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Book List 2014
Wow, it's already mid-February and I've only finished one book. It's gonna be that kind of year.
Read on, MacDuff
"The Martian" by Andy Weir. Robinson Crusoe...in spaaaaaace! Fun read -- or listen, for me. Put all that commute time to use and listened to it on audiobook. It's very heavy on technical jargon and detailed explanations of how to protect your food supply on Mars, but there was still a compelling story in there, and by the last few chapters I was really biting my nails with all the near-misses. My audiobook was narrated by R. C. Bray, who had a deep, rough Marlboro Man-style voice. He didn't overplay the splashes of humor, and he was great with accents.
"Artists In Crime" by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch. I just listened to it because of BC, but it was fun. 1938 mystery. I'm not generally into mysteries but I love the 1930's era and BC's voices were great.
"Death in White Tie" by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch. See above.
"Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways To Die in the West" by Seth MacFarlane. Audio book read with verve by Jonathan Frakes. Well of course I am going to see the movie, but when I saw the audiobook was read by Jonathan Frakes I had to hear it. The story was pretty good - of course it's Seth and there's a lot of gross-out and sexual gags, but the love story was actually fairly interesting, and I laughed out loud a few times. Jonathan Frakes is a good narrator - he does well with accents, maybe a little less well with the female voices, but for a guy with as deep a voice as he has, it's kind of hard to do female voices..
"Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan LA Fanu. Very early vampire story from 1872. Quite compelling: tight plot, vivid descriptions. Much more entertaining than Dracula.
"Rework" by Jason Fried. Managing a starter business. Short and pithy.
"Creativity, Inc" by Ed Catmull. Pixar founder tells all. Management at work is taking this as their model for making changes so I thought it would be wise to anticipate what's coming by reading it.
"Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century" by Graham Robb. Interesting chapter on Sherlock Holmes.
"Fer-de-Lance" by Rex Stout. Noir crime novel with a Sydney Green streets style private dick, narrated by his tough right hand man. Really fun and entertaining. Listened to it on terrible quality audio book, still didn't lessen my enjoyment.
"The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell. First-contact by Jesuit priests goes horribly wrong. Quite interesting story with strong characters & a religious theme. By the end it felt more like a treatise on the nature of faith than a sci-fi novel, but good.
"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying" by Marie Kondo. How to throw stuff out and organize stuff. For a pack-rat like me, this is a revolutionary way to re-think what needs to be kept. It made it easy to throw out junk, and to not miss it. I've only been able to find the time to do some of my clothes, but looking forward to doing everything when I can. She's also a hilarious kook, admitting to being obsessed with organizing since kindergarten.
Read on, MacDuff
"The Martian" by Andy Weir. Robinson Crusoe...in spaaaaaace! Fun read -- or listen, for me. Put all that commute time to use and listened to it on audiobook. It's very heavy on technical jargon and detailed explanations of how to protect your food supply on Mars, but there was still a compelling story in there, and by the last few chapters I was really biting my nails with all the near-misses. My audiobook was narrated by R. C. Bray, who had a deep, rough Marlboro Man-style voice. He didn't overplay the splashes of humor, and he was great with accents.
"Artists In Crime" by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch. I just listened to it because of BC, but it was fun. 1938 mystery. I'm not generally into mysteries but I love the 1930's era and BC's voices were great.
"Death in White Tie" by Ngaio Marsh. Audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch. See above.
"Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways To Die in the West" by Seth MacFarlane. Audio book read with verve by Jonathan Frakes. Well of course I am going to see the movie, but when I saw the audiobook was read by Jonathan Frakes I had to hear it. The story was pretty good - of course it's Seth and there's a lot of gross-out and sexual gags, but the love story was actually fairly interesting, and I laughed out loud a few times. Jonathan Frakes is a good narrator - he does well with accents, maybe a little less well with the female voices, but for a guy with as deep a voice as he has, it's kind of hard to do female voices..
"Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan LA Fanu. Very early vampire story from 1872. Quite compelling: tight plot, vivid descriptions. Much more entertaining than Dracula.
"Rework" by Jason Fried. Managing a starter business. Short and pithy.
"Creativity, Inc" by Ed Catmull. Pixar founder tells all. Management at work is taking this as their model for making changes so I thought it would be wise to anticipate what's coming by reading it.
"Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century" by Graham Robb. Interesting chapter on Sherlock Holmes.
"Fer-de-Lance" by Rex Stout. Noir crime novel with a Sydney Green streets style private dick, narrated by his tough right hand man. Really fun and entertaining. Listened to it on terrible quality audio book, still didn't lessen my enjoyment.
"The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell. First-contact by Jesuit priests goes horribly wrong. Quite interesting story with strong characters & a religious theme. By the end it felt more like a treatise on the nature of faith than a sci-fi novel, but good.
"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying" by Marie Kondo. How to throw stuff out and organize stuff. For a pack-rat like me, this is a revolutionary way to re-think what needs to be kept. It made it easy to throw out junk, and to not miss it. I've only been able to find the time to do some of my clothes, but looking forward to doing everything when I can. She's also a hilarious kook, admitting to being obsessed with organizing since kindergarten.