BookOpinion

BookOpinion has compiled the last 10 podcast audiobook reviews from AudioFile magazine. Each book below is linked to the audio review where you can hear samples of the book and comments from the AudioFile editors. 

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier, read by Ruth Ann Phimister

AudioFile says: “This reminiscence is a voyage of time and culture. Filled with characters from all strata of society, the setting is the seventeenth century Dutch household of Vermeer. The overall flow of the performance is charming and engrossing.” Listen to Review Here

TRAVEL TEAM by Mike Lupica, read by Oliver Wyman

AudioFile says: “A good basketball story, rich in sports detail–enhanced by the excellent narration of Oliver Wyman. Listeners follow seventh-grader Danny and his father, Richie, a former NBA star, as they overcome obstacles to a winning season.” Listen to Review Here

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen, read by David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones

AudioFile says: “2007 Audies Finalist Who doesn’t love a circus? Two narrators portray the life-view of Jacob Jankowski, a circus vet during the Depression. Jacob’s youthful passion is finely captured by David LeDoux, and Jacob at 90 brilliantly done by John Randolph Jones. A personal favorite and ‘best of the best’ audio.” Listen to Review Here

WORLD WAR Z by Max Brooks, read by a Full Cast

AudioFile says: “2007 Audies Winner, Multi-Voiced Performance. Zombies are among us. In a series of journalistic-style interviews and monologues, Max Brooks follows the intrepid survivors of the collapse of civilization. Alan Alda, Carl Reiner, Mark Hamill, and other celebs march in and out of the program delivered in the grand tradition of War of the Worlds.” Listen to Review Here

TEACHER MAN by Frank McCourt, read by Frank McCourt

AudioFile says: “2007 Audies Winner, Biography/Memoir. Teaching high school is a tough gig. In McCourt’s brogue, the challenges of New York’s urban classrooms are devilishly amplified. His thirty-year teaching career is punctuated with small triumphs, pitfalls, and difficult choices, all delivered with his indomitable flair as a storyteller.” Listen to Review Here

INSPIRED BY . . . THE BIBLE EXPERIENCE read by Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, et al.

AudioFile says: “This 2007 Audiobook of the Year bypasses many previous Bible recordings with a full show of music, sound effects, and a dazzling array of celebrity voices. A cast of more than 80 African-American actors delivers a rich, diverse rendering of the contemporary Today’s New International Version (TNIV) translation in gospel-meeting style.” Listen to Review Here

THIS I BELIEVE by Jay Allison, Dan Gediman [Eds.], read by Multiple Readers

AudioFile says: “For NPR listeners, ‘This I Believe’ will be a familiar broadcast program. Mixed in here are archival programs from the 1950s hosted by Edward R. Murrow. The essays, each read by the author, surprise, inspire, and touch the heart. A must-listen.” Listen to Review Here

RABBIT EARS: TALL TALES by Various Authors, read by Nicolas Cage, Anjelica Huston, Garrison Keillor, Jonathan Winters

AudioFile says: “Have you heard this one? Delight in the Rabbit Ears twist on these tall tales–Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, Rip Van Winkle, and Davy Crockett with celebrity readers like Jonathan Winters and Garrison Keillor, and original scores to match.” Listen to Review Here

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee, read by Sissy Spacek

AudioFile says: “This powerful American classic never fades as the timeless issues of kindness and cruelty, inclusion and prejudice are played out. Sissy Spacek uses a soft, subtle accent to tell the story from young Scout’s point of view.” Listen to Review Here

DAY OF TEARS by Julius Lester, read by Various Readers

AudioFile says: “Transported to the largest slave auction in U.S. history, listeners feel the anguish of riven families, the greed of buyers and sellers. Written like a play, Dion Graham takes the lead narration with others telling their role in the 1859 auction in the voices of adults and children, onlookers, slaves and the auctioneer.” Listen to Review Here