Dion Graham narrates this stirring audiobook splendidly. His narration shapes the mind and spirit of Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a Yemeni-American from San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood who pursues his dream to import coffee from his ancestral home. Graham delivers a fine reading of his harrowing experiences: He's detained at gunpoint, drives his coffee samples cross country during Saudi bombing raids, and enters Ethiopia without papers. Listeners will be rapt. Graham's performance brings the two worlds of San Francisco's specialty coffee scene and civil war-torn Yemen together as the story charts the course of the intrepid hero. Mokhtar's mission is to create an import business to help Yemenis sell their world-class product abroad. How he succeeds makes for a remarkable audiobook.
Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2018
Duration: 8 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9780735205789
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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