Audio Book

Audio Book: All Boys Aren’t Blue

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by George M. Johnson
Read by the author
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Or listen at Libro.fm
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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Or listen at Libro.fm
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. 

Audiobook: Chaos Theory

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by Nic Stone
Read by the author and Dion Graham
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some mild swearing (I don’t remember any f-bombs); teenage drinking; talk of mental health, self-harm, and a parental affair. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Ever since Shelbi moved to Georgia, she has one rule: don’t get close to anyone. A former “friend” hurt her badly at her last school, and her mental health can’t handle it. What she doesn’t count on is Andy, who she passes one night, sitting in the back of a cop car, having totaled his car because he was wasted. In fact, he seems to often have too much to drink. As they fall into friendship, and become closer, they both realize that there’s a lot ot unpack. Shelbi with her bipolar diagnosis, Andy with his self-medicating with alcohol (not to mention a distant mother, and the death of a younger sister that he blames himself for).

This has to be one of the cutest books about really tough subjects that I’ve eve read. I loved the dynamic between Andy and Shelbi – Dion Graham was a specatular narrator, and Stone was quite good as well – and the way they both supported and pushed each other. It was a very cute romance, but underneath was all the hard-hitting issues that Stone is known for. She looks very unflinchingly at mental health, grief, substance abuse, and what it takes to make a relationship really work.

In short, it was an excellent book, especially on audio.

Audiobook: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

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by Heather Fawcett
Read by Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
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Content: There are some intense moments, and it’s a bit slow at times. It’s in the Science Fiction/ Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Emily Wilde has been working on her Encyclopedia of Faeries, documenting as many as she can, for years. And she’s finally gotten funding to go do a field study of the Hidden Ones in Hrafnsvik. She arrives just as winter’s beginning, and because she’s not a terribly personable person, she gets off on the wrong foot. Enter Wendell Bambleby, her colleague from Cambridge, who has followed her to Hrafnsvik. Together – unwillingly at first, on Emily’s part – they win over the villagers, gather stories of the faeries, and quite possibly fall in love.

This one was utterly delightful, particularly on audio. I think I would have liked it in print, but on audio, the story just popped. Both of the narrators were excellent, capturing Emily’s and Wendell’s personalities, as well as those of the villagers around them. (Side note: the jacket blurb for this book calls Emily “curmudgeonly”, but she’s not. It’s never explicitly stated, but the character is most likely on the autism spectrum.) Although the plot is super loose – at one point, Emily wakes up a faerie king and gets trapped in the frozen faerie lands – it’s still a delightful read.

Audiobook: Leslie F**king Jones

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by Leslie Jones
Read by the author
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: This is sweary. SO very sweary. Like, I don’t know how many sentences didn’t have the f-bomb. (Plus 10 uses of the n-word, but that’s her prerogative.) It’s in the humor section of the bookstore.

I tell so many people that the best way to read a celebrity memoir is to listen to it on audio. I’ve even gone as far as to say that I actively won’t read a memoir if the author doesn’t read it. (Case in point: I have yet to read Elton John’s memoir, even though I have a copy of it on my shelf downstairs. He doesn’t read the audiobook.) I don’t know why I put Leslie Jones’s memoir on hold at the library (it was a good two months between when I put the hold and when it came in; I no longer remember it), but I have to admit I was curious about the book.

Friends: this audiobook is NOT the book. Well, it’s loosely the book. But you will get an entirely different experience listening to it than reading it. See, Jones says “Chapter X” and then just takes off. Like pretty literally. It’s a 16-hour audiobook for a less-than-300-page book. This is not a criticism. Once I realized that she was riffing on the book, taking the chapters and just going with the flow, telling you her story, I got into the groove of the insanity and enjoyed myself. (At a certain point, when she said “Hey, I like what I wrote here, let me read it” I pretty much figured that if I wasn’t willing to change my expectations about this book, I needed to get off the train. Reader: I stayed on the whole way.)

She’s had a hard life, but she is one of the most positive people I’ve read about. She laughs at herself, her past mistakes, she has Thoughts about pretty much everything, she doesn’t take any crap from anyone, and she knows her worth. It’s pretty amazing. I appreciated her vulnerability, her laugh, her story. So, yeah: not at all what I expected from an audiobook, but definitely worth my time to finish it.

Audiobook: The Misfits

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by Lisa Yee
Read by Cindy Kay
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It’s a fast-paced novel, and there are illustrations in the print version. Some intense moments may be scary to sensitive readers. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Olvie Coben Zang has been an outcast her entire life. Her parents are too busy to pay her much attention, she doesn’t really fit in at school, she has no friends… the works. The only person who really saw her was her grandmother, Mimi, but she has passed on. And then, out of the blue, her parents tell her that she’s being transferred to a boarding school, RASCH, a unique school for unique kids. Once there, she’s lumped in with four other outcasts – James, who’s young but has an encyclopedic knowledge of words and history; Philomena (“just call me Phil”) who is a tech genius; Iggy, who has a bit of temper but a heart of gold; and Theo (TBH, I just thought of him as the White kid). Together, they form the Misfits, as part of an experiment to train kids as spies. Their goal, in the end: Catch the Bling King and get back the infamous, super expensive necklace of the school’s founder.

This was a lot of fun. I liked the mystery (I miscalled the ending!), I liked the characters – they were fun and interesting and sometimes silly. It was well-paced; I could see a kid falling into the book and plowing through it because it’s hard to put down. And Kay, as a narrator, is excellent. She definitely keeps the pace up as well as helping with voices to keep all the numerous characters (including the adults) straight.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and am looking forward to more in the series.

Audiobook: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love

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by Lex Croucher
Read by: Alex Singh & Sarah Ovens
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Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and talking about an older teenager getting drunk. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Gwen is a princess in Camelot (not that Gwen, though), and the only thing she does NOT want to do is marry her betrothed, Arthur. She’d much rather spend her days in her routine, and pine after Lady Bridget Leclair, the first lady knight. It’s a good thing she discovers that Arthur feels much the same about their marriage as she does, primarily because he likes boys, and is developing a crush on Gwen’s brother Gabriel. 

There are other plot points in this book – like the threat of unrest by the “cultist” (the people who think that there really used to be magic back in Arthurian times), and some personal growth on the part of both Gwen and Arthur, but mostly it’s just four queer teens romping about in medieval England. 

And you know what? That was a ton of fun. It’s kind of like a queer A Knight’s Tale – not especially historically accurate, but a lot of fun anyway. I loved the narrators and the changing perspectives, and it was just a lot of fun to listen to. Plus: it is a spin on the Arthurian tale, which I’m always here for. 

Highly recommended. 

Audiobook: Bookshops & Bonedust

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by Travis Baldree
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Legends & Lattes
Content: There is swearing, including many f-bombs, and some violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

In this prequel to Legends & Lattes, Viv finds herself injured and unexpectedly laid up due to an injury in the seaside town of Murk. She’s accustomed to being active, so having to convalesce is not something she wants to do. In her wandering around the down, she discovers a run-down bookshop whose owner, Fern, struggles to make ends meet. Viv discovers the benefit of knowing a good bookseller (!) and falls into a friendship with Fern. She also has a sweet summer romance with a baker in town. And, on top of everything, there’s a mysterious man in gray who leaves behind (well – he dies, so kinda) a bag full of bones that turns out to be a homunculus named Satchel.

Like the first one, not much happens in this book. (Granted, more happens in this than in the first one.) But, it’s still sweet, charming, super cozy, and enjoyable. The characters are fun, and the world Baldree has created is clever. I have really come to enjoy his narration as well; it’s incredibly engaging. So, no, there’s not a lot of plot in these, but they are so much fun to listen to. 

Audiobook: Iron Flame

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by Rebecca Yarros
Read by Rebecca Soler & Teddy Hamilton
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Fourth Wing
Content: It’s super sweary, super violent, and lots of on-screen sexytimes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for Fourth Wing, obviously.

This picks up right after the events of Fourth Wing, with Violet recovering from the venin attack. From there, they go back to Basgaith for graduation and year two. But this year is a lot different. First off, Xaden and his dragon are stationed away from the War college so he and Violet are basically forced to spend their weekends together because of their bonded dragons. Of course, they don’t mind. (#sexytimes) Then there’s the wacked-out, facist new head of the war college, who has it out for Violet – like to the point of nearly killing her several times. And then there’s the whole rebellion and the fact that Navarre is hiding the impending Doom from its citizens. 

On the one hand, Soler is still delightfully unhinged (especially sped up 1.5x) and makes these books enjoyable. Because, there’s so much that is just plot holes. I was actually shouting at the audiobook this time; Violet – nay, all the characters, really – were just slow and not askign the right questions. And there were several WTH moments. And then there was the fact that it was just a LOT. A LOT of violence. A LOT of sex. A LOT of trying to make relationship work. A LOT, period. 

Will I read the next one? Maybe. Probably. They’re still fun, even if this one wasn’t as much fun as Fourth Wing was. 

Audiobook: Check & Mate

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by Ali Hazelwood
Read by Karissa Vacker
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Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, talk of sex, and off-page sex. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Mallory Greenleaf was once a chess prodigy. Her grandmaster father would take her around to tournaments, and she would play. And win. But then, four years ago, when she was fourteen, she quit. Since then, her father left the family and then died in a car accident, her mother deals with a chronic pain condition, and Mallory has been keeping everything together by working as an auto mechanic. 

Then, her best friend badgers her into playing at a charity tournament, and she inadvertantly beats Nolan Sawyer, the number one player in the world. From there, Mallory gets sucked back into the world of chess, winning a paid fellowship, and she begins winning again. The difference this time? She and Nolan are like magnets. Sometimes repelling each other, but also inexplicably drawn together. 

This one was super fun. I don’t know how it is in Hazelwood’s other books, but she does younger siblings really well. Mallory’s sisters were a lot of fun, and I found myself laughing aloud several times. I liked all the chess stuff (I really enjoyed watching The Queen’s Gambit a couple years ago) and Hazelwood can write tension really well. I like that she’s tackling things like sexism in the chess world, as well as blaming yourself for the mistakes of others, and learning how to let go of having a super strict control on your life. Mallory and Nolan’s relationship was a good one – a lot of push-and-pull, and some great banter, with a really good resolution. 

And Vacker’s narration – she read When In Rome – was absolutely delightful. I do need to listen to her read more books, because I thoroughly enjoy listening to her. 

In short: it was a quick read that was tons of fun to listen to.