What I've Heard- The Husband's Secret

Two years ago I read The Husband's Secret and loved it. It is a wonderful book about a woman who discovers her husband has- that's right, you guessed it- a secret. But it is in discovering that secret and how to respond to it that the real mystery lies. Liane Moriarty is an Australian author and the audio version of this book reflects that with the narrator's Australian accent. It is lovely to hear and to imagine each of the women in this novel. This is a wonderful book and the audio version is just as good- I didn't want to turn it off. You should give it a listen.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

Why do things happen the way they do? Is it true that some things just happen with no rhyme or reason? That is just not something that Suzy is willing to accept during what becomes the hardest year of her life so far. In The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin, Suzy is just about to begin 7th Grade when her best friend Franny dies in a drowning accident. When Suzy wants to know how Franny could have drowned when she was such a good swimmer, she is told that "sometimes these things just happen." Searching for an explanation, Suzy discovers an obscure species of jellyfish that she thinks could have caused her friend's death. It is not long after this horrible incident that Suzy decides it would just be best for her to stop talking. Her parents are worried, but Suzy is too obsessed with learning about jellyfish and proving Franny's cause of death to be bothered.

Suzy is in 7th Grade, but she is lagging behind her peers in maturity a bit. This book explores what it is like to be left behind and also to find one's own path. It also deals with grief and loss and regret. Suzy also shares with us her wonderful science teacher, Mrs. Turton who is exactly the kind of teacher everyone wants. She teaches to teach, to share knowledge, not to fulfill a standard curriculum requirement. I love all the fun facts that Mrs. Turton adds to this book.

I liked that she didn't seem to care about the lesson plan but instead told us interesting things about the world.

Poor Suzy is really struggling at this time in her life, but she's working through it as best she can. She tries to focus on what is important and she isn't afraid to be who she is. She doesn't always make the kinds of decisions she should, some are actually rather questionable, but she's trying. One of my favorite quotes comes when Suzy is attempting something nearly impossible:

Confidence is magic. It can carry you through everything.

I think that may be good advice for all of us.

I really enjoyed this book and I've even already bought it for my niece for Christmas. (Shhhh...don't tell!) If you enjoy middle grade books (I love them!) or if you know someone who does, this book should definitely be in the To Be Read pile.

What I've Heard- The Girl on the Train

About a year-and-a-half ago, I read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and really enjoyed it. Today I finished listening to the audio version and it was wonderful. Narrated by Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey and India Fisher, this audiobook is just lovely. The actor reading the part of Megan Hipwell, Louise Brealy, was making me crazy the whole time I listened because I knew it was so familiar, but I just couldn't place it. Finally I had to know and after a quick search I discovered she is the actor who plays Molly Hooper on Sherlock. She has a great voice.

Winner of Audiobook of the Year, 2016, The Girl on the Train is an exciting audiobook and a perfect way to revisit the story before seeing the film that was released earlier this month. I really liked it.

The Doctors Are In by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?

Over the past couple of years I have become a huge Doctor Who fan. Well, by my standards I am a huge fan. By the standards of someone like Graeme Burk or Robert Smith? (yes, the question mark is part of his name- according to this article he added it as a teenager to distinguish from the many other Robert Smiths in the world), I am just a newbie. I was thrilled, however, when I was offered the e-galley of The Doctors Are In to review. I will admit that I skipped over the original incarnations of the Doctor and right to the 2005 reboot Doctors. I remember being so upset that the Ninth Doctor changed at the end of the first series (that I watched, anyway), but I came to really love the Tenth Doctor. However, the Eleventh Doctor's storylines are my favorite because they have Amy, Rory and possibly my most favoritest (yes, that's exactly what I meant to say) fictional character of all time, River Song. I haven't yet warmed to the Twelfth Doctor yet, but I've only watched his first series and only once. I've learned to reserve judgement.

This is a fun book that is pure fan love. It explores the actor who plays each Doctor, the best (and sometimes worst) episodes of that Doctor and some of the little knows facts about the show. If you're a fan (or even if you're a newbie like me) this is a book you would really enjoy.

Scary Mommy's Guide to Surviving the Holidays by Jill Smokler

As of this writing, there are only 73 days until Christmas. 73 days! I can hardly believe that, but it seems to arrive more quickly every year so I suppose I had better get ready. I've had Scary Mommy's Guide to Surviving the Holidays by Jill Smokler for over a year now, but I didn't have time to read it before the holidays last year and I wanted to save it until it felt a little more relevant...and until it felt a little cooler outside. This book is a collection of essays compiled by Jill Smokler, creator of Scary Mommy, a parenting blog followed by millions of parents that expresses in no uncertain terms that parenting doesn't have to be perfect. Scary Mommy's Guide to Surviving the Holidays takes us along with Jill and a few of her friends as we commiserate about all those little things that threaten to suck the fun out of the holiday season.

When I first started the book, I thought that it seemed like it might be a little too cynical for me. Sometimes our kids annoy us. That is just a fact of parenting, but some people can, at times, take that a bit far. This was the sentence that made me worry:

Getting through the holidays is no longer a matter of joy and celebration; it's a survival of the fittest.

I'm all for laughing at the way our kids make us crazy just to keep from crying, but I feared this was not going to be the book for me. But then I kept reading...

The first essay in the book is entitled Thanksgiving Etiquette Manifesto, by Leslie Marinelli. It begins with a recital of all the way she spends weeks "planning and preparing for the most highly anticipated meal of the year, only to have my Rockwellian dreams shattered in a matter of seconds by the arrival of my extended family." The essay goes on to provide a list of requirements for attending Thanksgiving Dinner. She knows that it will either make the day better, or people will get offended and not come. She is perfectly okay with either outcome.

This book is filled with hilarious essays to which we can all relate. From forgetting to thaw the Thanksgiving Turkey to a funny Dysfunctional Family Drinking Game; from hoping the kids will figure out that Santa is not real (I'm so on board with this!) to the torture that is the holiday card photo session. This book is also filled with great recipes that somehow still manage to be funny. And finally, there is also a great gift list for those parents you hate (glitter art kits and musical instruments).

One thing that I thought was absolutely wonderful about this book was something I found in the introduction. After years of hosting a very popular blog, Jill Smokler yearned for a way to help some of her readers, and others, who were in need. After a very short four day fundraising effort, she had raised $18,000 that would be used to purchase nearly four hundred Thanksgiving dinners for families in need. Suddenly, The Thanksgiving Project was born. It is now an official 501(c)(3) charity that has helped over four thousand families celebrate a holiday they otherwise couldn't have. This is an inspiring use of one's popularity.

This book was very funny and a very entertaining read. You really should read it and now is a perfect time. Not only is the holiday season upon us, but right now you can purchase the Kindle version for only 99 cents! You canNOT beat that!

I'll just leave you with these parting words:

Whether you are at the adults' table or the infamous kids' table, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. May you find the joy in the holiday no matter where you sit.

What I've Heard- The Thirteenth Tale

This is the first in my What I've Heard series of posts. Today I finished listening to the audio version of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. This is a book that I read years ago, pre-SmartGirls, and I loved it. It is the perfect book for this time of year- it's part mystery, part ghost story- and it is absolutely wonderful. This was the second time I've listened to this audiobook and it is so well done. It is read by Bianca Amato and Jill Tanner and it is 15 hours and 38 minutes in length.

This is one of my favorite audiobooks, but it is a bit quiet, a bit subdued so I wouldn't recommend it for a long car ride. This book is beautifully written and wonderfully read. I really cannot recommend it enough. As you can see, I've added it to my Required Reading list because I feel just that strongly about it. If audiobooks aren't your thing, please pick up a print copy to read. You won't be sorry.

What I've Heard- An Introduction

I have been thinking of adding an audiobook facet to my blog for a while and now I'm finally doing it! My love of audiobooks began years and years ago, but in the last four of five years it has really grown. My most recent obsession with them began with listening to audiobooks just while I would ride my bike (with only one earbud in, for safety) or walk for exercise. An audiobook seemed like a good distraction as well as good motivation to get back out and exercise. Gradually, however, my listening became more frequent. Did you know that audiobooks are the perfect accompaniment for housework? It's true! I listen while I vacuum, clean the kitchen, everything. Immersing myself in the narrative of a good book easily distracts from any unpleasant task. 

The popularity of audiobooks has risen sharply in the last couple of years. According to this link on goodereader.com, 43,000 new audiobooks were released this year, up from 20,000 just three years ago. That is a lot of audiobooks and a lot of audiobook listeners. The industry has been spurred on by Audible and I love that books are becoming so much more accessible.

I do have one rule that I try to follow. I only listen to audio versions of books that I have already read. That may seem silly to some, but my player makes it difficult to skip back a "page" if I get distracted and miss something or if I'm just confused about a plot point. With books I've already read, I understand where the storyline is going and who the characters are and I can usually keep up pretty well. In addition to that, audiobooks give me the opportunity to revisit a story I have loved in the past, but my not have the time to devote to a full re-read.

My favorite thing about audiobooks is the way listening to a book being read can really bring a story to life. A book well read can evoke the most vibrant images. Often, when a book also has a movie version, I forget if an image I have in my head is from the movie or from listening to the audiobook. Of course, not all audiobook narrators are created equal. Jim Dale (reader of the Harry Potter series and The Night Circus) is a master. When people say, "I could listen to him read the phone book," they are not exaggerating. He is fabulous. On the other hand, I have listened to a few audiobooks that I had to just turn off because the narrator was so bad. This seems to happen most often when I am listening to a YA book; perhaps they think the reader needs to sound like a twelve-year-old girl for the sake of the expected audience, but if done badly it can be too big an obstacle for me.

My intention here is to direct you to the good ones. These posts will likely be shorter than my regular book reviews, but my main purpose will be to review the listening experience.

I love audiobooks and I hope we can help each other discover our next favorite.