Book of Longing
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Flame
- Poems and Notebooks
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Margaret Atwood, Rodney Crowell, John Doe, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 21
Just weeks before his death in late 2016, Leonard Cohen told The New Yorker that he was ready for the end to come. He just wanted enough time to put his last book in order. Fortunately, that time was granted. The Flame is Cohen’s eloquent farewell, a valedictory collection of lyrics and poems that maps his singular creative journey. As noted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s citation, “For six decades, Leonard Cohen revealed his soul to the world through poetry and song - his deep and timeless humanity touching our very core.”
-
I'm Your Man
- The Life of Leonard Cohen
- By: Sylvie Simmons
- Narrated by: Joshua Pollock
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
The legend behind such songs as "Suzanne," "Bird on the Wire," and "Hallelujah" and the poet and novelist behind such groundbreaking literary works as Beautiful Losers and Book of Mercy, Leonard Cohen is one of the most important and influential artists of our era, a man of powerful emotion and intelligence whose work has explored the definitive issues of human life - sex, religion, power, meaning, love. I'm Your Man is the definitive account of Cohen's extraordinary life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Biography from a room
- By john e reynolds on 08-21-16
-
Beautiful Losers
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Bronson Pinchot, John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 13
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13
One of the best-known experimental novels of the 1960s, Beautiful Losers is Cohen's most defiant and uninhibited work. As imagined by Cohen, hell is an apartment in Montreal, where a bereaved and lust-tormented narrator reconstructs his relations with the dead. In that hell, two men and a woman twine impossibly and betray one another again and again. Memory blurs into blasphemous sexual fantasy - and redemption takes the form of an Iroquois saint and virgin who has been dead for 300 years but still has the power to save even the most degraded of her suitors.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Well .... I'm conflicted ...
- By Susannah on 10-02-18
-
Year of the Monkey
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 220
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 193
Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs - including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
M Train Meets Naked Lunch
- By Aloha Jersey Girl on 12-03-19
-
Book of Mercy
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7
Internationally celebrated for his writing and his music, Leonard Cohen is revered as one of the great writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Now available on audio for the first time, the poems in Book of Mercy brim with praise, despair, anger, doubt, and trust. Speaking from the heart of the modern world, yet in tones that resonate with an older devotional tradition, these verses give voice to our deepest, most powerful intuitions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator doesn’t do it justice
- By Cheryl on 06-19-19
-
Devotion
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
How does an artist accomplish such an achievement, connecting deeply with an audience never met? In this groundbreaking book, one of our culture's beloved artists offers a detailed account of her own creative process, inspirations, and unexpected connections. Patti Smith first presents an original and beautifully crafted tale of obsession - a young skater who lives for her art, a possessive collector who ruthlessly seeks his prize, a relationship forged of need both craven and exalted. She then takes us on a second journey, exploring the sources of her story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
No Disappointment Here
- By Roger L. Walraven on 06-11-18
-
The Flame
- Poems and Notebooks
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Margaret Atwood, Rodney Crowell, John Doe, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 21
Just weeks before his death in late 2016, Leonard Cohen told The New Yorker that he was ready for the end to come. He just wanted enough time to put his last book in order. Fortunately, that time was granted. The Flame is Cohen’s eloquent farewell, a valedictory collection of lyrics and poems that maps his singular creative journey. As noted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s citation, “For six decades, Leonard Cohen revealed his soul to the world through poetry and song - his deep and timeless humanity touching our very core.”
-
I'm Your Man
- The Life of Leonard Cohen
- By: Sylvie Simmons
- Narrated by: Joshua Pollock
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
The legend behind such songs as "Suzanne," "Bird on the Wire," and "Hallelujah" and the poet and novelist behind such groundbreaking literary works as Beautiful Losers and Book of Mercy, Leonard Cohen is one of the most important and influential artists of our era, a man of powerful emotion and intelligence whose work has explored the definitive issues of human life - sex, religion, power, meaning, love. I'm Your Man is the definitive account of Cohen's extraordinary life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Biography from a room
- By john e reynolds on 08-21-16
-
Beautiful Losers
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Bronson Pinchot, John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 13
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 13
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 13
One of the best-known experimental novels of the 1960s, Beautiful Losers is Cohen's most defiant and uninhibited work. As imagined by Cohen, hell is an apartment in Montreal, where a bereaved and lust-tormented narrator reconstructs his relations with the dead. In that hell, two men and a woman twine impossibly and betray one another again and again. Memory blurs into blasphemous sexual fantasy - and redemption takes the form of an Iroquois saint and virgin who has been dead for 300 years but still has the power to save even the most degraded of her suitors.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Well .... I'm conflicted ...
- By Susannah on 10-02-18
-
Year of the Monkey
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 220
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 193
Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs - including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
M Train Meets Naked Lunch
- By Aloha Jersey Girl on 12-03-19
-
Book of Mercy
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7
Internationally celebrated for his writing and his music, Leonard Cohen is revered as one of the great writers, performers, and most consistently daring artists of our time. Now available on audio for the first time, the poems in Book of Mercy brim with praise, despair, anger, doubt, and trust. Speaking from the heart of the modern world, yet in tones that resonate with an older devotional tradition, these verses give voice to our deepest, most powerful intuitions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator doesn’t do it justice
- By Cheryl on 06-19-19
-
Devotion
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
How does an artist accomplish such an achievement, connecting deeply with an audience never met? In this groundbreaking book, one of our culture's beloved artists offers a detailed account of her own creative process, inspirations, and unexpected connections. Patti Smith first presents an original and beautifully crafted tale of obsession - a young skater who lives for her art, a possessive collector who ruthlessly seeks his prize, a relationship forged of need both craven and exalted. She then takes us on a second journey, exploring the sources of her story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
No Disappointment Here
- By Roger L. Walraven on 06-11-18
-
Tarantula
- By: Bob Dylan
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Dennis Boutsikaris - Preface
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 4
Written in 1966, Tarantula is a collection of poems and prose that evokes the turbulence of its time and provides a unique perspective on Bob Dylan’s creative evolution. It captures Dylan at a crucial juncture in his artistic development, showcasing the imagination of a revolutionary musician who was able to combine the humanity and compassion of his folk music roots with the surrealism of modern art and the intensity of the Delta blues. Angry, funny, and elusive, the poems and prose in this collection reflect the concerns found in Dylan’s most seminal music.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Dylan at his Weirdest
- By Connor on 12-09-19
-
Stranger Music
- Selected Poems and Songs
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Over the years, and through the release of more than a dozen studio albums, Leonard Cohen gained a reputation as a dazzlingly literate and consistently daring songwriter. His status as a cult artist grew and solidified, all over the world. Now, Stranger Music brings together, for the first time in one volume, a generous selection of Leonard Cohen's song lyrics and poetry. Stranger Music reveals the range and depth of Cohen's work. It is a long-overdue celebration of his extraordinary gift for language that speaks with rare clarity, passion, and timelessness.
-
Matters of Vital Interest
- A Forty-Year Friendship with Leonard Cohen
- By: Eric Lerner
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 16
A memoir of the author's decades-long friendship and spiritual journey with the late singer, songwriter, novelist, and poet Leonard Cohen. Funny, revealing, self-aware, and deeply moving, Matters of Vital Interest is an insightful memoir about Eric Lerner's relationship with his friend, whose idiosyncratic style and dignified life was deeply informed by his spiritual practices.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great intimate book about an amazing all time poet
- By Shay on 11-15-18
-
Apropos of Nothing
- By: Woody Allen
- Narrated by: Woody Allen
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 461
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 402
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 399
In this candid and hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. He revisits his entire 60-year-long career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. He discusses his marriages, romances, and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Totally Woody
- By Ronald R. Kubiak on 04-19-20
-
A Broken Hallelujah
- Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen
- By: Liel Leibovitz
- Narrated by: Liel Leibovitz
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 134
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 122
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 121
Why is it that Leonard Cohen receives the sort of reverence we reserve for a precious few living artists? Why are his songs, three or four decades after their original release, suddenly gracing the charts, blockbuster movie sound tracks, and television singing competitions? And why is it that while most of his contemporaries are either long dead or engaged in uninspired nostalgia tours, Cohen is at the peak of his powers and popularity? These are the questions at the heart of A Broken Hallelujah.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
A beautiful story about a beautiful man
- By Sandra on 07-10-14
-
The Magic Mountain
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 37 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 41
Hans Castorp is, on the face of it, an ordinary man in his early 20s, on course to start a career in ship engineering in his home town of Hamburg, when he decides to travel to the Berghof Santatorium in Davos. The year is 1912 and an oblivious world is on the brink of war. Castorp’s friend Joachim Ziemssen is taking the cure and a three-week visit seems a perfect break before work begins. But when Castorp arrives he is surprised to find an established community of patients, and little by little, he gets drawn into the closeted life and the individual personalities of the residents.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
worth the wait
- By L. Kerr on 06-01-20
-
The Poems of T. S. Eliot
- Read by Jeremy Irons
- By: T. S. Eliot
- Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 248
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 222
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 216
Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Jeremy Irons' perceptive reading illuminates the poetry of T. S. Eliot in all its complexity. Major poems range from 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' through the post-war desolation of 'The Waste Land' and the spiritual struggle of 'Ash-Wednesday', to the enduring charm of 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Horribly Frustrating to Follow
- By AVS on 06-18-18
-
M Train
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 980
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 890
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 877
M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, and across a landscape of creative aspirations and inspirations, we travel to Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico; to a meeting of an Arctic explorer's society in Berlin; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud, and Mishima.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
"Nothing"
- By M. Olson on 11-03-15
-
The Favorite Game
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
In this unforgettable novel, Leonard Cohen boldly etches the youth and early manhood of Lawrence Breavman, only son of an old Jewish family in Montreal. Life for Breavman is made up of dazzling color - a series of motion pictures fed through a high-speed projector: the half-understood death of his father; the adult games of love and war, with their infinite capacity for fantasy and cruelty; his secret experiments with hypnotism; the night-long adventures with Krantz, his beloved comrade and confidant.
-
Let Us Compare Mythologies
- By: Leonard Cohen
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
Published to immediate acclaim in 1956 when he was 22 years old, Let Us Compare Mythologies is Leonard Cohen's first book and contains poems written between the ages of 15 and 20.
-
Felon
- Poems
- By: Reginald Dwayne Betts
- Narrated by: Reginald Dwayne Betts
- Length: 1 hr and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 19
Felon tells the story of one man in fierce, dazzling poems - canvassing his wide range of emotions and experiences through homelessness, underemployment, love, drug abuse, domestic violence, fatherhood, and grace - and, in doing so, creates a travelogue for an imagined life. Reginald Dwayne Betts confronts the funk of post-incarceration existence and examines prison not as a static space, but as a force that enacts pressure throughout a person’s life. Challenging the complexities of language, Betts animates what it means to be a “felon”.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Resonates
- By Angel Sanchez on 11-04-19
-
The Braindead Megaphone
- By: George Saunders
- Narrated by: George Saunders
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6
George Saunders's first foray into nonfiction is comprised of essays on literature, travel, and politics. At the core of this unique collection are Saunders's travel essays based on his trips to seek out the mysteries of the "Buddha Boy" of Nepal; to attempt to indulge in the extravagant pleasures of Dubai; and to join the exploits of the minutemen at the Mexican border. Saunders expertly navigates the works of Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, and Esther Forbes, and leads the listener across the rocky political landscape of modern America.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
George Saunders is a genius!
- By caitlyngarofolo on 05-31-20
Publisher's Summary
“Book of Longing has exceptional range. It is clear yet steamy, cosmic yet private, both playful and profound.” (New York Times)
Leonard Cohen wrote the poems in Book of Longing - his first book of poetry in more than 20 years after 1984's Book of Mercy - during his five-year stay at a Zen monastery on Southern California's Mount Baldy, and in Los Angeles, Montreal, and Mumbai. This dazzling collection of poetry is timeless, meditative, and often darkly humorous.
An international sensation, Book of Longing contains all the elements that have brought Cohen's artistry with language worldwide recognition.
More from the same
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cheryl
- 06-18-19
Cohen reading his own poetry is exquisite
This audio book of poems by the late Leonard Cohen is the last book he wrote before he died. Most people know Cohen through his song "Hallelujah." That is only the tip of this iceberg. Cohen's life journey was complex. To listen to his poetry read by him is to sip fine wine. This is a masterful work..... I wish his other book Book of Mercy was also read by him.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tanya
- 07-05-19
Not to be listened to lightly...or very
You will love this collection. Read by the poets own voice, you can feel the nuance of each beautiful work.
This book is not to be missed.
You do not have to be a lover of poetry, or anything, to love this book.
It could be your first love- Hahahaha
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Huffie
- 04-18-20
The Enigma of Longing
For anyone who has fallen into fascination with Leonard Cohen, as I have, this audible book is a must, and should be, at least occasionally, listened to while perusing a physical copy of The Book of Longing which is filled with Cohen’s drawings, including self-portraits that resemble a knurled old tree stump. Don’t expect to understand it. That’s not the point. Expect to be mystified, intrigued, provoked...