For fiction writers and readers alike, there is no more fascinating subject than personality and no setting in which personality so reveals itself in all its peculiar glory as the family. Tóibín, master fiction writer, is concerned here with how family patterns and circumstances embed themselves in writers’ work. He himself reads the opening essay on Austen and orphans and aunts in Victorian literature, providing a welcome chance to link the writer’s voice with the man’s. Gerard Doyle reads the rest, on Irish writers Synge, Yeats, Becket, and more, then such others as Thomas Mann and John Cheever, Tennessee Williams and his sister, Henry James and his. Doyle occasionally falls into a repetitive rhythm, incantatory but distracting, but otherwise serves this absorbing text extremely well.
Pub Date: June 12, 2012
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781442354937
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
