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Cloudstreet
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton Published: 1991 Narrated by: Peter Hosking Length: 12:50 (426 pages) I bought this for our Australia trip and never managed to get to it while we were there, but I did read it when we returned. It follows the lives of two very different families, as they’re uprooted by circumstance from their previous homes and find themselves living in the same house on Cloudstreet in Perth. It’s an unflinching look, over multiple decades, of these two working-class families as they become involved in each other’s lives. This isn’t a description that would typically get me excited to read a book. I’m not often a fan of…
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Law School
Law School: Sex and Relationship Advice by Benjamin Law Published: 2017 Length: 125 pages We visited quite a few bookstores while we were in Australia last year. I was keeping an eye out while browsing for books I might not come across in Canada, and this seemed like a fun one. It’s a collection of articles from a humour sex and relationship advice column in a Melbourne-based magazine called The Lifted Brow. People write in about their various situations and Benjamin Law and his mother, Jenny Phang, both respond. Seeing both responses on the same page is just hilarious, and both Benjamin and his mother seem like very open and…
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Dear Fahrenheit 451
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence Published: 2017 Narrated by: Stephanie Spicer Length: 05:35 (244 pages) I loved this! It would be a great book to turn to if I find myself in a reading slump again this year. Her love of books in this is so contagious that it’s hard to come out of it without immediately picking up a new book and diving in. The format that she came up with is perfect. Each essay is just a letter addressed to a book, some purely comedic and others more…
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The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince
The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb Published: 2013 Series: Farseer Trilogy 0.5 Length: 157 pages I love Robin Hobb, and was very excited to see a book from her that was under 800 pages. This novella takes place long before FitzChivalry Farseer, of the Farseer Trilogy and beyond, was ever born. It tells of the story of the origins around society’s attitude towards The Wit, a telepathic magic that allows humans to communicate and bond with animals, and why some people with the magic now refer to themselves as Piebalds. It’s considered a dirty, low magic in the current books, but it wasn’t always that way.…
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Ayoade on Ayoade
Ayoade on Ayoade: A Cinematic Odyssey by Richard Ayoade Published: 2014 Length: 303 pages I let this sit on the shelf for far too long thinking it would be a bit of a slog after a skim through the first couple pages, but I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got to it. I’m a huge fan of pretty much everything Ayoade has had any part in, so I really shouldn’t have doubted. From his early acting in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and Nathan Barley, his breakout role in The IT Crowd, his film directing career, his panel show appearances, his travel and gadget shows, his interviews, particularly the one in…
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Nod
Nod by Adrian Barnes Published: 2014 Narrated by: Tim Beckman Length: 06:12 (206 pages) Almost all of civilization suddenly lose the ability to sleep and begin to deteriorate mentally over the period of a few weeks. About one in every ten thousand adults can still sleep, and they all seem to share the same dream each night. A number of children can also sleep, but they’ve all stopped speaking and no one knows what happens in their dreams. No one really knows what’s happening at all, not even the author. This takes place in current day Vancouver, Canada and follows a couple, one who can sleep and the other who…
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Mortality
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens Published: 2012 Length: 104 pages I have spent many, many hours over the years listening to Christopher Hitchens speak. I disagreed with some of his political stances, but I always enjoyed listening to his eloquent, and often savage, responses in religious debates. In mid-2010, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which he sadly died from at the end of 2011. In that period of sickness, even while struggling with both the effects of the illness and the effects of the treatment, he kept writing and speaking publicly, which really speaks to his passion. His descriptions of what was happening to his body, and his thoughts when…
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The Amateur Gourmet
The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop and Table Hop Like a Pro by Adam D. Roberts Published: 2007 Length: 208 pages I’ve read Adam Roberts’ weblog for nearly a decade now, starting just after this book was first published, and until I found it in a bookshop last month I completed forgot it existed. I’d always meant to pick it up, but it somehow didn’t happen for ten years. This isn’t like me. I’m amazing at buying books. You could make a very strong argument that I’m better at buying them than reading them. If you’ve ever read Roberts’ weblog, you’ll know that it’s his combination of enthusiasm and…
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Travels with Charley
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck Published: 1962 Narrated by: Gary Sinise Length: 07:58 (214 pages) I love Steinbeck and I love travelogues, so I had high hopes going into this one, and thankfully it did not disappoint. It’s the first of his non-fiction work that I’ve tried, and I’m excited to read more. His fiction is often quite dark, and while there certainly is humour, he has to hold it back a bit to maintain the tone. He’s free to let loose in this book, and the result is a continuously amusing account of his trip around America in 1960. Charley, full name Charles le…
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Three Men on the Bummel
Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome Published: 1900 Narrated by: David Case Series: Three Men #2 Length: 06:59 (208 pages) Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) was my favourite novel last year. It was completely new to me and a great surprise. I was excited to discover a sequel existed, although I approached it with some trepidation knowing it almost certainly wouldn’t live up to the first book. “A ‘Bummel’,” I explained, “I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point…
