I haven’t done a What’cha Readin’? Wednesday in a while and when I saw this, I thought, “Perfect segue!”. There’s a little hiccup, however. My latest book binge has been taking place in audio format. Summers get awfully busy, you see, and I don’t really have the kind of time I’d like to cozy up with a book. However… I still have a stupid long commute to work each day, so I choose the beguile away the miles with an audiobook.
I won’t lie, however. I don’t think the format always does justice to books. (Particularly as there seem to be a whole lotta people out there getting paid to do a lousy job narrating.) I will often leave the library with 3 audiobooks and a smile, only to return all three a week later, with a grimace of distaste and a big ol’ note in my reading file to “AVOID ANYTHING READ BY…”
It’s easier if I know I already like the writer, however, and this past winter, selkie mentioned to me that she was re-reading Louise Penny’s “Bury Your Dead”, and that simple remark started me on my way to this latest binge.
I had discovered Ms. Penny at the same time as her first book in the Armand Gamache series was published, and had enjoyed her work after that, altho’ I hadn’t read the books faithfully, or in order. I’d gone off of the world of Gamache after “The Beautiful Mystery”, however - not because the writing or storytelling got bad but because I was so upset by the evolution of one of the characters. I found that development really painful to read and I just couldn’t make myself continue on to witness any more of that train wreck.
But “Bury Your Dead” took place before TBM, and it was one I hadn’t read, and selkie was raving about it… so I decided it would be a safe bet. I picked it up and was transported to the Winter Carnival… and hooked on Inspector Gamache all over again. Enough, in fact, that I decided to do a little investigating. As it turns out, I’d boycotted the world of Three Pines for long enough that it was possible to discover from blurbs that the situation that had pained me so much had been resolved a couple of books after the point where I’d given up. So when I saw “A Great Reckoning” on the audiobook shelves, I snapped it up. I figured I’d leapfrog past that painful era and just go on from there.
Except I couldn’t. Once I’d gotten through Reckoning, now I HAD to know what had happened in the interim! So I went back to “How The Light Gets In”… on to “The Long Way Home”, and just yesterday, I finished “The Nature of the Beast”. *Bam, bam, bam!*
I can’t believe I lucked out enough to find them all available at the library, in the order I needed them, one right after the other. But thank goodness I did! These stories are the kind where you get to your destination, only to find that you’re so absorbed in the narrative that you simply cannot get out of your car. I’ve dawdled in more parking lots over the last two months than I’d care to admit.
But it’s still better than the twitching I would have been doing if I’d had to delay in between books!
The books are mysteries - Monsieur Gamache is with the Sûreté after all - but there’s also something there for everyone. History, psychology, art, cuisine, love, humor… there’s a ton of humor - which I actually think I appreciate more in the audio format than when I read it.
These books are great reads - and great listens.
I’m now recommending them to everyone.
How about you? What’s your latest book binge been?
9 comments:
Ha! I could never find the time to read anymore either, and I discovered audiobooks last year and have been going through lots of them. My library offers many downloadable versions, and I enjoy getting them directly on my phone. I feel your pain about the narrators, some of them are just awful. I only finished the first two Inspector Gamache novels so far, and I agree, they are wonderful although the narrator's British accent bothers me from time to time. Three Pines is in Canada after all... and that's not how we pronounce "toque"! :)
Hoss is a strong advocate for audio books, almost always has one playing on his phone. He his love of them has flowed over to the kids as well. I will ask him if he's heard of this series. Thanks for the recommendation!
--Baker
I read the same way I watch Netflix - never, binge, never, binge. I just read The President is Missing by James Paterson and Bill Clinton. Almost six hundred pages; I downed it in four days. Politics aside, it was a page turner.
Amy
Just now i am finishing up The Reason for God by Timothy Keller and getting deeper into Bullsh*t: How to Detect Junk Science, Bogus Claims, Wachy Theories, and General Human Stupidity.
There have been a couple of times where i’ve read aloud in a group setting, and more than once i’ve been told i would be great for reading audiobooks. If there are that many people who are bad at it, maybe i need to investigate, see how you get a job in the field.
M-
My library offers them electronically as well but my car is old-school. ;-p
I think the accent doesn’t bother me as much because a- the reading is well done and b- I’m already listening to someone telling me in English what those people are saying in French anyhow. :-D
And you had me grinning with the toque - down here, you pretty much never hear that word anyhow so my first thought was, “oh, that’s how you pronounce that word!”
Foiled again!
B-
I figure story telling really IS an oral tradition anyhow, right?
So keeping it alive is a good thing! :-)
A-
I probably shouldn’t attempt that one - I’d be far to busy muttering, “Your pages to God’s ears…” to absorb any of it.
mm-
Go for it! I’d be happy to hear a larger preponderance of dulcet tones out there.
Altho’ when you become a world-famous narrator, I’ll have to insist on a complimentary copy of your first work - you know, “To The Blogger Who Inspired Me”.
(What do you mean, "It's not all about you, Jz..."???)
Hi Jz = she's on my list to get one of her books out of the library ... so will check her out ... and I'm sure I'll get hooked - take care and cheers Hilary
H-
You know, I hadn't thought to recommend her to you because she's fiction... I completely forgot about the Canada link!
I hope you enjoy her as much as I do. :-)
yah~~ totally love this series - and as we had discussed, I was agog a the evolution of the Inspector as well, but she came back and made it so satisfying all is well in the Three Pines world! I particularly enjoyed Bury Your Dead, having enjoyed Quebec (City) in the winter and had wonderful memories to underscore how magical it is... so much so, next year planning a weekend - Grosse Ile is now open to the public for many years now and I had planned on visiting it for many years and totally forgot about it. Feel I need to make pilgramage to it ... being one of the lucky Irish immigrants who never had to deal with the horrors faced by my ancestors...
s-
If Grosse Ile is anything like Ellis Island, it will be fascinating - GO!
:-)
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