This audiobook highlights the tension between youthful curiosity and the need for some religious leaders to avoid challenging questions. In this memoir, author/narrator David Biespiel beautifully describes his youth as a Jewish boy in Texas and how his unorthodox questions led his rabbi to banish him from the synagogue. Biespiel's journey is fascinating, as are the questions and doubts he confronts--from that fateful confrontation until his return as an adult decades later. Biespiel's performance is mesmerizing, and his delivery and tone are precise and perfect. But what sets the book apart is how listeners will be drawn into Biespiel's world in a way that allows them to relate his story to their own lives regardless of their spiritual affiliation.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2021
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Kelson Books
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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