A Place in the World
Finding the Meaning of Home
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A Place in the World
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Narrated by:
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Cassandra Campbell
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By:
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Frances Mayes
About this listen
Though Frances Mayes is known for her wanderlust, she has always sought a sense of home wherever she goes. In this poetic testament to the power of place in our lives, Mayes reflects on the idea of home, from the earliest imprint of four walls to the startling discoveries of feeling the strange ease of homes abroad, friends’ homes and even momentary homes that spark desires for other lives.
From her travels across Italy – Tuscany, of course, but also Venice and Capri – to the American South, France and Mexico, Mayes examines the connective tissue among them through the homes she’s inhabited.
A Place in the World explores Mayes’s passion for and obsessions with houses and the things that inhabit them – old books, rich food, beloved friends, transportive art. The indelible marks each refuge has left on her and how each home influenced the next serve as the foundations of its chapters.
Written in Mayes’s signature intimate style, A Place in the World captures the adventure of moving on while seeking comfort in the cornerstone closest to all of us – home.
©2022 Frances Mayes (P)2022 Penguin Random House LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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Audiobook version muffled
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We live in a society that seems to want us to be afraid of growing older. But imagine if getting older could be the greatest thing that ever happened to you. At 50, Anna Murphy, Fashion Director at The Times, feels more visible than at any point in her life to date. Her new book, Destination Fabulous, is the toolkit you need to embrace your age and celebrate the wisdom and inner beauty that comes with it.
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inspired
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Critic reviews
"A soulful meditation on what home means, how it hooks the past and pushes into the future...spellbinding." (Publishers Weekly)
"The writing is characteristically intimate, as if she is sharing her thoughts and feelings with a dear friend, and she employs eloquent and detailed descriptions, creating a wonderful sense of place. A can’t-miss hit for Mayes fans." (Kirkus Reviews)
"A Place in the World is an homage of sorts to the South, where [Mayes] grew up... The experience is both a homecoming and a reckoning with the past." (The Washington Post)
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Simple story
- By Dianna Bogart on 06-09-15
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The Hundred-Foot Journey
- A Novel
- By: Richard C. Morais
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,472
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,224
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,219
Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great details & writing in a flawed story
- By David Shear on 02-12-14
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Little Heathens
- Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
- By: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- Narrated by: Ruth Ann Phimister
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
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Story4 out of 5 stars 109
As foreclosure fragments her family, five-year-old Mildred and her three siblings find refuge with her grandparents enjoying a modest retirement. When the "little heathens" flush the seniors and their child-rearing skills out of retirement, the grandparents deploy tough but loving bedtime schedules, Bible and prayer routines, and plenty of character-building chores. Having no electricity or indoor plumbing and with little heat or money on the farm, Mildred learns to find joy in the priceless blessings of life.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Makes you appreciate today's living
- By Susan on 03-11-11
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Buttermilk Graffiti
- A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine
- By: Edward Lee
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
American food is the story of mash-ups. Immigrants arrive, cultures collide, and out of the push-pull come exciting new dishes and flavors. But for Edward Lee, who, like Anthony Bourdain or Gabrielle Hamilton, is as much a writer as he is a chef, that first surprising bite is just the beginning. What about the people behind the food? What about the traditions, the innovations, the memories? A natural-born storyteller, Lee decided to hit the road and spent two years uncovering fascinating narratives from every corner of the country.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good listen for the aspiring food snob
- By thurman r. on 02-09-22
By: Edward Lee
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Toast
- The Story of a Boy's Hunger
- By: Nigel Slater
- Narrated by: Nigel Slater
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4 out of 5 stars 56
Toast is Nigel Slater's truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. In each chapter, as he takes listeners on a tour of the contents of his family's pantry (rice pudding, tinned ham, cream soda, mince pies, lemon drops, bourbon biscuits), we are transported.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Nigel Slater is fabulous!
- By S on 02-13-07
By: Nigel Slater
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Stir
- My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home
- By: Jessica Fechtor
- Narrated by: Jessica Fechtor
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
At 28, Jessica Fechtor was happily immersed in graduate school and her young marriage and thinking about starting a family. Then one day she went for a run, and an aneurysm burst in her brain. She nearly died. She lost her sense of smell and the sight in her left eye and was forced to the sidelines of the life she loved. Jessica's journey to recovery began in the kitchen as soon as she was able to stand at the stovetop and stir. There, she drew strength from the restorative power of cooking and baking.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful powerful read
- By Amazon Customer on 01-13-24
By: Jessica Fechtor
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Out of Line
- A Life of Playing with Fire
- By: Barbara Lynch
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Out of Line describes Lynch's remarkable process of self-invention, including her encounters with colorful characters of the food world, and vividly evokes the magic of creation in the kitchen. It is also a love letter to South Boston and its vanishing culture, governed by Irish Catholic mothers and its own code of honor. Through her story, Lynch explores how the past - both what we strive to escape from and what we remain true to - can strengthen and expand who we are.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Hardheaded, arrogant, profane.
- By Minneapolis listener on 10-26-22
By: Barbara Lynch
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Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking
- A Memoir of Food and Longing
- By: Anya von Bremzen
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Story4 out of 5 stars 101
Anya occupies two parallel food universes: one where she writes about four-star restaurants, the other where a taste of humble kolbasa transports her back to her scarlet-blazed socialist past. To bring that past to life, in its full flavor, both bitter and sweet, Anya and her mother, Larisa, embark on a journey unlike any other: they decide to eat and cook their way through every decade of the Soviet experience - turning Larisa’s kitchen into a "time machine and an incubator of memories". Together, mother and daughter re-create meals both modest and sumptuous.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Does Pronunciation Matter?
- By Mary on 11-23-13
By: Anya von Bremzen
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Eating for England
- The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table
- By: Nigel Slater
- Narrated by: Nigel Slater
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
The British have a relationship with their food that is unlike that of any other country. Once something that was never discussed in polite company, it is now something with which the nation is obsessed. But are we at last developing a food culture or are we just going through the motions? Eating for England is an entertaining, detailed, and somewhat tongue-in-cheek observation of the British and their food, their cooking, their eating, and how they behave in restaurants.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Must-Hear!
- By Laura on 07-04-08
By: Nigel Slater
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Provence, 1970
- M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste
- By: Luke Barr
- Narrated by: John Rubinstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 179
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 156
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Story4 out of 5 stars 157
Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb Narration, Engrossing Tale
- By Robert R. on 10-22-13
By: Luke Barr
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Black Dog of Fate
- A Memoir
- By: Peter Balakian
- Narrated by: Peter Balakian
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
The first-born son of his generation, Peter Balakian grew up in a close, extended family, sheltered by 1950s and '60s New Jersey suburbia. He was immersed in an all-American boyhood defined by rock 'n' roll, adolescent pranks, and a passion for the New York Yankees that he shared with his beloved grandmother. But beneath this sunny world lay the dark specter of the trauma his family and ancestors had experienced: the Turkish government's extermination of more than a million Armenians.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great book!
- By Lm on 06-27-13
By: Peter Balakian
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Angelina's Bachelors
- A Novel, with Food
- By: Brian O'Reilly
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
Far too young to be a widow, Angelina D’Angelo suddenly finds herself facing a life without her beloved husband, Frank. Late one night shortly after the funeral, she makes her way down to the kitchen and pours all of her grief and anger into the only outlet she has left - her passion for cooking.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Mouthwatering Comfort Listen
- By Blee Medel on 01-30-12
By: Brian O'Reilly
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The Christmas Pearl
- By: Dorothea Benton Frank
- Narrated by: Celia Weston
- Length: 3 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 437
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 368
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 364
Theodora is the matriarch of a family that, in her opinion, has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. They've all come together to South Carolina to celebrate Christmas. But this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey Christmases Theodora grew up with.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Never too old to learn or to love
- By Debbie on 12-20-13
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They Left Us Everything
- A Memoir
- By: Plum Johnson
- Narrated by: Pilar Witherspoon
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
After almost 20 years of caring for elderly parents - first for their senile father and then for their cantankerous 93-year-old mother - author Plum Johnson and her three younger brothers have finally fallen to their middle-aged knees with conflicted feelings of grief and relief. Now they must empty and sell the beloved family home, 23 rooms bulging with history, antiques, and oxygen tanks. Plum thought, How tough will that be? I know how to buy garbage bags. But the task turns out to be much harder and more rewarding than she ever imagined.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Thought provoking
- By Margaret on 05-02-17
By: Plum Johnson
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At Home in the World
- Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe
- By: Tsh Oxenreider
- Narrated by: Tsh Oxenreider
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 438
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 390
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 389
As Tsh Oxenreider, author of Notes from a Blue Bike, chronicles her family's adventure around the world. Seeing, smelling, and tasting the widely varying cultures along the way, she discovers what it truly means to be at home.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Having traveled the world as a kid myself.....
- By kmk on 07-31-17
By: Tsh Oxenreider
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Cooking as Fast as I Can
- A Chef’s Story of Family, Food, and Forgiveness
- By: Cat Cora
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
In Cooking as Fast as I Can, Cat Cora reveals, for the first time, coming-of-age experiences from early childhood sexual abuse to the realities of life as a lesbian in the Deep South. She shares how she found her passion in the kitchen and went on to attend the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and apprentice under Michelin-star chefs in France. After her big break as a cohost on the Food Network's Melting Pot, Cat broke barriers by becoming the first-ever female Iron Chef.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great listen for a chef
- By Nikki on 04-10-24
By: Cat Cora