Jessica

Ms Zackman is great. She brings the characters to life!

I love the Sophie Katz series, they're fun adventures that stand up to repeat listening, and the cast of zany characters is fantastic! Somehow, I don't find this installment quite as enjoyable as her previous ones. It may be due to the plot stretching the edge of disbelief; or that it lacks some of the lighthearted interludes of the previous tales; or that Sophie seems to have lost a little of her edge and feistiness. That being said, it's still an enjoyable listen with some laugh out loud moments and I'm eagerly looking forward to Sophie's next "situation"!

This story will introduce the reader to the little known world of extreme deep-cave exploration. And you thought mountaineering was tough? At least they could see what they had to climb and rappel! The author and narrator do a good job of transporting the listener/reader into the grueling, dangerous, and often terrifying pitch black darkness of the cave, as well as character studies of some of the modern-day Hillarys and Shackletons who voluntarily, and eagerly, descend. Well written, fascinating, this book made me both search online for videos and websites of extreme caving to learn more, as well as thinkig that this is something I'd never want to do!!! Highly recommend to fans, like myself, of adventure stories like "The Worst Journey In The World" and "Into Thin Air".

A gentle tale of the not-always-smooth road to becoming a vet. At times I laughed out loud and any story that can do that is a gem! I could relate from med school days! The protagonist is a likable fellow who you want to see succeed.

An enjoyable story, the author is not overly technical but I could really relate and draw parallels to med school ( although he was much more confident with his exams than I was; he described himself as "fatigued" after exams, where my mental state could better be described as "despondent"!), portraying the overwhelming volume of information, the excitement of learning hands-on clinical work, and the quirks of professors and classmates (such as his bird-crazy roommate!) Vignettes both funny and poignant, and he's not above laughing at himself too; medicine is a humbling profession and sometimes you have to laugh at yourself. I'd recommend this story to aspiring young would-be vets as well as anyone who enjoys a good story.

As a student I really enjoyed the "Iliad" and the character of Achilles so I wanted to like this book. I had several issues with it however:
1. The author turned Patroclus into a near-total loser. In the Iliad, he and Achilles had the same skill set, but Achilles was just far better due to his being half-immortal. The portrayal of Patroclus as an awkward rather dorky guy was disappointing.
2. The Iliad did not portray the two as having an intimate relationship, and in fact Achilles was pretty into Briseis (and i believe Patroclus was also described as having a female partner at one point). However, for the sake of the story I can understand the artistic license here.
3. The scorn the other Achaeans showed to the pair's relationship, seems more of a modern take. In Ancient Greece, however, I was always led to believe that such relationships were not only tolerated, but common.
On the whole, I could see what the author was trying to do, and she did so pretty well, I just wish I could like the story more.

Actually, the ending was pretty moving and well done.

I don't know, not having read the print version, but Wil Wheaton really brings it to life (and has geek cred as Sheldon's

I've never read another book quite like it but I hope there are some out there!

He makes the protagonist likeable and sympathetic, it sounds like he's a guy I might know describing his adventures.

There were moments I laughed out loud and times when I thought,

This isn't just a sci-fi/fantasy, although that's a significant element. The characters are fantastic and the plot has lots of twists and edge of the seat moments. Highly recommended, I was just bummed that it had to end, but it will be read more than once I'm sure.

This book was recommended to me by two people. It concerns a subject I know very little about, but finally I thought I'd give it a listen to see if it was as good as everyone says. Well, it is. Wow. The narrators really brought it to life. The time period is when my mom was a teen and young adult, and i only wish she was still around to share this story with me. Not many writers can make me feel like I am really there, but in the heart of a New England winter I was transported to a steamy Mississipi kitchen. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like to be any of the people in this book, but it will stay with me for a very long time. Combining heart-wrenching with humor, I would say get this and listen, ASAP!!

I enjoyed this book even more than I thought I would. It's very well researched and goes into impressive detail, but Mary Roach is such a good writer she saves the material from becoming dry. I'd never consider the difficulty of, say, using the toilet in space, but it's quite a feat of engineering to successfully pull it off. This book considers not just the heroics of space travel, but the day to day life as well. What if you can't stand the guy you're stuck in the capsule with? How miserable does life get after two straight weeks in a space suit? A fascinating listen, well narrated, that I can listen to more than once. Highly recommended!

As fantastic a premise as Mr. King has dreamed up here, and as much as I'm not always a big fan of the totally unbelievable, I found this book right up there with "The Stand" in terms of one that kept its hold after multiple re-readings. There were a lot of negative reviews of his book, but aside from some of the grisliest bits (which I do admit made my skin crawl) I really liked it, perhaps because I share his distaste for right-wing Christian fundamentalists (and keep in mind one of the "good guys" is also a minister). The number and variety of characters didn't detract from the story for me, in fact they added to the overall look at human nature literally under the microscope, which isn't always real pretty. My first listen to this was while painting several rooms, and it really made the time fly!

A fun listen with an interesting twist on the typical detective novel. OK, it's no Arthur Conan Doyle, but there are some twists and turns that keep it interesting. But what makes the story is the narrator, Chet. I share my home with a pack of "his guys", as Chet would say, and he seems like one of my big goofy ones ("Oops, was that me barking?") I wish I knew what my dogs were thinking sometimes, and with Chet's stream-of-consciousness thought process and memories that come and go, he seems like a pretty good approximation. A good "tail" for long drives and long distance running.

I downloaded this audiobook because, like the protagonist, I'm a "dog lunatic," but in addition to the canine appeal, I also found an engaging story and a main character with a surprisingly sympathetic, yet amusingly wise-ass personality. Could anyone else pull off, with a straight face, a client meeting with a German Shepard? I'm going to start from the first in the series now that I've found this author. In addition, the reader has a great voice that seems well matched to the story. Definitely two paws up!