Narrator Chuck Kourouklis is a pro and so can handle the clash of generations in this memoir by the executive editor of BICYCLING magazine. Running his voice plaintively up the scale, Kourouklis characterizes Strickland's 5-year-old daughter and convincingly portrays her mother and the author, as well as Strickland's own father, a sadist who is gone but by no means forgotten. Bill Strickland promises his little girl that he--an amateur--will score 10 points in the Thursday night Criterium, a bicycle race in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, that is clotted with professionals. The brutal extremes of sport as well as the tenderness and demands of fatherhood excite memories of his own father, who broke his son's nose with a hammer and made him eat dog feces. The story will turn your stomach. It will also break your heart.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2007
Duration: 7 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
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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