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.