Daniel Alderman

I've listened to David Sedaris on the radio on This American Life. When I found that he had a book out, I jumped at the chance to get it on audio. Usually I find that I am disappointed when I expect so much from an author. I was not disappointed this time. I did alot of walking while I listened to this, and people gave me a wide berth because I was laughing all the time! I looked like a crazy person. Do yourself a favor and get this book. The man is a genius. Honestly the funniest thing I've ever read.

I'd say it ranks about top 20.

This is such a spoiler question. I'll avoid it.

Ray Porter is a master storyteller. Perfect accents and touches to differentiate the voices. You could completely tell a character's personality by their voice.

Not particularly. The book was interesting, it didn't really seem to be going for "moving".

The narrator is great, the story is top notch and interesting. If I had to find a negative spot is that they have a great story all by itself, and they tack on a connection to an old horror fantasy cliche. It was unnecessary and cheapened a pretty good story.

I have gained a lot of insight from reading this book. I struggle with organization on a daily basis. This book discusses organizing strategies with an ADHD brain in mind. This is very useful. In my life, I have set up about a gazillion organizing systems which fail almost immediately because they're too complicated to keep up with, or they require me to constantly be mindful of my system. This is, I'll admit it, impossible for me. The techniques in this book seem far more doable and I will be experimenting with them.

On another note: The reader, Lisa Renee Pitts, is very good. The review mentioning ebonics is completely untrue. Pitts speaks with excellent diction. I don't know what the agenda of that reviewer was, but in my opinion these statements are not only invalid and unfair, they're inappropriate.

You can tell that Steven King has been doing this a while. He's managed acheive being both prolific and consistently excellent.

I picked this up thinking that I might like it. Might pass the time. I mean, it's an old story.

JFK - Heard it. Time Travel - Heard it.

But if you ever wondered what it would be like to travel back and live in a different time, this book scratches that itch. The main character is very easy to embody. You can really understand what it would be like to be this guy. So you get to have this experience. King predicts with great accuracy the questions that you might have if you were on this journey and takes care to address as many as possible in the narrative.

It's a great ride filled with realistic imagery, moral exploration and fascinating discovery.

I've been looking for a good fantasy book for years. Last I read that I thought was good was George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. Since then I've been confronted with so much cliche and inanity that I've almost stopped reading fantasy. Then along comes The Final Empire: Mistborn. This was a good book. Very interesting. Cool and unique magic laws. Intelligent characters. I'm looking forward to Book 2.

I read a few reviews that said that this book was terrible, but I didn't think it was too bad...at first. It's basically several short stories tied together by a really slipshod and poorly executed attempt at a framework. The short stories themselves are pretty good, one even brought tears. The setup for the stort stories is pretty weak, however. Everybody is on a pilgrimage together and they explain a part of their reason for going on the pilgrimage. We really get into their stories, which, it seems, will be resolved at the conclusion of the novel. This resolution never happens, not one of the stories is ever fully resolved. Then the author tacks on the very worst ending that I have ever read in my whole life. I hate authors that do that to me, and i will never read another book by this one again.

I'm a vampire fiction fan. I have really enjoyed the Rice books, and some other really great stuff. This is not great stuff. This is boring stuff. I don't see how anyone could read this and become obsessed with it, unless I'm missing something. Young people, mostly, but not limited to girls, are completely in love with this book. I can only chalk it up to differences in maturity. My theory is that this is what love looks like to a 14 year old, but it's not as amazing as how love actually feels. So those of us who have experienced it find that this book's representation of love falls flat and is incredibly shallow. There is very little action in this. Mostly it's a girl obsessing over a guy who treats her badly, though we're supposed to find that attractive. Not recommended for mature readers.

I almost didn't get this book because of the reviews about Jack Kornfield's speaking voice. I'm glad I didn't make that huge mistake.

If you're interested in learning about Buddhism, then this is the book. This is the guy to explain it to you. His voice is perfect for what he's explaining. He's not reading the pages into a microphone in a studio somewhere, he's speaking from his heart with genuine compassion.

This is a good quality recording of a series of informative speeches given to a small audience. The speaker is a Buddhism master, and I think he's enlightened and is passing the Buddha's wisdom as well as his own down to students who wish to learn. I am just beginning my studies of Buddhism and I feel like this was the perfect introduction.

If you're interested in learning about Buddhism, get this. You won't be sorry.

I like the book. I have loved the first 3 books more than anything I have ever read in my entire life. A great part of that love was the reading stylings of Roy Dotrice. This narrator is good, don't get me wrong, but Roy Dotrice is a master. Specifically, with Dotrice the difference between speaking characters was easy to tell, as were the differences between when the character is thinking to himself or speaking to another person. I really loved Tyrien Lanister's voice. I haven't heard it yet in this novel, but I don't think I can bear not hearing Dotrice read it. It's really killing the book for me. What on God's green earth made them change narrators?

I have no idea why anyone would think that this was good. I listened to the entire first installment and I rejoiced when I finally finished the awful thing. I couldn't get through the stilted writing to understand the story. Sharp Glances...this book is full of sharp glances for no reason. People become angry for NO REASON...It's full of melodramatic emotions, the characters either don't react to a major event, or overreact to a minor one. The "Hero" is incredibly stupid, and cannot understand anything unless it is explained by other other characters. I like my heroes with a bit of common sense. A previous reviewer said it was a blatant rip off of Lord of the Rings. It really is, but so badly written as to be the ROMANCE NOVEL VERSION! I read Eragon, which was written by a teenager and the writing was 1000 times better than this. Some people seem to like this though...I guess one man's trash.....

I think that the guy is on to something here. But I can't listen to this without falling asleep. I mean, while driving, eating breakfast...It's not just the voice, but there are little bells and the other people are also talking in the same little "you are getting very sleepy" monotone. I think the printed version would be better