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Anja Schmidt

k11923

Denmark | Member Since 2006

20
HELPFUL VOTES
  • 24 reviews
  • 40 ratings
  • 78 titles in library
  • 7 purchased in 2013
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  • The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 26 mins)
    • By Eduardo Porter
    • Narrated By Walter Dixon
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (33)
    Performance
    (12)
    Story
    (12)

    Many of the prices we pay seem to make little sense. We shell out $2.29 for a coffee at Starbucks when a nearly identical brew can be had at the corner deli for less than a dollar. We may be less willing to give blood for $25 than to donate it for free. Americans hire the cheap labor of illegal immigrants to fix the roof or mow the lawn and vote for politicians who promise to spend billions to keep them out of the country.

    Anja Schmidt says: "Very interesting and enlightning"
    "Very interesting and enlightning"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    What made the experience of listening to The Price of Everything the most enjoyable?

    Interesting facts explained. He made interesting connections between different influents. Connections that I had never considerer myself.


    What does Walter Dixon bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

    Nothing special, but his voice is very adequate for this type op book.


    Any additional comments?

    The book seemed lenghty now and then but I kept listening and waiting for the next interesting thing. No disappointment but sometimes it needed a bit of patience.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • A Thousand Splendid Suns

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 43 mins)
    • By Khaled Hosseini
    • Narrated By Atossa Leoni
    Overall
    (4437)
    Performance
    (727)
    Story
    (724)

    Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them, in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul, they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation.

    David says: "Somber but gripping"
    "One of the best audiobooks ever"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Would you listen to A Thousand Splendid Suns again? Why?

    If I had not had so many other books that I would like to read, this is certainly one of those I would consider reading again.


    What did you like best about this story?

    The enhanced authenticity. This is fiction but I have no problem believing that this might as well be the true story of some unidentified persons.


    Which character – as performed by Atossa Leoni – was your favorite?

    Tahrir and Maryam.I find it fantastic how the author manages to let the bad guys show glimpses of something that just might have been nice - and the good guys show a tiny drop of evil.


    If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

    The horror of everyday Afghanistan - then and now.


    Any additional comments?

    Fantastic mix of horror and kindness. Good and evil in fysical contact.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Life and Death in the Third Reich

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 38 mins)
    • By Peter Fritzsche
    • Narrated By David Zinn
    Overall
    (52)
    Performance
    (23)
    Story
    (21)

    Fritzsche deciphers the puzzle of Nazism's ideological grip. Its basic appeal lay in the Volksgemeinschaft - people's community - that appealed to Germans to be part of a great project to redress the wrongs of the Versailles treaty, make the country strong and vital, and rid the body politic of unhealthy elements. Diaries and letters reveal Germans' fears, desires, and reservations, while showing how Nazi concepts saturated everyday life.

    Starlet says: "Interesting from Beginning to End"
    "The rise and fall of a political sect"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    If you could sum up Life and Death in the Third Reich in three words, what would they be?

    Revealing, explanatory and thorough


    What does David Zinn bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

    His voice is quite neutral but perfect for this kind of book. Being so neutral, it does not bring anything extraordinary.


    Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

    Books and films like "The Wave" shortly and finely explains how movements like Nazism and the idea of the Third Rich come to rise. This is a thourogh description of how this could happen and why most Germans considered themselves innocent after the war because they learned how they had been betrayed by oratory and "mass movement".
    This book describes these mechanisms more thoroughly and understandably than anything I have ever seen or heard before.
    It reminds me of a myth about a Danish freedomfighter, caught by the Germans and sentenced to dead. While the soldier binds him to the pole for assacination, he says to the soldier: "You should know, that it is not you and the normal German we have been fighting - it is the evil that took host in you", and the German understood. A myth, but quite telling though.


    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • Mands minde. Et tidsbillede [Living Memory: A Temporal Image]

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 37 mins)
    • By Hans Edvard Nørregård-Nielsen
    • Narrated By Paul Hüttel
    Overall
    (1)
    Performance
    (1)
    Story
    (1)

    Mands minde foregår for en fyrre-halvtreds år siden, i den periode, da vandringen fra land til by kulminerede og Danmark ændrede sig radikalt, fra landbrugs- til industriland. Hans Edvard Nørregård-Nielsen fortæller om sit hjem og sin familie, om de anspændte forhold mellem hans forældre, om søskende sammenhold, om onkler, tanter, mostre med alle deres særpræg og særheder, og han panorerer derfra ud over det danske land og beskriver de omvæltninger, der sker med livs- og omgangsformer i halvtredserne.

    Anja Schmidt says: "Den rette ånd"
    "Den rette ånd"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    What did you love best about Mands minde. Et tidsbillede [Living Memory: A Temporal Image]?

    Selvom jeg først er født i halvfjerdserne er det tidsbillede der stilles op ikke helt fjernt fra min egen barndom og det jeg har hørt om mine forældres barndom. Oplæseren bidrager virkelig meget til den samlede oplevelse.


    Who was your favorite character and why?

    Jeg har ikke nogen særlig foretrukken, men desværre genkender jeg træk fra fortællerens far i min egen mand. Hvis jeg nogensinde kunne få ham til at læse en bog som denne, ville jeg helt sikkert vælge at "prikke til ham" på den måde.


    What about Paul Hüttel’s performance did you like?

    Den betyder alt. Det er den absolut perfekte stemme til denne historie. Den lyder virkelig som "bedstefar der fortæller historier fra sin barndom".


    Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

    Man bliver helt sentimental.


    0 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 55 mins)
    • By Richard Wolffe
    • Narrated By Richard Wolffe
    Overall
    (26)
    Performance
    (7)
    Story
    (7)

    Revival, by best-selling author Richard Wolffe, is based on exclusive and extensive interviews with President Obama and his inner circle inside the West Wing. It is an intimate and revealing portrait of the Obama White House at work in a critical period for the country and for the president.

    Amr says: "Disappointing"
    "As expected"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    What made the experience of listening to Revival the most enjoyable?

    Most of us like to have a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes.


    What about Richard Wolffe’s performance did you like?

    He has a perfect voice for this kind of book - that is of course especially because he wrote the book and because he was there on many occasions descriped in the book.


    If you could give Revival a new subtitle, what would it be?

    Two steps forth - one step back.


    Any additional comments?

    The book became lengthy at moments but I am not sure what should have been left out. It is a very thorough book and I am not sure something less thorough would have made it a better book.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

    • UNABRIDGED (3 hrs and 57 mins)
    • By Nujood Ali
    • Narrated By Meera Simhan
    Overall
    (75)
    Performance
    (40)
    Story
    (40)

    Forced by her father to marry a man three times her age, young Nujood Ali was sent away from her parents and beloved sisters and made to live with her husband and his family in an isolated village in rural Yemen. There she suffered daily from physical and emotional abuse by her mother-in-law and nightly at the rough hands of her spouse. Flouting his oath to wait to have sexual relations with Nujood until she was no longer a child, he took her virginity on their wedding night.

    Lesli G. Sebastian says: "Amazing Little Girl"
    "Fantastic story"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    What did you love best about I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced?

    The fantastic story of this little girl and her courage.


    What was one of the most memorable moments of I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced?

    The first evening in her new housbands family.


    What does Meera Simhan bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

    Everything. Her voice could not be more right for this book.


    Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

    Definately.


    Any additional comments?

    I love all kinds of biografies and autobiografies and this was definately no disappointment.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • The Autobiography of Black Hawk

    • UNABRIDGED (3 hrs and 33 mins)
    • By Black Hawk
    • Narrated By Brett Barry
    Overall
    (957)
    Performance
    (829)
    Story
    (820)

    This story is told in the words of a tragic figure in American history - a hook-nosed, hollow-cheeked old Sauk warrior who lived under four flags while the Mississippi Valley was being wrested from his people. The author is Black Hawk himself - once pursued by an army whose members included Captain Abraham Lincoln and Lieutenant Jefferson Davis. Perhaps no Indian ever saw so much of American expansion or fought harder to prevent that expansion from driving his people to exile and death.

    Darwin8u says: "A NO HOLD BARRED and unflinching narrative"
    "Not quite what I expected"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Would you consider the audio edition of The Autobiography of Black Hawk to be better than the print version?

    I suppose so, but I am not sure.


    Would you recommend The Autobiography of Black Hawk to your friends? Why or why not?

    As a non-American, I think it would take a bit of special interest in the Indians. It's a good an telling story, but for a foreigner with no special interest, it is not a "must-read".
    However, biografies and autobiographies are all favorites to me and as such, it was a fine book.


    Did Brett Barry do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

    The book is written as a story with no concrete dialoge, hence the task of differentiating did not occur.


    Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

    All the moments of betrayal from the whites when Black Hawk was always honest and fair - and maybe even more the few examples of white men acting honestly and fairly.


    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 16 mins)
    • By Caroline Kennedy (foreword), Michael Beschloss (introduction)
    • Narrated By Jacqueline Kennedy, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Caroline Kennedy, and others
    Overall
    (353)
    Performance
    (283)
    Story
    (273)

    In 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy recorded seven historic interviews about her life with John F. Kennedy. Now, decades later, these conversations can be heard in this digitally remastered eight-and-a-half-hour audio program. This audiobook includes the foreword written and read by Caroline Kennedy; introduction written and read by historian Michael Beschloss and the photos from the hardcover book, as well as complete annotations from Michael Beschloss, both in downloadable PDF format.

    Tim says: "Fascinating Listen"
    "Somewhat disappointing"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Is there anything you would change about this book?

    Authenticity and real interview.


    How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

    There is nothing that can be changed. My dislikes were not due to the story as such.


    Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

    What I learned about Johns brothers was actually more interesting to me.


    Do you think Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

    Some might finde it very interesting if there were other interviews like this available.


    Any additional comments?

    As a foreign listener (Danish), it was a bit hard to follow the conversation in the beginning because persons do not speak very clearly in a context like this one. However, that changed after some time as my "ears adapted to the style and vocabulary".
    The interviews were interesting but I am sure they would have been more so for a native American. JFK belonged to my parents generation, and I knew him from history classes, of course, and found his precidency interesting, but I have no doubt that a native American (especially adults of his generation) would like this very much. He was "one of theirs".

    2 of 4 people found this review helpful
  • Renegade: The Making of a President

    • ABRIDGED (6 hrs and 13 mins)
    • By Richard Wolffe
    • Narrated By Richard Wolffe
    Overall
    (10)
    Performance
    (3)
    Story
    (3)

    Before the White House and Air Force One, before the TV ads and the enormous rallies, there was the real Barack Obama: a man wrestling with the momentous decision to run for the presidency, feeling torn about leaving behind a young family, and figuring out how to win the biggest prize in politics.

    Anja Schmidt says: "Realy nice and entertaining"
    "Realy nice and entertaining"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

    I certainly would. It paints a very broad picture of Obama as a person and the traits that made him president.


    What other book might you compare Renegade to and why?

    I read it just after Tony Blairs "A journey" and found them quite comparable for the part of campaigning and winning. Both were good an interesting stories.


    Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

    The whole concept of campaigning and intrigues is interesting but in describing Obamas battles with oponents he often gave me this "got-you-feeling". These constant got-you moments makes the story roll and is good entertainment.


    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • A Needle in the Right Hand of God

    • UNABRIDGED (7 hrs and 11 mins)
    • By R. Howard Bloch
    • Narrated By Stephen Hoye
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (32)
    Performance
    (7)
    Story
    (7)

    The Bayeux Tapestry is the world's most famous textile: an exquisite 230-foot-long embroidered panorama depicting the events surrounding the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is also one of history's most mysterious and compelling works of art. This haunting stitched account of the battle that redrew the map of medieval Europe has inspired dreams of theft, waves of nationalism, visions of limitless power, and esthetic rapture.

    Jody R. Nathan says: "Hard to get the picture"
    "Interesting account of history"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story
    Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

    I would certainly recommend it to someone interested in history. The author brings together a lot of small pieces of history and arceology to paint a very thorough picture of the tapastry and the history behind it.


    What did you like best about this story?

    The piecing together of very small parts of a great puzzle.


    How could the performance have been better?

    The narrator was awfull, indeed. I think other reveiws also pointed that out. It took me a couple of hours' reading to adapt to that diction. It annoyed me.
    It sounded like he was reading from a long long list and was terribly tired of having to do so.


    1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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