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Swell
- A Waterbiography
- Narrated by: Jenny Landreth
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
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Swell
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Publisher's summary
These days, swimming may seem like the most egalitarian of pastimes, open to anyone with a swimsuit - but this wasn't always the case. In the 19th century, swimming was exclusively the domain of men, and access to pools was a luxury limited by class. Women were (barely) allowed to swim in the sea, as long as no men were around, but even into the 20th century they could be arrested and fined if they dared dive into a lake. It wasn't until the 1930s that women were finally, and reluctantly, granted equal access. This is the story of the women who made that possible, a thank you to the fearless 'swimming suffragettes' who took on the status quo, fought for equal access, and won.
Part social history, part memoir, Swell uncovers a world of secret swimming in the face of these exclusions and shines a light on the 'swimming suffragettes'. It celebrates some amazing achievements, some ridiculous outfits and some fantastic swimmers who challenged the stereotypes of what women are capable of. It's also the story of how Jenny eventually came to be a keen swimmer herself.
Swell is a joyful hymn to the sport and an exploration of why swimming attracts so many women. Ultimately it is a book dedicated to our brilliant swimming foremothers who collectively made it possible for any woman to plunge in with alacrity, anywhere we choose.
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- By: Alexandra Heminsley
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 752
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 680
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 681
Until five years ago, Alexandra Heminsley was decidedly not a runner. Nor was she athletic in any sense of the word. She was an ordinary, curvy woman who was convinced that sports of any kind, especially running, were beyond her. But she's made running part of her life, and gets to reap the rewards: not just the obvious things, like a touch of weight loss, health and glowing skin, but self-belief, and immeasurable daily pleasure.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Meh... not what I thought...
- By Maria on 12-03-14
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A Life Without Limits
- A World Champion's Journey
- By: Chrissie Wellington, Lance Armstrong - foreward
- Narrated by: Polly Lee, Chrissie Wellington
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 994
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 864
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 863
In 2007, Chrissie Wellington shocked the triathlon world by winning the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. As a newcomer to the sport and a complete unknown to the press, Chrissie's win shook up the sport. A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS is the story of her rise to the top, a journey that has taken her around the world, from a childhood in England, to the mountains of Nepal, to the oceans of New Zealand, and the trails of Argentina, and first across the finish line.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Chrissie winning, on repeat
- By Mona on 03-13-13
By: Chrissie Wellington, and others
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The Electricity of Every Living Thing
- A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home
- By: Katherine May
- Narrated by: Katherine May
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 146
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 130
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Story5 out of 5 stars 132
In anticipation of her 38th birthday, Katherine May set out to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path. She wanted time alone, in nature, to understand why she had stopped coping with everyday life; why motherhood had been so overwhelming and isolating; and why the world felt full of expectations she couldn't meet. She was also reeling from a chance encounter with a voice on the radio that sparked her realisation that she might be autistic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-20-22
By: Katherine May
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How Did All This Happen?
- By: John Bishop
- Narrated by: John Bishop
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
If you're a man of a certain age you'll know there comes a point in life when getting a sports car and over-analysing your contribution to society sounds like a really good idea. With a good job in sales and marketing and a nice house in Manchester that he shared with his wife and kids, John Bishop was no different when he turned the dreaded 4-0. But instead of spanking a load of cash on a car that would have made him look like a senior stylist at Vidal Sassoon, he stumbled onto a pathway that ultimately lead him to become one of the nation's best loved comedians.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Heartwarming and Funny
- By Nancy Burnett on 12-01-22
By: John Bishop
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Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner
- By: Kerre Woodham, Gareth Brown
- Narrated by: Kerre Woodham, Gareth Brown
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4 out of 5 stars 44
When celebrated radio personality and columnist Kerre Woodham found herself 40, overweight, and depressed she faced two choices - do nothing and probably not make it to 50 or do something and get her life back. Fortunately for all of us, and especially those women who like to eat and dress well, she decided to fight back. Leaving kilos of herself and two bra sizes behind 'somewhere in the Waitakeres', she embarked on a fitness and training regime, with a goal to complete the Auckland marathon.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Inspiring, funny and informative
- By Michelle on 11-14-13
By: Kerre Woodham, and others
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Coming Up for Air
- By: Tom Daley
- Narrated by: Tom Daley
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 110
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Tom Daley is one of the most beloved athletes of our time, having competed as a diver in four Olympics, garnering medals and finally, in 2021 in Tokyo, winning gold. But few people know the realities of his life beyond the pool—his struggles, his secret triumphs and the mindset he needed to cultivate to become a champion.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Inspirational story!
- By Jay Ponton on 11-19-24
By: Tom Daley
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The Year of Living Danishly
- Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country
- By: Helen Russell
- Narrated by: Lucy Price-Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,349
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,835
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,824
When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting content. Unfortunate delivery.
- By Jennifer Soudagar on 11-13-15
By: Helen Russell
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Outline
- The Outline Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Rachel Cusk
- Narrated by: Kate Lock
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 49
A man and a woman are seated next to each other on a plane. They get to talking - about their destination, their careers, their families. Grievances are aired, family tragedies discussed, marriages and divorces analyzed. An intimacy is established as two strangers contrast their own fictions about their lives. Outline is a novel in 10 conversations. Spare and stark, it follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Difficult and Better in Print
- By Nick O. on 07-18-23
By: Rachel Cusk
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Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies
- Amazing Women on What the F-Word Means to Them
- By: Scarlett Curtis - curator
- Narrated by: Rosie Akerman, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Grace Campbell, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
A diverse group of celebrities, activists, and artists open up about what feminism means to them, with the goal of helping listeners come to their own personal understanding of the word.
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5 out of 5 stars
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4.5/5 Estrellas
- By Airy on 01-27-21
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Size Matters Not
- The Extraordinary Life and Career of Warwick Davis
- By: Warwick Davis
- Narrated by: Gideon Emery
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 447
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 414
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Story5 out of 5 stars 413
You may not recognize my name-or my face for that matter-but it's very likely you've seen me at work. I've managed to cram quite a bit into my thirty-year acting career. In fact I've helped put more bums on cinema seats than Will Smith or Tom Hanks. Who else can say that they've helped destroy a Death Star? Defeated an evil sorceress? Taught magic to Harry Potter? Become a Jedi Master? Reluctantly hitchhiked across the galaxy in search of the answer to the Ultimate Question?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Sincere and heart-warming
- By Alice on 10-04-15
By: Warwick Davis
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I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan
- By: Alan Partridge
- Narrated by: Alan Partridge
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 744
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 668
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 662
Journalist, presenter, broadcaster, husband, father, vigorous all-rounder – Alan Partridge – a man with a fascinating past and an amazing future. Gregarious and popular, yet Alan’s never happier than when relaxing in his own five-bedroom, south-built house with three acres of land and access to a private stream. But who is this mysterious enigma? Alan Gordon Partridge is the best – and best-loved – radio presenter in the region. Born into a changing world of rationing, Teddy Boys, apes in space and the launch of ITV, Alan’s broadcasting career began as chief DJ of Radio Smile....
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Anglican giant among pygmies
- By John on 06-20-12
By: Alan Partridge
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The Dark Flood Rises
- A Novel
- By: Dame Margaret Drabble
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 136
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
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Story4 out of 5 stars 125
Francesca Stubbs has a very full life. A highly regarded expert on housing for the elderly who is herself getting on in age, she drives restlessly round England. Amid the professional conferences she attends, she fits in visits to old friends, brings home-cooked dinners to her ex-husband, texts her son, who is grieving over the sudden death of his girlfriend, and drops in on her daughter, a quirky young woman who lives in a floodplain in the West Country.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Life Observed By An Exceptional Writer
- By Sara on 03-22-17
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Flesh Wounds
- By: Richard Glover
- Narrated by: Richard Glover
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
A mother who invented her past, a father who was often absent, a son who wondered if this could really be his family...Richard Glover's favourite dinner-party game is called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?' It's a game he always thinks he'll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard's English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed toy collector.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Such a Meaningful Reflection
- By Awarenessing on 11-28-15
By: Richard Glover
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Raising the Barre
- Big Dreams, False Starts, and My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker
- By: Lauren Kessler
- Narrated by: Hollis McCarthy
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4 out of 5 stars 48
When Lauren Kessler was 12, her ballet instructor crushed not just her dreams of being a ballerina but also her youthful self-assurance. Now, many decades and three children later, Kessler embarks on a journey to join a professional company to perform in The Nutcracker. Raising the Barre is more than just one woman's story; it is a story about shaking things up, taking risks, and ignoring good sense and forgetting how old you are and how you're "supposed" to act.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Smug
- By Claudette on 02-07-20
By: Lauren Kessler
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A Year by the Sea
- Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman
- By: Joan Anderson
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 249
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 210
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 211
Life is a work in progress, as ever-changing as a sandy shoreline along the beach. During the years Joan Anderson was a loving wife and supportive mother, she had slowly and unconsciously replaced her own dreams with the needs of her family. With her sons grown, however, she realized that the family no longer centered on the home she provided, and her relationship with her husband had become stagnant. Like many women in her situation, Joan realized that she had neglected to nurture herself and, worse, to envision fulfilling goals for her future.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Free too be a woman of my own making.
- By Kathy C. on 03-10-15
By: Joan Anderson
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One Breath
- Freediving, Death, and the Quest to Shatter Human Limits
- By: Adam Skolnick
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4 out of 5 stars 88
One Breath is a gripping and powerful exploration of the strange and fascinating sport of freediving, and of the tragic, untimely death of America's greatest freediver Competitive freediving - a sport built on diving as deep as possible on a single breath - tests the limits of human ability in the most hostile environment on earth.
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1 out of 5 stars
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It just drags
- By Jesse Mecham on 06-17-16
By: Adam Skolnick