Alice Carrière opens her memoir with a matter-of-fact narration that belies the privilege she experienced growing up in a 17,000-square-foot building in New York City, where she shared rooms with fruit trees and roses that climbed a staircase and with visiting celebrities. Though her narration grows emotional periodically, it is, for the most part, straightforward. Her style is welcome in an audio that is both candid and extreme as she describes her bohemian mother’s eccentricities, exotic travels with her father, an actor; cutting herself; and institutionalization for mental illness. This may be the most honest memoir ever written. Descriptions of sexual abuse and cutting scenes may make listeners uncomfortable, but they are well rendered and haunting.
Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
Duration: 10 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781667076195
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
James Michener tells the real stories behind the man and his books. The recording is read with skill and consistency although the reader does little to enhance the robust, larger-than-life incidents related in the book. Due to the first-person narrative format, there is no opportunity for the narrator to change his voice. This makes some chapters monotonous as they go on and on in the typical Michener style. The listener may also become confused because the stories are not told chronologically. This is not a great choice for the audio format, but Michener fans may stick with it to the end.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In a quest for a sense of inner contentment and self-worth, Gloria Steinem brings the reader on a journey of investigation and discovery. Steinem reads the text herself in a straightforward and friendly, but not intimate, presentation which is so easy to listen to it invites repetition--thus ensuring the painless relearning of the lessons of the book. It's difficult to tell from the reading that this audiobook is abridged; each section can stand alone. Nonetheless, the listener wished the book were unabridged. Steinem left me wanting to learn more.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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