I am almost always listening to at least one audiobook, and usually it is two: one in the car and one on my ipod around the house and at the gym. I try to listen to a lot of non-fiction since I sometime have a difficult time getting through non-fiction if it is not riveting on the page. Below are some of the audobooks I am currently listening to or have recently finished.
1. Bossypants by TIna Fey Four words...hil-ar-i-ous. I think Tina and I could be best friends if all that fame and fortune weren't standing between us. I especially liked the parts about Tina's life pre-fame growing up in Pennsylvania, college in VA, and post-college pre-fame days. The book is wondefully read by Fey who adds in all sorts of asides the book does not include. I highly recommend this one.
2. One hazard of listening to books is getting a bad reader. This has not happened to me often, but it is a danger. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is read by Tony Goldwyn. As it turns out, this is a book I could probably have read because the whole story about the 1893 Chicago World's Fair entwined with the story of serial killer H.H. Holmes is riveting. I learned a great deal about the phenomenon that was the White City and probably more than I wanted to know about the activities of Dr. Holmes. But wow, what a book, so meticulously researched and writing that draws the listener in. Because I so enjoyed this one, I decided to go ahead and listen to In the Garden of Beasts also by Erik Larson read by Stephen Hoye the same reader as The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha
Mukherjee to which I also listened. I am always thrown off at first by a reader I have heard before because I associate that voice with a particular story. Luckily this guy is really good as well because I was a bit disappointed when it was not Goldwyn again. I am only at the beginning of this one, but so far it is as interesting as the last.
3. Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith is another recent listen. While Queen Elizabeth's own life has been free of scandal, her sister, and three of her children were right up to their ears in it. I enjoyed listening to this one for details I did not know about the Queen. A companion book I listend to a few months ago is The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown read by Rosalyn Landor. If Elizabeth the Queen is all "Diana was a kook, the Queen is wonderful," then this one is a pretty fair look at both women. On deck for this summer, either to read or listen is Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton, which will have a bit of a different take on the story I think.
4. I am currently listening to Great House by Nicole Krauss, read byAlma Curvo, George Guidall, Celeste Ciulla, and Paul Hect. It is so unlike anything else to which I have listened/read I am not sure how to describe it. There are four different stories being told, and at least three of them seem to revolve around one desk. They take place in different countries and the time keeps skipping around so I am not entirely sure how it is all going to go...this of course is why it is such an interesting story. As soon as I get caught up in one story , the narration switches and I get caught up in the next story. This is another one I could easily have read, but I am very happy with the many readers and enjoy their characterizations. (Reading audiobooks is something I would love to do some day. I have done a bit of voicework (a very small bit), but I enjoy it and think I am pretty good.) Even more than 3/4 of the way through the book I am not sure how "great house" is connected, but I suppose that is another reason the book is so fantastic.