Artist, writer, and person living from birth into her seventh decade in what she terms a "socially challenged body," Riva Lehrer proves to be an engaging memoirist and a clear-voiced narrator with an excellent sense of pacing. Spina bifida has characterized her body without serving as the sole focus of either her own or her family's life. She moves us from her difficult birth through a childhood and adolescence of discovering both her physical and intellectual capacities, drawing listeners into reconsidering cultural assumptions and the need for each of us to locate social identity. More than an hour at the end of the memoir is given to an equally satisfying program in which narrator Cassandra Campbell delivers text written by Briana Beck that gives listeners what she calls "verbal interpretations of the visual images included in the printed book."
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
Duration: 14 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593207758
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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