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Dear Reader
- The Comfort and Joy of Books
- Narrated by: Cathy Rentzenbrink
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Dear Reader is a moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, packed with recommendations from one reader to another.
For as long as she can remember, Cathy Rentzenbrink has lost and found herself in stories. Growing up she was rarely seen without her nose in a book and read in secret long after lights out. When tragedy struck, books kept her afloat. Eventually they lit the way to a new path, first as a bookseller and then as a writer. No matter what the future holds, reading will always help.
From the Sunday Times best-selling author of The Last Act of Love.
Critic Reviews
"I loved this book.... I’m so desperate for you all to share in its wonder." (Elizabeth Day)
"Dear Reader is a love letter to stories and reading...a book to cherish." (Nina Stibbe)
More from the same
What listeners say about Dear Reader
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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- michelle stewart
- 11-20-22
fascinating tour of some of the best books
I've made a list of all the books in my audible wish list and one of them is included in my membership, bonus 😆 Cathy reads so well, she's such an inspiration. thank you for sharing such wonderful anecdotes, I want to read all the books you recommended. 😊
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Performance
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- Robin D Low
- 07-23-22
A pleasure throughout.
A firm favourite for memoirists and those who love reading books and books about books. Cathy narrates the book so well; I could listen to her reading all day. She wraps her life, her favourite books and how to get you reading a wider range of fiction and non-fiction. I'll listen to her again and again.
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Story

- Noodle
- 05-14-22
Loved it
A very beautiful novel (is it a novel?)/memoir of reading. At times joyful, at times heartbreaking but always thoroughly engaging.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-24-20
Interesting read.
This was an interesting book with a recommendation of other books to read I likedit.
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Story

- Vicky Plaine
- 10-19-20
Loved it!
I devoured this in one sitting. I feared it might be a bit high brow but it’s relatable and tender, featuring much loved books, with so many of my favourites mentioned.
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- English Teacher Mum
- 10-13-20
Glorious! A celebration of books! An utter joy!
I listened to this very special book in a day. It was such a pleasure to share this reading journey with the very talented author. Written with humility and in perfect prose, I am enchanted.
Cathy Rentzenbrink shares her life with the reader by focusing on the books that have impacted her life. So many books were mentioned. It was a delight to be able to recognise many of them in my own reading journey and others I have added on to my To Be Read list.
I can't imagine anyone who loves books and reading not to adore this incredible book.
As soon as I finished the Audible version I ordered the signed first edition. It will have a prominent position in my book case.
I only hope to meet Cathy one day so that we could have a good chat about what we are reading.
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- N
- 09-30-20
Charming, honest & heartfelt
Finished this almost in one sitting. Love Cathy’s take on life and how alongside her life story her passion for books evolves. Would highly recommend & I will definitely reread.
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- Manda N
- 09-26-20
Perfect Comfort Read for Readers Everywhere
Simply wonderful! This is like spending several hours with a friend telling you about what brought them to a love of reading, about their bookish career and the reads they have loved most.
Reiterates how reading is good for the soul. I loved it and will be dipping back into those book recommendations.
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- Ke Donn
- 09-24-20
Delightful
what a wonderful listen. such a comforting read. its worth having a pen and paper handy if you are looking for book inspiration. Beautifully narrated by the author Cathy....thank you
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- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
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Are you a sucker for all things animal? You won't want to miss this heartwarming biography of James Herriot - one of the most famous and deeply-loved vets the world has ever known. Herriot is remembered as the modest Scotsman who wrote books that became worldwide best sellers, films, audiobooks, and a much-loved television show. But no one has ever seen him as distinguished writer Graham Lord portrays him here.
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Alot of detail but not a 'pleasant' book
- By Elizabeth on 04-19-05
By: Graham Lord
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My Life with Bob
- Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues
- By: Pamela Paul
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens, Pamela Paul
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Pamela Paul has kept a single book by her side for 28 years - carried throughout high school and college, hauled from Paris to London to Thailand, from job to job, safely packed away and then carefully removed from apartment to house to its current perch on a shelf over her desk - reliable if frayed, anonymous-looking yet deeply personal. This book has a name: Bob. Bob is Paul's Book of Books, a journal that records every book she's ever read.
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An uncanny mirror and a celebration of book love
- By Cherilyn Parsons on 07-28-19
By: Pamela Paul
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Capote
- A Biography
- By: Gerald Clarke
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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First published in 1988 - just four years after Capote's death - Clarke paints a vivid behind-the-scenes picture of the author's life, based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with the man himself and the people close to him. From the glittering heights of notoriety and parties with the rich and famous to his later struggles with addiction, Capote emerges as a richly multidimensional person - both brilliant and flawed.
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the brightest stars can self destruct
- By Jared_S on 09-22-21
By: Gerald Clarke
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Maeve's Times
- In Her Own Words
- By: Maeve Binchy
- Narrated by: Kate Binchy
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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From the royal wedding to boring airplane companions, Samuel Beckett to Margaret Thatcher, "senior moments" to life as a waitress, Maeve's Times gives us wonderful insight into a changing Ireland as it celebrates the work of one of our best-loved writers in all its diversity - revealing her characteristic directness, laugh-out-loud humor, and unswerving gaze into the true heart of a matter.
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A GLIMPSE THROUGH MAEVE'S LOOKING GLASS
- By jstrfic on 08-08-17
By: Maeve Binchy
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The Bookseller's Secret
- By: Michelle Gable
- Narrated by: Eleanor Caudill
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she’s given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics. Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war.
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Absolutely adored
- By Ignatius Jay on 08-26-21
By: Michelle Gable
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Still Writing
- The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life
- By: Dani Shapiro
- Narrated by: Dani Shapiro
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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From Dani Shapiro, best-selling author of Devotion and Slow Motion, comes a witty, heartfelt, and practical look at the exhilarating and challenging process of storytelling. At once a memoir, a meditation on the artistic process, and advice on craft, Still Writing is an intimate companion to living a creative life. Writers - and anyone with an artistic temperament - will find inspiration and comfort here.
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Inspiring but dark, better to read than listen
- By Raquel on 10-22-21
By: Dani Shapiro
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Flesh Wounds
- By: Richard Glover
- Narrated by: Richard Glover
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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A mother who invented her past, a father who was often absent, a son who wondered if this could really be his family...Richard Glover's favourite dinner-party game is called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?' It's a game he always thinks he'll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard's English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed toy collector.
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Such a Meaningful Reflection
- By Awarenessing on 11-28-15
By: Richard Glover
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A Life of My Own
- A Memoir
- By: Claire Tomalin
- Narrated by: Penelope Wilton
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Marked by honesty, humility, and grace, rendered in the most elegant of prose, A Life of My Own is a portrait of a life, replete with joy and heartbreak. With quiet insight and unsparing clarity, Claire Tomalin writes autobiography at its most luminous, delivering an astonishing and emotionally taut masterpiece.
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Flat, name dropping with no insight
- By Mary on 01-01-19
By: Claire Tomalin
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Christmas by the Book
- By: Anne Marie Ryan
- Narrated by: Esther Wane
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Nora and her husband, Simon, have run the beautiful oak-beamed book shop in their small British village for 30 years. But times are tough, and the shop is under threat of closure - this Christmas season will really decide their fate. When an elderly man visits the store and buys the one book they've never been able to sell, saying it's the perfect gift for his sick grandson, it gives Nora an idea. She and Simon will send out books to those feeling down this Christmas.
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Have patience
- By Kristyn Rose on 11-23-21
By: Anne Marie Ryan