Last year I listened to two audiobooks. This year I listened to 28. Clearly, that is an uptick due to being able to leave my home. I have to say that driving is really the only time I have been listening. Although if I am listening to something I have already read I do play it whilst doing a task because if I miss some important information, well, it's still there in the dark recesses of my mind. Probably.
My audio rereads this year were the HUNGER GAMES series and the HARRY POTTER series and THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE. With all of these books, it was surprising how many details I picked up that I didn't notice the first time around. If you aren't familiar with these books - Welcome to reading! Is this your first time??
Two new (to me) series that I listened to were the ANNE OF GREEN GABLES books and Maureen Johnson's TRULY DEVIOUS series. I had only read the first of Montgomery's series and was charmed - and occasionally irritated - by the rest. RAINBOW VALLEY didn't make the cut. It felt cloying to me so I just read a recap and moved along to RILLA OF INGLESIDE, which was my favorite after the initial AoGG which I read in paper format. The Johnson books were a nice combo of mystery and boarding school caper. I don't think of myself as a Maureen Johnson fan, but I've never been disappointed by anything I've read by her.
Early in the year, I had to do some Jeopardy prep - science and geography are definitely my weak areas - so I listened to Bill Bryson's A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING which was fun. I also enjoyed PRISONERS OF GEOGRAPHY by Tim Marshall. Nearly all of the information I learned from either of these books has completely fallen out of my head by now, but we had a good run.
One of the books that I listened to for BHS summer reading prep was WE CAME WE SAW WE LEFT by Charles Wheelen. It's the story of a family who took a gap year to take a 'round the world trip in 2016. It was a little Bryson-y and an absolute hoot. The other one was A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT which I have been pretending to have read since high school, but I am pretty sure I just Cliff's Note-d it. Well, the version I listened to was read by Carl Reiner and the combination of Twain's sarcasm and Reiner's "I've seen it all" tone of voice was a delight.
I took a summer road trip, as per usual, and I was thrilled to have Rob Lowe along with me! His STORIES I ONLY TELL MY FRIENDS was a funny and honest and I felt like I had the most interesting man in the world sitting next to me as I drove through Indiana. THE LOST APOTHECARY had three different narrators, two of whom were tremendous and one of whom was just grating. The story was interesting enough, but if it hadn't been a book club book that I felt obligated to read, I would have dropped off about a quarter of the way through. Nevertheless, I persisted and the payoff was pretty good. And thinking back on it, the author did a spectacular job of making me visualize the settings, which is not something I am particularly good at. Finally TAKE A HINT DANI BROWN was entertaining and educational. I raved about Talia Hibbert last year when I read the previous book in her Brown Sisters trilogy, and I think I liked this one even better. However, one caveat - Miss Talia does NOT hold back in her descriptions of the act of love. Seriously, I was driving into a crowded rest stop with my windows down just as Dani and her "friend" got going and I nearly killed myself turning the volume down. Yikes!
The last two stand-alone listens were two of my favorite books of the year.
SIMON THE FIDDLER is a companion piece to THE NEWS OF THE WORLD. I desperately wanted to like NEWS, but if I remember correctly, the author does that thing where they don't use quotation marks and I will not stand for that. However, in audiobook format, it makes no difference at all! It's a win for me. The story of a young man conscripted into the confederate army and his experience after the war, trying to survive and find the love of his life - it broke my heart all over the place. And it focuses on music as well. I adored it.
And finally, THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA was recommended by many school librarians and with good reason. It is perfect. It is the story of a lonely mid-level bureaucrat who finds the family of his heart when he is sent to an "orphanage" for children who are not "normal" children. It was screamingly funny as well as being so full of love that I sometimes had to stop the book to get ahold of myself.
So here are my top 5 audiobooks of the year:
1. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
2. A Connecticut Yankee in Kind Arthur's Court (Carl Reiner reading) by Mark Twain
3. Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles
4. Rilla of Ingleside by Lucy Maud Montgomery
5. We Came We Saw We Left by Charles Whelan
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