Books Read
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Bossypants
Bossypants by Tina Fey Published: 2011 Narrated by: Tina Fey I started watching 30 Rock this last fall (I’m way behind, I know), and as everyone probably does after they start watching, I’ve become obsessed with Tina Fey. I’d heard rave reviews of her new book, the audio version of which was nominated for a Grammy, so I knew I had to read it. To say I’m an overrated troll, when you have never even seen me guard a bridge, is patently unfair. It’s a fairly quick tour through her life, keeping it fun and humourous. It begins in her younger years, growing up awkward, and continues through to her…
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Published: 1876 Narrated by: Patrick Fraley Apart from an abridged version of his Mediterranean travel memoir, I hadn’t read anything by Mark Twain before this. He wasn’t part of the curriculum in my high school, which is a bit of a shame as it would be a great novel to encourage kids to read. Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of…
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The Postman
The Postman by David Brin Published: 1985 Narrated By: David LeDoux I know most people seem to have hated Kevin Costner’s adaptation of The Postman, but I remember really loving that film. I hadn’t realized it was based on a novel by David Brin. The setting and the main characters are similar, but the stories turned out to be quite different. The story takes place in our world, but after it’s been ruined by nuclear war. This left all technology disabled and all society scrambling. Gordon Krantz is just trying to survive, traveling from town to town and acting out scenes from Shakespeare for food and supplies. He stumbles across…
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Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops
Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell Published: 2012 I got this for Christmas, and I had planned to read a few pages here and there over the next month, but I ended up reading it in one sitting. I’d seen it written about throughout the year and was excited to get my hands on it. I love both bookstores and laughing at people, so it’s really a perfect fit. Jen Campbell worked in a bookstore for many years, and decided one day to start quoting some of the bizarre things she kept hearing on her blog. She also posted quotes sent in from other bookstore employees. Eventually…
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Bill Bryson’s African Diary
Bill Bryson’s African Diary by Bill Bryson Published: 2002 I felt a bit guilty picking this up at a used book sale, as the full cost of the book is donated to CARE International when you buy it new, but I’ve donated to a few charities this year. My karma is intact. Stop judging me. To help spread awareness for the organization, Bryson was asked to visit their facilities in Kenya and tour Kibera, the second largest urban slum in Africa, and this is his diary of the trip. The organization works with local communities to try and provide relief for these areas. What he sees is the kind of…
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Ghost in the Wires
Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick Published: 2011 Narrated by: Ray Porter If you were a geek in the 90s, you probably remember seeing Free Kevin plastered randomly throughout the web. This was in protest of Kevin Mitnick’s overblown charges when he was finally arrested for his computer crimes after a several year run from the FBI. I didn’t really know the story of how it all went down, so I picked up his recent autobiography. The begins in Kevin’s childhood as he steals a sheet of blank bus transfers and writes his own tickets, allowing him to roam the…
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The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues
The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues by Plato Published: ~399 B.C. Translated by: Benjamin Jowett Socrates died in 399 B.C. after being sentenced to death by a slight majority of 500 jurymen for corrupting the youth and not believing in the (right) Gods. He was given the choice to either drink hemlock or leave Athens, and he chose to drink the poison in the company of his friends. I know this because my brain decides what it will and will not remember, seemingly at random, and it decided a book report I did as a kid was something to remember. If only I could harness this memory for…
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Legion
Legion by Brandon Sanderson Published: 2012 Narrated By: Oliver Wyman I hadn’t read anything by Brandon Sanderson, and I only really heard of him when he took the job to finish The Wheel of Time series for Robert Jordon. I gave up on that series nine books in, so I’ll probably never get to read his contribution, but I was curious about his work after he’d been selected. Legion is just a short novella, so it’s a great introduction to him. It’s also quite a good introduction to audiobooks in general if you haven’t taken that step yet. Audible is offering the story for free, which is how I stumbled…
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The Fry Chronicles
The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry Published: 2010 Narrated by: Stephen Fry I read Stephen Fry’s first memoir, Moab is My Washpot, earlier this year, which covers his life up to Cambridge. The Fry Chronicles is in my TBR Pile Challenge list, so it’s been on the shelf for quite a while now. I feel a bit guilty about this, but after listening to his first memoir as an audiobook, I couldn’t pass up doing the same with his second. I love self-narrated autobiographies when they’re well done, and it was obvious his would be, so the dead-tree version is still collecting dust on the shelf. This actually covers less…
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The Polysyllabic Spree
The Polysyllabic Spree: A Hilarious and True Account of One Man’s Struggle With the Monthly Tide of the Books He’s Bought and the Books He’s Been Meaning to Read by Nick Hornby Published: 2004 I’ve been meaning to pick this up for ages. It’s a collection of Nick Hornby’s monthly column, from a magazine called The Believer, where he discusses what he read over the previous month, as well as what he didn’t read. It’s essentially a professional book blog. I don’t want anyone writing in to point out that I spend too much money on books, many of which I will never read. I know that already. I certainly…