Book Review

One of the things that has been sacrificed with little ones is the time I used to spend reading.  I do still make time to read, but I don't get through as many books as I would like.  Listening has become a way for me to multi task and get the things I need done and still enjoy a good book.  I listen to books while driving, cleaning, and working out.  Recently I finished two book - I didn't love either of them but they had been on my list of books I wanted to read so this was a good way to get through them.

Amazon Best Books of the Month, July 2012: Harold Fry--retired sales rep, beleaguered husband, passive observer of his own life--decides one morning to walk 600 miles across England to save an old friend. It might not work, mind you, but that's hardly the point. In playwright Rachel Joyce's pitch-perfect first novel, Harold wins us over with his classic antiheroism. Setting off on the long journey, he wears the wrong jacket, doesn't have a toothbrush, and leaves his phone at home--in short, he is wholly, endearingly unprepared. But as he travels, Harold finally has time to reflect on his failings as a husband, father, and friend, and this helps him become someone we (and, more important, his wife Maureen) can respect. After walking for a while in Harold Fry's very human shoes, you might find that your own fit a bit better. --Mia Lipman

I wanted to love this book, I really did, but I just didn't.  I expected it to be slow, that was king of the point of the plot, but for the most part I didn't find it slow and engaging.  To use a British term, I thought some parts were quite dull.  There were a few sections that I really liked, and I did think the ending was great, it redeemed the long journey.  Perfect for listening because I wasn't tempted to skip pages to get to the end and not bad to keep me company on my travels.  B+

Amazon Best Books of the Month, October 2012 (Debut Spotlight): Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is an old school mystery set firmly in tech-loving, modern day San Francisco. Clay Jannon (former web designer) lands a job at a bookstore with very few patrons and even fewer purchases. His curiosity leads him to the discovery of a larger conspiracy at play, one exciting enough to rope in his best friend (CEO at a startup) and love interest (works at Google). As Clay and company unravel the puzzles of Mr. Penumbra's book shop, the story turns into a sort of nerdy heist, with real-life gadgets, secret societies, and a lot of things to say about the past, present, and future of reading. Sloan originally self-published Mr. Penumbra as a short story through Kindle Direct Publishing, before expanding it to its current form with a traditional print publisher--a fitting trajectory for a fast, fun story that has so wholly and enthusiastically embraced the tension between the digital and analog books. --Kevin Nguyen

I'm not positive what I expected of this book but whatever that was, the book wasn't.  The story itself was pretty interesting but got a little too philosophical for my taste.  The plot was heavy on the bookstore and light on character development - I would have liked it to be a little more character driven.  Again, this was a great one to have done the audio version.  B