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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
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Maybe a beautiful story, This author should never narrate
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A must-read for every woman
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Publisher's summary
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash”. At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime.
Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a modern American classic that will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read - or listen.
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Featured Article: Who's the best? Rediscover the greatest, most notable American writers of all time
To curate a list of famous American writers who are also considered among the best American authors, a few things count: current ratings for their works, their particular time periods in history, critical reception, their prevalence in the 21st century, and yes, the awards they won. Many of these authors are taught in school today. From Hemingway to Harper Lee, these famous American authors are all worthy of enduring recognition—and a fresh listen!
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Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton delivers what Essence calls “a gem - the perfect book to curl up with.”
Best friends Lilian and Myraleen, two African American women from rural Mississippi, travel to Europe during World War II to act as members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this time of segregation and destruction, both women discover love and heartbreak, triumph and defeat.
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A Breath of Fresh Air
- By Adina Andreu on 07-19-12
By: Elyse Singleton
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The Jew Store
- A Family Memoir
- By: Stella Suberman
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1920, in small-town America, the ubiquitous dry goods store was usually owned by Jews and often referred to as "the Jew store". That's how Stella Suberman's father's store, Bronson's Low-Priced Store, in Concordia, Tennessee, was known locally. The Bronsons were the first Jews to ever live in that tiny town of one main street, one bank, one drugstore, one picture show, one feed and seed, one hardware, one barber shop, one beauty parlor, one blacksmith, and many Christian churches.
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Wonderful
- By Katie Simpson on 09-04-21
By: Stella Suberman
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Too Close to the Falls
- A Memoir
- By: Catherine Gildiner
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to the childhood of Catherine McClure Gildiner. It is the middle of the 1950s in Lewiston, New York, a small and sleepy American town very near Niagara Falls. No one is divorced. Mothers wear high heels to the beauty salon and children pop Pez candy and swing from vines over a local gorge. But at the tender age of four, it becomes clear to her Cathy's parents that their rambunctious daughter is no ordinary child and they soon put her "to work" at her father's pharmacy.
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Brilliant and funny and touching.
- By Kindle Customer on 11-07-19
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Finding Fish
- A Memoir
- By: Antwone Q. Fisher
- Narrated by: Thomas Penny
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
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Baby Boy Fisher was raised in institutions from the moment of his birth in prison to a single mother. He ultimately came to live with a foster family, where he endured near-constant verbal and physical abuse. In his midteens he escaped and enlisted in the navy, where he became a man of the world, raised by the family he created for himself. Finding Fish shows how, out of this unlikely mix of deprivation and hope, an artist was born.
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This book will not disappoint you.
- By Joseph on 10-16-16
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Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
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- Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh
- Length: 49 hrs and 54 mins
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Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and fans alike fell in love with the voice of 99-year-old Confederate widow Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heroines in American literature. Lucy married at the turn of the 20th century, when she was 15 and her husband was 50. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood.
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Dated.
- By edie butler on 04-06-21
By: Allan Gurganus
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Peyton Place
- By: Grace Metalious
- Narrated by: Tim O'Connor
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
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In 1956, when this novel was first published, communities all over New England snapped up copies to see if they were the town portrayed in the book. Peyton Place is the story of a repressive New England town known for its high standards of public morality, and the steamy sexual activities that take place behind its bedroom doors.
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Best book I've read to date!
- By Crusader on 11-07-11
By: Grace Metalious
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Pearl in a Cage
- Woody Creek, Book 1
- By: Joy Dettman
- Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
- Length: 20 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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On a balmy midsummer's evening in 1923, a young woman - foreign, dishevelled and heavily pregnant - is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community of Woody Creek. The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Try as she might, Gertrude is unable to save her, but the baby lives.
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Pearl in a Cage
- By Verita on 06-16-17
By: Joy Dettman
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Fallen Angels
- By: Patricia Hickman
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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During the Great Depression, Jeb Nubey is running from the law when he meets three abandoned children. With nowhere else to go the group passes a stormy night in a comforting church. When they are discovered, a case of mistaken identity ensues. It seems the congregation has been waiting for their new pastor, a widower with three kids. Looks like more trouble for Jeb. Yet the chance for a steady job and three squares a day is too good to turn down.
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Touching
- By Christina on 11-11-04
By: Patricia Hickman
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Caramelo
- By: Sandra Cisneros
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- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Lala Reyes’ grandmother is descended from a family of renowned rebozo, or shawl-makers. The striped (caramelo) is the most beautiful of all, and the one that makes its way, like the family history it has come to represent, into Lala’s possession. The novel opens with the Reyes’ annual car trip - a caravan overflowing with children, laughter, and quarrels - from Chicago to “the other side”, Mexico City. It is there, each year, that Lala hears her family’s stories, separating the truth from the “healthy lies” that have ricocheted from one generation to the next.
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Love, family, history, and fantasy, Caramelo
- By Michele on 08-07-20
By: Sandra Cisneros
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Angel of Harlem
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Inspired by the extraordinary events of Dr. May Chinn’s life, Angel of Harlem is a deeply affecting story of love and transcendence. Weaving seamlessly scenes from the battlefields of the Civil War, during which her father escaped from slavery, to the Harlem living rooms and kitchen tables where May is sometimes forced to operate on her patients, this fascinating novel lays bare the heart of a woman who changed the face of medicine.
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Really Enjoyed!
- By Amazon Customer on 08-08-19
By: Kuwanna Haulsey
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That was the best books I never read. Amazing,
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A comprehensive biographical and critical reading of the works of American poet and memoirist Maya Angelou (1928-2014). Linda Wagner-Martin covers all six of Angelou's autobiographies, as well as her essay and poetry collections, while also exploring Angelou's life as an African American in the United States, her career as stage and film performer, her thoughtful participation in the Civil Rights actions of the 1960s, and her travels abroad in Egypt, Africa, and Europe.
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What listeners say about I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Miss Toni
- 06-30-13
Emotional & Powerful
I dont know if I should be admitting this but I am, this was my first Maya Angelou book. I mean, I remember reading this book in early grade school but as a child I could have never grasped the meaning. Reading this story now as an adult I appreciate her honesty. Her narrative tone placed me by her side. I walked with her, laughed with her, hurt with her, and hugged her. This story took me to the place when I questioned my placement in the world and my natural beauty. I applaud Maya Angelou for being ever so brave to share her story. This story has encouraged me to always remain true to myself, seek the guidence of the Lord , and never never lose my faith. Thank you for writing this story.
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113 people found this helpful
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Story
- Candy Mae Dungca
- 07-24-14
loved it!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
yes, already have. triumph over adversity, an amazing story of the human experience at its worst and very best.
What was one of the most memorable moments of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?
my most memorable was, as children, Maya and her brother Bailey laughing uncontrollably during church service when the preacher's false teeth fell out onto the floor.
What about Maya Angelou’s performance did you like?
her narration colored the story so vividly that I could often imagine exactly what these places, faces and things would be and feel like.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I felt the highs and lows of the human experience as Maya may have wanted her audience to. I never cried, but surely did laugh when it was funny. I felt a greater appreciation for Ms. Angelou and the amazing light she was to so many, myself included.
Any additional comments?
its a long audiobook, but worth the listen as so much of our life's journey takes twists and turns we can only understand in retrospect, this book shared the hope that we are given life's lemons to make amazing lemonade.
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30 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Brian B.
- 02-21-14
Just like listening to Grandma tell you stories
If you could sum up I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in three words, what would they be?
Real
Horrific
Delightful
What did you like best about this story?
I loved the glimpses allowed into the mind of Maya, the way she thought, the way she saw the world.
Which scene was your favorite?
"Preach it!"
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Several moments in this book were life-changing for Maya, but hearing her tell them was life-changing for me.
Any additional comments?
It's difficult to hear of the hardships and struggles of a young girl, but it is also good to see the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
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29 people found this helpful
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- KG
- 07-28-14
So good.
If you could sum up I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in three words, what would they be?
Raw honest writing.
What does Maya Angelou bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Just hearing the voice of the person who had the experiences in the book adds so much.
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27 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Joseph
- 03-22-12
Pretentious, conceited, self-important
Is there anything you would change about this book?
Maya should have listened to other audiobooks and found out how much a good reading of a book enhances that book. Her self-reading was the worst narration I have heard and interfered with my enjoyment and appreciation of the book. I read the critical praises of the book and asked myself if they were reading the same book. When I filtered out the effect of her narration, I appreciated the book more.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Her cross-bearing, chip-on-her-shoulder attitude and beliefs are at once both the most interesting and least interesting aspect of the book. She thinks she is the only one in the world that had to struggle and overcome. She will probably attribute my lack of appreaciation of the book to my white skin.
How could the performance have been better?
Her jerky performance could have been improved by having any professional reader do the performance.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No. It would be very difficult for a screen writer to make it an interesting movie.
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22 people found this helpful
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- SJ
- 10-18-14
Maya was a great writer; not so much reader
What did you like best about I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? What did you like least?
It was hard to get through as the author was a TERRIBLE reader. She ruined her story with her dreadful performance.
Would you be willing to try another book from Maya Angelou? Why or why not?
Not with her reading it.
Would you be willing to try another one of Maya Angelou’s performances?
Absolutely not.
Any additional comments?
Great example of stick to what you're good at.
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20 people found this helpful
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- Joseph
- 07-24-14
Blahh
That's it, no more audio books narrated by the author. I know that we speak her name, and may she rest in peace, but in my opinion, Maya Angelou's reading of her own work was horrible. It was as if she forgot her reading glasses and was struggling to read the words. I found it very annoying.
I did not enjoy this book.
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19 people found this helpful
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- Kathy
- 11-25-11
Amazing! Awesome!
I love Maya Angelou!
Her voice and her story are incredible. Listening to her tell it is like having my own private sessions with this incredible woman.
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17 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-21-14
Inspirational!
What made the experience of listening to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings the most enjoyable?
Definitely having the author narrate the book.
What other book might you compare I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to and why?
The Color Purple
Have you listened to any of Maya Angelou’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have listened to her poetry. Never an entire book. It was great! She became every character.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I understood it better with the author reading it. Through her voice I was more aware of how she experienced various situations.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Anna
- 03-19-13
Expected More, but Good Nonetheless
What did you like best about I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? What did you like least?
I loved Maya Angelou's reading of the book. The story was interesting but not riveting because it simply listed and did not delve into events.
Was I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings worth the listening time?
It was, if only to become more acquainted with Maya Angelou.
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