Posts tagged fiction

AUDIOBOOK read by Colin McPhillamy & Craig Baldwin

Ok, I’m behind on posting some of my latest books as I’ve been travelling.  I thoroughly enjoyed A Fraction of the Whole.  Toltz’s book follows an Australian father and son pair as the son recounts their adventures through life.  It’s a long read, but it’s very well written and quite funny at times.  The book is “written” by Jasper Dean whose father Martin is referred to as “the most hated man in Australia” and whose uncle Terry is referred to as “the most loved man in Australia”.  Martin is a remarkable character who is always trying to do things to make life better for everyone, but fails spectacularly in most efforts.  Terry is a murderer and criminal who captures the heart of the people by targeting athletes who cheat.  They are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to crazy and interesting characters in Toltz’s first novel and I look forward to additional works from him.  I also recommend the audiobook if you like Australian accents as both McPhillamy and Baldwin do a great job in reading the characters.

ACTUAL BOOK

Barring an unlikely reading binge before Sunday, it looks like 2011 will end with 43 books read.  And Full Dark, No Stars is a perfect ending book as I received it as a gift for Christmas in 2010 and it took me most of 2011 to finally read the thing.  Not that the book was bad, I just had a hard time engaging with it and found myself frequently picking up other books in its place.  A collection of four stories, this book goes to some dark areas, even for the likes of Stephen King.  There are so many fantastic King books, this just isn’t one of them.  I’d recommend picking up one of his other collections of stories (Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, etc).   

AUDIOBOOK read by Michael York

I enjoyed Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, so I picked this book up to see if that was an anomaly, or if I enjoy his writing in general.  I’m not sure that I’ve decided that definitively, but I did generally enjoy this book.  I think The Final Solution is targeted to young adults as the mystery is not real complex, but it was a quick read the was entertaining.  The main character in the book is an old retired English detective that helps a refugee boy who has had his parrot stolen.  The detective’s name is never given, but it can be read that he is Sherlock Holmes and I think that Chabon intended this story as a homage to Arthur Conan Doyle’s series.  The audiobook was read and produced well and is only about 3 hours, so a good one to pick up for a short trip.

AUDIOBOOK read by Simon Prebble

This was a pleasant surprise.  I can’t remember how I stumbled across this book, but I’m glad I picked it up as I very much enjoyed it.  The story takes place in Paris right after the final capture and exile of Napoleon.  There is an interesting historical feel to the book as it follows a young medical student who gets caught up with a gang of thieves.  The story moves well as he balances who he is supposed to be with who he is becoming.  For the audiobook, Simon Prebble does a great job with the narration.  A fairly quick read and worth the time. 

AUDIOBOOK read by multiple readers

I love David Sedaris.  I, however, do not much care for his short story choices, apparently.  I found this collection to be pretty dull.  I listened to this audiobook a month or two ago and can’t remember a single story from it.  Avoid this one and grab yourself an actual David Sedaris book.  Your life will be better for it.

AUDIOBOOK read by Mark Bramhall

Ugh.  I grabbed this book because I very much enjoyed Martel’s Life of Pi, but that wound up being a mistake.  I could give you a synopsis of this book, but you can find that elsewhere.  Just know that I found the book to be tedious and really didn’t enjoy any part of it.  The audiobook was well read by Bramhall, but the content left much to be desired.  There are a lot of good books out there, skip this one.

AUDIOBOOK read by George Guidall

There’s a lot going on in this book.  At it’s core, American Gods is a road-trip story that follows Shadow, a man recently released from prison whose wife died the day before he got out.  Shadow meets Mr. Wednesday on his way home and accepts a job as Mr. Wednesday’s driver and bodyguard.  In the adventures that follow, Shadow learns that Mr. Wednesday and a cast of others that they meet are all gods who came to America in the minds of immigrants and are now eking out an existence without the worship and sacrifices that they used to receive.  The story itself is quite good, but combined with the themes of religion, culture change, and sacrifice, it winds up being a great novel.  I enjoyed this book and the audiobook is expertly read by Guidall.

ACTUAL BOOK

Number 9 Dream was the last remaining David Mitchell book left for me to read, and unfortunately, I may have enjoyed this one the least of all of his novels.  I thought that this novel started slow and I had a really difficult time getting into the story.  I  will admit that once it got moving, the story kept me engaged and by the time I finished I was conflicted about how I’d review it.  Mitchell remains one of my favorite authors, but I’d rate this one in the same class with Ghostwritten; enjoyable, but not on the level of Cloud Atlas, Black Swan Green, or The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

AUDIOBOOK read by Carolyn McCormick AND ACTUAL BOOK

Wow.  I will start by saying that I was wrong.  Sometimes books get so much hype that I instinctively assume that they are not as good as people are claiming.  When the books are designated as “Young Adult”, my apprehension is even greater.  This trilogy was recommended to me some time ago and I’ve had the audiobooks on my iPod for what seems like forever.  My wife read The Hunger Games a few months ago and demanded that I read it, so I finally gave in and started the first book.  A week later, I had finished all three via a combination of audiobooks and the hard copies that we have at home.  I started all three on audiobook via my usual listening method (in the car during my commute), but found myself ditching the audiobook for each of them with about 100 pages remaining and just reading the rest in one sitting at home.  This is by no means a critique on the audiobooks, which were expertly read by McCormick, but a function of the quality and intensity of the story which I couldn’t wait on or drag out.  By now, I expect everyone has a pretty good idea of what these books are about, so I’ll skip the synopsis and just tell you to read them now and enjoy.

AUDIOBOOK read by Roxana Ortega

I probably waiting a little too long to write my review of this book as it’s been a few weeks and I honestly am having a hard time remembering the details of all of the stories.  This book is a series of stories jumping through time with a different main character.  The hook is that each main character is a minor character in one of the previous stories, so the entire narrative becomes one large story.  As is usually the case, some of the stories were better than others, but I enjoyed it overall.  I suppose it’s telling that none of the stories have stuck with me deeply in the past few weeks, but that may also have something to do with the books I have been reading since then (stay tuned).  Anyway, worth a read or listen, but not the best I’ve read this year.