BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett > recordedbookreview.com

Publisher: Harper Audio ; Distributed by Recorded Books,Pub Date: p2001
Extraordinary work. Self-centered opera singer and doting Japanese businessman-fan hostaged by South American amateur terrorists at glitterati party.

19 Years of Reviews

Solid, sensible text hulled out of an old, heavy earth: The farmer was a tense willowy man with a German name and a head as bald as a rock. and The farmer's wife was fine cook and a generous woman. Meals, too, are solid and heavy and bald: boiled ham,Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger read by Buck Schirner

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Lola is a puckish mostly happy 84 year old ex-motel keeper who works at a charity shop In Claire Australia .. She is much loved by her granddaughters whom she has mothered and marshalled like a general, and who drop in to complain about their husband their children and eachLola's Secret by Monica McInerney read by Catherine Milte

More than a little over the top, Clara Hutt is dropping her 2 boys off this morning wearing her pajama bottoms (again) and wondering (again) why all the other mothers can arrive at school with perfectly starched blouses and expertly applied makiage. Not now, Darling, I'm Paaaarking," andIndia Knight's My Life on a Plate read by Jill Tanner

The bored and boring life of a typically immoral English banker in the city of London in the 1960s.George Evans by A.F. Gillotti read by Philip Rose

Lisa Gardner is a genius at thesis statements. My favorite is: "a family is a system" (Hide). Or maybe: "A computer is a portal, you know, an entry point into your home." (The Neighbor) This book's thesis statement is: "Pain has a flavor." And like all good thesis statements, it tellsLisa Gardner, Touch & Go

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Incongruous, unlovable, post-Vietnam: a weatherman and a reporter make the Minnesota TV newsroom hummm. Dixie Quinn locks into the weather and doesn't let go. Rick Beanblossom, burn-victim, works behind the scenes, behind his mask. Their curious, uneven characterizations are ambushed midway by a grim, hopeless plot. Quotes: "Y'all take care now" (The weatherman's lastThe Weatherman by Stephen Thayer read by George Guidall

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Fury in the doctors office: odd thinking and odder emotions find their way into clinical space. The Emergency Room doctor as addict, as alcoholic, as James Dean, or James Bond. Genetically modified foods unregulated by the Department of Agriculture served with grandmotherly love by a local eatery are at the basisOath of Office by Michael Palmer read by Robert Petkoff

A story of an FBI Special Agent, California mother and widow tracking a cultish killer. In between the pages of the story is a manual on how to read lies on faces, on bodies, on lips, in friends, suspects and children. The Agent specializes in kinesics: a science ofThe Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver performed by Anne Twomey

Ignore the cover photo. An interesting story about a woman who bartends at an upscale New York club and an old college friend-become-billionaire who meet and reconnect -- after a long time. The woman loves children, dogs, and has lots of student loans to pay back. The man is stillSecond to None by Nancy Herkness read by Megan Tusing

At what point can one say that a man is a cheat? When he buys a house from you, when he tells you how to avoid paying income tax, when you help him misrepresent himself, when he helps you find a woman you can marry, when he callsGood Faith by Jane Smiley read by Richard Poe