Saving Fish from Drowning: Audio

I am writing once more about the books I've been reading! I have been pretty bad about keeping up with my blog lately. However, I have been reading and I've listened to many audio books on my way to and from work. One of those I picked up was Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan. It's read by the author.

First I have to say, I'm not sure I like that. Every time I've listened to a book read by the author, I've been less than impressed. You would think the author knows how to interpret their characters better than anyone, but if that were true then they wouldn't be authors, they'd be actors. Often the author's reading is much more flat and told in one voice even when from different points of view. I've found this of authors who are good at writing from different character's view points and from those that aren't. Often actors will give each character a slightly different voice. They sometimes change it with inflection, sometimes with accent, and sometimes with pitch. When an author reads his own work, this is lost because they are often not good at that. Tan is no exception.

I also realized very quickly while listening to this book that I had read this before. It was years ago and long ago enough for me to forget most of the plot but close enough that it all sounded like deja vu as I listened.

It's a very well written book, told about 12 Americans who take a trip to the Himalayan foothills of China and cross the border into Burma. This is supposed to be a historic trip, as no foreigner as made the crossing where they will since Burma became Myanmar. Each and every step of the trip is planned well before their crossing but from the beginning things go wrong. First, their tour leader is mysteriously killed just days before they are to leave. The group decides they should go anyway and enlist the help of another tour leader, one who is not a take charge kind of person, leaving the group rudder-less in dangerous lands.

I enjoyed this book very much and thought Tan's writing, if not reading, was beautifully done. There is just the right mix of non-likeable, annoying characters to go with the ones who think they can make it alright to make this an often hilarious tale even when they are in the most danger. 

How Twilight Works....

A friend sent me a link to How Twilight Works. It's obviously written by a man but it says pretty much everything I said about the series but in a much more concise and funny way. Thought everyone might enjoy. Even if you're a Twilight fan, I'm pretty sure you'll like this!

Short Stories: The Guy Not Taken

I listened to the audio version of the The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner in my car last week. Honestly, I didn't realize it was short stories until I popped it in my cd player and heard the beginning: "The Guy Not Taken, a collection of short stories by Jennifer Weiner" (or something to that affect). Huh, I thought, how did I not realize that when I bought it. Maybe because I just saw a cheap audio book and since cheap ones are hard to find I just grabbed it!

I actually enjoyed these stories(for the most part). I think Weiner may be a better writer of short stories than full novels. The stories are complete and you're left feeling fulfilled but you don't feel like she cheated at the end to get the girl with the guy and make a happily ever after as I usually feel after listening (because I've never read one) to one of her novels . I'm not sure what the process is when short stories are placed together in a book to decide which comes first but I'm not sure the order in this case does Weiner any favors for 2 reasons: 1. The first three stories are actually all about the same character at different times in her life and could have, with a little more flushing, been a full length novel. 2. They are not even close to the best stories in the book. The main character/narrator is not all that interesting either. I get very annoyed by characters that are what I see as "weak." I mean girls who never tell their mothers to back off or let the man treat them like shit just because they want a boyfriend. This is the narrator and for some reason a common character trait of girls in these chick-lit novels. I would actually like to hear the same stories told from her sister Nikki's point of view. Now THAT would make a great novel. Here's an example of Nikki from the story Travels with Nikki

My sister's earliest childhood memories were of torture. She talked frequently, nostalgically, about the happy days of her youth when she'd give John his bath and pour alternating pitchers of hot and cold water over his back. Never hot enough to burn him, just hot enough to make him extremely uncomfortable.

Swim, the story following this trilogy, is one of her better stories and why I think Weiner is a talented writer, even if I don't normally like the genre she writes. It's the story of a Hollywood screen writer learning to be comfortable with who she is and her place in the world. It does not have a happily ever after ending but I felt hopeful at the end even so and felt it was good in the way a short story should be, a complete story with good ending that doesn't leave you feeling as if it was simply the outlines of her next novel.

Good Men is the only story in this collection told from a man's point of view and on the audio is voiced by a man. This was a little jarring. Maybe when you're reading it's not so strange to go from 4 stories told by a woman to 1 told by a man but when you're listening and you have a certain voice in your head, it's very distracting. Also, I wasn't impressed with the story itself. A bunch of boys out on the town during a bachelor's party trying to figure out why anyone gets married and then they decided the problem in the narrator's relationship is the dog. The dog is evil so they plan to go kidnap it. Huh?

Buyer's Market is actually a great story but I didn't think so at first. I didn't like Jess, the narrator, for the simple reason that she's selling her beloved NYC apartment just so she can get the attention of her realtor. It's obvious to everyone but Jess that this down-on-his-luck realtor is playing her so her can get the commission on her apartment ("a weak character again" is what I thought). I ended up liking the story as it has one of those rare moments when you can see the change in a character. The moment when you get to see how her whole life could have been very different if she had not had this moment. It kind of reminds me of Sliding Doors in that way, a movie I love.

The Guy Not Taken is a new look at a common theme both in movies and books: what would my life be like if I had done this ONE thing different. Our narrator is Marlie and one night while at home with her baby she stumbles onto her ex-boyfriend's wedding registry. On a lark she logs in as him, knowing his passwords are always the same, and changes the name of the bride to her own. The next moment the computer shuts down and she is not able to change it back. She wakes up the next day with no baby, in her old apartment, next to her ex and getting ready for their engagement party...
It was interesting if cliche. Though I thought it didn't feel complete at the end.

The Mother's Hour was, for me, the best story in this book. Unfortunately, being an "abridgement" there were three stories from the book not in this audio version so I can't say that for sure but it was well written and a beautiful story about the friendship between two very different women, Alice and Victoria, and their children that develops when they both go to a Mother's Hour group. The group sounds like a cross between baby's playtime and group counseling session for moms. Not sure exactly what kind of group it was supposed to be but the defining moment for the group comes when one of the mother's wrongly reports Victoria for child abuse.

Check this out. You will not be disappointed.

Audio: Twenties Girl

Once again I chose a chick-lit book for my car driving entertainment. I am actually liking Sophie Kinsella's books, against my better judgement! I still don't think it's the kind of thing I would want to sit down and read on my couch when I feel like being taken away by a book, but I really like listening to them in the car.

Lara is a 27-year-old head hunter trying to make a go of her new business, which she started with her flaky best friend. The best friend who ran off to the tropics with some man and left her holding down the fort. The best friend who actually knows something about being a head hunter, unlike Lara who has never worked in the business before. In the midst of this Lara is required to attend the funeral of her 107 year great aunt. While there, Lara hears a strange woman screaming, "WHERE'S MY NECKLACE!" Oddly enough, it turns out to be the ghost of Sadie, her recently deceased great aunt. You know, the one they're having the funeral for...The story is a hilarious journey to find Sadie's necklace and the changes she brings to Lara life.

Personally, I think this is Kinsella's best book yet. The Shopaholic series really did nothing for me, though I enjoyed the movie. Domestic Goddess and Remember Me? were pretty good but I simply don't think they hold a candle to this book. Lara's growing relationship with the great aunt she never met when she was alive is hilarious and beautiful. The capers they get into are just ridiculous, but not unbelievably so. This is a definite must read for someone looking for a fun book.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

I am ashamed to admit that this lover of Sci-fi and Fantasy books has never read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Not sure why but I guess it's just one of those books I always meant to read and never seemed to pick up when I was at the store. Something else always looked more interesting. I was also stunned to realized that I really didn't know what it was about.

Ford Prefect is on Earth briefly while working on a revision to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but somehow ends up being stuck there for 15 years. In that time, he makes friends with Arthur Dent. When Earth is scheduled for demolition to make room for a galactic freeway, Ford hitches a ride with the aliens doing the demolition and takes Arthur along with him. Along the way they meet up with some very interesting characters.

Adams' writing is very much in the Monty Python sarcastic-humor style, which shouldn't be too surprising since he was one of the writers for that too. I enjoy that style sometimes but more in movies and tv than in books. When it's a part of the book but not solely the entire writing style, I think I enjoy it more. Neil Gaiman is good at that, peppering his dialogue with snarky, sarcastic remarks. I liked reading Hitchhiker's but I'm glad it was fairly short. I think it would have gotten a little tedious and irritating in a longer book. There isn't really any character in the book that you can relate to or feel a connection to and the storyline is kind of "put together" (if that makes any sense), however I do think it's a good book and can see why it has such a cult following. It's not something I feel I could ever read again, knowing the big punch-line at the end about Earth just makes that impossible for me, but I would like to see the movie now. I have a feeling I might like that better than the book. It's weird, that's only happened one time (with Bridget Jones) but I just saw the preview (I know, I know, behind the times here) and it looks hilarious. I know it got a lot of bad reviews but come on....Monty Python would get terrible reviews today too.