Letters of Note: Mothers
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This I Believe
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Based on the NPR series of the same name, This I Believe features 80 Americans, from the famous to the unknown, completing the thought that begins with the audiobook's title. The pieces that make up the program will compel listeners to rethink not only what and how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs, but also the extent to which they share them with others.
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5 out of 5 stars
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interesting and enjoyable
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Resilience
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- By: Elizabeth Edwards
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A Circle of Quiet
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Set against the lush backdrop of Crosswicks, her family's farmhouse in rural Connecticut, this deeply personal memoir details Madeleine L'Engle's journey to find balance between her career as a Newbery Medal-winning author and her responsibilities as a wife, mother, teacher, and Christian.
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A wrinkle in time and space and the heavens
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Something More
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If it appears that you have everything, whether it be a beautiful home, an adoring family, and fulfilling work, why do you secretly harbor a desire for something more? Ban Breathnach, the wise, warm, and compassionate voice of Simple Abundance, takes you on a journey of self-discovery."
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Maximum Information
- By Kerrie on 07-02-12
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More Beautiful Than Before
- How Suffering Transforms Us
- By: Steve Leder
- Narrated by: Steve Leder
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 105
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 87
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Every one of us sooner or later walks through hell. The hell of being hurt, the hell of hurting another. The hell of cancer, the hell of a reluctant, thunking shovel full of earth upon the casket of someone we deeply loved, the hell of betrayal, the hell of betraying, the hell of divorce, the hell of a kid in trouble...the hell of knowing that this year, like any year, may be our last. We all walk through hell. The point is not to come out empty-handed.... There is real and profound power in the suffering we endure if we transform that suffering into a more authentic, meaningful life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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LOVE LOVE LOVE
- By Sarah on 05-28-19
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Happiness Is a Choice You Make
- Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old
- By: John Leland
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 189
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 168
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In 2015, the award-winning New York Times journalist John Leland set out to meet some of the city's oldest inhabitants for a series on America's fastest-growing age group: those over 85. Leland was at a crossroads in his own life. His marriage had fallen apart, and, at 55, he was alone for the first time. He was also caring for his elderly mother, whose main desire was to die. He understood aging, like many of us do, as nothing more than the relentless deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Substantive and inspiring
- By Lili on 02-19-18
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This I Believe
- By: Jay Allison, Dan Gediman
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 216
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Story4 out of 5 stars 104
Based on the NPR series of the same name, This I Believe features 80 Americans, from the famous to the unknown, completing the thought that begins with the audiobook's title. The pieces that make up the program will compel listeners to rethink not only what and how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs, but also the extent to which they share them with others.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
interesting and enjoyable
- By carmela on 05-30-08
-
Resilience
- Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities
- By: Elizabeth Edwards
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Edwards
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth Edwards met many others who have had to contend with serious adversity in their lives, and in Resilience, she draws on their experiences as well as her own, crafting an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life's biggest challenges.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Intense and emotional
- By Jill on 12-27-09
-
A Circle of Quiet
- The Crosswicks Journals, Book 1
- By: Madeleine L'Engle
- Narrated by: Pamela Almand
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Set against the lush backdrop of Crosswicks, her family's farmhouse in rural Connecticut, this deeply personal memoir details Madeleine L'Engle's journey to find balance between her career as a Newbery Medal-winning author and her responsibilities as a wife, mother, teacher, and Christian.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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A wrinkle in time and space and the heavens
- By Listener on 01-31-18
-
Something More
- By: Sarah Ban Breathnach
- Narrated by: Sarah Ban Breathnach
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
If it appears that you have everything, whether it be a beautiful home, an adoring family, and fulfilling work, why do you secretly harbor a desire for something more? Ban Breathnach, the wise, warm, and compassionate voice of Simple Abundance, takes you on a journey of self-discovery."
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Maximum Information
- By Kerrie on 07-02-12
-
More Beautiful Than Before
- How Suffering Transforms Us
- By: Steve Leder
- Narrated by: Steve Leder
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Every one of us sooner or later walks through hell. The hell of being hurt, the hell of hurting another. The hell of cancer, the hell of a reluctant, thunking shovel full of earth upon the casket of someone we deeply loved, the hell of betrayal, the hell of betraying, the hell of divorce, the hell of a kid in trouble...the hell of knowing that this year, like any year, may be our last. We all walk through hell. The point is not to come out empty-handed.... There is real and profound power in the suffering we endure if we transform that suffering into a more authentic, meaningful life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
LOVE LOVE LOVE
- By Sarah on 05-28-19
-
Happiness Is a Choice You Make
- Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old
- By: John Leland
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 189
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 168
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 167
In 2015, the award-winning New York Times journalist John Leland set out to meet some of the city's oldest inhabitants for a series on America's fastest-growing age group: those over 85. Leland was at a crossroads in his own life. His marriage had fallen apart, and, at 55, he was alone for the first time. He was also caring for his elderly mother, whose main desire was to die. He understood aging, like many of us do, as nothing more than the relentless deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Substantive and inspiring
- By Lili on 02-19-18
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All Is Grace
- A Ragamuffin Memoir
- By: Brennan Manning
- Narrated by: Maurice England
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 179
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 154
Brennan Manning has been dazzingly faithful in preaching and writing variations on the ragamuffin theme, Yes, Abba is very fond of you! But today the crowds are gone and the lights are dim, the patches on his knees have faded. If he ever was a ragamuffin, truly it is now. In this his final book, Brennan roves back his past, honoring the lives of the people closest to him, family and friends who've known the saint and the sinner, the boy and the man. Far from some chronological timeline, these memories are witness to the truth of life by one who has lived it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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shipwrecked at the stable door
- By connie on 02-23-12
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Way to Be! 9 Rules for Living the Good Life
- By: Gordon B. Hinckley
- Narrated by: Robb Webb
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Abridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 117
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Story5 out of 5 stars 93
This inspiring, upbeat, life-affirming book shows teenagers and their families how to navigate through the moral minefields of contemporary life and how to truly enjoy the opportunities and blessings that the modern world has to offer. Drawing upon his faith as well as his personal experience, Gordon B. Hinckley provides his readers with a game plan for discovering and embracing the things in life that are valuable and worthwhile.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great advice, great stories!
- By Ann Taylor S. on 06-05-15
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Not Becoming My Mother
- By: Ruth Reichl
- Narrated by: Ruth Reichl
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 48
In Not Becoming My Mother, Ruth Reichl embarks on a clear-eyed, openhearted investigation of her mother's life, piecing together the journey of a woman she comes to realize she never really knew. Looking to her mother's letters and diaries, Reichl confronts the painful transition her mother made from a hopeful young woman to an increasingly unhappy older one and realizes the tremendous sacrifices she made to make sure her daughter's life would not be as disappointing as her own.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Quick Listen - Honest and Interesting
- By Pamela on 05-23-09
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Motherhood
- A Novel
- By: Sheila Heti
- Narrated by: Sheila Heti
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
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Story4 out of 5 stars 112
In Motherhood, Sheila Heti asks what is gained and what is lost when a woman becomes a mother, treating the most consequential decision of early adulthood with candor, originality, and humor. In her late 30s, when her friends are asking when they will become mothers, the narrator of Heti’s intimate and urgent audiobook considers whether she will do so at all. In a narrative spanning several years, casting among the influence of her peers, partner, and her duties to her forebearers, she struggles to make a wise and moral choice.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I admire that she gave herself so much permission.
- By Ingrid on 06-03-18
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Frances and Bernard
- By: Carlene Bauer
- Narrated by: Angela Brazil, Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 111
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 103
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 100
Bernard Elliot, a poet, and Frances Reardon, a fiction writer, meet at a writers' colony during the summer of 1957 and begin a friendship and correspondence. Bernard, well-born and Harvard-educated, is gregarious, reckless, and passionate; Frances, the precocious daughter of a middle-class Irish family, is circumspect, wry, and more than a little judgmental. What starts as an exploration of faith eventually becomes a romance, a development complicated by Bernard's fall into manic depression and Frances' struggle to decide whether she is strong enough to weather the illness with him for the long term.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Satisfying
- By Margaret on 03-16-13
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Almost Everything
- Notes on Hope
- By: Anne Lamott
- Narrated by: Anne Lamott
- Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 521
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 458
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 451
In this profound and funny audiobook, Lamott calls for each of us to rediscover the nuggets of hope and wisdom that are buried within us that can make life sweeter than we ever imagined. Divided into short chapters that explore life's essential truths, Almost Everything pinpoints these moments of insight as it shines an encouraging light forward. Candid and caring, insightful and sometimes hilarious, Almost Everything is the audiobook we need and that only Anne Lamott can write.
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3 out of 5 stars
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I just can't get past the performance
- By Teri on 12-18-18
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Books for Living
- Some Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting, and Embracing Life
- By: Will Schwalbe
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4 out of 5 stars 52
Why is it that we read? Is it to pass time? To learn something new? To escape from reality? For Will Schwalbe, reading is a way to entertain himself but also to make sense of the world, to become a better person, and to find the answers to the big (and small) questions about how to live his life. In this delightful celebration of reading, Schwalbe invites us along on his quest for books that speak to the specific challenges of living in our modern world, with all its noise and distractions.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Medium
- By Kenneth W. Cole on 09-04-18
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Louisa May Alcott
- The Woman Behind Little Women
- By: Harriet Reisen
- Narrated by: Harriet Reisen
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 93
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4 out of 5 stars 46
Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcott's life: the effect of her father's self-indulgent utopian schemes; her family's chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprootings; her experience as a nurse in the Civil War; and the loss of her health and frequent recourse to opiates in search of relief from migraines, insomnia, and symptomatic pain.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Compelling Story
- By Jean on 03-07-12
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Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed
- Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller, Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 111
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4 out of 5 stars 103
One of the main topics of cultural conversation during the last decade was the supposed "fertility crisis" and whether modern women could figure out a way to have it all - a successful, demanding career and the required 2.3 children - before their biological clocks stopped ticking. Now, however, conversation has turned to whether it's necessary to have it all (see Anne-Marie Slaughter) or, perhaps more controversial, whether children are really a requirement for a fulfilling life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Could Not Stop Listening
- By S on 06-20-18
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A Jane Austen Education
- How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter
- By: William Deresiewicz
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 338
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 288
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Story4 out of 5 stars 289
An eloquent memoir of a young man's life transformed by literature. In A Jane Austen Education, Austen scholar William Deresiewicz turns to the author's novels to reveal the remarkable life lessons hidden within. With humor and candor, Deresiewicz employs his own experiences to demonstrate the enduring power of Austen's teachings. Progressing from his days as an immature student to a happily married man, Deresiewicz's A Jane Austen Education is the story of one man's discovery of the world outside himself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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one of the best books I've heard recently
- By D. Littman on 06-14-12
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Life Between Heaven and Earth
- What You Didn't Know About the World Hereafter (and How It Can Help You)
- By: George Anderson, Andrew Barone
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 287
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 249
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 246
We live in a world of near-universal acceptance that once our lives on the Earth come to an end, we continue to a greater world. Whether that destination is called heaven, nirvana, or simply the other side, tradition teaches us that there is, in most cases, a fairy-tale ending to life, a place where joy and harmony reign supreme. Yet, as this book attests, there is still more to heaven and Earth than is dreamt of in our philosophies.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Life between heaven and earth
- By KAW on 12-19-16
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The Four Things That Matter Most 10th Anniversary Edition
- A Book About Living
- By: Ira Byock MD
- Narrated by: Barry Abrams
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
Four simple phrases - "Please forgive me", "I forgive you", "Thank you", and "I love you" - carry enormous power to mend and nurture our relationships and inner lives. These four phrases and the sentiments they convey provide a path to emotional well-being, guiding us through interpersonal difficulties to life with integrity and grace. Dr. Ira Byock, an international leader in palliative care, explains how we can practice these life-affirming words in our day-to-day lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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All of us will one day be faced with our goodbyes.
- By Jackie St. Hilaire on 05-20-18
Publisher's Summary
In Letters of Note: Mothers, Shaun Usher gathers together exceptional missives by and to mothers, celebrating the joy and grief, humour and frustration, wisdom and sacrifice the role brings to both parent and child.
A star-studded cast of readers brings the letters to life, with contributions from Louise Brealey, Simon Callow, Crystal Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adrian Edmondson, Neil Gaiman, Toby Jones, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jude Law, Helen McCrory, Natascha McElhone, Miriam Margolyes, Clarke Peters, Juliet Stevenson and Meera Syal.
The collection features letters by Caitlin Moran, Sylvia Plath, Martin Luther King Jr., Louisa May Alcott, Laura Dern, Bette Davis, Martha Gellhorn and many more.
Letters of Note: Mothers also includes audio exclusive bonus content drawn from recordings made at performances of Letters Live, the live events series produced by Canongate in partnership with SunnyMarch and Shaun Usher. Savour Carey Mulligan reading Chrissy Hart’s letter to J.K. Rowling at London’s Freemasons’ Hall and Anjelica Huston reading Bette Davis’ letter to B.D. Hyman at LA’s Ace Hotel.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Andrea Graf
- 03-26-20
A moving & inspiring collection.
I so enjoyed this collection, out walking and listening, it helped me smile and cry As I thought of my own mother, recently passed.