Dani Shapiro has written a "memoir of genealogy, paternity, and love" and the journey she began in 2016, at the age of 54, when DNA test results revealed her paternity was not what she had been raised to believe. There is, at times, an understandable underlying strain of anger in her voice as she travels back in memory, recalling a childhood in which she grappled with her "otherness," specifically, how people would question her Jewish ethnicity and comment on how she didn't look like anyone in her family. For the most part, however, Shapiro delivers her story in a detached voice that belies the toll this life-altering news took on her heart, mind, and soul, making its impact more powerful and universal.
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2019
Duration: 6 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781984840233
Publisher: Random House 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
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