2011 Audiobook Challenge Wrap-up and 2012 Audiobook Challenge Sign-up

 This year I joined The 2011 Audio Book Challenge hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner.  My goal for the year was to listen to twelve audiobooks.  I met that goal and listened to a couple of extra for a total of fourteen audio books this for the year 2011.  The audiobooks I listened to were as follows:

1.  Rescue by Anita Shreve
2.  Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

3.  An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

4.  The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie
5.  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

6.  The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

7.  Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie
8.  A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
9.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

10.  Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons

11.  Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

12.  The Help by Kathryn Stockett
13.  The End of Normal by Stephanie Madoff Mack
14.  Matched by Ally Condie

I listened to a lot of fantastic audiobooks throughout 2011.  I wanted to pick out a clear favorite, but I enjoyed too many of them in different ways to pick one best audiobook.   I did love learning about the history of the legendary Cleopatra in Stacy Shiff's fantastic biography.  I also loved the light hearted romance in The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie.   The Madoff scandel was brought to life in the fictional account of a wronged wife in Silver Girl by Eline Hilderbrand, and in the painful, but beautiful memoir The End of Normal by Stephanie Madoff Mack.  I enjoyed starting a new trilogy with Matched by Ally Condie and I'm almost finished with listening to the second book in the series (Crossed) right now.  The Help was a wonderful audiobook.  I loved the actors who read the parts for each of the main charactesr and brought the story to life.  Juliet Stevenson is a marvelous actress and also a wonderful audiobook reader.  Her audiobook reading of Sense and Sensibility is not to be missed. 

What didn't I like?  While The Disappearing Spoon was fascinating subject matter, I think I would have much prefered to read the book rather than listening to it.  I needed a periodic table of elements at hand to go along with a lot of the stories.  Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie just didn't have the same magic for me as The Cinderella Deal did.  Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons wanted to be a good audiobook, but abrupt changes in genre brought the book to a rather messy conclusion.

Seven of the audiobooks I listened to I check out from the Kewaunee Public Library, five I received as review copies from Hachette Audio, and two I received from Penguin Audio.  Thirteen of the audiobooks I listened to on CD, while one I listened to as a digital audiobook on my droid.  I really liked the digital audiobook experience and hope to check it out more this year.  Unfortunately, while my library does offer digital audio to check out, most of the books I look up have a VERY long waiting list.

I am joining the 2012 Audiobook Challenge once again hosted at Teresa's Reading Corner.  I am going to aim for 12 audiobooks again this year, which is the level "Going Steady."  It looks like it will be a fun challenge again this year with a few new and intriguing features.  I'm currently listening to Crossed by Ally Condie and A Christmas Homecoming by Anne Perry.  What are you listening to or planning to listen to this year?

Rescue by Anita Shreve (audiobook)

Anita Shreve is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have read every one of her novels. This is my first time listening to one of her books instead of reading it the old-fashioned way. I enjoy audiobooks and it was interesting to determine whether a Shreve novel would translate well to an audiobook.

Rescue is a novel that encompasses many of Shreve’s themes throughout the portfolio of her work. Sheila Arsenault is a woman on the run from an abusive relationship. After crashing her car in an alcohol fueled incident, Sheila is rescued by rookie paramedic Peter Webster. Webster is taken by the beautiful young victim and searches her out after she is discharged from the hospital. Webster is determined to help her and falls in love along the way. Sheila is happy to be rescued, but finds that old demons are hard to leave behind.
Eighteen years later, Webster is raising their daughter, Rowan alone. Rowan unfortunately seems to have inherited some dangerous addictions and traits from her mother. Will Webster be able to save his daughter or is it already too late?

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. Dennis Holland did a fairly good reading of the novel, although I found his attempts at a Boston accent to be rather jarring. I almost wanted to do the dishes every day so I could listen to what was going to happen next. I found the plot to be compelling, but the best thing about the novel was the in depth character studies. Rash decisions that were made in youth can lead to consequences that can last a life time.

I also found Webster’s job as a paramedic to be very interesting as were the stories of his rescues. I’ve never read a book with a paramedic as the main character and I really enjoyed it. It left me wanting to know even more about the profession. I think it was a great way to talk about how Webster rescued people as his job in life, but that he had troubles at home with rescuing his wife and his daughter. It’s not as easy to rescue those you love from addictions and bad behavior.

Anita Shreve is a gifted writer. I love her style of writing. That being said, while Rescue was a good book, I still hold some of her earlier works such as The Weight of Water and Fortune’s Rocks in much higher regard. I kind of miss her historical books!

Overall, Rescue was a compelling story with great characters that I enjoyed listening too.

This is my first item for the Audiobook Challenge 2011.

Audiobook Source: Review copy from Hachette Book Group. Thank-you!

Winners of Rescue by Anita Shreve Audiobooks

The two lucky winners of the audiobook version of Rescue by Anita Shreve are ttlyoverit17 of Books and Shtuff and Suko of Suko's Notebook. Congrats to the winners!!

The winners were chosen using random.org and were notified via email. They have until Friday January 14th to respond to me with their mailing addresses. If I don't hear from them by that time, I will draw new winners.

Thank-you to Anna from Hachette Book Group for allowing me to giveaway Rescue and also for allowing me to review it. I'm listening to it right now and am enjoying it!

Sad that you didn't win? I still have many more great giveaways that are currently ongoing. Please check out the right sidebar of this blog for more details!

Giveaway - Rescue by Anita Shreve Audiobook

Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors, and I feel very privilaged that Hachette Book Group is allowing me to giveaway two audiobook copies of her latest novel, Rescue. I can't wait to review this audiobook for myself!

Book Description (from Hachette Book Group):
A rookie paramedic pulls a young woman alive from her totaled car, a first rescue that begins a lifelong tangle of love and wreckage. Sheila Arsenault is a gorgeous enigma--streetwise and tough-talking, with haunted eyes, fierce desires, and a never-look-back determination. Peter Webster, as straight an arrow as they come, falls for her instantly and entirely. Soon Sheila and Peter are embroiled in an intense love affair, married, and parents to a baby daughter. Like the crash that brought them together, it all happened so fast.

About the Author:
Anita Shreve is the acclaimed author of 15 previous novels, including A Change in Altitude; Testimony; The Pilot's Wife, which was a selection of Oprah's Book Club; and The Weight of Water, which was a finalist for England's Orange prize. She lives in Massachusetts.

Giveaway Details:
Anna of Hachette Book Group has been kind enough to offer two copies of the audiobook version of Rescue by Anita Shreve for a giveaway.

If you would like to win a copy of Rescue, please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel. As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

No P.O. Boxes.

Winners will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if you win the same title in two or more contests, you will receive only one copy of the title (or one set in the case of grouped giveaways) in the mail.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday January 7th.

Good luck!

Giveaway and Review: A Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors. I have enjoyed reading all of her books for the past ten years or so after discovering her by reading The Pilot’s Wife. She writes riveting tales about relationships in emotional turmoil. Some of her books are set in modern day, while others are compelling historical fiction. I was very happy to receive a review copy of her latest book, A Change in Altitude from Miriam at Hachette Publishing.

A Change in Altitude ranks as one of my all time favorite Anita Shreve novels. I’ll admit, I didn’t like the last few novels as well as her earlier works, but this novel is a tour de force. Margaret and Patrick are a young married couple that has relocated to Kenya for Patrick’s research and work as a doctor. The two are invited by their landlords (a British couple) to join them and a Dutch couple on a hike of Mount Kenya. The hike does not go as planned with disastrous consequences. Afterwards Margaret struggles to find herself and to try to piece back together her marriage when trust has been lost.

My favorite character in this novel was Kenya itself. Shreve once lived in Africa and used it as a local in her novel The Last Time They Met. Learning about the culture and beauty of the country made this a very compelling read. I also liked the details of the hike itself. I can’t imagine just deciding to climb a mountain without any sort of physical preparation, especially after reading Three Cups of Tea. It was very interesting reading about the physical and emotional aspects of the climb.

I really liked the growth of Margaret throughout the novel. The struggle that she goes through was intriguing. I don’t want to give away the ending, but it is a standard Shreve type of ending that has left me pondering.

If you would like to read more Shreve, I highly recommend The Weight of Water and Fortune’s Rocks besides this book. I love all of her novels, but I would pick these as my absolute favorites.

My favorite quote from this novel, "Not for the first time, Margaret reflected that it was impossible to know the truth about the marriage of another couple."

Giveaway Details:

Now for the details you are really looking for . . . Miriam at Hachette Book Group has been kind enough to offer one copy of A Change in Altitude as a giveaway. If you would like to enter this contest do any of the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must include an email address in at least one of your comments. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway or post about it on your sidebar. Leave a separate comment with a link to your post. (1 entry)

3. Become a follower or leave a comment that you already are a follower of this blog. (1 entry)

There are three ways to enter, but you must LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each one or they will not count.I will be using random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!). No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday October 23rd. Good luck!

Testimony by Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors and I've read ALL of her novels. I haven't liked her last several novels as much as my favorites (The Weight of Water, Fortune's Rocks, Sea Glass, The Pilot's Wife). While Testimony was better than the last several that I've read, it still was not as good as my favorites.

Testimony is a story of a sexual escapade in a private high school in Vermont that is caught on tape and through a domino effect, ruins the life of many people. The story is told in an interesting twist as a sort of testimony in past and present tense from a variety of different views of different people who were present at Avery school at the time of the event as told to a researcher who is interviewing people for an adolescent boys and alcohol study. There were three males and one female involved in the incident, but the story really becomes a love story between one of the boys, Silas and his girlfriend Noelle, as well as the story of Mike the headmaster and Silas' parents. The story was tragic in nature and hard to put down. The story had surprises and did not end with everyone wrapped up and solved.

I liked that the book had an ambigous ending as in real life. I liked the stories of Noelle, Silas, Mike, Anna, and Owen a lot. The overall tale was very well rounded from all points of views, not putting blame on the girl or the boys, but trying to see it from all angles. I thought it was a good story for showing on one thoughtless act can really affect many people in tragic ways. I thought it also showed a good story for they way our laws are now that if a freshman girl/boy is involved in a "relationship" with a senior male/female, it is against the law - especially when caught on tape. It's interesting to think about. Such things went on when I was in school, and I'm sure they did before me and after me. Usually it was only one senior boy and girl and no videotape/ internet leak, but still - it would be against the law technically. The book made a case for how the media can twist a story and make it larger than life. Secrets are harder to keep in our internet world.

I liked the concepts of the book and the main story, but I felt that to have SO MANY different view points took away from the story. It seemed that often the story went in random directions that had nothing to do with the main story. If it would have focused more on the main characters it would have been better. What happened to Noelle after the event? I still want to know!! Also I didn't like the porn graphic detail of the first chapter. It turned me off from the story, but since I like Shreve as an author, I trusted her enough to keep on reading.

Body Surfing by Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I actually own all of her books (except for this one - I'm better now about checking books out from the library!). She writes fascinating stories that are full of human emotion. It's hard to describe why I love her books so much, they remind me of a modern day Edith Wharton, another of my favorite authors. I recommend reading one of her books yourself to check out what I'm talking about. I'd recommend The Weight of Water, Fortune's Rocks, Sea Glass, or The Pilot's Wife.

That said, this is one of Shreve's weaker novels. Truthfully the last few novels have been weaker than my favorite novels listed above. I like her historical fiction better than her contemporary in general.

Body Surfing tells the story of Sydney, a young woman of 29 who is in college and a tutor for the summer to the Edwards' family's youngest daughter, Julie. Julie is "slow," but it is never explained why. Sydney has already been widowed once and divorced once. The Edwards family is spending the summer at their beach front summer home on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in New Hampshire. Interestingly this is also the house that Fortune's Rocks, Sea Glass, and The Pilot's Wife are set. I hope she continues on with the history of the house! The Edwards' elder sons arrive for the weekend, Ben a real-estate excecutive, and Jeff, a professor at MIT. Both appear to like Sydney and she ends up in a romance with one.

The novel had a slow beginning, but I liked it the more I got into it. Especially with the twist in the middle of the book.

The things I didn't like about the book were the beginning (I found myself not caring at all about the main character until later in the book), the hero (I thought he was kind of a jerk from the get-go), and the style of writting (this book seems to jump around in random thoughts a lot more than her other novels).

I highly recommend Anita Shreve - but if you have to read only one of her books, I'd recommend one of the ones listed above. This novel was an okay read, but not one of her finest.