#Feature: Audiobooks and me… a year of listening (Part One) #audiobooks #listening #veryshortreviews

You might just remember that I’ve fairly recently been converted to the joy of audiobooks – after several abortive earlier attempts when I found it really difficult to pay attention (and had an unfortunate tendency to drop off…), I discovered just how wonderful they can be as companions for walking. I shared a post back in December 2021 to tell you all about the new experience (you can read it again here) – I didn’t want to have to write full blog posts for every one I listened to, but I promised a round-up post every three months or so. Well, I’m really not sure what happened to that resolution – so instead I’m going to treat you to a round-up (over two posts) of all the audiobooks I’ve listened to over the last year!

By far the majority of my listening is done while walking – I sometimes carry on listening while cooking my breakfast when I get home, but I still can’t get past that lapse in attention (and, often, consciousness…) that happens if I try to carry on when relaxing in a comfy chair. Others tell me they’re great for when you’re doing your housework or ironing too – but as that isn’t something that I do very often, so I haven’t tested it out that much.

So, it’s mostly when out walking – and I really needed to find a more comfy way of doing it, as I really wasn’t getting on with those really expensive Apple earbuds (they kept falling out – I really think my left ear must be a bit odd!). So, I’ve bought myself a fairly inexpensive set of bluetooth headphones (I’d share the link – they’re JVC ones, from Amazon – but I see they’re unfortunately out of stock) – ok, I know they probably make me look like a bit of a wally, but in addition to keeping my ears warm, they’ve honestly changed my whole listening-while-walking experience.

Every book I listen to takes me ages to get through – although if I’m really enjoying the book, I have been known to do a second circuit of the block so that I can continue (and who knew books could do so much for your fitness and step count?). And you will notice that the books I listen to are usually very different from the books I read on my kindle – a few thrillers, quite a few book club choices, and a few wildcard choices that I just wanted to try. And I must add that I don’t always enjoy them all as much as I hope to – so no authors tagged in these posts, and I’ll tell you what I really felt about each audiobook. So, let’s go back to the beginning of the year…

And what an excellent book to start the year with – 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard, narrated by Alana Kerr Collins…

No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead.

 

Fifty-six days ago. Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores.

 

Thirty-five days ago. When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who – and what – he really is.

 

Today. Detectives arrive at Oliver’s apartment to discover a decomposing body inside.

 

Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime?

I expect most thriller readers have already read and enjoyed this one – I was a touch wary about a book set during the pandemic (I really thought I might not want the reminders of lockdown) but this book really was superb. A present day police investigation littered with red herrings and unexpected twists and turns, and a real time narrative – wonderfully claustrophobic at times – from the two main characters, sometimes viewing the same events from different perspectives. Very clever writing – and I really loved the narrator’s voice with its gentle Irish presentation. Excellent stuff…

Next was The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, narrated by Anna Bentinck – and as I usually run a mile from anything badged with “short listed for the Man Booker Prize 2012”, you can probably guess that this was a book club choice.

Malaya, 1949. After a career spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh – herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp – seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya. There she meets the enigmatic Aritomo, an exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Yun Ling asks Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister. But the jungle holds secrets of its own…

The timeline was sometimes challenging – particularly as an audiobook – but the writing was quite beautiful, transporting me to the Cameron Highlands, engrossed in the life of Yun Ling both past and present. The descriptive passages were exceptionally beautiful, the harrowing wartime scenes vividly drawn, the detail about the gardens and the art of tattooing quite fascinating, the emotional content simply stunning. And a word for narrator Anna Bentinck – I really loved both her own voice as Yun Ling, and the voices she gave to others. Highly recommended.

Although I was distinctly ambivalent about his first book, I then couldn’t resist The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman, narrated by Lesley Manville – if only for a touch of light relief…

It’s the following Thursday.

 

Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster and a very real threat to his life.

 

As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds, too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus?

 

But this time, they are up against an enemy who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can the Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?

I read the first book in this series on my kindle, and – should you search – you won’t find a review here. Yes, I kind of liked it, but I just couldn’t get away from the predominance of the author’s own voice, all too familiar from his multiple appearances on the telly. Approaching the second one as an audiobook made all the difference – Lesley Manville’s narration was just superb, her comic timing perfect, and (if they hadn’t already spotted my headphones) passing walkers must have wondered why I was laughing out loud. A gloriously convoluted story, and quite excellent characterisation – this is undoubtedly a series that will run and run, pulling in increasingly enthusiastic readers, and (although I’m perhaps not a full subscriber to his fan club), I can fully understand why.

Next up? Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult, narrated by Marin Ireland – a personal choice…

Diana O’Toole’s life is going perfectly to plan. At 29, she’s up for promotion to her dream job as an art specialist at Sotheby’s, and she’s about to fly to the Galápagos, where she’s convinced her surgeon boyfriend, Finn, is going to propose.

 

But then the virus hits New York City and Finn breaks the news: the hospital needs him, he has to stay. But you should still go, he insists. And reluctantly, she agrees.

 

Once she’s in the Galápagos, the world shuts down around her, leaving Diana stranded – albeit in paradise. Completely isolated, with only intermittent news from the outside world, Diana finds herself examining everything that has brought her to this point and wondering if there’s a better way to live.

 

But not everything is as it seems….

And my goodness, everything certainly isn’t as it seems – what a story! Another book with a pandemic focus, but with a real difference – and having swerved the author’s books for a while when they’d begun to rather lose their magic for me, I thought this one was highly original and a fantastic read.

Then another book club choice – The Conjuror’s Bird by Martin Davies, narrated by Crawford Logan.

A best-selling Richard and Judy Book Club title, The Conjuror’s Bird is a dazzling debut novel, spanning three centuries of secrets and surprises.

 

It seems a long time ago that Fitz and Gabby were together, with his work on extinct species about to make him world-famous. Now, it’s his career that is almost extinct.

 

Suddenly, though, the beautiful Gabby reappears in his life. She wants his help in tracing the history of The Mysterious Bird of Ulieta, a creature once owned by the great 18th-century naturalist Joseph Banks. It soon becomes clear that Fitz is getting involved in something more complicated – and dangerous – than the search for a stuffed bird.

 

To solve the puzzle, he must uncover the identity of the amazing woman Banks loved – a woman who has disappeared from history as effectively as the specimen he is hunting.

 

The Conjuror’s Bird is the perfect mixture of detection, romance and history.

I’m afraid I really wasn’t dazzled by this one – I thought it was a competent detective story with some interesting history attached, but the writing and the narration never excited me. The characterisation just felt a bit limp – and the romance was never particularly engaging or convincing (sorry!).

At that point, I had rather a lot of review books waiting, so I decided to try A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe (one I’d heard so much about) as an audiobook, narrated by David Dawson.

When we go through something impossible, someone, or something, will help us, if we let them….

 

It is October 1966 and William Lavery is having the night of his life at his first black-tie do. But, as the evening unfolds, news hits of a landslide at a coal mine. It has buried a school: Aberfan.

 

William decides he must act, so he stands and volunteers to attend. It will be his first job as an embalmer, and it will be one he never forgets.

 

His work that night will force him to think about the little boy he was, and the losses he has worked so hard to forget. But compassion can have surprising consequences, because – as William discovers – giving so much to others can sometimes help us heal ourselves.

You really don’t need me to tell you what I thought of this one, do you? Stunning in its emotional impact, if I’d included audiobooks among my Books of the Year this would have been one of my runaway winners. If anything, I think it might have been even more powerful as a listen – believe everything you’ve heard about it (other than “it’s about Aberfan” – it’s so much more than that…), and if you haven’t yet read it, just make sure you do.

Another book group choice next – Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks, narrated by Tania Rodrigues…

1914: young Anton Heideck has arrived in Vienna, eager to make his name as a journalist. While working part-time as a private tutor, he encounters Delphine, a woman who mixes startling candour with deep reserve. Entranced by the light of first love, Anton feels himself blessed. Until his country declares war on hers.

 

1927: for Lena, life with a drunken mother in a small town has been impoverished and cold. She is convinced she can amount to nothing until a young lawyer, Rudolf Plischke, spirits her away to Vienna. But the capital proves unforgiving. Lena leaves her metropolitan dream behind to take a menial job at the snow-bound sanatorium, the Schloss Seeblick.

 

1933: still struggling to come terms with the loss of so many friends on the Eastern Front, Anton, now an established writer, is commissioned by a magazine to visit the mysterious Schloss Seeblick. In this place of healing, on the banks of a silvery lake, where the depths of human suffering and the chances of redemption are explored, two people will see each other as if for the first time.

 

Sweeping across Europe as it recovers from one war and hides its face from the coming of another, Snow Country is a landmark novel of exquisite yearnings, dreams of youth and the sanctity of hope. In elegant, shimmering prose, Sebastian Faulks has produced a work of timeless resonance.

I haven’t read any of the author’s books since Birdsong – I have tried, more than once, as I wanted to understand why others loved them so much. His writing is “elegant”, but I was forced to conclude that “shimmering prose” really isn’t for me. I made it to the end – but I’ll admit I found it a bit of a slog.

My next listen was Daffodils by Louise Beech, read by Lesley Harcourt – I always read and share my reviews of Louise’s wonderful novels, and it felt rather wrong not to react in some way to having listened to this acutely personal memoir.

So I wrote a review, and shared it on the blog – you’ll find it here. It was an intensely personal story, and I know she really wanted it to prompt conversations and allow others to similarly explore their experiences and reach the same level of understanding. And she must be inordinately proud of what she’s achieved – a story of survival, of immense courage and resilience, both moving and uplifting, and filled with hope for the future. When I read it, it was only available as an audiobook – it will be published by Mardle Books in April 2023 under the new title of Eighteen Seconds, available for preorder both for kindle and in paperback.

Another personal choice next? It was The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola, narrated by Penelope Rawlins…

Paris, 1750

 

In the midst of an icy winter, as birds fall frozen from the sky, chambermaid Madeleine Chastel arrives at the home of the city’s celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter.

 

Madeleine is hiding a dark past, and a dangerous purpose: to discover the truth of the clockmaker’s experiments and record his every move, in exchange for her own chance of freedom.

 

For as children quietly vanish from the Parisian streets, rumours are swirling that the clockmaker’s intricate mechanical creations, bejewelled birds and silver spiders, are more than they seem.

 

And soon Madeleine fears that she has stumbled upon an even greater conspiracy. One which might reach to the very heart of Versailles….

 

A intoxicating story of obsession, illusion and the price of freedom.

Quite wonderful – a gripping story filled with engaging characters, a vividly portrayed and superbly atmospheric setting, and a touch of magic. This was one of those “twice around the block” books, and it held me in its thrall from beginning to end. And Penelope Rawlins’ spirited narration really only enhanced the superb writing…

And then another personal choice – and another I’d have really liked to read properly (if you know what I mean…), but decided I could fit in more easily as an audiobook. Yes, it was Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, narrated by Miranda Raison.

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing.

 

But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant Nobel-prize-nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

 

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later, Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (‘combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride’) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

 

Meet the unconventional, uncompromising Elizabeth Zott.

Another one that really doesn’t need a review from me… believe the hype, this book is something really special. Not just one of my books of the year (had I included audiobooks… sigh…), but number one on almost every other reader’s list too. And it works just perfectly as an audiobook. If you haven’t read it yet, you really must… but you know that, don’t you?

Something a little different for my next read – I’ve always been a fan of Lynda Stacey’s writing, but since she moved from romantic suspense to thrillers, her books haven’t been quite the right fit for me. But we met again at the Deepings LitFest, and I was about to have a holiday in Northumberland (including a walk across the sand to Lindisfarne – where her latest book was set), so the timing couldn’t have been better to try The Serial Killer’s Girl, published under her new name of L. H. Stacey, narrated by Anne Dover.

Does a killer’s blood run in the family?

 

Lexi Jakes thought she could run from her past.

 

But when her biological mother is found dead, strangled with a red silk scarf and holding a chess piece, Lexi knows that her worst nightmare has come true. Because the murder has all the hallmarks of her own serial killer father, renown strangler Peter Graves.

 

Now with her own precious daughter’s life in danger, Lexi will do anything to keep her child safe…she is the serial killer’s girl after all.

Perfectly paced, entirely gripping as the tension steadily built, all wonderfully enhanced by the isolation of the unique and vividly drawn Lindisfarne setting as the tide rose and fell. A really original concept extremely well executed, the characterisation was excellent, and the source of the threat – I particularly liked the unidentified and sinister “voice” – uncertain until the book’s explosive climax. Just one tiny criticism of the book’s narration – the irritatingly shrill child’s voice the narrator adopted. But that’s very minor, and I’m perhaps a bit more sensitive to irritating kids than many… I really enjoyed it.

So, it’s now June – one more read before I take a break, and it’s another you wouldn’t really find me reading on kindle or reviewing on the blog. I really can’t remember what drew me to it – it was undoubtedly another blogger’s review – but I decided to try Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough, narrated by Sarah Durham…

In the dead of night, madness lies….

 

Emma can’t sleep.

 

Check the windows….

 

It’s been like this since her big 4-0 started getting closer.

 

Lock the doors….

 

Her mother stopped sleeping just before her 40th birthday, too. She went mad and did the unthinkable because of it.

 

Look in on the children….

 

Is that what’s happening to Emma?

 

Why can’t she sleep?

I should have taken note of what those who know were saying, shouldn’t I? Clare Mackintosh said “this heart-pounding thriller will have you up all night”, Lucy Clarke called it “a twisted, dark ride that keeps you gripped, unable to look away”. This one certainly did have me looking over my shoulder at times, just to be sure no-one was following – and when I carried on listening at home, unable to tear myself away, I repeatedly checked the doors were locked. Yes, it did disturb me a bit – and although the story itself was plausible (well, almost…), the ending was entirely off-the-wall. But I do plan to listen to her books again – not my kind of book at all, but I really loved it.

Right that’s enough for one post – wait until I tell you what I listened to in the second half of the year! Back tomorrow…