Audio Book

Audiobook: Bread of Angels

Leave a comment

By Patti Smith
Read by the author:
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is talk of drugs and death. It’s in both the Biography and Music sections of the bookstore.

I have no connection to Patti Smith at all – never listened to her music, and only knew who she was because my previous boss adored her. But when we were looking at road trip audiobooks, Russell decided that this sounded interesting, so I was game.

It’s basically her life story – from a childhood in poverty to being in the right places and meeting the right people in New York in the 1970s, to a marriage and early widowhood in the 1980s, through until today. There were some interesting parts, and she’s not a bad writer, though she is a poet and tends to take Meaning in things where others might not.

She’s not a great audiobook narrator, though. She pauses at odd times, and she has weird inflections. I suppose that could give it character, but in the end, it was just mildly annoying.

I suppose if I had a connection to her somehow, I might have liked this one more, but as it is, it was just kind of meh.

Audiobook: On a Night Like This

Leave a comment

by Lindsey Kelk
Read by Carrie Hope Fletcher
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There isn’t any on-page sex, and there’s only kissing. There is talk of an affair, and swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Fran has been down on her luck the past few years, after moving back with her fiance to his hometown. However, on a whim, she decides to call her old temp agent, who just happens to have a job for her as an assistant to a celebrity. For a short five days. Except those five days changes the direction of Fran’s life.

It’s a sweet little Cinderella story – circumstances line up that Fran can actually attend the Crystal Ball – an exclusive party for the wealthiest of the wealthy – where she meets Evan, and is swept away. Is she going to have the guts to change the trajectory of her life, or will she go back to the same-old-same-old.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It was silly, it was sweet, and Fran’s journey to an empowered woman was one to cheer. And Fletcher did a fabulous job with all the accents!

Recommneded, especially on audio.

Audiobook: Christmas Fling

Leave a comment

by Lindsey Kelk
Read by Heather Long
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some fade to black sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Laura is in her medical residency to be a neurosurgeon and she has one rule: no relationships. But when she accidentally sees her new landlord, Callum, naked (she didn’t know he was home, let alone getting out of the shower) and then is ambushed by his parents who assume she’s his (nonexistent) girlfriend, she’s pulled into a fake dating scheme: go to Scotland, pretend to be Callum’s girlfriend for Christmas, don’t catch feelings, and get a free month’s rent. Of course, things don’t go smoothly – there is an ex-fiance, and an angry sister to deal with after all – but maybe it was all for the best in the end.

On the one hand, this was so chock-full of secondhand embarrassment, it was hard to listen to. Laura kept getting into some terrible embarrassing situations, and it was just super awkward. And Callum’s family was just the Worst! I wanted to throttle his sister and his dad for being stubborn and not listening, and completely understood why Callum acted the way he did. The third-act breakup was a bit sudden, but resolved quickly (which was nice) and I appreciated the way the ending was a compromise between Laura and Callum and not one sacrificing their dreams for the other.

In short, I enjoyed this enough to hunt down another Kelk book and put it immediately on hold at the library. A fun Christmas romp.

Audiobook: One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Leave a comment

by Omar El Akkad
Read with the author.
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is talk of the genocide in Gaza and abuse by immigration officers. It’s in the Current Events section of the bookstore.

In this short memoir/accounting of the genocide in Gaz, El Akkad talks about how it is to be Muslim in the west, and how the ideas of justice and freedom are so far from what Americans, at least, believe them to be, that it’s laughable. There is heartbreak, despair, and pain and a lack of hope that anything will ever change. Except, in the writing of this, El Akkad bears a witness to the pain and maybe by reading this, there is a small amount of hope that things will become more just and truly free.

I don’t usually say books are important; I don’t really believe that there are books that everyone should read. And yet, as I was listening to this, feeling El Akkad’s pain – feeling the pain of the Palestinians who have been obliterated, feeling the pain of the people who have been unjustly detained – I realized that this is a book that, in order to change, everyone must read. If you read this and come out unchanged, you have a heart of stone.

There is pain out there; pain that must be stopped. And, the very least we can do is be a witness for the people who can’t speak.

Audiobook: All the Crooked Saints

Leave a comment

by Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Thom Rivera
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s some swearing, including a couple of f-bombs. It is in the Young Adult Science Fiction section of the bookstore, but younger kids might be interested in it.

I’m not really going to sum up the plot, since I did that when I first read this book eight years ago. I did enjoy Rivera’s narration, though. And maybe I enjoyed this better as an audiobook. It felt like Rivera was sitting there telling me this tall tale about family and love and miracles. It’s the least Stiefvater-y book of all the ones I’ve read this year, but I still loved it. And yeah, while I see it’s problematic that Stiefvater is exploring a culture that isn’t hers, I still liked the way she wove religion and myth with Latinx culture and 1960s. It was a delightful audiobook to listen to.

Highly recommended on audio, especially.

Audiobook: The Gales of November

Leave a comment

by John U. Bacon
Read by Johnny Heller
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some harrowing instances, and talk (of course) of shipwrecks. It’s in the History section of the bookstore.

I honestly didn’t know much about the Edmund Fitzgerald and its wreck in Lake Superior, except the Gordon Lightfoot song (though I have been to the shipwreck museum in Whitefish Bay). That said, I didn’t know everything, and Bacon looks at all the aspects of it. From sailing on the Great Lakes (more dangerous than the ocean, believe it or not) to the importance of shipping, to the history of the ship, to the actual circumstances of the ship sinking. It’s a social history as well as a history of the ship, looking at the sailors’ lives, as well as the shipping industry as a whole.

And it was utterly fascinating. Having grown up in Michigan, I adore the Great Lakes, but I didn’t realize just the scope of the impact the lakes have had over the years. I found myself wanting to stay in the car listening. Heller was a fine narrator, but it really was the story that carried this book.

A remarkable book about a fascinating incident in time.

Audiobook: Every Step She Takes

Leave a comment

by Alison Cochran
Read by: Cindy Kay & Jeremy Carlisle Parker
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and on-page sex. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Sadie Wells needs a change. She’s been running her grandmother’s antique store (which was left to her when grandma died) since she was 21, and at 35, she feels stuck. So, when her travel-influencer younger sister gets a broken foot, Sadie jumps at the chance to take her place walking Portugal’s Camino de Santiago as part of a tour.

Mal, who had a falling out with her father 20 years ago, is back in Portugal on the heels of a breakup with her girlfriend, and is avoiding the aftermath of her father’s death (and his leaving his wine company to her). She has sworn off falling for yet another girl, and yet there is Sadie, who is having a gay awakening, and Mal can’t seem to resist the pull.

Can Sadie find herself and maybe help Mal make a change along the way?

I have decided that it really doesn’t matter what Cochran writes. I will read it. This was delightful – found family, discovering oneself, and travel in a gorgeous country, coupled with Cochran’s trademark wit and depth. I adored everything about this, from the delightful narrators to the story. Here’s to late bloomers and people discovering their authentic selves.

I loved it.

Audiobook: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 1

Leave a comment

by Beth Brower
Read by Genevieve Gaunt
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It’s just charming; there’s nothing untoward. It’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

It’s 1883 and Emma M. Lion is back at Lapis Lazuli (I hope that’s spelled right; I don’t have the book to check!), the house she has rightfully inherited but that her cousin (by marriage) currently occupies. She’s escaped being the companion of her cousin’s sister for the past three years, and as she’s almost at her majority, is starting to find her way again. Of course, it’s not easy: she’s being pressed into helping her actual cousin (her father’s sister’s daughter) go on the marriage market, which she’s not looking forward to. And it doesn’t help that both of her parents have passed, and her cousin has spent nearly all of her inheritance (on clothes!). How will she make do?

I’ve seen people reading this on Bookstagram, and they’ve become obsessed. I probably would have let it pass me by except an old blogging friend of mine bullied me (well, she put it on hold at the library on Libby where we share a card, and said, You will read this) into listening to it. And, I have to say: I’m obsessed. Immediately upon finishing it, I put all eight volumes on order at the store, and I’m planning on plowing through them all. They are a delight. The narrator for this one is a delight. It’s exactly what I needed when I needed. It made me utterly happy. It’s absolutely worth the obsession.

If you haven’t read them yet, hunt them down and read them. It’s absolutely worth it.

Audiobook: Soul Searching

Leave a comment

by Lyla Sage
Read by Jason Clarke and Samantha Brentmoor
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is on-page sex, plus lots of swearing, including many f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Collins Cartwright has come back to her hometown of Sweetwater Peak to help her family. Or so she says. In actuality, she’s lost her ability to talk to ghosts and she’s run out of photography gigs, and she’s unhappy. So, she’s come back to find herself. What she ends up doing is working for Brady Cooper, a new resident in Sweetwater Peak. And what starts out rough turns into something… more.

First off: the narration on this one is fantastic. They did Lost and Lassoed together, and were honestly one of the best parts of that book. I adore their voices, and they have fantastic chemistry. This was another dual narration, which I’m not terribly fond of, but I liked it in this instance. And while this is a super slow burn – it lacks the usual three-act romance structure – I enjoyed getting to know Brady and Collins. I liked the town that Sage created, and her take on ghosts was quite interesting. It’s a non-spooky ghost story, with a bit of a mystery that Collins solves by the end.

And Sage knows how to write a good romance. I’m definitely on board to see where she goes next with this series.

Audiobook: Busted

Leave a comment

by Dan Gemeinhart
Read by: Mark Sanderlin
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some implied swearing (cleverly “quacked” out), minor crime, mafia dealings, and disobeying of parents. It’s in the Middle Grade section of the bookstore.

Oscar Aberdeen is a good kid. He’s got lots of grandparents to make sure he’s a good kid, since he lives at Sunny Days retirement home. He doesn’t want anything to change; he’s happy the way it is. But a new owner comes in, and raises the rent on Oscar and his grandpa. And so when new resident (and possible “bad news”) Jimmy Deluca asks Oscar to help him escape Sunny Days (he’s restricted) and accomplish his bucket list for $10,000 to help Oscar stay at Sunny Days, Oscar doesn’t refuse. That’s what starts the worst (and best) day of Oscar’s life.

This was an absolute delight to listen to. Gemeinhart knows how to write to middle grade readers, and knows how to make a story fun. It’s got heart – it’s about being a good person and doing the good thing and being a good friend – and it tackles tough issues like cancer and dying and deadbeat parents and losing one’s home. But it’s fun, entertaining, and thoroughly enjoyable to listen to.

Highly recommend this one. (Maybe I should get around to reading his other books, too!)