Tuesday, January 26, 2016

New yarn, new book

First up: the pretty!


I do so love getting new yarn in the mail... I don't even care that I'm swimming in yarn that came in the mail.  Sock yarn is therapy and very necessary and it would be bad if I ran out - so this is one area where keeping Stuff is totally permissible.  Also, yummy colours!


This one is called 'Friends and Family', which makes an appropriate segue to my telling you about Omigosh, the book you have to listen to if you can.

I am late to the party for Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple - it seems to be pretty popular and widely read.  I've had my eye on it for a while and thought Eh, can I really handle a story about a mother with emotional problems and a teen daughter who is affected by them?  (answer: no.)

But eventually it came up as an audiobook, and I kind of liked the voice of the narrator who recorded it, so I decided to buy it in that form.  Even then, it lingered in my Audible app until I became desperate during the whole Throw Everything Out project we took on last week.  Then, when it was either that, or the terribly dated vintage murder mystery, or the story about the potato famine, or silence while I worked through all that dreck, I finally pressed play.

And - WOW.  I don't often love a book enough that I can't keep it in, and this is a biggie. I totally loved this book.

There are so many long monologues in it that could have been incredibly boring and instead made me laugh.  There are so many plot point setups that could have been obvious and were just so entertaining in the moment that they didn't look like setups, at all.  The main character is completely flawed, even potentially unlikable, and I absolutely loved her.  I learned so much about Antarctica.  I couldn't stand it when I realized the story was nearly over.

But the best surprise was the narrator, Kathleen Wilhoite.  She voices so many different characters so charmingly - a rare feat - and made dramatically funny scenes both dramatic and hilarious.  Any writer would be blessed to have her interpreting his or her words.  I couldn't get enough!  I might actually listen to the whole book again, this week, just to relive it.

Seriously, if you're looking for something to read, take a look at this one.

And either way - have a great day!


3 comments:

Barb Fullerton said...

I'll be looking for that book!

Darlene said...

Where'd you go Bernadette sure brought back memories for me. I read it as an ARC book before it was officially published. I LOVED it too.

Mary Keenan said...

Omigosh Darlene, you are so lucky to have read it as an ARC!! And Barb, you have a real treat in store :^)