Dick Hill's reading of Jenkins's revisionist history is pleasant enough, but for this listener it falls short on several counts. Listeners are challenged, for the 10 hours over which the audiobook unfolds, to hold in their minds the names of many unfamiliar people, places, dates, and sects without the helpful visual cue of seeing words on the page. The second quibble is content related. Jenkins's book presents itself as an iconoclastic retelling of the early history of Christianity—of the rise and fall of sects lost to history when Roman Catholic and other orthodox Christianities achieved dominance. It's pitched by its publisher as a "shocking" history of the death of early Christianity, and Dick Hill plays along, occasionally imparting a wide-eyed tone to the narrative that eventually grows tiresome.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2008
Duration: 10 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Tantor Media
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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