Showing results by narrator "Michael Gilboe" in All Categories

>Includes a summary of the book, review, analysis & key takeaways, and detailed "About the Author" section. Preview: Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic is her ode to creativity and inspiration. Gilbert, who's garnered acclaim most famously for her book Eat Pray Love, seeks to impart to listeners that the act of artistic creation does not have be a tortured, complicated process: it's better to just do, and worry about questions of merit or quality only once a work is actually finished. Gilbert opens the audiobook with an anecdote on Jack Gilbert.

What happens when Heaven’s hardest working saint is forced to take a vacation? In Saint Peter Takes a Holiday, or It's About Time, a reluctant Simon Peter heads for Aruba and a week in the sun. There, he encounters danger, romance, intrigue...and of course comedy. Magic, miracles, sunbathing, and golf, they all happen in this tropical adventure.

In this, the penultimate tale of the Circles in Hell comedy series, Charon, ferryman for the dead, and his paramour, the succubus Lilith, adopt an infant girl and settle in the suburbs of the Second Circle. Bringing up the first baby in Hell will test the parenting skills of the stalwart skeleton and his demonic partner, for Mona is no ordinary child. She soon exhibits powers that would make a devil blanch. The First Baby has her own set of firsts—from words to steps to a hospital visit—and they all unfold in madcap fashion.

Satan, fallen angel, chief devil, and ruler of Hell seems to have everything: immortality, a kingdom, cool superpowers, and lots of minions to grovel at his feet. So why isn’t he happy? Simple. Satan wants more. He’s just not sure, though, what “more” even means in his case.

Holly Whitaker's first book is a seamless blend of personal narrative, science, spirituality, and self-help aimed at creating a new dialogue around alcohol in America, getting rid of the term "alcoholic" for good, and helping anyone who wants to, create a better, sober, more fulfilled life for themselves. Quit Like a Woman is more than just a self-help book on sobriety. It is a call to action for all of America - and the world - to realize how poisonous alcohol is, and just how much it is truly affecting our lives.

Gladiators are somewhat synonymous with ancient Rome, and even thousands of years after they performed on the sands, when people are asked about Roman culture, many think about and refer to the bloody spectacles of men fighting to the death in the arena. Gladiatorial combat is often regarded as barbaric, and most find it very difficult to comprehend how people could have enjoyed watching something so violent, but nevertheless, the spectacle still intrigues and fascinates people today.

The only thing worse than the end of the universe is...Casual Day. Six denizens of Hell, one saint and a small blue alien join forces to stop the ultimate catastrophe: The destruction of the cosmos. That most of them are dead is of little consequence, for they possess great powers. Halos and horns, strength and sarcasm, courage and comedy, oh, and a management textbook: This team has them all. They are The League of Unusual Denizens.

"Do you know me? I am Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies, Prince of Hell, second only to Satan in the infernal hierarchy. The Devil, you say? Yes, I'm one of those too." Here in one laugh-out-loud volume is the life of Beezy, Satan's BFF, and one of the most popular characters in the Circles in Hell universe. Over 14 billion years in the making, Beelzebub: A Memoir is the ultimate backstory.

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore is a gruesome account of the effects of radium on young women who worked with radium-based paint in the first part of the twentieth century. Centering on two exploitative radium plants in Orange, New Jersey and Ottawa, Illinois, the sad story follows the lives and deaths of female workers who became known as the radium girls.

Bubba Snoddy is a good old country boy with a big problem. Although he's personable, handsome, and lives in a historical Southern mansion in a small Texas town, he has just discovered the dead body of a woman to whom he was once engaged to marry. His ex-fiancée was responsible for Bubba being thrown out of the military, which in turn caused his shameful return to the tiny town of Pegramville, where everyone is a consummate gossip, and no one has any secrets.

Following the lead of Florence Nightingale, Steve’s partner in Eternity, he has returned to Hell to ease the suffering of the Damned. Yet Steve is faced with a dilemma. What can he do that will offer more than a brief respite from everlasting torment? And how can he make it funny at the same time? In Steve’s search for meaningful employment in the Afterlife, he has one comic misadventure after another. Along the way, he meets a few new angels and a couple of saints. He even learns what may be one of the great secrets of the universe...or maybe not.

Bubba Snoddy's got some problems. His family has descended for the Christmas holidays and not in a good way. His cousin wants to own the Snoddy Mansion, decrepit, falling down columns, termites, wood rot and all and isn't above using manipulative behavior to achieve his ends. Miz Demetrice is up to nefarious and illegal activities while trying to entertain relatives.

Kondo's recommendation is to handle each and every object in your home - literally picking it up and holding it in your hands - to consider whether or not it "sparks joy." If the object makes you happy, it's a keeper. If it doesn't, it should be discarded or recycled. It's essential to frame this decision as "What should I keep?" rather than "What should I throw away?" Once you have culled your belongings in this way, Kondo estimates you should have only about one-third of what you started with, perhaps less.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a key takeaways and analysis of the book and NOT the original book.

The autobiography of Joe Conely, a regular on The Waltons!

Magical industry knowledge is precious and hard to find. Even the most minor spells require enormous nondisclosure waivers. Most of the experts claim the knowledge under patents to ensure they could make the most money possible. The harder that knowledge is to discover, the less competition you have. Magic factories are known to be high risk because of the stigma of sharing information. Unfortunately for the workers at this factory, that includes information on how to be safe.

It could be curtains for college theatre professor Nicky Abbondanza. With dead bodies popping up all over campus, Nicky must use his drama skills to figure out who is playing the role of murderer before it is lights out for Nicky and his colleagues. Complicating matters is Nicky's huge crush on Noah Oliver, a gorgeous assistant professor in his department, who may or may not be involved with a cocky graduate assistant... and is also the top suspect for the murders!

My creator once reveled in his mastery over life and death. He dug from graves, stitched me together, and brought me to life. However, he never anticipated how hard it would be to get good tech support.

Blind since early childhood, Marie-Laure is only 12 years old when she is forced to flee her home as the Nazis occupy France. Werner, a German orphan, has a talent for fixing radios - a talent that the Nazi government is all too eager to embrace. As Anthony Doerr masterfully sweeps us forward, backward, and forward again in time, the lives of these two individuals weave together, intersecting at the bombing of Saint-Malo.

Set in the future, this audiobook chronicles the struggles of James, Helena, and their family. After a climate disaster, society is now run by a group of corporate leaders called the Titans, who live in gleaming cities while ordinary workers, like James and Helena, are forced to live on reservations. Residents of the reservation struggle to survive. James and Helena decide they must break away. They leave on a trek to the district of Greenfields, where they can start their lives over again.