Vanessa Young
- 59
- reviews
- 53
- helpful votes
- 64
- ratings
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The Time Traveller's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveller's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most loved period in British history: the Regency (a.k.a. Georgian England). Bookended by the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 and the death of George IV in 1830, this is the age of Jane Austen and the Romantic poets, the paintings of Constable and the gardens of Repton, the sartorial elegance of Brummell and the poetic licence of Byron, Britain's military triumphs at Trafalgar and Waterloo and the threat of revolution and the Peterloo massacre.
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Fascinating social history
- By Vanessa Young on 26-11-2020
- The Time Traveller's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
Fascinating social history
Reviewed: 26-11-2020
If you love social history, this a must read/ listen. I have rarely had as much enjoyment from a book of this type and will be buying the author's other works.
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Troubled Blood
- Cormoran Strike, Book 5
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 31 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough - who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974. Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one 40 years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on.
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Favourite new fiction of 2020
- By jack on 22-09-2020
- Troubled Blood
- Cormoran Strike, Book 5
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
73 chapters in search of an editor.
Reviewed: 21-09-2020
I have heard all 4 previous Cormoran and Robin novels and enjoyed them. I know there is a great deal of controversy surrounding this one, due to the subject and J.K.Rowling's views on trans people, so people are boycotting the book or looking for meaning where there is none but, the fact remains, the book is not very good, when compared to the last 4. The Charlotte sub plot is becoming a little annoying and Strike and Robin continue to think like teenagers where their obvious love is concerned. Two cases are left without resolution and the whole thing could have been whittled down by a third. When hunting for Margot's killer, the suspects get a little tangled because there are so many and the linking of the suspects to TWO forms of astrology is so complex, it takes away from the flow of the story. In a series that has the two main characters in a relationship, one feels there ought to be progress in that relationship as the series continues...regrettably this does not happen here. On the plus side, the reader is truly excellent.
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Persuasion
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Anne Elliot has grieved for seven years over the loss of her first love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But events conspire to unravel the knots of deceit and misunderstanding in this beguiling and gently comic story of love and fidelity.
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Jane Austen at her best
- By Jo on 02-04-2017
- Persuasion
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
It's Jane Austen
Reviewed: 30-04-2020
When you buy an audiobook of a Jane Austen novel, you know what you are getting so it all comes down to the reader as to how great your enjoyment is going to be. Juliet Stevenson is the best reader of Jane Austen I have heard. The language can sound stilted or arch with other readers but Juliet sounds very natural.
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The Partly Cloudy Patriot
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. Her essays confront a wide range of subjects, icons, and historical moments: Ike, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton; Canadian Mounties and German Filmmakers; Tom Cruise and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; twins and nerds; the Gettysburg Address, the State of the Union, and George W. Bush's inauguration. The result is an engrossing audiobook, capturing Vowell's memorable wit and her keen social commentary.
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A mix of earnest sincerity and sly irony
- By Amazon Customer on 07-03-2017
- The Partly Cloudy Patriot
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Sarah Vowell, Conan O'Brien, Seth Green, Stephen Colbert
Another gem from Sarah
Reviewed: 28-03-2020
I really enjoy Sarah, it is not merely that her voice has a unique sound; she is thought provoking, amusing and has a point of view like no other writer of history.
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Bruny
- By: Heather Rose
- Narrated by: Zoe Carides
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Bruny bridge is bombed, UN troubleshooter Astrid Coleman agrees to return home to help her brother before an upcoming election. But this is no simple task. Her brother and sister are on either side of politics, the community is full of conspiracy theories, her mother is fading and her father is quoting Shakespeare. Only on Bruny does the world seem sane. Until Astrid discovers how far the government is willing to go.
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Good delivery but story disappointing
- By Anonymous User on 08-06-2020
- Bruny
- By: Heather Rose
- Narrated by: Zoe Carides
A cracking read
Reviewed: 14-02-2020
This is an extremely clever political thriller; the premise of which was both awful and all too believable at the same time. It was well read and moved along at such a pace that there was never a second where it flagged. I have only ever given one other of the over 200 books I have had on Audible five stars, but Bruny is well worth a five star review.
4 people found this helpful
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Americanah
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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As teenagers, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love in a Nigeria under military dictatorship. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America, where Obinze hopes to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?
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Brilliant! Highly recommended .
- By Veisinia on 01-05-2016
- Americanah
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
Chimamanda is a beautiful writer
Reviewed: 01-02-2020
I purchased Americanah because it was our book club selection and, I am ashamed to say, I had not heard of the author before. This is an important book, full of very large ideas, the writing is flawless and poetic. There is one minor plot point that jarred, but it was not enough to spoil the overall impact of the book which I will not easily forget and I will be reading other works by this author.
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Debts of Dishonour
- Imogen Quy, Book 3
- By: Jill Paton Walsh
- Narrated by: Suzannah Hampton
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Imogen Quy returns after a decade to solve another intriguing Cambridge mystery. Hoping to attract a generous endowment, St Agatha's College, Cambridge, invites fabulously wealthy Sir Julius Farran to dine. The evening is a disaster for everyone but Imogen Quy: Farran asks her to come and work for him. She declines, but when Farran dies, suddenly and shockingly, she has to look into it. His death left a large hole in his company accounts that could mean financial ruin for St Agatha's.
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Another good mystery from Jill Paton Walsh
- By Vanessa Young on 10-12-2019
- Debts of Dishonour
- Imogen Quy, Book 3
- By: Jill Paton Walsh
- Narrated by: Suzannah Hampton
Another good mystery from Jill Paton Walsh
Reviewed: 10-12-2019
This is the third in a series of four and I really enjoy the lead character Imogen Quy, the college nurse/detective, because the stories remind me of the "Golden Age" detective writers like Christie, Sayers and Marsh. These are gentle mysteries with a slow burning fuse, so persist through the first chapters of this one which has a really clever twist near the end. Beautifully read by Suzannah Hampton.
1 person found this helpful
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Siege
- Trump Under Fire
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Michael Wolff
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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With Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff defined the first phase of the Trump administration; now, in Siege, he has written an equally essential and explosive book about a presidency that is under fire from almost every side. A stunningly fresh narrative that begins just as Trump’s second year as president is getting underway and ends with the delivery of the Mueller report, Siege reveals an administration that is perpetually beleaguered by investigations and a president who is increasingly volatile, erratic and exposed.
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Better than "Fire & Fury"
- By Andree on 11-06-2019
- Siege
- Trump Under Fire
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Michael Wolff
Quite amusing in parts.
Reviewed: 21-11-2019
This book only suffers from being a little out date because so much has happened since Siege was published. It is very revealing and unexpectedly laugh out loud in parts. it is well read and moves along at a cracking pace.
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The Less People Know About Us
- A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity
- By: Axton Betz-Hamilton
- Narrated by: Laurie Winkel
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family. Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in small-town Indiana in the early '90s. When she was 11 years old, her parents both had their identities stolen. Their credit ratings were ruined, and they were constantly fighting over money. This was before the age of the Internet, when identity theft became more commonplace, so authorities and banks were clueless and reluctant to help Axton's parents.
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wonderful book
- By Toni Stocks on 01-06-2020
- The Less People Know About Us
- A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity
- By: Axton Betz-Hamilton
- Narrated by: Laurie Winkel
Book of the year for 2019 for me.
Reviewed: 03-11-2019
I bought this book after hearing the author interviewed on local radio and it did not disappoint. There seems to be a plethora of people coming out with stories of parents who betrayed them and/or who lived double lives. My own father did this and I always wanted to know more about his layers of deceit but after hearing Axton's story I have let go of that idea. It is particularly fitting that Axton managed to turn a catastrophic upbringing into a useful field of study. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
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The Front Runner
- By: Matt Bai
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In May 1987, Colorado Senator Gary Hart - a dashing, reform-minded Democrat - seemed a lock for the party's presidential nomination and led George H. W. Bush by double digits in the polls. Then, in one tumultuous week, rumours of marital infidelity and a newspaper's stakeout of Hart's home resulted in a media frenzy the likes of which had never been seen before.
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Good read sad story
- By Craig on 23-06-2019
- The Front Runner
- By: Matt Bai
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
Book is better than the movie
Reviewed: 27-10-2019
I did not enjoy the movie, but the book is far better and offers an interesting perspective (whether you agree with it, or not) on why political reporting changed, why Hart was a victim of that change and how politics has adjusted. The book stops at the Obama campaign and , while I did not agree with everything the author said, I would have been interested to hear his views on the Trump campaign.