Audio – Page 4 – Book Journey

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

Published on February 25, 2015February 25, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

15 year old Ivy lives on a tobacco farm with her grandmother, older sister and nephew. In most situations, Ivy feels like the adult as her grandmother is growing feeble, her sister struggles with mental illness, and often Ivy is left to care for nephew who is at the age where he gets into everything.

Jane Foster doesn’t need a job. In fact her husband would quite prefer if she would be content doing what other wives of his profession do… have lunch dates, set up hair appointments, and plan dinner parties. Jane however, is bored with that life and wants to do more. She joins Grace County’s Social workers and is assigned to Ivy and her family. Soon Jane finds herself too emotionally involved in Ivy’s case mush to the annoyance of both her boss and her husband. When Jane finds out that Ivy’s sister had been sterilized so she could not have any more children and that the plans were in place to do the same to Ivy, Jane feels she must make a stand for this family.

With what feels like everyone against her, Jane makes hard decisions that affect not only her job, and Ivy’s family, but Jane’s own personal life as well.

Author Diane Chamberlain has never disappointed me. Another mind blowing tale, except this one as I learned, has truth within it. At one time, there were state-mandated sterilizations that were used for those decided to be mentally ill, poor, anyone who the state deemed unable to take care of a child in their opinion. Crazy stuff.

In Necessary Lies, the story is told alternatively from Ivy’s perspective to Jane’s. It makes for an interesting read as these two women speak from their very different backgrounds. As the story progresses both Ivy and Jane find that they are not so different after all.

Very well done book, I listened to this on audio and narrator Alison Elliott set the perfect tone for this book. Fans of Diane Chamberlain, women’s literature, and historical fiction will not want to miss out on this one.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 10 hours and 51 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Audible.com Release Date: September 3, 2013

American Sniper by Chris Kyle

Published on February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Navy Seal Chris Kyle has recorded the most kills in US history during his time-serving 4 tours between 1999 and 2009. His job was to protect his fellow comrades as they traveled on the ground throughout war-torn areas, and Chris had a bird’s eye view from roof tops. While Americans nicknamed him “Legend”, the enemy called him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and had a bounty out for his death.

In 2013, after Chris had served his country for tn years and had returned home to be a husband to his wife and a father to his two children, Chris was killed while working with war vets.

This book, written by Chris himself and includes chapters by his wife Taya is their story of a deep love and a war that never ended.

Note – this is not my genre at all. I avoid war books and anything political like the plague. (And the plague is something definitely to avoid!)

However –

If you know Chris’s story… you know there is more to this book than war. It is a passionate story of a man who wanted to protect his country. It is also about his meeting his wife, having children, and her fears every time Chris left to go back into the war. It is a first hand account from Chris himself of what it was like from the rooftops, working to save his team… it is about love and it is about loss.

My husband and I went to see the movie when it came out. Again, not something I would normally do, but I had heard amazing things from people whose opinions I trust – and many of these opinions were female friends of mine who also would not get into a war movie. We went… and it was powerful.

This is what led me to the audio version of this book. I wanted to know more of the story, and the book definitely does that. American Sniper is told mainly first hand by Chris with occasional thoughts and dialogue by his wife Taya. The book I found to be harsher than the movie. While interesting, Chris is very proud of his killings, even to the point of discussing using different ways to kill (rifles, etc…) to see what works best.

It is hard for me, for someone who has never experienced war and is a life long member of the “why can’t we all just get along” club, to understand taking pride and talking in detail of killings. I am not judging, just explaining a feeling.

The audio book is still an impressive take of what it would be like to be in the center of the war. Nearly killed many times during battle, it is a sad ending to know that Chris was killed while back in the states not far from his home, trying to help others. *Note – this is not covered in the book.

Narrated by Jim Defalice who was an excellent voice for Chris. I struggled when he narrated the chapters written by Taya as his voice did not change at all and sometimes it was hard to tell in the audio format when the narration had changed to her. The book would be talking about falling in love with him, and I would have to think, “Chris fell in love with a man? Oh no – this is Taya talking.”

Overall, I recommend this book or audio for anyone who would like to know more as I did. It is a piece of our American history that I like knowing a little more about. I recommend the movie as well.

Publisher: Harper Collins Publishing

Length: 10 hours and 21 minutes

The Sorcery Code by Dima Zales

Published on February 17, 2015February 17, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

Blaise was once a powerful and respected member of the Sorcerer’s Council. Not agreeing with the council’s need to keep magic only to the select few, Blaise finds himself on his own. Secretly, Blaise has been working on a special project that could chance everything. The result of his hard work was not exactly what he expected…
He made Her.
Gala is amazing. Born of the Spell Realm, she is beautiful, graceful, and intelligent. Neither she nor Blaise know quite what she is capable of, Gala fully invested in learning about the world that Blaise wanting to know more about the Spell Realm.
Augusta, Blaise’s ex-fiancé is a powerful and gorgeous sorceress. When she learns what Blaise has done, what he has brought into their world; she is furious and will stop at nothing to destroy Gala.

I do enjoy a good fantasy style of read and The Sorcery Code was a nice take on fantasy with a new twist. I like a story line that moves along without too much foretelling that leaves me feeling the book is bogged down with TMI. Thankfully, this one moves quickly into the action and I enjoyed the ride.
I enjoyed the strong characters and found them engaging and well flushed out. The story brings with it a lot of action and as the book closes there is still a lot going on. I look forward to the next book in this series.
I listened to this on audio and narrator Emily Durante brought an excellent voice to this listen.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 7 hours and 32 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Mozaika Publications
Audible.com Release Date: March 13, 2014

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce – Audio Review

Published on February 10, 2015March 30, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)53 Comments

Harold Fry now in his 60’s, retired and living with his wife in their English village home has come to expect…

nothing.

Life is quiet and unsurprising. Each day his mere existence and his wife’s avoidance makes the silence between them earth shattering loud. Retirement is not awesome.

Then one morning a letter comes in the mail. It is from a co-worker that Harold once had named Queenie Hennessy. She has terminal cancer and has written to say good-bye.

Harold is struck by this message with a deep sadness. He quickly writes a response to her, tells Maureen his wife that he is heading out to the mailbox and walks out of the house. As Harold passes his own mailbox, and heads into town where he passes two more, he has an encounter with a young girl at a restaurant who inspires him (unaware) to deliver Queenie’s letter in person. Harold believes that as long as he is walking to Queenie, she can not die. With only his boat shoes and a light jacket, Harold starts the 600 mile walk from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick… meeting along the way kind people who take him in. As Harold’s pilgrimage continues he has a lot of time to think about his past, his wife, his son… losses and regrets… and of course, what he has never told Queenie.

You know those books you always mean to read but never seem to get around to doing it? That is what The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was to me. When recently it was on a sale at Audible.com, I snatched it up on audio.

Harold Fry was a likable protagonist who had carried a lot of memories both good and bad, throughout his 60+ years. As life tends to do, Harold stayed busy moving forward and never dealing with his past. His Pilgrimage gave him the time he needed, alone to sort through what his life has been… and what it could still be.

This book is brilliant. While on one hand you could say an elderly man trucking 600 miles with no plan is a bit ridiculous – it works. When you understand that Harold needs to have a mission in his life and this is the moment he chooses… it works. It really does.

Jim Broadbent was an amazing narrator, he handled the different characters in the book smoothly. His tone made for an excellent listen, very well paced and fit for what I would imagine Harold Fry sounding like.

Overall this book is surprisingly deep and one that really makes you think about your own life. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Update: I recently acquired an audio version of the follow up to this book, The Love Song Of Miss Queeny Henessy. I am so excited to get to this listen and am curious about the narration of Celia Imrie who I believe is a new narrator to me.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 9 hours and 57 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Random House Audio
Audible.com Release Date: July 24, 2012

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Published on February 5, 2015February 3, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Darcy Partell’s dreams are coming true! At eighteen years old her first novel, Afterworlds has been picked up by a publisher. Darcy has received a nice advance towards this book and the sequel.

Now what?

Putting college plans aside much to the dismay of her parents, Darcy moves to New York to put herself in the heart of the publishing world. Parties and meeting other young debut authors “the debs” is what life becomes about.

In alternating chapters, the fictional protagonist of Darcy’s book, Lizzie, survives a near death experience in an airport that puts her in a place where she can travel between the real world, and the after world.

Now with the pressures of rewrites, a love interest, and deadlines (pun intended),Darcy feels the real pressures of becoming a writer at such a young age.

Afterworlds was a book I was interested in since it first came out. I had picked up the book months ago and wound up putting it down (life gets in the way….). More recently, I downloaded the book on audio and enjoyed it in that format.

Afterworlds could easily become hard to follow if you did not have the facts going into the book. Darcy’s world is real and happening in real-time. Lizzie, carries the story of the book Darcy wrote. Actually – it is a brilliant way to write a book and it is like you are getting a book within a book. (Darcy even goes to BEA!!!)

I really enjoyed Afterworlds. Author Scott Westerfield did a wonderful job pulling this one-off. This would make for an interesting movie. Awesome YA read!

Audio CD: 12 CDs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (September 23, 2014)

Best Audio Book of 2014 Blog Hop!

Published on January 25, 2015January 25, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)128 Comments

When Felicity at The Geeky Bloggers Book Blog mentioned she was helping to host an audio book hop, I had to get involved. If you read my here – you know I love me some audio! Of course, then I went ona 17 day trip to Australia and New Zealand and forgot all about it. 😳

My bad and I am late posting this.

Here are a few of my favorites of 2014 AND at the end of this post… a giveaway as well as info to the other blogs participating.

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Listening Length: 8 hours and 6 minutes

High school student Jam Gallahue is still recovering from the tragic loss of her boyfriend, Reeve Maxfield, the adorable exchange student from Britain. It has been over a year since Reeve died and Jam is still stuck in her thoughts of kissing him in the library, or watching a funny movie together. Her depression and inability to move on is so deep, her parents feel they have no choice when they send her to The Wooden Barn, a therapeutic boarding school in Vermont for youth of similar struggles.

Jam is selected along with four other students to be in a class called Special Topics. An English class that turns out to be all about the works of Sylvia Plath. When the teacher hands each of the students a beautiful leather bond journal and encourages them to try to write something in them once or twice a week, Jam is certain that she will NOT be writing in a journal.

Yet one evening, Jam does decide to try to write a few lines in the book and when she does she finds herself whisked away, back to a time when she is with Reeve once again. While she fears she may be dreaming, his arms around her are all to real and when she comes back to the present, she finds she has written 5 pages in the journal. What is even more odd, Jam discovers that the other students in the Special Topics class had similar experiences, each going back to a time when things were right before their personal tragedy happened; and each coming back to find that 5 pages in their journal have been filled.

As the group begins to meet outside of class time to discuss their secret; they all wonder what will happen when they get to the end of the journal… and will that close the door to the past even if they are not ready to let go?

Gush Thoughts: It is YA meets a little magical “what if” and toss in Sylvia Plath for a mix of fun and mystery and well… LOVED IT!

The Martian by Andy Weir

Listening Length: 10 hours and 53 minutes

Mark Watney was part of an epic win for mankind. He was one of a group of astronauts that were the first to land on the planet Mars. Congratulations were short-lived when a dust storm comes up flinging the crew about like sheets of paper. Mark was struck hard by debris and the team makes an emergency evacuation of Mars feeling certain that Mark is dead.

But Mark is not dead.

He is however left on a planet with no way to communicate to earth that he is alive, and left with a hab that will possibly keep him alive for a month or so, a tent that was left behind, a land rover that may or may nor work and no plans for another team to come to Mars for about 4 years.

Mark is screwed.

For his own sanity he starts a log of what he is doing with his time and how he is making do with what he has for someone many years from now to find and hopefully learn from…. or at least know how Mark lived his last days… or how he died…

whatever.

Gush thoughts: This one had me from the first sentence. Loved the narration and Mark’s “Macgyver” type dealings with his unique situation. If you missed this one you will want to go back and listen! Trust me 🙂

We Were Liars by E Lockhart

Listening Length: 6 hours and 27 minutes

Tall, blond Cadance Sinclair Eastman is the apple of her grandfather Harris’ eye as the oldest granddaughter. The Sinclair family come from money and each summer the Aunts (Cadance’s mother and her two sisters) gather with their children off a private Island in Massachusetts owned by Harris. The children, or really teens (all around 15) fondly refer to themselves as “The Liars” and consist of Cadance, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat, who is a friend of the family.

During that 15th summer, Cadance finds she has a crush of Gat; and really – he on her as well. It is a summer of new love until an accident leave Cadance with a concussion and no memory as to what happened. She misses the next summer at the Island but returns her 17th year still knowing little of what happened. Her cousins had not responded to her emails over the past year, and even Gat seems to have been avoiding her; no one wanting to tell her the details of what happened those two summers ago as her doctor has said it was best if she remembered on her own.

As Cadance slowly begins to remember snippets of what happened she starts to piece together a horrible truth.

Gush thoughts: OOH! Twisty turny and honestly blew my mind in the end (yes that is a good thing!)

Delicious by Ruth Reichl

Listening Length: 12 hours and 58 minutes

Billie Breslin is excited when she lands a job at Delicious, the cream of the crop magazine of New York. She is young and feels unqualified to be playing in the big league, but Billie has something that is rare, she has a refined palate that can identify even the toughest of ingredients within a dish. While Billie loves to be a part of the behind the scenes of the magazine, even with much prompting she has no desire to actually cook for reasons she chooses not to say. Then suddenly, while it looks as though all of Billie’s dreams are coming true, the magazine is shut down, leaving long-term employees stunned and Billie in shock as her dreams seem to tumble broken to the ground.

When Billie is asked to stay on as the sole employee of Delicious to continue to respond to letters to uphold the Delicious guarantee (if any recipe is not to your satisfaction you will be refunded the cost of your ingredients), she reluctantly agrees as she has no other immediate plans. While exploring the abandoned Delicious library before it goes on the market, she discovers a series of letters hidden in a secret room off the buildings library. These letters dating back to WWII, written by Lucy Swan, an intelligent 12-year-old open up a part of Billie that she did not know existed, and may finally help her to release the secret she has held on to tightly for way too long.

Gush thoughts: Oh my! This story is BRILLIANT! I also learned after seeing Ruth Reichl in New York this past June that it is not all fiction. Good stuff! Seriously try this audio!!!

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

Listening Length: 11 hours and 39 minutes

Riley MacPherson was only two years only when her older teenage sister Lisa committed suicide. Although Riley was too young to really remember Lisa, who was on her way to Julliard as a very gifted musician, Riley does know this was about the time her family fell apart. Her mother battled with depression and eventually cancer takes her from them. Her father acts as though nothing has happened at all and refuses to discuss it. Riley’s older brother Danny begins to pull away from the family and continues to be estranged even into his adult life.

Riley, now in her 20’s returns to her childhood home after her father’s passing to take care of the family properties. Through encounters with different local people and finding in her father’s home – evidence leads to the fact that Lisa may not have committed suicide after all…

and if that is true….

What happened? And where is she now? Is she alive?

Gush thoughts: What an amazing listen! What an amazing author! This audio sent me on a binge of other audio by this author. Fantastic!!!

These are the 5 audio books I am putting forward for this post. If you love audio these are do not miss listens. If you are new to audio or skeptical… these listens can turn you into an audio book listener. AND before you non audio peeps tell me how you can not focus or do not have time for audio let me give you a few suggestions of when is a great time to listen:

while cooking or cleaning
while scrapbooking or working on other projects (painting, knitting, crocheting)
while mowing the lawn
while in your car

For my giveaway – I am giving away an Audiobook of your choice from Audible or a $15 Amazon gift card that I hope you will use towards an audio book 🙂

To enter – leave a comment here telling me either of an audio book you have really enjoyed and would recommend, or tell me which of these audio books appeals most to you.

For an additional entry, please sign up to receive my posts by email (link is on right sidebar). If you already receive my posts by email let me know in a comment and it will be a free entry.

I will choose a winner using random.org and announce the winner on Tuesday January 27th

Trips and projects can be much more enjoyable when listening to audio. Here is a list of others on this hop for more great audio and giveaways:

1.	Hot Listens	20.	Ashley @ Wholly Books
2.	Jennifer @ The Book Nympho	21.	Alysia @My Little Pocketbooks
3.	The Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog	22.	Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun
4.	Book Journey	23.	Kym @ Tea and a Book
5.	Kathryn – Book Date	24.	Eargasms Audiobook Reviews
6.	Marcela aka The Bookaholic Cat	25.	Urban Girl Reader
7.	Jonetta (Ejaygirl)	26.	Kate @ MidnightBookGirl
8.	Holly @ ListenUp Audiobooks	27.	Bookswagger
9.	The Reading Date	28.	Books,Chocolate and Lipgloss
10.	Anya @ On Starships and Dragonwings	29.	Lisa @ Captivated Reader
11.	Cat @ Addicted 2 Heroines	30.	Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer
12.	Mary Matthews	31.	LilyElement
13.	Tanya @ Rantings of a Reading Addict	32.	Angy
14.	Nereyda @Mostly YA Book Obsessed	33.	The Ladies @ CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
15.	Rainy Day Ramblings	34.	Nice Girls Don’t Read Naughty Books
16.	Diana @ Book of Secrets	35.	Grace @ My Book Snack
17.	Judy @ Musings and Ramblings	36.	Holly @ ListenUp Audiobooks
18.	Tabitha @ Not Yet Read	37.	Liza @ Classy Cat Books
19.	Literate Houswife

Confessions The Paris Mysteries by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Published on December 30, 2014December 27, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)Leave a comment

The Angel children all live with a relative in Paris now that their parents are dead. While looking around their new surroundings, Tandi Angel finds boxes marked with her older sisters name, the sister who was killed. Suspicious items found within these boxes makes Tandi question everything she thought she knew.. and wondering is she and her brothers are really safe at all.

First off… I clearly did not do my homework on this read. I did not realize this was part of a series called Confessions. This left me feeling that I had been dropped into the middle of a story line. By the time I enter this book, the Angel children’s parents are dead and it clearly feels that I am missing some back story… which I was. 🙂

I would say that even knowing I was missing part of the story line I do not feel this is a series I would have stuck with even if I had started with book one. There are some very weird components to the book including mind altering drugs that were given to the Angel children by their parents. Something they now try to avoid, but I am picking up some sort of “the kids were an experiment” vibe. I found the direction the story was going in to feel choppy and I finished it mainly because it was a short listen.

Narrated by Lauren Fortgang who has a wonderful accent that fit well with the book.

Confessions is a YA series.

Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 and up
Series: Confessions
Audio CD: 4 cds
Publisher: James Patterson -Young Readers; Unabridged edition (October 6, 2014)

The Kindness Of Strangers by Mike McIntyre

Published on December 27, 2014December 27, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

When Mike McIntyre found his job and life so far to be unfulfilled, he decided to make a move. He steps away from his job, his home, and his girlfriend. As an experiment in human kindness, Mike decided to hitchhike from San Fransisco to Cape Fear North Carolina with only his back pack. He would take no money and accept no money along the way, only food and shelter.

The result was unpredictable. Along the way Mike found his way on to a talk show. He stays in homes of those who have nothing and those who have plenty, he spends time with drug addicts, abused and used people, families, and loners. Many times he finds shelter in homes or in a tent. A few times he battles the elements of weather.

Mike comes out of this experience as a changed man, one who knows more about the society we live in, the generous and the not, probably more than most of us do.

I didn’t love it.

When I picked up this audio I had visions of WILD and struggling through the elements trying to find yourself and that was not this listen. AND maybe, that is my issue that I did not find it to be the hardship I was expecting, the life changing experiment… and that is on me.

What I did find was that for the most part people are still caring and generous. Mike rarely goes hungry. Often he is taken to homes for meals as well as out to restaurants. Many times he accepts a meal just so not to be rude although he is not really hungry. There are times he turns down food to take with him as he does not have the ability to carry it.

It was interesting to hear about the different people he stayed with, but I was turned off by some of the dialogue he included in the book. I did not need to know about sexual escapades of those he stayed with. I did not need to know about those who were hoping for a little more from Mike or his attraction to one of the women he stayed with. I felt that took away form the main story.

I did find it interesting how the faith community reacted to him, where often he was not allowed to stay in the churches themselves, they usually offered him a place to stay including a few times, hotels.

Overall, I did not walk away from this one with any “AHA” moment. I was also surprised to learn that this journey took place almost 20 years ago where I thought I was hearing about a recent journey.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 8 hours and 54 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Mike McIntyre
Audible.com Release Date: December 9, 2014

What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

Published on December 20, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

When once asked “What do you know for sure?” Oprah realized she really had no answer to that question. She then set out to know that answer. In short snippets of her life and lessons she has learned, Oprah now shares what she knows for sure. Themes under such topics as: joy, resilience, connection, gratitude, possibility, awe, clarity, and power, Oprah shares her years from growing up as a poor young girl in Mississippi and the challenges of that time, to where she is now, in a completely different place and the challenges of this time.

I am not a big “Oprah” person. I do not believe I have ever watched her show, although I obviously know of it. I have seen a few movies she has been in, and of course have heard of her good doings for others. That is probably where my interest lies. I knew of Oprah’s history of generosity, and I was curious what sort of things she would say in a book titles as this one is. So I dug in.

As mentioned in the synopsis, the book is in little snippets of wisdom. Wisdom she picked up as a child and dealing with sexual abuse, wisdom she learned as a teen and allowing men to treat her poorly – not physically, but learning about mental abuse as well. And so on through her life to now, and how to know your own self-worth is not found in the eyes of others – but in yourself.

The book is short and in audio, just a little over 3 hours and Oprah narrates the audio herself. While it was a sweet listen on one women’s wisdom through the years, I have to say that listening to this I found some of Oprah’s narration to be a bit over enthusiastic – and yes, I hate that I just wrote that. It is hard to explain, and someone else may listen to the audio and find it delightful how she changed her voice for different situations, or takes on a thick southern drawl when she talks about the foods she loves but to me it broke the flow of the listen.

Again… just me.

Over all, I did find the book enjoyable. She offered up facts that I know in my heart, but sometimes it is just nice to be reminded. I think Oprah fans will really enjoy this insight into her life.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 3 hours and 53 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Audible.com Release Date: September 2, 2014

The Year Of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller

Published on December 11, 2014December 11, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)1 Comment

Nearing the age of 40, Author Andy Miller has a family and has a job. His life is full and he has no time to read. Yet, for some reason he can not let go of all the great reads that he has never taken the time to experience himself. Andy decides to take on a self-inflicted project, a year of reading. A year that he will spend connecting with the books that have stood the test of time, the books that are whispered and shouted about “you must read.”

Both a memoir and a list of detailed book reviews, The Year of Reading Dangerously was funny and interesting. I imagined, going into this read, that I would find within this book a book or two that I must read myself. In the end, I am not sure if that happened, but I sure did get a funny take of Andy Miller’s thoughts on some of the books that I myself had not read.

Among the 50 titles that Andy read in that one year time were: Middlemarch by George Eliot, Post Office by Charles Bulowski, The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch, War and Peace Tolstoy, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, Anna Kerenina by Leo Tolstpy, and Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky by Patrick Hamiloton. *The entire list is at the end of his book/audio

The titles that Andy chose are for the most part heavy reads, many of which that are considered classics, and some I admit, I have never heard of.

Andy discusses his reads some in more details than others, some he struggles with and then amazingly goes back and reads again, some he doesn’t get at all and others he finds to be the greatest works of our time. At times, his comments cracked me up. Andy is totally real on his thoughts on the books and thoughts on the authors.

I listened to this on audio. Andy Miller narrates this himself and while all the books did not appeal to me or my future reading wish list, his narration is delightful and made it well worth the listen. If you have ever made a wish list of the great reads you hope to one day try, I suggest you give The Year Of Reading Dangerously a whirl… it may have you adding (or dropping) books from your own list.

Narrated by: Andy Miller
Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
Unabridged Audiobook