Girl Walks into a Bar . . .: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle Rachel Dratch (Twitter) Gotham (February 2013), Paperback (ISBN 1592407579 / 9781592407576) Nonfiction/memoir, 272 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Penguin Audio, 2012; Audible ASIN B007R6B0AY) Reason for reading: Personal Opening lines: “‘Hey, I know you!’ said the stranger. “I was on Third Avenue in New York, emerging from the Starbucks. “The stranger turned to his friend and nudged him. ‘Do you know […]
Society’s Child: My Autobiography Janis Ian (Facebook) (Twitter) Audiobook read by the author Tarcher (2009), trade paper (ISBN 1585427497 / 9781585427499) Autobiography/memoir, 384 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Audible, Inc.; ASIN B0089IC1KC) Reason for reading: Personal; 2013 Grammy Award winner, Best Spoken-Word Album; 2013 Audie Awards nominee, Narration by Author(s) Opening lines (from the Prologue): “I was standing alone on a stage in Encino, California, halfway through the first verse of my song ‘Society’s Child.’ ‘Come […]
We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel Lionel Shriver (Wikipedia page) (Goodreads) Audiobook read by Coleen Marlo Harper Perennial (2006), Paperback (ISBN 006112429X / 9780061124297) Fiction, 432 pages Source: Purchased paperback; purchased audiobook (Harper Audio, 2011; Audible ASIN B006QGIFWC) Reason for reading: Personal (long-term TBR, topical fiction) Opening lines: “Dear Franklin, “I’m unsure why one trifling incident this afternoon has moved me to write to you. But since we’ve been separated, I may most […]
Year Zero: A Novel Rob Reid (Facebook) Audiobook read by John Hodgman Del Rey (July 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 0345534417 / 9780345534415) Fiction (SF/speculative), 384 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Random House Audio; Audible ASIN B008J9GD28) Reason for reading: Personal Opening lines: “Aliens suck at music. And it’s not for a lack of trying. They’ve been at it for eons, but have yet to produce even a faintly decent tune. If they had, we’d have detected them […]
Where’d You Go, Bernadette: A Novel Maria Semple (Facebook) Audiobook read by Kathleen Wilhoite Little, Brown and Company (August 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 0316204277 / 9780316204279) Fiction, 336 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Hachette Audio; Audible ASIN B008XDY8GS) Reason for reading: Personal Opening lines: “The first annoying thing is when I ask Dad what he thinks happened to Mom, he always says, ‘What’s most important is for you to understand it’s not your fault.’ You’ll notice that […]
Shine Shine Shine Lydia Netzer (Blog) (Facebook) (Twitter) Audiobook read by Joshilyn Jackson St. Martin’s Press (July 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 1250007070 / 9781250007070) Fiction, 320 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Macmillan Audio; Audible ASIN B008M20XUK) Reason for reading: Personal Opening lines: “Deep in darkness, there was a tiny light. Inside the light, he floated in a spaceship. It felt cold to him, floating there. Inside his body, he felt the cold of space. He could still […]
The Longest Way Home: One Man’s Quest for the Courage to Settle Down Andrew McCarthy (Twitter) Audiobook read by the author Free Press/Simon & Schuster (September 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 1451667485 / 9781451667486) Travel/memoir, 288 pages Source: purchased audiobook (Brilliance Audio: Audible ASIN B009CMO4KO) Reason for reading: personal Opening lines (from the Prologue): “‘Are you awake?’ Something in the tone of my voice cut through to my sleeping brain. “‘Coming,’ I called back. “‘What time is […]
The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook performed by Jim Dale Doubleday (2011), hardcover (ISBN 0385534639 / 9780385534635) Fiction, 400 pages Source; purchased audiobook (Audible ASIN B005MM7F7W) Reason for reading: personal, seasonal Opening lines: “The circus arrives without warning. “No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. “The towering tents are striped in white […]
A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty: A Novel Joshilyn Jackson (Facebook) (Twitter) Audiobook read by the author Grand Central Publishing (September 2012), Paperback (ISBN 0446582360 / 9780446582360) Fiction, 352 pages Source: purchased audiobook (Audible ASIN B0071H413M) Reason for reading: personal Opening lines: “My daughter, Liza, put her heart in a silver box and buried it under the willow tree in our backyard. Or as close to under that tree as she could anyway. The thick web of […]
The Barbarian Nurseries: A Novel Héctor Tobar Audiobook narrated by Frankie J. Alvarez Farrar, Straus and Giroux (September 2011), Hardcover (ISBN 0374108994 / 9780374108991)* Fiction, 432 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Blackstone Audio via Audible.com–Audible ASIN B005PTOP5M) Reason for Reading: personal interest, local/topical, “LA’s Summer Reading Guide” on CBSLA.com *paperback release scheduled September 2012 Opening lines: “Scott Torres was upset because the lawn mower wouldn’t start, because no matter how hard he pulled at the cord, […]
Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rob Lowe (Facebook) (Twitter) audiobook read by the author St. Martin’s Griffin (2012), Paperback (ISBN 1250008859 / 9781250008855) Biography/memoir, 320 pages Source: purchased audiobook (Audible ASIN B004XXVSS8) Reason for reading: personal, Audiobook Challenge Opening lines: “I had always had an affinity for him, an admiration for his easy grace, his natural charisma, despite the fact that for the better part of a decade my then girlfriend kept […]
Rules of Civility: A NovelAmor TowlesAudiobook read by Rebecca LowmanPenguin Books (2012); Paperback (ISBN 9780143121169 / 0143121162 )Fiction, 352 pagesSource: purchased audiobook (ISBN 9780142429273, Audible ASIN B005EJFUYI)Reason for reading: Personal, 2012 Audiobook Challenge. #JIAM (June is Audiobook Month) Opening lines (Chapter 1): “It was the last night of 1937. “With no better plans or prospects, my roommate Eve had dragged me back to The Hotspot, a wishfully named nightclub in Greenwich Village that was four […]
