Cahill, author of HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION, uses the Hebrew Bible as the backdrop for Jewish contributions to Western civilization. The Jews, Cahill contends, have given us morality, individualism, conscience, freedom, progress, history and hope. While Cahill's insights are brilliant and poetic, he makes a number of monolithic leaps, and his scholarship is dubious. His pronouncements, which come across as pompous, are made worse by Richard M. Davidson's supercilious reading. Davidson reads with trained precision, but his pace is slow, and the emotions don't ring true. Cahill's Bible translations jump back and forth between King James style and modern interpretations, and Davidson's attempts at pronouncing Hebrew names will curdle any scholar's blood. This is an important book, but not in this edition.
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 1998
Duration: 7 hrs, 30 mins
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
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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