In May '97 I discovered audio books at the Kanata Library. I'm now listening to about one a week. Whereas I always found reading very slow, now my time in the car is a literary thrill a minute! The symbol @ on the list below indicates an audio book.

I've become such a fan of audiobooks that I've become an Associate of Amazon.com. You can purchase my recommended selection of audiobooks, as well as Amazon.com's complete selection of books and music over the web direct from my bookstore.

Who are my favourite writers? Well, Og Mandino is certainly in the top 5. Just look down the list below for writers of books with more than four stars.

[* = reviewed on Kanata Audio Books; @ = Audiobook]  


*@ Frank McCourt			Teacher man		***
*@ Bill Tancer				Click			****
*@ Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner Freakonomics		****
*@ Malcolm Gladwell			Blink			*****
*@ Wikinomics		      Don Tapscott & Anthony D Williams *****
*  John Piper				Don't waste your life   ****
*@ Einstein				Walter Isaacson		****
*@ The Shock Doctrine			Naomi Klein		*****
*@ Mark's Story                  Tim Lahaye and Jerry B Jenkins ****
*@ King, Conroy, Grisham, Straub	The Wavedancer benfit   **
*@ Stephen W. Hawking		      The theory of everything	***
*@ Michael Scheuer			Marching toward Hell	*****
*  Graham Power & Diane Vermooten    Not by might, nor by Power ****
*@ Malcolm Gladwell			Outliers		****
*@ John le Carré 			The mission song	*****
*@ Yann Martel				Life of Pi		*****
*  Michael L. Brown	  Homosexuality, The Church, & Society  ****   (DVD)
*@ Jack Higgins				Midnight runner		****
*@ Robert Harris			Imperium		*****
*@ Jim Cymbala				Fresh wind fresh fire	****
 * Joel C Rosenberg			The last days		****
*@ Alexander McCall Smith     In the company of cheerful ladies ****
*@ John Banville			The sea			****
*@ Lames Patterson & Peter De Jonge	Beach Road		***
*@ Tim Flannery				The Weather Makers	****
*@ Khaled Hosseini		        The Kite runner         ******
*@ Dave Barry		The shepherd, the angel, and Walter ... ***
*@ Khaled Hosseini		       A thousand splendid suns ******
*@ Alan Alda	     Things I overheard while talking to myself ***
*@ Prof FE Peters		  Judaism, Christianity & Islam ***
*@ Noel Coward		    The Noel Coward audio collection	**
*@ Ernest Hemingway			To have and have not	***
*@ Ian McEwan				On Chesil Beach		***
*@ William P Young			The Shack		******
*@ Ethan Canin				America America		*******
*@ Joshua Spanogle			Isolation ward		***
*@ Daniel Goleman			Social Intelligence	***
*@ Pamela Clarke Keogh			Elvis Presley 		***
*@ Thomas L Friedman	                The Earth is flat       *****
*@ Jeffrey Archer		  The Gospel according to Jesus **
*  Arith Fernando		   Crucial questions about hell ****
*@ Colin Forbes				The Greek Key		****
*@ Danielle Steel			Wings			*** 
*  Joel C Rosenberg			The last Jihad		****
*  Joel C Rosenberg			Epicenter		*****
*@ Alexander McCall Smith		44 Scotland Street	***
*@ Brian Wansink, Ph.D.			Mindless eating		****
*@ Anthony Swofford			Jarhead			***
*@ Thomas L Friedman		   The Lexus and the Olive Tree *****
*@ Bruce Meyer with Michael Enright	The Great Books, Ser 1  **
*@ Jane Austen				Northanger Abbey	**
*@ Dick Francis				Enquiry			***
*@ Kathy Reichs				Death du Jour		***
*@ Dan Brown				The Da Vinci Code	***    
*@ Leonard Sax, M.D.,Ph.D.		Why gender matters      *****
*@ Jack kerouac				On the road		****
*@ Carolly Erickson		 The last wife of Henry VIII	***
2008
*@ Dick Lohr				How to delegate work    ***
*@ Michael Palmer			The patient		*****
*@ Michael Levine			A branded world     	***
*@ Geoff Emerick & Howard Massey     Here, there and everywhere ****
*@ P.D. James				Innocent blood		****
*@ Dirk Bogarde				Backcloth		***
*@ Elizabeth Marshall Thomas		The hidden life of dogs ***
*@ James Joyce				Ulysses			***
*@ Jeffrey Archer			False impression	****
*@ Jonathan Lunn			Killigrew R.N.		*****
*@ Ernest Hemingway			The sun also rises	****
*@ Richard P. Feynman	     The pleasure of finding things out ****
*@ Alexandra Fuller	     Don't let's go to the dogs tonight ****
*@ Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger		Apollo 13		***
*@ Boris Yeltsin			Midnight diaries	****
*  Ellen Bascuti	    Luis Palau, Evangelist to the world **
*@ Evelyn Anthony			Anne Boleyn		****
*@ Lawrence Block			Small town		***
*@ Richard A Clarke			Against all enemies     *****
*@ Patrick Robinson			U.S.S. Seawolf		****
*@ Henry James				The portrait of a lady	***	
*@ Azar Nafisi			       Reading Lolita in Tehran	****	
*@ Dick Francis				The Edge		*****  (All Canadians should read this)
*@ Alexander McCall Smith    The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency *****
*@ Hammond Innes		   The wreck of the Mary Deare  *****
*@ John & Loren Sandford		The Prophets		***
*@ Dave Barry				Tricky Business		****
*@ Jeffrey Archer			A matter of honour	***
*@ Dick Francis				Blood Sport		***
*@ Homer				The Iliad		***			
*@ Bryan Forbes				Quicksand		*****
*@ Ian McEwan				Atonement		*****
*@ Margaret Atwood			The Penelopiad		***
*@ Margaret Thatcher			The Path to Power	***
2007
*@ Anthony Summers and Robyn Swan	Sinatra - The Life	***			
*@ Ross Porter              Miles Davis - The Man with the Horn *****
*@ Anne Graham-Lotz			Just give me Jesus      *****
*@ Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins	The Remnant		****
*@ Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins	Desecration		****
*@ Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins	Apollyon		***
*@ Ian Flemming				Thunderball		****
*@ Wally Lamb				I know this much is true******
*@ Patrick O'Brian			The Surgeon's Mate	****
*@ Tim LaHaye & Jerry B Jenkins		The Remnant		***
*@ Peter Carey			 True History of the Kelly Gang *****
*@ Peter Carey				My Life as a Fake	***
*@ Jeffery Archer		      To cut a long story short	***
*@ Jeffery Archer			As the crow flies	*******
*@ Douglas Reeman			H.M.S. Saracen		******
*@ Richard Hack			    Hughes: the private diaries ******		
*@ Why Sinatra Matters			Pete Hamill		***
*  The truth about same-sex marriage	Erwin W. Lutzer		***
*  Leadership: the power of a creative life  Rick Joyner	****
*@ Who says elephants can't dance?	Lou Gerstner		****
*@ Hillary Rodham Clinton		Living History		*****
*@ Bill Clinton				My Life			*****
*@ Bob Dylan			   Bob Dylan Chronicles Vol 1   ****
2005
*  Rick Warren				The purpose-driven life *****
*  D.C.Jarvis, M.D.		   Arthritis & Folk medicine    ****
*@ D.W.Buffa				The Legacy		******
*@ Jeffrey Archer			Honour among theives	****
*@ Bob Costas				Fair Ball		***
*@ Mark Bego				Madonna now		**
*@ Jonathan Kellerman			Flesh and blood		***	
*@ Noel M. Tichy			The Cyle of Leadership	*****
*@ Dick Francis				The Danger		****
*@ FRederick Forsyth			Ther Odessa File	***
*@ Tony Hillerman			The Fly on the Wall	****
*@ Oscar Hijuelos			Mr. Ives' Christmas	****
*@ Tony Hillerman			Finding Moon		****
*@ Mark Twain	     A Connecticut Yankee in King Arhur's Court ***
 @ HG Wells				The Invisible Man	**
*@ GC Ward, Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns 	Mark Twain		*****
 @ Ken Follett				Night over water	*
*@ Tony Hillerman			The First Eagle		****
*@ Tony Hillerman			The Blessing Way	***
*@ Seth Godin				Survival is not enough  *****
*@ L.Gen.Harold Moore & Joseph Galloway 
			   We were soldiers once, and young	*****
*@ Tony Hillerman			Seldom disappointed	*****
 @ John D. MacDonald			Free Fall in Crimson	*
 @ Herb Curtis				The Lone Angler		*
 @ Ray Bradbury				The Ray Bradbury Theatre***
 @ Patrick O'Brien			The Truelove		**
*@ Robert Kiyosaki			Rich Dad's prophecy	****
*@ Robert Kiyosaki		Rich dad's guide to investing	****
*@ Robert Kiyosaki			Rich kid, smart kid	****
2003
*@ Bernard Cornwell			The Archer's tale	****
*@ Patricia Cornwell			Cruel and unusual	***	
*@ Patricia Cornwell			All that remains	******
*@ Ken Follett				A Place Called Freedom	**
*  Reggie Vinson			Don't stop believing	****
*@ Patrick Robinson			U.S.S. Seawolf		**
 @ Mary Cook				Calendar		*
*@ Christopher Reich			Numbered account	******
*@ J.R.R.Tolkien			The Hobbit		***
*@ Carl Hiaasen				Basket Case		****
*@ Jack Higgins				Touch the Devil		***
*@ Kathy Reichs				Deadly decisions	****
*@ Mario Puzo				The Family		****
*@ Christopher Reich			The Runner		***
*@ W.E.B.Griffin			Special Ops		** 
*@ W.E.B.Griffin			Secret Honour		*** 
*@ W.E.B.Griffin			Under Fire		**** 
*@ Matt Cohen				Last seen		***
*@ Lawrence Sanders			McNally's secret	*****
*@ Nicholas Evans			The Horse Whisperer	******
*@ Bill Gates			Business @ the speed of thought ****
*@ Margaret Atwood			The Blind Assassin	****
*@ Jack Higgins				Edge of Danger		*****
*@ Richard North Patterson		Dark Lady		***
*  Time Life Books			Rock & Roll at 50	*****
*@ Jack Higgins				Day of Reckoning	***
*@ Peter Blauner			Man of the Hour		****
*@ Jonathan Kellerman			The Web			**
*@ Monty McKinnon			Money management	****
*@ Jonathan Harr			A Civil Action		****
*@ Joseph Kanon				The Good German		*****
   Life Magazine			Rock'n'roll at 50	****
*@ Jack Higgins				Night of the Fox	***		
*@ Suze Orman		      The 9 steps to financial freedom  ***
*@ John Naisbitt			Megatrends		***
*@ Richard Marcinko & John Weisman	Rogue Warrior		***
*@ Richard Marcinko & John Weisman	Seal Force Alpha	****
*@ Steve Martini			The Attorney		****
*@ Steve Martini			The Jury		****
*@ Steve Martini			The Judge		*****
 @ Frederick Forsyth			No Comebacks		****
*@ Ayn Rand				Atlas Shrugged		***
*@ Stephen Coonts			The Intruders		***
 @ David Bercott		What the early church believed  ***
*@ Dale Brown				Warrior Class		**
*@ Widows				Ed McBain		**
*@ Bernard Cornwell			Sharpe's Triumph	***
*@ Jack London				Call of the Wild	***
*@ Bill Bryson				A Walk in the Woods	****
*@ John Mortimer			Felix in the underworld *****
*@ Bill Bryson			     I'm a stranger here myself ****
*@ Theodore Sturgeon, SC Sykes         Analog Sci Fict Sci Fact **  
*@ Robert Ludlum			The Matarese Countdown  ***
*@ William J. Coughlin			The Heart of Justice	***
*@ John Steinbeck			Tortilla Flat		***
*@ Nicholas Evans			The loop		****
*@ Jackie Pullinger			Ministry with the Poor  ****
*@ Arthur C Clarke			3001: the Final Odyssey ****
*@ Tom Clancy & Steve Pieczenik	       Op Center - Mirror Image ****
*@ David Reuben, M.D. Everything you always wanted to know about sex  ****
 @ Various authors			Murder by the Brits	**
*@ George Orwell			1984			*****
*@ Patrick Roberts			Nimitz Class		****
2002
 @ Nora Roberts				Jewels of the sun	*
*@ Pat Conroy				The Great Santini       ****
*@ Jeffrey Archer			The perfect murder      *****
*@ Frank McCourt			Angela's Ashes		******
*@ Robert M Pirsig       Zen & the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance ******
*@ Isaac Asimov				Foundation series ******
*@ Edward Rutherfurd			The Forrest		***
 @ Barbara Taylor Bradford		Where you belong	**
 @ Tim Clayton & Phil Craig		Finest Hour		**
*@ Cider with Rosie			Laurie Lee		***
*  John, Paul, George & Ringo		The Beatles Anthology	****
*@ Kathy Reichs				Deja Dead		***
*@ John Le Carre			A Murder of Quality	***
*@ Tom Clancy				Debt of honour		***
*@ John Ralston Saul		The Unconscious Civilization	***
*@ Michael Eisner with Tony Schwartz	Work in Progress	****
*@ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle	The Hound of the Baskervilles	***
*@ Joseph Heller			Catch-22		****
*@ John Douglas & Mark Olshaker		Obsession		***
*@ Patrick F. McManus	Out of Sync, Boating Disorders & other  ***  (stories)
*@ Paul Theroux				Lowloon Tong		*****
*  Robert T. Kiyosaki			Rich Dad, Poor Dad	****
*@ Dr. James B. Maas			Power sleep		***
*@ Douglas Coupland			Microserfs		****
*@ Baroness Orczy			The Scarlet Pinpernel   ***
*@ Herman Melville			Billy Budd		****
 @ Laura Schlessinger			How could you do that?! *
*@ Paul Brickhill			The Dam Busters		****
*@ Harper Lee				To Kill a Mockingbird	****
 @ Thomas Perry				The Face Changers	* 
*@ Herman Melville			Moby Dick		***
*@ BBC Topical Features			A Tribute to Diana	***
 @ Joseph Conrad			Heart of Darkness	*
 @ Arthur C. Clarke			Garden of Rama		*
*@ Terry Kay				The Runaway		***
*@ Jack Higgins				Cold Harbour		***
*@ Elmore Leonard			Be Cool			** 
*@ James A Mitchener			Pilgrimage		***
 @ Elmore Leonard			Cat Chaser		*
 @ Peter David				Startrek; Q-in-law	*
*@ Arthur Miller			Death of a Salesman	****
 @ Stephen King				Thinner			**
*@ Ranulph Fiennes			Mind over Matter	***
*@ Ellis Peters			      Brother Cadfael's Penance ***
 @ Jean Vanier		      Becoming human (from CBC "Ideas")	***
*@ Tennessee Williams			Streetcar named Desire  ***
*@ John Katzenbach			Just Cause		***
*@ Helen MacInnes			The Salzburg Connestion *** 
 @ Anne Rice				Violin			*
*@ Ellis Peters				Holy thief		***
 @ Tom Clancy				SSN			**
2001
*@ Len Deighton				Declarations of War	***
*@ J.G.Ballard				Empire of the Sun	***
 @ Martin Amiss				The Information		*
 @ Reba MaEntire			Reba - my story		**
*@ Ken Follett				Eye of the needle	***
*@ Colin Forbes				The heights of Zervos	******
 @ Frederick Forsyth			The fourth protocol	**
*@ Agatha Christie			Three blind mice	***
*@ Len Deighton				12 Good Men and True	**
 @ Ann Beattie				Picturing Will		zero
*@ Cornell Woolrich			Rear Window, 3 O'Clock  ***
*@ Orson Scott Card			Lost Boys		***
 @ Douglas Adams      The Restaurant at the end of the universe **
*@ Tom Clancy				Rainbow six		****
*@ Patrick Robinson			Kilo class		***
*@ Stephen Crane		     The red badge of courage	****
 @ Sidney Sheldon		     The other side of midnight	*
*@ W.P. Kinsella			Shoeless Joe		******
*@ John Le Carre			The fledgling spy	***
*@ M. Scott Peck		      Meditations from the Road	**
*@ Louis L'Amour		      Rain on the Mountain Fork *
*@ Frederick Forsyth			The Devil's Alternative ***
*@ William Boyd				Brazzaville Beach	****
 @ Michael Crichton			Airframe		*
*  Melody Green & David Hazard		No Compromise		*****
*@ Harold Kushner    When all you've ever wanted isn't enough	****
*@ John Bradshaw			Family secrets		*****
*@ Sheldon Currie		The Glace Bay Miner's Museum	**
*@ William S. Burroughs			Naked Lunch		** 
*@ John Le Carre			A Perfect Spy		****
*@ Shakespeare				Hamlet			*** 
*  Mel Tari				Like a mighty wind	**** 
*@ J.M. Dillard				Startrek First Contact	***
*@ Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens	Startrek Federation	***
 @ Ronald and Lois Richardson		Birth order and you	**
 @ Victor O'Reilly			Rulers of the hunt	**
 @ Various authors			Game, set & match	** 
*@ David Halberstam			The Fifties		***
*@ Tom Clancy				The Sum of all Fears	****
 @ Kevin Trudeau			Advanced Mega Memory	**
*@ Rosamunde Pilcher			Snow in April		****
*@ Frederick Forsyth			The Deceiver		**** 
 @ Mary Higgins Clark		  Loves music, loves to dance	*
*@ Deepak Chopra			Overcoming Addictions   ***
*@ Jeffrey Archer			Honor among Theives	****
*@ Rosamunde Pilcher			The Empty House		*****
 @ Clive Cussler			Cyclops			*
*@ Rosamunde Pilcher			Flowers in the Rain     *****
 @ Michael Chrichton			The Terminal Man	**
*@ Richard North Patterson		Eyes of a child		***
*@ Mary Higgins Clark			Where are the Children? ***
 @ Michael Gordy			The Miracle Strain	**
*@ James A. Mitchener			Chesapeake		**** 
*@ Stephen R. Covey  The 7 habits of Highly Effective People	***
*@ Kyle Mills				Rising Phoenix		***
*@ Nicholas Monsarrat			The Cruel Sea		****
*@ Ted Allbeury				Moscow Quadrille	****
*@ Joseph Conrad			Lord Jim		**
*@ John le Carre			Smiley's people		****
*@ James A Mitchener		     Creatures of the kingdom   *** 
*@ Alice Munro				The progress of love    **
*@ Rex Stout				Fer-de-lance		**
 @ Peter Straub				If you could see me now *
*@ Robert Louis Stevenson		Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde	****
*@ Michael Lewis			Lair's Poker		****
*@ John Grisham				The firm		***
*@ Ken Follett				Pillars of the Earth	******
*@ Paul Theroux				Ride the Iron Rooster   ***
*@ Frederick Forsyth			The fist of God 	******
*@ John Steinbeck			Of mice and men		****
*@ Ken Follett				The key to Rebecca      ****
*@ Harvey Mackay			Sharkproof		***
*@ Alexandre Dumas			The Three Musketeers	**
*@ Daphne du Maurier			Rebecca			***** 
*@ Charles Dickens			David Copperfield	***
 @ Raymond Chandler 			The big sleep		**
*@ A.E.Hotchner				Papa Hemingway		***
*@ Clive Cussler			Deep Six		****
*@ Ken Kesey			One flew over the cukoo's nest  ****
*@ Richard Condon		    The	Manchurian Candidate    *****
*  Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry        The Universe story      *****
 @                                      Necromancer             zero
*@ Robert Bloch				Psycho			*****
 @ Mary Hayley Bell			Whistle down the wind   **
 @ John Cheever				The stories of John C.  **
 @ John Cleese & Connie Booth		Fawlty Towers		***
*@ Charles Dickens (listened twice)	A tale of two cities	******
 @ Florence Mayberry, Nedra Tyre, etc	Ellery Queen presents	**
*@ M.Scott Peck				A bed by the window	*****
*@ Tom Clancy				Without remorse		******
 @ James Fenimore Cooper		The last of the Mohicans *
*@ Nevil Shute				On the beach		***
*@ Irving Stone				The President's Lady    ****
 @ James A. Mitchener			Texas		      	**
 @ Arthur Conan Doyle			The Sign of Four      	**
*@ Mario Puzo				The Fourth K		*****
 @ Peter C. Newman			Company of Adventurers  ****
 @ Walter J. Boyne			Eagles at War		*****  
 @ Lauren Bacall		      Lauren Bacall - By myself	***    
   Carl Sagan				Contact			*****
 @ Anne Morrow Lindbergh   		Gift from the sea	****
 @ Anton Chekhov			The Kiss (short stories)***
 @ Sheridan				The School for Scandal  ***
 @ Paul Scott				Staying on		***
*@ George Orwell			Animal Farm		****
 @ Norman Mailer	        	An American Dream	***
 @ Ken Follett				On Wings of Eagles	**
 @ Paul Erdman				The Panic of '89	***
 @ Bonar Menninger 	Mortal Error - the shot that killed JFK	**** 
 @ Oscar WildeThe 			Picture of Dorian Gray  ****
 @ Mark Twain			    Jumping Frogs to Canibalism	*** 
 @ Roger Lowenstein Buffett:The making of an American capitalist*****
 @ Aldous Huxley			Brave New World 	***
*  Og Mandino		     The Greatest Salesman in the World	*****
*@ Og Mandino		       The greatest Secret in the World *****
*  Og Mandino		       Secrets of success and happiness *****
     (Tip: read this before "The greatest salesman...")

*  Og Mandino				The Christ Commission   *****  
*  Og Mandino				Mission - Success	*****
   James Redfield			The Celestine Prophesy	**