Tag: Audiobook

The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell

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Title: The Midwife
Author: Tricia Cresswell
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

Set in the mid-19th century, The Midwife follows the stories of Joanna, a woman in Northumberland with extensive knowledge about medicine and midwifery but no memory of her past, and Dr. Borthwick, an accoucheur (a physician who delivers babies) with a spotless professional reputation and a closely guarded secret in his private life.

As their stories unfold, we learn more about Joanna, Dr. Borthwick, and the many interesting (and often kind) people who surround them as they apply their medical expertise in their respective communities. The medical details in the book are fascinating — including the context in which medicine was practiced and how factors like location and class influenced medical outcomes (and indeed still do). But the relationships are also captivating, and I found myself equally interested in Joanna and Dr. Borthwick’s personal and emotional journeys.

The only drawback for me was the twist with Joanna’s backstory (the explanation for her memory loss), which felt unnecessary; nevertheless, I came away from the book with a strong connection to the characters and was satisfied with how their stories played out.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

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Title: The Dictionary of Lost Words
Author: Pip Williams
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Historical, Literary
Rating: ★★★★★

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that pulls no punches, delivering the hardest news matter-of-factly and then moving on, just as life demands. It tells the story of Esme, who grew up watching her father work on the first Oxford English Dictionary, and whose life revolves around language and particularly the words used by the women around her.

It is a powerful story of women’s rights — explicitly portraying parts of the women’s suffrage movement but also the daily lives of many different women and the challenges they face. It’s also a story about the power of words and the people who shape them, and if you’re at all a language or word lover you’ll enjoy watching how the dictionary is created over the years and Esme’s part in it. I love the smooth writing style (and audiobook narration) that drew me in to this one woman’s life, and how deeply it has touched me and made me think.

Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch

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Title: Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language
Author: Gretchen McCulloch
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Non-fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆

As someone who loves language and once considered doing research among online communities, I was prepared to thoroughly enjoy this book but perhaps didn’t consider that I might be too familiar with the subject to be its target audience. I’d recommend this book if you’re curious about how the internet is influencing the English language and don’t know much about internet history or linguistics.

It was interesting to hear about things like the origins of acronyms like LOL and how their meaning has evolved over time or comparisons between punctuation online versus on postcards. But I found myself drifting off during the lengthy explanations about different online generations, and I was genuinely shocked when McCulloch mentioned that she had been entirely ignorant of the study of gesture. All in all, it was a fun book but definitely (as McCulloch herself describes it) pop linguistics — something that will leave you with interesting anecdotes about emoji and memes but doesn’t delve much deeper than that.

About the Audiobook

It may seem a bit odd to listen to a book about written language, and I’ll admit that yes, it sort of was. But McCulloch also has a popular podcast, Lingthusiasm, which made me more confident in her narration skills. She definitely didn’t let me down there; she was engaging and she adapted parts of the book for audio. That said, the chapters were a bit long for the audiobook format and I do wish I’d had the book so I could more easily skim the bits I didn’t need to hear about and more clearly remember the interesting parts.

Gentleman Jim by Mimi Matthews

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Title: Gentleman Jim
Author: Mimi Matthews
Format: Audiobook (library)
Genre(s): Romance, Historical
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

This book was a disappointment, which surprised me given that I’ve found several of Matthews’ other books very pleasant (The Matrimonial Advertisement, The Siren of Sussex, and The Work of Art).

The blurb promised some amount of mystery, danger, and revenge; however, I found the whole thing so predictable that I was just waiting for each plot point to arrive so I could get through the story. The biggest mystery ended up being why this version of the cover featured a dark-haired man!

I don’t want to share spoilers, so I’ll avoid specifics and just note that in addition to a dull plot I found the characters incredibly flat and cookie-cutter: an earnest, loyal woman; a mysterious, ambitious viscount; a nasty rival; a grandfather with questionable motives; a friend with zero personality; and so on. I can generally forgive a predictable plot if it has interesting characters, and I can forgive shallow or Pollyanna-ish characters if they’re thrown into an intriguing plot, but this really let me down with nothing to dig into.

Audiobook Review

I’m adding a separate note about the audiobook format — in part because I wonder if the format skewed my experience of the book, but also because there were some elements I specifically wanted to mention. I was pleased with Alex Wyndham’s work on the dialogue and character voices. That said, the rest of the narration was really tedious, with repetitive prosody for almost every single sentence. It kind of killed my interest by the end and had the tendency to make me zone out while listening. If you’re still interested in this story, I’d recommend picking up the book version.

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary

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Title: The Road Trip
Author: Beth O’Leary
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

The Road Trip was just the kind of contemporary romance I enjoy: a story with conflict caused by the characters’ values and priorities (not just miscommunication), gradual character growth, and humor alongside dealing with serious issues. The audiobook was recorded with two narrators (for the two leads), which worked well for the way the POV was passed back and forth between them. I also enjoyed the structure, which interspersed the present day timeline — full of unexplained interpersonal tension — with flashbacks that gradually filled in the reader on everyone’s history. I genuinely liked both Addie and Dylan, even when they were making mistakes, and most of the other flawed characters had enough humanity and depth to explain their actions. A really enjoyable read with a humorous literal journey and a moving figurative one.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

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Title: The Dutch House
Author: Ann Patchett
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Literary fiction, Historical
Rating: ★★★★★

I picked up this book entirely because I’d heard that Tom Hanks does an incredible job narrating the audiobook; that’s 100% true and I’d recommend listening just to hear how a first-rate actor can really bring a story to life through narration. But this is also a moving story about a brother, a sister, their childhood home, and the ways their relationships (with each other and everyone around them) grow and change through their lives. We often think of a relationship as a thing that exists between two people, but this books illustrates how relationships exist in a web, and how changes in one relationship can pull on the other strands, shaping or loosening or weaving them tighter. The house also, unsurprisingly, has a strong presence throughout the book — unchanging while the family within it is remade over and over. A fascinating story about relationships, family, wealth, memory, and the ways that we build and rebuild our lives moment by moment.