Thirty Years of Treason, Volume 1: Excerpts from Hearings before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1938 - 1968

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Various narrators

The testimony that the author has gleaned for this book from the 30-year record of the House Un-American Activities Committee focuses on HUAC's treatment of artists, intellectuals, and performers. This highly listenable and absorbing collection of significant excerpts from the hearings shows with painful clarity how HUAC grew from a panel that investigated possible subversive activities in a "dignified" manner to a huge, unrelenting accusatory finger from which almost no one was safe.

THRIVE

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Coleen Marlo narrates this intelligent personal growth book with the directness we associate with the author, the hard-driving founder of the online newspaper The Huffington Post. Marlo's performance asserts and reinforces Huffington's powerful insights with reassuring confidence. This satisfying blend of personal sharing and wisdom feels precious and ancient. Instead of burning out striving for power or financial success, the three legs of her Third Metric (well-being, wisdom, wonder) direct us to get off our treadmill, quiet the mind and body, and learn the joy of service to others. Coming from such a prodigious achiever and read with such appealing authority, these are truths that overstretched listeners will savor and want to bring into their lives. T.W. © AudioFile 2014

Arianna Huffington's personal wakeup call came in the form of a broken cheekbone and a nasty gash over her eye - the result of a fall brought on by exhaustion and lack of sleep. The co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, one of the fastest growing media companies in the world, celebrated as one of the world's most influential women, gracing the covers of magazines, she was, by any traditional measure, extraordinarily successful. Yet as she found herself going from brain MRI to CAT scan to echocardiogram, to find out if there was any underlying medical problem beyond exhaustion, she found herself wondering, is this really what success feels like?

THE BITE IN THE APPLE

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Steve Jobs was a remarkable man who wanted to unify the world through technology. For him, the point was to set people free with tools to explore their own unique creativity. Chrisann Brennan knows this better than anyone. She met him in high school, at a time when Jobs was passionately aware that there was something much bigger to be had out of life, and that new kinds of revelations were within reach.

The Bite in the Apple is the very human tale of Jobs's ascent and the toll it took, told from the author's unique perspective as his first girlfriend, co-parent, friend, and—like many others—object of his cruelty. Brennan writes with depth and breadth, and she doesn't buy into all the hype. She talks with passion about an idealistic young man who was driven to change the world, about a young father who denied his own child, and about a man who mistook power for love.

On the Noodle Road

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Jen Lin-Liu takes a journey that follows the origins of pasta, traveling and eating a path through western China, Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and across the Mediterranean to Italy. Narrator Coleen Marlo captures the author's diverse roots with crisp American accents and perfectly uttered Chinese phrases. She deftly shifts from travelogue to personal musings to vivid, mouthwatering ingredient descriptions, often with audible longing. Lin-Liu set herself to discover how ancient culinary migrations led to the development of pasta cookery in diverse cultures. She learned the skills of blending, shaping, and comparing noodles in a variety of cuisines--and shared goals, gender roles, and the search for self among a global sisterhood of women. A.W. © AudioFile 2013

"Delightful. . . . This book is not just for foodies or cooks: any and all will enjoy it." ---Library Journal Starred Review

"A footloose, spontaneous and appetite-whetting journal of culinary adventure." ---Kirkus

"Lin-Liu's journey is a bold palate-awakening adventure, endearingly rendered." ---Publishers Weekly

The Widows of Braxton County

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Widows of Braxton County by Jess McConkey is a haunting and suspenseful novel about family secrets and how well we really know the people we love. Kate is looking forward to starting a new life with her new husband, Joseph Krause. She leaves the big city and moves with him to the Iowa farm that has been in his family for more than 140 years. Instead of something out of Country Living, Kate finds life on the farm a struggle. She hears gossip from the unfriendly neighbors about the connection between the Krause family and a mysterious death decades before. As the past creeps into Kate's present, she's caught in a web of dangerous, unexplainable events.

NOAH

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Veronica Cruz has been through hell and back. After disconnecting with the world two years ago to be at the side of her dying mother, she's left alone, unemployed, overweight, and feeling a decade older than her twenty-eight years. When her best friend coaxes her into joining the local gym to ditch her depression and rejuvenate her life, she meets Noah. Assigned to help Veronica lose weight, Noah is everything she expected a young trainer to be—perfectly chiseled, supportive and motivating. Add to that, he's incredibly sexy. He's everything she's ever looked for in a man. What she least expected was for him to fall for her, but he has. There's just one glaring problem: Noah is eight years younger.

GIO

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When tragedy strikes in the ring, Giovanni Bravo falls into a deep depression, walking away from his dream of boxing to train instead. He agrees to a two-month getaway, helping train Felix Sanchez, his high school buddy and now welterweight champ of the world. Once at Felix's lavish boxing complex, Gio is reunited with Bianca Rubio, someone he remembers only as the girl with the innocent doe eyes back in high school. Not only does her refreshing, cheerful demeanor take Gio's mind off his troubled conscience, but he finds himself falling for her fast and hard. The problem? Bianca is Felix's girlfriend.

HECTOR

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Womanizer—check. Cocky—check. Dangerous—checkmate.

Staying away from him was indisputably the sensible thing to do. The problem? She wasn't just drawn to him; she was utterly mesmerized.

Charlotte Brennan is no stranger to heartache and mortification. Her past is full of both. So when amazing and incredibly intense Hector Ayala literally jumps into Charlee's life, her walls are immediately up. Letting her guard down and sharing her past and deepest secret is not happening. Charlee is not looking to get her heart crushed once again. However, her willpower proves to be no match for Hector's mesmerizing pull.

The Escape Artist

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Susanna Miller loses custody of her 11-month-old son, Tyler, but rather than turning the little boy over to her ex-husband and his new wife, she goes on the run. She dyes her hair, changes her name and escapes from Boulder, Colorado, leaving behind everyone she knows, including Linc Sebastian, the man who has been her best friend since childhood and who knows her better than anyone. Susanna lands in Annapolis, Maryland, alone, frightened, and always looking over her shoulder for someone who might recognize her. Just as she's beginning to feel safe in her new surroundings, she stumbles across information that could save the lives of many people...if she's willing to take it to the police. But going to the authorities means revealing her identity, admitting her guilt, and worst of all, losing her son.

Equal parts family drama, love story, and thriller, The Escape Artist is the poignant story of a mother's unbreakable bond with her child and the resiliency of a love that transcends distance and time.

Into The Dark

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Can a stranger share your memories?

That's the question that haunts Brenna Spector when she first sees footage of missing webcam performer Lula Belle. Naked but hidden in shadow, the "performance artist" shares her deepest, darkest secrets with her unseen male audience.... Wecrets that, to Brenna, are chillingly familiar.

Brenna has perfect memory, able to recall in astonishing detail every moment of every day of her adult life. But her childhood - those carefree years before the traumatic disappearance of her sister, Clea - is frustratingly vague. When Brenna listens to the stories Lula Belle tells her audience, stories only Brenna and Clea could know, those years come to life again in vivid detail. Convinced the missing internet performer has ties to her sister, Brenna takes the case - and in her quest for Lula Belle unravels a web of obsession, sex, guilt, and murder that could regain her family... or cost her life.

THE THINKING MOM'S REVOLUTION: AUTISM BEYOND THE SPECTRUM

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Publisher's Summary

The Thinking Moms’ Revolution (TMR) is a group of 23 moms (and one awesome dad) from Montana to Malaysia who all have children with developmental disabilities. Initially collaborating online about therapies, biomedical intervention, alternative medicine, special diets, and doctors on the cutting edge of treatment approaches to an array of chronic and developmental disabilities, such as autism, sensory processing disorders, food allergies, ADHD, asthma, and seizures, they've come together into something far more substantial.

Suspecting that some of the main causes may be overused medicines, vaccinations, environmental toxins, and processed foods, they began a mission to help reverse the effects. In the process, they became a tight-knit family dedicated to helping their kids shed their diagnoses.

Here, collected by Helen Conroy and Lisa Joyce Goes, are the stories of their fights to recover their kids from autism and related disorders. With each chapter written by a different TMR member, they share how they discovered one another, what they learned from one another, and why it’s important to have close friends who understand what it's like to parent a child with special needs. You'll read about their experiences, and learn how their determination and friendships have become a daily motivation for parents worldwide.

THE DRUNKEN BOTANIST: THE PLANTS THAT CREATE THE WORLD'S GREAT DRINKS

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Every great drink starts with a plant. Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley. Gin was born from a conifer shrub when medieval physicians boiled juniper berries with wine to treat stomach pain. The Drunken Botanist uncovers the surprising botanical history and fascinating science and chemistry of over 150 plants, flowers, trees, and fruits (and even a few fungi).

Audio Review:
THE DRUNKEN BOTANIST :
The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks 
Amy Stewart
Read by Coleen Marlo

From the apples of hard cider to the lime garnish of a cocktail, plants are vital to the imbibing experience. Author Amy Stewart looks into every aspect of that connection, even providing plenty of recipes. Coleen Marlo narrates the short pieces with gusto while respecting the informative nature of the material. She is delightfully entertaining as she tells listeners about the use of gunpowder to test rum and about the insects in figs and cherries, among many other topics. However, some things, like drink recipes and the variant spellings of "whiskey," may leave listeners wishing they'd bought the book in print to savor and use as a reference. Either way, this title is bound to entertain imbibers as it informs. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2013]

ALL THE WAY

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ALL THE WAY by the author of THE MARRIAGE BARGAIN:

The food critic…

Miranda Storme never expected to see Gavin Luciano again. Three years ago, they had an intense affair—and then he bolted. Now he’s back, and Miranda has the pleasure of a little payback: a scathing review of his restaurant. Revenge is a dish best served the first chance you get…

 Narrator Coleen Marlo offers up a pleasant, entertaining reading. She creates voices that are well suited to the book’s characters, young and old, male and female.... her Gavin comes across as deep, competent, and sexy. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Life At The Marmont

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Raymond Sarlot bought the Chateau Marmont in 1975, but what was originally a business purchase became a love affair as he delved into the hotel’s incredible history. From its perch overlooking the Sunset Strip, the glamorous Marmont reigned for decades as the spot for artists, writers, musicians, and actors of every stripe and remains a home-away-from-home for A-listers like Scarlett Johansson and Johnny Depp. Here, Sarlot and coauthor Fred E. Basten share a wealth of scandalous and intriguing tales about them all, from the stars of Hollywood’s Golden Era like Jean Harlow and Grace Kelly to idols of the sixties and seventies like Jim Morrison and John Belushi (who tragically died there in 1982).  

            Whether your obsession is Hollywood history or celebrity gossip, Life at the Marmont has plenty of gripping, juicy stories to fascinate.

HATING GLADYS

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Gladys Pratt was in control, the mistress of her own domain. In the sixties she and her husband were running a lodge in a remote area of the Yukon. Communication to the outside world was by mail, if it got out. Gladys was a tyrant. Deeply unhappy in her own life, she made life miserable for everyone around her — her house-keeper, her cooks and the young women who worked as her waitresses during the summer months. Kendy and Elke were two of them — fresh out of high school and heading to university, they anticipated earning enough money to pay their first semester's tuition. Elke was shy and timid, new at waitressing and often the butt of Gladys's wrath. But Kendy was more confident and found the courage to stand up to Gladys, and for that Gladys's punishment was                                                                                                                                   devastating.

How Lucky You Are

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In the tradition of Emily Giffin and Marisa de los Santos, How Lucky You Are is an engaging and moving novel about three women struggling to keep their long-standing friendship alive. Waverly, who's always been the group's anchor, runs a cozy bakery but worries each month about her mounting debt. Kate is married to a man who's on track to be the next governor of Virginia, but the larger questions brewing in their future are unsettling her. Stay-at-home mom Amy has a perfect life on paper, but as the horrific secret she's keeping from her friends threatens to reveal itself, she panics.

As life's pressures build all around them, Waverly knows she has some big decisions to make. In doing so, she will discover that the lines between loyalty and betrayal can become blurred, happy endings aren't always clear-cut, and sometimes you have to risk everything to gain the life you deserve.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair

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From Publishers Weekly

When Sankovitch lost her older sister to cancer, she was determined to "live her life double" in order to make up for her family's painful loss. But after three years spent at a frenetic pace, Sankovitch decided to slow down and rediscover the pleasure of books in order to reconnect with the memory of her sister. Despite the day-to-day responsibilities of raising four sons—and the holidays, vacations, and sudden illnesses that accompany a large family—Sankovitch vowed to read one book a day for an entire year and blog about it. In this entertaining bibliophile's dream, Sankovitch (who launched ReadAllDay.org and was profiled in the New York Times) found that her "year of magical reading" was "not a way to rid myself of sorrow but a way to absorb it." As well as being an homage to her sister and their family of readers, Sankovitch's memoir speaks to the power that books can have over our daily lives. Sankovitch champions the act of reading not as an indulgence but as a necessity, and will make the perfect gift from one bookworm to another.

“A beautifully fluid, reflective, and astute memoir that gracefully combines affecting family history with expert testimony about how books open our minds to ‘the complexity and entirety of the human experience.’ Sankovitch’s reading list in all its dazzling variety is top-notch.” (Booklist )

“What Sankovitch has accomplished in her first book is not only to celebrate the transformational, even healing, powers of reading, but to give the reader a feeling of reading those books as well, through the eyes of an astute reader.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )


“Her deeply moving memoir artfully intertwines her immigrant family’s history with the universal themes of hope, resilience, and memory. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair celebrates not only the healing power of literature but its ability to connect us to the best of ourselves — and each other.” (American Way )

The Lady in Gold

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The spellbinding story, part fairy tale, part suspense, of Gustav Klimt'sPortrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, one of the most emblematic portraits of its time; of the beautiful, seductive Viennese Jewish salon hostess who sat for it; the notorious artist who painted it; the now vanished turn-of-the-century Vienna that shaped it; and the strange twisted fate that befell it.

REVIEW
The great Austrian artist Gustav Klimt painted sensually in a repressed age, and Adele Bloch-Bauer may be his most famous subject. Her story was almost lost, though, as the Nazis rewrote artistic history. Coleen Marlo's voice captures the romance, drama, and emotion, along with the wry ironies, of a fascinating story. This story of a painting is also the story of women's lives, Adolf Hitler's failed artistic career, the Nazi treatment of Jews, and the efforts to reclaim the painting after WWII. It involves such famous people as Mark Twain, Hedy Lamarr, and Sigmund Freud. Art lovers and history buffs alike will want to hear about the famous disputed portrait. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2013]
Review Excerpts

"O'Connor resurrects fascinating individuals and tells a many-faceted, intensely affecting, and profoundly revelatory tale of the inciting power of art and the unending need for justice." ---Booklist Starred Review

"This is an essential title for [listeners] interested in art history, European history, and Judaic studies." ---Library Journal Starred Review

"Art-history fans will love the deep details of the painting, and history buffs will revel in the facts O'Connor includes as she exposes a deeper picture of World War II." ---Kirkus

Now, Voyager

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“Don’t let’s ask for the moon! We have the stars!” The film that concludes with Bette Davis’s famous words, reaffirmed Davis’s own stardom and changed the way Americans smoked cigarettes. But few contemporary fans of this story of a woman’s self-realization know its source. Olive Higgins Prouty’s 1941 novel Now, Voyager provides an even richer, deeper portrait of the inner life of its protagonist and the society she inhabits. Viewed from a distance of more than 60 years, it also offers fresh and quietly radical takes on psychiatric treatment, traditional family life, female desire, and women’s agency.

Boston blueblood Charlotte Vale has led an unhappy, sheltered life. Lonely, dowdy, repressed, and pushing 40, Charlotte finds salvation at a sanitarium, where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation. After her extreme makeover, the new Charlotte tests her mettle by embarking on a cruise—and finds herself in a torrid love affair with a married man.

A World Without Cancer

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A provocative and surprising investigation into the ways that profit, personalities, and politics obstruct real progress in the war on cancer—and one doctor’s passionate call to action
As a diagnostic radiologist who has watched patients, friends, and family suffer with and die from cancer—and who was deeply affected by the enraged husband of one particular patient—Dr. Margaret I. Cuomo has been inspired to seek out new strategies for waging a smarter war on cancer.
About 1.6 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed a year, and more than 1,500 people die each day. We’ve been asked to accept the disappointing strategy to “manage cancer as a chronic disease.” We’ve allowed pharmaceutical companies to position as breakthroughs cancer drugs that extend life by mere weeks and may cost $100,000 for a single course of treatment. Where is the bold leadership that will transform our system from treatment to prevention? Have we forgotten the mission of the National Cancer Act of 1971 to “conquer cancer?”
Through an analysis of more than forty years of medical evidence and interviews with the top cancer researchers, drug company executives, and health policy advisers, Dr. Cuomo reveals the intriguing answers to these questions. She shows us how all cancer stakeholders—the pharmaceutical industry, the government, physicians, and concerned citizens—can change the way we view and fight cancer in this country.