Audiobooks

I have a rather lengthy commute to work each day and I don't know what I would do without audiobooks to keep me company! For some, audiobooks are too distracting while driving (either losing track of the plot of the book *bad* or the driving *VERY bad*) or people simply prefer the feel of a book in hand. If you fall into the group that can't go anywhere in the car without an audiobook, then be sure to pick up one or all of these without delay!

Happy reading!

Holley

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
This lovely little book was published in 1925 and holds up well as, for the current day anyway, historical fiction. Beautiful and vain, Kitty Fane is very disenchanted with the social life in Hong Kong after she travels there with her rather dour husband Walter. After Walter discovers her affair with local magistrate Charles Townsend, he offers her an ultimatum. Townsend must divorce his wife and marry Kitty or Kitty must accompany Walter to the cholera-ravaged village where he has volunteered his medical expertise as a bacteriologist. If she does not do one of these two things, Walter will divorce her for adultery. The events that follow challenge Kitty in ways she never could have imagined. Kate Reading narrates this gorgeous novel with an amazing vocal and emotional range, making the scenery, and the heartbreak, stand out vividly in the mind of the reader. I would definitely search out an audiobook and listen to it just for her talent alone, but this book is exquisite!
Holley, Emmet O'Neal Library

World War Z by Max Brooks
A full cast audio elevates this audiobook (sadly, only available abridged) to epic levels. Author Max Brooks narrates the part of an interviewer talking with survivors of a war in which most of the population of the world is overcome by an infection that turns them into flesh eating zombies. Not merely content to discuss zombies, World War Z could also be considered a stinging political and social criticism of a world that places more value on corporate executives and the like than on the working person. Actors like Alan Alda and Carl Reiner lend their talent to this chronicle of worldwide devastation.
Holley, Emmet O'Neal Library

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
(This book has been made into a film in Denmark. Netflix shows it as a “Save” title but not yet with an expected release date here in the states. The Last two books in the trilogy are The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.)
Narrated by Simon Vance. Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best I’ve ever listened to. You want to sit in your car and keep listening! The narrator was perfection, able to handle the voices of the young and old, men and women alike. The story was originally written in Swedish, so the pacing is different and interesting……..it is slower but suddenly you are sucked in and hours have passed. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Lisbeth is one of the most fascinating feminist characters to come along in quite a while. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.
Leslie West, Vestavia Hills Public Library

The Help by Katherine Stockett
(A note for bookgroups: many people have bought this title based on word-of-mouth advertising. If you are running short of copies, ask participants to poll their friends for an available copy)
Not only is this a great story, I definitely feel that the audio version handled by a host of brilliant narrators, made it even better. Four peerless actors handle a variety of Southern accents with ease and draw out the daily humiliation and pain the maids are subject to, as well as their abiding affection for their white charges. The actors handle the narration and dialogue so well that no character is ever stereotyped, the humor is always delightful, and the listener is led through the multilayered stories of maids and mistresses. Set in Mississippi during the civil rights movement, the story is narrated by the three principal characters...Minny and Aibileen, two black maids, and Miss Skeeter, a young, white woman newly graduated from college. The characters are wonderfully developed, as are the historical background and setting. As each character took her turn at narrating, she became my favorite character until the next one took over again. I was torn between not wanting to get out of my car and being late to work. It was a book I didn’t want to end.
Leslie West, Vestavia Hills Public Library

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows
Narrated by Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerdan, John Lee, Rosalyn Landor and Juliet Mills.
This is yet another example of a delightful book, made even better by it’s excellent narration. With a small cast of gifted narrators including Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerdan, John Lee, Rosalyn Landor and the enjoyable Juliet Mills, this production is first-class from start to finish. The narrators' British dialects, each quite regional and equally as different as they are ear-pleasing, serve the story well and allow Shaffer's words to leap from the page into the hearts and minds of her listeners. Shaffer's debut novel, written with her niece Barrow, is an original account of one writer's relationship with a member of a unique book club formed as an alibi to protect its members from arrest at the hands of the Nazis during WWII. The final result is an almost theatrical experience with an entire cast of enthusiastic performances. I highly recommend this book, but most especially as an audiobook where one feels he or she is actually meeting & becoming friends with this entire cast of characters!
Leslie West, Vestavia Hills Public Library

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult
Narrated by George Guidell. This is an older book but worth mentioning here for two reasons. First, it is the only book I have ever seen where the author has repeatedly reported in print on numerous occasions, that this book is her own favorite among the many popular titles she has written. (I agree that this is the best of her many books!) So many times, authors shy away from answering this question saying that picking a favorite work of their own is like being asked to pick a favorite among their children. I think it is refreshing that the author picks a favorite……especially since I am in full agreement! This is another in a long line of Picoult’s “ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances” plotlines. But this title has many plot lines, a lot of interesting characters, several love stories, as well as moral dilemmas (a Picoult specialty), an historical as well as a current day timeline, and even a ghost story!!! All characters, as well as plot lines, converge into a well blended conclusion. Picoult describes her real-life experiences with “ghostbusters” (she incorporates the details of these experiences into her story) on the last disc of this CD in an interview with the narrator. That is the second piece of this review: the incomparable George Guidell. I could listen to this guy read the phone book. He is a superstar of narrators in the audio world. ANYTHING he narrates is worth listening to. Trust me, I’m an audio-junkie. It doesn’t get much better than this!
Leslie West, Vestavia Hills Public Library

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris

Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential by Dr. Daniel G. Amen

Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney (young adult/The Last Apprentice series: Revenge of the Witch, Curse of the Bane, Night of the Soul Stealer, Attack of the Fiend, Wrath of the Bloodeye, and Clash of the Demons)

Madapple by Christina Meldrum (young adult)

Going Bovine by Libba Bray (young adult)

Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman (young adult)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (young adult)

Nice Girls Don’t Get…box set (…the Corner Office & …Rich) by Lois P. Frankel
In Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, Lois Frankel reveals why some women roar ahead in their careers while others stagnate. She has spotted a unique set of behaviors- 101 in all--that women learn in girlhood that sabotage them as adults. She helps you eliminate these unconscious mistakes that could be holding you back and offers invaluable coaching tips you can easily incorporate into your social and business skills. In Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich, Lois Frankel tackles the 75 financial mistakes that keep women from accumulating the wealth they deserve. She helps you discover the financial thinking that keeps you stuck in old patterns, dependent relationships, and jobs where you earn less than your male counterparts. This is an abridged version, but well worth the time to read. Narrated by the author.
Dianne, Bessemer Public Library

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
Spencer Quinn’s debut introduces the world to two-legged Bernie Little and his four-legged pal Chet, a canine with a nose for mysteries. Together, this down-on-his-luck private investigator and K-9 school failure form an offbeat but effective sleuthing duo. Bernie is relieved when the missing teenage girl he’s searching for turns up unharmed. But after she quickly disappears again, Bernie and Chet resume their investigation. Since there’s no ransom demand, kidnapping seems like a questionable motive. Yet the girl had recently gotten involved with some villainous types, and as Bernie and Chet make their way through biker bars and other colorful destinations, they smell something foul. Told from Chet’s unique perspective, Dog on It, is a humorous whodunit seasoned with a loveable dog’s view of everything. Great narration by Jim Frangione. Some profanity.
Dianne, Bessemer Public Library

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

The Labrador Pact by Matt Haig

Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
Narrated by Suzanne Torren. Dewey is the story of an abandoned kitten that was left in the book drop of a small library in the small farm town of Spencer Iowa. Once discovered by the head Librarian and author of the book, Vicki Myron, on a cold January morning in 1988, Dewey was nurtured to full strength and given the opportunity to become the library’s loveable pet cat. This book is filled with wonderful and touching stories of how Dewey restored the library to a warm and inviting place. He was well received by both staff and patrons alike. Dewey became so popular that people drove hundreds of miles just to visit, meet and love on this amazing little cat. A wonderfully touching story of how one little cat single handily brought joy and laughter to a library and was a beacon of hope not only for Vicki Myron but for the entire town of Spencer Iowa.
Andrei, Five Points West Regional Library

It Happens Every Spring by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer (Four Seasons series: It Happens Every Spring, Summer Breeze, Falling for You Again, Winter Turns to Spring, read-a-like for Jan Karon’s Mitford series)

Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber (Blossom Street series: The Shop on Blossom Street, A Good Yarn, Susannah’s Garden, Back on Blossom Street, Twenty Wishes, and Summer on Blossom Street)

Storm Cycle by Iris Johansen

Narrators to watch for:

Joshilyn Jackson does a wonderful job of narrating her own material, as do Rick Bragg and David Sedaris. C. J. Critt is an excellent narrator and has worked on the early novels of Janet Evanovich, Patricia Cornwell, and many others.

Since we can’t seem to stop talking about books once we get together…

Stone's Fall by Ian Pears

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth