Audio Book

Audiobook: The Paris Novel

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by Ruth Reichl
Read by Kiiri Sandy
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is mention of sexual abuse to a child, as well as just general bad parenting. It’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

Stella was raised by a single mom, who was not reliable. She was flaky and inconsistent and as a result, Stella became very routinized. She had rules she followed, and systems to make her life make sense. And then, in the early 1980s, Stella’s mother dies and leaves her money with specific instructions to go to Paris until the money runs out. So, Stella does. And, she sets about living in Paris like in New York – very frugally. That is until she wanders into a second-hand clothing shop and tries on the Perfect Dress. She can’t afford it, but the shop owner talks her into it, promising she could return it the next day. She also promises that Stella’s life will change. And it does. She meets Jules and through him, the whole world of Paris opens up and eventually completely changes Stella’s life.

This was a delightful little novel. I could tell that Reichl was a food writer – food was incredibly important to the story, both to the plot and just in the descriptions of the food. I felt like I could have been in Paris, enjoying the food that Stella had. That was part of what I enjoyed about the book – the descriptions of Paris in the early 1980s – it was someplace that someone could go and live for months on very little, and still enjoy so much. It was also a story about enjoying life to the fullest; Stella discovers that the limiting way she had been living her life was soulless, and to really Live, one needed not only to Enjoy the finer things but also to Follow Your Dreams.

Sandy was also an excellent narrator. She brought the characters to life and was able to make the whole Paris world feel full and vibrant. In the end, I thought it was a very enjoyable read.

Audiobook: Murder Your Employer

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by Rupert Holmes
Read by Neil Patrick Harris & Simon Vance
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Content: There is talk of murder, of course, plus descriptions of sexual harassment and assault. There are also mentions of suicide. It’s in the Mystery section of the bookstore.

In this fictitious how-to guide, we follow three students of McMasters Academy – a school that is hidden and dedicated to teaching people the art of “deletion”, or rather, ending the life of a specific target for a very particular reason. It’s not just murder though, there are Ethics. At any rate, we follow Cliff Iverson, whose boss is a horrible human being and is responsible for the suicides of at least two people; Gemma Lindley, a nurse who helped her gravely ill father die faster and is being blackmailed for it; and Dulcie Mown, aka film star Doria May, who has been relegated to the back lot by the despicable film studio head, who is angry with Doria because she wouldn’t sleep with him. All three are at McMasters to learn how to off these horrible people, and we follow them through their education and theses – or their final deletions.

On the one hand, Harris and Vance were excellent narrators. They are, for the most part why I kept listening. The plot of the book, however, was not that engaging. My biggest question was: why did we have to follow three people? Why did there need to be three plots? We mostly followed Cliff, so why didn’t we just stick with him? What was the point of including Doria and Gemma? It frustrated me. Also: this one was billed as funny, but I only got a few chuckles out of it. It was almost like Holmes was trying too hard. And I don’t know why this one is being billed as a mystery – there’s nothing to solve, there’s no intensity – Holmes lays everything out for us, and leaves nothing for the reader to try and solve.

I kept thinking that I’d forgive all my complaints if the ending was good, but it wasn’t. It just kind of petered out, lamely limping toward the conclusion. Not my cup of tea at all.

Audiobook: Lies & Weddings

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by Kevin Kwan
Read by Jing Lusi
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Content: There are the uber-rich doing the uber-rich things, including just being despicable to other people. There is talk of sex, drugs, and getting high, and there is swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

 Dr. Eden Tong has grown up in the cabin next to Greshamsbury manor, where her father – while a noted oncologist – is the personal doctor to the Earl and Countess Gresham. While she is good friends with the Greshams – especially Rufus, her best friend – she doesn’t want to get involved in all their old money exploits – flying everywhere on a whim, wearing designer clothes – and she doesn’t have any intention of marrying Rufus (no matter what his Chinese mother thinks). Yet, as the oldest, Augie gets married on the Big Island of Hawaii, Eden finds herself pulled into the Gresham drama. 

There’s more to it, of course: Kevin Kwan’s books are a meandering mesh of drama and Rich People Doing Rich Things. There are a ton of characters (I really liked Freddy Farman-Farmehian (which probably isn’t spelled right) to keep track of, as well as jetting around to exotic locations to enjoy (not to mention all the clothes and food!). It’s a lush, wild, winding book, with an ending that I called but didn’t mind that I did. I loved Lusi’s narration; there were a lot of characters to handle, and she did it beautifully. 

In short, it was a delightful romp of a book and I’m glad I read it.

Audiobook: Happy Medium

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by Sarah Adler
Read by Mara Wilson
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Content: It’s sweary including many -bombs, and has on-screen, explicit sex. It’s in the romance section of the bookstore.

Gretchen Acorn is a con artist. She runs a business where her job is to connect to the spirit world and help her clients connect with their dead loved ones. She tells herself that she’s doing them a service, comforting them in their time of grief. Then one of her clients pays her to go perform an exorcism at the farm of her bridge partner. Gretchen was expecting a quick, weekend job with a nice septuagenarian, and instead gets Charlie Waybill – hot, skeptical, and not at all grateful Gretchen is there. She also gets… a real ghost and a family curse. So, instead of performing an exorcism, she’s tasked with keeping Charlie at the goat farm because his life is in danger if he sells. And she ends up upending her own life in the process. 

By any measure, this was a fun book – a morally gray main character (that you can’t help but really like), a hot guy that pushes her to question her life, while also understanding where she comes from, a clever ghost sidekick. There are baby goats and goofily-knit sweaters! And a slight love triangle, not to mention a sassy best friend (that isn’t a goat). There are bad parents and questionable decisions. Oh, and the narrator is fabulous too. 

But. 

Something is off with it. I’m not sure if it was the sex – they were exceptionally rough, and there was some transactional quality to it that rubbed me a bit wrong – or if it was something else – the quick way Charlie came around to Gretchen (it was only a month, and yet there are books that move faster and I don’t mind), or… I’m not entirely sure. So, while I enjoyed this one, I didn’t outright love it (at least not as much as I loved Adler’s first book). It’s worth reading, though.

Audiobook: The Mango Tree

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by Annabelle Tometitch
Read by the author
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a depiction of abuse by a parent, talk of suicide, and swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Biography section of the bookstore.

Annabelle Tomtetich’s mom, an immigrant from the Philippines, was arrested for firing a BB gun at a person who was trying to steal her mangoes from the mango tree in her front yard. To understand how she came to this point Tometich takes us through her (not her mother’s) childhood, the relationship she had with her mother, and possibly most importantly, how she views the relationship her mother had with the world around her. It’s a fascinating story, one that I think a lot of children of immigrants will recognize, but it’s also a story of grief and heartache, of anxiety and compulsion, and of coming to terms with life in southwest Florida. 

This was a delightful memoir. I related to the 70s childhood of no phones and hanging out with friends, though I didn’t have an over-protective Philippine mom. I appreciated the way Tomtetich tied everything together – from her father’s death when she was 9, through her obsessive need for approval, and her discovery of her love of writing and food, to her up-and-down relationship with her mother. I feel that Tometitch did an excellent job as a narrator as well.

My only regret was that it was less food-y than I was hoping it would be, but that’s just a minor quibble. It’s an excellent book to listen to.  

Audiobook: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

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by Heather Fawcett
Read by Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
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Others in the series: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Content: There are some dangerous moments and an off-screen sex scene. For some reason, it’s in the Romance section of the bookstore, which I disagree with. (While it has a romance, it’s not Romance!)

Spoilers for the first one, obviously.

It’s a little while after the events of the last book, and Emily and Wendell have settled back into teaching (such as it is, for Wendell) at Cambridge. But, soon after his birthday, he starts feeling ill, and his faerie magic goes haywire. It turns out that his stepmother -who overthrew his father and killed his entire family for the throne – is stepping up her assassination plan. This concerns Emily and she’s more than ever determined to find the Nexus and get Wendell back to his realm so he can off his stepmother. This involves a trip to the Alps, this time with the department head and Emily’s niece in tow. As they try to unravel the mystery of the Nexus, Wendell slowly deteriorates. Will they be able to find it and get him back to his realm in time?

Much like the first book, this is utterly delightful. The combination of historical fiction and faerie magic is charming, and Emily is a delightful narrator to be our guide through this world. It’s doubly delightful on audiobook with Potter doing an admirable job capturing all the characters and the intricacies of the plot. I loved the twists and turns in this one, and I liked that Fawcett allowed Emily to save Wendell by using her own wits, and not relying on magic to get her out of trouble.

I don’t know if this is it for Wendell and Emily – the book had a logical end to the story – but I’d happily follow them on more adventures! Such a good series.

Audiobook: Rainbow Black

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by Maggie Thrash
Read by Hope Newhouse
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Content: There is a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs, frank talk of sex, and descriptions of a murder scene. It’s in the Mystery section of the bookstore (for a lack of a better place to put it.)

Lacey Bond had an idyllic childhood, out in the New Hampshire woods with her hippie parents who ran a daycare. But then, when she was 13, her parents were arrested on 30 counts of pedophilia, with the townspeople – and more importantly, therapists and prosecutors – accusing them of witchcraft and Satanism, and doing Unspeakable Things with the children. These children also said that Lacey was there, was forced to be a part of it, which Lacey knows she wasn’t. Except, none of the adults believe her. And then, when her older sister, Eclair, is brutally murdered in their house, Lacey is thrown into the system. She does have a friend – Dylan (I hope that’s spelled right!) – who is trans, and who is taken away to live with her abusive biological father and creepy older brothers. Lacey becomes panicked – she has endured a LOT of trauma – and ends up making a decision that puts Lacey and Dylan on the run to Canada.

Fourteen years later, this all comes back to haunt them as they are trying to move past their traumatic childhood and create a decent life for themselves.

It’s a weird book – excellently read by Newhouse – not quite horror, though there is a lot of talk of Satanic Panic and Lacey is often in situations that could be called horrific – not quite a mystery, mostly because there’s no mystery about who is doing these things. I think, in the end, it’s a condemning look at what happens to a kid who – through no fault of their own – gets caught in the system. Of the adults trying to manipulate and coerce the kids to their ends. The adults who weren’t able or just didn’t help out as much as they could. And of the adults who just don’t believe the things the kids say, if they don’t line up with the story they want or need. Also taking a hard look at the consequences when kids take their lives into their own hands. It’s harrowing and sad, though Thrash injects humor along the way.

I don’t think I liked this one in the traditional sense, but I did find it compelling – especially on audio – and it did give me a lot to think about.

Audiobook: Finding Hope

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by Nicola Baker
Read by Kristin Atherton
Listen at Libro.fm (I think it’s only in e-book and audio)
Content: There are some intense moments. It would be in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore if it were a print book.

Ava is stuck at Whistledown Farm for two whole weeks while her parents make an important trip to America. She’s a city girl, and during the only visits she’s ever made to the sheep farm she’s mostly kept to the house. She’s not sure she wants to spend two whole weeks with her aunt, uncle, and cousin (especially since her cousin is less than thrlled to see her!), but she’s determined to help. Then, on the first night, she finds a lost lamb and brings it in. They all set Ava to carig for it, and that’s the first step on her journey to learning to love the farm and the work it takes to run it.

There’s some dramatic moments: Ava forgets to close the chicken barn door one night and a fox kills off half of the flock, and there’s some sheep rustling nonsense, but mostly, it’s Ava learning how to live and work on a farm.

I liked this one well enough. The cousin, Tom, was an annoying 10-year-old boy that I wanted to smack a few times, but it wasn’t terrible. The thing that made this one work for me was the narrator. Atherton was fantastic. I’m not sure the book (it’s a celebrity author, I guess) would have been great otherwise, but Atherton made the characters shine.

It’s a short, fun read, especially for those kids who love animals.

Audio Book: All Boys Aren’t Blue

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by George M. Johnson
Read by the author
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Content: There is some swearing, including a few f-bombs. There is also a graphic depiction of sexual assault and some on-page sex. It’s in the Teen Issues section of the bookstore.

In the wake of Nex Benedict’s death, and at the end of Black History month, I decided it was time to listen to this one, which I’ve had on my TBR pile since it came out in 2020. Nominally, Johnson’s memoir of a childhood growing up in a loving Black family while questioning his sexuality and gender, All Boys Aren’t Blue tackles both the feeling of being on the outside because one can’t conform to traditional ideas of what gender is, and feeling loved and included by one’s family. Johnson frames much of his childhood through the lens of trauma – from being beat up when he was 5 by neighborhood bullies to his sexual assault by a cousin – but also reinforces the idea that his family loved and accepted him (mostly) unconditionally.

I think this is an important book, and one that is most definitnely needed. I believe that Johnson’s voice is one that should be heard and respected. Was it a good book, though? Maybe? He was, however, not a good narrator. He was earnest, but often stiff and inelegant in his delivery. I think I would have liked this one a lot better had I read it rather than listening to it. That said, I’m glad it’s out there, for kids to find and hopefully help them navigate the waters of growing up.

Audiobook: Get the Picture

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by Bianca Bosker
Read by the author
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Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and talk of controversial art. It’s in the Art section of the bookstore.

Journalist Bianca Bosker wanted to understand art, how to look at it, and the creation of it. And so, because she’s that sort of journalist, she decides to immerse herself in the art world. Through the book, she works for two different art galleries, is an artist assistant, and a docent at the Guggenheim. She sees the ins and outs and ups and downs of the art world, trying to figure out. 

I don’t know a whole lot about the art world. I occasionally go to art museums, and I have some art on my walls (mostly photographs, though), but I have never thought I had an eye or even “understood” art. I found this to be fascinating. The art world is wack – elite, snobbish, monied, and not at all an accommodating place for people who don’t know art – and Bosker didn’t pull any punches with her depiction of the world. She was highly entertaining in the process, both as a writer and a narrator. I was with her every step of the way as she figured out the galleries, and talked to artists, and helped create art. But the section that affected me the most was the one with the Guggenheim. It made me think about the way I interact with museums and the way I look at art. The next time I head to a museum, I will look at and experience the art differently. 

So, yes, a fun and fascinating book that I learned from.