Naomi
- 17
- reviews
- 56
- helpful votes
- 46
- ratings
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Yellowface
- A Novel
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Narrated by: Helen Laser
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,663
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,244
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Story4 out of 5 stars 4,242
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I've never hated a character harder
- By ashelyn downs on 07-26-23
- Yellowface
- A Novel
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Narrated by: Helen Laser
Overhyped
Reviewed: 11-30-23
This book started out great but after the first quarter it just went down hill. The characters were all one dimensional, mostly racist in one way or another, and completely unsympathetic.
By the time I was half way through I just wanted it to be over and was hoping the end would tie it all together. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
Such a disappointment after all the hype.
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9 people found this helpful
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Blood Royal
- A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris
- By: Eric Jager
- Narrated by: Rene Auberjonois
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 208
On a chilly November night in 1407, Louis of Orleans was murdered by a band of masked men. The crime stunned and paralyzed France since Louis had often ruled in place of his brother King Charles, who had gone mad. As panic seized Paris, an investigation began. In charge was the Provost of Paris, Guillaume de Tignonville, the city's chief law enforcement officer - and one of history's first detectives. As de Tignonville began to investigate, he realized that his hunt for the truth was much more dangerous than he ever could have imagined.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Could not stop listening
- By Мартин on 04-23-16
- Blood Royal
- A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris
- By: Eric Jager
- Narrated by: Rene Auberjonois
Historical True Crime
Reviewed: 12-19-21
14th Century true crime. I especially enjoyed the witness interviews which gave perspective on how similar the average person was then as now. Their accounts weren’t all that different from 21st century eye witness interviews.
I really enjoy history and true crime so this strange combo worked well for me but I think you need to like both genres to really appreciate this book.
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The Sentence
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,621
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,297
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,281
Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention", must solve the mystery of this haunting.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Addictive and surprising
- By Amazon Customer on 11-25-21
- The Sentence
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
Thought Provoking & Beautiful
Reviewed: 11-13-21
This is easily the best book I've read in the last several years. It is beautifully written and narrated and leaves the reader with much to think about. I cannot recommend it enough.
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16 people found this helpful
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Apples Never Fall
- By: Liane Moriarty
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 22,816
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19,835
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 19,766
The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after 50 years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?
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1 out of 5 stars
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I wanted to love this BUT.....
- By Mary on 09-27-21
- Apples Never Fall
- By: Liane Moriarty
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
Too Long
Reviewed: 10-04-21
I agree with the reviewers that state that this book is too long. There are large swaths of text that are essentially the various characters' stream of conscience and it gets to be very tedious. The plot is good and I enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story but the story could have been told in a far more condensed version. I also did not appreciate the half hearted effort to tack on the pandemic at the end of the story. It has absolutely no relevance to the plot so why include it?
Caroline Lee was pretty good but man she cannot do an Irish accent!
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11 people found this helpful
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Knitlandia
- A Knitter Sees the World
- By: Clara Parkes
- Narrated by: Clara Parkes
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 385
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 340
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 337
Building on the success of The Yarn Whisperer, Clara Parkes' rich personal essays invite listeners and devoted crafters on excursions to be savored, from a guide who quickly comes to feel like a trusted confidante. In Knitlandia, she takes listeners along on 17 of her most memorable journeys across the globe over the last 15 years, with stories spanning from the fjords of Iceland to a cozy yarn shop in Paris' 13th arrondissement.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By JLatta on 01-24-20
- Knitlandia
- A Knitter Sees the World
- By: Clara Parkes
- Narrated by: Clara Parkes
A Love Letter to Knitting & Wool
Reviewed: 09-13-21
This book feels like a love letter written for knitting and wool. If you love knitting and the fiber arts then you may enjoy it. If you're planning or your upcoming Rhinebeck trip you (SO EXCITED) you may even love it.
If you don't enjoy knitting, wool, fiber, etc., this book probably isn't for you.
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House of Salt and Sorrows
- By: Erin A. Craig
- Narrated by: Emily Lawrence
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,411
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,125
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,124
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were 12, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister's deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts.
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3 out of 5 stars
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a novelized folk tale
- By Sarah on 10-30-19
- House of Salt and Sorrows
- By: Erin A. Craig
- Narrated by: Emily Lawrence
Couldn't finish
Reviewed: 08-13-21
I don't abandon books very often but I ditched this one about five hours in. It was so tedious and I found myself dreading the time I spent listening to it. I think my primary issue with with the narrator as she maintains the same sorrowful tone for the entire story. I enjoyed the sample and the tone felt right for a young woman in mourning for a sister but that is the tone that is used for the entire first half of the book regardless of the scene. I tried speeding up the narration which helped a little but it was just terrible trying to slog through this book. It doesn't help that the story itself is not great either. It was a good idea but the follow through just isn't there.
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The Woods
- By: Harlan Coben
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,182
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,613
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,596
Paul Copeland, a New Jersey county prosecutor, is still grieving the loss of his sister twenty years ago - the night she walked into the woods, never to be seen again. But now, a homicide victim is found with evidence linking him to the disappearance. The victim could be the boy who vanished along with Paul's sister. And, as hope rises that his sister could still be alive, dangerous secrets from his family's past threaten to tear apart everything Paul has been trying to hold together....
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3 out of 5 stars
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Coben's worst I've read
- By Barry S. Sharpnack on 05-27-08
- The Woods
- By: Harlan Coben
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
terrible
Reviewed: 06-03-21
Narrator was fine but the book was terrible. Never again with this author. boo hiss
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Project Hail Mary
- By: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 185,694
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 169,613
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Story5 out of 5 stars 169,060
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Bazinga
- By Davidgonzalezsr on 05-04-21
- Project Hail Mary
- By: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
Better than The Martian
Reviewed: 05-07-21
This book was fantastic.
I was a little hesitant because while I really enjoyed The Martian, his other book Artemis, was a solid pass. (I started it but I didn't even finish it because I disliked it that much.) However, I felt like living dangerously so I threw a credit at Project Hail Mary and I am not mad at all. It was good. REALLY good. Like, sitting on the edge of my seat in the car, late for work and I don't even care because I NEED to know what happens next, good.
I don't want to say much about the actual plot because I don't want to spoil anything but I will say that there were a few times when I wanted to hear more of the personal story and less of the science. That said it was not enough of a complaint to make me deduct a star.
I did deduct a point from the narration because his accents were... pretty bad. Has he ever met a Dutch person? Or a Russian? Or seen one on T.V.? Also, ALL of the women sounded the same so that was a little confusing.
Please don't let any of that detract you though. I know it sounds cliché but if you enjoyed The Martian I think you'll love this one.
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5 people found this helpful
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The Hobbit
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Andy Serkis
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 25,144
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 22,446
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Story5 out of 5 stars 22,364
Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum—as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little boat, and he rowed about quite quietly on the lake; for lake it was, wide and deep and deadly cold.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Andy Serkis Was Sheer Perfection
- By Barbara on 09-22-20
- The Hobbit
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Andy Serkis
excellent narration
Reviewed: 02-11-21
it's "The Hobbit" so obviously the story is great but the narration on this version is the best I've ever heard. Well Done.
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The Hunting Party
- A Novel
- By: Lucy Foley
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong, Elle Newlands, Morag Sims, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12,061
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,609
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Story4 out of 5 stars 10,557
During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of 30-something friends from Oxford meets to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students 10 years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands - the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves. They arrive on December 30, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world. Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.
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2 out of 5 stars
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I bought this for 7 bucks; I wouldn't pay 8
- By Lucy on 12-01-19
- The Hunting Party
- A Novel
- By: Lucy Foley
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong, Elle Newlands, Morag Sims, Imogen Church, Moira Quirk
Okay but not as good as "The Guest List"
Reviewed: 11-29-20
If you're torn between this book and "The Guest List" (also by Lucy Foley), I'd recommend the Guest List. This book was okay but it took me a lot longer to get into it whereas I was immediately hooked with the other book and overall it just wasn't quite as good.
I didn't deduct starts for this because I don't think it will annoy other readers as much as it did me. However, when it comes to stale "ex military" tropes I'd recommend that the author take her character's advice and not meddle in things she doesn't understand. The Ex Marine's chapters were immensely frustrating. The PTSD storyline is overdone in general and, in this case, it wasn't even well done.
Also, that's not what "pink mist" means. Not even close. If you're going to use it, please get it right.
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1 person found this helpful