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The Reader on the 6.27
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I loved this.
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wonderful storytelling
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excellent read
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underyped
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A Single Thread
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From the globally best-selling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiancé and her brother and regarded by society as a ‘surplus woman’ unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity.
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A Rewarding Read by one of Our Very Best Narrators
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The Binding
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Performance
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Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a letter arrives summoning him to begin an apprenticeship. He will work for a Bookbinder, a vocation that arouses fear, superstition and prejudice - but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse. He will learn to handcraft beautiful volumes, and within each he will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, he can help. If there’s something you need to erase, he can assist. Your past will be stored safely in a book and you will never remember your secret, however terrible.
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Magical
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Life After Life
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- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?
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Intriguing story, beautifully told.
- By susan on 02-05-13
Summary
An irresistible French sensation - Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore meets Amélie.
The Reader on the 6.27 explores the power of books through the lives of the people they save. It is sure to capture the hearts of book lovers everywhere.
Guylain Vignolles leads a dull and solitary life. He hates his job, and his only company at home is a goldfish. Every morning he takes the 6.27 to his tedious job at a book pulping factory. He hates his boss and his assistant, but he finds companionship with the factory's guard, an eccentric aficionado of classical literature.
On the train each morning on the way to work, Guylain reads aloud to his fellow commuters the disparate pages that he rescues from the jaws of the monstrous pulping machine. One morning on the train, he finds a USB stick which contains the diary of a young woman. As Guylain reads the diary, he finds himself falling love with its author....
This enchanting novel is a warm and funny fable about literature's power to uplift even the most monotonous of lives and how there can be dignity and poetry for even the most misunderstood.
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Claire
- 10-10-17
Charming French Fairytale
Spotted this in a train station as the book of the week, and glad I remembered to look it up on here. Deliciously narrated, Stephane Cornicard's voice is truly 'ear candy', and that makes this an audiobook worth purchasing over just reading the book.
This touching Paris-set vignette is highly reminiscent of the likes of Amelie: quirky, pleasant characters you cheer for because you recognise in them the basic human desire to be happy and fulfilled, and relate to their struggles along the way. It's the kind of story that finds humour, warmth and charm in the most basic, mundane everyday occurrences, and champions the dispossessed, where equally lonely and stubborn souls form habitual friendship groups that grudgingly, sometimes unknowingly, provide all the support they need to keep them afloat - gives us all hope, eh?
Like one of Aunt's sugar puffs, this is 'a little sweet, with no other pretension than quite simply to be eaten': enjoy! (Word to the wise, if you're at all queasy about bathroom functions, then maybe proceed with caution?!)
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- Suzanne
- 11-03-19
Refreshingly different!
I wasn't sure about this book initially but intrigued as to exactly what the protagonist's work was and what the monster machine actually did. Reading aloud to a train carriage full of people seemed a strange thing for such a quiet man to do but I loved this character and his philosophy. The incongruity of this job for someone who loved books was painful. I loved the marvellous colleague who only spoke in Alexandrian quatrains and admire the writer's skill in creating these. A charming story with some very humorous touches and a pleasing resolution.
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- Amelia Woodruff
- 05-02-19
Spectacular read
Although slow to start ‘The Reader’ is a delightfully quirky, beautifully written and expertly performed audiobook. Really a delight to have listened to and so very clever.
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- Liz Scully
- 01-02-18
Sublime - both writing and narration
A delightful short read. Beautiful narration - that enhanced the book. Almost a fairy tale but filled with rounded and delightful characters. Celebrating the depth and richness of every day life.
The followup book is read by someone else and I so enjoyed this one (consumed in one sitting this morning) that I feel I'll need to wait a little before listening to it. As having a different narrator just won't be the same.
This is a magical book and one I'll be sharing with lots of people.
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- Adam
- 25-01-18
The occasional misread
A fun, quirky story and I really like Cornicard’s accent. The subtle way he changed his voice for Julie and the old ladies was nice, too.
Due to reading difficulties, I read and listen at the same time and I did find a few small errors here and there: some misread words and unintoned questions. I found myself doing a double-take ever now and then but really no big deal!
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- JJ43
- 18-08-16
Beautiful, touching and amusing
If you described the plot of this book to anyone, it would seem a little strange but the entire narrative wends its way to a beautiful, funny and touching narrative. The French narration only added to its beauty.
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- Colin Heinink
- London, UK
- 02-08-16
Favourite
My favourite ever book. Simple. Have to write 11 more words. 4 more words now:
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- Hannah Groom
- 25-10-18
DNFing at Chapter 7
If you LOVE trains, go for it. If not, yes its super heavy on the train topic so maybe give it a miss.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Jan Bonthuys
- 05-06-18
Brijant
Uitstekende boek. Baie interesante plot. Skrywer het baie goeie karakter ontwikkeling toegepas. Interesant dat die antagonis en protagonis eers aan die einde van die boek ontmoet.
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- Sharon Riddick Groppi
- 14-07-16
Beautifully written - and performed flawlessly!
Any additional comments?
This book is all about books, words and overall the magic that language and literature easily bring into our own somewhat colorless lives. The language of this book is carefully used and placed just as notes on a symphony and the result is mesmerizing. Yes, the plot is nice and the story is cute and easy and definitely uplifting, but the language is the great protagonist of this book - and Mr. Cornicard's narration gives it absolute justice. Such a treat to the ears :)
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- nicholas
- 05-02-16
A man, a train, a journal.
Never have those three things been so enthralling, charming, or magical all in one book. Very good story. Give it a listen.
The narrator does an astounding job and adds to the French flavor of this story being that Stephen is himself, French.
Again, give a listen. Perhaps on a rainy day with some tea or, on a train ride :)