July 22, 2014

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls

Essays written and narrated by David Sedaris

David Sedaris is awesome!  That’s all I can say.  I love his wry and ironic humor.  As always, his essays start at one point, wind their way through many twisted paths, and then end up back where they started… which often turns out to be an entirely different place.  My husband and I listened to the seven-hour, audio version of Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls during a recent road trip.  It made the time go quickly.  We laughed our way there and back.  Personally, I think that listening to David Sedaris’ books is the only way to go.  His reading adds so much to the experience.  I’m sure I’d love the book, too, but for me, the audio version is the best.   Definitely a great listen!!!

Russian Winter

By Daphne Kalotay

Russian Winter came to me recommended by an avid reader.  I was between audio books at the time, so I decided to give it a try.  The Audible version proved to be a great audio book, and the person who had actually read it had said the same.   The setting fluctuated between modern times and the late 1800’s, and between Russia and Massachusetts.  That may have been easier to follow on the audio version that in the book format.  The plot centered on the life of a Russian ballerina, and those around her.  Although it is a novel, I felt like I was getting a peek into life, as it must have existed for Russians during that time in history.   Without giving away any spoilers, I was surprised by the ending.  Russian Winter was a very enjoyable audio book, and I would definitely recommend it in any format.

Top Secret Twenty-One

By Janet Evanovich

Narrated by Lorelei King

Top Secret Twenty-One … As I began to listen to the Audible versions, I quickly pulled out my cellphone to check the publication date.  It was released in June 2014, so clearly we hadn’t heard it before.  The Stephanie Plum series is one of our first choices for audio books on long, tedious, road trips.  They’re always entertaining and don’t require a lot of effort to follow or comprehend.  Top Secret Twenty-One turned out to be just as engaging and entertaining.  But at times, we felt like it was so formulaic, we could fill in the blanks and could have written the story ourselves.  We know all of the characters and situations too well.  Sometimes, I long for Stephanie, or any of the characters, to do something unpredictable.  That probably won’t happen and, predictably, we will continue to look forward to the next Stephanie Plum mystery… what will Stephanie do in Twenty-Two???