Sound Commentary - Your Wise Guide to Audiobooks and Audio Book Reviews

Little Pink House by Jeff Benedict

Jeff Benedict is considered one of America's top investigative journalists. He has published several acclaimed books, including The Mormon Way of Doing Business, Out of Bounds, Pros and Cons and Without Reservation. His articles have been published in Sports Illustrated, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and he has appeared on ESPN, NBC Nightly News, CBS's 60 Minutes, and ABC News.

Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan

Extensively researched, this fast-paced historical novel about Charlotte (Charley) Parkhurst combines all the known facts of a daring woman's colorful life in the Wild West with Pam Munoz Ryan's own spirited imaginings

Men of the Other World by Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong lives in rural Ontario with her husband, three children, and far too many pets. She is the author of nine bestselling Women of the Otherworld novels, as well as a crime series featuring female hitwoman Nadia Stafford, and a young adult trilogy, Darkest Powers.

Testimony by Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve is the critically acclaimed author of fourteen novels, including Body Surfing, The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club, and The Weight of Water, which was a finalist for England's Orange Prize. She lives in Massachusetts.

The Loop by Joe Coomer

Joe Coomer is the author of several novels. He lives in Texas and Maine.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe wrote "Robinson Crusoe" in 1719 to popular acclaim. Two later attempts to capitalize on his financial success, one a sequel and the other a collection of related essays, were failures.

Moving Bodies by Arthur Giron

L.A. Theatre Works brings together the world’s greatest actors to perform classic and contemporary plays, recorded in state-of-the-art sound quality.

The Wettest Country in the World by Matt Bondurant

Matt Bondurant is a professor at George Mason University and two-time Bread Loaf scholarship winner. His short stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, the New England Review, and numerous other publications.

Serena by Ron Rash

Ron Rash is the author of three prize-winning novels – One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight – thee collections of poems and two collections of stories. A recipient of the O. Henry Prize, he holds the John Parris Chair in Appalachian Studies at Western Carolina University.

The School on Heart's Content Road by Carolyn Chute

Carolyn Chute is the author of The Beans of Egypt, Maine; Letourneau’s Used Auto Parts; Snow Man; and Merry Men, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Thorton Wilder Fellowship. She currently lives in Maine with her husband.

Eon By Alison Goodman

Alison Goodman was born in Australia and after a bit of wandering, now lives in her hometown, Melbourne. She was the 1999 D.J. O’Hearn Memorial Fellow at Melbourne University, holds a Master of Arts, and teaches creative writing at postgraduate level.

The Associate by John Grisham

Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, John Grisham was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Baumeister

Erica Bauermeister’s love of slow food and slow life was cemented by her two years of living in northern Italy with her husband and children. She has taught literature and creative writing at the University of Washington and currently lives in Seattle with her family. The School of Essential Ingredients is her first novel.

Mrs. Astor Regrets by Meryl Gordon

MERYL GORDON is a full-time magazine journalist who for the past fifteen years has been a contract writer for New York magazine. She has profiled such influential figures as Kofi Annan, Mike Bloomberg, and John Kerry, and such stars as Nicole Kidman, Susan Sarandon, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. She has written major features for the New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, Elle,Marie Claire, and More. Earlier in her career she covered the police and court beats in Cincinnati and Rochester, and then became an economics writer in Washington, D.C. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she lives in New York City with her husband, Walter Shapiro, who is the Washington bureau chief for Salon.com.

Just after Sunset by Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore is the bestselling author of You Suck, A Dirty Job, The Stupidest Angel, Fluke, Lamb, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, Bloodsucking Fiends, and Practical Demonkeeping.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

Sebastian Barry is a playwright whose work has been produced in London, Dublin, Sydney, and New York. His novel A Long Long Way was a finalist for the 2005 Man Booker Prize. His other novels include The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty and Annie Dunne.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. She is the author of many novels, including Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. She has also received the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize for her fiction.

Scat by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of ten previous novels, including the best-selling Skinny Dip, Sick Puppy, and Lucky You, and two best-selling children’s books, Hoot and Flush. He also writes a weekly column for The Miami Herald.

What Matters Most by James Hollis

The author of more than a dozen books, James Hollis, Ph.D., teaches at the Jung Center of Houston and is a distinguished faculty member of the Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco. A graduate of the Jung Institute of Zurich, Switzerland, he lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Jill, and maintains a private analytic practice.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

Stieg Larsson, who lived in Sweden, was the editor in chief of the magazine Expo and a leading expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations. He died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscript for this and two subsequent novels.

The Terminal Spy by Alan Cowell

Alan S. Cowell was the London bureau chief of the New York Times when the events narrated in this book reached their climax. Previously, Cowell served as a correspondent for Reuters and the New York Times in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has been based in twelve capitals and reported the news from around ninety countries and territories. Cowell is married and has three children. He is now based in Paris.

The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine was born in1737 at Thetford, Norfolk in England, as a son of a Quaker. He immigrated to America in 1774. There he published works criticising the slavery and supporting American independence. He became very popular but returned to England where he became involved in the French Revolution. After that he returned to America where he died in 1802.

A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock

JUSTIN PEACOCK received an MFA from Columbia University and a law degree from Yale. Prior to attending law school, he worked as an online producer at the New York Times. His legal experience ranges from death-penalty defense to First Amendment cases. He lives in Brooklyn.

Eight in the Box by Raffi Yessayan

Raffi Yessayan spent eleven years as an assistant district attorney in Boston. Within two years of becoming a prosecutor he was named to the Gang Unit, ultimately becoming its chief. He recently left the DA’s office to go into private practice. He and his wife live in Massachusetts. This is his first novel.

Death's Half Acre by Margaret Maron

Margaret Maron grew up on a farm near Raleigh and lived in Brooklyn for many years. Returning to her North Carolina roots prompted Marcia to write a series based on her own background, the first of which, BOOTLEGGER'S DAUGHTER, was a Washington Post bestseller and swept the major mystery awards for 1993. DEATH'S HALF ACRE is the fourteenth book in the acclaimed Deborah Knott series.

The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters was born and brought up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Peters was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998, and given the Lifetime Achievement Award at Malice Domestic in 2003. She lives in a historic farmhouse in western Maryland.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson is the author of seven previous novels. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Laurie Halse Anderson is the author of the multiple-award-winning novel Speak, widely considered to be one of the most important books for young adults published in recent years, as well as Catalyst, Prom, and Twisted. In 2008, Ms. Anderson received the ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to the field of adolescent literature. She lives in northern New York State with her husband.

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich is the #1 bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum books, including Lean Mean Thirteen. She lives in New Hampshire and Florida.

Emotional Awareness by the Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, is a head of state and the religious leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

It's All About Cats by Donald Davis