Author: E.L. Konigsburg
Reader: Molly Ringwald

Short Review: Solid story and well read. Twelve year old Margaret Rose’s summer turns into an exploration of what is important in life – and what you are willing to do to defend uniqueness, beauty and love.

Long Review: I wasn’t quite sure what I thought of Molly Ringwald as an audio book reader, but I was willing to give it a try given how much I like E.L. Konigsburg’s writing. Ultimately I really enjoyed her as a reader. She was just the right voice for Maragret Rose’s first person tale.

In some ways this is a classic ‘teen girl learns about herself and makes hard choices’ sort of story, but Konigsburg gives us more than that. She weaves a rich world in which that which makes you unique is valued. Margaret Rose starts her summer at Camp Talequa but she so dramatically doesn’t fit in that she requires rescue by her uncles, the brothers Rose. She ends up spending the rest of her summer with these eclectic old world uncles.

In the back yard the uncles have built three clock towers covered in bits of broken china, jewelry and other found bits. Margaret Rose thinks they are the most beautiful creations in the world – but the local town doesn’t agree. Konigsburg’s story chronicles Margaret Rose’s world and her fight to stay true to herself with a rich vision that is colorful and tactile. I felt immersed in her world. I could smell food cooking in the kitchen and paint drying on the walls. I could see the towers rising up to glint in the sunshine.

I recommend this as a lovely diversion. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Chosen One from Audible.com

The Chosen One from Amazon.com

Author: Carol Lynch Williams

Reader: Jenna Lamia

Short Review: A good book about a controversial subject, improved by an excellent reading by Jenna Lamia.

Long Review: Jenna Lamia is a true standout as a narrator, and I plan to seek out her other work. She truly inhabited Kyra, the protagonist, and her excellent reading improved a book which is flawed in some important ways.

I find the subject of the book particularly interesting. My husband’s family lives in Utah, and during our visits there the events and tragedies on the polygamist compounds in Utah and Colorado are always topics of conversation. I’m certainly no expert on polygamist cults, but I’ve read a number of books about Mormon fundamentalists and the history of the region, so I felt like I had a handle on the subject. Williams’ portrayal of the compound felt realistic enough, though I was waiting for her to be even more critical of the systemic abuse against women, girls, and boys at the hands of the elders of such cults. Perhaps my personal views on women’s rights are too radical to align or compare to the author’s. I thought Kyra was an interesting, sympathetic character and I found it easy to root for her, but I felt myself waiting for Kyra to recognize how wronged she and her siblings had been by her family and community.

I found Kyra’s naivete and foolishness particularly frustrating. The fact that she remains so trusting and innocent as the story progresses seems to work in direct contrast to the opening lines of the book. I know I would have enjoyed the paper book less, because I wouldn’t have had Lamia’s great voice and acting to keep me entranced while I was waiting for Kyra to learn to think critically and just be careful. I wanted her to break free of the cult and be safe, yet she kept repeating the same mistakes and neglecting to think of her safety or anyone else’s.

At some points, I was wondering if the author was holding back a bit too much. She certainly turned a harsh eye to the polygamist cult Kyra grew up in, but I felt like she didn’t press the questions of women’s rights far enough. Perhaps the author’s faith prevented her from railing against those forms of oppression that are common not just to polygamist cults but to Christian and Mormon churches in general.

Short Review: Cormier’s final novel, published posthumously, read by the talented Scott Shina. It’s disturbing, and upsetting, and good despite its flaws.

Long Review: The title alone would have made me listen to this audiobook. I am an obsessive W.B. Yeats fan, and the title of Cormier’s final novel quotes a line from the masterful “The Circus Animal’s Desertion;” Yeats’ musings on the possible collapse of his talent and career. I’m also a fan of Cormier’s work, which I encountered as a lit student considering teaching English.

The novel opens in an interrogation room, as Trent takes a confession from a murderer. Trent, who is burning out on his job, is called upon to interrogate suspects in a child murder case. Then we encounter 12 year old Jason Dorrant. Jason has a hard time making friends, preferring the company of his 7 year old friend Alicia to that of most of the kids his age. When Alicia is found dead, local authorities focus on Jason as their prime suspect, assuming he killed the girl after spending the afternoon with her. Trent is called upon to drag a confession out Jason. Because it’s a high-profile case, Trent faces external pressure to make Jason confess, no matter what.

As I listened, I felt myself constantly questioning Jason’s competence. He seemed slow, but then perhaps he was just a modest kid, but maybe . . . I really wondered whether Jason had some sort of unnamed impairment, and that frustrated me. As the novel progressed, I was furious that no adults seemed the least bit concerned with Jason’s safety. I’m sure Cormier wanted us to feel that way, but I kept wondering if he went bit too far. Is our justice system really this flawed? Do we protect child suspects so poorly? Are interrogators so craven? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but they haunt me. That, really, is Cormier’s greatest strength–he makes us question our justice system and the responsibilities adults have to children. But those moralistic threads can go too far. Cormier definitely liked to pound home lessons through his books, and in this instance I think the ending jumps to a conclusion I don’t think is realistic.

That said, I do like the book. Cormier had a great ability to get inside his characters’ minds, and he certainly does that here, with both Jason and Trent. Shina is a good, clear reader, and he makes himself comfortable in both Jason’s and Trent’s voice.

Author: Suzanne Collins
Reader: Carolyn McCormick

Short Review: Creative, captivating and intense young-adult drama with a strong 16-year-old female protagonist and set in a brutal far-future. Decent reader, but I kept wishing for a bit more emotion in her reading. That said, the story was so captivating that I couldn’t stop listening!

Long Review: I am a big fan of world building done well – and Collins has built a rich vision of a far distant future both more technologically advanced and more brutal than what we might expect. In this far future, children from across former North America (now called Panem) are forced to fight to the death in a carefully wrought creation that is part reality TV, part survivor and part Roman Colosseum. The tension between the ivory tower of the capitol and the impoverished and heavily restricted lives of those in the twelve districts which support it stretches from start to finish. There is a lot to chew on here.

Against this backdrop we get to know Katniss. Katniss Everdeen is 16 and lives in the coal country of District 12 with her mother and younger sister.  Katniss spends most of her time each day hunting, gathering, or trading for enough food for her little family to survive. She has been fighting to keep herself alive for years. The transition from being the girl who brings people meat to being a tribute from District 12 fighting for her life is less startling than you might expect.

Katniss has watched the Games every year (the power never goes out when the Games are on) and she does everything she possibly can to increase her chances of survives. Collins reveals details of how things work in this world gradually. Right up to the end of the story we are learning about Panem and learning about Katniss. I appreciated hearing this story from her perspective. It makes all her choices and experiences feel closer to the surface. Even when we understand things that she cannot, usually in the emotional attitudes of those around her, we see only what she sees.

I did not love the reader. I felt that McCormick kept Katniss and the intensity of her world at arms length during the reading. It is hard to put my finger on what bothered me. The dialog was fine, with reasonable and recognizable voices for the characters. It was long stretches of narration that felt too rhythmic, too even-keeled somehow. It wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying the story – but I kept catching myself trying to imagine what it might sound with a different reader.

Overall, it is an amazing ride and I am hunger for the sequel. Collins has created a terrifying world and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Audio sample available.

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Author: Beth Fantaskey
Readers: Katherine Kellgren & Jeff Woodman

Short Review: Fairly standard ‘boy meets girl, boy turns out to be vampire’ romance – but with a few twists you likely won’t expect. A pair of excellent readers, endearing characters and a fresh take on Romanian vampires make this a very enjoyable story.

Long Review: Jessica was adopted from Romania as a baby by her parents who were there studying the reclusive vampire community. It turns out that she was also betrothed to a vampire prince as an infant. Fast forward 17 years and Lucius arrives in rural Lebanon County, Pennsylvania to meet his bride.

The next thing we know, Lucius is enrolled in the local public high school with Jessica and is trying to fit in among American teenagers. Lucius is tall, dark and handsome – enjoys fine literature and soon discovers basketball. Jessica is a super-rational mathlete who loves horses and is not confident about her beauty.

One of the nice things about this story is that we have two 17 year olds, not a seventeen year old and a 150 year old. There are major challenges ahead for Lucius and Jessica. This is a coming of age story for each of them as they move along their intertwined paths.

I appreciate the choice to use two readers – Kellgren for all the portions from Jessica’s point of view and Woodman as the voice of Lucius’s letters home. This story lurked in the back of my mind between listens. Yes, I had a notion of where it might end up – but I really didn’t know how it was going to get there. There was something especially believable about this cast of characters (and yes, I know that sounds a bit silly when talking about vampires). Witty, thoughtful and fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sample audio clip available.

Author: Terry Pratchett
Reader: Richard Mitchley

Short Review: A standout story from Pratchett’s Johnny Maxwell trilogy, read with great personality and skill by Richard Mitchley. Our hero Johnny learns that he can see and speak to the Dead in his local cemetery, and winds up facing down corrupt, frightening enemies.

Long Review: The second book in the Johnny Maxwell series follows Johnny as he discovers his ability to see and talk to the dead, and then intercedes on the behalf of the ghosts living in his local cemetery. Johnny stands up to crooked local politicians and thugs, hangs out with his friends, and learns a great deal about local and British history and politics along the way. As I’ve come to expect, Pratchett’s story is funny, sharp, and thoroughly enjoyable. The story is slightly scary in a few parts, but it’s never the Dead who are frightening–Johnny is threatened by normal, flesh and blood evil.

Mitchley is a fantastic reader. He developed many distinct voices for the different characters in the novel, and he maintains clear separation between the characters as he narrates. His pitches, accents, and pacing are enchanting. Mitchley’s work is an absolute treat to hear, and I plan to seek out other audiobooks he has narrated.

Author: John Connolly

Reader: Steven Crossley

Short Review: A decent book with a major flaw, read beautifully by Steven Crossley. Connolly’s book starts out as a promising depiction of the interior life of a bookish, depressed boy with apparently undiagnosed epilepsy and OCD. Unfortunately, it continues on into an all-too-familiar series of retellings of classic fairytales, several of which villanize women for no clear reason. I expected and hoped for more from the book itself. Thankfully, I truly enjoyed Crossley’s narration, and allowed it to carry me through a book that otherwise left me scratching my head and feeling disappointed and maligned.

Long Review: I’m a true mythology buff, so I’ve read many books that recast fairytales and myths in new lights. Some authors do a wonderful job with such work–Neil Gaiman, Angela Carter, Anne Sexton, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, and T.H. White all come to mind as masters. But many others can’t meet the task and end up producing novels that can’t match the wonder of the original tales or modernize them in interesting, contemporary ways. I think Connolly’s book falls in that later group.

There are some shining moments in the novel. I love David’s wondrous relationship to books, and how that connects him to his mother, arguably the only positive female character in the book. Her explanation of how real stories feel about the inconsequential stories in newspapers is lovely, and will stay with me. The end of the book is also very appealing to me. I love thinking of the adult David continuing to serve books and being a good man, once all is said and done. In general, I think Connolly is a good writer with a good sense of pace and language. I think his take on sibling rivalry is interesting, as is his vision of a child’s relationship to reality, fantasy, and death. While I was listening early on, I enjoyed the book and the narration equally. It was when I was thinking about the book between listenings that I became frustrated.

What truly disappoints me is the misogynist twist Connolly gives most of the tales used in his book. Every major female character other than David’s mother is criticized for her eating habits or weight, sexual choices, appearance, strength, weakness, hunger . . . it’s too much and too common in the book to ignore. Two persistent villains are male, yes, but we expect a werewolf and a Trickster to be villains. I won’t quibble about the child-eating witches who show up in the book as villains, since they were villains in the original forms of the tales. But was it really necessary for Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and all of the other women who show up in the book to be morphed into disgusting, senseless villains? Even Rose, David’s step-mother, is attacked for eating too much and having sex out of wedlock. What is that about? Could Connolly think of no way to retell or change those classic tales without turning all of the female central characters into monsters? Why could none of the kind characters in the book who help David in the other world be female? It really makes me wonder about the author’s views on women. Over and over again, the misogyny forced me out of the story. If Connolly needed to make so many women villains, he should have given more thought to why he needed to do so and addressed that in the book. As it is, the thread seems to reveal more about Connolly than it does about David, and it leaves me loath to bother with the rest of Connolly’s catalog.

As angry as Connolly’s misogyny makes me, I stuck with the book because Crossley’s reading is downright beautiful. I fell for him as a narrator with In The Woods. If anything, his work improves with this novel. His voice is clear and layered, his diction is great, and he voices the different characters distinctly without making too much fuss. I will absolutely seek out more books read by Crossley. I wish we’d set up our review system here at Books For Ears so we review books and readers separately: Crossley gets five stars, Connolly gets 2, max.

Author: Roald Dahl

Reader: Eric Idle

Short Review: Dahl’s award-winning children’s book read wonderfully by Eric Idle.

Long Review: Eric Idle does a fantastic job with the book. Fantastic. He’s a man who understands humor, kids, storytelling, and his own vocal and acting abilities. I picked this up at the library expecting a nice nostalgic trip back to Dahl’s universe. I knew Idle would do a good job, but I also knew I’d read this book many times, and had it read to me, and seen a couple of film adaptations of the story. I didn’t expect to be blown away by a book that blew me away when I was 6.

I should have known that Eric Idle would knock it out of the park. His diction is great, his accents are great, and he developed distinctive voices for each character. He doesn’t hold back at all–his reading is energetic and funny and passionate in all the best ways. I laughed out loud at several points while listening (which can be problematic when you commute via public transit like I do), so I can imagine that an engaged kid would be rolling around on the floor laughing at choice moments.

I don’t have kids, but I wouldn’t hesitate to play this for my nieces or nephew, who range in age from 5 though 12. There are a couple of words in the book that some parents may not want their children to hear–”ass” is used to refer to human anatomy at one point, and I’m sure some other words passed my notice. The book has received some sharp criticism over the years both for long sections describing the Bucket family’s poverty and for the depiction of bratty kids who receive strange punishments. I happen to think such criticisms are silly and give children too little credit for their strength, sensitivity, and abilities to reason and think in the abstract. You may want to take my opinion with a grain of salt, however, since I’m the type of liberal Auntie who almost always comes down in favor of a child’s autonomy and freedom. I am an Auntie who grew up with a bookshelf full of Dahl, Seuss, Tolkein, Sendak, L’Engle, and the like, afterall, so I guess it’s to be expected.

Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Reader: Ilyana Kadushin and Matt Walters

Short Review: Your patience is rewarded and the camera pulls back to show you the full picture of where we have been headed across the landscape of these 4 extravagant novels. For me this was a very satisfying conclusion to the Twilight Saga.

Long Review: If you read my review of the Eclipse audio book, you may recall my hesitation about Matt Waltersas a reader. I am here to tell you I take it all back. In Breaking Dawn, Walters reads a full third of the book – and I was honestly disappointed when his section was over. Part of this may be because I loved having Jacob’s point of view in contrast to only Bella’s, but whatever the reason – Walters is a great reader and gives a rich voice to Jacob’s side of the story.

There are so many things revealed in this book that it is hard to discuss very much without spilling spoilers left and right, but I will do my best. I will say that if you haven’t read the three previous books (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) you are likely to be very lost.

I like the choices that Meyer makes in how she tells the story. I enjoyed being pulled along for this roller coaster ride. I was very pleased to be surprised more than once by where the story went. I am usually hard to surprise, so it takes some deft storytelling (or at least major zigs when I was expecting zags) to catch me off guard. My favorite surprises are the ones that make me think or even say out loud “No – the author didn’t just do that, did she?” followed by my realization that she had been laying the groundwork for each surprise for years now. From the few interviews of Meyer that I have seen, I believe that many of the original seeds were planted before her characters had shown her the whys behind them all. I imagine them as mystery seeds that she planted on faith, following patiently along to tell her characters’ stories as they revealed them to her.

If you want not even the slightest spoilers – stop reading now, get yourself a copy and listen to it yourself.

For the rest of you, Meyer finds a way to pull all the threads together and leaves us with an ending that is satisfying. Meyer gives us a maturing Bella. A Bella who makes choices with her eyes open but with great faith in her chosen future. Not everyone agrees with Bella’s choices, but she is stubborn and optimistic and finds allies when she needs them.

We are given a rich tapestry of new vampire and werewolf lore, more back story on old characters and new characters to meet. While Edward has plenty of time on stage, to me he was mostly along for the ride in this story.

I have been a big Jacob fan since New Moon. As I mentioned earlier, a full third of this book is told through Jacob’s eyes. He too grows and matures in this story. I loved being given so much insight into his world, his challenges and his revelations. I have always hoped for a path for Jacob that I could be happy with and I was pleased, if surprised, with the one that Meyer chose for him.

I know that there are lots of Twilight fans who did not love this book – who were infuriated by the choices Meyer made for Bella, Edward and Jacob. Take that as the grain of salt on my cheery recommendation.

I just finished listening to it a 2nd time and I still like it. If you have read my reviews of the earlier books in the series, you will know that I felt that some of them were predominately laying out the foundation needed to tell the ‘real’ story. Some Twilight fans might not like it – but for me this is the story that had been hiding around the corner all this time.

Is Meyer the most talented writer on the planet? No. Are there more than ten other authors I would recommend ahead of her? Absolutely. That said, I am a sucker for rich characters who live on in my mind after the audiobook is silent. Bella, Edward, Jacob, Charlie, Leah, Seth, Alice and all the rest are vivid in my mind. Meyer, Kadushin and Walters have painted a world that lives on in my imagination, and for that I thank them all.

Just in case you are starting from scratch, the Twilight Saga CD Set is available and includes all 4 books.

 Author: Neil Gaiman

 Reader: Neil Gaiman

 Short Review: Neil Gaiman reads his Newbery Medal winning book beautifully. His nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book is just scary enough, intriguing, inventive, well-written, enchanting . . . it’s downright wonderful. I loved Bod, Silas, Scarlett, Liza, Miss Lupescu, and the rest of the graveyard’s denizens and rooted for them throughout the story. I miss them. I’ll return to this book again and recommend it to adults and kids.

Long Review: I’m a fan of Gaiman’s, and I am always intrigued by critically-acclaimed young adult fantasy, so I had to listen to this book. I was hopeful, but also worried. Some of the best books I’ve ever read were those I read when I was 10 or 12. I return to those books and keep tabs on books written for older kids, hoping to find more books to cherish and to foist on my growing nieces and nephews. But many things we’re supposed to love just fall flat for me. I’m not that impressed by some of the most beloved YA books, and some of the ones I did love then show me all of their holes when I pick them up now. This one, however, makes the good list. It’s rich enough for adults, appropriate for older kids, and enchanting for both.

Firstly, Gaiman is good at holding back. So many authors hand you all of the keys right at the beginning of the journey, and then you don’t have much to puzzle through and have less reason to keep going. Gaiman fights the urge to make sure he has told us everything there is to tell, so we keep reading, trying to line up our questions with possible answers, paying close attention to every little clue, wondering whether a character will return or a path will reappear. He refers to fascinating historical events and invents wondrous rituals and characters and communities, but he doesn’t give you so much information that any become boring. Neither does he condescend to his readers. I hate it when writers assume that kids can’t handle any frightening truths about life and death. In fact, kids see as much if not more terror and sadness as adults, and most of them don’t like being coddled. Gaiman doesn’t condescend to his readers or to the children who feature in his books.

Gaiman also happens to write strong female characters well. I wish I didn’t need to congratulate authors for doing that, but it still isn’t a given. Gaiman is a father to two daughters as well as the son whose childhood visits to a graveyard inspired this book. I think his relationship with his girls and the women in his life help him write girls and women well. That ability is particularly important for children’s and YA writers because so many boys are still hesitant to read books with female protagonists. Here, a boy is at the center of the story, but he’s surrounded by smart, heroic, strong, loving women and he cares for and respects them as much as he does Silas. It warms the cockles of my heart, that does.

Gaiman’s mythos is rooted firmly in the old greats. We see glimpses of well-researched historical fact, notice a figure from Grimm here and and an allusion to the Odyssey there. But from those roots, he takes us in very interesting directions. I love how he recasts traditional villains in new ways, making us wonder how evil some of the things we’ve had nightmares about really are. He takes the trope of fractured fairy tales a step further than many of his contemporaries. Gaiman doesn’t bother to argue with Grimm about who really understands monsters—he just plain rewrites the story in his way. It works.

I am impressed by Gaiman’s reading. I thought he did a great job with Fragile Things, and, if anything, he has gotten better. Gaiman has a nice voice, a good sense of character separation, paces himself well, and uses clear diction even when he is reading in different, heavier accents.

My only complaint is that a sequel isn’t available yet. I want to see more from this world, and I hope to see it soon.