Ann's spookily short Oct Books list

[Ann]

I didn't manage to finish but four books in October, so look forward to finishing more books in November. I seem to be starting and putting down book after book lately. My mix included Autobiography, Biography, Mystery and a dystopian zombie novel!

The Girl with All the Gifts
The Marco Effect
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

Carey, M. R. The Girl with all the Gifts finished 10/6/2014 Audio Rank 9.5 of 10 A compelling story, the mystery of the situation reveals itself bit by bit as we get to know Melanie and as we watch her curiosity and drive to expand her knowledge. A mash-up of The Host and The Walking Dead, beautifully paced and very thought provoking. The narration by Finty Williams is stellar, and the tension mounts as each of the characters are deftly fleshed out and each, in their own way, comes to grips with the enormity of it all. 

Adler-Olsen, Jussi The Marco Effect finished 10/13/2014 Audio rank 9.25 of 10 This was a stellar entry in the series; The Dept Q characters, Carl Morck, Assad and Rose are really starting to gel as a team, and Marco's story was quite compelling. Change is not Carl's favorite thing, but there was plenty of it, making for a fast paced tale and a promise of even more change to come.

Yousafzai, Malala I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban finished 10/20/2014 Audio rank 8.75 of 10 Malala's perspective on the history and beauty of her country, and on her life as a school girl in Pakistan is fascinating. We see the influence of her parents, unusual in their support for educating a girl. The timeline includes details of the extreme hardships educators and students faced, and of events including the destruction of hundreds if schools and leading up to Malala's being shot by a member of the Taliban. I learned a lot from this book.

Rappaport, Helen The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra finished 10/26/2014 Audio rank 8.75 of 10 What a tragedy, which the author points out time and again how it might have been avoided. And then again, perhaps not. The cruelty and reach of Lenin's post revolution Russia was perhaps unavoidable. I gained insight of the situation from a different perspective, and many details of the daily lives of Alexandra and her children. The narration by Xe Sands was stellar and kept me listening when the details sometimes became a bit tedious

[Melodie]

The Girl With All the Gifts sounds different, but I was never able to get through The Host. I need to read the Dept Q book I won here on GR. I haven't read any of that series, so should be interesting!

[Ann]

Melodie: you know I read series books out of order quite happily so I imagine you'll like your Dept Q book. The one thing with the later novels, I am not sure you'll embrace Carl and his quirky attitude about his workplace as easily as if introduced to Dept Q from the start, but it is well worth your time!
I also think you would like The Girl With All The Gifts. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

[Sandi]

Good mix of books, Ann.

I've been contemplating using an audible credit on The Girl with All the Gifts and will probably go ahead and get it since you thought the narration was so well done.

The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra looks good too and my library has a copy of the audio version. I agree with you that listening helps smooth over tedious details with nonfiction.

[Dan in AZ]

Read the ones that grab your interest.

[Ann]

Yes, exactly, Dan! With audio books it takes me at least 30 minutes of listening usually to decide if I will punt the book to the curb or to a later listen. I hate tying up listening time on something I am not engaged in, but it happens.
This time it was likely because I really wanted to be listening to Blue Lily, Lily Blue which was released on the 28th, but the audio was not until today. I was set on a Will Patton narration of a favorites trilogy, plus my non-fiction stint set me in different directions. Sometimes having too many audio books to choose from can be a confusing time. I should not complain about that wealth of choices.

Daniel wrote: "Read the ones that grab your interest."

[Ann]

I think you will like it, Sandi, I would consider it "credit-worthy". Usually I try to save those for books my DD will like to listen to as well as she shares my audible account. It drives me a bit batty trying to decide library over audible and whispersync over stand alone.
Sandi wrote: "Good mix of books, Ann. I've been contemplating using an audible credit on The Girl with All the Gifts and will probably go ahead and get it since you thought the narration was so ..."

[Donnajo]

looks like a good list of books. I have on the nook I am Malala. I hope at some point I'll be able to get to it.

[Carol/Bonadie]

I am looking forward to a visit with Carl, Assad and Rose very soon.

I am getting a backlog of library CDs, since I keep requesting them whether I can get to them or not, and whether in the meantime I've gotten Audible books that will delay me even further. Luckily I can upload them iTunes and delete them when I eventually get around to them.

Ann wrote: "I didn't manage to finish but four books in October, so look forward to finishing more books in November. I seem to be starting and putting down book after book lately. My mix included Autobiograph..."