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The Four Books
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
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The Four Books
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My father had an expression for a thing that turned out bad. He'd say it had gone west. But going west always sounded pretty good to me. After all, westwards is the path of the sun. And through as much history as I know of, people have moved west to settle and find freedom. But our world had gone north, truly gone north, and just how far north I was beginning to learn.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Spellbinding!
- By Joan on 01-14-10
By: Marcel Theroux
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The Poet of Tolstoy Park
- By: Sonny Brewer
- Narrated by: Rick Bragg
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
This book is based on the true life of Henry Stuart. When the 67-year-old former professor finds out he is dying of tuberculosis, he vows to “learn in solitude how to save myself.” He sets off for Fairhope, Alabama, with only the writings of his beloved Tolstoy for company. There, the barefoot poet builds himself a small hut and slowly becomes an inspiration for the rest of the utopian town. When his last few months become his last few years, Henry’s attempt to understand death becomes a lesson on life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great read
- By Jimmy Oaks on 03-23-15
By: Sonny Brewer
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To Live
- A Novel
- By: Yu Hua, Michael Berry
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
This searing novel, originally banned in China but later named one of that nation's most influential books, portrays one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a landlord to a kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wow!
- By Phillip King on 05-30-18
By: Yu Hua, and others
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First They Killed My Father
- A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
- By: Loung Ung
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,166
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,038
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,033
One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Brutal, Heartbreaking
- By Gillian on 01-27-15
By: Loung Ung
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The Bell Messenger
- By: Robert Cornuke
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
Adventurer and author Robert Cornuke delivers an archaeological thriller that crosses the globe and spans two centuries. With these hopeful words, a dying Confederate lad bequeaths his Bible to the Union soldier who just shot him: "Be God's messenger as I have been." And so begins the journey of Elijah Bell's cherished Bible as it travels the world, transforming hearts wherever it goes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved it!
- By Pamela on 12-26-10
By: Robert Cornuke
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Life and Death are Wearing Me Out
- By: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 24 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 99
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 89
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Story4 out of 5 stars 91
Today’s most revered, feared, and controversial Chinese novelist offers a tour de force in which the real, the absurd, the comical, and the tragic are blended into a fascinating narrative. The hero—or antihero—of Mo Yan’s new novel is Ximen Nao, a landowner known for his benevolence to his peasants. His story is a deliriously unique journey and absolutely riveting tale that reveals the author’s love of a homeland beset by ills inevitable, political, and traditional.
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4 out of 5 stars
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REINCARNATION
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 06-24-14
By: Mo Yan, and others
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The Long Walk
- The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
- By: Slavomir Rawicz
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,631
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,310
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,306
Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Inspiring and absorbing
- By A. Millard on 05-30-07
By: Slavomir Rawicz
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Stars Between the Sun and Moon
- One Woman's Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom
- By: Lucia Jang, Susan McClelland
- Narrated by: Janet Song
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 208
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 193
Born in 1970s North Korea, Lucia Jang grew up in a typical household - her parents worked in the factories, and the family scraped by on rations. Nightly she bowed to her photo of Kim Il-Sung. It was the beginning of a chaotic period with a decade-long famine. Jang married an abusive man who sold their baby. She left him and went home to help her family by illegally crossing the river to China to trade goods. She was caught and imprisoned twice.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic story. Well read.
- By Jfm on 02-20-16
By: Lucia Jang, and others
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The Seamstress
- By: Sara Tuvel Bernstein, Louise Loots Thornton, Marlene Bernstein Samuels
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,809
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,643
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,632
Told with the same old-fashioned narrative power as the novels of Herman Wouk, The Seamstress is the true story of Seren (Sara) Tuvel Bernstein and her survival during wartime. This powerful eyewitness account of survival, told with power and grace, will stay with listeners for years to come.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Overcome with Emotion
- By Meryl on 05-16-13
By: Sara Tuvel Bernstein, and others
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Zorba the Greek
- By: Nikos Kazantzakis
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,032
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 914
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 912
A wonderful tale of a young man’s coming of age, Zorba the Greek has been a classic of world literature since it was first translated into English in 1952 and made into an unforgettable movie with Anthony Quinn. Zorba, an irrepressible, earthy hedonist, sweeps his young disciple along as he wines, dines, and loves his way through a life dedicated to fulfilling his copious appetites. Zorba is irresistible in this charming audio production by veteran narrator George Guidall.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Drink life to the lees
- By Scot Potts on 04-25-13
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The Samurai's Garden
- A Novel
- By: Gail Tsukiyama
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 449
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 393
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 389
The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Novel Painted with a Master's Brush
- By Bay Area Califa on 06-25-18
By: Gail Tsukiyama
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Rena's Promise
- A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz
- By: Rena Kornreich Gelissen, Heather Dune Macadam
- Narrated by: Heather Dune Macadam
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 330
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 306
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Story5 out of 5 stars 302
"I do not hate. To hate is to let Hitler win." - Rena Kornreich Gelissen. On March 26, 1942, the first mass transport of Jews - 999 young women - arrived in Auschwitz. Among them was Rena Kornreich, the 716th woman numbered in camp. A few days later, her sister Danka arrives and so begins a trial of love and courage that will last three years and 41 days, from the beginning Auschwitz death camp to the end of the war.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Content / Horrible Production
- By Simone on 07-23-15
By: Rena Kornreich Gelissen, and others
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Into the Forest
- By: Jean Hegland
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 203
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 186
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Story4 out of 5 stars 186
As America collapses in the chaos of war, pollution, and bankruptcy, two sisters pool their resources to survive alone in the hills above San Francisco. Although dwindling food and increasing isolation threaten them, they soon find a more immediate danger standing at their door. When a young man arrives, his friendship offers tantalizing fulfillment, but his love threatens to divide the sisters.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Depressing, boring, & disturbing
- By The Ropers on 07-14-16
By: Jean Hegland
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Edge of Eternity
- By: Randy Alcorn
- Narrated by: Roger Marsh, Phil Ross
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 138
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
Nick Seagrave is a disillusioned business executive who has lost loved ones to tragedy and his family to neglect. Now, at a point of great crisis, he finds himself inexplicably transported to what appears to be another world. Suddenly he's confronted with profoundly clear views of his own past and personality. And he's enabled to see, hear, taste, and smell the realities of both heaven and hell - realities that force him to face dangers and trials far greater than any he's known before.
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5 out of 5 stars
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AMAZING
- By Julie R. VanderMate on 08-12-10
By: Randy Alcorn
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She Would Be King
- A Novel
- By: Wayétu Moore
- Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 873
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 783
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 780
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful example of magical realism.
- By Danielle on 10-07-18
By: Wayétu Moore
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The List
- By: Patricia Forde
- Narrated by: Imogen Wilde
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story4 out of 5 stars 71
In the post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval city of Ark, speech is constrained to 500 sanctioned words. If somewhere were to speak outside that approved lexicon, they'd face banishment. The only exceptions to this rule are the Wordsmith and his apprentice, Letta. Together, they are the keepers and archivists of all language. But when Letta's master dies, she is suddenly promoted to Wordsmith and finds the situation more complicated than she knew.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love is Language
- By Jennie Smith on 02-19-21
By: Patricia Forde