Empire by Orson Scott Card read by Rudnicki

19 Years of Reviews

Autumn in the Vineyard by Marina Adair There's always a girl. She's either poor, or she's lost all her money; she's either alone, or she's been disowned; she's either socially incompetent, or she's incited by her own humiliation. This time, it's Frankie Baudouin and she wants to grow grapesAutumn in the Vineyard by Marina Adair narrated by Renee Raudman

Warped, lusty, utterly female voice of this slut-goddess kicks you in the groin, cuffs you to the radiator, and feeds you sex and ham sandwiches. "You belong to me, D-o-l-l" she says to Steve Carella. And you do. Or want to. As does Steve Carella, detective and good guy ofDOLL by Ed McBain (Pouty D, drag the O, tongue heavy on the L.)

Only Anne Tyler can make an off-license church appear as American as apple pie, and it's off-beat flock, a fumbling but cuddlesome assemblage. The Church of the Second Chance is both a hovel and haven of forgiveness, a familial supplement to a family no longer familiar, a familySaint Maybe by Anne Tyler read by George Guidall

Libby, an archeological historian who works on historic preservation is informed that she has inherited a run down inn in a beach town where her father lived. "Why isn't this place in the historical register?" she asks the Sheriff, who is helping her find her kidnapped friend. The kidnapping makesTidewater Inn by Colleen Coble read by Devon O'Day

It is said that this book does not reconstruct the Diana accident. It doesn't. It reconstructs what might not have been an accident if a sensitive, guilt ridden orphan named Samuel Carver ("Call me Carver") who threatens to break pinkies had arranged for a car to blow up in aThe Accident Man by Tom Cain read by John Lee

As the eighties crash down around him in images of newly divorced women and unusably long nails, Macon emerges as a peculiar species of American male bent on reorganizing the world. Author of guidebooks for businessmen who hate to travel, Macon Leary writes about the latest KFC openingThe Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler::George Guidall

Another Nantucket version of Three Sisters, with three orphaned unmarried daughters living in the same old to-be inherited house. The sombre, fat, defensive A.B.D., teaching English at a Community College is writing a book about May Alcott - no, not Louisa May just May Alcott, her neglected younger sister.Island Girls by Nancy Thayer read by Cassandra Campbell

The first murder victim is a horror list of character flaws with L.A. citizenship: 1. She could not be bothered to make the car payments on the first of each month, even though her parents took care of the down payment. 2. She lives in a dump in ShermanCompulsion by Jonathan Kellerman read by Rubenstein

Yes, we know that it is very important for there to be a gun on the table and a timer, clicking down, on the first page of the story. Someone is murdered, and by the end of the story someone else is found culpable. Someone is training, and by theFirewatch by Nelson DeMille read by Scott Brick

If you're Jewish and you have a brother and he's still married, this is NOT how he will sound after he divorces his goyishe wife who you've never liked anyway. Because the person reading this acid-funny tale doesn't have the nasal force or the resentful irregularity or that specific JewishThis is where I leave you by Jonathan Tropper performed by Ramon de Ocampo

Couples. Kellerman's shrink narrator is full of meticulous, obsessive, data-driven characterizations of L.A. couples and couplings. Milos and Rick, for instance. Rick gets his hair trimmed every two weeks at a high priced West Hollywood salon. Milos drives every two months to La Brea and Washington where he hands hisKellerman's Gone

The conservative Rabbi of a small Massachusetts town inserts himself into the secular and criminal affairs of his congregation, illustrating that the same hypocracies, connivances and plots have been at work in American Jewry since at least 1960....Thursday the rabbi Walked Out by Harry Kemelman read by George Guidall

What happens to a hard cop in a hard city in an era below good and evil.Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh

"The thing you have to understand and understanding this explains so much about Murdoch's success is that happy newspaper families are alike and unhappy newspaper families are, well, quite alike too: in the end they all lose their papers. As cautionary tales go you could hardly find a more hothouseThe Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch by Michael Wolff read by Paul Boehmer

The girl reading this is California cool, with a strawberry blonde voice, that emerges just slightly bored from a long lean body, a finely boned neck, a tight mouth. John Lennon's death begins not only a book but a mood: a being-in-a-fucked-world mood, a being-towards-the-next-cigarette mood, theDraft: Paint it Black by Janet Finch