Audio Book

Audiobook: Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

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by J. Ryan Stradal
Read by Aspen Vincent
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Content: There was some mild swearing (maybe one or two f-bombs?) and a lot of death/hardship and mention of abuse. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

In northern Minnesota, there’s a restaurant – the Lakeside Supper Club – that has been family owned for nearly a century. It’s managed to stay open in the face of unhappiness on the part of the owners, meddling kids, and upstart chain restaurants. Sure, it could use a bit of a facelift, but it still has that down-home, family quality to it that it had when it opened all those years before.
This is the story of some of those owners, and how the last one, in a long line, came to sell it.

Sure, it’s about more than that: it’s about making choices and having the freedom to make choices. It’s about parent-child relationships, and how those shape our lives. It’s about owning a small business in the ever-encroaching world of fast food and chain restaurants. It’s about life in Minnesota.
It does follow several generations of characters, through time, as they make their choices and mistakes – and I came to realize that they were happier having chosen the restaurant rather than having it forced upon them. Maybe that’s a metaphor for life?

The narrator was fantastic, and I enjoyed every minute of listening to her read this book. I don’t know if I want to go out and read another Stradal book (though several of my coworkers love his stuff), but I liked this one quite a bit.

AudioBook:Harvest House

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by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Charley Flyte
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Content: There are some intense moments involving danger for young indigenous women, instances of racism, some mild swearing, and mention of murder. It’s in the YA section ( grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

It’s the fall, and since the play at school has been canceled, Hughie Wolfe has been looking for something else to do with his time and talents. Enter Sam, who talks Hughie into volunteering at the Harvest House haunted house. This sounds like a good idea until the person in charge decides to set up an “Indian” burial ground and lean into the legend of the “Indian Maiden” ghost at the crossroads. This makes Hughie, who is Muskogee (I think; at least that’s what is sticking in my head and I don’t have the book to check), angry, and so he and his friends decide to investigate the legend and see what truth lies behind it.

It’s part high school drama set in a small Kansas town, nearby Lawrence – Hughie is a sophomore, so there is some drama with bullies and he has his first date with Marie, who is Ojibwe, in addition to the drama about cutting the funds for the drama department – part ghost story. Hughie’s chapters are interspersed with Celeste’s, who is the ghost of the crossroads and whose mission is to protect indigenous girls from the predator that lurks there.

I liked a lot of this book. I liked that it’s an indigenous story set here in Kansas, I liked Leitich Smith’s portrayal of indigenous kids in a non-reservation environment. She really leaned into the racism – so many instances of racism by white people towards the native kids, and in ways they didn’t even think about. I felt like she didn’t go hard enough in the ghost story and backed away from a truly macabre ending, but it is a young YA book, so I can’t really fault that. The narrators were good, though I thought it was dragging by the end, and I sped up the listening speed just so I could finish.

I’m glad it’s out there, though, and I hope it can find its audience.

Audiobook: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

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by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Read by Anna Li
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Content: There’s not much objectionable. it’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

In a small, underground cafe in Tokyo, there is a chair that will take you back in time. There are rules, of course, but if you follow the rules you can go back and meet someone. Perhaps it’s a husband who has now forgotten you because of Alzheimer’s; or a boyfriend you had a bad conversation with; or a sister, who is now dead. Or maybe, you are brave enough to go into the future to meet the daughter you birthed but then died shortly after. Whoever you meet, while you can’t change the present, maybe you can just set your heart at peace. 

I was at first charmed by this short book – the narrator is good, and the translation (it was originally written and published in Japanese) isn’t bad. But honestly: as the book went on, I became more impatient with it. They repeated things – do I really need the Rules for Traveling every time someone new sits in the seat? – and while I didn’t dislike the characters, I didn’t really like them either. I feel like there was so much more Telling than Showing – let me tell you all about this character or this situation, rather than just letting it unfold naturally. I usually listen to my audiobooks at 1.0 speed, because I liked to hear the narrator and the story unfold at a natural pace. But I got fed up with this one, and sped through the last quarter because I was just Done with this book (but too close to the end to bail). 

I don’t get why people love it, or why it sold so many copies. But that’s just probably me.

Audiobook: The Lonely Hearts Book Club

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by Lucy Gilmore
Read by Angie Kane
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Content: There is some mild swearing, and talk of death. It’s in the Adult Fiction section of the bookstore.

Sometimes, you need a book that just reaffirms your faith in humanity. That there are good people out there, and that connecting is the best thing. The Authenticity Project is one of those books. As is this one.

Sloane Parker is an unassuming 20-something, who is engaged to a chiropractor, mostly because he’s safe. She works at the Cour d’Alene library, and one of their patrons – Arther MacLachlan – is an old crank, but he and Sloane take to sparring. So, when he doesn’t show up at the library for a few days, Sloane is worried. She risks her job to get Arthur’s address, where she finds him throwing out home nurse aids, having just been released from the hospital. From there both Sloane’s and Arthur’s world expands as they meet, make, and grow some pretty wonderful friendships along the way. And of course: there’s a book club to propel all this along.

Yes, it is a bit mundane, and everyone’s problems are quite ordinary. But, it’s also delightful, especially on audiobook, so you can hear Kane’s brilliant voices embody the characters and make them come alive. It’s sweet and charming and delightful. And sometimes, you just need that.

Audiobook: Forget Me Not

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by Alyson Derrick
Read by Natalie Naudus
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Content: There is homophobia, overt racism, mention of teenage drinking, and swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Stevie and Nora are in love. They have been secretly dating for two years – secretly because they live in a conservative town, in conservative families, who – they know – would kick them out for being gay. So, they date in secret and have made a plan to get out and go to California, so they can live together, out in the open. 

But, as they were together in the woods one day, Stevie has a bad fall, with a bad head injury, and after two weeks in an induced coma, she woke up with no memories of the past two years. Which means she has no memory of her relationship with Nora.  

When I first started listening to this one I thought it was super contrived: who loses just two years of their memories? But the more I listened, the more I got it. Derrick is exploring some interesting things here. Like: if you were acculturated to believe you were straight, and forgot about your discovery of your sexuality, will you be straight or gay? It’s gay, of course, but I thought it was fascinating how Derrick got there after the accident. Also: I felt so much for Nora – the one person who knew everything, and yet couldn’t say anything. I also found it interesting the way Derrick portrayed the parents. Stevie’s dad is a Fox-news watching mechanic, so I formed Opinions about him. He didn’t do much to refute that, until the end. I’m not sure I believe it, but it’s there. It was a fascinating exploration. 

It helped that Naudus is an excellent narrator, keeping me engaged and propelling the story forward. This one would be a good book for a book group; there’s a lot to think about and discuss here. And I quite liked it.

Audiobook: Ander & Santi Were Here

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by Jonny Garza Villa
Read by: Avi Roque
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Content: There is a lot of swearing, including many f-bombs, marijuana use, and mention of sex (it’s not quite on-screen, but not entirely off- either)

Ander is taking a gap year after they graduated high school to figure things out. They’ve been accepted into a prestigious art school in Chicago, but for right now, they’re doing an internship with a non-profit in their hometown of San Antonio. But then their parents and grandmother hire Santi at their taquira, and Ander’s world turns upside down. But it’s not just first love: Santi is an undocumented immigrant, which poses all kinds of complications for their relationship.

I really enjoyed this one, especially on audio. The narrator was fantastic, and kept me interested the whole way through. But, it was also about art and finding one’s voice (can you find a voice in art?) and expressing the true version of oneself. It’s about this country’s messed-up immigration system. But it was also about family, and being there for and supporting each other.

I loved how effortless that Latinx elements were, and how much Villa just sprinkled it with Spanish. it felt very authentic and real, and I could just imagine Ander and Santi at different places around San Antonio. An excellent read.

Audio book: Pet

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by Akwaeke Emezi
Read by Christopher Meyer
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Content: There is a lot of mild swearing and one f-bomb, and illusions to sexual assault. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Jam lives in a world free of monsters. The citizens of the city of Lucille defeated the monsters and created a just and equitable world. But one night, Jam’s mother, Bitter, paints a monstrous-looking creature, and Jam accidentally brings it through the canvas into the real world. Initially, Jam thinks the creature is a monster, but it – Pet – is out to Hunt monsters, which it says is in the home of Jam’s best friend, Redemption. Hunting monsters is not an easy task, and it is one that Jam resists at first, but eventually, they recruit Redemption’s help to find and defeat the monster.

The thing is: the monsters aren’t “monsters”. They’re people who do monstrous things. Which is what I thought at the beginning, but then an actual non-human being showed up, and I was confused: is monster literal? Is it metaphorical? Is it both? I don’t know.

That’s not saying that I wasn’t intriged by this one. Myers was a fabulous narrator, and he kept me engaged in the story when I was confused about what was going on. I loved the representation: Jam is trans and Black, and the matter-of-fact-ness of Jam’s personhood was refreshing.

And in the end, the book is probably more about complacency than anything else: Lucille thought that they had defeated the monsters, which meant there were not going to be any more monsters, ever. This turned out to be untrue, so maybe we just have to keep fighting the monsters even if it’s hard and we don’t want to?

Anyway, that’s what I got out of it.

Audio book: The Black Flamingo

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by Dean Atta
Read by the author
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Content: There is some swearing, talk of gay sex, and (older) teen drinking and drug use. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Michael has spent his life feeling different from everyone else. A mixed-race kid (half-Black, half-Greek-Cypriate) in a mostly white London neighborhood, and as a boy who likes more traditionally “girly” things. He tries to find a place for himself in a religious school, with a female best friend, and in the drama department, though some of his crushes on boys don’t go over well (he gets the “you’re going to hell” speech more than once). But it’s not until he gets to university, and finds the Drag club, that he truly begins to Find Himself.

I read this as part of Trans Awareness Readathon week, mostly because I thought there would be more about gender fluidity and drag. There wasn’t. However, there was a lot about identity in general, both as a Black man in a majority white society and as a gay man in a conservative school. It was good – though listening to it on audio means I missed out on the novel as verse aspect. And because it was read by the author (who did well with it), I mistakenly thought it was a memoir for a while (there are some striking similarities between Michael the character and Atta the author). Even with all of that, it was a short, good listen, and I’m glad I got to experience Michael and his story.

Audiobook: Nora Goes Off Script

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by Annabel Monaghan
Read by Hillary Huber
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Content: Oh, well, it’s a romance book. Infer what you will. It’s in the romance section of the bookstore.

Nora is fine. She has a fairly successful career writing scripts for romance movies for the Romance Channel. When her husband left, she was sad, but he was also an asshole, so it wasn’t that bad. And then she wrote a script about their story and sold it to an actual movie studio and it got made into a movie. The studio spent a couple of days filming at her actual house – and the star, Leo Vance, is charmed by her home. After the filming is done, he sticks around, wanting to experience normal life for a bit (in order to process his mother’s recent death). He helps Nora with the shopping and cooking and with her kids… and eventually, they fall in love.

But things are not perfect; when Leo has to jet away to deal with a film contract, he promises he will come back. But he doesn’t. Nora’s heart breaks, and life goes on, and suddenly those romance movie scripts with predictable outcomes seem trite. Will Nora be able to get her life back on track after the second man in as many years has walked out on her?

Oh, I liked this one. It was delightful on audio – Huber does a fantastic job, keeping me engaged in the story. Which was a lot of fun as well. It seems that the current trend in romance books is to be the thing while critiquing the thing, so while I knew the beats of the story, there was some depth to it. I liked how the focus was more on Nora’s ability to be resilient and vulnerable to others, as well as making her children her priority. I liked the relationship between her and Leo, and even the conflict felt real. It was a solid romance book, and I’ll be happy to read whatever Monaghan writes next.

Audiobook: Poverty, by America

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by Matthew Desmond
Read by Dion Graham
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Content: There are a few mild swear words. It’s in the Sociology section of the bookstore.

I was moved by the stories of the people in Desmond’s Evicted, but I think there was a part of me that could put it at a distance. At least that’s not my life. But in Poverty, by America Desmond pulls no punches: poverty is not just a “them” problem. It’s something that affects ALL of us. 

In this short, to the point, book Desmond uses data to show how the system exploits poor people, from the TANF government funds that so many states misuse or use for programs other than to actually help poor people (for every $1 of the fund, only 22 cents make it into the hands of poor people) to the landlords who nickel and dime the poor into higher rents for lower quality apartments that they can get evicted from. But it’s more than that: it’s the middle class with our health care and mortgage subsidies (the middle class and wealthy are subsidized by the government at much if not more than poor people are) and the wealthy and businesses who are not made to pay their (measly, comparatively) tax share. 

It’s Desmond challenging the reader to think about whether a corporation pays their employees a living wage before shopping there. It’s a call for a universal basic income. It’s a lament that for the past 50 years, in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, no progress has been made to help the people living in poverty. 

It’s quite probably one of the most important books I’ve read and challenged me as well as changed my perspective on things. 

It doesn’t get much better than that.