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Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Reader: Michael Shanks
Short Review: Star crossed lovers set in an intricately woven universe including space ships, elements of magic and linguistics. The reader needed someone to insist on better pacing in an otherwise very solid performance.
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Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Reader: Oliver Wyman, Tavia Gilbert, William Dufris, Neal Stephenson
Short Review: A pretty good but overly long book from one of my favorite authors, read less-than-ideally. This alternate future tale depicts a world where the intellectual elite are forcibly cloistered in pseudo-monastic communities around the world where they’re free to think and learn but denied access to many technologies and to “saecular,” (i.e., non-intellectual) society. The protagonist Fraa Erasmus is layered and likeable, but the book could stand to lose a couple of hundred pages and the narration isn’t as good as it should be. In this instance, I think I would have preferred the paper book to the audio book.
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Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Reader: Stephen Briggs
Short Review: Another very entertaining Discworld novel read wonderfully by Stephen Briggs. This story follows forcible-reformed former con-artist Moist von Lipwig (a.k.a. Albert Spangler) as he attempts to reform the Ankh-Morpork post office at the behest of Lord Vetinari. The story teems with great characters, intrigue, technomancy, bureaucracy, golems, ponzi schemes, small gods, mail, stamps, secret societies, and a pirate.
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The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
Reader: Peter Riegert
Extra features: The audiobook includes an interview with Michael Chabon about his inspiration for the book, his favorite books and genres, and his writing process.
Short Review: Chabon’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning alternate history of a world without Israel but with a temporary Jewish homeland in Sitka, Alaska. Hard-boiled detective Meyer Landsman investigates the murder of a junkie chess-player with his partner and cousin Berko Shemets, a half-Tlingit, half-Jewish cop who is a good father, a good Jew, and a good partner trying to save Landsman from himself. As the case progresses, more and more connections to organized crime, shady US government machinations, separatist Orthodox communities, and zealotry reveal themselves. Riegert is an ideal reader, comfortable with accents, Yiddish, noir, and sadness.
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Fragile Things: Stories Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman
Read by: Neil Gaiman
Short Review: A solid book of short stories read beautifully by the author.
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The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer
The Host: A Novel
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Reader: Kate ReadingShort Review: Meyer’s first foray into sci-fi is very satisfying. Officially an adult novel (in contrast with the young adult label applied to the Twilight series) The Host explores a post-invasion world from the perspective of one of the invaders. It is well written, well read and is still haunting me weeks after I finished listening.
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Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
Author: Douglas Adams
Reader: Martin Freeman
Short Review: A good reading of my least favorite book in the series.
Long Review: The disappearance of Fenchurch, the appearance of Random,…
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So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Author: Douglas Adams
Reader: Martin Freeman
Short Review: Another decent reading of a book I love, which suffers by comparison to the Stephen Frye reading of The…
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Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
Life, the Universe and Everything
Author: Douglas Adams
Reader: Martin Freeman
Short Review: Another decent reading of a book I love, which suffers by comparison to the Stephen Frye reading of The…
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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Author: Douglas Adams
Reader: Martin Freeman
Short Review: A decent reading of a book I love, which suffers by comparison to the Stephen…
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Short Review: A great reading of one of my favorite goofy novels.
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Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Read by: Campbell Scott
Short Review: A dystopian “speculative fiction” (Atwood’s term) novel tracking a young man’s experiences in pre- and post-apocalyptic world, complete with a ridiculously sheltered genius caste, chaotic plebe lands, corporations run amuck, transgenic species, genetic engineering and cloning to the nth degree, a new, broken Eden, with a side of crushing love-triangle thrown in for good measure.
