Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I know this is famous book so I thought I should read it. It’s definitely dated but the concepts are still something to talk about. I didn’t study this in school so I don’t know the history behind it.

Stats: First published in 1932, this unabridged audio book is narrated by Michael York and is 8 hours in length, printed book is 288 pages.

Blurb: Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress…

Huxley’s ingenious fantasy of the future sheds a blazing light on the present and is considered to be his most enduring masterpiece.

What I liked: Not really sure. As a mental exercise, I guess the story would be interesting to talk about – how the new world is set up and seems to work focused on sex and lack of any distress. But as I mention below, the world and it’s characters didn’t really interest me so it was hard to enjoy it as a story. And maybe that was the point.

What I didn’t like: It all seemed kind of silly to me – a engineered “perfect” world – which I’m sure was at least one of the points Huxley was trying to make. But it was so much so that I couldn’t believe in it as a “real” world and thus interested me less then other dsytopean worlds I’ve read about. It is an early version of such a book, so that might be part of it. It seemed like intially the story is going to focus on Bernard, but then the “Savage” is brought into the story and takes it in a slightly different direction – I suppose to more easily illustrate the silliness of the present world. Why the Controllers allow this old, imperfect world to exsist is hard to understand. You would think they would just kill people that don’t conform or fit in the new world. I think Fahrenheit 451 created a more believeable world with more likeable characters.

Rating: 2.5/5

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The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I knew the author so I wanted to check this book out.

Stats: I listened to the audio book, 12 discs, narrated by Jenna Lamina (Sarah) and Adepero Oduye (Handful), Published January 2014, Print is 384 pages.

Blurb: Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

What I liked: I didn’t read the blurb before I listened to the book, so I didn’t know it was based on real people, but as the story went on, it was a bit longer than it seemed like it needed to be, so it occurred to me that is was probably based on real people. I didn’t know who until the end, where Kidd tells of some of the background information, which I really enjoyed. Handful – the made-up character – was a bit more interesting than her white counterpart – Sarah – until Sarah finally gets away from home and starts to forge her own path. Sarah and her sister were very before their time: speaking for abolition and women’s right in the early to mid-1800s. The beginning does give you a good feel for life in Charleston at that time. Lamia and Oduye do a good job narrating.

What I didn’t like: The beginning was a bit slow and overall a bit long, but if you can make it past those things, it’s an interesting story, made more so by knowing it is based on a couple real women.

Rating: 4/5

The Winter Ghost by Kate Mosse – book review

Another blink library pick.

Stats: Published in 2009, print is 253 pages, audio book is 5 discs – 5.5 hours, narrated by Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Blurb: In the winter of 1928, still seeking some kind of resolution to the horrors of World War I, Freddie is traveling through the beautiful but forbidding French Pyrenees. During a snowstorm, his car spins off the mountain road. Dazed, he stumbles through the woods, emerging in a tiny village, where he finds an inn to wait out the blizzard. There he meets Fabrissa, a lovely young woman also mourning a lost generation.
Over the course of one night, Fabrissa and Freddie share their stories. By the time dawn breaks, Freddie will have unearthed a tragic, centuries-old mystery, and discovered his own role in the life of this remote town.

What I liked: After you get into it a bit, it’s an interesting story about love and loss. I like how Mosse makes the seemingly unbelieveable, believeable (Freddie joining a feast and meeting a woman he shouldn’t be able to meet. – I won’t give it away by giving any details). I also like the how the letter in the beginning ties the story together.  Julian Rhind-Tutt’s narration is spot on for the women and the men. I forgot I was listening to a narrator and thought I was listening to the character’s themselves!

What I didn’t like: The beginning is too long. Mosse draws out Freddie’s loss (his brother in WWI) and his breakdown for too long. We get the point, move on already. I think it’s convenient how some of the characters don’t answer questions given to them by Freddie that would help him understand what’s happening or Freddie doesn’t keep asking questions until he understands what’s going on, but the story wouldn’t work if those things happened so I tried to let those things slide. It didn’t take away from the story enough to hinder my enjoyment.

Rating: 4/5

At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie

I’m on an Agatha Christie kick so I picked this up at the library.

 Stats: The books was first published in January, 1965 (she died in 1971). In print it’s 223 pages. In audio form it’s only 2 discs – 2’20”. I listened to the BBC version, which is a dramatization, so there are multiple people involved, all playing their own character and sound effects – like a radion drama. Always enjoyable to listen to.

Blurb: An old-fashioned London Hotel is not quite as reputable as it makes out! When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she’s looking for at Bertram’s Hotel: traditional decor, impeccable service and an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Yet, not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric guest makes his way to the airport on the wrong day!

What I like: Mostly I liked the presentation of the story in drama form. I didn’t figure out who was the mastermind behind the chain of robberies, but Christie makes it easy to see who is at least partially involved. She has her usual trick of having many people involved in the story itself to keep you guessing on how they all fit in.

What I didn’t like: Miss Marple is hardly part of the story. I read another of Christie’s Miss Marple stories that was the same way. I suppose an old lady can only be in the center of so many murders, but when she isn’t, the stories just aren’t as enjoyable to me. You don’t get a feel for the other characters in a way that you care enough what is going on. And this was very short too.

Rating: 3/5  Not one of her better stories. I would rate the drama a 4/5.

Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie

I am writing a mystery (the third book in the Agnes Kelly Mystery Adventure) so I want to listen to good mystery novels and who is better than Agatha? – Not many 🙂

Stats: First published Nov. 1, 1937. Audio book is 8 hours (7 discs). This audio books was narrated by the actor David Suchet.

Blurb: (Goodreads) Linnet Doyle is young, beautiful, and rich. She’s the girl who has everything–including the man her best friend loves. When Linnet and her new husband take a cruise on the Nile, they meet brilliant detective Hercule Poirot. It should be an idyllic trip, yet Poirot feels that something is amiss.

What I liked: I really didn’t have a clue to “who done it” until the very end even though the murder took place on a moving boat. And I think the only reason I figured it out before Poirot announced it was I think maybe I have read the story a long time ago but don’t remember that I read it. But I didn’t remember the surprise at the very end. I wonder why Christie decided to add that last bit. It is interesting as a writer how there is quite a bit of setup before the murder even takes place. That would never fly in a story written today. And not only does the murder kill once, but three times before Poirot figures out who did it. I always enjoy Christie’s portrayal of Poirot – he does think highly of himself.

What I didn’t like: There was a bit too much background information to my liking and it got a little confusing about who was who, because there has to be many different characters since the murder happens on a moving boat and there has to be various people to suspect of the crime. David Suchet does a wonderful job creating the different characters.

Rating: 4/5

 

Death of a Chimney Sweep by M.C. Beaton

I was up for a mystery. I wanted to listen to Agatha Christie but the library I was in didn’t have her in audio (unheard of!) so I picked this up. I’d never read Beaton (aka Marion Chesney) before. It’s not the first dead body I’ve read about in a chimney, however. I wonder if this is mostly a writer’s fantasy or do murderers really stuff bodies in chimneys? Sounds difficult to me!

Stats: published in 2011, print is 247 pages, audio book is 5 discs or 5′ 37″, narrator is Graeme Malcolm.

Blurb: In the south of Scotland, residents get their chimneys vacuum-cleaned. But in the isolated villages in the very north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the itinerant sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands, until one day when Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager’s fireplace, and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn’t believe that the affable chimney sweep is capable of committing murder. Then Pete’s body is found on the Scottish moors, and the mystery deepens. Once again, it’s up to Hamish to discover who’s responsible for the dirty deed–and this time, the murderer may be closer than he realizes.

What I liked: I especially liked the narration. Malcolm does a wonderful job with the various characters so that you can almost picture them. I don’t know the man, but he’s got to be from England or maybe even Scotland, where the story takes place. I liked the town folk of Lochdubh (what a wonderful town name – I wonder if it’s real?). Beaton/Chesney does well in playing up the local flare. The lady spinster giving the bad guy bleach with his tea was a particularly nice touch! And the Hamish character is very lovable – a practical man (gets rid of a dead body rather than have his cat implicated), smart and quirky. I’m not surprised she has more books around him.

What I didn’t like: The author has an odd writing style – bouncing around from one character to another to tie up loose writing end no matter what was going on. It threw me at first but by the end, I was used to it and could just take it in stride. I wonder if all her Hamish mysteries are written this way?

Rating: 4/5 – A fun read/listen

The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

The newest book by John Grisham – why not?!

Stats: Published in October of this year. Print is 352 pages. I’m not sure how many discs in the audio book, which is what I listened to. I couldn’t get past #3.

Blurb: Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier, for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three know they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam.

But maybe there’s a way out. Maybe there’s a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. But to do so, they would first have to quit school. And leaving law school a few short months before graduation would be completely crazy, right? Well, yes and no.

What I liked: Nothing but the narration (and sorry, I took the audio book back to the library before I wrote down who did the narration, but he did a fine job). I couldn’t get past the third disc. There was no reason for me to continue. Oh, and the cover is nice.

What I didn’t like: Most everything. The characters were so ignorant and they had no goal by disc 3 expect to stop school before their final (yes, final) semester (I told you they were ignorant) to make money illegally in order to try and get out the large college dept they all held. This lack of a story goal this far into the story despite the death of their close friend. But you have to take John’s word on the fact that they’re close, because until you meet him in disc 2, you don’t even know he’s around. (Obviously, this was going to be the goal – avenge their friend’s death. A guy who, like themselves, was swamped in school dept, among other things, so he kills himself. No big mystery there either.) What was Grisham thinking with this book? What was his editor thinking?! And how does this book have an average of 4/5 on Goodreads?!

It’s nice that he is talking about sad story of student dept in this country – and the people who pray on those students, including our very own Sally Mae! But if he doesn’t write a story that makes a person care about the characters, how are they going to care about the dept they are carrying?

Is this a case of the Emperor’s new clothes?!

Rating: 1/5  I wouldn’t bother.