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A note on the audio: I am so glad I listened to this one. The entire thing is written in dialect that would surely have driven me mad in print, but isn’t so bad to hear. (It helps that Baker is an excellent reader.) Also, the feed ads are done just like radio ads, which brings some extra realism to the story. I was kind of confused when they first cut in, because I thought maybe my CD player had switched over to radio accidentally or something, but a lot of the content is actually quite absurd and funny.
by Adam Rex: I admit it: I judged this book by its cover. With a title like that, how could I not pick it up? And I was not disappointed. A girl named Gratuity and a cat named Pig meet an alien named J.Lo and journey across America to find Gratuity’s mother. It’s a pretty ridiculous story all around. The illustrations are fantastic and the whole thing is really funny. It’s also a not-so-subtle allusion to the story of the Native Americans, a rare work of effective satire that loses neither its humor nor its message. Good stuff.
by Alexandre Dumas (unabridged audiobook read by Geoffrey Sherman; 16 hrs on 14 discs): Well, that was a real downer. People die, noble plots are thwarted, good men are sent to prison. The title is a little misleading, because surprisingly little of the book is about said man – the brother of the king, whom Aramis tries to install in his place from the very first chapter. I still love all four Musketeers, but this story seemed less about them and more about French politics. I think. To be honest, I had a lot of trouble following it. I kept confusing people, especially since most of the noblemen had two or three names each. It was nice to rejoin Athos, Aramis, Porthos, and d’Artagnan, but I would have rather spent the time with them off on adventures, and not as old men who barely see each other anymore. I suppose it’s not a bad way to round off your Musketeer collection, but definitely don’t start here.
by John O’Hara: Wow, is this book ever tedious. The back cover blurb claims that the first scene unleashes a chain of events that can only result in tragedy, so I kept reading to the end in the hope that this meant something would actually happen, but it never really did. I mean, sure, I suppose the death of a character could be considered tragic, but only if the reader had any emotional investment in the life of that character. Which I did not.
by Carl Hiaasen (unabridged audiobook read by George Wilson; 15.75 hrs on 13 discs): When a couple of endangered voles are stolen, a disgruntled PR guy at a cut-rate Disneyland-wannabe discovers a sinister secret. Meanwhile, you have an ex-politician hobo, a gun-toting octogenarian ecoterrorist, a couple of bumbling thieves, a phone sex worker turned serious poet, and the mafia, all getting in each other’s ways. This book tries to be light-hearted and silly, and indeed most of the characters are pretty ridiculous, but it rubbed me the wrong way all the same. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of humor, but it didn’t hide the sometimes obnoxious preaching. This is only my second Hiaasen book, but the story is very similar: well-meaning environmentalists versus corrupt developers. The thing is, most developers are completely legit. It’s like, we’re against all this development and destruction of native lands, and oh hey, they just happen to be doing something illegal. How convenient. How contrived.
by Lesley Alderman: As one might expect, this is a collection of assorted factoids about time – more specifically, how people spend their time. It’s not nearly as interesting as I’d hoped. For one thing, almost all the data is from surveys, and many of those are from internet surveys, and we all know how accurate those are. The results are often contradictory as well: for example, on one page we learn that smoking takes nine years off your life, but just two pages later we learn it’s only four. This general lack of continuity isn’t helped any by the large number of typos, some quite prominent. How long do rock banks last? I didn’t understand until I read the list and realized it was supposed to be rock bands. In short, unless you are desperate for a book of trivia about how people may or may not actually spend their time, I’d suggest giving this one a miss.
by Jim Mastro: This is the second book in the Children of Hathor series, but it’s been long enough since I read the first one that I can safely say that it’s not absolutely essential to read that one to enjoy this one. All you really need to know is that American middle-schooler Jason and his friends Amelia and Kevin were abducted by aliens, and Jason became the holder of a powerful talisman. In this book they are once again spirited away into the realm of galactic politics and long-lost talismans, but as the situation worsens and the galaxy plunges toward war, Jason starts to doubt his so-called allies. Is he being told the truth? Whose side is right? It’s a grand sci-fi adventure, full of memorable aliens and fast-paced action. I look forward to seeing how Jason’s story pans out.
by Mary Roach (unabridged audiobook read by Sandra Burr; 10.5 hrs on 9 discs): I have never wanted to be an astronaut. The notion of having nothing between you and the vacuum of space but a thin wall is absolutely terrifying. I don’t want to worry about using the toilet while weightless or eat food from a tube or go weeks without bathing. I am also prone to motion sickness. That said, it’s still interesting to read about the challenges involved in propelling man out past the atmosphere. I liked a lot of the history, but unfortunately the majority of the facets of space life covered here have to do with vomit and feces. I understand how important those two things are in these sorts of conditions, but it got really old. Not something I’d recommend to the casual reader, but if you’re hoping to become an astronaut, it could serve as a much-needed warning for what you’re getting yourself into.
by Jasper Fforde (unabridged audiobook read by Elizabeth Sastre; 12 hrs on 10 discs): Every time I read another Thursday Next book I figure that’s the last one I’m going to bother with. Not because they’re bad – they’re actually rather charming – but because there are so many literary references that I feel I’m not really appreciating them as much as I could be. And I don’t want to bother with the prerequisite reading to catch up. Anyway, this is the third book in the series, and Thursday has settled in an unpublished novel for the duration of her pregnancy. At the same time, she is training to become a Jurisfiction agent, dealing with the memories of her eradicated husband being erased, and raising two young generics trying to figure out what kind of characters they will become. She is visited by her grandmother (and it just occurred to me that it was never fully explained just how old Granny managed to travel into the book world), deals with footnote spam, and attempts to solve the murder of several of her fellow agents. The whole thing is actually quite a lot of fun, and there were points when I laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all. I don’t know that I’ll necessarily continue the series, but I won’t rule it out either.
by Marisha Pessl: When the daughter of famously reclusive director Stanislas Cordova turns up dead of an apparent suicide, journalist Scott McGrath finds himself determined to learn the truth. On the way he picks up two unlikely companions, meets a host of strange folks, encounters black magic and hallucinations, and uncovers a large number of strange coincidences. The mystery and suspense are thick the whole way through. Is Ashley Cordova leading him somewhere from beyond the grave? Is Stanislas Cordova a bigger monster than anything that appeared in his horror films? What happened to the actors he worked with? Why is there such a wall of secrecy around the man? Pessl’s gift is writing with such realism that you want to check IMdb.com for Cordova’s name just to reassure yourself that he doesn’t really exist, that this really is fiction. The plot is masterly woven, and though certain parts of the resolution are left to the reader to decide, this feels deliberate rather than lazy. I’ve complained in the past about “open-ended” books that feel like the last chapter was somehow left off, but the ending here is both open and satisfying. I personally prefer the more fantastic explanation offered, but either way this is the sort of story you want all your friends to read so you can share your theories. Truly un-put-downable. I hope Pessl is already working on her next novel.