Category: audio review

I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.

~As seen on Amazon

 

 

 

 

A couple years ago a good friend of mine brought me this book.  Her book club had just finished reviewing it and she said it was a  “must read!”

The book went to the shelf and although I totally planned on reading it, there is always more books then there is time and two years later that book still is say on my shelf.  Recently, I found ‘Loving Frank’ on audio and thought that this may be the way to go on this one.. and I am so glad I did. 

Joyce Bean narrates and does a masterful job with the different voices on Mamah (pronounced May – mah), Frank, and the others who gather around their lives. 

Frank’s story of his life and his long affair I am ashamed to admit, was all news to me.  I had no idea of the mans life beyond his name and the architecture he is known for.  I admit, I found his life to be quite interesting.  Although he fathered six children with his wife, Frank did not seem to have a paternal bone in his body.  Yet more interesting than even Frank, was Mamah.  Having left her own husband and children for Frank I think has to be extremely had in that day and age, (not that it would not be now as well.) Beyond that Mamah believes a woman has a right to her own life and not just as a wife and mother.  She is years ahead of her time in the feminist movement and something about her odd convictions made me want to know more about her.

Loving Frank is engaging and the best of historical fiction when it is done right.  I enjoyed the book and was blown away with the ending which has my Googling like crazy to find out more.

What is The Storyteller about?  Is it about a baker?  Is it about a scar?  Is it about revenge?  Is it about forgiveness?  Is it about the Holocaust?  Is is about a vampire?    Yes.     

~Sheila

Sage Singer is a baker who works the night shift, sifting and creating delicious concoctions, basking in her world alone.  She bears a scar on her face that she tries to hide, much like herself, behind her hair, behind her mother death….

And then one day at a grief support group meeting, Sage means Josef an elderly man and they form an unlikely friendship.  When Josef confesses to Sage a horrific past that involved the deaths of many people, he asks for her to do the unthinkable, to kill him, to make him pay for the crimes of his past.

As Sage is still reeling from this unthinkable request, she finds out that Josef and her lives may be closer than anyone could have imagined…. through her grandmother comes a story…. a story so painful that it has never been spoken of.

Until now…

Just moments ago, I finished listening to The Storyteller on audio.  By moments, I may mean minutes ago, or I may mean a little longer because as I finished listening to this powerfully engaging read I think I held my breath…and as I listened to those closing words and my mind rushed along the conclusion, I may have lost minutes to my thoughts…

wow.  If you have read Jodi Piccoult before I can say this is Piccoult at perhaps her finest.  It is her, and it isn’t her.  This book is different.  It is more… real.  It is certainly more powerful and more painfully attentive to details than any other book I have read by her, and if you have read her before you know her books can pack a powerful punch (Nineteen Minutes comes to mind.)

The Storyteller is…. complicated.  Sage is not an “I will take a bullet for you!” character, I liked her well enough… but doubt if we would ever be friends.  I think a more compassionate, more likable Sage, may have given a different feel to this book – and I have to say, I think “a distant Sage” may be just what this book requires…. after all, we are dealing with topics, that are painfully real, but for more of us, a distance from our own lives today…   I wonder if loving Sage as a character would have taken away from the real topics… the real protagonist, which in my opinion, is her grandmother, Minka.  Minka makes up for what her granddaughter lacks, she is real, she is compassionate, and she has fire within her as a survivor.

All being said, I did find The Storyteller to be engaging and powerful.  I have enjoyed Piccoult’s books in the past but this one with its historical fiction content speaks to me at a little deeper level than her previous books and I have a feeling I will be recommending this one to others for a long time to come. 

 

Elizabeth Shore used to love to paint and was considered to be possibly good with a little direction and training.  Yet, at a young age Elizabeth met and fell in love with Jack and dreams of painting went to the wayside as they raise two beautiful daughters, and follow Jack around to wherever his sports career will take them.

When the girls are raised and off to college, Jack struggles to keep his career afloat and when an opportunity to jump-start that career is offered, Jack jumps at the chance to take it, once again disrupting their lives for his needs without consulting Elizabeth first.  No longer having the buffer of her daughters, and worrying about her ailing father, Elizabeth decided enough is enough.  She is tired of feeding Jack’s ego while her dreams wash away.  While Jack goes on and on about what HE wants and what HE needs… Elizabeth wondered if he even has a clue of what she would like or need.

Elizabeth decided its time for her to find the woman she lost within herself and asks Jack to move to New York without her for his career while she takes time away.  She goes to their isolated beach house to discover a wonderful womans groups, a link to painting again, and a connection with her step mother she never had before.

Finding herself seems to also open doors to discovering who she is without Jack and leading up to doors opening before her she never dreamed were there and the ultimate decision of choosing a life with or without Jack.

 

 

Kristin Hannah has a formula in her writing of couples and families in crisis, separating and them finding happiness again.  Yes it can be predictable, but you know what?  It can also be fun.  Hannah’s characters jump off the pages and I truly felt for Elizabeth’s loss of identity and she for years spent time in her husbands shadow.

What I liked about this particular book is that you do not only get Elizabeth’s side, but Jack’s too.  I liked reading that Jack was surprised when the woman he has loved all his life stands up and says “enough”.  I liked watching his reevaluation of his life and decisions as well, coming to the ultimate decision that could either make or break his connection to his wife.

Distant Shores is a lovely read of love and loss and the possibility of starting again.  Its beautifully written, engaging, and filled with hope.

 

For a while, Jordan and Courtney were the unlikely  “it” couple in High School.  For a while things were going well, and for a while they even looked like they were going to make it, even planning to go to the same college.  And it was working.

For a while…

Then Jordan meets a girl on the internet and suddenly, Courtney is dumped. 

Two weeks later, the college road trip Jordan and Courtney had planned is happening and since no other arrangements had been planned, the two are forced back together for the drive across country for orientation.  Courtney is hurt and doing her best to hide it, and most surprising of all, Jordan is struggling with deep pain because he does still love Courtney, and he never wanted to break up…

Jordan has a secret one that is ripping him apart and it has everything to do with why they broke up and nothing to do with another girl (and no for you quick thinkers out there, it doesn’t have to do with another boy either. 😉 )  Jordan has been forced to break it off with Courtney and if he told her… she would hate him…. and that, as painful as this is, would even be worse.

 

 

 

Overall I really liked Two Way Street.  The storyline was interesting, two teenagers who had been dating and recently broke up but are now on this planned a while back road trip to their college.  The fact that they are put together in the truck for the long drive is interesting enough, the story behind the scenes of why they broke up and only one of them knowing that reason makes it reach for the next level. 

Twists and turns, I like Jordan a lot who is trying to do the right thing but as we all know, at times when we try to spare feelings and “do the right thing” we weave an even bigger mess.  I like Courtney too but not as much because she is a bit too dramatic and a bit too whiny and yes, yes I know… she is a teenager. 

SPOILER- I have to give out a “Creepiest character” award to… (scroll your mouse over the following text if you want to know:  Courtney’s dad.  Seriously – a bit too involved and the over-calling to Jordan is uber controlling in a way not cool way.

The over all story was good, it kept me engaged and it kept me in my car after I had pulled into the garage so I didn’t have to shut it off (always a good sign).  Two things however stand out to me about this read.  One was that for a 2010 book, they constantly mentioned My Space.   My Space?  I have never used My Space.  Does My Space even exist any more?  AND – the overuse of the word : hooking up. Yes, hooking up.  I don’t mind the word, I even get the word, but seriously… I wish I had the book version just so I could count how many times it was used. I would guess close to 100 times and I am not kidding.  “Then they were hoping to hook up”,  “Next thing you knew they were hooking up”, I hope he didn’t expect me to hook up”, “It was cool that they hooked up”… and so on and so on.  It actually became a game in the car for me.  Every time they said it on the audio I would repeat it by yelling “HOOKING UP!”  *please note, I am usually in my car alone so therefore did not give any passengers heart attacks with my spontaneous yelling.

Seriously though, I did enjoy the book and had fun listening to it.

 

Bonus note:  Why I think the book may be better than the audio:

As an audio lover, I am always bragging up the many virtues of audio.  However, as any audio lover knows, occasionally an audio does not 100% work for all books – it can be book subject, it can be book topic, and yes, it can sometimes be that the narrator was not the best choice for the book.

Narrator Cassandra Morris has a wonderfully youthful and girly voice. If you look at the list of books she narrates I am sure she adds a great voice to them.  For this book however, If anything her voice struck me as a little too young for college age students.  The hardest thing for me was that Cassandra’s voice did not change between the alternating chapters being told from Courtney and Jordan’s perspectives.  The Courtney parts were fine, but when Jordan was being narrated and talking about hooking up (HOOKING UP!) with girls or checking out someones skirt, it would kill my train of thought because I would have to remind myself that this was Jordan… the boy…. .  I had to pay close attention to when the chapters alternated too as occasionally I would miss that we had switched from Courtney to Jordan and suddenly the conversation would throw me again. 

 

I added this audio review to the fun meme at Devourer of Books:

 

13 years after Cannie’s debut in Good In Bed, she is back in full size humor and still working on her weight, her Physician husband Peter’s sudden desire to have another baby, and planning her daughter Joy’s bar Mitzvah (without the spaghetti strapped “way too adult” looking dress Joy has chosen for herself.)  Oh yes, there is also that writing career she is supposed to be working on…. well, lets put a pin in that….

When Joy discovers her mothers highly verbal and descriptive novel she wrote years before, Joy feels she has stumbled on all her mothers secrets, including the grandfather Joy feels she has never had the opportunity to get to know and blames her mother for the distance between them.  Joy now 13, and self-conscious and rebellious all rolled into one, makes her mother’s life more interesting by her sneaking off to see her biological father, skipping school, and reconnecting with her grandfather.

For both Cannie and Joy, this is a season of growing up and learning truths.

 

 

I am still a little confused about why this book was called Certain Girls.  I must have missed something.  Entirely possible.  😀  Jennifer Weiner is often a hit or a miss for me, yet I enjoy reading her characters and her wit so I keep coming back.

In Certain Girls I was able to revisit Cannie Shapiro and see where her life has gone since the ending of Good In Bed left her with a premature baby.  If you read my review of Good In Bed you will realize that I did not love the book, but I did like it.  Obviously enough to see where Cannie’s life has gone, a rare treat that we as readers do not always get, to see where the characters we have come to know are in their fiction lives years later.  Kind of a “where are they now?” look into their life, fictitious as it is.

I liked Cannie better in this book.  She seemed more sure of herself.  I think the real win for this one was the voice of Joy… typical teenager, self-conscious about her hearing aids (due to her premature birth), feeling that her mom still treats her like a baby, and wanting to know more about the missing people connected to her through family blood. 

Over all, this one was just ok.  The ending was…. anger enducing.  I can’t explain it.  It just felt… disappointing. Frustrating.  Like I had traveled far and then was thrown over a cliff.   I expected something more, and that again, could be just me. 

 

 

 

 

Fifteen year old Mosey Slocumb wants to be like other girls her age.  She wants to have close girl friends, she wants to date boys, and she wants to have a mom and a dad who love her to the core. 

But none of this seems to be in the cards for her.

Mosey lives with her grandmother “Big” Virginia who feels that something bad happens every fifteen years.  Why she had her own daughter, Mosey’s mom, Liza, when she was 15.  Liza in turn had Mosey at 15 and when Liza turned 30 she has a massive stroke, that seems to carry a lot of mystery around it. 

Then as if life is not mixed up enough, while a pool is being put in for Liza’s therapy a small box of infant bones is found during the dig and life takes yet another spin…

Whose bones are they and who holds the secret to that answer?

 

 

 

This is my third book/audio by Joshilyn Jackson.  I have listened to Gods In Alabama, and Backseat Saints.  All three of these audio books are narrated by the author and if you are an audio book person you are going to love her narration.  If you are new to audio, these books would be wonderful starters as she is a captivating read.

A Grown Up Kind Of Pretty is a bit different from the previous two books I read.  Because of Mosely’s age and occasional first person narration of the book, you could almost call this a YA read.  Almost.  Big is also a first person narrator of the book and Liza comes in as a third person narration, mainly recalling the past and what she wishes she could change.  The result of this style of writing is impressive as you are hearing from the three generations of women with only 15 years between each of them. 

I found the story line engaging but occasionally hard to keep track of the present and the past that were being discussed by the current narrator, you really had to pay attention to the perspective that the story was being told from, Mosely’s being the easiest to follow as she has a younger tone and voice.

Over all, I am once again thrilled with the creativity of Joshilyn Jackson, while this is not my favorite of hers that I have listened to, I am glad I spent time with it and look forward to reading/listening to her again.

Oh wow!  I laughed out loud and at times stifled a cry at the tone of this book.  Jandy Nelson writes like John Green and that is a HIGH HIGH compliment coming from me.

~ Sheila

17-year-old Lennie and her older sister Bailey are two peas in a pod.  Being raised by their grandmother the two girls find comfort and companionship with each other after their mother had went out “exploring” one day and never came back.  When Bailey suddenly dies, Lennie is beside herself with grief.  When Bailey’s boyfriend Toby starts hanging around they console each other and Lennie feels that Toby may be the only one in the world who feels the pain of loss as deeply as she does.

Then a new boy comes to town.  Joe is everything Lennie would like to be.  He is confident and talented and oh soooo good-looking.  When they meet each other in music class Lennie feels a spark she never knew existed and they start hanging out together.  Yet Toby is still there and when Lennie is with Toby she feels as though she is close to Bailey as well, even though her attraction to Toby disgusts her and she feels guilty that he was her sister’s boyfriend; and as she finds out along the way – even more than that.

How do you move on from a life that centered around a sibling that knew you as well as you knew yourself, that not only shared your room… but shared your heart.  How does one go on living… go on breathing the air in a world you once shared?

 

 

 

First off…. every one who has already read or listened to this book and raved about it please feel free to kick me for not reacting sooner.  It always amazes me when an incredible read is sitting right under my nose and by the time I pick it up I am stunned to realize it is a book I am probably going to love forever.

Meet The Sky Is Everywhere.

I listened to this book on audio while I was painting and it engaged me right away (always a plus).  I was not bogged down with an overload of background story, characters to remember, places to recount, and facts to store…  Nope.  Right away The Sky Is Everywhere opens up and reveals its heart and it’s heart is Lennie. 

For someone who has experienced grief over the loss of a sibling, I can honestly say Lennie’s pain, Lenny’s attempts to hold on, were very real.  My heart broke with hers as she clung to her sisters memory trying to stay within its shadow and not let any light in.  I have been there.

Yet – miraculously, life does go on, if we want it to or not.   In this book Lennie’s moving on is wonderfully “teenagerish” (yet growing up too) , as well as engaging listening.  Kudos to the narration by Julie Whelan who had me at times laughing at Lennie’s reaction to her environment and at times holding back a sob.  Honestly, I have not been this excited about this style of read since I discovered John Green.

I believe if you enjoy John Green, you are totally going to get The Sky Is Everywhere and feel like gushing about it too.  Do not hesitate to run to your local book store and pick up this wonderful book.  Oh and then be sure to come back and tell me here how FABULOUS it was! 

John F Kennedy took the White House by storm.  He was young, we was intelligent and with Jackie Kennedy by his side they were a power team.

Yet behind the big white doors all was not well in what was commonly referred to during the Kennedy’s reign as Camelot.  Kennedy had a liking of women and many throughout his tears as president visited the White House and John, while Jackie, knowing of some, suspecting more, of her husbands flings would take long weekends away from the White House giving both her and her husband space.

Camelot was a place where actresses were entertained by both John and Jackie.  Lavish parties were held by the couple, and while the above states an unfaithful man, in the end John really did love Jackie and Jackie loved John.

Of course, being President is not all fun and games and campaigning and keeping the country in order was a lot of work for both of the Kennedy’s.  While in the White House Jackie had given birth to a son who passed away being premature, and of course she had the two children Caroline and John Jr.

This read however is not only about the time in the Presidency, but a war is at hand and a dark shadow that has been following JFK for some time… inches closer and closer.

 

 

Bill O’Reilly is not only an engaging writer, he is also a remarkable narrator.  Much like when I listened to The Killing of Lincoln by this very same author, I was fully emerged in the world of the Presidency.  No one can deny that the Kennedy’s were fascinating people.  John’s battle with back pain *which according to this author eventually may have contributed to his death* , the delightful Jacklyn always holding it together even when things were not as they would seem, their children Carolyn and John Jr, and of course John’s brothers… especially Bobby.

If this subject is remotely interesting to you I highly recommend listening to it.  All of the background of the JFK presidency, and the underlying side story of Oswald and his insane behaviors and political views.  I thought it was a very good telling of the Kennedy murder.

In the 1980’s, in the heart of the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic, Elton John watched helplessly as friends too numerous to count, succumbed to this frightening illness.  It wasn’t until he was in a waiting room one day and read an article on Ryan White, the young boy born a hemophiliac, who contracted AIDS through blood transfusions and then was attacked by the school district and parents of students who did not want him to return to school and put (as they thought at the time) their own children at risk of contacting AIDS.

Elton John was furious about the treatment of Ryan White.  While working on cleaning up his own addiction to drugs at the time he conquered this and befriended White and his family.  This began Elton Johns campaign to help others move beyond the stigma of AIDS. 

Love is the Cure is about Elton’s work through The Elton John AIDS Foundation that has raised over $275 million dollars as of the date of this book to fight the disease worldwide.  Impressively, Elton’s campaign has done wonders in third world countries where AIDS is extremely high due to rape, and unprotected sex. 

 

 

I have huge compassion for people with AIDS.  I am a part of a local camp that raises money for AIDS awareness and have met wonderful people through this.  People that I am proud to call my friends. 

When I seen Elton’s book I knew I had to listen to it to hear his thoughts on AIDS.  For the most part, I liked what he said.   It was interesting to listen to this audio, narrated (BRILLIANTLY) by him, as he talked about the early years of AIDS his lack of attentiveness, and to now all that is being done around the world and what has yet to be done. 

Elton had and has powerful connections to Presidents, Musicians, and Actors.  I was impressed to hear all that Bill Clinton has done in the war against AIDS.  I was also saddened as Elton John talked about some of the brilliant people who lost that war, Freddie Mercury (QUEEN), Rock Hudson, Liberace, Anthony Perkins, Issac Asimov, Robert Reed, just to name very few…

Elton’s book is factual, and it is personal.  I am always stunned by the numbers, 34 million people as of 2010 who has been reported as having AIDS, that number is in fact considerably greater as some states to this day do not report AIDS cases and  many never seek treatment and go undiagnosed. 

An eye-opening look at the battle that while not as talked about as it once was, is still being fought to this day. 

 

While her sisters dream of love and romance and marriage, Louisa May Alcott dreams of freedom.  As the family packs up to move their home under their fathers guidance, Louisa is unhappy with the decision and can not wait until she can afford to move away on her own and become the writer she knows she can be.

When Louisa meets the handsome Joseph Singer, she finds him irritating and does her best to ignore him, but Joseph is made of stronger stuff then that and is not so easily led away, much to Louisa’s annoyance, and pleasure.  When she finally allows herself to give her heart to Joseph, she soon learns that she has been foolish and everything she always thought about love was spot on… something she certainly did not need in her life.

Louisa may find a way to physically head into the direction she wants for her life, but she finds it is not so easy to move the heart.

What a delightful read!  (See, a few hours caught up with this “Little Womenesk” type read and I even talk like them!)  The Lost Summer does give you a taste of the Little Women as is it a fictitious writing about the author of that very book.  Louise is my kind of character.  She is strong and independent to a fault.  She is determined and does proceed with the plans she had made for her life.  I love that!  Yes she also has a softer side and I find, I love that too.

If, as rumor has it Louisa May Alcott did develop the character of Jo (Little Women) after her own image, then this book is spot on.  (My goodness, I really am typing like they talk… perhaps I need a spot of tea?)

I found the book to be quite (eep! again!) enjoyable and an easy yet fulfilling read.  I have heard some say that this book reads like a YA book and I tend to agree, it does mostly center around Louisa and her sisters when they are in their teenage years, and reads like a secret diary.

Quick and fun, allow yourself to take a walk through this one with Louisa.