There’s been a lot going on in my life and in the world and I have been way behind in my writing. The end of the year brought for me a whirlwind of listening to my audiobooks while I dealt with life, the holidays and worked on my drawings which you can see on my art blog Xine Segalas Creatives .
I have found listening to my audiobooks to be quite a comforting routine which I didn’t realize I was in until I well into it. I started listening to audiobooks while driving from New Hampshire down to visit my family in Connecticut almost 5 years ago. I still owned my house down there and I drive down frequently during the summer and fall to check in on the house, my son who was living in the house and visit my friends and family. I used to listen to music when I drove but the four hour drive after doing it for so long was boring and certain stretches I would struggle to stay awake. I remembered that listening to talk radio helped me once during a particularly long drive from Michigan to Connecticut, but I don’t enjoy listening to talk radio and thought audiobooks a better option. Since developing this new habit – which due to some great books, I extended my listening time to when I was indoors working on my art or on the computer. It makes tedious chores like filing and weeding a whole lot more enjoyable. Last year I listened to over 50 audiobooks – so much better than anything on TV.
I started the month of November 2020 with The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I am a huge fan of mythology – greek, roman, norse or otherwise. So I was ready to head back into another and I did not regret diving into Miller’s novel.
What’s admired in one generation is abhorred in another.
Odyssus to Achilles’ son
Miller sticks pretty close to the events in Homer’s Iliad but casts Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus as the narrator. This allows us into Achilles’ world from the uniquely close perspective of his closest friend and paramour, Patroclus. Narrated by Frasier Douglas who has the perfect voice for this type of book which ran 11 hours and 15 minutes. I really enjoyed this take on Achilles’ story and gave the book four stars on my Goodreads page.
I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know in death, at the end of the world.
The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto was an interesting book. I listened to this book for one reason and one reason alone: I have always enjoyed Mitch Albom’s books. Albom did not disappoint me either this this story about a fictional musician as told by the narrator, Music. Music is exactly what and who you think he is – “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through elements of rhythm, melody, harmony and color” – except he is telling us the story of Frankie Presto.
This is life. Things get taken away. You will learn to start over many times — or you will be useless.
Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
It’s a brilliant epic story that takes us through a sort of history of music, as real musicians that we all know from Elvis Presley, Tony Bennett, The Byrds and more are interwoven throughout the story and Frankie Presto’s life.
There are so many great quotes from this book, it’s hard for me to just pull one or two. Mitch Albom is such a gifted writer when he pens such beautiful metaphors. The audiobook is narrated by Mitch Albom, Paul Stanley – yes, from the band KISS and George Guidall and runs 9 hours and 43 minutes.
” Everyone joins a band in this life. You are born into your first band. Your mother plays lead. She shares the stage with your father and siblings. Or perhaps your father is absent, an empty stool under a spotlight. But he is still a founding member, and if he surfaces one day, you will make room for him. As life goes on, you join other bands, some through friendship, some through romance, some through neighborhoods, school, an army. Maybe you will all dress the same, or laugh at your own private vocabulary. Maybe you will flop on couches backstage or share a boardroom table, or crowd around a galley inside a ship. But in each band you join, you play a distinct part and it will affect you as much as you affect it.”
Mitch Albom, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto
I can’t remember where I first saw this book and thought – my, that looks interesting, but I am glad I did. The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson is a fascinating story about as the subtitle suggests about beauty, obsession, and the Natural History heist of the century. This was the second true-crime book I have ever ventured to read – In Cold Blood by Truman Capote being the first. But it took me decades to return to a genre which can be very interesting and not always bloody. I found this to be a interesting story about a terrible crime which more people should know and care about. The audiobook is narrated by Macleod Andrews and runs 8 hours and 4 minutes. Four Stars.
I guess I was in a mood and continued with the true-crime genre with a classic, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by Jeff Berendt and the version I listened to was narrated by Jeff Woodman. There are a couple of versions of this book in the Audible library, I choose the one with that had been listen to by more people and had a higher rating to boot than the other version offered. This book runs 15 hours and 4 minutes and there is a lot of meat to this story and I rated it 4 stars.
Rule Number One: Always stick around for one more drink. That’s when things happen. That is when you find out everything you want to know.
John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey is an unconventional but very funny memoir. Matt is a great storyteller and listening to his book is like sitting down with him and sharing a few beers. I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir with his bumper sticker philosophy and all.
“I’m not perfect; no, I step in shit all the time and recognize it when I do. I’ve just learned how to scrape it off my boots and carry on.”
Matthew McConaughey, Greenlights
The Archer by Paulo Coelho narrated by Vikas Adam is 49 minutes of powerful storytelling. I have been a fan of Paulo Coehlo’s since reading The Alchemist, so when I came upon this quick little audio book , I was certainly open to listening. I like finding sort, quick listens. Length is not defines how deep or powerful a story can come across to the reader. A truly gifted author can send a profound message to the reader in just a few words. I found listening to the Archer I was hit with the arrows of his words. I highly recommend either reading or listening to The Archer.
Use your bad moments to discover what makes you tremble. Use your good moments to find your road to inner peace. But do no stop either out of fear or joy.
Paulo Coelho, The Archer
I have started to use the website Goodreads.com to track the books I have read, want to read etc… You can see some of these and other book reviews of mine on my profile page there. If you are also on the Goodreads.com site friend me!