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An American Childhood
Regular price: $18.17
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The Seven Storey Mountain
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The Seven Storey Mountain is the extraordinary spiritual testament of Thomas Merton (1915-1968), a man who experienced life to its fullest in the world before entering a Trappist monastery. By the end of his life, he had become one of the 20th century's best-known and beloved Christian voices. This autobiography deals...not with what happens to a man, but what happens inside his soul.
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Letter to Audible
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Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
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In this classic of literary nonfiction, Annie Dillard takes us through a year of on-foot explorations through her own landscape, bringing anecdotes, curiosities, and insights about all she observes and experiences. In the summer, she stalks muskrats in the creek and thinks about wave mechanics; in the fall, she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot, unties a snakeskin, witnesses a flood, and plays "King of the Meadow" with a field of grasshoppers.
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pilgrim at tinker creek
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Middlemarch
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Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.
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The Abundance
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- By E. R. on 01-04-19
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The Reed of God
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- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
Through beautiful prose and inspiring meditations, Caryll Houselander depicts the intimately human side of Mary, Mother of God, as an empty reed waiting for God's music to be played through her. Lovingly bringing Our Lady down off her time-honored, ancient pedestal, Houselander shares her insightful and beautiful vision of Mary on earth, Mary among us, Mary as a confused but trusting teenager whose holiness flowered with her eternal "Yes".
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hard Times
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- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
"Hard Times" is unusual in several respects. It is by far the shortest of Dickens' novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it. Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, "Hard Times" has neither a preface nor illustrations. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. Instead the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic Northern English mill-town, in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller. Coketown may be partially based upon 19th-century Preston.
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The Seven Storey Mountain
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- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 698
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 596
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 595
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3 out of 5 stars
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Letter to Audible
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Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
- By: Annie Dillard
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 311
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 236
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 235
In this classic of literary nonfiction, Annie Dillard takes us through a year of on-foot explorations through her own landscape, bringing anecdotes, curiosities, and insights about all she observes and experiences. In the summer, she stalks muskrats in the creek and thinks about wave mechanics; in the fall, she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot, unties a snakeskin, witnesses a flood, and plays "King of the Meadow" with a field of grasshoppers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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pilgrim at tinker creek
- By Rand on 08-21-03
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Middlemarch
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 35 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,227
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,960
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,937
Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best Audible book ever
- By Molly-o on 12-25-11
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The Abundance
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- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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4 out of 5 stars
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If you enjoy Annie Dillard
- By E. R. on 01-04-19
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Cold Sassy Tree
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- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,619
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,401
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,396
The one thing you can depend on in Cold Sassy, Georgia, is that word gets around fast. If the preacher's wife's petticoat shows, the ladies will make the talk last a week. But on July 5, 1906, things take a scandalous turn. That is the day E. Rucker Blakeslee, proprietor of the general store and barely three weeks a widower, elopes with Miss Love Simpson, a woman half his age and, worse yet, a Yankee!
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful storytelling
- By StephinTX on 05-11-15
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Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain, and the Rest of the Story
- By: Prof. Michael W. Higgins PhD
- Narrated by: Prof. Michael W. Higgins PhD
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Story4 out of 5 stars 11
When Thomas Merton published The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948, no one could have expected it to become an international sensation. An autobiography of his conversion to Catholicism, it became a wildly popular best seller, propelling this humble Trappist monk to literary fame. Today, it is widely regarded as a spiritual classic. While it remains his most famous work, The Seven Storey Mountain is only the tip of the iceberg in Merton's rich, multi-layered oeuvre.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not really about The Seven Storey Mountain
- By M. R. Burggraaf on 06-29-18
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The Power and the Glory
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 296
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 258
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Story4 out of 5 stars 257
Graham Greene explores corruption and atonement in this penetrating novel set in 1930s Mexico during the era of Communist religious persecutions. As revolutionaries determine to stamp out the evils of the church through violence, the last Roman Catholic priest is on the lam, hunted by a police lieutenant. Despite his own sense of worthlessness—he is a heavy drinker and has fathered an illegitimate child—he is determined to continue to function as a priest until captured.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Hard to hear
- By Vladimir Shklovsky on 05-07-13
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Teaching a Stone to Talk
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- By: Annie Dillard
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- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 15
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Story4 out of 5 stars 16
In this dazzling collection, Annie Dillard explores the world over, from the Arctic to the Ecuadorian jungle, from the Galapagos to her beloved Tinker Creek. With her entrancing gaze, she captures the wonders of natural facts and human meanings: watching a sublime lunar eclipse, locking eyes with a wild weasel, or beholding mirages appearing over Puget Sound through summer.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Imaginative.
- By CRYSTAL on 01-01-17
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The Writing Life
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 162
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 141
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With color, irony, and sensitivity, Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that is the writer’s life. As it probes and exposes, examines and analyzes, The Writing Life offers deeper insight into one of the most mysterious of professions.
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3 out of 5 stars
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How Odd--How Poorly Written?!?
- By Gillian on 02-27-15
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For the Time Being
- By: Annie Dillard
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4 out of 5 stars 39
From Annie Dillard, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and one of the most compelling writers of our time, comes For the Time Being, her most profound narrative to date. With her keen eye, penchant for paradox, and yearning for truth, Dillard renews our ability to discover wonder in life’s smallest—and often darkest—corners.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Many mispronunciations
- By Kathy Paterson on 01-21-13
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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
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- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 344
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 322
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Story5 out of 5 stars 318
One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Clear your schedule and take a ride
- By Erin M. Bleier on 04-08-19
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Atticus
- By: Ron Hansen
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15
Ron Hansen has won an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for his rich writing and poetic style. Atticus begins in the vein of a contemporary western. As it unfolds, it includes an intriguing murder mystery and a dramatic parable of the prodigal son. For years, prosperous Colorado rancher Atticus Cody has tried to understand his rootless son, Scott, who is now living a marginal life in Mexico.
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The Road from Coorain
- By: Jill Ker Conway
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
In the 1930s, Jill Ker's parents bought a sheep farm on the western plains of New South Wales. In 1944, they lost nearly everything when a drought hit. Forced to leave Coorain, 11-year-old Jill and her mother settled in Sydney where Jill struggled to find a place for herself among Sydney's elite. Her story, both a chronicle of life in the Australian outback and the odyssey of a brilliant woman fighting the constraints of her time, offers a loving view of Australia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book
- By Jean on 07-31-13
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Les Misérables: Translated by Julie Rose
- By: Victor Hugo, Julie Rose (translator)
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 60 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,549
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,306
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,314
One of the great classics of world literature and the inspiration for the most beloved stage musical of all time, Les Misérables is legendary author Victor Hugo’s masterpiece. This extraordinary English version by renowned translator Julie Rose captures all the majesty and brilliance of Hugo’s work. Here is the timeless story of the quintessential hunted man—Jean Valjean—and the injustices, violence, and social inequalities that torment him.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Book that Made Me a Better Person
- By Coalition Deadboys Podcast on 03-29-13
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The Black Star of Kingston
- By: S. D. Smith
- Narrated by: Eric Fritzius
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 696
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 600
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 601
A century before Heather and Picket's adventures in The Green Ember, a displaced community fights for hope on the ragged edge of survival. Whitson Mariner and Fleck Blackstar face old fears and new enemies, forging a legend that will echo through the ages.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Enchanting Tale
- By BookWorm on 02-28-16
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The Living
- By: Annie Dillard
- Narrated by: Laurence Luckinbill
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 14
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Story4 out of 5 stars 16
This New York Times best-selling novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard is a mesmerizing evocation of life in the Pacific Northwest during the last decades of the 19th century.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Unfortunate abridgment
- By Roger Conner on 10-27-08
Publisher's Summary
A book that instantly captured the hearts of readers across the country, An American Childhood is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard’s poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s.
Much of the book focuses on her parents and some of her intellectual pursuits. Her mother was a non-conformist; her father taught her about plumbing and economics, and shared his enthusiasm for the novel On The Road. Annie took piano and dance classes, went rock and bug collecting, and loved books, especially about World War II.
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- Charissa R
- 10-05-18
brought me back in time
I met a kindred spirit on this book and re-examined life through the spirited, imaginative eyes of a child. Delightful, thoughtful, soulful.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- woody
- Ventura, CA, United States
- 01-30-11
Very Disappointing
Overwritten, overly boring. I cannot imagine how a Pulitzer Prize-winning author could write such an uninteresting memoir. It is, and by far, the worst memoir I have ever read. I only wish I had heeded the poor reviews on Amazon.com before wasting my monthly credit on this one.
4 of 13 people found this review helpful