The Summer Book
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The Summer Book
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Narrated by:
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Natasha Soudek
About this listen
In The Summer Book Tove Jansson distills the essence of the summer - its sunlight and storms - into 22 crystalline vignettes. This brief novel tells the story of Sophia, a six-year-old girl awakening to existence, and Sophia's grandmother, nearing the end of hers, as they spend the summer on a tiny unspoiled island in the Gulf of Finland. The grandmother is unsentimental and wise, if a little cranky; Sophia is impetuous and volatile, but she tends to her grandmother with the care of a new parent. Together they amble over coastline and forest in easy companionship, build boats from bark, create a miniature Venice, write a fanciful study of local bugs. They discuss things that matter to young and old alike: life, death, the nature of God, and of love. "On an island," thinks the grandmother, "everything is complete." In The Summer Book, Jansson creates her own complete world, full of the varied joys and sorrows of life.
©1972 Tove Jansson (Moomin Characters); translation copyright 1974 by The Estate of Tove Jansson; Introduction copyright by Kathryn Davis (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
In J. L. Carr's deeply charged poetic novel, Tom Birkin, a veteran of the Great War and a broken marriage, arrives in the remote Yorkshire village of Oxgodby where he is to restore a recently discovered medieval mural in the local church. Living in the bell tower, surrounded by the resplendent countryside of high summer, and laboring each day to uncover an anonymous painter's depiction of the apocalypse, Birkin finds that he himself has been restored to a new, and hopeful, attachment to life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Gorgeous, sad, and deeply funny
- By Tim on 01-19-25
By: J. L. Carr, and others
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Shopgirls
- A Novel
- By: Jessica Anya Blau
- Narrated by: Caitlin Kinnunen
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5
Nineteen-year-old Zippy can hardly believe it: she’s the newest and youngest salesgirl at I. Magnin, “San Francisco’s Finest Department Store.” Every week, she rotates her three spruced-up Salvation Army outfits and Vaseline-shined pumps; still, she’s thrilled to walk those pumps through the employee entrance five days a week as she saves to buy something new.
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5 out of 5 stars
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So good!
- By CCGOOD on 05-10-25
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Sculptor's Daughter
- By: Tove Jansson, Kingsley Hart
- Narrated by: Sara Kestelman
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4
Dive into Tove Jansson's spellbinding memoir and be transported to early 20th-century Helsinki where you'll experience the magic and fears of a childhood infused with the freedom and natural beauty of Finland. Hailed by Ali Smith for its evocative prose, Jansson's memoir unveils the enchantments of a world where winter ice is a playground of mysteries, balalaika parties radiate warmth, and Christmas takes on epic proportions when viewed from a child's eyes.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The description
- By Dorothy on 09-13-24
By: Tove Jansson, and others
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Less
- By: Andrew Sean Greer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 7,865
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,028
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Story4 out of 5 stars 7,027
You are a failed novelist about to turn 50. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: Your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes - it would be too awkward - and you can't say no - it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. Question: How do you arrange to skip town? Answer: You accept them all.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Endearing, funny, but sometimes overly clever
- By Lili on 07-30-17
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Notes from an Island
- By: Tove Jansson, Thomas Teal - Übersetzer, Tuulikki Pietilä
- Narrated by: Sandi Toksvig
- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Set against the rugged backdrop of Klovharun, a barren skerry in the Gulf of Finland, ´Notes from an Island´ invites you into the intimate world of Tove Jansson and her partner, graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä, known affectionately as "Tooti."Aided by Brunstroem, an unconventional fisherman, Jansson races against time and the elements to build a cabin that would serve as their sanctuary for thirty summers. A declaration of the beauty of solitude, Notes from an Island is a touching homage to a mature love nurtured by the raw beauty of shifting seascapes.
By: Tove Jansson, and others
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Cold Enough for Snow
- By: Jessica Au
- Narrated by: Angela Lin
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 18
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Story4 out of 5 stars 18
A mother and daughter travel from abroad to meet in Tokyo. They walk along the canals through the autumn evenings, escape the typhoon rains, share meals in small cafes and restaurants, and visit galleries to see some of the city’s most radical modern art. All the while, they talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes, and objects, about family, distance, and memory. But uncertainties abound. Who is really speaking here - is it only the daughter? And what is the real reason behind this elliptical, perhaps even spectral journey?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great audio!!
- By David on 12-18-22
By: Jessica Au
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Sorrow and Bliss
- A Novel
- By: Meg Mason
- Narrated by: Emilia Fox
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,297
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,150
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,149
Martha Friel just turned forty. Once, she worked at Vogue and planned to write a novel. Now, she creates internet content. She used to live in a pied-à-terre in Paris. Now she lives in a gated community in Oxford, the only person she knows without a PhD, a baby or both, in a house she hates but cannot bear to leave. But she must leave, now that her husband Patrick—the kind who cooks, throws her birthday parties, who loves her and has only ever wanted her to be happy—has just moved out.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Very Disappointed -- 2.75 Stars
- By Sharlotte on 06-07-21
By: Meg Mason
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Little Weirds
- By: Jenny Slate
- Narrated by: Jenny Slate
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,132
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 983
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 976
You may "know" Jenny Slate from her Netflix special, Stage Fright, as the creator of Marcel the Shell, or as the star of Obvious Child. But you don't really know Jenny Slate until you get bonked on the head by her absolutely singular writing style. To see the world through Jenny's eyes is to see it as though for the first time, shimmering with strangeness and possibility.
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5 out of 5 stars
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softness is earned and it is wonderful
- By Van on 12-09-19
By: Jenny Slate
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Convenience Store Woman
- By: Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori - translator
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 5,755
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,069
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Story4 out of 5 stars 5,061
Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in - neither in her family, nor in school - but when at the age of 18 she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line-by-line in the store's manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a "normal" person excellently, more or less.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Am amazing and different story
- By D.R. on 04-10-19
By: Sayaka Murata, and others
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Clear
- A Novel
- By: Carys Davies
- Narrated by: Russ Bain
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 127
John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland—Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Yes, Another Island Book
- By Kate Juliff on 11-10-24
By: Carys Davies
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Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
- A Novel
- By: Olga Tokarczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones
- Narrated by: Beata Pozniak
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,250
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,944
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,938
In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then, a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon, other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Narrator - Authentic as it can get!
- By Chris on 09-03-19
By: Olga Tokarczuk, and others
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The Shell Seekers
- By: Rosamunde Pilcher
- Narrated by: Hayley Atwell
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,603
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,247
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,231
At the end of a long and useful life, Penelope Keeling's prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolizing her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather's work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer...and it lies in her heart.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Narrator Speed
- By TB on 01-18-18
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Stone Yard Devotional
- A Novel
- By: Charlotte Wood
- Narrated by: Ailsa Piper
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of rural Australia. She doesn't believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A profound inward journey
- By Kathlene barrett on 02-17-25
By: Charlotte Wood
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built
- Monk & Robot, Book 1
- By: Becky Chambers
- Narrated by: Em Grosland
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,720
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,396
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,386
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend. One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
- By Daniel Cascaddan on 07-15-21
By: Becky Chambers
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The Paper Palace
- A Novel
- By: Miranda Cowley Heller
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8,232
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7,192
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Story4 out of 5 stars 7,181
It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a 50-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” - the family summer place she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: Last night, Elle and her oldest friend, Jonas, crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The story has too much child abuse discription
- By DTurek on 07-14-21
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The Haunting of Hill House
- By: Shirley Jackson
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 10,994
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9,762
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Story4 out of 5 stars 9,766
Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodora, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Well written horror tale
- By C K White on 02-11-14
By: Shirley Jackson
Swedish Finns
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What A Wonderful Book
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Pure delight
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LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
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GORGEOUS. FULL OF GRACE. NEEDED THIS.
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Not a good book by any stretch
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why did they write this
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Dull Beyond Belief
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