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The End of Your Life Book Club
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
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Publisher's summary
"What are you reading?"
That's the question Will Schwalbe asks his mother, Mary Anne, as they sit in the waiting room of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2007, Mary Anne returned from a humanitarian trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan suffering from what her doctors believed was a rare type of hepatitis. Months later she was diagnosed with a form of advanced pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal, often in six months or less.
This is the inspiring true story of a son and his mother, who start a "book club" that brings them together as her life comes to a close. Over the next two years, Will and Mary Anne carry on conversations that are both wide-ranging and deeply personal, prompted by an eclectic array of books and a shared passion for reading. Their list jumps from classic to popular, from poetry to mysteries, from fantastic to spiritual. The issues they discuss include questions of faith and courage as well as everyday topics such as expressing gratitude and learning to listen. Throughout, they are constantly reminded of the power of books to comfort us, astonish us, teach us, and tell us what we need to do with our lives and in the world. Reading isn't the opposite of doing; it's the opposite of dying.
Will and Mary Anne share their hopes and concerns with each other - and rediscover their lives - through their favorite books. When they read, they aren't a sick person and a well person, but a mother and a son taking a journey together. The result is a profoundly moving tale of loss that is also a joyful, and often humorous, celebration of life: Will's love letter to his mother, and theirs to the printed page.
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By: Jack Canfield, and others
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Modern Loss
- Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.
- By: Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it's clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let's face it: Most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We're awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit.
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Not What I Was Expecting
- By Bessie Mae on 03-01-23
By: Rebecca Soffer, and others
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Gathering Blossoms Under Fire
- The Journals of Alice Walker
- By: Alice Walker, Valerie Boyd - editor
- Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis, Alice Walker, Janina Edwards
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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From National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Alice Walker and edited by critic and writer Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker’s fifty years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over five decades as an artist, human rights and women’s activist, and intellectual.
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A must-read for any creative artist!!
- By amazonluver on 04-30-22
By: Alice Walker, and others
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Little Matches
- A Memoir of Finding Light in the Dark
- By: Maryanne O'Hara
- Narrated by: Maryanne O'Hara
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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When their only child was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of two, Maryanne O'Hara and her husband were told that Caitlin could live a long life or be dead in a matter of months. Thirty-one years later, Caitlin lost her battle with this devastating disease following an excruciating two-year wait on the transplant list and a last-minute race to locate a pair of healthy lungs. The sudden spiral of events left Maryanne in an existential crisis, searching to find an answer to the eternal question: Why we are here?
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I don't know who needs to read it...
- By H. Hill on 04-18-23
By: Maryanne O'Hara
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The Priority List
- A Teacher's Final Quest to Discover Life's Greatest Lessons
- By: David Menasche
- Narrated by: David Menasche
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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David Menasche lived for his work as a high school English teacher. His passion inspired his students, and between lessons on Shakespeare and sentence structure, he forged a unique bond with his kids, buoying them through personal struggles while sharing valuable life lessons.
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Truly Inspiring!!
- By Trish on 07-13-14
By: David Menasche
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My Life with Bob
- Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues
- By: Pamela Paul
- Narrated by: Eileen Stevens, Pamela Paul
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Pamela Paul has kept a single book by her side for 28 years - carried throughout high school and college, hauled from Paris to London to Thailand, from job to job, safely packed away and then carefully removed from apartment to house to its current perch on a shelf over her desk - reliable if frayed, anonymous-looking yet deeply personal. This book has a name: Bob. Bob is Paul's Book of Books, a journal that records every book she's ever read.
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An uncanny mirror and a celebration of book love
- By Cherilyn Parsons on 07-28-19
By: Pamela Paul
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This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Blending literature and memoir, Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto examines her deepest commitments: to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Together, these essays, previously published in The Atlantic, Harper, Vogue, and The Washington Post, form a resonant portrait of a life lived with loyalty and with love.
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Entertaining, engrossing, and elucidative essays
- By Bonny on 01-07-14
By: Ann Patchett
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A Stitch of Time
- The Year a Brain Injury Changed My Language and Life
- By: Lauren Marks
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Lauren Marks was 27 when an aneurysm ruptured in her brain and left her fighting for her life. She woke up in a hospital soon after with serious deficiencies to her reading, speaking, and writing abilities, and an unfamiliar diagnosis: aphasia. This would be shocking news for anyone, but Lauren was a voracious reader, an actress, director, dramaturg, and pursuing her PhD. At any other period of her life, this diagnosis would have been a devastating blow. But she woke up...different.
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Absolutely wonderful book
- By SJMT on 01-27-19
By: Lauren Marks
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Between Friends
- By: Debbie Macomber
- Narrated by: Amy Tallmadge
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Jillian Lawton and Lesley Adamski. Two girls from very different backgrounds become best friends in the turbulent '60s, but their circumstances and choices - and their mistakes - take them in opposite directions. Lesley stays in their hometown. She marries young, living a life defined by the demands of small children, never enough money, and an unfaithful husband. Jill lives those years on a college campus shaken by the Vietnam War, and then as an idealistic young lawyer in New York City. But they always remain friends.
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good story crappy format!
- By Denise on 06-12-18
By: Debbie Macomber
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Reading My Father
- A Memoir
- By: Alexandra Styron
- Narrated by: Alexandra Styron
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexandra Styron's parents—the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sophie’s Choice and his political activist wife, Rose—were, for half a century, leading players on the world’s cultural stage. Alexandra was raised under both the halo of her father’s brilliance and the long shadow of his troubled mind. Reading My Father portrays the epic sweep of an American artist’s life. It is also a tale of filial love, beautifully written with humor, compassion, and grace.
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William Styron Ranks...
- By Douglas on 12-22-13
By: Alexandra Styron
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Happy Wives Club
- One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage
- By: Fawn Weaver
- Narrated by: Fawn Weaver
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Everywhere she looked, Fawn Weaver saw negative portrayals of marriage dominating the airwaves and dooming everyone to failure. Looking at Keith, the love of her life, she knew that wasn't true. Happy Wives Club is Fawn's journey across the world to meet her friends and discover what makes their marriages great. Join her on this exciting, exotic trip across six continents and through more than 18 cities.
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beautiful
- By Amazon Customer on 07-13-18
By: Fawn Weaver
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Carly's Voice
- Breaking Through Autism
- By: Arthur Fleischmann, Carly Fleischmann
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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At the age of two, Carly Fleischmann was diagnosed with severe autism and an oral motor condition that prevented her from speaking. Doctors predicted that she would never intellectually develop beyond the abilities of a small child. Although she made some progress after years of intensive behavioral and communication therapy, Carly remained largely unreachable. Then, at age 10, Carly had a breakthrough....
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A peek inside...
- By Yolanda on 08-09-13
By: Arthur Fleischmann, and others
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The Man I Never Met
- A Memoir
- By: Adam Schefter
- Narrated by: Adam Schefter
- Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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On September 11, 2001, Joe Maio went to work in the north tower of the World Trade Center. He never returned, leaving behind a wife, Sharri, and 15-month old son, Devon. Five years later, Sharri remarried, and Devon welcomed a new dad into his life. For thousands, the whole country really, 9/11 is a day of grief. For Adam and Sharri Maio Schefter and their family it’s not just a day of grief, but also hope. This is a story of 9/11, but it’s also the story of 9/12 and all the days after. Life moved on. Pieces were picked up. New dreams were dreamed. The Schefters are the embodiment of that.
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Remembering a fallen father thru a family
- By Bob H on 09-07-18
By: Adam Schefter
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This book lacks intellectual depth in its narrative.
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Highly recommend.
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Why is it that we read? Is it to pass time? To learn something new? To escape from reality? For Will Schwalbe, reading is a way to entertain himself but also to make sense of the world, to become a better person, and to find the answers to the big (and small) questions about how to live his life. In this delightful celebration of reading, Schwalbe invites us along on his quest for books that speak to the specific challenges of living in our modern world, with all its noise and distractions.
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What listeners say about The End of Your Life Book Club
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cathi Fouchi
- 06-14-21
A book lover's book!
What a great way to show how important books are to individuals and the human race.
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- Sherrye Bass
- 09-19-15
One of the best!
I loved this book for more reasons than I can list! Touching, educational, inspirational are the top three!
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- Onel05
- 12-01-12
Fantastic
My reading list has quadrupled, and the basic story about a love between a mother and son is touching.
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- Jo
- 12-22-21
Good read
A new perspective on our life at the end. I really liked the narrator , easy listening.
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Overall
- Judy
- 01-30-15
If you love books this give ideas
I gave this a 4 star rating because of the mother in the story that reminded me of my mother. Both Mary Anne and my mom had such a great attitude about life. It would be hard reading for someone who has lost a loved one to cancer. I started a reading list from this books suggestions!
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- Eee
- 01-31-13
Great Idea, but in execution - ok.
What did you love best about The End of Your Life Book Club?
I've been through this with my mother - everyone's story is different - we didn't read books, for example. But I think it's important to look at end of life stories as a combination of happy and sad, and to know that while it's frightening, it is something you can get through. So the relevance.
Would you be willing to try another book from Will Schwalbe? Why or why not?
Would depend on the subject.
What does Jeff Harding bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I'm on the fence about him as narrator. I thought Mary Ann's voice was a bit falsetto.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The end.
Any additional comments?
I thought the book lacked emotion. As I said, we're all different, but I didn't get a sense of how he really felt. It was all very calm, clean, upper class white Protestant people (sorry, I don't mean to offend), and yet, this was a woman who spent a lot of time in refugee camps. I was looking for more feeling.
But, given that it was a book about books, I did think of reading some of these books.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michal A. Joyner
- 01-01-13
How lucky is he!
What did you love best about The End of Your Life Book Club?
Since I am not close to my mother, I really envy those who are! This book is a tribute to the love of a son to his mother. It's absolutely beautifully written, and I kept hoping the ending would be different.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The End of Your Life Book Club?
Because the book really covers so many life events it's difficult to pinpoint a favorite. I just loved getting to know the mother through the eyes of her loving son.
Have you listened to any of Jeff Harding’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This was my first.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The mother's ability to so articulately describe her feelings toward death. I hope I am that graceful if ever faced with such a life event.
Any additional comments?
This is a fantastic book. Don't let the "death" topic discourage you. It's really a book about a fantastic life.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Steven
- 12-12-12
Not The End But A Beginning
Here is a heart warming story of a wonderful relationship of a mother and her son. The relationship is strengthened during the time of the mom's treatments. Not only do we get an inside look at a very personal time but we are led into a world of literature that we can share with others. The message is clear: Share books with loved ones NOW and reap the benefits for a long time to come.
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- Jean
- 10-26-13
Don't Miss This One
This is a book no one should miss. Mary Ann Schwalbe was a remarkable woman. There's probably a little bit of her in each of us and this book could help us discover it. I will definitely listen to this book again and again and will try to read as many of the books she and her son Will read.
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- Julie
- 11-05-13
Take Notes!
A son's love story written for his mom, complete with a book-lover's dream wish list. I wish I had been where I could have written down some of the books' names, instead of driving down the road. Beautiful story, inspiring mother and son.
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