Category: Audio Books

  • The king, the duke, blood, toil and trouble

    Blimey! Paul O’Connor is angling for a new job. Read his review to find out what that would be. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor TRAITOR KING: THE SCANDALOUS EXILE OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF WINDSOR. By Andrew Lownie. Pegasus Books. 432 pages. $19.95, softcover. Also available as audiobook from Tantor Audio. 8 hours, 27…

  • An unlikely success story and the sorry state of college football

    Paul O’Connor, a fine journalist himself, doesn’t tell us in this review, but I happen to know that he went to a little college in the Midwest, one at South Bend, Ind., that has quite a football tradition of its own. My only connection with the University of Michigan is that my high school (no…

  • Mystery, history and the lives of women

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson ASHTON HALL. By Lauren Belfer. Penguin Random House Audio. Read by Jayne Entwhistle and Kristen Sieh. 12 hours, 38 minutes. Also available in hardback from Ballantine Books. Don’t start listening to (or reading) this book unless you have some time to spare. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.…

  • Gripping tale of history resonates today

    Paul O’Connor is a longtime journalist who grew up in New England and has spent decades living in North Carolina, observing and writing about government, politics, political machinations and a range of other topics. This time, he’s considering some history that sounds eerily familiar. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor   LINCOLN ON THE VERGE: THIRTEEN…

  • All aboard for Whistle Stop!

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE WONDER BOY OF WHISTLE STOP. By Fannie Flagg. Random House Audio. Read by the author. 8 hours; 7 compact discs. $40. Also available in hardback from Random House. You are in for a treat. Need an antidote to COVID, the election and all the other things 2020 has thrown…

  • Law, order, love and money, Stone Barrington style

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson SHAKEUP. By Stuart Woods. Penguin Audio. Read by Tony Roberts. 7 hours; 6 CDs. $35. Also available in print from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. OK, here’s the book to take you from the craziness we are in to a fantasy world in which the United States has just inaugurated its second…

  • Striking out

    What’s wrong with Major League Baseball? Paul O’Connor, a longtime fan, takes a look at two books published decades ago that warn us about the problems facing the sport now – and no, it’s not all about the pandemic. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor BALL FOUR: THE FINAL PITCH. By Jim Bouton. Audible Studios. 1970.…

  • Farewell, bold adventurer

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson JOURNEY OF THE PHARAOHS. By Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. Penguin Audio. Read by Scott Brick. 10 hours; 8 CDs. $45.  My review copy of the audio version of Journey of the Pharaohs, Clive Cussler’s latest NUMA files novel, arrived on my front porch the same day that word of Cussler’s death…

  • Life and love amid the chaos

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA. By Isabel Allende. Random House Audio. Read by Edoardo Ballerini. 10 hours; 8 CDs. $40. Also available in print from Ballantine Books. A Long Petal of the Sea, Isabel Allende’s new novel, is historical fiction at its best. It tells a remarkable story that…

  • Spies and lovers

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson TREASON. By Stuart Woods. Penguin Audio. Read by Tony Roberts. 7 ½ hours; 6 CDs. $35. Also available in print from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. There are Stone Barrington novels, and then there are Stone Barrington novels.  This is one of the meatier Stone Barrington novels, enlivened by politics and international…