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The Brightest Star
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
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Publisher's summary
A LIBRARYREADS PICK AND BEST BOOK CLUB PICK OF 2023
“A writer of astonishing grace, delicacy, and feeling.”—Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
“A beautiful, haunting book.”—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Booth and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
The beloved bestselling author of The Color of Air, Women of the Silk, and The Samurai's Garden returns with this magnificent historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong—the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood.
At the dawn of a new century, America is falling in love with silent movies, including young Wong Liu Tsong. The daughter of Chinese immigrants who own a laundry, Wong Liu and her older sister Lew Ying (Lulu) are taunted and bullied for their Chinese heritage. But while Lulu diligently obeys her parents and learns to speak Chinese, Wong Liu sneaks away to the local nickelodeons, buying a ticket with her lunch money and tips saved from laundry deliveries. By eleven Wong Liu is determined to become an actress and has already chosen a stage name: Anna May Wong. At sixteen, Anna May leaves high school to pursue her Hollywood dreams, defying her disapproving father and her Chinese traditional upbringing—a choice that will hold emotional and physical consequences.
After a series of nothing parts, nineteen-year-old Anna May gets her big break—and her first taste of Hollywood fame—starring opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad. Yet her beauty and talent isn’t enough to overcome the racism that relegates her to supporting roles as a helpless, exotic butterfly or a vicious, murderous dragon lady while Caucasian actresses in "yellowface” are given starring roles portraying Asian women. Though she suffers professionally and personally, Anna May fights to win lead roles, accept risqué parts, financially support her family, and keep her illicit love affairs hidden—even as she finds freedom and glittering stardom abroad, and receives glowing reviews across the globe.
Powerful, poignant, and imbued with Gail Tsukiyama's warmth and empathy, The Brightest Star reimagines the life of the first Asian American screen star whose legacy endures—a remarkable and inspiring woman who broke barriers and became a shining light in Hollywood history.
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Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love. In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A strong story
- By Anita Kristensen on 06-08-19
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Legs Are the Last to Go
- By: Diahann Carroll
- Narrated by: Diahann Carroll
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 583
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 492
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 489
With wisdom that only aging gracefully can bestow, Diahann Carroll talks frankly about her four marriages as well as her other relationships, including her courtship with Sidney Poitier; racial politics in show business; and the personal cost, particularly to her family, of being a pioneer.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Magnificent
- By Rhonda G. on 04-02-21
By: Diahann Carroll
-
The Museum of Innocence
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Maureen Freely (translator)
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 317
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 237
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 237
Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
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5 out of 5 stars
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one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
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Myrna Loy
- Being and Becoming
- By: James Kotsilibas-Davis, Myrna Loy
- Narrated by: Holly Palance
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
The actress recalls her long, rich, and varied career in Hollywood, on the stage, and as a political activist.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great actress, great person, great book.
- By MikeEC on 10-15-20
By: James Kotsilibas-Davis, and others
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Double Life
- A Love Story from Broadway to Hollywood
- By: Alan Shayne, Norman Sunshine
- Narrated by: Ethan Sawyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 94
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
Gay marriage is at the forefront of America's political battles. The human story at the center of this debate is told in Double Life: A Love Story, a dual memoir by a gay male couple in a 50-plus-year relationship. With high profiles in the entertainment, advertising and art communities, the authors offer a virtual timeline of how gay relationships have gained acceptance in the last half-century.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Portrait of a Marriage--Before Gay Liberation
- By Susie on 03-06-13
By: Alan Shayne, and others
-
Get Happy
- The Life of Judy Garland
- By: Gerald Clarke
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 187
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 147
She lived at full throttle on stage, screen, and in real life, with highs that made history and lows that finally brought down the curtain at age 47. Judy Garland died over 30 years ago, but no biography has so completely captured her spirit - and demons - until now. From her tumultuous early years as a child performer to her tragic last days, Gerald Clarke reveals the authentic Judy in a biography rich in new detail and unprecedented revelations.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
A good book, but...
- By Donna Deal on 08-27-21
By: Gerald Clarke
-
Tender Is the Night
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,032
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 913
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 906
Set on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, Tender Is the Night is the tragic romance of the young actress Rosemary Hoyt and the stylish American couple Dick and Nicole Diver. A brilliant young psychiatrist at the time of his marriage, Dick is both husband and doctor to Nicole, whose wealth goads him into a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlights Dick's harrowing demise. A profound study of the romantic concept of character - lyrical, expansive, and hauntingly evocative.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Subtle yet grand
- By jb on 10-12-15
-
A Wild and Precious Life
- A Memoir
- By: Edie Windsor, Joshua Lyon
- Narrated by: Donna Postel, Joshua Lyon
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 86
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Story5 out of 5 stars 86
In this memoir, which she began before passing away in 2017 and completed by her co-writer, Edie recounts her childhood in Philadelphia, her realization that she was a lesbian, and her active social life in Greenwich Village's electrifying underground gay scene during the 1950s. Edie was also one of a select group of trailblazing women in computing, working her way up the ladder at IBM and achieving their highest technical ranking while developing software.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
🏳️🌈 Wow! 🏳️🌈
- By Natalia Zimnoch on 10-15-19
By: Edie Windsor, and others
-
Furious Love
- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century
- By: Sam Kashner, Nancy Schoenberger
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 171
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
He was a tough-guy Welshman softened by the affections of a breathtakingly beautiful woman; she was a modern-day Cleopatra madly in love with her own Mark Antony. For nearly a quarter of a century, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were Hollywood royalty, and their fiery romance - often called "the marriage of the century" - was the most notorious, publicized, and celebrated love affair of its day.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
Paul Boehmer needs more practice
- By Brenda Miller on 06-16-10
By: Sam Kashner, and others
-
Dropped Names
- Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them
- By: Frank Langella
- Narrated by: Frank Langella
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 383
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 341
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 332
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Delightful
- By Kathy on 04-03-12
By: Frank Langella
-
The Sum of Our Days
- By: Isabel Allende
- Narrated by: Blair Brown, Isabel Allende
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Isabel Allende reconstructs the painful reality of her own life in the wake of the tragic death of her daughter, Paula. Narrated with warmth, humor, exceptional candor, and wisdom, this remarkable memoir is as exuberant and as full of life as its creator. Allende bares her soul while sharing her thoughts on love, marriage, motherhood, spirituality and religion, infidelity, addiction, and memory - and recounts stories of the wildly eccentric, strong-minded, and eclectic tribe she gathers around her and lovingly embraces as a new kind of family.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
She does not disappoint
- By ChiChi's Rule on 06-01-22
By: Isabel Allende
-
Toni Tennille
- A Memoir
- By: Toni Tennille, Caroline Tennille St. Clair
- Narrated by: Toni Tennille
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 685
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 610
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 606
Since bursting onto the scene in the mid '70s, the pop duo Captain and Tennille have long defined the sparkling, optimistic idea of everlasting love, both in their music and through their image as a happy and, seemingly, unbreakable couple. They were an irresistible pair to millions of fans all over the world, further underscored by the rousing "yes, we can!" gospel of their biggest hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together". But underneath the image was an entirely different story that the fans never saw.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Loved it for several reasons
- By Jennifer on 05-28-16
By: Toni Tennille, and others
-
My Autobiography
- By: Charles Chaplin, David Robinson - introduction
- Narrated by: Steve John Shepherd
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 45
Take an unforgettable journey with the man George Bernard Shaw called "the only genius to come out of the movie industry" as he moves from his impoverished South London childhood to the heights of Hollywood wealth and fame; from the McCarthy-era investigations to his founding of United Artists to his "reverse migration" back to Europe.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Finally Chaplin’s auto is available!
- By Ryan Baumbach on 04-28-22
By: Charles Chaplin, and others
-
As I Knew Him
- My Dad, Rod Serling
- By: Anne Serling
- Narrated by: Anne Serling
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
To Anne Serling, the imposing figure the public saw hosting The Twilight Zone each week, intoning cautionary observations about fate, chance, and humanity, was not the father she knew. Her fun-loving dad would play on the floor with the dogs, had nicknames for everyone in the family, and was apt to put a lampshade on his head and break out in song. He was her best friend, her playmate, and her confidant. After his unexpected death at 50, Anne, just 20, was left stunned.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
A Beautiful Tribute to a Wonderful Man
- By Becky on 04-12-20
By: Anne Serling
-
Virgins of Paradise
- By: Barbara Wood
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Jasmine and Camelia Rasheed grow to womanhood under the watchful eye of their grandmother inside the walls surrounding a beautiful house on Virgins of Paradise Street in exotic Cairo. They come of age in society in which the subjugation of women is assumed - they must wear veils, are forbidden to leave the house, have no independent rights, and are circumcised to ensure purity and obedience.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
eye opening
- By C Ohana on 11-13-08
By: Barbara Wood
-
The Baddest Bitch in the Room
- (Explicit Version)
- By: Sophia Chang
- Narrated by: Sophia Chang
- Length: 8 hrs
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,862
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,651
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,650
Sophia Chang is a badass of the music industry. As the daughter of Korean immigrants in predominantly white suburban Vancouver, she grew up shunning the “model minority” myth. Armed with a fierce sense of independence, she moved to New York City and infiltrated the world of hip-hop, yet remained mostly in the shadows of the artists she supported. With her debut memoir, Sophia Chang is finally ready to grab the mic for herself.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Something in the music spoke to me...
- By Tina G. on 09-30-19
By: Sophia Chang
-
This Is Your Captain Speaking
- My Fantastic Voyage through Hollywood, Faith, and Life
- By: Gavin MacLeod
- Narrated by: Gavin MacLeod
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
The remarkable life, career, and faith journey of the star of The Love Boat and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. For 16 years, millions of Americans welcomed Gavin MacLeod into their living rooms every Saturday night. This veteran of stage and screen transformed himself from a seasoned character actor into the leading, lovable father-figure of The Love Boat at the height of TV's boom years. For more than 30 years, Gavin MacLeod has served as the global ambassador for Princess Cruises.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Get to know Gavin as a person, not the actor
- By Don Lance on 11-16-13
By: Gavin MacLeod
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Born into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905-1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood's most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—"Orientally yours." Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong's tragic life story, retracing her journey from Chinatown to silent-era Hollywood, and from Weimar Berlin to decadent, prewar Shanghai, and capturing American television in its infancy.
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,444
Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Rare 5-Star Across the Board!
- By Imamomof4 on 06-14-15
By: Susan Meissner