A Suit for Melvin
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
A Suit for Melvin
Buy for $14.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kevin Meyer
-
By:
-
Jo-Ann Jennings
About this listen
Had J.J. Baskin lived at the same time as Tom Sawyer, they may well have been best friends, or perhaps worst enemies. They would have at least been competitors.
J.J., 13, lives with his grandmother over a drug store in a small Missouri town in 1957. He may never have whitewashed a fence, but he’s a relatively successful business boy. While his grandmother works at the hotel and school’s out, he roams free.
J.J. goes door-to-door in the fanciest neighborhoods, selling cocktail wieners and artichoke hearts to homemakers, in addition to coming up with other clever money-making enterprises. The parents of his friends don’t find all his ideas socially acceptable.
J.J. might have been known to “borrow” the sheriff’s car, but other selfless actions expose a heart of gold. He sets out to help a friend find the proper clothes so they can attend their first formal dance.
J.J. might just live the simpler life many people today say they miss, but he pays for it with struggles and tears.
If he only knew what J.J. stands for, and who his parents are.
Any similarities between this story and real people, living or dead, are purely coincidental.
©2022 Jo-Ann E. Jennings (P)2023 Jo-Ann E. JenningsListeners also enjoyed...
-
Veronica's Grave
- A Daughter's Memoir
- By: Barbara Bracht Donsky
- Narrated by: Leslie S. Miller
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
From beyond the grave came a cry for help she could not ignore. Reminiscent in style to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and to Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Veronica's Grave is the story of a young girl whose mother vanishes one night. No one tells her that her mother has died. She is left a confused child whose father is intent upon erasing any memory of the mother.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Thought it would be about Veronica...
- By Leah on 02-18-17
-
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,719
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9,033
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,031
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Multiple Stories Obfuscate Narrative
- By Stephnsea on 08-12-23
By: James McBride
-
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,489
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 8,352
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,319
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Emotional & Powerful
- By Miss Toni on 06-30-13
By: Maya Angelou
-
Everything Sad Is Untrue
- (A True Story)
- By: Daniel Nayeri
- Narrated by: Daniel Nayeri
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,658
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,518
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,514
At the front of a middle-school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Could not get through it—2 out of 7 hrs
- By AbqRD on 09-13-20
By: Daniel Nayeri
-
Mrs. Everything
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Weiner
- Narrated by: Ari Graynor, Beth Malone
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,771
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,141
Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life. But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Absolutely beautiful
- By Courtney Engle on 06-13-19
By: Jennifer Weiner
-
Kinfolk
- By: Sean Dietrich
- Narrated by: Sean Dietrich
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 312
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 295
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 295
1970s, Southern Alabama. Sixty-two-year-old Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, or “Nub,” has spent his whole life listening to those he loves tell him he’s no good—first his ex-wife, now his always-disapproving daughter. Sure, his escapades have made him, along with his cousin and perennial sidekick, Benny, just a smidge too familiar with small-town law enforcement, but he’s never harmed anyone—except perhaps himself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most beautifully written book I have ever read
- By Kindle Customer on 04-24-24
By: Sean Dietrich
-
Veronica's Grave
- A Daughter's Memoir
- By: Barbara Bracht Donsky
- Narrated by: Leslie S. Miller
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
From beyond the grave came a cry for help she could not ignore. Reminiscent in style to Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and to Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Veronica's Grave is the story of a young girl whose mother vanishes one night. No one tells her that her mother has died. She is left a confused child whose father is intent upon erasing any memory of the mother.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Thought it would be about Veronica...
- By Leah on 02-18-17
-
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,719
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9,033
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,031
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Multiple Stories Obfuscate Narrative
- By Stephnsea on 08-12-23
By: James McBride
-
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 9,489
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 8,352
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 8,319
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Emotional & Powerful
- By Miss Toni on 06-30-13
By: Maya Angelou
-
Everything Sad Is Untrue
- (A True Story)
- By: Daniel Nayeri
- Narrated by: Daniel Nayeri
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,658
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,518
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,514
At the front of a middle-school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Could not get through it—2 out of 7 hrs
- By AbqRD on 09-13-20
By: Daniel Nayeri
-
Mrs. Everything
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Weiner
- Narrated by: Ari Graynor, Beth Malone
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,771
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,141
Growing up in 1950s Detroit, they live in a perfect “Dick and Jane” house, where their roles in the family are clearly defined. Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life. But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Absolutely beautiful
- By Courtney Engle on 06-13-19
By: Jennifer Weiner
-
Kinfolk
- By: Sean Dietrich
- Narrated by: Sean Dietrich
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 312
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 295
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 295
1970s, Southern Alabama. Sixty-two-year-old Jeremiah Lewis Taylor, or “Nub,” has spent his whole life listening to those he loves tell him he’s no good—first his ex-wife, now his always-disapproving daughter. Sure, his escapades have made him, along with his cousin and perennial sidekick, Benny, just a smidge too familiar with small-town law enforcement, but he’s never harmed anyone—except perhaps himself.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most beautifully written book I have ever read
- By Kindle Customer on 04-24-24
By: Sean Dietrich
-
Unspeakable Things
- By: Jess Lourey
- Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 6,822
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,003
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 5,985
Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents’ strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them. All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale. One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed - violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Oof
- By Derek Brown on 01-07-20
By: Jess Lourey
-
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
- A Novel
- By: Fannie Flagg
- Narrated by: Lorna Raver
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,485
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,112
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,104
Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is the now-classic novel of two women in the 1980s; of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women - of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Rut - -who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Better as audiobook
- By Janice on 11-02-11
By: Fannie Flagg
-
The Night Watchman
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,164
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,599
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,567
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, DC, this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful
- By Melanie on 03-09-20
By: Louise Erdrich
-
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
- By: Carson McCullers
- Narrated by: Cherry Jones
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,999
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,420
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,422
Carson McCullers was all of 23 when she published her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. She became an overnight literary sensation, and soon such authors as Tennessee Williams were calling her "the greatest prose writer that the South [has] produced." The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter tells an unforgettable tale of moral isolation in a small southern mill town in the 1930s.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Do yourself a favor
- By Barbara on 06-08-05
By: Carson McCullers
-
The Bean Trees
- By: Barbara Kingsolver
- Narrated by: C. J. Critt
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,205
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,889
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,895
Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity of putting down roots.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Barbara, can we have a "re-do?"
- By Nancy on 02-22-12
-
Into the Pit: An AFK Book
- Five Nights at Freddy's: Fazbear Frights, Book 1
- By: Scott Cawthon, Elley Cooper
- Narrated by: Suzanne Freeman
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,326
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,058
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,055
What do you wish for most? It's a question that Oswald, Sarah, and Millie think they know the answer to. Oswald wishes his summer wasn't so boring, Sarah wishes to be beautiful, and Millie wishes she could just disappear from the face of the earth. But in the twisted world of Five Nights at Freddy's, their hearts' deepest desires have an unexpected cost. In this volume, horror master Scott Cawthon spins three sinister novella-length stories from different corners of his series' canon.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
no stitchwraith
- By Dave Krist on 07-29-20
By: Scott Cawthon, and others
-
Della and Darby
- A Novel of Sisters
- By: Susannah B. Lewis
- Narrated by: Susannah B. Lewis
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 28
Twins Della and Darby Redd may be identical in appearance, but they couldn’t be more different. Della is outspoken, obsessed with purple, and desperate to be accepted by her peers. Darby is introverted, creative, and sees no need to speak to anyone besides her sister and grandmother, Birdie. Due to a tragedy from their past, all three women’s lives have been blanketed in judgment, scandal, and rumor, preventing them from experiencing true peace and contentment in their small town of Clay Station, Mississippi.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Sweet story
- By Josue Otero on 06-10-23
-
The Banty House
- By: Carolyn Brown
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,834
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,594
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,580
In the fading town of Rooster, Texas, all that's really left is a service station, a church…and the Banty House, a long-ago Depression-era brothel. For more than seventy-five years, Betsy, Connie, and Kate Carson have called their mama's house a home. The three eccentric sisters get by just fine with their homemade jams and jellies, a little moonshine on the side, and big hearts always open to strangers. Like Ginger Andrews.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of Carolyn Brown's Best
- By Nanatj on 06-14-20
By: Carolyn Brown
-
The Silver Star
- A Novel
- By: Jeannette Walls
- Narrated by: Jeannette Walls
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 933
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 813
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 812
It is 1970. "Bean" Holladay is 12 and her sister, Liz, is 15 when their artistic mother, Charlotte, a woman who flees every place she’s ever lived at the first sign of trouble," takes off to find herself." She leaves her girls enough money for food to last a month or two. But when Bean gets home from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz board a bus from California to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying antebellum mansion that’s been in the family for generations.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A Bronze Star
- By Mel on 06-17-13
By: Jeannette Walls
-
The Story of Arthur Truluv
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Berg
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Berg
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,373
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,200
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,194
Three people find their way back from loss and loneliness to a different kind of belonging in this deeply moving novel. Arthur, an old widower struggling to overcome his grief, meets Maddy, a troubled teenage girl who avoids school by hiding out where Arthur goes every day for lunch. The two strike up a friendship that draws them out of isolation.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Sickly Sweet
- By Amazon Customer on 01-19-18
By: Elizabeth Berg
-
A Christmas Memory
- By: Richard Paul Evans
- Narrated by: Richard Paul Evans
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 393
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 369
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 368
It’s 1967, and for young Richard it’s a time of heartbreak and turmoil. Over the span of a few months, his brother, Mark, is killed in Vietnam; his father loses his job and moves the family from California to his grandmother’s abandoned home in Utah; and his parents make the painful decision to separate. With uncertainty rattling every corner of his life, Richard does his best to remain strong—but when he’s run down by bullies at his new school, he meets Mr. Foster, an elderly neighbor who chases off the bullies and invites Richard in for a cup of cocoa.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Heartfelt memory
- By Diane on 12-06-22
-
All Manner of Things
- By: Susie Finkbeiner
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 55
When Annie Jacobson's brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he hands her a piece of paper with the address of their long-estranged father. If anything should happen to him in Vietnam, Mike says, Annie must let their father know. In Mike's absence, their father returns to face tragedy at home, adding an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike's safety overseas, letter by letter the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Real fiction
- By Katijanae on 01-19-23
By: Susie Finkbeiner