The Big Money
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
$0.99/mo first 3 months
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Big Money
Buy for $20.63
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
David Drummond
-
By:
-
John Dos Passos
About this listen
The Big Money completes John Dos Passos's three-volume "fable of America's materialistic success and moral decline" (American Heritage) and marks the end of "one of the most ambitious projects that an American novelist has ever undertaken" (Time).
Here, we come back to America after the war and find a nation on the upswing. Industrialism booms. The stock market surges. Lindbergh takes his solo flight. Henry Ford makes automobiles. From New York to Hollywood, love affairs to business deals, it is a country taking the turns too fast, speeding toward the crash of 1929.
Ultimately, the novels of the U.S.A. trilogy - both individually and as a whole - paint a sweeping portrait of collective America and showcase the brilliance and bravery of one of its most enduring and admired writers.
©1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, renewed 1963, 1964 John Dos Passos (P)2010 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Manhattan Transfer
- By: John Dos Passos
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 32
Considered by many to be John Dos Passos' greatest work, Manhattan Transfer is an "expressionistic picture of New York" (New York Times) in the 1920s that reveals the lives of wealthy power brokers and struggling immigrants alike. From 14th Street to the Bowery, Delmonico's to the underbelly of the city waterfront, Dos Passos chronicles the lives of characters struggling to become a part of modernity before they are destroyed by it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Essential American and New York stories from the Roaring Twenties
- By Jerome Gentes on 08-31-22
By: John Dos Passos
-
The Naked and the Dead
- By: Norman Mailer
- Narrated by: John Buffalo Mailer
- Length: 26 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 414
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 363
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 363
Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since become part of the American canon. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
John Buffalo Mailer narrates his father's book
- By J. Larson on 08-11-16
By: Norman Mailer
-
The Wings of the Dove
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 146
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 129
Milly Theale is a young, beautiful, and fabulously wealthy American. When she arrives in London and meets the equally beautiful but impoverished Kate Croy, they form an intimate friendship. But nothing is as it seems: materialism, romance, self-delusion, and ultimately fatal illness insidiously contaminate the glamorous social whirl.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not an easy read but SO worth it!
- By Julie Gray on 10-31-17
By: Henry James
-
All the King's Men
- By: Robert Penn Warren
- Narrated by: Michael Emerson
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,594
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,018
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,006
The fictionalized account of Louisiana's colorful and notorious governor, Huey Pierce Long, All the King's Men follows the startling rise and fall of Willie Stark, a country lawyer in the Deep South of the 1930s. Beset by political enemies, Stark seeks aid from his right-hand man Jack Burden, who will bear witness to the cataclysmic unfolding of this very American tragedy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully presented
- By Cheimon on 10-12-08
-
A Bend in the River
- By: V. S. Naipaul
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 576
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 388
In this incandescent novel, V.S. Naipaul takes us deeply into the life of one man, an Indian who, uprooted by the bloody tides of Third World history, has come to live in an isolated town at the bend of a great river in a newly independent African nation. Naipaul gives us the most convincing and disturbing vision yet of what happens in a place caught between the dangerously alluring modern world and its own tenacious past and traditions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful, insightful, troubling
- By Lawrence on 01-15-05
By: V. S. Naipaul
-
Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 279
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Manhattan Transfer
- By: John Dos Passos
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 32
Considered by many to be John Dos Passos' greatest work, Manhattan Transfer is an "expressionistic picture of New York" (New York Times) in the 1920s that reveals the lives of wealthy power brokers and struggling immigrants alike. From 14th Street to the Bowery, Delmonico's to the underbelly of the city waterfront, Dos Passos chronicles the lives of characters struggling to become a part of modernity before they are destroyed by it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Essential American and New York stories from the Roaring Twenties
- By Jerome Gentes on 08-31-22
By: John Dos Passos
-
The Naked and the Dead
- By: Norman Mailer
- Narrated by: John Buffalo Mailer
- Length: 26 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 414
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 363
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 363
Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since become part of the American canon. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
John Buffalo Mailer narrates his father's book
- By J. Larson on 08-11-16
By: Norman Mailer
-
The Wings of the Dove
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 146
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 129
Milly Theale is a young, beautiful, and fabulously wealthy American. When she arrives in London and meets the equally beautiful but impoverished Kate Croy, they form an intimate friendship. But nothing is as it seems: materialism, romance, self-delusion, and ultimately fatal illness insidiously contaminate the glamorous social whirl.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not an easy read but SO worth it!
- By Julie Gray on 10-31-17
By: Henry James
-
All the King's Men
- By: Robert Penn Warren
- Narrated by: Michael Emerson
- Length: 20 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,594
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,018
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,006
The fictionalized account of Louisiana's colorful and notorious governor, Huey Pierce Long, All the King's Men follows the startling rise and fall of Willie Stark, a country lawyer in the Deep South of the 1930s. Beset by political enemies, Stark seeks aid from his right-hand man Jack Burden, who will bear witness to the cataclysmic unfolding of this very American tragedy.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautifully presented
- By Cheimon on 10-12-08
-
A Bend in the River
- By: V. S. Naipaul
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 576
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 388
In this incandescent novel, V.S. Naipaul takes us deeply into the life of one man, an Indian who, uprooted by the bloody tides of Third World history, has come to live in an isolated town at the bend of a great river in a newly independent African nation. Naipaul gives us the most convincing and disturbing vision yet of what happens in a place caught between the dangerously alluring modern world and its own tenacious past and traditions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful, insightful, troubling
- By Lawrence on 01-15-05
By: V. S. Naipaul
-
Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 279
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
War and Peace, Volume 1
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Neville Jason
- Length: 30 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,633
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,198
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,188
War and Peace is one of the greatest monuments in world literature. Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, it examines the relationship between the individual and the relentless march of history. Here are the universal themes of love and hate, ambition and despair, youth and age, expressed with a swirling vitality which makes the book as accessible today as it was when it was first published in 1869.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Truly Great Book and a Truly Astounding Narrator
- By A Midwesterner in Jersey on 05-18-09
By: Leo Tolstoy
-
Finnegans Wake
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Barry McGovern, Marcella Riordan
- Length: 29 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 87
Finnegans Wake is the greatest challenge in 20th-century literature. Who is Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker? And what did he get up to in Phoenix Park? And what did Anna Livia Plurabelle have to say about it? In the rich nighttime and the language of dreams, here are history, anecdote, myth, folk tale and, above all, a wondrous sense of humor, colored by a clear sense of humanity. In this exceptional reading by the Irish actor Barry McGovern, with Marcella Riordan, the world of the Wake is more accessible than ever before.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The keys to. Given!
- By hyand on 06-16-21
By: James Joyce
-
A Confederacy of Dunces
- By: John Kennedy Toole
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 8,598
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,901
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6,902
The hero of John Kennedy Toole's incomparable, Pultizer Prize–winning comic classic is one Ignatius J. Reilly, an obese, self-absorbed, hapless Don Quixote of the French Quarter, whose half-hearted attempts at employment lead to a series of wacky adventures among the lower denizens of New Orleans.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Well Done
- By Jon on 09-18-05
-
From Here to Eternity
- By: James Jones
- Narrated by: Elijah Alexander
- Length: 36 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 464
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 382
Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler. But when he refuses to join the company's boxing team, he gets "the treatment" that may break him or kill him. First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he's risking his career to have an affair with the commanding officer's wife. Both Warden and Prewitt are bound by a common bond: the Army is their heart and blood...and, possibly, their death.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Genius on Every Level
- By aaron on 06-13-13
By: James Jones
-
Sister Carrie
- By: Theodore Dreiser
- Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 111
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
A magnificent portrayal of 1890's America and the harsh realities of a dog-eat-dog world, Sister Carrie lies at the forefront of American Naturalism. When poor young provincial woman Carrie Meeber arrives in Chicago, she little expects to be catapulted from lower-class woman to prominent Broadway actress. Passive and yielding, she lets circumstances coerce her into action and by good fortune she arrives at fame. It is in Chicago that Carrie meets a successful businessman, Hurstwood, who helps her establish her name.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Its been on my list for a while
- By lavalleem on 10-07-18
By: Theodore Dreiser
-
Of Human Bondage
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 25 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 856
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 758
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 762
Philip Carey, a sensitive orphan born with a clubfoot, finds himself in desperate need of passion and inspiration. He abandons his studies to travel, first to Heidelberg and then to Paris, where he nurses ambitions of becoming a great artist. Philip's youthful idealism erodes, however, as he comes face-to-face with his own mediocrity and lack of impact on the world. After returning to London to study medicine, he becomes wildly infatuated with Mildred, a vulgar, tawdry waitress, and begins a doomed love affair.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
You won't want it to end!
- By Rbjurnee on 04-18-11
-
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
- By: Carson McCullers
- Narrated by: Cherry Jones
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,003
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,424
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,426
Carson McCullers was all of 23 when she published her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She became an overnight literary sensation, and soon such authors as Tennessee Williams were calling her "the greatest prose writer that the South [has] produced." The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter tells an unforgettable tale of moral isolation in a small southern mill town in the 1930s.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Do yourself a favor
- By Barbara on 06-08-05
By: Carson McCullers
-
Wonderful Town
- New York Stories from The New Yorker
- By: Woody Allen, John Cheever, E. B. White, and others
- Narrated by: Tyne Daly, Timothy Jerome, Joe Morton, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 126
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 72
New York City is not only The New Yorker magazine's place of origin and its sensibility's lifeblood, it is the heart of American literary culture. Wonderful Town, an anthology of superb short fiction by many of the magazine's most accomplished contributors, celebrates the 75-year marriage between a preeminent publication and its preeminent context with this collection of 44 of its best stories from (so to speak) home.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Great stories and readers, but technically sloppy
- By Alison on 09-08-04
By: Woody Allen, and others
-
Against the Day
- A Novel
- By: Thomas Pynchon
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 53 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 444
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 275
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 276
This novel spans the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after World War I. With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
brilliant!
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 01-28-07
By: Thomas Pynchon
-
The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,896
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,924
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,895
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A must-read for every woman
- By Julie W. Capell on 05-06-16
By: Sylvia Plath
-
Pale Fire
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 544
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 457
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 458
A 999 line poem in heroic couplets, divided into 4 cantos, was composed - according to Nabokov's fiction - by John Francis Shade, an obsessively methodical man, during the last 20 days of his life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An amazing feat for such a unique novel
- By AmazonCustomer on 03-27-12
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
Parade's End
- By: Ford Madox Ford
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 38 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 283
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 236
First published as four separate novels ( Some Do Not…, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, and The Last Post) between 1924 and 1928, Parade’s End explores the world of the English ruling class as it descends into the chaos of war. Christopher Tietjens is an officer from a wealthy family who finds himself torn between his unfaithful socialite wife, Sylvia, and his suffragette mistress, Valentine. A profound portrait of one man’s internal struggles during a time of brutal world conflict, Parade’s End bears out Graham Greene’s prediction that "there is no novelist of this century more likely to live than Ford Madox Ford."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A brilliant, challenging, and valuable work
- By leora on 09-11-12
By: Ford Madox Ford
Related to this topic
-
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
- By: Mordecai Richler
- Narrated by: David Julian Hirsh
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 69
Duddy - the third generation of a Jewish immigrant family in Montreal - is combative, amoral, scheming, a liar, and totally hilarious. From his street days tormenting teachers at the Jewish academy to his time hustling four jobs at once in a grand plan to "be somebody", Duddy learns about living - and the lesson is an outrageous roller-coaster ride through the human comedy.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
OK but a bit disappointing; weak narration
- By Merlin on 05-12-17
By: Mordecai Richler
-
Marjorie Morningstar
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 28 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 523
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 444
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 441
Marjorie Morningstar is a love story. It presents one of the greatest characters in modern fiction: Marjorie, the pretty 17-year-old who left the respectability of New York's Central Park West to join the theater, live in the teeming streets of Greenwich Village, and seek love in the arms of a brilliant, enigmatic writer.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Great story with really cheesy narration
- By James on 05-05-12
By: Herman Wouk
-
Babbitt
- By: Sinclair Lewis
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
In this sardonic portrait of the up-and-coming middle class during the prosperous 1920s, Sinclair Lewis perfectly captures the sound, the feel, and the attitudes of the generation that created the cult of consumerism. With a sharp eye for detail and keen powers of observation, Lewis tracks successful realtor George Babbitt's daily struggles to rise to the top of his profession while maintaining his reputation as an upstanding family man.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Makes You Think
- By E. Pearson on 02-21-13
By: Sinclair Lewis
-
Babbitt
- By: Sinclair Lewis
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 489
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 436
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 434
On the surface, everything is all right with Babbitt’s world of the solid, successful businessman. But in reality, George F. Babbitt is a lonely, middle-aged man. He doesn’t understand his family, has an unsuccessful attempt at an affair, and is almost financially ruined when he dares to voice sympathy for some striking workers. Babbitt finds that his only safety lies deep in the fold of those who play it safe. He is a man who has added a new word to our language: a “Babbitt,” meaning someone who conforms unthinkingly, a sheep.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Jonathan Franzen, circa 1922
- By Joe Kraus on 04-09-16
By: Sinclair Lewis
-
The Wayward Bus
- By: John Steinbeck, Gary Schamhorst - introduction
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 804
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 721
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 717
In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California's back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Steinbeck always touches the heart, makes you feel
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
By: John Steinbeck, and others
-
Mildred Pierce
- By: James M. Cain
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 560
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 434
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 431
Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness and determination. She used those attributes to survive a divorce in 1940s America with two children and to claw her way out of poverty, becoming a successful businesswoman. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men and an unreasoning devotion to her monstrous daughter.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Mildred -- you pierce my heart
- By P. Giorgio on 03-11-11
By: James M. Cain
-
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
- By: Mordecai Richler
- Narrated by: David Julian Hirsh
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 69
Duddy - the third generation of a Jewish immigrant family in Montreal - is combative, amoral, scheming, a liar, and totally hilarious. From his street days tormenting teachers at the Jewish academy to his time hustling four jobs at once in a grand plan to "be somebody", Duddy learns about living - and the lesson is an outrageous roller-coaster ride through the human comedy.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
OK but a bit disappointing; weak narration
- By Merlin on 05-12-17
By: Mordecai Richler
-
Marjorie Morningstar
- By: Herman Wouk
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 28 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 523
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 444
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 441
Marjorie Morningstar is a love story. It presents one of the greatest characters in modern fiction: Marjorie, the pretty 17-year-old who left the respectability of New York's Central Park West to join the theater, live in the teeming streets of Greenwich Village, and seek love in the arms of a brilliant, enigmatic writer.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Great story with really cheesy narration
- By James on 05-05-12
By: Herman Wouk
-
Babbitt
- By: Sinclair Lewis
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
In this sardonic portrait of the up-and-coming middle class during the prosperous 1920s, Sinclair Lewis perfectly captures the sound, the feel, and the attitudes of the generation that created the cult of consumerism. With a sharp eye for detail and keen powers of observation, Lewis tracks successful realtor George Babbitt's daily struggles to rise to the top of his profession while maintaining his reputation as an upstanding family man.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Makes You Think
- By E. Pearson on 02-21-13
By: Sinclair Lewis
-
Babbitt
- By: Sinclair Lewis
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 489
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 436
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 434
On the surface, everything is all right with Babbitt’s world of the solid, successful businessman. But in reality, George F. Babbitt is a lonely, middle-aged man. He doesn’t understand his family, has an unsuccessful attempt at an affair, and is almost financially ruined when he dares to voice sympathy for some striking workers. Babbitt finds that his only safety lies deep in the fold of those who play it safe. He is a man who has added a new word to our language: a “Babbitt,” meaning someone who conforms unthinkingly, a sheep.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Jonathan Franzen, circa 1922
- By Joe Kraus on 04-09-16
By: Sinclair Lewis
-
The Wayward Bus
- By: John Steinbeck, Gary Schamhorst - introduction
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 804
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 721
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 717
In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California's back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Steinbeck always touches the heart, makes you feel
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
By: John Steinbeck, and others
-
Mildred Pierce
- By: James M. Cain
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 560
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 434
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 431
Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness and determination. She used those attributes to survive a divorce in 1940s America with two children and to claw her way out of poverty, becoming a successful businesswoman. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men and an unreasoning devotion to her monstrous daughter.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Mildred -- you pierce my heart
- By P. Giorgio on 03-11-11
By: James M. Cain
-
The Deep Blue Good-By
- A Travis McGee Novel, Book 1
- By: John D. MacDonald
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,893
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4,339
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,346
He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out, and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Before the A-Team, there was Travis McGee
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-12-16
-
The Bell Jar
- By: Sylvia Plath
- Narrated by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,896
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,924
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,895
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.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A must-read for every woman
- By Julie W. Capell on 05-06-16
By: Sylvia Plath
-
The Brass Cupcake: A Novel
- By: John D. MacDonald
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 126
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 107
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 108
A classic novel by John D. MacDonald with an exclusive introduction written and read by Dean Koontz. Ex-cop Cliff Bartells might be the last honest man in Florence City, Florida. After quitting the force over a crisis of conscience, he takes a job at an insurance company buying back stolen jewelry. Cliff is focused on keeping the bottom line down and staying out of the spotlight.But when an affluent tourist from Boston is murdered over a hefty collection of jewelry, Cliff finds himself wrapped up in a case that’s making national headlines.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Good Social History ...
- By Montana on 05-14-17
-
Appointment in Samarra
- Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
- By: John O'Hara, Charles McGrath - introduction
- Narrated by: Christian Camargo
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 279
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 240
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Quite good, but not a classic
- By Michael on 04-25-15
By: John O'Hara, and others
-
Where I'm Calling From
- Selected Stories
- By: Raymond Carver
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 73
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story. Where I'm Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Love Carver, But Dietz Ruins It With Reading
- By Noirbat on 05-10-18
By: Raymond Carver
-
Miss Lonelyhearts
- By: Nathanael West
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser, Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 83
Miss Lonelyhearts is an unnamed male newspaper columnist writing an advice column, which is viewed by the newspaper as a joke. As "Miss Lonelyhearts" reads letters from desperate New Yorkers, he feels terribly burdened and falls into a cycle of deep depression, accompanied by heavy drinking and occasional barfights. The novel is essentially a black comedy and is characterized by an extremely dark but clever sense of humor and irony.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Charged with Meaning, and Far Leftist Leaning
- By W Perry Hall on 01-27-16
By: Nathanael West
-
This Side of the Sky
- By: Elyse Singleton
- Narrated by: Myra Taylor, Sharon Washington, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton delivers what Essence calls “a gem - the perfect book to curl up with.”
Best friends Lilian and Myraleen, two African American women from rural Mississippi, travel to Europe during World War II to act as members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this time of segregation and destruction, both women discover love and heartbreak, triumph and defeat.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Breath of Fresh Air
- By Adina Andreu on 07-19-12
By: Elyse Singleton
-
Welcome to the Monkey House
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: David Strathairn, Maria Tucci, Bill Irwin, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,020
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 714
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 713
Welcome to the Monkey House is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut's shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Atlantic Monthly, what these superb stories share is Vonnegut's audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Classic Vonnegut
- By Michael Carrato on 08-17-06
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 362
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 219
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 220
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
-
On the Blue Comet
- By: Rosemary Wells
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Oscar Ogilvie is living with his dad in a house at the end of Lucifer Street, in Cairo, Illinois, when world events change his life forever. The great stock market crash has rippled across the country, and the bank takes over their home - along with all their cherished model trains. Oscar’s dad is forced to head west in search of work, and Oscar must move in with his no-nonsense aunt Carmen. Only a mysterious drifter helps alleviate Oscar’s loneliness.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story to listen to with your kids!!
- By Aaron on 03-27-23
By: Rosemary Wells
-
Disturbing the Peace
- By: Richard Yates
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 61
To all appearances, John Wilder has all the trappings of success, circa 1960: a promising career in advertising, a loving family, a beautiful apartment, even a country home. John's evenings are spent with associates at quiet Manhattan lounges and his weekends with friends at glittering cocktail parties. But something deep within this seemingly perfect life has long since gone wrong.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
7 hours and 27 minutes pure blisd
- By Mia on 01-05-13
By: Richard Yates
-
The Street
- By: Ann Petry, Tayari Jones - introduction
- Narrated by: Danielle Deadwyler
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 92
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
The classic urban tale of a young Black woman's struggle to raise her son alone amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of 1940s Harlem.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful
- By Rachel on 01-05-25
By: Ann Petry, and others