Product Description
Children love to listen to stories and now their favorite DK children's books are available in convenient book and CD packages. With more than 60 minutes of audio on each CD, these packages will be favorites of children and parents alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

DO NOT ORDER THESE FROM USED SELLERS....
If you hope to get the CD with the book, do not order these Read and Listen books from used sellers.I ordered from 5 different sellers, hoping to get a used copy for less, and only 1 of the 5 books came with the CD.Be warned.

The books, by the way, are fabulous... which is why I was looking for more books for less money.But it certainly isn't worth the trouble to order them used... unless you don't care about getting the CD.

Satisfied Customer
Received product in good condition. Good service. Item is as described. Excellent reading of story. Thanks!

My children love these Read & Listen Books!Can't Recommend them enough!
These read and listen books are wonderful!We recently added Heidi to the few have and it is as great as the others.They are wonderful for long car rides, or rainy afternoons, or just for those times when your children need a little quiet time.They come with a read a-long book, but younger children will happily listen without that.The narrators are talented and the stories will keep the interest of children as young as 3 years old.A great way to introduce your children to some classics!Also check out their other titles- all wonderful! ... Read more

Product Description
An innocent American girl becomes trapped in a web of intrigue and treachery.2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

Sidney Sheldon's best
Don't start reading this book unless you have enough time to finish it because there's no way that you can put it down once you start it. It has everything you could want in a story, comedy, sex, deceit, revenge, and a story that will stay with you throughout theyears. I have all of Sidney Sheldon's books, and have re-read them throughout the years. But having loaned this one out and never getting it back, I was glad that I could still get a copy on Amazon.

EXCELLENT! My First Sheldon Book
This is my first Sheldon book and I have already purchased four other Sheldon titles. For years I always thought Sheldon was synonymous with 'girlie' love stories until a friend recommended I read Other Side of Midnight. Boy, was I wrong. Too bad it took me 25 years to find out but great that I now know. This particular book has instantly shot up to my all time favorite list. And, gauging from other reviewers comments I won't be disappointed with his other books either.

The Other Side of Midnight
This book arrived ahead of schedule and in excellent condition.It was exactly as advertised and is a nice addition to my library.Great purchase!

The Other Side of Midnight
Have not read this book yet.Presently have collected all of the Sidney Sheldon hardback books but one.All so far have been great reading.

First Sidney Sheldon novel I ever read...
Wien it originally came out, this novel got me hooked on the genre...the one I consider "guilty pleasure reading". Little did I know that earlier in his career he wrote the screeplays for two of my movie favorites and he was behind several great 1960's TV shows. Although the name is the same on all different media, I never made the connection until later.A very talented teller of stories, indeed! Great plot lines with some deft twists that really move along, I have to be sure to leave plenty of time because I generally read 'em in one sitting. ... Read more

Product Description
During six turbulent years in 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least of which is that Cassandra is deeply, hopelessly, in love. Illustrations .Amazon.com Review
Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain wants to become awriter. Trouble is, she's the daughter of a once-famous author with asevere case of writer's block. Her family--beautiful sister Rose,brooding father James, ethereal stepmother Topaz--is barely scrapingby in a crumbling English castle they leased when times were good. Nowthere's very little furniture, hardly any food, and just a few pagesof notebook paper left to write on. Bravely making the best of things,Cassandra gets hold of a journal and begins her literaryapprenticeship by refusing to face the facts. She writes, "I have justremarked to Rose that our situation is really rather romantic, twogirls in this strange and lonely house. She replied that she sawnothing romantic about being shut up in a crumbling ruin surrounded bya sea of mud."

Rose longs for suitors and new tea dresses while Cassandra scornsromance: "I know all about the facts of life. And I don't think muchof them." But romantic isolation comes to an end both for the familyand for Cassandra's heart when the wealthy, adventurous Cotton familytakes over the nearby estate. Cassandra is a witty, pensive, observantheroine, just the right voice for chronicling the perilous cusp ofadulthood. Some people have compared I Capture the Castle tothe novels of Jane Austen, and it's just as well-plotted andwitty. But the Mortmains are more bohemian--as much like the AddamsFamily as like any of Austen's characters. Dodie Smith, author of101 Dalmations, wrote this novel in 1948. And though the storyis set in the 1930s, it still feels fresh, and well deserves itsreputation as a modern classic. --Maria Dolan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (258)

A slow walk down an English lane
What I enjoyed about the story was mostly how it evoked other favorites of mine - this tale of a girl coping with poverty, an eccentric family, and her own budding sexuality is a little Wuthering Heights (without the melodrama) meets Pride and Prejudice (without the social satire) meets Judy Bloom (without the happy ending).

I found the story to be sweet, entertaining, and well-told, if not particularly memorable. Like a slow walk through the English countryside on a summer day, the narrator is in no great rush to tell the story, taking time to wander down lanes that don't ultimately contribute much to the story (Cassandra's flirtation with religion, the history of castles, psychoanalysis, etc.) but that are scenic enough.

However, as much as I enjoyed the stroll, the impatient American in me longed eventually to arrive at some destination. Instead, the narrator leaves us at a fork in the road, watching as Cassandra looks longingly down the path she yearns to take and then down the path she ought to take. Not sure if it's the author's attempt at realism, or symbolic of Cassandra's emerging maturity/wisdom, or just a British thing - but did find the ending a little unsatisfying. Not enough, however, to entirely detract from what was, in the main, a pleasant and worthwhile journey.

(See, Cassandra, just how useful metaphors can be?)

Glad I didn't buy it based on the glowing reviews
I devoured the beginning and couldn't wait to finish. The characters were eccentric and amusing; I found myself easily caught up in wondering what it would be like to meet the bohemian Topaz, sturdy Thomas, bold Neil, and innocent Cassandra. The descriptions were also marvelously evocative of a madcap family amidst a quaint life of genteel poverty. But then Cassandra's journal writing started getting bogged down since the imagery was written at an adult level, but the entries moved from descriptive passages to an adolescent emotional level. It was understandable because Cassandra was so naive but I believe I might have enjoyed it more if I were able to identify with or be interested in all the angst of who loved whom and who was doomed to disappointment in the maze of Stephen loves Cassandra loves Simon loves Rose loves Neil. Mainly I was VERY dissatisfied at the ending since there was no closure and I thought the last chapter was missing. What happens to Cassandra? What about Stephen? What about Simon? What about ...?

Simon to Cassandra, "Because it's the essence of an enigma that one must solve it for oneself." Very apt.

I LOVED this novel!
I'll be honest. When I first came across this book in Barnes and Noble a number of years ago, I dismissed it as something I wouldn't like (literally, I judged a book by its cover, shame on me). I re-discovered this book a few months ago, and now I'm wondering why, oh why, didn't I read this book earlier.

I Capture the Castle is the diary, kept over a six-month period, of seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, who lives with her unconventional family in a decrepit, crumbling castle. She keeps the diary in order to strengthen her skills as an author. The novel is written not so much as a diary; rather Cassandra writes it very much as a story is written (aside from mentioning the month, she doesn't date her entries).

Cassandra's strength lies in her recreation of her family members and the people in the small country village in which they live; even the dog has a personality. All of the characters have depth; take, for example, Cassandra's stepmother Topaz, a former model who is more complicated than she appears at first. Cassandra narrates this story with a great amount of humor; especially funny is the story about the bear. Cassandra and her whole family are charming, and I absolutely fell in love with all of them. I think if I'd read this book when I was seventeen, I would have loved it; but it's no less funny and poignant ten years later. It's a great coming-of-age story, especially since Cassandra's coming of age happens so imperceptibly over the course of the novel.

character rich
If you like Roahl Dahl or Stella Gibbons, then you will most definitely like this book. I had never heard of it until I read that J.K. Rowling liked it, so I bought it on those merits alone.Glad I did!Thoroughly enjoyable. Castles, gloominess, humor, clashing characters...it has it all.

A book that makes me want to write.
One of my favorite coming of age stories. I like novels written as journals, because the characters and their stories become so much more personal. Cassandra's journal makes me want to write. ... Read more

Product Description
"Naxos AudioBooks" has long been dedicated to creating exemplary audiobook recordings of Austen classics, employing the amazing vocal talents of Juliet Stevenson. Now, the entire collection of these perennially popular novels is available as an audiobook set for the first time. This magnificent collection includes Austen's six major novels and makes for an ideal Christmas gift. Jane Austen is the doyenne of classic literature, an icon whose novels have exerted massive influence over popular culture and scholarly discussion alike. Her good-humoured, satirical style has proved irresistible, and the characters of her imagination - from the odious Mr Collins to the bumbling chatterbox Miss Bates - are beloved to scores of people across the globe. ... Read more

Product Description
Charlotte Lawrence – mid thirties – returns from Brussels to her Cheshire roots a widow, her husband having been killed in a car crash the very day she told him she wanted a divorce.She didn’t love him, but feels awful guilt that she mights have caused his death.Her interfering family naturally see her as the grieving widow, which she is, but not for the reasons they think. They decide to take her out of herself. The arrival of this very attractive woman in the village causes all sorts of ructions, and it is Charlotte’s interaction with a varied and brilliantly drawn group of characters that make this novel the joy it is.Eventually she does fall in love again, having resisted for too long her drop-dead gorgeous neighbour Alex because of her guilt and the fear that she many be incapable of love.At once sparkling and poignant, occasionally sad, often funny and sometimes hilarious, A Breath of Fresh is a poised, enchanting first novel that marks the debut of an outstanding talent. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Predictable
When Charlotte's husband, Peter is killed in a car crash in Brussels, where they were stationed with his company, she takes on a massive burden of guilt. Life with Peter has been cold and loveless as he married her, purely to spite his unforgiving parents. On the very morning of the accident, she had asked him for a divorce so that she might return to her family in England. He flatly refused, and set off on a car trip in an agitated state, leaving her with the guilt that she was the cause of his death. Returning to England, she buys a small cottage near her parents and sister and lets the attached Granny flat to an interesting man in his thirties. The remainder of the story is fairly predictable and includes an amiable vicar, the village gossip, the village sleaze, misunderstandings and happy endings. It's a pleasant story if a bit Mills and Boon. ... Read more

Product Description
Playaway is the easiest way to listen to a book on the go. An all-in-one format, the player and content are combined in one 2 ounce unit and it comes with everything you need to start listening immediately. No separate player needed, no CDs, no downloadsjust press play!

... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

sad
i thought this book extremely sad. I wanted to cry but as I hqve depressive tendecies i could not cry. My doctor has forbidden any sadness. I would not recommend this

Must Read
This is a wonderful book. I would recommend to adults as well as children. It puts a very human face on D-Day.

supremely entertaining story of a pre-teen British girl who loses a cat, but finds a friend in a foreigner during WWII
When twelve-year old Lily Tregenza's oft pregnant, well-loved cat goes missing, somewhere near an area of Slapton Sands cordoned off for the use of soldiers to practice beach landings during WWII, the girl is heartbroken. And in spite of being warned numerous times to stay away from the danger zone, she returns repeatedly to search for the feline. Finally, after US Forces find, pick up, scold and return Lily to her family's temporary home (at a maternal uncle's, where they are relocated during the military's takeover of the beach), a newfound friend, "Adolphus T. Madison Private First Class US Army," vows to "find [Tips], one way or the other." As the girl awaits the cat's fate, she experiences a series of memorable events: a visit, an accident, a death, and a crush.

Former Children's Laureate of Britain author Michael Morpurgo based this action-packed 140 page book for 9 to 12 year olds on an actual event: the 1943 evacuation of about 3,000 persons near Slapton Sands in Devon for troops to practice for the landing at Normandy. In The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, the story is shared by the now elderly grandmother with her twelve-year-old grandson, of whom she is most fond, by way of a manuscript she compiles from her September 1943 to October 1944 journal entries. Also good: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, and Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel.

wonderful WWII children's book.....

A young girl and her family must leave their home in order that the allied forces can use their village as a training area for the D-Day landings.The village is evacuated and surrounded by barbed wire but Mr Tips , the beloved cat, can not be found, will lily try to sneak back in under the wire, what dangers will she and her friends face during this period of time?. Will they ever get to return to their home? This slice of WWII is told through the diary entries of Lily, so works very wellas an audio book. It is an interesting, gripping, funny, poignant,and compellingbook that adults will enjoy as much as children.

A heartwarming story - I couldn't put it down.
Michael Morpurgo has written yet another brilliant story with 'The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips'.

It's the story of Lily Tregenza who, in 1943, lives on the family farm on the coast of Devon with her mum and grandfather. Her dad's away in the army. Lily has a cat called Tips, and when the family are forced to move from their home for several months while the army take over the area as a training ground Lily's beloved Tips runs away and gets left behind. Lily is heartbroken but will not give up her search for Tips and she enters the cordoned-off Danger Zone to look for Tips herself - a very dangerous place to be...

It's a lovely story. Written in a simple, easy-to-read style, yet granting the reader a true insight into the Second World War from a child's perspective in the countryside. We also learn at the outset of the story that there's going to be a twist to Lily's tale right at the end, so as long as you don't cheat and peek at the end, it makes for a really compulsive read.

Michael Morpurgo reminds us that 3000 people really were evacuated from their homes around Slapton Sands in Devon, so that the troops could practice landing exercises along the beaches. The beaches there were similar there to the landing beaches in Normandy, used for the D-Day landings of June 1944.

I can highly recommend the story of Adolphus Tips for all ages from 8+. ... Read more

Product Description
Set in London and Greece, this is the sequel to Sidney Sheldon's "The Other Side of Midnight". The author has also written "Windmills of the Gods" and "The Sands of Time". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

FATAL ATTRACTION ON AUDIO !!!!!!!!!!!
ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT ! I COULDN'T STOP LISTENING !!!!

I EVEN STOPPED WATCHED TELLY FOR A WEEK SO THAT I COULD LISTEN !

SIDNEY SHELDON AT HIS BEST !

IF YOU LOVE THE 80'S & 90'S THRILLER FILMS LIKE 'WITNESS', JAGGED EDGE AND FATAL ATTRACTION YOU WILL LOVE 'MEMORIES OF MIDNIGHT ' YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED !

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH THAT I'VE 'ARE U AFRAID OF THE DARK' &
'THE RAGE OF ANGELS', BOTH BY SIDNEY SHELDON.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS AUDIOBOOK IT'S LIKE JACKANORY FOR GROWN UPS !!! :)

Memories of Midnight
Just one of many great books by the author, Sidney Sheldon. A super page turner, fast easy read, great suspense and twists and turns.I highly reccomend this book.

Midnight Madness Revisited
Excellent sequel to "The Other Side of Midnight."It is remarkable that Sidney Sheldon could write a sequel every bit as good as the original story."Memories" picks up with the story of Catherine Alexander Douglas where The Other Side of Midnight left off.Constantin Demiris had Catherine locked away in a convent while he arranged to have the death penalty served to his mistress, Noelle Page and her lover, Larry Douglas, Catherine's husband, for Catherine's supposed murder.Now it is Demiris' head that is on the chopping block as Catherine's memory is slowing returning and anyone discovering that she is alive, must be dealt with as well as Catherine herself.Demiris, being the all rich and powerful leader of the world, has everyone in his pocket and it seems inevitable to escape his wrath.His weakness is the fact that he can't get Noelle out of his system and feels his rightful revenge will only come when he takes Larry's wife to bed in the very same way Noelle betrayed him with Larry.At the same time, the closer Catherine comes to remembering her past, the closer she comes to her execution.Unbeknownst to her, thinking Demiris is a very kind man, he arranges for Catherine to work in one of his London offices where he will keep a close eye on her until the time is right to not only have his way with her but then dispose of the lovely Catherine as well.In London, there is less of a chance of anyone recognizing her.The story goes forth with lots of twists and turns and many new villains as well as some very exciting and surprising plots.I had to really keep myself from skipping to the end to find out what happened.I could not put this book down until it was completed.Does good win over evil?It becomes highly doubtful as Demiris tricks everyone he meets and they end up suffering brutal consequences.It appears that no one, no matter how skillful, is immune to his schemes.Memories of Midnight

Great suspense!
You just never know where Sheldon is going next!This is what they call "a page turner."A reviewer sets the scene: " "Memories of Midnight" begins as amnesiac Catherine starts remembering things...like the fact that her husband was killed for her supposed "murder." This could prove dangerous to our villain Constantine Demiris, who sends her to London to work for him. Meanwhile, back in Greece, all the people who know that Catherine is still alive are systematically killed, and, just as Catherine find happiness, someone is sent to kill her."

There are a lot of twists and turns and Sheldon does a good job, as he does in "Windmills of the Gods" in letting you see how innocent people can get caught up in messes created by very corrupt individuals.This is a good and easy read. :)

Sidney Sheldon does it again!
This novel continues the exciting story begun in Sheldon's "The Other Side of Midnight."In that novel, mega-rich Constantin Demiris manipulated the Greek court to have his mistress, Noelle, and her lover, Larry, executed for the murder of Larry's wife, Catherine.No body was ever found, and in fact, Catherine was alive and well, under the watchful eyes of Demiris.

"Memories of Midnight" begins as amnesiac Catherine starts remembering things...like the fact that her husband was killed for her supposed "murder."This could prove dangerous to Demiris, who sends her to London to work for him.Meanwhile, back in Greece, all the people who know that Catherine is still alive are systematically killed, and, just as Catherine find happiness, someone is sent to kill her.

This is that rare sequel that is actually better than the wonderful original novel.The plot twists will keep you turning the pages, and the ending is so unexpected and so shocking, you will be left breathless, and very glad you read "Memories of Midnight."

Kona ... Read more

Product Description
"Pride and Prejudice" is a key title for the new Naxos AudioBooks series "Young Adult Classics". An abridged recording with music makes this Regency novel much more accessible to the 21st century young adult keen to get to grips with the classics. "Pride and Prejudice" is a leading title for "Young Adult Classics", being one of the pillars of English Literature, and Jenny Agutter's friendly reading bridges the gap between the films and the book. This edition includes a bonus CD-ROM which contains the abridged and unabridged texts, and Top Teacher's Notes by high profile English teacher Francis Gilbert. ... Read more