Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Showin' My Books - April '16

OK peeps, it's that time again!


Life According to Steph


Interestingly (to me) most of my selections are audio books this time around.

She Can Run by Melinda Leigh - I chose this as my "freebie book" for Erin's challenge. In this case, freebie had multiple meanings. The challenge category was "any book at least 200 pages." I got the Kindle version for free through Kindle Unlimited and little did I know that included an audio version as well! I had a day in February in which I was in the car for 8 hours and sat in a waiting room for 2 hours so I knocked this book out in one day since I was able to listen and read. ANYWAY, the book was predictable in many ways but still entertaining for me. This is the first of a series, but it looks like with each succeeding book the main character was a peripheral from the book before. I like that idea.


Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari - This was for my IRL book club. It's not a memoir, but an actual study of what it's like to date in the age of technology. As someone who's been in a monogamous relationship for going-on-29 years, I couldn't relate to a lot of this but it was fun listening to Aziz read it himself (even though he constantly teased the audio book listeners for being too "lazy" to actually read the book).


Driving with the Top Down by Beth Harbison - This was my one non-audio book. It's about a woman, her niece, and her college best friend who are all going through difficult times but end up on a road trip together and discover that it's OK to rely on others for support (and that people will actually be there for you). Also, I love the cover. (This was my "starts with the letter D" choice for Erin's challenge.)

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Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner - Rachel and Andy meet as kids and even though they live hundreds of miles apart, their paths continue to cross over the years. There were times when I wanted to throttle these two, but I also understood them in different ways. I wish there had been an epilogue. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt, but overall I enjoyed this one.


Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon - I'm pretty impressed that this is a debut novel. I was pretty sure I knew whodunit but I was still intrigued by the story. Teenage Amy disappeared 15 years ago and was found a few days later beaten and unconscious and has never woken up.  Alex is a journalist with a lot of baggage who becomes obsessed with Amy's story and is determined to find justice for her. I loved this as an audio book; the narrator was very good and although the story is told from different points of view, only Amy's side was read by a different person. For some reason I felt that was important.


What's on your bookshelf?


14 comments:

  1. There are times when I lean quite heavily on audiobooks too, I love that Ansari makes fun of the listeners - I still haven't read that book but love his humour.

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  2. Driving With The Top Down was a fun read, I liked the addition of a young person to the story it made it just unique enough to enjoy.

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  3. That last one sounds like something I'd like.

    I adored Aziz's book. Jennifer's, too. I don't do audiobooks but I'd imagine that some of these would make for good listening (Aziz, for example).

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  4. hmmm the 'she can run' sounds interesting. the 'driving with the top down', i have seen that one somewhere before, i think it is on my list. i know 'who do you love' is on my list. i love epilogues so that's a bummer that there wasn't one.

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  5. I added She Can Run to my list. I love a good thriller. I loved Modern Romance! Lots of fascinating info in there.

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  6. I liked Modern Romance, I've been with my (now) husband since high school, so over a decade. I couldn't relate to everything in the book, but as a psyc major my nerdy little self loved the studies and statistics behind the anecdotes.

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  7. I have never really gotten into audio books, mostly because I think it would be dangerous for me. I'd get so caught up in the book that I'd never make it to my destination! LOL! Try Not To Breathe is on my TBR and I'm glad to see another strong recommendation for it.

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  8. Oh, I listened to Modern Romance this month too! And he really did make fun of the audio book listeners, but it was still worth it to listen to his goofy accents.

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  9. Driving With the Top Down sounds like a fun light read! I read Try Not to Breathe this month too, but it sounds like it would have been better to read it as an audio book!

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  10. I think it is Jana (one of our hostesses with the mostestesses) that reads Jennifer Weiner. I keep thinking I'm going to give her a try for something out of my norm, then I never pick up her books. Thanks for the challenge shout outs!

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  11. I'm adding Who Do You Love and Try Not To Breathe to my list. I loved Aziz's book! I listened to it too. Although I didn't relate (online dating wasn't even a thing when I was single), I really liked hearing about dating in different cultures.

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  12. I've been really loving audiobooks this year, especially non-fiction! I've been meaning to read Aziz's book, maybe I'll finally get around to it this month?!

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  13. I really liked Modern Romance, and I chuckled every time Aziz scolded me for listening to him read instead of reading it myself ;)

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