Tag Archives: audio

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

Posted by melydia on June 14, 2010 None comments

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore: Charlie Asher is a pretty regular guy until the birth of his daughter and death of his wife. Then strange things begin to happen. Suddenly his life revolves around sewer harpies, hellhounds, and soul vessels. I’ve found Moore to be hit or miss (mostly miss), but this was pretty consistently funny, especially considering it dealt so much with grief and loss. I liked several of the characters, such as Jane and Lily, but the whole thing started to fall apart near the end, when Audrey and the squirrel people started showing up. It felt more like a scramble to tie up loose ends than anything planned in advance, as if the whole thing had been written off the cuff in response to some sort of random prompt, which is a complaint I’ve had about Moore in the past. All in all, it was a decently funny story, just not a very polished novel.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Posted by melydia on June 9, 2010 1 comments

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (unabridged audiobook read by the author): Man oh man, I never expected to fall in love with Carrie Fisher. Aside from Star Wars and a cameo appearance in one of the Austin Powers movies, I’m pretty much completely unfamiliar with her work. I’ve never read any of her novels or seen any of her other movies. But you know, this was really fantastic. She’s brutally honest about her upbringing as a product of “Hollywood inbreeding”, her bipolar disorder, her addictions, and her romantic follies. This is a pretty short book, but it goes a mile a minute, jumping from topic to topic without ever feeling too scatterbrained. There are some sad parts and some touching parts, but most of it is just plain old hilarious. I laughed out loud on a number of occasions and had a big old grin on my face for much of the rest of it. Highly recommended.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Posted by melydia on June 8, 2010 None comments

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: Ponyboy Curtis is a Greaser, a member of a gang, an enemy of the Socs (short for Socials). I kind of wish I’d read this back in middle school before I’d encountered a hundred other stories just like it. The rival social groups, the brawling that goes too far, and even the killing off of characters rather than having them face the difficult (and potentially interesting) consequences of their actions – nothing came as a surprise. It’s even told from the point of view of the character who is unusually smart and bookish, a stereotype which detracts a bit from the realism for me. I understand why this shortcut is so often taken by authors (who are often smart and bookish) to elicit sympathy from the reader (who is also often smart and bookish), but I would have rather heard from Soda or even Two-Bit, Greasers who were more participants than observers. The teenager narrative voice is realistic, which is kind of to be expected considering how much has been made of the fact that the author was only 16 when she wrote it. I’m not saying this is a bad book – far from it. It’s certainly something I would recommend to young adults. I just felt like I’d read it before, that’s all.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin

Posted by melydia on June 7, 2010 None comments

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (abridged audiobook read by Julia Roberts): College senior Nanny takes a job as – you guessed it – a nanny for Grayer, the son of the extremely wealthy Mr. and Mrs. X. The Xes turn out to be every nanny’s worst nightmare: rich, snobbish, and completely self-absorbed. It’s actually strikingly similar to The Devil Wears Prada, except that I actually had sympathy for the narrator here. There’s a child involved, so she really can’t just quit. Nanny is actually quite graceful and professional in the face of such torment. The use of aliases like “X” and “Nanny” is an interesting device, making it sound more like nonfiction, except that everyone else in the book has a regular name. I don’t know that I’d seek out other books by these authors, but this one was decent.

On the audio version: Roberts is an okay narrator, but it took me a while to get into the groove of her slightly too-fast monotone.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Absolute Power by David Baldacci

Posted by melydia on May 26, 2010 1 comments

Absolute Power by David Baldacci: The set-up of the story is simple: Luther Whitney, an aging thief, witnesses the lady of the house he is robbing in a tryst with Allen Richmond, the President of the United States. Things get out of hand and she is killed by secret service agents. Luther gets his hands on a key piece of evidence and is suddenly on the run for his life. Seth Frank is the detective on the murder case; Walter Sullivan is the millionaire husband of the deceased and good friend to the President; Jack Graham is Luther’s defense lawyer, the ex-boyfriend of Luther’s estranged daughter Kate, and the target of the President’s men for much of the book. It’s a decent cat-and-mouse tale, with a high body count and reasonably likeable characters. There were a surprising number of first-names-as-last-names in this book: Frank, Collin, Simon, Graham, Russell, Whitney. Usually I don’t notice things like that, but it got a little confusing at times. I don’t see myself picking up any more Baldacci titles, but it was decently engaging.

I am now very interested to see the movie made from this book, as apparently they cut out Jack Graham entirely.

I listened to this on audiobook read by Scott Brick, whom I thoroughly enjoyed as a narrator of Card’s Ender series. He was no disappointment here. Included in this version was the short story “No Time Left”. It was, in a word, terrible. The second the client said his name I knew exactly where it was going, and I was exactly right. Don’t bother with it.

Also posted on BookCrossing.
Read as part of the Books Won Challenge

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Posted by melydia on May 7, 2010 1 comments

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova: Dr. Andrew Marlowe, psychiatrist, tracks down the three major women in the life of painter Robert Oliver to figure out why the man attacked a painting in the National Portrait Gallery. His wife (Kate) and his mistress (Mary) both tell abridged versions of their life stories, which are interesting but not especially relevant. Interspersed are letters from 1879 between a young painter (Beatrice) and her husband’s uncle (Olivier). The ending is long in coming but predictable nonetheless, and somehow unsatisfying as well. That said, I very much enjoyed this book, if only for the passionate descriptions of painting, both the act and the appreciation of. It filled me with a longing to paint, to draw, even just to visit an art gallery. Sure, the story didn’t really go anywhere, but for once that didn’t bother me. Still, I’m not sure who I’d recommend this to – maybe a struggling artist in need of inspiration. It certainly inspired me.

The audio version of this book is decent, with a full cast of narrators. I could have done without the occasional music in the background, and I saw no reason for Beatrice and Olivier to read with such obnoxiously fake French accents, but otherwise it was pretty good.

Also posted on BookCrossing.
Read as part of the Books Won Reading Challenge.

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Posted by melydia on April 7, 2010 None comments

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde: Detective Jack Spratt heads the somewhat failing Nursery Crimes Division of the Reading Police Department. Shortly after being assigned Mary Mary as his new partner, Spratt and his team are faced with solving the suspicious death of one Humperdink “Humpty” Dumpty. In a world where police departments get much of their funding from royalties earned publishing the gripping tales of their cases in Amazing Crimes magazine, Friedland Chymes is king, and he wants the Humpty case. Spratt’s boss gives him until the budgetary committee meeting to solve the case, so it’s a race against time and the laughs are nonstop. This is, quite simply, one of the funniest novels I’ve ever read. I listened to it on audio, read by the immensely talented Simon Prebble, and on many occasions I laughed out loud or even repeated some of the funnier lines. They come at you from all sides, from hilarious takes on famous nursery rhyme characters to witty business names (my favorite newspaper name was The Daily Eyestrain) to truly bizarre plot twists. Highly recommended, but you might want to brush up on your nursery rhymes first so you can catch more of the jokes. Trust me, you’ll enjoy it just that much more.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh

Posted by melydia on February 23, 2010 None comments

Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh: It’s never a dull moment for the cops of Hollywood Station. The overarching plot is about a master of disguise, a handful of con men, and a handsome teenager just beginning to embrace his inner psychopath. In addition, there are plenty of little asides along the way – funny and/or poignant conversations between the cops, bizarre incidents with criminals, and the like – which keep the action moving. All the characters were great, but I enjoyed the surfer cops the most. Something about the lingo makes me chuckle every time. As far as I can tell, this is the third Hollywood Station book, but I didn’t ever feel like I was missing something. My only real complaint was that the ending felt a touch forced. However, the rest of the story was so good I can overlook that.

I listened to this on audio, read by Christian Rummell, who was absolutely excellent. Not only is he a great narrator, but he is also the man of a thousand voices. Even his female voices are convincing and distinct!

Also posted on BookCrossing.
Read for the Books Won Reading Challenge.

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Posted by melydia on February 16, 2010 None comments

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman: I’d been looking forward to this last installment of His Dark Materials, both just because I thoroughly enjoyed its predecessors, and because I wanted to find out the twist ending that had inspired such polarized reactions among my friends. Without spoiling anything: I understood the ending, and it made sense with the rest of the story, but it still made me sad. Other than that, I can say that I very much enjoyed these books, and the characters will stay with me for a very long time. I admit I got a little confused with the Biblical metaphors here and there, but the rest of the adventure was quite satisfying, and I’d love to read more stories set in that universe. Definitely recommended, but not for sensitive young readers. There’s a lot of violence.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

Posted by melydia on January 28, 2010 3 comments

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman: While trying to protect his mother from some mysterious men, Will steps into another world. There he meets Lyra and is swept up into the tale of Dust and witches and daemons. This is the second installment in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and like many seconds-of-three, it’s pretty dark. The violence is both more prevalent and more graphic than in The Golden Compass, and at times I almost cried. But it’s well-written and exciting, and I just love Will. Like the previous book, it ends with a cliffhanger. Looking forward to the conclusion.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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