October was a month filled with all sorts of wonderful listens for me. I spent a time listening to my audiobooks while working on my drawings and photographs. Other times I am literally on the floor filing. Many times I have put my headphones on and gone outside to weed or stack wood while listening to my audiobooks. I have enjoyed listening to so many books this year – here are some of the audiobooks I listened to in October and the very beginning of November.
I started the month off with A Book by Desi Arnaz. I really enjoyed listening to this memoir. One of my older brothers, Harry had mentioned he was reading it during a family zoom call and recommended it. We used to watch I Love Lucy together as kids and Lucy and Ricky Riccardo were like old friends.
Before listening to this book, I knew very little about Desi Arnaz. He led an amazing life from his early days in Cuba to his success in the United States. I found this was a fun book to listen to, I enjoyed hearing his stories very much. It was fun and interesting to learn some of the behind the scenes details. I highly recommend this reading or listening to this book!
Recently, I started to follow the Instagram page Bitesbythepage – “Sharing delicious recipes inspired by our favorite books each week’. A few weeks ago they posted an interview with the author, Deborah Goodrich Royce about her book Finding Mrs. Ford. I really enjoyed this book, sucked in by the vividly described setting of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, which immediately placed me in the world Mrs. Ford lived. The story grabbed me immediately and took me places I’ve lived or visited from NYC to Rhode Island and Warren, Michigan. The characters are believable and multi-dimensional. I highly recommend this book. I listened to the audiobook , narrated by Saska Maarleveld and it ran 9 hours and 35 minutes. 4 Stars!
My son had asked me to read the book, Dune before the new movie comes out. I’ve always loved science fiction/fantasy and over the years when he was a child read to him many books like the entire series of The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings series. So when he asked me to read Dune, I was open to the idea but decided to listen to the audiobook. At 21 hours and 2 minutes, the book was narrated by Scott, Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance and Ilyana Kadushin.
The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.
Frank Herbert
Dune is a complex book with multiple themes including water, religion, politics and racism. Listening to the book and recognizing these themes, I was struck by the fact that the book was originally published in June 1965 and I was 7 months old. I have read a lot of books at this stage of my life that are part of a big series. I had the feeling throughout the whole book that this was just the beginning of something meatier that we would read a few books in. There are 6 books in the original Dune series that Frank Herbert wrote between the years 1965 to 1985, and there are a few other books that he co-authored after that with Kevin J. Anderson.
My biggest criticism of the book would be that I didn’t feel very attached to the characters and the book as a whole was okay. 3 Stars.
I dove back into memoirs and biographies with Face It, Debbie Harry’s memoir. The audiobook was narrated by Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Alannah Currie and Gary Valentine. I love listening to memoirs that are narrated by the author. Listening to Debbie tell the stories and tales of her rise to fame was like sitting down with an old friend and hearing their stories.
I was a huge Blondie fan growing up in New York City in the 1980s. I saw Blondie at multiple venues during my teenage years, so listening to her tell her stories about the band was fun. Debbie narrates most of the audiobook which comes with a PDF file so you can see the fan artwork she includes in the book. Debbie kept thousands of drawings that were mailed to her throughout the years and seeing that she kept it was pretty incredible.
If you enjoyed Blondie’s music, I think you will enjoy this book or audiobook which runs 8 hours and 57 minutes. 3-1/2 stars
Next I switched up to a Cold War spy thriller by John Le Carré. Call For The Dead introduces us to one of Le Carré’s favorite protagonist, George Smiley. I like to read books in order so I decided to read this book first which is also John Le Carré’s first published book. The audiobook was a quick listen at 4 hour and 44 minutes and is narrated by Michael Jayston. I don’t read or listen to a lot of spy thrillers but I enjoyed this one. George Smiley is a likeable character that you come to have interest in and care about. I look forward to listening to more of Le Carré’s books especially the George Smiley series.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett was the next book I listened to and I absolutely loved this book! It’s s story about a family and a house and Patchett makes you really involved and interested in the characters. Her vivid descriptions of the Dutch House place you right there. Tom Hanks narrates the novel which is 9 hours and 53 minutes, the story is well paced. I highly recommend this book or audiobook – I looked Tom Hanks as the narrator and thought he was perfect! 5 Stars.
You need to serve those who need to be served, not just the ones who make you feel good about yourself.
Ann Patchett – The Dutch House
Since it was October , I thought it only fitting to listen to a classic Agatha Christie Who-Dun-It and listened to Hallowe’en Party narrated by Hugh Fraser at 6 hours, 27 minutes. This was a fun book to listen to and Agatha Christie is the master of mystery. Hercule Poirot is called upon to solve the mystery revolving around a Halloween Party. Christie’s characters are charming and this story is engaging. Hugh Fraser is a wonderful narrator and adds to the experience. I highly recommend, particularly a good one for a cozy night by the fire in October. 4 Stars
I dove into this Stephen King book called Different Seasons. This is actually a compilation of four gripping novellas. The first one “Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption” was made into the well known movie, Shawshank Redemption which I never watched. The second story is called the “Apt Pupil’ and this turned out to be one of my favorites of all four stories. The third one is “The Body” which was made into the movie, Stand By Me – another great story. The last story was my least favorite, titled “The Breathing Method”. Frank Muller is the narrator and he is an excellent narrator, adding much to the experience. 4 stars.
It always comes down to two choices. Get busy living or get busy dying.
Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption- Stephen King
You can see something for the first time, and right away you know you have found your great interest. It’s like turning a key in a lock. Or falling in love for the first time.
Apt Pupil – Stephen King
The important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you are ashamed of, because words make them smaller. When they were in your head, they were limitless, but when they come out, they seem no bigger than normal things.’
The Body – Stephen King
Homesickness is a real sickness – the ache of the uprooted plant.
The Breathing Method – Stephen King
I was still in the mood for mystery and continued by jumping back to a classic Agatha Christie mystery with And Then There Were None. This is one of my all time favorites – a masterpiece in suspense! The audiobook is 6 hours 2 minutes and narrated by Dan Stevens. I ghly recommend this book! 5 Stars.
I ended the month out with another recommendation by one of my favorite instagrammers Bites By The Page and listened to The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, narrated by Jack Hawkins and Louise Breasley at 8 hours, 43 minutes. I loved this book! There were so many twists and turns and the story is so interesting. The narration was quite good and added to the experience. 5 stars.
Sometimes it takes courage, you know, and a long time, to be honest.
The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides