The Library Policeman

Author: Stephen King
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Ken Howard

4 of 5 stars

For most people the library is a place of quiet solitude whose greatest offense might be that of ennui. Leave it to Stephen King to turn it into a place of intense fear and dread, tucked neatly into the Four Past Midnight collection of novellas. The major themes will be familiar to King fans; suppressed childhood fears revisited upon the adult, warped realities and allusions to other King archetypes. I’m usually not a fan of novella collections, but this one was strongly recommended to me by a colleague where I used to work, and I was not disappointed.

Sam Peebles, as the main character, finds himself at odds with a very particular librarian. His tale of adventure brings a deep dermis kind of skin crawl, especially for anyone who has suppressed memories and/or anxieties related to overdue library books and the weight of shame incumbent to such situations. There are some subtle allusions for anyone familiar with King’s The Dark Tower series that help to bring an additional edge to an already sharply tense tale. Most notably there's mention of a not too friendly train, who is indeed a pain, and that is the truth.

The audiobook, read by Ken Howard, was exceptionally well done. The few additional auditory flairs around the section breaks were nice touches as well. I am typically leary when audiobooks start to add sound effects, though arguably the reader's utilization of different voices for different characters equates to the same thing. When it comes to supplementary sounds, the less is more approach was taken, serving to enhance an already enjoyable experience.

I heartily reccommend both the story, The Library Policeman, and the audiobook version to anyone looking for some thrills and chills associated with that sometimes dark and forboding place known as the public library. The only reason I kept this story at four instead of five stars is due to some close calls with cliche. Considering the brevity of the story (relative to King's usual fare), I think they can be forgiven, but not without knocking just a little shine off the star.

Ringworld

Author: Larry Niven
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Tom Parker

4 of 5 stars

If asked, I would undoubtedly claim to both be a fan of and to have read a large amount of science fiction. So the realization that I had never read Larry Niven's Ringworld series came as a huge surprise. Somehow my muddled mind had crossed the Niven wires, and jumped from assumption to fact that I had indeed read them. The delusion lifted when I saw the first book of the series offered as an Audible freebie.

In some ways the plot and characterizations of Ringworld remind me of a Science Fiction treatment of Baum's Wizard of Oz stories. The main characters are placed into a strange world, are unsure of where they need to go, and yet keep pushing forward. I thought this was a great story, will very likely read it again, and am amazed that it has taken me this long to read it in the first place. There seems to be a large gap of years between the first Ringworld book and the subsequent titles, so I'm a little hesitant to approach them.

The Strain - Vol 1

Author: Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Ron Perlman

4 of 5 stars

I had a little bit of trepidation approaching a fictional novel written by someone primarily known as a motion picture director. Just because someone is a great film director does not mean they can jump from the moving picture to the static page. Guillermo del Toro demonstrates that not only can it be done, but it can be done well. The Vampire genre has become so pervasive that it seems one cannot turn around without being confronted by yet another person or group peddling their take on the Vampire tale. After reading On The Road and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I was ready for a quick light story, and guessed that this would fit the bill. It is a decision I did not regret.

In the same vein as The Passage, The Strain treats the Vampire legend as more of an infection than a supernatural occurrence. Unlike The Passage, the notion of a supernatural element is not completely done away with. In some ways it reminds me of the approach Dark Shadows took with the vampire Barnabas Collins and the efforts of Doctor Julia Hoffman. While there are epic highlights to the story, it is essentially a tale involving a small cast of underdog characters battling a mighty foe. There are places where the sense of scene blocking performed by an expert film director is unmistakable, and with the exception of a few close calls with cliche the whole story plays out very well. From the outset this is billed as the first of three stories, though there does not seem to be a public timeframe on when the remaining two tales are to be expected. Even if this ends up being a trilogy forever in search of its companions, the book stands well on its own. There are many unanswered questions and a number of cliff hangers, but it ends with a clear sense that a major chapter has concluded as opposed to an arbitrary deadline having been reached.

Ron Perlman is apparently not only a great actor, but also a good reader. I don't think the two necessarily go hand in hand. At first I was excited, being a fan of Perlman's other acting work, and then got a little worried at the outset of the book. Perlman has a very distinctive voice, but he also has a narrow range. I think he ends up doing a very good job supplying enough vocal nuance to specific characters that they can be distinguished from themselves. But if you have just come from a reader with a broad vocal range, it will take a little bit to get used to Perlman's significantly more subtle nuances. I also have to admit that initially it seemed a little odd to have Hellboy reading a book to me.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Author: Steig Larsson
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Simon Vance

4 of 5 stars

This book definitely seems to be getting a lot of press these days, and after reading it, I think much of it is well deserved. Normally I am a little gunshy of translations, because if I like or dislike the work there tends to be a nagging question in the back of my mind as to whether it was a success or failing of the actual work or of the translation. That quibble has been tempered greatly in recent years as my book consumption has almost completely shifted into the realm of the AudioBook. It is very clear that the same premise holds; the skill of the reader has a direct bearing on the judgement of the book. Having said all of that, I did find this book to be very entertaining.

As I have mentioned before, I harbor a soft spot for tales wrought with intrigue. Sometimes I think my predilection for the spy thriller comes from my exposure to Ian Fleming at an early age. Revisiting the genre cannot help but evoke fond childhood memories. There is still only so much one can do with the mystery genre, and it has to come down to whether you can relate to and care about the characters. Larsson does a great job at balancing the development of the individual characters while keeping the plot moving along. It is obvious that the character of Lisbeth Salander is important to the plot at an early stage, but Larsson keeps the details of why she is important well hidden for a good deal of the tale, detailing out her back story and letting the reader get to know the character. The same detail is taken with the other major characters, and at the appropriate times their paths are intertwined together as needed by the plot. Like most good mysteries, this book has an ending where the loose ends get all tied up in a nice bow. And like all good mysteries, even though the story has completed, the reader is left wanting to know what will happen next with the characters they have been introduced to and followed through their respective trials and tribulations. I intentionally put off jumping into the next book in Larsson's series, and am still anxious to read it.

Concerning the audio book, Simon Vance does an excellent job in bringing voice to all the characters. I cannot help but wonder a little about how different my take on the story would be if I had experienced it without the assistance both of a translator and reader. In any event, both filters seemed to work exceedingly well from this reader's perspective.

I only want to say a very little bit about the movie, especially since I still haven't made it all the way through. It is probably a very enjoyable movie, unless you have read the book. I can't tell if this is a new phenomena amongst movies based off of novels or if I'm just now noticing, but it seems the prevailing technique for transition is to scour a novel for its salient plot points and most memorable scenes. That information then becomes the storyboard, and filming begins. The end result ends up being a film that can claim "stays true to the book", while also being completely devoid of character development or depth. I think the actors in the movie do a good job, and individual scenes seem to work well, but essential components of empathy are missing. I don't have a problem with a movie modifying a book, extracting the essence of the story to be reworked into the film format. A great example of this working well is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Kubrick strayed wildly from the actual plot line of Stephen King's novel, but still captured and conveyed the visceral elements of fear, isolation and madness found in the book. I would prefer to see movie treatments like that instead of this regurgitation of plot points that seems to have become the vogue.

On The Road

Author: Jack Kerouac
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Will Patton

5 of 5 stars

One of the contexts of a story that should not be ignored, regardless of genre, is the time in which it was originally written. On The Road makes it impossible to ignore, as it takes the reader back in time to the American 1950s in the same fashion as if the reader was taking up residence inside the head of the main character, ala Being John Malkovich. Even if one is not especially interested in that period of time, the book is a compelling coming of age tale. When attempting to explain regionalism or local color, this story is the epitome.

For me, this story highlighted the idealism and carefree attitudes of secular humanism that were later co-opted by the baby boomer generation. Much like the retelling of a story, such idealism seems to suffer from an interesting form of decay. At the origin is the pure intent, containing elements of good, bad and everything in between, all being acceptable. The next generation of heralds focus on the good elements, ignoring or marginalizing the bad or less savory elements. There seems to be a belief that you can only increase the number of your flock if you proselytize only the benefits of your position. I think the mindset that others need to be converted to the cause creeps in at this point. After successive iterations, the original intent of the ideal becomes completely subjugated to the desire for propagation, strangled from overgrowth of the very thicket that it spawned. At this time, there can be a rebirth of the ideal, but unlike the phoenix, which always arrises from the ashes unchanged, reset to zero, the new ideal is a true child of the parent. Similarities are evident, but the new form is unique and free to act in any way complementary or contradictorily to its origin. This is the mechanism from which phrases such as "history always repeats itself" inevitably arrise. I think On The Road is one of those unique works that carries inside it a spark that might easily help ignite the funeral pyre of its own phoenix.

With respect to the AudioBook, Will Patton does a superb job. The voice characterizations are so well matched with their characters that it becomes hard to think of them sounding any other way. Dean Moriarty absolutely spoke with that raspy intensity; Sal with that naive calmness of tone that is so often associated with the young and inexperienced. While some of the descriptions of wild times seem exceedingly tame by today's standards, the reading does such a good job at keeping the reader well confined within the head of "John Malkovich" that they are well insulated from the buffets of unintentional anachronisms. I hope to revisit the travels of Sal and Dean, confident that there is more to glean from their adventures.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress

Author: Robert Heinlein
Format: AudioBook
Reader: Lloyd James
4 of 5 stars

I have a love/hate relationship with many Heinlein books. Sometimes his heavy handed political and sociological preaching so overpowers the fiction of the story that I can't see past it, and the story as a whole shoulders the entire blame. Other times, the proselytizing actually plays a significant character role in the story, helping to move the plot along and/or provide a greater depth of character to the players. This book achieves the latter.

It is a classic story of revolution, with sci-fi gilding. The emergence of a new nation is paralleled with a sudden spark of sentience from the massive computer system, named Mike, that centrally runs all systems on the moon. The themes of change, rebirth and death infuse the entire story. Heinlein keeps the central character count low, focusing on full and deep development of those characters, including Mike.

As far as the audiobook goes, it was read by Lloyd James, who did a superb job at handling the nuances of the human characters as well as the computer Mike. The tonalities of Mike slowly adjust as he becomes more comfortable with his human companions and his development progresses throughout the book. James' handling of the reading makes it even easier to think of Mike as a fully developed character.

Dancing Cow Bonanza

Nothing beats a herd of bouncing cows. Look closely, I think they are all pointing North. o_O

The Ghost

Author: Robert Harris
Format: AudioBook
4 of 5 stars


This book surprised me a little. It starts out a little formulaic, but then quickly grows into a full blooded espionage/spy thriller. I tend to give the genre a lot of latitude, especially these days. We hear about enough real life cloak and dagger events that inevitably authors crafting fictional accounts feel the need to crank up the intrigue. Sometimes this leads to scenarios that are a bit over the top. I don't know how much of it is my partiality to the genre or if this book manages to just ride close to the line, without actually crossing, but I found the twists, turns and amped up intrigue to fit well within the context of the book.

The audiobook was very well performed. At first I was a little concerned that there wasn't going to be very much variation between character voices, but my fears, just as with the formulaic plot, were unfounded. The reader, Roger Rees, does an exceptional job of giving all the characters a clear vocal definition.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and would definitely consider other books by Robert Harris based upon my experience with this one.

Hitch-22 : A Memoir

Author: Christopher Hitchens
Format: AudioBook
5 of 5 stars

It's not often that I start thinking about how I'd like to reread a book just after completing it. The memoir is a genre that I am not normally very interested in, and I barely knew who Christopher Hitchens was before starting this narrative. Yet I found myself thoroughly engrossed, and knowing that the next time I'm not sure about what kind of book to read next, this one will be high on the list for a revisit.

As far as the audio book goes, I am glad that it is Christopher Hitchens reading it. While his accent and meter of speech does take a bit of getting used to (at least for my American-tuned ears), the adjustment for me was fast. Having the author reading his own tale, especially when it is a memoir, adds something special that cannot exist otherwise.

The Passage

Author: Justin Cronin
Format: AudioBook
5 of 5 stars

Lately the whole vampire schtick seems to be overdone. While still being a style of vampire story, this novel takes the whole notion of a vampire in a new direction. Stylistically it reminds me of the treatment "30 Days of Night" gave the genre. This is also an epic tale, and is able to bypass the pits of sluggishness that seem to plague many stories of this scope.

The audio book version is _extremely_ well performed, and the presence of multiple readers is very skillfully used to add to the dimension of the tale. This is easily the best story I've read so far this year.