-
Just Kids
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
M Train
- A Memoir
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Dreams, Rituals and Lost Talismans of Patti Smith
- By Darwin8u on 10-15-15
By: Patti Smith
-
Year of the Monkey
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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."
-
-
M Train Meets Naked Lunch
- By Gillian Culff on 12-03-19
By: Patti Smith
-
The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful but slowly going under - maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
-
-
A must-read for every woman
- By Julie W. Capell on 05-06-16
By: Sylvia Plath
-
Down the Drain
- By: Julia Fox
- Narrated by: Julia Fox
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia Fox is famous for many things: her captivating acting, such as her breakout role in the film Uncut Gems; her trendsetting style, including bleached eyebrows, exaggerated eyeshadow, and cutout dresses; her mastery of social media, where she entertains and educates her millions of followers. But all these share the trait for which she is most famous: unabashedly and unapologetically being herself.
-
-
Zero Character Growth.
- By Alisa on 11-27-23
By: Julia Fox
-
Get Out of Your Own Way
- How to Overcome Any Obstacle in Your Life
- By: Larry Winget
- Narrated by: Larry Winget
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You think you know what you want in life. You've tried to achieve those things. But if you still don't have them, the culprit may be closer than you think. In this perspective-altering program, the world-renowned Pitbull of Personal Development(tm), Larry Winget, exposes the things you are doing right now to unknowingly prevent your own success in the most important areas of your life.
-
-
Was just OK
- By KatieReviewsStuff on 01-30-17
By: Larry Winget
-
The Woman in Me
- By: Britney Spears
- Narrated by: Michelle Williams, Britney Spears - introduction
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
-
-
Lack of transparency
- By Lori K on 10-31-23
By: Britney Spears
-
M Train
- A Memoir
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Dreams, Rituals and Lost Talismans of Patti Smith
- By Darwin8u on 10-15-15
By: Patti Smith
-
Year of the Monkey
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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."
-
-
M Train Meets Naked Lunch
- By Gillian Culff on 12-03-19
By: Patti Smith
-
The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful but slowly going under - maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
-
-
A must-read for every woman
- By Julie W. Capell on 05-06-16
By: Sylvia Plath
-
Down the Drain
- By: Julia Fox
- Narrated by: Julia Fox
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia Fox is famous for many things: her captivating acting, such as her breakout role in the film Uncut Gems; her trendsetting style, including bleached eyebrows, exaggerated eyeshadow, and cutout dresses; her mastery of social media, where she entertains and educates her millions of followers. But all these share the trait for which she is most famous: unabashedly and unapologetically being herself.
-
-
Zero Character Growth.
- By Alisa on 11-27-23
By: Julia Fox
-
Get Out of Your Own Way
- How to Overcome Any Obstacle in Your Life
- By: Larry Winget
- Narrated by: Larry Winget
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You think you know what you want in life. You've tried to achieve those things. But if you still don't have them, the culprit may be closer than you think. In this perspective-altering program, the world-renowned Pitbull of Personal Development(tm), Larry Winget, exposes the things you are doing right now to unknowingly prevent your own success in the most important areas of your life.
-
-
Was just OK
- By KatieReviewsStuff on 01-30-17
By: Larry Winget
-
The Woman in Me
- By: Britney Spears
- Narrated by: Michelle Williams, Britney Spears - introduction
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
-
-
Lack of transparency
- By Lori K on 10-31-23
By: Britney Spears
-
Crying in H Mart
- A Memoir
- By: Michelle Zauner
- Narrated by: Michelle Zauner
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian-American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.
-
-
Broken Korean
- By Tim on 04-21-21
By: Michelle Zauner
-
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate; she works an easy job at a hip art gallery and lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?
-
-
I love it...
- By Claudia Gallegos on 07-12-18
By: Ottessa Moshfegh
-
Everything I Know About Love
- A Memoir
- By: Dolly Alderton
- Narrated by: Dolly Alderton
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The wildly funny, occasionally heart-breaking internationally best-selling memoir about growing up, growing older, and learning to navigate friendships, jobs, loss, and love along the ride. When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming an adult, journalist and former Sunday Times columnist Dolly Alderton has seen and tried it all.
-
-
Loved it
- By Jessica on 04-02-20
By: Dolly Alderton
-
...And Your Ass Will Follow
- Words + Music | Vol. 39
- By: George Clinton
- Narrated by: George Clinton
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Revolutionary singer, songwriter, producer, bandleader, and funk icon George Clinton travels the rich cosmos of his musical history. As the second most sampled artist in the world (right behind James Brown), Clinton examines his incongruous path from delivering milk to Sarah Vaughan on Avon Avenue in Newark, New Jersey, to embodying funk as we know it—from Motown to the Mothership. Clinton’s experiences as the mastermind behind his bands Parliament and Funkadelic and as the foremost authority on all things funk make for a distinctive, humorous, and thoughtful journey through modern music.
-
-
Give me more
- By Bill Hartnett on 02-13-24
By: George Clinton
-
Devotion
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
No Disappointment Here
- By Roger L. Walraven on 06-11-18
By: Patti Smith
-
Born to Run
- By: Bruce Springsteen
- Narrated by: Bruce Springsteen
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl's halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That's how this extraordinary autobiography began. Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to this audio the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.
-
-
Me Springsteen's book moved me beyond words...
- By Ellen O'Brien on 12-12-16
-
Surrender
- 40 Songs, One Story
- By: Bono
- Narrated by: Bono
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Josh on 11-04-22
By: Bono
-
Know My Name
- A Memoir
- By: Chanel Miller
- Narrated by: Chanel Miller
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral. Now, she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words.
-
-
Just, thank you.
- By Alysha DeShaé on 09-25-19
By: Chanel Miller
-
The Greek Myths
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Matt Bates
- Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Including many of the greatest stories ever told - the labours of Hercules, the voyage of the Argonauts, Theseus and the minotaur, Midas and his golden touch, the Trojan War and Odysseus's journey home - Robert Graves's superb and comprehensive retelling of the Greek myths for a modern audience has been regarded for over fifty years as the definitive version. With a novelist's skill and a poet's eye, Graves draws on the entire canon of ancient literature, bringing together all the elements of every myth into one epic and unforgettable story.
-
-
Unacceptable! Heavily redacted version should be sold as "ABRIDGED"!!
- By Jonathan M. Stone on 02-23-17
By: Robert Graves
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
-
-
Perfect!!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-21-16
By: Charlotte Brontë
-
Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
-
-
perfection
- By Mel on 04-06-15
-
The Song of Achilles
- A Novel
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Frazer Douglas
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
-
-
Wasn't Expecting to Like It- BOY! was I wrong!!
- By susan on 06-11-14
By: Madeline Miller
Editorial reviews
In 1989, just before famously controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe died too young of AIDS complications at age 42, he made his very best friend promise to tell their story. Patti Smith took many years to do it, but the incredible result, Just Kids has proven well worth the wait. Winner of the National Book Award, Smith's delicate tribute to her relationship with Mapplethorpe and their love affair with New York City is read by Patti Smith herself.
No one else could narrate this, and no one else could have written this. After Smith ditched college to move to New York in 1967, a chance encounter in which Mapplethorpe saved her from an expectant date by pretending to be her angry boyfriend touched off one of the most historic artistic partnerships the city had ever seen. Embarking at first as lovers, they clung to their art and each other through poverty and misfortune in the late-60s, moving steadily closer to the center of cultural influence in the 70s. Mapplethorpe struggled with coming out of the closet and Smith struggled to find an artistic medium that suited her best. Together, they swam through everything that made New York great and terrible, each eventually emerging as a pioneering independent spirit that to this day knows no equal.
Smith's voice as both the writer and the narrator is simply unimpeachable. Reflective and soft-spoken, she humbly attempts to capture two decades of this inspirational partnership. Listeners can tell she is thinking through every image she has written here, pausing occasionally to let it sink in for herself or to let the dialogue get caught in her throat. By turns haunted and poetic, by turns silly and sarcastic, Smith trips along these enchanting bits of history in a way that is utterly endearing. It's not at all like inviting somebody famous to entertain you with gossip at dinner. Real respect must be paid. Listeners will be in awe of the fact that Patti Smith comes across as a totally normal person who stumbled into an extraordinary life. Even if you've already passed totally engrossed through the hard copy of this book, to hear it from Patti Smith's own mouth is simply an otherworldly experience. This audiobook is an essential companion to the text that will not only bear repeated listening, but will beg for it. Megan Volpert
Publisher's summary
National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2010
It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation.
Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to 42nd Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous - the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years.
Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late 60s and 70s and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists' ascent, a prelude to fame.
Critic reviews
Featured Article: Moving Listens About the AIDS Epidemic
The AIDS crisis is a devastating part of history that should never be forgotten. The epidemic led to the death of more than 25 million Americans and contributed to the health struggles of countless others. The audiobooks on this list confront the harsh, heartbreaking realities of the AIDS epidemic. Each of these listens helps commemorate a dark part of our nation’s history and honor those who lost their lives to the bigotry that built barriers to treatment and care.
Related to this topic
-
Fairyland
- A Memoir of My Father
- By: Alysia Abbott
- Narrated by: Alysia Abbott
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A beautiful, vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and 80s San Francisco with an openly gay father. After his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation - few of whom are raising a child. Steve throws himself into San Francisco's vibrant cultural scene.
-
-
Great representation of the time
- By AvidReader22 on 06-07-19
By: Alysia Abbott
-
The Price of Illusion
- A Memoir
- By: Joan Juliet Buck
- Narrated by: Joan Juliet Buck
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Joan Juliet Buck, former editor-in-chief of Paris Vogue, comes a dazzling memoir: a fabulous account of four decades spent in the creative heart of London, New York, Los Angeles, and Paris, chronicling Buck's quest to discover the difference between glitter and gold, illusion and reality, and what looks like happiness from the thing itself.
-
-
Narcissistic name dropper
- By Marlette on 12-03-19
By: Joan Juliet Buck
-
Some Girls
- My Life in a Harem
- By: Jillian Lauren
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser. At 18, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman would pay pretty girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next 18 months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah....
-
-
Boring, Pretentious Book
- By Marcos on 04-23-11
By: Jillian Lauren
-
The Lonely Hearts Hotel
- A Novel
- By: Heather O'Neill
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of When We Lost Our Heads, a spellbinding story about two gifted orphans - in love with each other since they can remember - whose childhood talents allow them to rewrite their future. The Lonely Hearts Hotel is a love story with the power of legend. An unparalleled tale of charismatic pianos, invisible dance partners, radicalized chorus girls, drug-addicted musicians, brooding clowns, and an underworld whose economy hinges on the price of a kiss. In a landscape like this, it takes great creative gifts to thwart one’s origins.
-
-
IMPECCABLE BEAUTIFUL Writing, Interesting Story
- By Jordyn on 05-24-17
By: Heather O'Neill
-
Insomniac City
- New York, Oliver, and Me
- By: Bill Hayes
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Hayes came to New York City in 2009 with a one-way ticket and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at 48 years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the city's incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera.
-
-
Touching and Intimate Portrait
- By Amazon Customer on 01-18-19
By: Bill Hayes
-
Late in the Day
- A Novel
- By: Tessa Hadley
- Narrated by: Abigail Thaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexandr and Christine and Zachary and Lydia have been friends since they first met in their 20s. Thirty years later, Alex and Christine are spending a leisurely summer’s evening at home when they receive a call from a distraught Lydia: She is at the hospital. Zach is dead. In the wake of this profound loss, the three friends find themselves unmoored; all agree that Zach, with his generous, grounded spirit, was the irreplaceable one they couldn’t afford to lose. Inconsolable, Lydia moves in with Alex and Christine. The loss warps their relationships.
-
-
It's all in the performance
- By RueRue on 02-08-19
By: Tessa Hadley
-
Fairyland
- A Memoir of My Father
- By: Alysia Abbott
- Narrated by: Alysia Abbott
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A beautiful, vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and 80s San Francisco with an openly gay father. After his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation - few of whom are raising a child. Steve throws himself into San Francisco's vibrant cultural scene.
-
-
Great representation of the time
- By AvidReader22 on 06-07-19
By: Alysia Abbott
-
The Price of Illusion
- A Memoir
- By: Joan Juliet Buck
- Narrated by: Joan Juliet Buck
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Joan Juliet Buck, former editor-in-chief of Paris Vogue, comes a dazzling memoir: a fabulous account of four decades spent in the creative heart of London, New York, Los Angeles, and Paris, chronicling Buck's quest to discover the difference between glitter and gold, illusion and reality, and what looks like happiness from the thing itself.
-
-
Narcissistic name dropper
- By Marlette on 12-03-19
By: Joan Juliet Buck
-
Some Girls
- My Life in a Harem
- By: Jillian Lauren
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A jaw-dropping story of how a girl from the suburbs ends up in a prince's harem and emerges from the secret Xanadu both richer and wiser. At 18, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The "casting director" told her that a rich businessman would pay pretty girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next 18 months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah....
-
-
Boring, Pretentious Book
- By Marcos on 04-23-11
By: Jillian Lauren
-
The Lonely Hearts Hotel
- A Novel
- By: Heather O'Neill
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of When We Lost Our Heads, a spellbinding story about two gifted orphans - in love with each other since they can remember - whose childhood talents allow them to rewrite their future. The Lonely Hearts Hotel is a love story with the power of legend. An unparalleled tale of charismatic pianos, invisible dance partners, radicalized chorus girls, drug-addicted musicians, brooding clowns, and an underworld whose economy hinges on the price of a kiss. In a landscape like this, it takes great creative gifts to thwart one’s origins.
-
-
IMPECCABLE BEAUTIFUL Writing, Interesting Story
- By Jordyn on 05-24-17
By: Heather O'Neill
-
Insomniac City
- New York, Oliver, and Me
- By: Bill Hayes
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bill Hayes came to New York City in 2009 with a one-way ticket and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at 48 years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he craved change. Grieving over the death of his partner, he quickly discovered the profound consolations of the city's incessant rhythms, the sight of the Empire State Building against the night sky, and New Yorkers themselves, kindred souls that Hayes, a lifelong insomniac, encountered on late-night strolls with his camera.
-
-
Touching and Intimate Portrait
- By Amazon Customer on 01-18-19
By: Bill Hayes
-
Late in the Day
- A Novel
- By: Tessa Hadley
- Narrated by: Abigail Thaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexandr and Christine and Zachary and Lydia have been friends since they first met in their 20s. Thirty years later, Alex and Christine are spending a leisurely summer’s evening at home when they receive a call from a distraught Lydia: She is at the hospital. Zach is dead. In the wake of this profound loss, the three friends find themselves unmoored; all agree that Zach, with his generous, grounded spirit, was the irreplaceable one they couldn’t afford to lose. Inconsolable, Lydia moves in with Alex and Christine. The loss warps their relationships.
-
-
It's all in the performance
- By RueRue on 02-08-19
By: Tessa Hadley
-
Beer Money
- A Memoir of Privilege and Loss
- By: Frances Stroh
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Frances Stroh's earliest memories are ones of great privilege: shopping trips to London and New York, lunches served by black-tied waiters at the Regency Hotel, and a house filled with precious antiques, which she was forbidden to touch. Established in Detroit in 1850, by 1984 the Stroh Brewing Company had become the largest private beer fortune in America and a brand emblematic of the American dream itself; while Stroh was coming of age, the Stroh family fortune was estimated to be worth $700 million.
-
-
Beer boring
- By Richard E. Putt Jr. on 05-22-16
By: Frances Stroh
-
American Rose
- A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee
- By: Karen Abbott
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With the critically acclaimed Sin in the Second City, best-selling author Karen Abbott “pioneered sizzle history” (USA Today). Now she returns with the gripping and expansive story of America’s coming-of-age - told through the extraordinary life of Gypsy Rose Lee and the world she survived and conquered. America in the Roaring Twenties. Vaudeville was king. Talking pictures were only a distant flicker. Speakeasies beckoned beyond dimly lit doorways; money flowed fast and free.
-
-
Well done biography of a complicated Icon
- By Moire on 01-27-11
By: Karen Abbott
-
Russian Winter
- A Novel
- By: Daphne Kalotay
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Russian Winter, the beautiful debut novel by critically acclaimed writer Daphne Kalotay, a famed ballerina’s jewelry auction in Boston reveals long-held secrets of love and family, friendship and rivalry, harkening back to Stalinist Russia. Called “tender, passionate, and moving” by Jenna Blum, the New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us, Russian Winter is a perfect choice for fans of the novels of Debra Dean (The Madonnas of Leningrad), Ann Patchett (Bel Canto), and Ian McEwan (Atonement).
-
-
Read this review; Sophisticated and wonderful!
- By Cookie on 01-15-12
By: Daphne Kalotay
-
Come to the Edge
- A Memoir
- By: Christina Haag
- Narrated by: Christina Haag
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Christina Haag was growing up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, John F. Kennedy, Jr., was just one of the boys in her circle of prep-school friends. A decade later, after they had both graduated from Brown University and were living in New York City, Christina and John were cast in an off-Broadway play together. It was then that John confessed his long-standing crush on her, and they embarked on a five-year love affair.
-
-
Thoroughly enjoyed Come to the Edge
- By CapeCodLady on 11-15-19
By: Christina Haag
-
Sunny's Nights
- Lost and Found at the Bar at the End of the World
- By: Tim Sultan
- Narrated by: Robert Malloch
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine that Alice had walked into a bar instead of falling down the rabbit hole. In the tradition of J. R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar and the classic reportage of Joseph Mitchell, here is an indelible portrait of what is quite possibly the greatest bar in the world—and the mercurial, magnificent man behind it. The first time he saw Sunny’s Bar, in 1995, Tim Sultan was lost, thirsty for a drink, and intrigued by the single bar sign among the forlorn warehouses lining the Brooklyn waterfront.
-
-
Visiting an Era
- By Carolyn on 03-01-16
By: Tim Sultan
-
Your Voice in My Head
- A Memoir
- By: Emma Forrest
- Narrated by: Emma Forrest
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emma Forrest, a British journalist, was just 22 and living the fast life in New York City when she realized that her quirks had gone beyond eccentricity. In a cycle of loneliness, damaging relationships, and destructive behavior, she found herself in the chair of a slim, balding, and effortlessly optimistic psychiatrist--a man whose wisdom and humanity would wrench her from the dangerous tide after she tried to end her life.
-
-
Great, quick read
- By Amazon Customer on 02-12-21
By: Emma Forrest
-
Light Years
- By: James Salter
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This exquisite, resonant novel by PEN/Faulkner winner James Salter is a brilliant portrait of a marriage by a contemporary American master. It is the story of Nedra and Viri, whose favored life is centered around dinners, ingenious games with their children, enviable friends, and near-perfect days passed skating on a frozen river or sunning on the beach.
-
-
Unfathomable Font of Blue: Life's Serial Goodbyes
- By W Perry Hall on 04-18-19
By: James Salter
-
Kiss Carlo
- By: Adriana Trigiani
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1949, and South Philadelphia bursts with opportunity during the postwar boom. The Palazzini Cab Company & Western Union Telegraph Office, owned and operated by Dominic Palazzini and his three sons, is flourishing: Business is good, and they're surrounded by sympathetic wives and daughters-in-law, with grandchildren on the way. But a decades-long feud that split Dominic and his brother, Mike, and their once-close families sets the stage for a rematch.
-
-
Wow!!
- By MCMAK on 07-16-17
By: Adriana Trigiani
-
The Blind Assassin
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Margot Dionne
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the past twenty-five years, Margaret Atwood has written works of striking originality and imagination. In The Blind Assassin, she stretches the limits of her accomplishments as never before, creating a novel that is entertaining and profoundly serious. The novel opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister drove a car off the bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister Laura's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental.
-
-
Good book, TERRIBLE audio!
- By Whitney on 04-27-09
By: Margaret Atwood
-
Dropped Names
- Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them
- By: Frank Langella
- Narrated by: Frank Langella
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Captured forever in a unique memoir, Frank Langella's myriad encounters with some of the past century's most famous human beings are profoundly affecting, funny, wicked, sometimes shocking, and utterly irresistible. With sharp wit and a perceptive eye, Mr. Langella takes us with him into the private worlds and privileged lives of movie stars, presidents, royalty, literary lions, the social elite, and the greats of the Broadway stage.
-
-
Delightful
- By Kathy on 04-03-12
By: Frank Langella
-
Drawing Blood
- By: Molly Crabapple
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a young age, Molly Crabapple had the eye of an artist and the spirit of a radical. After a restless childhood on New York's Long Island, she left America to see Europe and the Near East, a young artist plunging into unfamiliar cultures, notebook always in hand, drawing what she observed. Returning to New York City after 9/11 to study art, she posed nude for sketch artists and sketchy photographers, danced burlesque, and modeled for the world-famous Suicide Girls.
-
-
Excellent!
- By # 1 Listener on 01-06-16
By: Molly Crabapple
-
The Wife
- A Novel
- By: Meg Wolitzer
- Narrated by: Dawn Harvey
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The moment Joan Castleman decides to leave her husband, they are 35,000 feet above the ocean on a flight to Helsinki. Joan's husband, Joseph, is one of America's preeminent novelists, about to receive a prestigious international award, and Joan, who has spent 40 years subjugating her own literary talents to fan the flames of his career, has finally decided to stop.
-
-
A bit of a downer
- By Jody Cox on 08-01-18
By: Meg Wolitzer
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
M Train
- A Memoir
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Dreams, Rituals and Lost Talismans of Patti Smith
- By Darwin8u on 10-15-15
By: Patti Smith
-
Year of the Monkey
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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."
-
-
M Train Meets Naked Lunch
- By Gillian Culff on 12-03-19
By: Patti Smith
-
Devotion
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
No Disappointment Here
- By Roger L. Walraven on 06-11-18
By: Patti Smith
-
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant
- Essays
- By: Joel Golby
- Narrated by: Joel Golby
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joel Golby's writing for Vice and The Guardian, with its wry observation and naked self-reflection, has brought him a wide and devoted following. Now, in his first book, he presents a blistering collection of new and newly expanded essays - including the achingly funny viral hit "Things You Only Know When Both Your Parents Are Dead." In this audiobook, he travels to Saudi Arabia, where he acts as a perplexed bystander at a camel pageant; offers a survival guide for the modern dinner party (i.e. how to tactfully escape at the first sign of an adult board game); and more.
-
-
Definitely a five (5) star audiobook experience
- By Manatee on 03-20-19
By: Joel Golby
-
Bellies
- A Novel
- By: Nicola Dinan
- Narrated by: Nathaniel Curtis, Octavia Nyombi
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at their local university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink. Confident and witty, a magnetic young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom’s awkward energy, and their connection is instant. Tom finds himself deeply and desperately drawn into Ming’s orbit, and on the cusp of graduation, he’s already mapped out their future together. But shortly after they move to London to start their next chapter, Ming announces her intention to transition.
-
-
Surprisingly Sexiest
- By Deborah Moser-Donlen on 03-12-24
By: Nicola Dinan
-
Just Kids
- Die Geschichte einer Freundschaft
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Sophie Rois
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Patti Smith führt uns in das New York der frühen Siebzigerjahre, in eine Ära, die für sie vor allem von der tiefen Freundschaft zu einem Menschen geprägt wird: dem später zu Weltruhm gelangten Fotografen Robert Mapplethorpe. "Just Kids" erzählt die bewegende Geschichte zweier Seelenverwandter, die für und durch die Kunst leben, und entwirft zugleich ein betörendes Bild einer revolutionären Epoche. Als Patti Smith und Robert Mapplethorpe sich im Sommer 1967 in New York kennen lernen, sind sie beide 23 und ohne einen Pfennig in der Tasche auf der Suche nach einem freien Leben als Künstler.
By: Patti Smith
-
M Train
- A Memoir
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
The Dreams, Rituals and Lost Talismans of Patti Smith
- By Darwin8u on 10-15-15
By: Patti Smith
-
Year of the Monkey
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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."
-
-
M Train Meets Naked Lunch
- By Gillian Culff on 12-03-19
By: Patti Smith
-
Devotion
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
No Disappointment Here
- By Roger L. Walraven on 06-11-18
By: Patti Smith
-
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant
- Essays
- By: Joel Golby
- Narrated by: Joel Golby
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joel Golby's writing for Vice and The Guardian, with its wry observation and naked self-reflection, has brought him a wide and devoted following. Now, in his first book, he presents a blistering collection of new and newly expanded essays - including the achingly funny viral hit "Things You Only Know When Both Your Parents Are Dead." In this audiobook, he travels to Saudi Arabia, where he acts as a perplexed bystander at a camel pageant; offers a survival guide for the modern dinner party (i.e. how to tactfully escape at the first sign of an adult board game); and more.
-
-
Definitely a five (5) star audiobook experience
- By Manatee on 03-20-19
By: Joel Golby
-
Bellies
- A Novel
- By: Nicola Dinan
- Narrated by: Nathaniel Curtis, Octavia Nyombi
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at their local university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink. Confident and witty, a magnetic young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom’s awkward energy, and their connection is instant. Tom finds himself deeply and desperately drawn into Ming’s orbit, and on the cusp of graduation, he’s already mapped out their future together. But shortly after they move to London to start their next chapter, Ming announces her intention to transition.
-
-
Surprisingly Sexiest
- By Deborah Moser-Donlen on 03-12-24
By: Nicola Dinan
-
Just Kids
- Die Geschichte einer Freundschaft
- By: Patti Smith
- Narrated by: Sophie Rois
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Patti Smith führt uns in das New York der frühen Siebzigerjahre, in eine Ära, die für sie vor allem von der tiefen Freundschaft zu einem Menschen geprägt wird: dem später zu Weltruhm gelangten Fotografen Robert Mapplethorpe. "Just Kids" erzählt die bewegende Geschichte zweier Seelenverwandter, die für und durch die Kunst leben, und entwirft zugleich ein betörendes Bild einer revolutionären Epoche. Als Patti Smith und Robert Mapplethorpe sich im Sommer 1967 in New York kennen lernen, sind sie beide 23 und ohne einen Pfennig in der Tasche auf der Suche nach einem freien Leben als Künstler.
By: Patti Smith
-
Not My Father's Son: A Memoir
- By: Alan Cumming
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as the celebrated actor of film, television, and stage. At times suspenseful, at times deeply moving, but always incredibly brave and honest, Not My Father's Son is a powerful story of embracing the best aspects of the past and triumphantly pushing the darkness aside.
-
-
The Best Part of Saturday
- By George Knight on 12-16-14
By: Alan Cumming
-
The New Life
- A Novel
- By: Tom Crewe
- Narrated by: Freddie Fox
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1894, John Addington and Henry Ellis begin writing a book arguing that homosexuality, which is a crime at the time, is a natural, harmless variation of human sexuality. Though they have never met, John and Henry both live in London with their wives, Catherine and Edith, and in each marriage, there is a third party: John has a lover, a working-class man named Frank, and Edith spends almost as much time with her friend Angelica as she does with Henry.
-
-
Brilliant historical fiction
- By Shrewsie Shrew on 01-15-23
By: Tom Crewe
-
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
- By: Dawnie Walton
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards, Bahni Turpin, James Langton, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.
-
-
Outstanding and timely
- By Darrell HANSCHEN on 04-26-21
By: Dawnie Walton
-
Mrs. Wickham
- By: Sarah Page
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, full cast
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine if you made one little mistake when you were young and were punished for it for the rest of your life. Well, that’s what happened to Lydia (yes, that Lydia, the youngest Bennet sister from Pride and Prejudice), and she’s here to set the record straight. Hold on to your teacups and get ready for sophisticated (and a little bit naughty) hot takes and witty banter that’ll make you laugh—and think. We meet Lydia just as she is denounced by her family, exiled miles from home, and married to the rogue George Wickham, who seems to love all women...except his own wife.
-
-
Was I supposed to feel sorry?
- By LuJuna Brown-Jackson on 09-10-22
By: Sarah Page
-
Girls & Boys
- By: Dennis Kelly
- Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When they met at an airport, it was love at first sight. But in time, everything collapsed. As an unnamed but unforgettable woman muses on her life—from meet cute to marriage and parenthood—her recollections inexorably build to a devastating truth. In this shattering performance, Carey Mulligan, star of the critically lauded drama An Education, captivates audiences with playwright Dennis Kelly’s harrowing ruminations on family, ambition, gender, and violence.
-
-
Be aware of the content before listening
- By Anne Marie on 09-11-18
By: Dennis Kelly
-
...And Your Ass Will Follow
- Words + Music | Vol. 39
- By: George Clinton
- Narrated by: George Clinton
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Revolutionary singer, songwriter, producer, bandleader, and funk icon George Clinton travels the rich cosmos of his musical history. As the second most sampled artist in the world (right behind James Brown), Clinton examines his incongruous path from delivering milk to Sarah Vaughan on Avon Avenue in Newark, New Jersey, to embodying funk as we know it—from Motown to the Mothership. Clinton’s experiences as the mastermind behind his bands Parliament and Funkadelic and as the foremost authority on all things funk make for a distinctive, humorous, and thoughtful journey through modern music.
-
-
Give me more
- By Bill Hartnett on 02-13-24
By: George Clinton
-
Outline
- The Outline Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Rachel Cusk
- Narrated by: Kate Lock
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man and a woman are seated next to each other on a plane. They get to talking - about their destination, their careers, their families. Grievances are aired, family tragedies discussed, marriages and divorces analyzed. An intimacy is established as two strangers contrast their own fictions about their lives. Outline is a novel in 10 conversations. Spare and stark, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens.
-
-
Excruciating
- By Devoted Online Shopper on 03-15-23
By: Rachel Cusk
-
Just kids
- By: Patti Smith, Alessandro Mari - traduttore
- Narrated by: Carolina Crescentini
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
La sacerdotessa del rock ripercorre i sentieri che dall'infanzia a Chicago la portano a New York dove incontra Robert Mapplethorpe, fotografo estremo che con lei intreccia un cammino di arte, di devozione e di iniziazione. Insieme scoprono che rock, politica e sesso sono gli ingredienti essenziali della rivoluzione a venire. Il vero collante tra Patti e Robert è l'amicizia. Un'amicizia rara, pura, preziosa. Un patto esplicito di reciproco sostegno, fondato sulla condivisione di sogni, di visioni, di idee. Di arte.
By: Patti Smith, and others
-
Sankofa
- A Novel
- By: Chibundu Onuzo
- Narrated by: Sara Powell
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anna is at a stage of her life when she's beginning to wonder who she really is. She has separated from her husband, her daughter is all grown up, and her mother - the only parent who raised her - is dead. Searching through her mother's belongings one day, Anna finds clues about the African father she never knew. His student diaries chronicle his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. Anna discovers that he eventually became the president - some would say dictator - of a small nation in West Africa. And he is still alive.
-
-
Really addictive!
- By Buddy on 10-15-21
By: Chibundu Onuzo
-
Calypso
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong. When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And it's as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself. With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation - and dark humor - toward middle age and mortality.
-
-
Excellent, as always
- By Ruthie on 05-31-18
By: David Sedaris
-
Chronicles
- Volume One
- By: Bob Dylan
- Narrated by: Sean Penn
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One explores the critical junctions in his life and career. Through Dylan's eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan's New York is a magical city of possibilities: smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough.
-
-
Understanding
- By Charles on 11-24-04
By: Bob Dylan
-
Girl in a Band
- A Memoir
- By: Kim Gordon
- Narrated by: Kim Gordon
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kim Gordon, founding member of Sonic Youth, fashion icon, and role model for a generation of women, now tells her story - a memoir of life as an artist, of music, marriage, motherhood, independence, and as one of the first women of rock and roll, written with the lyricism and haunting beauty of Patti Smith's Just Kids.
-
-
Maskenfreiheit: The Freedom Conferred by Masks
- By Darwin8u on 10-12-15
By: Kim Gordon
What listeners say about Just Kids
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sara
- 10-05-15
Darkly Self Centered & Narrow View
I bought this book years ago based on all of the excellent and glowing reviews of poetic beauty. I kept putting off listening and now I know why. The narration is so monotone, flat and tired sounding that after three hours it all sounds the same. I suggest that you absolutely must listen to the audio sample before you buy this book. There is a chance that you will be ok with the voice and style but I was not.
I agree with other reviewers that some secrets should remain just that--secrets. This dark story of drug use, filth, theft and general living on the edge may be honest--but for it to have impact it also needs insight and reflection. Without such redeeming aspects the story is nothing more than a flat telling. As such for me it lacked the depth needed to truly engage and captivate. It's not enough to say that you felt badly that you stole something--even developed a pattern of petty theft--but there needs to be some sort of self awareness.
On the whole the book felt egocentric and self impressed. Name dropping abounds. What's more, I think the need to shock runs strong in Smith's writing as it did in some of Mapplethorpe's photography. Shocking for shock's sake makes for a boring listen. Can't recommend.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
62 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CrzGzr
- 01-01-12
the memoir of an innocent time, a love letter
I was a freshman at the Corcoran in 1978, Patti Smith was cool. Ten years later, I was a widow working as a lab technician in an AIDS lab, and a year later Robert Maplethorpe died. By that time, I was shell-shocked by death, homophobia and the terror of becoming single in a world of AIDS. It took me over a decade to pay off the enormous medical bills my husband left me and finding my way back to painting and writing.
At 2:30am this morning, New Year's Day 2012, in bed with my iPod, I downloaded this book and entered a time machine. Everything I assumed I knew about these two people via their mythology was wrong.
This book had a profound effect on me and yet, I wonder how it will be received by those outside the solar systems of art and AIDS in that timeframe, hopefully with an open mind. These two people whose lives in the rearview mirror are legendary. It may come as a surprise that most people in those days were so so naive and innocent. We were not drowning in the world wide web of data... growing up Catholic and confused by a world outside our limited view, all the while living on the edge...
I love this book and it will find a permanent home on my iPod. A reminder of a place and time that formed many who are now graying and even more confused.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
53 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stan
- 04-28-13
Overrated
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Only if the friend has a particular interest in the subject matter. I respect the open and honest account, but it often came across to me as a prolonged name-dropping session.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Patti Smith?
I can totally understand why she reads this work herself -- it's highly personal and it would probably feel wrong to have someone else read it... but she should have. Her reading is, as others have mentioned, oddly flat and dry, and I found her pronunciation of some words distracting at best and annoying at worst. (A good example is "drawing" which is used a lot, and her pronunciation of the word "birthday" is... very strange.)
Any additional comments?
This book is not without value, but it seems over-rated to me. I choose it because of the glowing reviews, but found it to be a fairly ordinary account.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
42 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rick
- 08-04-11
Exceptional. Deeply honest and thoughtful.
Patti Smith as both author and narrator delivers depth, truth, insight, a most impressive study of the life and times of two true artists. I was captivated by Patti Smith's interview with Terry Gross on the "Fresh Air" podcast and was so pleased to find this available on Audible. This compelling narrative exceeded my high expectations. Authors are rarely the best narrators but such is not the case here. I cannot now imagine this being read by other than Ms. Smith. It is as if you are following her around, looking over her shoulder as her life unfolds before her. This is just SO good. I am very pleased with the story, the narration and the high quality of the audio production. Highly recommended.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
41 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- joanilla45
- 10-26-12
Does no one any favors
What disappointed you about Just Kids?
Really? All these years later, she seems to have no sense of how shallow they all were. It's one thing to write about an earlier self with kindness; it's another to repeat the self-involved "brilliances" as if they really were brilliant. Someone seems to have been living in a sycophantic cocoon a little too long. And jesus, someone needed an editor to tell her that it's just as nice to write "I walked quietly" as "I strolled in an ambiance of stillness" or some such purply dreck. It's just more of the same Boomer self-indulgence and utter inability to see the larger world that has sunk most of these rock-n-roll memoirs.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
At first I wanted to kind of hug her and tell her, Really, even still, you're way more into him than he ever was into you. Like it was a little sad for her to be controlling this story, given his death, and trying to frame it in favorable terms for her. But eventually it was more pathetic than sad. And it just wouldn't end!
Any additional comments?
Famous people's books really suffer from their ability to refuse to bow to editors.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Darwin8u
- 10-05-15
Portrait of Two Artists as Just Young Kids
"Nothing is finished until you see it."
- Robert Mapplethorpe, quoted in 'Just Kids'
"Who can know the heart of youth but youth itself?"
- Patti Smith, 'Just Kids'
A memoir of images, people, and hopes 'Just Kids' explores the funky relationship of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe as they began their unique relationship and struggled to emerge as artists. The power of this memoir is the way Patti Smith works the words to create a canvas broad enough to catch both Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith as they grow and flower.
I fell in love with Patti Smith and her music in college twenty+ years ago and loved her raw power and openness. Through her I discovered Mapplethorpe and although I never quite got excited by his more iconic S&M photos, I loved his flowers and his boldness. I knew their myth, but this book gave a greater glimpse into their relationship and the galaxy of their friends. I never knew about her relationship with Sam Smith, Allen Lanier, etc., or her friendship with many of the Chelsea Hotel crowd, beat poets, etc. The book is a great exploration of friendship, love and art. It is also a great tribute to the role of mentors, art benefactors, work, hope, and no small amount of luck in the creation of great art.
Patti Smith reading Patti Smith is an amazing thing. Her audiobook isn't quite performance, but with her distinctive voice giving her words wings, amazing things happen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
31 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Pamela Harvey
- 07-29-11
Beautiful!
An astounding tribute to Smith, Mapplethorpe, their astonishing life journey and their work. I lived it, loved it, now I had the chance to read about it. And I'll do so again.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
27 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mel
- 07-26-16
"Are artists self-defined?"
Who or what constitutes an artist? Now, there's a a topic for hours of passionate discussion amongst yourselves. Picasso said that “every child is an artist;” Maslow talked about the need for self-actualisation as being the most elusive and enduring human needs; and we've all heard the claim that creativity is our birthright. Patti Smith without question believes herself an "artist" as well as a "Punk Rock's poet laureate, a singer, songwriter, actress and playwright."
I don't deny Patti Smith's raw creativity, or her commitment, but I feel more than any other reason for her *fame* she was lucky enough to meet Robert Mapplethorpe and benefit from the slipstream of his artistic vision and drive. Through him she gained entrance into the world that accepted her type of creativity and propelled her into the limelight she so craved. She herself always seemed to be this underground personality associated with the punk scene and those *stars,* a free-spirit looking for her niche through performance experimentation -- and sometimes it felt very amateurish and uncontrolled. Other than "Because the Night" and an eloquent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech on behalf of Lou Reed, I wasn't too aware of Smith's specific works, though I was aware of her icon status.
The book is well written and at times truly poetic, this upped my impression of Smith's talents. It was interesting to read about the turbulent period of time in NYC, and the luminaries that gave color to the decadent and creative period, more so for me at least, than the scavenging through thrift stores and living off the kindness of others. Unfortunately, I didn't find the magic others claim to have found; I didn't see a beautiful love story or an artist's struggle, the flicker of youth captured. I had my own young love; my own beautiful Polaroid moments of youth I can satisfactorily reflect on. For some reason, I experienced in Smith's memoir an egotistical justification for an irresponsible life-style that excluded any responsibility or consequences. Smith came across as arrogant and entitled, a girl with no more talent than anyone else -- just more drive, more luck, more connections, more bravado, and less self consciousness and fewer standards. On the positive side, her love for Mapplethorpe was genuine and unwavering through their journey to the *in-crowd.* The devotion was admirable, and I enjoyed this candid part of her story.
I just kept wondering to myself..."So?! Haven't most of us had times when we've felt compelled to say the hell with what we have to do, what needs to be done, and just go full-throttle Bohemian?!" How many of us would like to call ourselves an artist following our muse? I felt the book sprang from the sincere heart of a devoted friend and an interesting, avant-garde woman. I think this is a great read for those interested in the NYC scene during this period of time...you won't be disappointed. This wasn't my favorite bio, and I don't see the overwhelming appeal it has had for readers (and to deserve the National Book Award), but like art, it's mostly a matter of taste.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bernard
- 10-19-11
Self Indulgent
I wanted to like this book. In particular, I was hoping to learn more about the music scene in downtown New York in the early 70s. I was disappointed on both counts. Think of this book instead, as a hagiography of Robert Mapplethorpe. This is a world viewed through rose-colored glasses, one largely sanitized of the gritty reality that surely existed. Full of name dropping and hero worship (if I have to hear of Arthur Rimbaud one more time.....), apparently all was done in the name of art. Unfortunately, this work achieves little either in terms of art or as an honest account of an interesting time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
20 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susie Q
- 05-08-15
Hauntingly, achingly beautiful- just fantastic
Would you consider the audio edition of Just Kids to be better than the print version?
Definitely.I read the printed book first and enjoyed it but Patti Smith reading her work makes it all the more magical. I love her funny pronunciation of words, and her style is so unique. She seems so REAL, not what you'd expect from someone of her stature.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Patti of course, but also Robert. She writes with such honesty, love, and caring. I was moved by her ability to find the best in just about all people and also by how much she loved her family. She's an incredible artist and human, a sensitive, kind soul. Lucky is the person who can call her a friend.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
This entire book moved me.Her relationship with Robert weathered many storms and their bond was never to be broken. I will keep this on my Ipod and have already listened to it several times. I love how she reads some of her poems. This is by far the best memoir I've ever had the chance to read/listen to. I could go on and on about this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful