Classics on Audiobook

I like to listen to audiobooks while I'm driving. My commute to work is only about 15-20 minutes, but it still helps me pass the time (I hate driving). Last month, I decided to throw in a classic book in to the listening rotation and listened to The Great Gatsby. Most people see that I work in a library and assume I've read every classic book there is. Spoiler alert: not true. I've only read a handful. I figured this would be a great way to get more classics in.

Let me know which classics (and who narrated them) I should listen to in the comments. The narration is so so so important to me. I don't know how many books I've stopped listening to and decided to just pick up the print version because I can't handle the narrator.

And speaking of great narrators and audiobooks, I just finished Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan, comedian, narrated by Jim Gaffigan, and it's just hilarious. Seriously LOL funny.

My rating: 4 stars.

I have The Lord of the Flies waiting on standby as well as The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I'm also planning on supplementing my listening by throwing in some past Newbery award winning audiobooks, so feel free to throw those in as suggestions too!

Weekly Reads: Allegiant

Allegiant is the MUCH anticipated penultimate book in the Divergent trilogy.  If you haven't read Divergent and Insurgent, what the hell are you waiting for??  But seriously?  What?  Folks are saying it is on par with the Hunger Games obsession, and I'm inclined to agree with them.

Being the dystopian junkie that I am, I cannot wait to get my eyeballs on this book to find out how it ends.  And if you haven't read it yet, you might actually be in luck, because Roth's writing style doesn't really remind you what went on in the previous novels, so it's almost ideal to read them back to back to back.  There were numerous times in Insurgent (book 2) that I had to sit and think about what happened in Divergent.  It doesn't help that I read so many books with similar themes and sometimes it's hard to keep them straight.  :/  But perhaps Roth will be nice again and provide us with a "refresher" of the previous books via her blog.  Click here for Divergent refresher.

Summary of Divergent from goodreads (because I don't want to have any spoilers for those who HAVEN'T started from the beginning, only shame.  Lots and lots of shame.... jk):

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Weekly Reads: Fangirl

One of the best (if not the best, if I'm being totally honest) books that I've read in 2013 is Eleanor & Park.  A relatively unknown author to me, produced a novel that was putting young adult obsessives in a tizzy over it's amazingness.  Two of my reading "twins" asked if I had read it, shortly after it's release, and when I hadn't yet, they both demanded I check it out immediately.  When your reading twins recommend a book IMMEDIATELY, you drop everything and pick it up.  They were right.  As usual. Thanks reading twins.  (Wait, does that mean that we're triplets?  They're both gingers too.  Perhaps they're actually long lost twins/sisters.  Will investigate further after writing this post.)

Eleanor and Park is set in the 1980s, which for a child of the 80s makes this pretty awesome right off of the bat.  It's an unconventional first love story, but so so so much more than just that.  It's raw, and beautiful, and just so very real.  I devoured it.

So when I found out that Rainbow Rowell (also, her name?  Amazing.  I feel like we'd be besties.  She just lives down in Omaha.  BRB making Rainbow my bestie!) had another book coming out this fall, I immediately put in a purchase request at my library.

Dear Library,
Please grant my Fangirl purchase request ASAP, as the book is being published September 10th, and I need it in my hands, ASAP.
Sincerely, Your devoted employee and obsessive YA fan


A summary from goodreads:

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Weekly Reads: Engagements + Sisterland

This week I'm going to highlight a few books that I can't wait to get my grubby little paws on.

  J. Courtney Sullivan has written a couple of books that I've enjoyed Maine and Commencement, so I was excited when her summer 2013 release was announced, The Engagements.

Blurb from Goodreads:

"From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage—about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding.

Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own. 

As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything."

Another author I enjoy is Curtis Sittenfeld, who has written  Prep, American Wife and The Man of My Dreams that I've enjoyed.  Her new novel, Sisterland, is currently on order at the library due to a purchase suggestion by moi, and I'm sitting in eager anticipation as the #1 hold recipient once it comes in.  Tick tock tick tock.

The blurb from goodreads:

"Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of American Wifeand Prep, returns with a mesmerizing novel of family and identity, loyalty and deception, and the delicate line between truth and belief.
 
From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that they were unlike everyone else. Kate and Vi were born with peculiar “senses”—innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other people’s secrets. Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to hide them.
 
Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their hometown of St. Louis. Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children. But when a minor earthquake hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished for begins to shift. After Vi goes on television to share a premonition that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis area, Kate is mortified. Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi may be right. As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with her sister and to face truths about herself she’s long tried to deny.
 
Funny, haunting, and thought-provoking, Sisterland is a beautifully written novel of the obligation we have toward others, and the responsibility we take for ourselves. With her deep empathy, keen wisdom, and unerring talent for finding the extraordinary moments in our everyday lives, Curtis Sittenfeld is one of the most exceptional voices in literary fiction today."


Anything you're jazzed to read this week?

**If you click on the book cover and/or book title links and purchase the book through Amazon, I get a few pennies of the sale.  If you check it out from your library, it's free, and I don't get anything, but I'm super stoked that you're supporting your library.  :)**

Weekly Reads: Mr. Peumbra's 24 Hour Book Store

<----This was me growing up (big shocker).  We lived out in the country for three years of grade school, and there were no kids nearby for miles.  My brother was six years older than me, and in high school, so clearly hanging out with his little sister wasn't high on his priority list.  So in the summer time, I would load up my backpack with books, get my golden retriever BFF Buck, and follow Frog Creek to my favorite tree.  The tree was deep in a wooded area and difficult to get to, so I felt like I was the only person in the world.  The tree's branches stretched out over the creek, and one of the branches had a giant gaping crack in it that I could store things in.  My dog would lay at the base of the tree and keep me company while I read summer afternoons away.  I saw this picture on Books Direct tumblr and had a major flashback of those great years.

And with that wordy diatribe, I am announcing a new weekly (hopefully) component to my blog entitled:  Weekly Reads.  I hope to highlight a book that I'm currently reading and obsessed with, a soon to be released book, or a great read I've just finished. Reading is more fun when we do it together, amiright?

Right now I'm reading a few books, but the one I'm most excited about is Mr. Peumbra's 24 Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan.  I have been waiting forever for this book to come in at the library for me, and finally decided to just attempt to listen to it on audiobook.  I'll usually give an audiobook 30 minutes to decide if I like (=can stand) the narrator before giving up and picking up the hardcover version instead.  I'm so glad I lucked in to the audiobook version because I love the narration.

The story is set in an eccentric bookstore in San Francisco that is open all hours of the day.  Clay is the clerk working the night shift.  He hardly makes a sale on any of his shifts, and the only customers he sees regularly request obscure books from the VIP section of the store that are for check out only.  When he delves into the store's quirks more in depth, he finds there is even more than meets the eye in Mr. Penumbra's store.

I'm typically not one who's in to fantasy novels, but I am obsessed with stories that have fantastical elements that could be happening in our lives right now, and we don't know it.

What's your read of the week?

**If you click on the book cover and purchase the book through Amazon, I get a few pennies of the sale.  If you check it out from your library, it's free, and I don't get anything, but I'm super stoked that you're supporting your library.  :)**

Book Blunder

My manager at work is a reader, so frequently we'll update each other on what we've read lately and what we think the other one would enjoy.  The other day I came in to work, and she asked if I had read Fifty Shades of Grey.  I said that I hadn't been had just added it to my "to-read" list when I was at Barnes and Nobles the other day.  It looked good, but like it could be a really heart-wrenching read.  She said it was good so far, but there were some definitely "dirty" parts to it.  Which confused me... a lot.

So I looked up the book that I thought she had recommended:


Between Shades of Gray (Goodreads synapsis)
It's 1941 and fifteen-year-old artist Lina Vilkas is on Stalin's extermination list. Deported to a prison camp in Siberia, Lina fights for her life, fearless, risking everything to save her family. It's a long and harrowing journey and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?

and realized it was not, in fact, Fifty Shades of Grey:

(Goodreads synapsis)
When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind - until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.

The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her - but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.

Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.
_____
Yes, definitely not the book I was thinking of....


But now, of course I have to read it immediately.

Best Books of 2011

In 2010 I set a goal for myself to read one book per week in 2011.  When I got accepted in to grad school, I realized that my reading "for fun" time might be disappearing, so I picked up the pace.  This summer I created quite the book goal cushion for myself, and I completed my goal in early November with 7 weeks to spare.

Now, I know most of you are here for my running antics, but I'd be a bad future librarian if I didn't inspire you to pick up a book in 2012.  The following are my favorite books that I read in 2011 (please note, this isn't a "best of 2011 list, because a good chunk of them have been out longer than just this year).  Also, as you can tell from my list, my preferred reading genres are young adult, running, fiction, and some chick lit sprinkled in for good measure.

Young Adult

To say that I devoured The Hunger Games books is an understatement.  I really loved them, and loved the main character Katniss, even if her role has come under some scrutinize for the somewhat obnoxious love triangle, woe is me, stuff.

 

 Just when I thought I couldn't get more sucked in to the young adult, dystopian world genre, along came Divergent.  Another book I flew through and quickly became my favorite of the genre.  And by genre I'm stating that as favorite dystopian novel, and favorite YA novel of 2011.

 

 But to be sure, I did have to read Delirium , which was almost on par with the Hunger Games in awesomeness.  I'm looking forward to the direction that both series will take.

I was definitely not expecting the intensity of The Book Thief from a YA novel.  Such an emotional book, I kept having to remind myself that it wasn't an adult book.  Incredibly good, but very emotionally draining.

Running


Advanced Marathoning is on most runner's shelves.  I'd scanned it previously and realized the programs were too advanced for me, but noted that I definitely wanted to tackle them in the future.  When I mentioned that I was thinking of doing a fall marathon, Danielle sent me my very own copy.  We've become almost inseparable since then.

Fiction


  The Story of Beautiful Girl is a book that brought me to crippling sobs.  It is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching novel that is a must-read.  Definitely one of my favorite books of all time.

I would go so far to say that The Night Circus is one of my favorite books read in 2011.  Such whimsy and amazingness.  One of the first times I've finished a book and hoped it'd be made in to a movie, because I'm not sure my imagination did it justice.




 I feel like I was one of the last people to read The Room .  My sister in law kept asking if I had read it, so I finally did, and wow.  Definitely worth the time.  It's told in the perspective of a little boy who's whole world is a tiny room.  Very intense.

 Again, I'm probably one of the last people to read Water for Elephants.  I swear I started to read it a few years ago, and I could not get in to it, but when I picked it up, it wasn't the same book I was thinking of.  I read it because the movie was coming out and knew I'd see it at some point.  I was super sucked in to the circus and the love story.


 
  I was not expecting what I got out of So Much Pretty.  It was a lot darker than I had anticipated, and maybe that's why I liked it so much.  It caught me off-guard.


The Housekeeper and the Professor is one of the first books I read in 2011, so the details are a bit hazy, but I remember that I loved it.  I read it for a book club at the downtown library, and then was ill the day it was discussed.  I should probably re-read it to remember why I gave it 5 stars.  Or you should read it and remind me.


I really loved The Discovery of Witches but felt like the ending was so up in the air.  And then I realized it was written as a trilogy.  And then I felt dumb.  Lots of supernatural fun and intrigue.  Can't wait for the rest of the books to roll out.  I do think it had a bit of a slow start, so beware of that.

There are many other books that made away with 4 stars, so feel free to check out my "Bookworm Page" for a full list of books.

Disclosure:  If you click on the book and buy the book from Amazon, I get like a fraction of a penny.  ;)