- At the end of May, I celebrate 20 years as an Audible reader. I am not holding my breath that Audible will be sending me any sort of congratulatory e-mail.
- This morning, I started book 101 of the year. Seven months left in the year and I am halfway to my goal. If continue to average 20 books per month I will finish the year with an astonishing 240 books. Inconceivable! And highly improbable.
Best of the Batch
What's Bred in the Bone
by Robertson Davies
Read by Frederick Davidson
c. 1985
Thank you to Wanda and other members of the Dead Writers Society for introducing me to this author.
What a hoot! Yes it was satire and irreverence but I loved it. This is the kind of storytelling that I want more of, surgical, without violence but not without tension, with quirky characters who don't spend the book crying in their beer over whatever problems they seem to have. So, yes, there will be more Robertson Davies in my life.
Four stars
Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish
by Dorothy Gilman
Read by Barbara Rosenblat
c. 1990
I love Mrs. Pollifax. She was old fart fiction before it was a genre. Of course, the whole premise is absurd -- 60-ish widow walks into the CIA asking to be a spy -- but the stories are a delight to read and to listen to. I read a lot of them when I was still eyeballing books and they are still on my bookshelf (they survived the down-sizing purge).
However, Mrs. P and Whirling Dervish was flat, recycled and completely predictable. It is not the best book in the series.
Three stars
The Library of the Unwritten
by A.J. Hackwith
This is book one of the Hell's Library series. I added it to my wishlist after reading Elentarri's review of the series.
I'm sad to say that this one didn't work for me. I was distracted by other things and the story was very slow to grab me, if it ever did.
Three stars
Cloud Cuckoo Land
by Anthony Doerr
Read by Marin Ireland and Simon Jones
c. 1921
On the other hand, this one grabbed me. I don't usually read 'literary fiction' but this one was recommended by daughter. There were multiple story threads going and it jumped from thread to thread and somehow I managed to keep up with what was happening. It held my attention. I kept reading because I wanted to see how all of the threads connected and to do that I would have to read the whole book.
Four stars and a bit more
The Bartender's Tale
by Ivan Doig
Read by David Aaron Baker
c. 2012
Another coming of age story from a master of storytelling. This is the kind of book I like to read. Books about good people trying to do their best no matter what curveballs life serves them. There will be more Ivan Doig in my future!
Four stars
The Anodyne Necklace
by Martha Grimes
Read by Steve West
c. 1983
Read it! Enjoy it! You will love the kick in the pants ending.
Not quite 4 stars
The Cat Who Saved Books
by Sosuke Natsukawa
Translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai. c. 1921
Read by Kevin Shen
"Empathy. That is the power of books."
SRR cat lovers I bought this one for you!
I found this one dirt cheaper in the latest Audible sale pile and could not pass it by. I fell in love with the cover. Then I read the blurb and it was a done deal. The book starts out cute and simple but before you know it, it hits you that it is actually more complicated than you gave it credit for. It is short and thought provoking -- and it features a talking cat.
Three and a half stars
Tales from the Folly
by Ben Aaronovitch
Read by Ben Aaronovitch , Ben Elliot , Felix Grainger , Kobna Holdbrook-Smith , Sam Peter Jackson , Alex Kingston , Shvorne Marks , Penelope Rawlins
I like the Rivers of London series but I wasn't particularly impressed by Ben Aaronovitch's ability to write short stories. It is not his metier. The stories were fun but, except for two, they didn't really bowl me over. The two I liked were "The Domestic" where he nailed the ending and "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny" because Granny had moxie.
Three and a quarter stars.
The Disappointments
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