anything is better being read to you!

The Professor - he had backbone, imagination and gumption. His nephew was another - how come no one ever asks what character would you like to have omitted from a story for wimpyness?

The visual details of the Center of the earth - so much better left to one's own interpretation than computer generated from some one else's imagination.

Journey into the psyche of the Journey to the Center of the Earth!

Outstanding - will listen to again and again!

Some what of a disappointment

I had expected more from a Sherlock Holmes story & honestly came away disappointed

not necessarily, but that's how it turned out as it was such a short story

There's so much more to The Hunger Games than what they showed you on screen; if you want the rest of the story - THE WHOLE STORY - you need to listen! There's a lot going on behind the scenes and in Catniss' head that the screen is not capable of showing.

Cloud Atlas - there's a whole emotional & psychological story line behind what you see or hear about that you need to listen to!

Roo's death - how much it affected Catniss.

I still can't understand how this was considered a children's book - you need an adult sense of understanding to comprehend all that is happening here.

convuluted but enticing

The re-curring comet shaped birthmark that identified the 'spirit' of the one soul throughout the various lives. Talk about A-HA moments!

The future clone reliving her emergence of spiritual awareness to the archivist. Made me cringe to think this may be our future as we descend further into the depths of consumerism & individualism at the expense of humanistic tendencies.

No - too convoluted & the way each narrator ended so abruptly & then another characher emerged was a tad unsettling at times. You need time to digest all you are hearing, but the experience is well worth it.

Some of the accents were a bit hard to listen to & grasp - especially while commuting on the subway. I thoroughly enjoyed the time travels & feeling as if I were part of the actual environment of the era as the narrators described their surroundings. Honestly, I don't know if I would have enjoyed the written word as much as I enjoyed listening to the story because without the accents enhansing the situation you were in, the story would have fallen flat in places,

I loved that here was a man with finite time in his hands & he was able to prioritize his precious moments & able to get me to think about the things that mattered as I listened. There were moments I laughed aloud, uh-huh moments, 'gosh-I-never-looked-at-it-that-way-moments, and some teary moments as well. I immediately thought that this was the IDEAL gift to share with my nieces & nephews who are just starting out on their lives - as a guiding light to shsine upon na perhaps better path than the ones they seeme intent on following.

The woman who told him she was driving behind him - not knowing who he was - and relating how happy he seemed with the wind in his hair, listening to the music - seemingly on the top of the woirld - and when she realized who he was, she knew that he was very much aware at his finitenesss... and yet he chose not to focus on that but rather on the gift that those few minutes were

I honestly thought Eric WAS Randy for the emotion he put in to the performance!

To paraphrase something the pastor said after ther Thanksgiving Vigil Mass last night: focus on the doughnut, not the hole.

Should be required reading/listening in all levels of school!