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The Bullet that Missed
This is the title of an audiobook I just finished listening to. It’s the third in a series of detective novels about four seniors from a retirement community investigating suspicious deaths. I read the first two novels and listened to them on audiobook with one narrator. The third book was released a few months ago and it was the audiobook version that showed up first in the library catalogue. As I had enjoyed the first two, I figured this would work for me. I really did like the book although not quite as much as the earlier books. There were too many loose ends at the end of the book which made it feel not quite finished. I’m sure those ends will be picked up in the next book.
But the main thing that was difficult was the change of narrator That’s not a bad thing exactly but the style of this narrator was different and made it harder to listen. The really big problem was she narrated so much of the book in a whisper. I mostly listened in the car and was constantly increasing the volume so I could hear. I don’t think the whole book should require such a high volume on it. Anyway, I did adjust to the new narrator after several chapters but the whisper carried on a bit more than it should have. If this narrator continues, I hope this is worked out a bit better in the next book.
The book itself was highly entertaining and contains a cast of characters with all sorts of interesting quirks and personalities. Like earlier volumes, it’s also full of both humor and pathos as some tricky subjects are touched upon.
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Books I’ve been reading
Like many other habits, my reading slowed down quite a bit while I was in the US. I’ve been making goals on Goodreads each year to finish 100 books and I’ve been behind on that for most of the year. But I am just about caught up now.
I recently read My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan and I immensely enjoyed it. At first, it seemed to be a contemporary romantic comedy but about a third of the way through I discovered it was not quite the light read I expected. Also, it wasn’t an original story but one based on a script for a movie, I think. This one is about a young woman who gets a Rhodes Scholarship and goes to Oxford for a year while also working on an election campaign back home in the US.
I read The Venice Train by Georges Simenon very recently for Netgalley. I know of Simenon for his series of Maigret detective stories although I haven’t read any of his work before. This one turned out to be a psychological thriller of sorts. It has such good pacing that it has you on the edge of your seat much of the time. It’s about a man who leaves his family’s holiday in Venice to return to Paris by train. On the way back a stranger requests a favor that upends his life in the most negative of ways.
A non-fiction book that was quite good is Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing: Living Better, Living Longer by Cassandra Szoeke. The author is part of a long-term research study on women’s health here in Australia that has been running for thirty years. There are a number of important takeaways but for me, the most important one was to keep moving. It seems keeping active will affect most areas of life positively, from blood sugar to bone health to mental health. There’s a lot of interesting information with regard to research into women’s health too.
Also non-fiction is the memoir by Hannah Gadsby. I first read this as an ebook and then it was available as an audiobook so I checked that out and listened and it was quite good. There’s some pretty tough material in the book and Hannah narrates in a similar way to her comedy and it worked really well for me. I had listened to another memoir from another Australian comedian and it just didn’t sound quite right. I think I would have enjoyed reading more than listening. This one is done beautifully.
Lastly, I am currently rereading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. My parents had this book on their shelves and I read it probably during my teenage years. It really left a big impression at the time which has remained with me since. I decided enough years have passed that it’s definitely worth a revisit and I started reading it on ebook. I’m only a couple of chapters in, but I will note the beautiful language used to start the book. I don’t suppose I appreciated this so much at the time I first read it but it is really well written.
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Finally
It took a long time but I finally finished reading Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka. It’s an interesting book because it’s all over the place for the better part of the first half, and then there’s a proper plot in the latter part of the book. I can see a bit of what the aim was for the writer but it really was way too long. I found the second half far better than the first half and found myself wanting to read more towards the end. Before that, the flow just wasn’t quite there. Overall I did like it but I don’t consider it a major success. I am glad I kept on with it, though, and now I feel a bit freer to request more books for review. I’m currently listening to an audiobook of A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris. It’s actually the third in a series and I’m fairly sure I read the first book many years ago. So far it’s very intriguing and I look forward to the twists and turns to reach the conclusion.
As a side note, I’ve added a link to the blog I started for book reviews on the sidebar. It’s been in a bit of a lull recently but I’m trying to get back into it again.
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Reading
I’ve mentioned here before that I read lots of books for Netgalley which provides advanced reader copies for new releases. Earlier this year I found I had reached over 20 books and it got to be a bit unwieldy for a while. Also, some requested books didn’t get sent until much later than the request was made and I had to fit those in too. I finally got to under ten books and now I’m down to three books and there are still four that I requested that I haven’t had answers on. One of them I requested in March and still haven’t heard back. Today is the release date. So far the only reviews for it seem to be from librarians so maybe they are the only ones to have access before release.
One of the books I am currently slogging through is a particularly long one from a Nigerian writer who was the first black winner of the Nobel prize in literature many years ago. I say slogging because it’s quite long and perhaps a bit too wordy. I have pondered whether to give it up and not finish but I feel obliged to carry on to some degree. There was a book about genes I read a while back that I had for many months but it was really tough to get through. I didn’t quite finish that one but I felt I had read enough to write a fair review on it.
I haven’t added too many books recently because I need a slow period for a little while. Unless a lot of really good books happen to turn up.
I have also started listening to audiobooks a lot more, mostly from the library. I find it works out well there because I can easily return it if it doesn’t work for me. The first book I listened to early this year was a sequel and that was tough. I don’t think it was the narrator but just the fact I already had preconceived notions from reading the first book and it clashed a bit. I found once I had read it for real, I was able to go back and listen again without too much issue. At the moment I am listening to two audiobooks. One is The Queen’s Gambit, which is a book that was turned into a series on Netflix. The Scientist and I had seen the first episode and it was good. At the same time, I ran across it in the library listing and put it on hold. So far I think the series is a bit better than the book for me. I find the narrator okay when she’s speaking for Beth, the girl in the story. And not too bad for a couple of female characters. But all the male ones sound very similar and often alike and they all sound kind of dumb and slow. I think some of these are supposed to be a southern accent but it doesn’t work for me. I still have half the book to go and only a few days left until it goes back so I don’t know if I will carry on or not. One thing I will note is the tv series doesn’t seem to have anyone with a southern accent despite mostly being set in Kentucky. Strange.
The second book I listened to was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and it was just wonderful. Julia Whelan narrated and she really brought it all to life. I didn’t write a review when I finished but I plan to get an ebook and read it and will do a review then. I am curious as to whether I would have liked this as well had I read first it or not. I will never know for sure though since I am sure I will have the memory of the audiobook in mind while reading.