It’s been a busy couple of months for me, as I am selling my house down in Connecticut that I have been living in since 1995. So the last 7 or 8 weeks I have been submersed in packing and unpacking, repacking and organizing. Although I have continued to listen to my audiobooks while doing all of this. Again I find audiobooks to be such a refreshing change from watching television and since there is no vision to concern myself with- I am free to move about and focus my eyes on other things while my ears are able to continue listening contently.
There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.
A couple of months ago, I became aware that my 87 year old father had recommended that one of my niece’s read Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I had this book in my audio library to read and was curious as to why my father would so strongly recommend this book. Narrated by Cassandra Campbell for 12 hours and 12 minutes, Delia Owens transports you to another world, the worlds collide of Chase Andrews of Barkley Cove, North Carolina and young Kya Clark, who lives in the marshlands and dubbed the “Marsh Girl” by locals.
She knew the years of isolation had altered her behavior until she was different from others, but it wasn’t her fault she’d been alone. Most of what she knew, she’d learned from the wild. Nature had nurtured, tutored, and protected her when no one else would.
I really enjoyed this book. I was sucked into Kya’s world instantly. This is the first novel for Delia Owens. It’s easy to see the influence that her career as a zoologist has on her writing. The descriptions of the natural surrounding of the marsh in landscape and animal immerses the listener even deeper into Kya’s world.
Female fireflies draw in strange males with dishonest signals and eat them; mantis females devour their own mates. Female insects, Kya thought, know how to deal with their lovers.
I kept thinking about my Dad reading the book while I was listening. It’s not the type of book I would have thought my father would be drawn to. Most of the book I knew he liked, at least while I was growing up, were either historical or spy thrillers. I asked my Dad after finishing the book why he read the book and recommended it. He said that some people at the office (back when they were all allowed to be at the office together) had recommended the book to him and he was very touched by the story.
I always have a tough time coming off a book that has a good a story as Where The Crawdads Sing. I decided to switch genres and listened another book my father recommended. The Splendid and The Vile by Erik Larsen is an interesting portrait of Winston Churchill, his family and London during the Blitz.
If we can’t be safe, let us at least be comfortable.
Larsen’s book sounds more like a novel when listening to it than a history book. I was transported to that time in history and felt through Larsen’s descriptions that I was right there with Churchill, his family, close friends, advisors and political advisors and rivals. All quotes and accounts have been previously documented in journals, original archival documents, and declassified intelligence reports – some released only recently.
Never was there such a contrast of natural splendor and human vileness.
I enjoyed this book and learned so much for Churchill, his family and that brief but important moment in history.
The book I am currently listening to was a recommendation from my niece. She had told her mother (my sister) about it who told me. She said that if you enjoyed Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, you should definitely check out The Guest List by Lucy Foley. I’ve only started the 9 hour and 54 minute story but so far I am intrigued. This is the 20th book I have listened to so far this year – already surpassing the 16 that I listened to last year.
