The Buzz...About Books

Winter is still upon us!  All the groundhogs, pigs and in the Maritimes a lobster couldn't decide when winter is going to end, so I am assuming it is here for a while. To help me get through the cleaning off my car, shoveling my sidewalk and slower drives to work I find myself listening to audiobooks, both on my phone and using my CD player in my car (yes, I use my CD player).  Since I am picky about my paper books, I am equally picky about my audiobooks.  Not only do I have to like the story, I need to like the voice of the reader. I have been known to reject a book cause I couldn't stand the reader. I  have had patrons request all titles read by certain actors, they didn't care what the story was about, they just loved the voice. Here are some of my favourites to get me through the short, dark winter days.

Not only is there a picture of the author's stuffed raccoon (stuffed as in taxidermy) on the cover, this is not her only one. She explains that her father was a taxidermist and therefore she is super comfortable around things that the rest of us would throw away. She also describes the photos that you as the listener cannot see and you also get to hear the cowbell.  I think it's impossible not to laugh out loud during this read and everyone needs a laugh in winter.

This is a classic science fiction tale with the main take away being stay calm and carry a towel. If you don't understand what that means, then you really must read or listen to this book. Douglas Adams reads his own words and does an excellent job proving that sometimes authors do make good narrators. This book tells of the joy of bureaucracy the galaxy over, the importance of communication and that some poetry is so bad it will literally kill you. The book series continues after this one and the next one is read by Stephen Fry who is a great narrator as well.

In these essays a listener can easily think that they are sitting down with Nora Ephron over a coffee, or glass of wine, and chatting about what is going on with their lives.  She voices all our own neuroses with wit, charm and humour making everything seem a little bit easier since we are not alone.

I am late to the David Sedaris fan club, but I am catching up.  This is available only as an eAudiobook or a physical book, so I prefer the eAudiobook cause David Sedaris has a great reading voice.  This is a collection of essays covering different points of his life such as living in France and trying to learn French, hence the title of the book.  The first story is about him being sent to a speech therapist in elementary school to work on his lisp, so as a listener you can hear him show the differences between what he says and what his speech therapist wants him to say. Or how his father is determined to make his children musical. It's just hilarious.

What happens when you love musical theater as a kid and won't be cast in the lead?  You grow up to become the head writer at Saturday Night Live. Tina Fey recounts her life from her geeky upbringing to writing and performing Weekend Update and moving into movies such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama. She discusses her many successes as well as many failures, making her all the more relatable.

Everyone has a relative who says super embarrassing things that make you cringe, but most of us don't broadcast it to the world on Twitter. Justin Halpern started to type out the weird, dumb, and stupid things his dad would say and people loved it! They loved it so much that Justin wrote out these short essays explaining the story behind the tweet. By the end you may realize that your own family isn't that bad, or that maybe you should be sharing with the world their thoughts in the hopes of getting a book deal.  Either way, it's hilarious.