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Ducklady (1174 KP) rated Salem's Lot in Books

Aug 25, 2019  
Salem's Lot
Salem's Lot
Stephen King | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
8
8.1 (50 Ratings)
Book Rating
Spine chilling horror
Contains spoilers, click to show
I finished the audiobook a short while ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Set in the town of Jerusalem's Lot, the townsfolk are plagued by mysterious deaths that gradually increase in number. A vampire named Barlow is slowly turning citizens into creatures like himself, particularly creepy when it is a child.
The chills you get when reading the scene where Danny Glick scratches the window at Mark's window, is immense.
I love how King slowly moves through the town, setting up little character's lives and deaths, until almost the whole town has succumbed without anyone even realising.
I have great respect for Mark, what an awesome kid.
  
Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1)
Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1)
Gail Carriger | 2009 | Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.4 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Excellent narration (on audible) (2 more)
Very funny
Brilliant characters
The series is only 5 books long... I wanted more! (0 more)
Steampunk vamp & werewolf fun
Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series is absolutely brilliant, and this is the first in the series, following the soulless protagonist Alexia Tarrabotti on her adventures with vampires and werewolves in Victorian Britain, with twists and turns aplenty.

I listened to this via Audible, and really enjoyed it... So I'd urge anyone to pick up these books (either physical, or audiobook), as it's extremely enjoyable.

The style of writing is excellent, and Carriger has a wicked sense of humour.

I now need to start the Finishing School series!
  
The Troop
The Troop
Nick Cutter | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8
9.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
We all have our own ways of dealing with anxiety and depression. One of mine for the former is to kick back with an audiobook and lose myself in World of Warcraft. This week, my audiobook of choice was Nick Cutter’s The Troop. I first discovered Cutter last year after receiving an arc of Little Heaven, which I enjoyed immensely. Naturally, I was not let down with this title.

It’s a fairly short listen, coming in at just over eleven hours. Narrated by Corey Brill, the book tells the story of a bunch of kids and their mentor after a strange encounter with an emaciated man. From there, things spiral downward in a rather interesting turn of events and readers watch the usual trope that comes into play when the threat of apocalypse hangs over a town – or in this case, island. The fact that the cast is mostly teenage boys? That’s of no consequence.

The Troop is what I call a “last man standing” story. I suppose that’s comparable to “final girls” when you think about it. These kids, because that’s all they are, find themselves facing a horror they cannot truly comprehend, and with the military working in favor of the greater good, are on their own. Naturally, that means we’ve got some deep psychological stuff that’s going to go on, as well as several scenes of last minute survival habits – such as harming animals. And, of course, there’s madness tinting this books periphery.

I really enjoyed this approach to a horror story born of what originally begins as a good deed (though clearly is not toward its end). The characters had their own flaws and represented the different types of kids we’re likely to find in a high school class – only, of course, without the presence of any females.

Once again, Cutter has impressed me with his ability to make me cringe, among other things. I definitely look forward to getting my hands on more of his work in the future. Also, the audiobook is worth it. Corey Brill has a gorgeous voice.
  
Burying the Honeysuckle Girls
Burying the Honeysuckle Girls
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Althea Bell returns home after (another) stint in rehab to find her father further stricken by Alzheimer's and her older brother--who is running for political office--fully entrenched in the seat of power in the family. Wynn doesn't want Althea and her sketchy past to ruin his chances at political fame and fortune. Even worse, Althea is shocked when she learns that the women in her family have a history of mental illness, which seems to come on around age 30--and Althea is just a few weeks away from her own birthday. Althea's mother passed away at that age, and Althea is determined to discover what happened to her. But doing so will dredge up family secrets that it seems Wynn wants hidden--and he'll do anything to keep Althea from shaming the family name

This won't be a very long review, because I listened to this book on audiobook (technically the audio that comes with my Kindle Unlimited subscription), and I couldn't take any notes or do any highlighting as I listened, as I was in the car. But I do want to point out that this is the *first ever* audiobook that I've ever listened to from start to finish! I'm not very good with verbal listening--even in college lectures, I had to take copious notes to retain the information, and I could just never keep up with audiobooks: my brain always wandered off. But I was commuting a lot for work and gave this one a try. It stuck!

This book felt a little slow in places, but now I'll never know if it was because it was an audiobook or what. I felt bad for Althea, who really seems to have received a bum rap: mother dies when she's a kid, a pretty awful brother, drug addiction, and more. She's a rather compelling narrator, and her family's backstory is interesting. The whole "I'm going to go crazy when I'm 30" thing seemed a little overblown and histrionic at times--seriously, you can't truly think the moment you turn 30, everything changes. But, I still found myself caught up in Althea's story, and I really loved hearing about her grandmother and her own struggles in the '30s. There were pieces of this book that were really touching and heartbreaking and the last half, especially, really got to me.

Overall, it was fun to explore an audiobook. It sure made my two-hour (each way) commute more palatable, and I found myself fascinated that one-person could do the voices of so many people. I found this story pretty compelling and liked the fact that it spanned several generations. The points it made about mental illness--especially the way women were treated in the past (and even now, really)--were very illuminating and well-done. 3.5 stars.
  
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Alice (117 KP) rated The Switch in Books

Mar 3, 2021  
The Switch
The Switch
Beth O'Leary | 2020 | Contemporary
8
9.1 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and Flatiron Books for early access to this audiobook

I wholeheartedly adored this book! After reading and loving The Flat Share I knew I wanted to read this book as well so when I saw it was available as an audiobook on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to get to read it. Also, the fact that it was narrated by the absolute ICON that is Alison Steadman and Normal People's Daisy Edgar-Jones really sold it to me! I love when audiobooks have multiple perspectives narrated by different actors as I feel like it adds a lot to the story that you don't always get from a single narrator. This was just so charmingly Beth O'Leary and I loved this one just as much - if not more than I loved The Flat Share. I loved all of the characters and this was such a fun read but it also deals with very serious topics as well such as death, grief and abuse but all rolled up in a charming little tale of love, friendship and family. It gave me major Hallmark Christmas movie vibes as in I kind of knew how it was going to end right at the start but it was so fun and sweet and it was nice just to do life with the characters. I couldn't recommend this book enough!
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Sep 11, 2022  
Sneak a peek at the self-help memoir on aging entitled CREATRIX RISING by Byline Stephanie on my blog. (I read this book last year and loved it!) Enter the giveaway for a chance to win a print copy and the audiobook - four winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2022/09/audiobook-blog-tour-and-giveaway.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Ever since Eve was banned from the garden, women have endured the oftentimes painful and inaccurate definitions foisted upon them by the patriarchy. Maiden, mother, and crone, representing the three stages assigned to a woman’s life cycle, have been the limiting categories of both ancient and modern (neo-pagan) mythology. And one label, in particular, rankles: crone. The word conjures a wizened hag—useless for the most part, marginalized by appearance and ability.

None of us has ever truly fit the old-crone image, and for today’s midlife women, a new archetype is being birthed: the Creatrix.

In Creatrix Rising, Raffelock lays out—through personal stories and essays—the highlights of the past fifty years, in which women have gone from a quiet strength to a resounding voice. She invites us along on her own transformational journey by providing probing questions for reflection so that we can flesh out and bring to life this new archetype within ourselves. If what the Dalai Lama has predicted—that women will save the world—proves true, then the Creatrix will for certain be out front, leading the pack.
     
Uncommon Type: Some Stories
Uncommon Type: Some Stories
Tom Hanks | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.6 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
Listen to his audiobook! His narration is superb (0 more)
Listen just for Tom Hanks' mellifluous voice
Tom Hanks turns out to be as authentically genuine a writer as can be. The stories in this book range from the hilarious to the deeply touching.

They move in period, location, and manner, but all demonstrate a joy in writing, a pleasure in communicating an intensely American sense of atmosphere, friendship, life and family that is every bit as smart and engaging as the man himself.

While the stories are witty, it is more so because of the man himself. They may not be Pulitzer material, but it truly is a pleasure to read his book while thinking about this imaginative man.