Book Review: Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

Two years ago everyone was talking about Where'd You Go Bernadette. I put it on my to-read list and my Amazon wish list, and then I promptly forgot about it. That was a big mistake, but one with a redeeming quality -- it meant I got to enjoy it this summer.

Author Maria Semple began her writing career with a different sort of writing -- television screenwriting. She wrote for shows like Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, and Arrested Development, among others, so it is no surprise I liked her writing style.

I listened to the audiobook version of Where'd You Go Bernadette, so I can't speak to how the layout of the novel works in print. Written in emails, reports, articles, and the like (even a report card), it would be easy for it to fall apart and become a loosely jumbled together mess lacking any cohesion. Instead, in Semple's hands, it flows seamlessly, relating the story of Bernadette Fox's disappearance and her daughter Bee's search for the truth.

Bee lives with her Bill Gates-like tech genius father Elgin Branch and her brilliant architect mother Bernadette Fox. The family has a 10,000 square foot house in Seattle. Her father makes huge money at Microsoft, Bee attends a private school, and -- at least on the surface -- all seems to be golden.

But the truth is a bit darker and less than golden. Elgin spends almost all of his time at work, the house is an old girls' school in a state of chronic disrepair, and Bernadette hasn't worked (or even frequently left the house) in years. Bee, a model student and extraordinarily likable girl, is the family's shining star; she lights up their world.

As she prepares to graduate from middle school, she cashes in on her parents' long-ago promise to give her anything she wants as a graduation present. Antarctica. Specifically, a cruise to Antarctica. Her parents acquiesce, although her mother secretly tries to find ways out of leaving the house and living in such close proximity to other people during their trip. One of her coping mechanisms is to farm out the responsibilities of planning the trip to a virtual assistant in Indian whom she hires over the internet.

As Elgin hires a new admin during a whirlwind project at work and Bernadette spins crazily out of control, only Bee remains oblivious to the disastrous path her family seems bound to spiral down. Things reach a boiling point when Elgin decides he must intervene and Bernadette disappears. 'Where did Bernadette go?' is the question that drives the novel, although Semple reveals so much more throughout the course of the book.

At once a piercing satire and a genuinely heart-warming tale, Where'd You Go Bernadette is a must-read. You will fall in love with all of the characters, then become dangerously annoyed with them, and ultimately love them once again.

Links with love for Bernadette:

• NY Times review
• NPR review
• The Guardian review
• Entertainment Weekly review
• Seattle Times review
• USA Today review

Book Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A bit about the book: In a world filled with witches, vampires, and daemons, love seems out of reach. However, for one witch it just may come from the most unexpected place.

Diana Bishop (yes, descended from the Bishop you've heard of in connection with the Salem witch trials) is an academic, first and foremost. Although she is technically a witch, she has long denied her heritage, opting to live primarily in the real world rather than the magical one. However, on a work-related sojourn to Oxford as part of her Yale professorship, she is pulled quite unassumingly into the world of other beings. Upon requesting a manuscript from Oxford's library as part of her alchemy research, Diana unleashes a storm of magic too strong for her to ignore.

As creatures of all sorts descend on the library, drawn to the power they feel both from Diana and the manuscript, one particular vampire holds them at bay. Matthew Clairmont, a 1500-year-old vampire, is the only being powerful enough to protect Diana -- and to attempt to get his own hands on the manuscript in question. The mysteries surrounding Ashmole 782, the impenetrable manuscript, create a ripple in the supernatural community that threatens their world.

What are the secrets it holds? And what lengths will other creatures, including Matthew, go to to get what they want from Diana?


Why you want to read it: Although it seems the literary world (crossing over into movies, and television, of course) is already quite full enough of fantasy novels -- especially those featuring vampires -- Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches is the one book everyone still needs to read. For one thing, Harkness's tale is no adolescent romance. Neither does it portray vampires as sex objects to be craved.

Instead, A Discovery of Witches is the thinking man and woman's answer to a new kind of fantasy writing. Harkness, a scholar much like her main character (although, we might presume, without the witch's capabilities), blends intelligent historical fact with fiction in the novel. She not only spins an amazingly good story, but she does so with a good vocabulary and little indulgence in typical vampire fiction feeding scenes. A Discovery of Witches is a well-crafted novel and couldn't be further from the Twilight series and other teen-vampire books.

I listened to the audio version of this book, via Audible.com, and the performance by Jennifer Ikeda was phenomenal. The novel weighed in at a lengthy 24 hours (the print version is almost 600 pages long), but did not bore or disappoint. Although it took me quite a while to listen, hearing the story with Ikeda's narration was worth every second.


The bottom line: At last the world has been given an intelligent vampire novel. With the exception of perhaps Anne Rice's novels (which I haven't read), literature has recently been flooded with sub-par vampire writing, making the entire genre into a bit of a joke. Harkness's A Discovery of Witches, the first in a trilogy, turns that around. The novel makes it possible to enjoy good literature and a vampire-filled tale, all at the same time. Although ostensibly a novel about supernatural creatures and their history, Harkness expertly weaves in a love story, as well.

About the author: Deborah Harkness is a current professor of European history and the history of science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Having previously written two non-fiction titles, A Discovery of Witches is her first novel. It is also the first in the All Souls Trilogy series. You can find more information and connect with the author on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Harkness's second novel will release in stores tomorrow. Check back then for my review of Shadow of Night.

Darkness, My Old Friend Takes Readers Back to Lisa Unger's Fictional Small-Town

Lisa Unger takes readers back to the sleepy (but surprisingly crime-filled) streets of The Hollows, a small town just outside New York City, in her latest book Darkness, My Old Friend.

As in Fragile, her previous novel set in The Hollows, Unger populates her book with a whole host of characters, both old and new. Returning are psychologist Maggie Cooper and her husband Jones, psychic Eloise Montgomery, and high school principal Henry Ivy. In small towns like The Hollows, everyone knows everyone. However, in Darkness, My Old Friend, Unger introduces several new characters for readers to get to know.

Michael Holt has come home to The Hollows after decades away. After the death of his father, Michael returns to his childhood home to prepare it for sale. Back in his hometown, Michael finds himself unable to let go of his mother's disappearance more than a dozen years ago. He hires private investigator Ray Muldune and psychic Eloise to help him solve the mystery once and for all. They, in turn, enlist the help of now-retired police detective Jones Cooper to help them work the troubling cold case.

Jones is also called to assist a young housewife who learns too late what her husband is really like. As she hires him, then immediately disappears, Jones steps carefully around the husband's pointed questions. In the meantime, he works to find her -- dead or alive.

Bethany and Willow Graves make up the final new-to-The-Hollows characters. Hailing from NYC in search of a place more quiet, the Graves family has secrets of their own. Willow, a high school student, has her share of issues that led them to The Hollows. She stumbles into the Marla Holt investigation by accident, then struggles to make her mother believe her.

Although admittedly Darkness contains a somewhat complicated set of storylines, it is an enjoyable read nonetheless. Unger immerses her readers in her small-town universe. Although most small towns don't experience quite so many dramatic disappearances and crimes, the underbelly of small-town life is decidedly complex. Unger gives us a peek behind the curtains of the houses we might normally pass by, and in the process spins quite a fascinating tale.

In addition to Darkness, My Old Friend, Lisa Unger is the author of Fragile, the first book set in her fictional town of The Hollows, as well as eight other novels. Some of these were written under her maiden name of Lisa Miscione, but are being re-released over the next year. Two, Angel Fire and The Darkness Gathers, are already available. For updates from Unger, visit her website, read her blog, like her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

Lisa Unger's Fragile Explores Small Town Secrets

A few months ago, I kept seeing the name Lisa Unger splashed all over the book blogs I read. Her newest novel, Darkness, My Old Friend had been released, and her fans were raving about the book. I added both Darkness and her earlier novel Fragile, which Darkness followed, to my to-read list. When Audible ran a special a couple of months ago, I downloaded Fragile because mystery-type novels are my favorites for listening. Unexpectedly (because I had nothing to base it on, never having read her books), Unger's Fragile knocked my socks off. I listened to it in a matter of days, even though it ran about twelve hours -- which would normally take me at least a week or two of listening.

Fragile takes place in The Hollows, a New York City suburb. Because of its distance from the big city, The Hollows functions as more of a small town than as a typical suburb. Children are born and raised; some leave, but more stay. It's the kind of place where everyone knows everyone; it's impossible to go to the store or take a walk without saying hello to a neighbor. Psychologist Maggie Cooper escaped for a while, but after attending college in NYC, she fell for a boy from her high school. She and Jones Cooper have created a nice life for themselves in their hometown: he, a police detective; she, with a successful in-home counseling practice; and their teenage son Rick, getting ready to apply for and leave for college.

But every small town has its secrets, and The Hollows is no different. Lisa Unger carefully reveals just enough, one thing at a time, to keep readers in suspense and to spin a fabulous tale of deceit and -- yes, murder. Twenty years ago, a girl named Sarah disappeared one afternoon. A man went to prison for her murder, but Maggie's mother -- and others -- always had their suspicions about his innocence. When another girl disappears in present-day The Hollows, that old mystery begins to surface in the minds of the town's citizens.

Unger's strong suit is her ability to include a multitude of characters without confusing the plot. Instead, the inclusion of so many major and minor characters adds to the small-town atmosphere the novel creates. The reader feels as though he or she is present in The Hollows, and knows every citizen intimately. From Maggie's elderly mother, to a local pest-control guy, to damaged police officers, high school students, and even a self-proclaimed psychic, Unger peoples Fragile and The Hollows with a cast of characters readers will love.

The good news is that Unger, while new to me, has written half a dozen other books that I can now go back and read -- as can you! For more info on Unger and her books, visit the author's website or her blog Notes from the Margin. Recently she shared that Fragile has been optioned by TNT to be a movie in their Mystery Movie Night series. TNT is bringing many favorite mystery novels to life on the small screen with MMN, including Scott Turow's Innocent, Lisa Gardner's Hide, and now, Fragile.

The Leftovers Novel Leaves Something Lacking, But HBO Series in Progress

I have to go outside the norm for this review, and say that I was somewhat disappointed with Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers. Perrotta's novels have invariably entertained me; when I finally read Little Children a few years ago, I immediately went back and read the rest of his novels. I enjoyed them all. I thought his characters were cunning and clever, his plots outrageous and realistic all at once. When I found out he was coming to the Southern Festival of Books in October, I promptly wrote up an ode to Perrotta during my countdown posts.

I also need to be honest and say that the premise for The Leftovers did not appeal to me from the get-go. I haven't read Christian-based accounts of the supposed apocalypse, such as Left Behind; I don't watch or read science fiction-based versions of a post-apocalyptic world (i.e., Cormac McCarthy's The Road, in either book or movie versions). Part of this distancing myself from human tellings of a second coming is a certain revulsion with people speaking about and telling tales they can't possibly know the truth about. Similar to Harold Camping and his wild predictions of the world ending, I detest people who act as though they know the truth about any such occurrences. We humans don't know; we may have beliefs, but we decidedly do not have knowledge.

Before you jump all over my thought process on this one, let me assure you: I realize Perrotta was trying to do no such thing. I fully realize, as well, that his newest novel is a parody of sorts, making comedy out of and poking fun at such predictions. Still, the novel's premise kept me from pre-ordering the novel, despite my great appreciation of Perrotta's body of work. But then there was a contest for the audio version of The Leftovers over on the book blog nomadreader, which I entered and won.

And so, I came into possession of an audio version of Perrotta's latest novel. I was thrilled by my win, because -- despite any misgivings about its plot -- I was still excited about reading The Leftovers, simply because I admire and enjoy Perrotta's writing. I will wholeheartedly admit that perhaps an audio version was not the best way to experience this novel. There were doubtless intricacies which I missed by hearing the book rather than reading it on the page.

In the end, the characters were my favorite part of the novel. I found myself wanting to return to certain characters when Perrotta's story took me away from them for too long. That being said, I enjoyed the varying perspectives given, and the way Perrotta changed points of view frequently. Hearing about October 14 (the date of the supposed rapture in the novel) from many characters' perspectives was quite interesting. Perrotta shares thoughts from many different kinds of people, and from people whose reactions to October 14 vary considerably:

• Grown-ups whose lives have been turned upside down, like housewife Nora, who loses her entire family to the rapture
• Teenagers whose lives have been affected, either by loss of family members to the rapture, or to loss of family members to various cults that pop up afterwards
• People who join said cults, including:
• teenagers who join the Barefoot movement (think modern-day hippies)
• followers of Holy Wayne (who leads a Healing Hug movement and impregnates one of his wives with a child who is supposed to solve everything)
• and the creepiest of all -- the Guilty Remnant, or G.R. (a group of "watchers" for those left behind, who wear only white and smoke cigarettes "to proclaim their faith")
• Religious folks who weren't "taken" and can't understand why

Perrotta does an excellent job of delving into the psyche of various kinds of human beings. It isn't hard to believe that if something like the rapture were to occur, people would react in much the same way: some with sadness, some with mental illness, and some with radicalism. 

But to truly give yourself over to The Leftovers, I think as a reader you must entirely suspend your disbelief. In short, you must buy into the idea of October 14. And while Perrotta's observations about the human spirit and subsequent reactions was spot-on, I simply couldn't fully immerse myself in the idea of the rapture as Perrotta told the story. In this case, I have to plead an"it's not you, it's me" argument, because I truly believe Perrotta did an excellent job with this novel. It just wasn't the novel for me. Others have praised the novel. For their thoughts, click on any of the following links:

• Stephen King's review for the NY Times
• Kimberly's review on the Fancy Terrible book blog
• nomadreader's review of the novel
• The Book Lady's Blog review
• Ron Charles' review for the Washington Post

Tom Perrotta is the author of five other novels, including Little Children and Election, which were both made into feature films. He is currently working on an adaptation of The Leftovers for HBO. To find out more, visit his very well-done (and, of course, well-written) website.

Summer Rental Shows Mary Kay Andrews at Her Best

Three now thirty-something childhood friends rent an Outer Banks beach house for a month. The premise could be cliche, the same tired old told-a-million-times story of friends pulled apart, then pushed back together by life gone wrong.

But Ellis, Julia, and Dorie -- the three female friends in Mary Kay Andrews' new novel Summer Rental -- manage to defy the odds. The trio actually reminds me of my own circle of friends, and coincidentally, we are planning a September trip to the beach... for our thirtieth birthdays. That's right -- the big 3-0. We all have birthdays within two months of one another, and we thought it necessary to celebrate this year in a larger-than-normal way.

But back to Summer Rental. Andrews is in rare form in this novel, as she combines the best of both her previous kinds of novels -- the mysteries (under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck) and the chick lit (under the pen name Mary Kay Andrews). Ellis, Julia, and Dorie all have mid-life troubles of one sort or another. One is getting divorced, another recently laid off, and yet another facing important life decisions.

The trip to Nags Head, North Carolina, comes at a pivotal time in all their lives -- and a time when all three desperately need a break. But Andrews turns away from a high school reunion-like theme; these women  have been friends through good times and bad together -- they never lost touch, even though life has taken them different places. So rather than rehashing the last few years, this trip gives them time to reconnect with and rebuild one another.

Oh, and they get involved in a side-plot of an entirely different kind (this would be where the mystery comes in). Enter a fourth woman, the mysterious Maryn. She has fled from something bad -- really bad -- back in New Jersey. Maryn is on the run with no where to turn and no where to hide. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie provide the perfect cover -- at least until her past starts to catch up with her.

Andrews also includes several love angles in the novel. It's crucial that you allow them to develop on their own, so I won't spoil them for you here. Suffice it to to say this novel was satisfying in every way. I listened to the audio version via Audible for iPod, and voice actor Isabel Keating does an excellent job of bringing each individual character to life.

I highly recommend that you read (or listen to) Summer Rental as an end-of-summer treat. Then go back and read her Callahan Garrity mystery series, as well as the southern belle books she's written as Mary Kay Andrews. My favorites are her books set in Savannah and neighboring Tybee Island, a short series starring best friends BeBe Loudermilk and Eloise "Weezie" Foley. (Really, aren't their names enough to make you want to read these books?)  

Mary Kay Andrews' Breeze Inn Cottage on Tybee Island

Savannah Blues was followed by Savannah Breeze, and then the holiday novella Blue Christmas. Andrews knows much about that area, as she owns a beach home on Tybee that is available for rent! She also sells antiques and other "junking" treasures at a booth at Seaside Sisters on Tybee Island. You can learn more about the author on her website and on her blog.

Live to Tell Provides Creepy, Satisfying Audio Book Experience

When I search for audio books to listen to, I am really attempting to find books that will give me as good an experience as I've had with Lisa Gardner's D.D. Warren series.

For multiple reasons, Gardner's books work extremely well in audio format. First, they are full of suspense, which lend themselves well to being read aloud and keeping my attention. Second, her publisher does an excellent job of choosing voice actors -- yes, plural. As in, multiple voices reading various sections. Third (but somewhat tied to second), Gardner's novels are written from several different points of view: the police, the victim, the suspect, among others. These varying narrators (all read by different actors) draw the reader in by revealing a full, rounded narrative.

Live to Tell, the fourth book in the D.D. Warren series, is no exception to that rule. It was an exceptional read (or listen, if you will). Gardner's books seem to only get better as she matures as a writer. As she has also written another series as well as several standalone novels (this is her twelfth book overall), Gardner has plenty of experience under her belt at this point. Kirsten Potter once again narrates as voice actor, along with a whole cast of supporting narrators.

Several reviewers both on Amazon and on Goodreads denounced Live to Tell for its difficult-to-stomach content. Gardner does include things that are unsettling to read or listen to, but that's par for the course when you're reading one of her novels. I would venture a guess that those reviewers had never read her previous works. If they had, they would have expected a certain level of unease that comes with reading her books. Gardner writes mystery/thrillers, and that genre brings with it murder, psychological terror, and even fear.

Live to Tell tells three different stories that merge into one throughout the course of the novel. First, Gardner introduces Danielle Burton, a nurse working in a children's psychiatric ward. Danielle lived through her own family dysfunction at a young age and now helps children with similar family issues. As the anniversary of her family's deaths nears, she becomes significantly less stable. Simultaneously, Gardner tells the story of mother Victoria Oliver. Victoria lives with her own family demons, ones that despite her best efforts may beat her in the end. When two families are annihilated, Boston detective D.D. Warren is on the case. Warren's character ties this novel to the others in the series, and Gardner gives her readers plenty of updates on her star detective.

However, my favorite part of this series is how different each novel has been. Rather than following a formula in which D.D. Warren solves a case, Gardner makes this series so much more than that. Warren does work the case(s) in each novel, but Gardner delves into side stories as much as she focuses on Warren. As a result, each novel acts almost as a standalone with Warren running through them as a cohesive thread.

Live to Tell is yet another excellent audio book from Lisa Gardner. If you like mysteries and want to try the audio format, I highly recommend Gardner's books. In fact, you will then be spoiled and want to find others that match your experience with her novels! In some ways I wish that I had saved this listen for my upcoming trip to Africa (I leave Tuesday!), but I do have one thing to tide me over: Gardner's newest D.D. Warren series novel, Love You More, already purchased on Audible and loaded onto my iPod for my journey. (I'm also really enjoying Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches via Audible on my iPod.)

If you are a Gardner fan and an iPod or iPad user, Gardner has her own App. Check it out or visit her website for more information about Gardner or her books.

A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz Refuses to Lay Low

I finished A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz a couple of weeks ago, and two things kept me from telling you about it sooner: 1) I had other reviews previously scheduled to post, and 2) I don't know that I can adequately describe the book and do it the justice it deserves. So I am doing a Bookmarks kind of review and posting quotes from other reviewers' thoughts on this (amazing, breath-taking, quirky, unique) novel.



First, a brief summary from the author's website:

---Is it okay to hate a dead kid
---Even if I loved him once?
---Even if he was my best friend?
---Is it okay to hate him for being dead?

Eighteen-year-old Vera's spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she's kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, or even the police. But will she emerge and clear his name? Does she even want to?

Please Ignore Vera Dietz is the story of Vera and Charlie's friendship, and  Charlie's death. But it also covers so much more than that. It is a coming-of-age novel of sorts. King shows readers both Vera's present-day, 18-year-old self, but also a Vera from many different ages starting with 12 and falling everywhere in between then and now.

From author Sara J. Henry's blog Sara in Vermont, "Please Ignore Vera Dietz -- But I Can't":

"[Please Ignore Vera Dietz] is being marketed as YA, but ignore that. This is a book for anyone who was ever 17 or 18 and didn't really fit in anywhere. It's a book for anyone who has loved with all their being and watched the person become someone they can't be with, and has endured the pain of being shut out. It's a book for anyone who's had a parent who had no idea what they were about or who abandoned them or who was never quite there in the first place.

And it's a book for anyone who wants to believe we can pretty much survive whatever life passes to us and that we can all find our place in the world."

From Rebecca Joines Schinsky's blog The Book Lady's Blog, "Vera Dietz: Not to be Ignored":

"The business of evading her destiny is a full-time job—in addition to her real full-time gig delivering pizza, in addition to going to school—and to top it off, Vera is also contending with the thousand Charlies she has begun seeing when she least wants to be thinking about her dead friend.

Vera narrates the story in first-person present, switching to past tense for “history” chapters that illuminate her past and how exactly things got to where they are now. . . . She’s snarky and a little bit sassy, and I totally loved her for it.

Vera’s narrative is broken up by short interjections from her father. . , Charlie (whose sections are titled “A Brief Word from the Dead Kid”), and even the gaudy pagoda that serves as the local make-out spot-slash-secret drinking place. These intrusions . . . give the narrative added depth and interest."

From Jenn's Bookshelves:

"It is brutally honest, a book that must be read. Teens should read it so they can see the feelings they have of loneliness & despair aren’t unique unto them.  Adults should read it because, despite her age, we could all learn a little from Vera Deitz."

From Beth Fish Reads:

"Once you start reading this sassy, funny, touching novel, you won't be able to stop."

Please Ignore Vera Dietz is the little-novel-that-could. Despite initially not being picked up by national bookselling chains (although a quick search shows that to be changed now), King's novel has gone on to garner much acclaim. It was picked for IndieBound's Next List, nominated for an Edgar award, and was named an ALA Printz Honor book, in addition to landing on several other great book lists.

King offers an excerpt from the novel's first chapter on her website. I highly recommend you read it, so that you can see for yourself what an exceptional book Please Ignore Vera Dietz is. Also, King writes the very-funny blog Here's Me Using Blog in a Sentence (which is a reference to Vera's vocab class assignments). I listened to the novel via Audible for iPod, which was an exceptional way to be exposed to this book.

Kathryn Stockett's The Help on Audiobook Has Southern Drawls That Will Draw You In

I have possibly never been so excited to see a film adaptation of a book I loved. When the movie version of Kathryn Stockett's The Help debuts in theaters this summer, I will definitely be there. Why, you might ask? It's simple, really: I believe this book was made to be performed. I started hearing buzz about Stockett's first novel way back in 2009, when it was published. Rebecca from The Book Lady's Blog reviewed it in February 2009, just around its release date. S. Krishna's Books followed in January 2010. Write Meg! also posted her review in March 2010. Basically, The Help has been hitting the book blog circuit from its release date until now, with very little down time.

More than a year ago, the novel suddenly appeared on my local library shelves. It had (I'm sure) been passed from hand to hand, never seeing the New Book section, but instead living on the Hold Shelf until then. I snapped it up, tried to start it, and promptly gave it up. Looking back, I have no idea why; possibly I was busy, maybe it was when I was in a mystery-only mood. Whatever the reason, I returned it never having read more than a page or two.

Fast forward to 2011. The book is now being made into a motion picture, and for some reason this tends to  push me toward reading a book I've been reluctant about. It's as if I think someone will force me into watching the movie before I read the book (*gasp*). Therefore, I need to read it as soon as I can. Well, that decision coincided perfectly with my mom telling me that she had several Audible.com credits to use. If we used them before a certain date, we got $10 towards another book. Of course, we couldn't pass that up, so I decided to bite the bullet and get The Help on audio.

This one was of the single best reading decisions I've made all year -- possibly ever. The book that I just didn't get into when I read its first few pages became a book I was absolutely obsessed with reading (er... listening to). Seriously. It was more than 18 hours long, but after finishing it this weekend, I wish it had been stretched to 25 or 30. It was that good.

In case you have never heard of The Help, let me give you a (short) synopsis: The year is 1962. Segregation is still alive and well, especially in the south. In Jackson, Mississippi, the division between white people and black people is not just tradition; it's the law. Jim Crow laws effectively divide the races and prevent desegregation. But, as the song says, "the times, they are a-changing" and changes begin happening in Jackson in the early 1960s. Kathryn Stockett plants her story right smack in the middle of all of these changes, providing a historically accurate backdrop for her characters' development. Stockett uses three points of view throughout the novel, each character telling his or her portion of the story.

• Aibileen: A sixty-something African-American housekeeper for the Leefolt family, Aibileen has seen her fair share of heartache. As she cares for the Leefolt's daughter Mae Mobley, she discovers important lessons about love and the lessons we pass on to other humans.
• Skeeter: A white, privileged Junior Auxiliary member, Skeeter begins to think there might be more to  life than marrying well and planning galas. She embarks upon an adventure to further her ambitions as a writer, and ends up seeing life in a whole new light.
• Minny: Unable to not speak her own mind, Minny is an African-American housekeeper who has bounced around from job to job as a result of her inability to edit herself. She gets fired by the JA president Hilly, then hired by  Hilly's ex-boyfriend's new wife. She is frank about both her new job and her abusive husband when she tells the story.

The voice actors, as always in a audiobook, make the book. Four excellent actors perform The Help: Jenna Lamia (who also read The Secret Life of Bees and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt), Bahni Turpin (who also read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Precious), Octavia Spencer (an actress who has done both Dinner for Schmucks and TV series Ugly Betty, who will also play Minny in The Help film), and Cassandra Campbell (who has read books by Chelsea Handler and Jodi Picoult) read their parts with skill, and in essence become the novel. Their voices are rich southern drawls without becoming overly put-upon. Audiobook perfection! The Audible version also includes an essay read by Stockett herself, about her own personal story that led to her writing the novel.

An interview with Stockett by Katie Couric:


Kathryn Stockett has written the epitome of good southern literature with her debut novel The Help. I am sorry it took me so long to read (listen to) it, but I suppose late is better than never. Now, don't do what I did; if this is the first you are hearing about this book, do yourself a favor and go get a copy! Print, audio (which is obviously what I would recommend), whatever. You will not be sorry. And then you can go watch the movie in August guilt-free!

'Body Double' Is the Perfect Audio Book -- & a New Hit Show on TNT

I am not what experts call an auditory learner. Say something to me, and I will for sure forget it within 15 minutes. This is especially evident when being introduced to new people. I've lived next door to a couple for almost a year whose names I could not tell you under threat of duress. Seriously, waterboarding would not work, because the honest truth is, I forgot their names in the same instant I was told them. (Nice people, but that's beside the point I suppose. Just didn't want to give the impression it's in any way them. Trust me, it's all me!)

So the way this translates with audio books is, the book has to be fairly light. Nothing literarily-heavy. (And is that even a word? Literarily? Probably not...) Bottom line? I'm not going to follow Moby-Dick or the more modern Wolf Hall on an audio version. I'm not going to remember characters or follow an intricate plot. Therefore, my audio books have to be -- for the most part -- fluffy, action-driven mysteries or something similar.

My latest audio book to listen to while driving, running, cleaning house, & laying out in the sun was Tess Gerritsen's Body Double. It fit the bill in several ways. It offered characters that were interesting, a plot with lots of twists and turns (but none that were difficult to follow), and was light enough (literarily -- ha!) to allow me to understand it while listening rather than reading.

Body Double is the fourth in a series about Boston Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli and Medical Examiner Maura Isles. I didn't -- obviously -- realize this was a series novel when I started it, but it turned out to be fine as a standalone novel (and also to cause me to think I will probably return to the series and read other novels from it). Maura has just returned from vacation, when a murder victim turns up outside her home. A murder victim who looks suspiciously like Maura herself. Adopted as an infant, Maura soon discovers that she had a twin who was adopted, as well. As she helps Rizzoli investigate the death of her sister, she learns truths about her background and her parents that cut her to the bone and threaten her core beliefs.

As the pair works to solve Maura's long-lost sister's murder, pregnant women are disappearing all over the nation. The nine-months-pregnant Mattie Purvis is kidnapped and kept in an underground wooden box, allowed only small rations of water, batteries, and food. Who is the kidnapper, and how does he or she connect to the ongoing murder investigation?

Tess Gerritsen, medical doctor and author, writes the Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles mystery series. Rizzoli and Isles is an upcoming television show about the mystery-solving pair, which will debut July 12 on TNT. She also writes a blog discussing her novels and other events connected to her writing career.

A sneak peek at the TNT series starring Angie Harmon & Sasha Alexander as Rizzoli & Isles:

'The Neighbor' on Audiobook Made Even Laundry Fun... Well, Almost

I have developed a whole new appreciation for audiobooks in the last week. I checked out both Patricia Cornwell's At Risk and Lisa Gardner's The Neighbor. I was prompted to do so by a post I read about joining tracks together to make it easier to transfer audiobook CDs to my iPod. To be honest, I had never thought of doing such a thing -- I assumed the audiobooks at the library were somehow protected from being copied. According to reputable sources, however, burning an audiobook to your iTunes & iPod for the purposes of listening to it, then deleting it, is legal under fair use laws. So, I tried it, and it worked.

For Christmas, I got a new car stereo which plays from an iPod cord, an SD card, and a USB device, but not CDs. Library audiobooks obviously seemed to be something I couldn't take advantage of. That is, until I learned about transferring an audiobook to iTunes and to my iPod. Now, I can't imagine NOT having an audiobook on my iPod. I listened in the car, while going to sleep, and while cleaning my house. Laundry to fold? No problem! I've got a book to listen to! Long drive for work? Can't wait! I've got a book to listen to! In short, this has opened up a whole new world for me, and I'll never be the same.

That being said, I still stand by my earlier statement that an audiobook is made or lost in its reader. A boring voice cannot bring even the best book to life, but interesting, well-done voices can do wonders for a so-so book.

Cornwell (who I LOVE)'s At Risk was discarded halfway through the third disc, but Lisa Gardner's The Neighbor proved to be possibly the best audiobook I've ever listened to. Four different actors read from the novel, which worked well with the novel's different narrators and sections. Most of the novel is in third-person, with various characters being focused on in different sections, but there are also flashback sections told in first-person through the voice of Sandra Jones, one of the main characters. It was an extraordinary decision, to have different people read these parts, and it made the audiobook a rich interpretation of the book.

In the novel, 23-year-old Sandra Jones disappears, leaving behind her four-year-old daughter and husband. As detectives race to find the young mother before the critical first 48 hours is up, they uncover not one but several persons of interest in the case. As one detective observes, it seems as though they are in an episode of Law & Order, with too many suspects and not enough evidence. Everywhere they turn, there are secrets and cover-ups. Was it Sandra's own husband Jason, who has little by way of a paper trail before his marriage? Or Sandra's father, the southern judge from Georgia whose deceased wife Sandra has accused of abuse? Or perhaps the registered sex offender who lives just houses away from the Jones family? Gardner does an excellent job of releasing just enough information that you are interested, without giving anything away until the very end. Suffice it to say I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire novel (which, due to the length of the audiobook, was days!).

At eleven discs of over an hour each, the audiobook took almost a week for me to complete. But every second was worth it, as I can't imagine a richer experience had I read the book myself in a shorter time period. The Neighbor will have you jumping at bumps in the night and wondering at its close just who the bad guys were exactly.

(*As a note, after looking at Gardner's website in preparation for this post, I realized that this novel is part of a series... That's right. A series. Which I began at the end. Again. With the same author! Last fall, I listened to one of Gardner's books on CD, which turned out to be part of a series. This novel is the third in a series about Detective D.D. Warren. I'm pretty irritated about starting halfway in; on the upside, at least there are more books to add to my to-read list that I'm almost guaranteed to enjoy!)