October Reads.
Lake Wobegon Days & More News From Lake Wobegon written & performed by Garrison Keillor
Nice light listen for the too long and too often repeated commute.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (read by Captain Hastings Hugh Fraser)
Ten strangers lured to a mysterious island under false pretenses and slowly murdered in accordance with an old nursery rhyme ... Brilliant reading of an old favorite.
Emma by Jane Austen (read by Mrs. Elton Juliet Stevenson)
Is it me or does Emma come across as a real bitch more often than not? And Mr. Frank Churchill is horrible! How could Jane Fairfax still love him? Grr. Regardless, this is a nice reading of an old favorite and kept me happily distracted while sitting in stopped traffic for ages at a go. Stevenson does a particularly good job with Miss Bates -- a little odd, because she played Mrs. Elton in the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma so I was expecting her Mrs. Elton to be excellent and not to sound so very much like Miss Bingley in the BBC version of P&P, but what do I know??
Wonder When You'll Miss Me by Amanda Davis
Faith, a victim of gang rape, runs away to join the circus. I loved this book so much (a definite re-read) and looked forward to reading more of Davis's work only to find out she died last year. Aside from a short story collection, this is it (and yet Danielle Steel continues to churn them on out).
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding (read by Josephine Bailey)
Tried reading the book, but had a hard time suspending my disbelief. Also, kept finding references to 9/11 and Al-Queda a little jarring in what might otherwise have passed as a fluffy little chick lit novel with techno accessories. Happily, the audiobook was quite fun. Obviously, some stories are just better read aloud.
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (read by Hugh Fraser)
Poirot receives a rather interesting letter from "ABC," then Mrs. Ascher's found murdered in Andover and an ABC Railroad Guide is left at the scene ... what does it all mean? Can Poirot get to the root of the murders before ABC gets through the whole alphabet? Well, yes, obviously Poirot will win, but the figuring out of who and how and why is still quite fun.
The Fandom of the Operator by Robert Rankin
Better than a kick in the nads, but that's not saying much. If you've never read any Rankin, I wouldn't recommend starting with this book.