Herman Wouk, best known for his fiction, in particular THE WINDS OF WAR, invokes a theme he summarizes with the question, "Is the stage too big for the drama?" Thus, he tantalizes listeners to continue with his thought-provoking journey from quantum theory to religion. During an interview with Richard Feynman, the self-professed agnostic and architect of the atomic bomb tells Wouk that "calculus is the language God talks." The brain food in this audiobook weighs so much that narrator Bob Walter must shift to low gear to allow listeners to absorb every morsel. Walter sounds comfortable with the vast vocabulary of science mixed with sprinklings of Yiddish. In the coda he credibly personifies a Jewish scholar from Wouk's WAR AND REMEMBRANCE, delivering a touching eulogy prior to his murder in the Holocaust.
Pub Date: April 5, 2010
Duration: 5 hrs
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Claudette Monica Powell wanted to be a nun since she watched the movie A NUN'S STORY at age 7. Now she is Sister Monica Clare, Sister Superior of the Community of Saint John Baptist, an Episcopal order of women in rural New Jersey. A former acting student at New York University, Sister Monica Clare delivers an approachable, folksy account of her long and often painful path to the convent. Her chaotic and abusive childhood led to a loveless marriage, intensifying her already towering insecurity. Now she has a TikTok, @nunsenseforthepeople, with 200,000 followers. An energetic and engaging storyteller, Sister Monica Clare relays tidbits from her Hollywood days, as well as details of monastic life in this warm and engrossing memoir.
Pub Date: April 29, 2025
Duration: 8 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217064878
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Colm Tóibín's consummate narration of his new collection of essays charms and educates in equal measure. The 11 pieces, written between 1995 and 2022, explore topics ranging from Catholic popes and the author Marilyn Robinson to Tóibín's homosexuality, treatment for testicular cancer, and childhood in Ireland. An award-winning journalist, novelist, and poet, Tóibín is analytical, elegiac, and often very funny, with a great eye for the telling detail. His soft, slightly nasal tenor and gentle Irish intonation are interestingly mellifluous; "power" becomes "paar" and "carefully" is "kerfully." He narrates deliberately, giving listeners time to absorb the writing. Occasionally, he lingers over words and phrases for maximum effect. It's a poet's approach, which works. The result is entrancing.
Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797153230
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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