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Allison

East Palo Alto, CA, United States | Member Since 2006

HELPFUL VOTES

7 reviews
102 ratings
461 titles in library
19 purchased in 2013

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My Antonia

UNABRIDGED
- by Willa Cather
- Narrated by Patrick Lawlor
My Antonia

UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 56 mins)

By Willa Cather

Narrated By Patrick Lawlor

Whispersync for Voice-ready

Overall
(65)
Performance
(25)
Story
(26)

After the death of his parents, Jim is sent to live with his grandparents on the Nebraska plains. By chance, on the same train is a bright-eyed girl, Antonia, who will become his neighbor and lifelong friend. Her family has emigrated from Bohemia to start a new life of farming, but they soon lose their money and must work hard just to survive. Through it all, Antonia retains her natural pride and free spirit.
Allison says: "An amazingly vivid novel"
"An amazingly vivid novel"

Overall
Performance
Story

This novel has such deep descriptions of the praire before and while it was being settled that I actually can picture every place in the novel in my mind. Parts of the novel still haunt my dreams. There are details and compelling descriptions of being snow-bound in cave-like early house and of being a German immigrant settling on the praire straight from the city. Best of all this novel to me celebrates the fact that to be successful in life doesn't have to mean riches and fame but can also mean living a good quite life without disaster and watching your children grow with in the company of old friends.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful
Anthropology of an American Girl: A Novel

UNABRIDGED
- by Hilary Thayer Hamann
- Narrated by Rebecca Lowman
Anthropology of an American Girl: A Novel

UNABRIDGED (24 hrs and 51 mins)

By Hilary Thayer Hamann

Narrated By Rebecca Lowman

Overall
(35)
Performance
(6)
Story
(6)

A moving depiction of the transformative power of first love, Hamanns first novel follows Eveline Auerbach from her high school years in East Hampton, New York, in the 1970s through her early adulthood in the moneyed, high-pressured Manhattan of the 1980s.
Allison says: "I tried but couldn't get through it"
"I tried but couldn't get through it"

Overall
Performance
Story

I think maybe I'm just in the wrong point in m life to enjoy this book. I tried to like it and listened to the first 14 chapters but I finally decided that any book I had to force myself to listen to wasn't worth it. I'm an adult with children and a job; I just don't have the time for the obsessive self analysis in this book, the teen characters in this book probably wouldn't like me either. I'm giving it two stars for interesting writing and a truthful account of being a young woman in the US but I just couldn't bring myself to listen to all of this.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

UNABRIDGED
- by Mary Roach
- Narrated by Sandra Burr
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 28 mins)

By Mary Roach

Narrated By Sandra Burr

Overall
(1373)
Performance
(650)
Story
(640)

Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? Have sex? Smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour?
Kathy says: "Terrific!"
"Funny and informative"

Overall
Performance
Story

Very entertaining and fascinating! Mary Roach explains everything from bone loss to space bathrooms and everything inbetween. I wasn't even that interested in the subject to begin with but like her previous books I found myself completely enthralled.

11 of 11 people found this review helpful
The Feminine Mistake

ABRIDGED
- by Leslie Bennetts
- Narrated by Leslie Bennetts
The Feminine Mistake

ABRIDGED (6 hrs and 29 mins)

By Leslie Bennetts

Narrated By Leslie Bennetts

Overall
(15)
Performance
(3)
Story
(3)

Women are constantly being told that it's simply too difficult to balance work and family, so if they don't really "have to" work, it's better for their families if they stay home. Not only is this untrue, Leslie Bennetts says, but the arguments in favor of stay-at-home motherhood fail to consider the surprising benefits of work and the unexpected toll of giving it up. It's time, she says, to get the message across: combining work and family really is the best choice for most women.
Gulia says: "Quality of the audio book"
"Thank you Leslie Bennetts"

Overall
Performance
Story

This book made me feel better about my decision to keep working even though by down-sizing my family might have been able to swing it with a single income. This book gives a lot of food for thought, I would highly recommend it to any working Mom. I live in Silicon Valley and this book does speak to my reality; I am surrounded by well-educated well-to-do women that have decided not to work and occasionally I think I'm insane for keeping working; this book reminds me that my choice is not insane.

I didn't give 5 stars because the book is quite sexist (against men) and it really does speak mainly to those women that are wealthy enough to have a choice as about working not to those women that work to make ends meet.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Twilight: The Twilight Saga, Book 1

UNABRIDGED
- by Stephenie Meyer
- Narrated by Ilyana Kadushin
Twilight: The Twilight Saga, Book 1

UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 55 mins)

By Stephenie Meyer

Narrated By Ilyana Kadushin

Whispersync for Voice-ready

Overall
(6548)
Performance
(2022)
Story
(2062)

About three things I was certain. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him, and I didn't know how dominant that part might be, that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
Mitchell says: "My Not-So-Guilty Pleasure"
"Maybe I'm too old"

Overall
Performance
Story

Maybe I'm just too old but I didn't think too much of this book. It seemed your average romance but aimed at young teens rather than middle aged women; as appropriate to the audience a no sex but lots of eye gazing. Yes there was the vampire aspect thrown in but it really didn't help much.

It was interesting to revisit that intense longing of first love. It really made me remember why teenage girls are so at risk for abusive relationships; they give themselves entirely to the boy. This book might be useful to teenage boys as a guide on what teenage girls would like the perfect boyfriend to be like but thats about it.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful
Jane Eyre

UNABRIDGED
- by Charlotte Bronte
- Narrated by Wanda McCaddon
Jane Eyre

UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 56 mins)

By Charlotte Bronte

Narrated By Wanda McCaddon

Whispersync for Voice-ready

Overall
(47)
Performance
(12)
Story
(12)

Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre leads a lonely life until she finds work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester and sees a ghostly woman who roams the halls by night. The relationship between the heroine and Mr. Rochester is only one episode, albeit the most important, in a detailed fictional autobiography in which the author transmuted her own experience into high art.
Allison says: "Great narrator"
"Great narrator"

Overall
Performance
Story

I bought this version of Jane Eyre after I noticed complaints about the narrators of other unabridged versions. I was very pleased with this narrator and never bored of the story.

18 of 18 people found this review helpful
O Pioneers!

UNABRIDGED
- by Willa Cather
- Narrated by Barbara McCulloh
O Pioneers!

UNABRIDGED (6 hrs and 54 mins)

By Willa Cather

Narrated By Barbara McCulloh

Whispersync for Voice-ready

Overall
(38)
Performance
(10)
Story
(11)
Darwin8u says: "Lifted and carried lightly by some one very strong"
"Good book, bad recording"

Overall
Performance
Story

Unfortunately the sound quality for this recording is bad, it sounds like you are listening to an old wind-up phonograph. The story itself is good but not quite as engaging as My Antonia by the same author.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful