Nancy Pearl has narrated 5 audiobooks on Listento.it by 5 authors. The most-rated is The Writer's Library.
Plum & Jaggers
Summary
For the McWilliams children, life is forever altered the day a terrorist bomb blast rips through the train carrying them across Italy, instantly killing their parents. Dazed and frightened, Charlotte, Oliver, and baby Julia cling to oldest brother Sam, who - only seven at the time - is haunted by every detail. After he and his siblings are taken in by their kindly but peculiar grandparents, Sam becomes consumed with protecting them at all costs. His compulsive behavior - which includes shoplifting materials to make a bomb shelter for the quartet - leads to his placement in “the Cage,” a juvenile detention center on the outskirts of Washington, DC. It is there that Sam, inspired by letters exchanged between his deceased parents, dreams up Plum & Jaggers, a darkly bizarre comedy troupe. Made up of him and his brother and sisters, the group pokes fun at life’s tragedies and will eventually carry them into adulthood. But even once grown, Sam McWilliams finds he cannot always stop things from blowing apart.
©2001 Susan Richards Shreve; Introduction and Readers’ Guide © 2013 by Nancy Pearl. (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
George and Lizzie
Summary
From "America's librarian" and NPR books commentator Nancy Pearl comes an emotionally riveting debut novel about an unlikely marriage at a crossroads. George and Lizzie have radically different understandings of what love and marriage should be. George grew up in a warm and loving family - his father, an orthodontist, his mother, a stay-at-home mom - while Lizzie grew up as the only child of two famous psychologists who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love. Over the course of their marriage, nothing has changed - George is happy; Lizzie remains...unfulfilled. When a shameful secret from Lizzie's past resurfaces, she'll need to face her fears in order to accept the true nature of the relationship she and George have built over a decade together. With pitch-perfect prose and compassion and humor to spare, George and Lizzie is an intimate story of new and past loves, the scars of childhood, and an imperfect marriage at its defining moments.
©2017 Nancy Pearl (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Lion in the Lei Shop
Summary
A dramatic chapter of American history comes vividly to life in this evocative tale of a mother and daughter navigating the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. On a beautiful December day, young Marty Langsmith’s life explodes into flames. Evacuated with her mother, April, to the mainland, Marty’s new world is haunted by nightmares of the lion in the lei shop, a creature fabricated by a neighbor that’s said to devour happy children. Meanwhile April, powerless to shield her daughter from the devastation of the Japanese attack and the painful uncertainty of life without her deployed army father, is caught between her own longing for the past and her hope for the future. Spanning the tumultuous war years, The Lion in the Lei Shop is a poignant, illuminating tale of two women bound by love and sorrow, twin sentinels mourning the loss of a nation’s innocence and struggling to build a new life without the father and husband they fear may never return. Book Lust Rediscoveries is a series devoted to reprinting some of the best (and now out-of-print) novels originally published from 1960 to 2000. Each book is personally selected by NPR commentator and Book Lust author Nancy Pearl and includes an introduction by her, as well as discussion questions for book groups and a list of recommended further reading.
©1970 Catherine S. Jennison (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
One Sweet Quarrel
Summary
Brother and sister Jerry and Daisy Lou Malone leave behind their provincial Midwestern upbringing to test their mettle in the big, beckoning world of 1920s America. For Jerry, the future lies west, with like-minded pioneer souls keen to play the “land game” as homesteaders on the Great Plains. Daisy, in turn, heads for the lights and luxe life of New York City, hoping to sing her way to stardom. But fate and failing fortunes reunite them in tiny Shelby, Montana - and draw them into the 1923 Dempsey-Gibbons World Heavyweight Championship, the faltering town’s grand scheme to save itself from economic ruin. And for a moment as fleeting and spectacular as Halley’s Comet, these American dreamers will savor the sweet taste of an extraordinary life.
©1994 Deirdre McNamer. Introduction by Nancy Pearl ©2013 by Nancy Pearl. (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Writer's Library
Summary
Performed by Nancy Pearl, Jeff Schwager and a multi-cast that includes book contributors Luis Alberto Urrea, Siri Hustvedt, Laurie Frankel, Vendela Vida, and Richard Ford. The Writer’s Library audiobook also features real conversations with Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, and Laila Lalami. With a foreword by Susan Orlean, 23 of today's living literary legends, including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon, reveal the books that made them think, brought them joy, and changed their lives in this intimate, moving, and insightful collection from "American's Librarian" Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager that celebrates the power of literature and reading to connect us all. Before Jennifer Egan, Louise Erdrich, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Jonathan Lethem became revered authors, they were readers. In this ebullient book, America’s favorite librarian Nancy Pearl and noted-playwright Jeff Schwager interview a diverse range of America's most notable and influential writers about the books that shaped them and inspired them to leave their own literary mark. The Writer’s Library is a revelatory exploration of the studies, libraries, and bookstores of today’s favorite authors - the creative artists whose imagination and sublime talent make America's literary scene the wonderful, dynamic world it is. A love letter to books and a celebration of wordsmiths, The Writer’s Library is a treasure for anyone who has been moved by the written word. The authors in The Writer’s Library are: Russell Banks, TC Boyle, Michael Chabon, Susan Choi, Jennifer Egan, Dave Eggers, Louise Erdrich, Richard Ford, Laurie Frankel, Andrew Sean Greer, Jane Hirshfield, Siri Hustvedt, Charles Johnson, Laila Lalami, Jonathan Lethem, Donna Tartt, Madeline Miller, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Luis Alberto Urrea, Vendela Vida, Ayelet Waldman, Maaza Mengiste, and Amor Towles.
©2020 Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers