Audiobooks narrated by Amanda Carlin

A remarkably frank, deeply moving, and inspiring memoir by Jai Pausch, whose husband, Randy, wrote the bestseller The Last Lecture while battling pancreatic cancer. "Jai is such a giver that she often forgets to take care of herself," Randy Pausch wrote about his wife. "Jai knows that she'll have to give herself permission to make herself a priority." In Dream New Dreams, Jai Pausch shares her own story for the first time: her emotional journey from wife and mother to full-time caregiver, shuttling between her three young children and Randy's bedside as he sought treatment far from home; and then to widow and single parent, fighting to preserve a sense of stability for her family, while coping with her own grief and the challenges of running a household without a partner. Jai paints a vivid, honest portrait of a vital, challenging relationship between two strong people who faced a grim prognosis and the self-sacrificing decisions it often required. As she faced life without the husband she called her "magic man," Jai learned to make herself a priority to create a new life of hope and happiness-as she puts it, to "feel a spark of my own magic beginning to flicker." Dream New Dreams is a powerful story of grief, healing, and newfound independence. With advice artfully woven into an intimate, beautifully written narrative, Jai's story will inspire not only the legions of readers who made The Last Lecture a bestseller, but also those who are embarking on a journey of loss and renewal themselves. "A brave and beautiful book. Dream New Dreams grabbed my heart from the opening page and didn't let go until its uplifting end. Jai Pausch is a stirring example of the power of life to triumph over any challenge. Bravo." --Bruce Feiler, bestselling author of Walking the Bible and The Council of Dads

Jai Pausch (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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Trajectory

Following the best-selling Everybody's Fool, a new collection of short fiction that demonstrates that Richard Russo--winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls--is also a master of this genre. Russo's characters in these four expansive stories bear little similarity to the blue-collar citizens we're familiar with from many of his novels. In 'Horseman,' a professor confronts a young plagiarist as well as her own weaknesses as the Thanksgiving holiday looms closer and closer: 'And after that, who knew?' In 'Intervention,' a realtor facing an ominous medical prognosis finds himself in his father's shadow while he presses forward--or not. In 'Voice,' a semiretired academic is conned by his increasingly estranged brother into coming along on a group tour of the Venice Biennale, fleeing a mortifying incident with a traumatized student back in Massachusetts but encountering further complications in the maze of Venice. And in 'Milton and Marcus,' a lapsed novelist struggles with his wife's illness and tries to rekindle his screenwriting career, only to be stymied by the pratfalls of that trade when he's called to an aging, iconic star's mountaintop retreat in Wyoming. Cast of Narrators: 'Horseman' read by Amanda Carlin 'Voice' read by Arthur Morey 'Intervention' read by Fred Sanders 'Milton and Marcus' read by Mark Bramhall

Richard Russo (Author), Amanda Carlin, Arthur Morey, Fred Sanders, Mark Bramhall (Narrator)

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Run for Something: A Real-Talk Guide to Fixing the System Yourself

Foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton From the email marketing director of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the co-founder of Run for Something comes an essential and inspiring guide that encourages and educates young progressives to run for local office, complete with contributions from elected officials and political operatives. You've been depressed since the night of November 8, 2016. You wore black to work the next morning. You berated yourself for your complacency during the Obama years. You ranted on Twitter. You deleted Twitter. You sent emails to your friends saying, "How can we get more involved?" You listened to Pod Save America. You knitted a pussyhat. You showed up to the Women's March on Washington. You protested Donald Trump's executive orders. You called your congressman. You called other people's congressmen. You set up monthly donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. You reactivated Twitter (begrudgingly). Here's what you do next: Run for something. To be specific: Run for local office and become the change you want to see in the world. Forget about Congress. Forget about the Senate. Focus on the offices that get the real sh*t done: state legislatures, city councils, school boards, and mayors. It doesn't matter if you're not a white man over sixty with an Ivy League law degree. (In fact, it's better if you're not!) It doesn't matter if you don't understand the first thing about running for office, or never even imagined you would. That's what this book is for. Amanda Litman, experienced in hard-fought state and national election campaigns, is here to give you guidance as well as wisdom and insight from elected officials and political operatives she interviewed for this book. There are half a million elected officials in the United States. Why can't you be one of them?

Amanda Litman (Author), Amanda Carlin, Candace Thaxton, Fred Sanders, Roger Casey (Narrator)

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Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public S

From one of the foremost authorities on education and the history of education in the United States, 'whistleblower extraordinaire' (The Wall Street Journal), former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, author of the best-selling Reign of Error ('fearless' --Jonathan Kozol, NYRB)--an impassioned, inspiring look at the ways in which parents, teachers, activists--citizens--are successfully fighting back to defeat the forces that are privatizing America's public schools. Diane Ravitch writes of those who have privatized the schools, the Disrupters, who believe America's schools should be run like businesses, with teachers incentivized with threats and bonuses, and schools that need to enter into the age of the gig economy in which children are treated like customers or products. She writes of the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, the Waltons (Walmart), Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others, on the right and the left, as well as corporations, foundations, etc., intent on promoting the privatization of one of our most valued public institutions. Ravitch lays out, in extensive detail, the facts showing that the ideas put forth by school privateers have failed; that their promises of higher test scores have not come to pass; that the 'great hope' of Common Core has been a dud. Arrayed against these forces, Ravitch writes of the volunteer army--'the Resisters'--that has sprung up from Seattle, Austin, and Denver, to Detroit, New Orleans, and Buffalo--parents, teachers, grandparents, students, bloggers, religious leaders, brave individuals, who, spurred on by conviction, courage, determination, and the power of ideas and passion, are fighting back to successfully keep alive their public schools.

Diane Ravitch (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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Irena's Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghet

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow Clicquot comes an extraordinary and gripping true account of Irena Sendler—the “female Oskar Schindler”—who took staggering risks to save 2,500 children from death and deportation in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. In 1942, one young social worker, Irena Sendler, was granted access to the Warsaw ghetto as a public health specialist. While she was there, she began to understand the fate that awaited the Jewish families who were unable to leave. Soon she reached out to the trapped families, going from door to door and asking them to trust her with their young children. She started smuggling children out of the walled district, convincing her friends and neighbors to hide them. Driven to extreme measures and with the help of a network of local tradesmen, ghetto residents, and her star-crossed lover in the Jewish resistance, Irena ultimately smuggled thousands of children past the Nazis. She made dangerous trips through the city’s sewers, hid children in coffins, snuck them under overcoats at checkpoints, and slipped them through secret passages in abandoned buildings. But Irena did something even more astonishing at immense personal risk: she kept a secret list buried in bottles under an old apple tree in a friend’s back garden. On it were the names and true identities of these Jewish children, recorded so their families could find them after the war. She could not know that more than ninety percent of their families would perish. In Irena’s Children, Tilar Mazzeo shares the incredible story of this courageous and brave woman who risked her life to save innocent children from the Holocaust—a truly heroic tale of survival, resilience, and redemption.

Tilar J. Mazzeo (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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Betty Ford: First Lady, Women's Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer

An intimate and insightful biography of Betty Ford, the groundbreaking, candid, and resilient First Lady and wife of President Gerald Ford, from the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Presidents and Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Betty Ford: First Lady, Women's Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer is the inspiring story of an ordinary Midwestern girl thrust onto the world stage and into the White House under extraordinary circumstances. Setting a precedent as First Lady, Betty Ford refused to be silenced by her critics as she publicly championed equal rights for women, and spoke out about issues that had previously been taboo—breast cancer, depression, abortion, and sexuality. Privately, there were signs something was wrong. After a painful intervention by her family, she admitted to an addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs. Her courageous decision to speak out publicly sparked a national dialogue, and in 1982, she co-founded the Betty Ford Center, which revolutionized treatment for alcoholism and inspired the modern concept of recovery. Lisa McCubbin also brings to light Gerald and Betty Ford's sweeping love story: from Michigan to the White House, until their dying days, their relationship was that of a man and woman utterly devoted to one another other—a relationship built on trust, respect, and an unquantifiable chemistry. Based on intimate in-depth interviews with all four of her children, Susan Ford Bales, Michael Ford, Jack Ford, and Steven Ford, as well as family friends, and colleagues, Betty Ford: First Lady, Women's Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer is a deeply personal, empathic portrait of an outspoken First Lady, who was first and foremost a devoted wife and mother. With poignant details and rare insight, McCubbin reveals a fiercely independent woman who had a lively sense of humor, unwavering faith, and an indomitable spirit—the true story behind one of the most admired and influential women of our time.

Lisa Mccubbin, Lisa Mccubbin Hill (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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The Science of Positivity: Stop Negative Thought Patterns by Changing Your Brain Chemistry

Learn the scientific benefits of positivism! Sometimes it's easiest to look for the worst in every situation--our brains have evolved to scan for problems in order to help avoid them. But you can transcend this natural negativity--if you know how. The Science of Positivity teaches you how cynical thought habits are formed, and how you can rewire yourself to go beyond them. Neurochemical expert Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD, empowers you to transcend negativity by creating new thought habits. You'll learn simple, practical actions you can take to shift your thinking to a way that causes your brain to reward optimism with the release of happy chemicals. You can even permanently replace cynical thought patterns with realistic and optimistic thoughts. In just minutes a day for six weeks, you will build new pathways to see the world in new ways. Frustration is an inevitable part of life, but rather than using cynicism to manage frustration, you can rewire your brain to get beyond it.

Loretta Graziano Breuning (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and the Fight for the Right to Vo

An eye-opening, inspiring, and timely account of the complex relationship between notable suffragist Alice Paul and President Woodrow Wilson in her fight for women's equality. Woodrow Wilson lands in Washington, DC in March of 1913, a day before he is set to take the presidential oath of office. Expecting a throng of onlookers, he is instead met with minimal interest as the crowd and media alike watch a twenty-five-year-old Alice Paul organize 8,000 suffragists in a first-of-its-kind protest led by a woman riding a white horse just a few blocks away from the Washington platform. The next day, the New York Times calls the procession "one of the most impressively beautiful spectacles ever staged in this country." Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait? weaves together two storylines: Paul's and Wilson's, two seemingly complete opposites who had more in common than either one could imagine. Paul's procession led her to be granted a one-on-one meeting with President Woodrow Wilson, one that would lead to many meetings and much discussion, though little progress. With no equality in sight and patience wearing thin, Paul organized the first group to ever picket on the White House lawn—night and day, through sweltering summer mornings and frigid fall nights. From solitary confinement, hunger strikes, and mental institutions to sitting right across from President Woodrow Wilson, Mr. President,How Long Must We Wait? reveals the inspiring, near-death journey it took, spearheaded in no small part by Paul's leadership, to grant women the right to vote in America. A rousing portrait of a little-known feminist heroine and an inspirational exploration of a crucial moment in American history—one century before the Women's March—this is a perfect book for fans of Hidden Figures.

Tina Cassidy (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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Heartbroken

Long after anyone expected Kate to do anything with her life, she did. Using the journals left behind by her aunt and grandmother, she wrote a novel based on a very real, generation-old love story that ended in tragedy. On the other side of town, Emily is about to set fire to her life. She's in a dead-end job and is involved with the wrong man; she can feel herself being drawn into darkness, with horrific consequences. With nowhere to go, she finds herself on the run. Without knowing each other, and with lives that couldn't be more different, Kate and Emily head to the same point on the map: Heart Island, an idyllic place in the middle of a lake in the Adirondacks, owned for generations by Birdie Burke's family. The harsh and unyielding Birdie is at one with this island, which has a terrifying history all its own. She, too, has consequences to face. Heartbroken is a tense, mesmerizing novel about the limits of dysfunctional families, of an island haunted by dark memories and restless ghosts, and of the all-too-real demons we must battle.

Lisa Unger (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and Their Parents)

Mindfulness--the quality of attention that combines full awareness with acceptance of each moment, just as it is--is gaining broad acceptance among mental health professionals as an adjunct to treatment. This little book is a very appealing introduction to mindfulness meditation for children and their parents. In a simple and accessible way, it describes what mindfulness is and how mindfulness-based practices can help children calm down, become more focused, fall asleep more easily, alleviate worry, manage anger, and generally become more patient and aware. The book contains eleven practices that focus on just these scenarios, along with short examples and anecdotes throughout.

Eline Snel (Author), Amanda Carlin, Fred Sanders, Myla Kabat-Zinn (Narrator)

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The Invited: A Novel

A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house--they build one . . . In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate have abandoned the comforts of suburbia to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this beautiful property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. With her passion for artifacts, Helen finds special materials to incorporate into the house--a beam from an old schoolroom, bricks from a mill, a mantel from a farmhouse--objects that draw her deeper into the story of Hattie and her descendants, three generations of Breckenridge women, each of whom died suspiciously. As the building project progresses, the house will become a place of menace and unfinished business: a new home, now haunted, that beckons its owners and their neighbors toward unimaginable danger.

Jennifer McMahon, Jennifer Mcmahon (Author), Amanda Carlin, Justine Eyre (Narrator)

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Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels

A revolutionary approach to enhancing your happiness level! Get ready to boost your happiness in just forty-five days! Habits of a Happy Brain shows you how to retrain your brain to turn on the chemicals that make you happy. Each page offers simple activities that help you understand the roles of your "happy chemicals"-serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin. You'll also learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in your brain to flow down a new pathway, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when you need them most. Filled with dozens of exercises that will help your reprogram your brain, Habits of a Happy Brain shows you how to live a happier, healthier life!

Loretta Graziano Breuning (Author), Amanda Carlin (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Amanda Carlin