September Audiobooks

When we visited Biltmore last week, one of the most beautiful rooms was the library. We were told that George Vanderbilt was an avid reader and kept a journal (from the age of 12) of all the books he read and that the total was over 3000. I can't imagine how he read that many books because he didn't have audiobooks! I've kept a log of books I've read since 1996 and the total is 2055. Since I retired in 2010, I average about 110 books a year. I can't imagine how George read that many books in his life because he died at the age of 52.

There's never enough time for all the books!

This month I finished 9 books, which is pretty good given that I had about 10 vacation days in September. I had a record 3 DNF (did not finish) books but I didn't waste too much time with any of them before I called it quits.  Of the books I finished I'd say that Gods and Kings and Spirit Crossing were my favorites. A History of Private Life will be a tough read for 99% of people but I really enjoyed it.

​What good books have you read this month?

DNF 
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips - I think this is probably a good story but I didn't enjoy the telling of it. I gave it a couple of hours and then gave up.

River Horse by William Least heat-Moon - We met a really interesting guy in a pub in Maine and got to talking about books. He recommended this one so we thought it would be a good car listen for the ride home. It wasn't. It's about a cross country trip by river and it's really dull. 

​All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy - I think this is considered classic western and it received rave reviews. I just didn't hold my attention.
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The Plinko Bounce 
By Martin Clark, Read by David Aaron Baker and Morgan Hallett

Andy Hughes has been a public defender for 16 years and the job is pretty boring and routine representing the poor souls of his small county. But then in 2020 he's assigned the case of Damien Bullins. Bullins has been charged with the murder of Alicia Benson, the wife of a wealthy businessman. Damien even admitted to the murder.

But a couple of mistakes by the investigators send the case on a different trajectory and Bullins might escape punishment.

I read my first Martin Clark book, The Legal Limit, because it's set in the area where I grew up, Henry and Patrick Counties in Virginia. Both books are legal thrillers and good stories. I'd take a star off of this one only because it has the pandemic theme running through it (social distancing and mask wearing) and, frankly, it doesn't age well. If I were an author that wrote all that into a book, I'd go back and edit it to remove those elements. In this book it's not a burdensome element but it's totally unnecessary to the story. If you happen to be an Audible member and want to try out this author many of his books are free for downloading.

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A History of Private Life, Vol I: From pagan Rome to Byzantium, Edited by Philippe Aries and Georges Duby

OK, stick with me for a moment.  I like shopping in second hand bookshops and I tend to buy mostly non-fiction books. I prefer reading history and non-fiction in paper mode.

I picked up this book and another in the series for $2 each at a bookstore a few month ago. I had low expectations but thought I'd give it a try. At the time I didn't realize that this is one of a 5 book series. I bought books 1 and 2. A friend has book 3.

It's a surprisingly interesting book! It's about exactly what the title says: the private lives of citizens. It covers relationships, family structures, housing, spirituality and other aspects of the lives of individuals. I'm looking forward to starting volume II

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Spirit Crossing
By William Kent Krueger, Read by David Chandler

This is #20 in the Cork O'Connor series and I think this series benefits from being read in order.

We started our drive home from Maine with the DNFed book mentioned above, River Horse. We quickly switched to this and it carried us until about 15 minutes before we pulled in the driveway.

Young Waaboo, Cork's grandson, stumbles upon a shallow grave while blueberry picking with the family. While there Waaboo speaks with the spirit of the girl. It's thought that she is a missing young Ojibwe woman but the state authorities are only interested in the missing daughter of a prominent politician. Cork works with the Tribal police to investigate the case and they discover that there might be a link to the missing white girl.

Meanwhile, Cork's daughter Annie has returned for her brother Stephen's wedding and has a secret of her own. Stephen and his fiance are involved in a pipeline protest on supposed sacred land. 

It's fast paced and contains a lot of native mysticism.

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When We Were Enemies
By Emily Bleeker, Read By Carlotta Brentan and Eva Kaminsky

Had I looked at my reading history spreadsheet I would have seen that I read another Bleeker book and I didn't like it. This one was better but was still a struggle for me to get through. 

The basic storyline is interesting. In modern day, Elise Branson runs a successful PR firm (and should be smarter than her actions will prove). She is engaged and her wedding coincides with a documentary about her celebrity grandmother, Viviam Snow. Elise's wedding preparations, thanks to her narcissistic mothers' meddling, are now part of the documentary and Elise will be married in the chapel on the base where Vivan worked during WII.

The story goes back and forth in time to tell Vivian and Elise's stories with one particularly unbelievable parallel involving priests. 

This book is a lot better than When I'm Gone, which I hated. But I found both Elise and Vivian to be unbelievably naive given their life histories. It was too close to a romance novel for my tastes.

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Gods and Kings
By Lynn Austin, Read By Suzanne Toren

​I can't remember where I heard about this book but I know it's been in my library for many months. This is the first book in a 5-book series, Chronicles of the Kings. The series is a retelling of Bible stories about the Kings following the death of King Soloman in 931 BC.

I'll be honest, I don't know the Bible but the reviews say that the stories are true to the writing. Austen has the luxury of making some rather bare bones stories in a rich novel with complex and interesting characters. In this novel, King Azah of Judah has aligned with eh Assyrians and instituted polytheism. His son, Hezekiah, is still a believer in monotheism.  

It's not "religious" in the way you would think. It just a re-telling of a Bible story. It read more like Follet's historical fiction novels. The characters are really well developed and the story kept me interested. At the beginning it was a little challenging to keep track of the unfamiliar names but it didn't take too long to settle in and know all the characters.

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The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
By Naida Hashimi, Read By Read By Gin Hammond

TLDR: If you are a woman born in the West, be very grateful.

Kabul 2007: Rahaima and her sisters cannot go to school and there are no boy in the house. Their father is addicted to opium so Rahima must follow the custom of bacha posh that allows her to dress and be treated as a boy until she is mature. 

100 years earlier, her Great-Grandmother Shekiba followed the same custom when she was orphaned.

It's an interesting book but it moves at a bit of a slow pace. The crux of it is that nothing much has changed in Afghanistan in 100 years. It still really sucks to be born a woman there.

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You'll Never Find Me
By Allison Brennan, Read By Hillary Huber

This is the first (and, so far, only) book in the Angelhart Investigations series. Margot Angelhart is a private investigator who is estranged from her family PI firm since her father went to jail. She's working a cheating husband case when things take a twist and her brother shows up on one of her scenes. Her case seems to be connected to a case of corporate espionage.

It's an easy listen but has one annoying feature. Almost ever scene includes some sort of background. It might be a story from childhood, a broken love affair, bits about the family rift, or some mundane memory about a house. 

I've looked back in my reading log and I've read Brennan twice before and, it seems, that I'm not really a fan of her work. It definitely has a audience and I'd say it's people who like their mystery books one step beyond a cozy mystery. If you like easy mysteries where nothing is too brutal, this is for you.

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The Man in the Brown Suit
By Agatha Christie, Read By Gabrielle deCuir, John Lee

For out trip to Asheville we decided to listen to an Agatha Christie mystery during our ride. It got us to Asheville and within an hour home. It was perfect. You really can't beat Agatha Christie for a good mystery. I've only read one other Christie novel but I really should read more.

In this one, Anne Beddington is recently orphaned  and move to London to live with her late father's solicitor. While waiting for the Tube she witnesses a man fall off the platform onto the rails and dies. A man in a brown suit pretends to be a doctor and declares him dead. The police declare it as an accidental death.

Anne isn't so sure and starts investigating on her own and finds herself involved in a risky situation involving stolen diamonds.

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