AudioBook Review: The Swan Thieves

I tried, I really did - but despite wonderful narration by Treat Williams and Anne Heche, this book was beyond painful to me.

It's about a Robert Oliver, a bipolar artist who attempts to slash a painting at The National Gallery of Art. Robert is now institutionalized in a psychiatric facility and obsessed with the woman in the painting that he tried to attack. Andrew Marlowe, a psychiatrist who conveniently happens to be an artist, steps in and takes it upon himself to seek out Mr.Oliver's estranged wife and delve into what makes Robert Oliver tick - oh, but the 'love bug' bites Dr. Marlowe and he finds himself smitten by the lovely Mrs. Oliver...

You can just imagine what happens next if only you could continue on in the book but the excrutiatingly slow dialogue prevents further interest..."The morning was gray with mist, clearing in uneven patches overhead to show pellucid sky, the evergreens full of crows and cobwebs, the birches already turning over a few yellow leaves." Give me a break. The Swan Thieves was full of this stuff. The detailed descriptions  were so agonizing that my simple mind just couldn't take any more.

Does anybody out there know how it ended?

Audiophilia

They say that the first step in recovery is to admit that you have a problem.

I am an audiophile. There. I’ve said it.

Ear buds in place, I spend many of my waking hours listening to audio-books.

It began innocently enough as a way to multi-task… why not listen to a book while doing mundane jobs like raking leaves, housekeeping and laundry? Kill two birds with one stone and all that. Listening while exercising, driving, grocery shopping, cooking and of course, travel soon followed. Advanced listening included listening during dental procedures, doctors exams and while flipping through magazines, now there's a challenge.

When I started listening to books while doing nothing else, it was somewhat disconcerting for 'Mr Something'. “Joanie, what’s so funny?” (he said) he asked me. No answer. “Joanie” he (reportedly) asked again. No answer. “JOANIE!!!” he hollered. “WHAT!!!?” I hollered back while removing my fabulous noise blocking ear buds.

Now he knows that if I’m sitting quietly, giggling or gasping to myself, I have not lost my mind, I’m just listening to a good book.

The secret to listening is a good plot and a great reader.

I may never kick this audio-book addiction.

The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett.

Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, Cassandra Campbell

This is a great selection for those who have never listened to an audio-book before or have tried but had trouble concentrating.

Read by four absolutely excellent narrators and set in the racist and violent 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, The Help surrounds 'Skeeter' a young white woman who recruits a number of black maids to tell their stories of working for white families and raising their children. Secrets, hypocrisy, mystery, love.