What I'm Listening To

I have learned, like many another, that having audiobooks to listen to makes exercise much less tedious. Listening to audiobooks also helps me fall asleep, at least sometimes.

And my library's Hoopla has a lot of audiobooks available, so it's not even expensive. I also have an audible subscription, which gets me one book a month pretty cheaply. I've found the reader is a big factor in whether I can stand to listen to these books.

Here's what I've been listening to lately:

John Wiswell, Someone to Build a Nest In, read by Carmen Rose

I'd never read Wiswell before, but this was one of the books my Hoopla made available, so I gave it a listen. Then I liked it so much I read it as well, and added it to my Asimov's review. It's the story of a monster who falls in love with a princess, told from the point of view of the (pretty monstrous) monster. Lots of body horror. Carmen Rose does an amazing job, so if you can listen to this one, rather than reading it, I would.

Tana French, Faithful Place, read by Tim Gerard Reynolds

One of French's Dublin Murder Squad books, though not exactly. A murder detective whose entirely life has been shaped by having been dumped by the girl he loved when he was 17 years old, finds out she didn't dump him, she was murdered.  I'd read this before, and French is great if you can stand the big feels. Reynolds does an excellent job of reading it, but sadly he doesn't read French's other books. 

Richard Adams, Watership Down, Peter Capaldi

Watership Down in the epic novel about rabbits searching for a new home, or rather a utopian space. It's a great book. I've loved Capaldi since the days when he was doing In The Thick of It, and he reads this perfectly. 10/10 no notes.

Connie Willis, The Doomsday Book, read by Jenny Sterlin

I had obviously read this one before, but listening to books is a very different experience from reading them, and I enjoyed this one a lot. As you probably know, this is the story of two epidemics, one in 2090 or so, and one in 1347. That second one is the Black Death. The first time I read this book it broke me in half, so bear in mind that there are lots of deaths, including child deaths. There's also a bit of classicism, which I'm pretty sure is not intentional. Still, a ripping yarn, and Jenny Sterlin's reading is wonderful