Non-Fiction Books I’m Liking (Spring 2019)

There is so much to see, do and read in the springtime!  Let’s not waste a moment but take advantage of the time learning!

Relearning to See, by Thomas Quackenbush~ I suffer from myopia and astigmatism, along with strabismus on top of that.  So yeah, I have a lot of eye strain.  I’m also not a good candidate for contact lenses and I don’t particularly feel glamorous with two pairs of eyeglasses.  I just have never been able to think well with frames on my face.  Being interested in holistic measures, I’ve heard of improving one’s eyesight naturally using different exercises, diet, etc but never really knew how to implement it or had the confidence it would help with my particular issues.  I discovered this title on goodreads a while back, and then found it at a book sale when a local library was doing a purge.  What a stroke of good luck!  It’s been my breakfast reading material for the last couple of months.  Overlook the author’s unfortunate last name.  This is an in-depth textbook that borrows a lot of material from a learned eye doctor, William Bates, who studied and practiced during the turn of the century thru 1920’s.  A lot of his explanations and reasoning makes sense.  I appreciate that he does not view the Bates Method as eye “exercises”, rather a way of relearning how to see in a natural, relaxed manner.  Some of it gets a little too textbook on me and over my head but that’s okay, I just skip ahead to the more comprehensive parts.  Have I seen any improvement?  I want to finish the book first to understand everything before I begin implementing the techniques daily.  (To be completely honest, it is hard to form a new habit and it is hard to practice while a lot of your work is in front of a computer.)  But there was a moment (which the author refers to as “a flash”) when I experienced a bout of being able to see clearer than I had for a long time.  This was after I’d started trying some of the relaxed ways of looking around me.  It did not last very long, but it was enough to give me some hope and encouragement.  I think a lot of people will be interested in the scientific material presented, and be assured this is not some “quackish” gimmick. 

The Enchanted Hour, by Meghan Cox Gurdon~ This was such a wonderful book to listen to on audio!  I had no idea what it was about when I saw it in the library but the title had me hooked and I enjoy listening to non fiction audiobooks so I took it home with me.  Do you enjoy reading aloud and want a kindred spirit to share your enthusiasm?  You’ll find it in the author who narrates her own book.  Her passion for reading out loud to youngsters, teens, dogs, the ill, disabled, elderly—anybody and everybody!– is obvious.  She provides tons of interesting studies and statistics, as well as interviews with doctors, volunteers and a few guinea pigs on the benefits and NECESSITY of reading out loud.  Did you know that our society has lost approximately a third of its vocabulary and illiteracy is rifer now than it was decades ago?  How can we stop this epidemic and be more involved in our kids’ lives?  The answer is simple: READ A BOOK.  And yet most of us struggle to do keep up this discipline in a modern world of technology.  Gurdon shares tips and ideas from her own experience on how to make reading a fun family habit and how to make memories for years to come.  As a narrator, Gurdon does pretty well since she has had years of practice while bringing up four children.  I do wish she wouldn’t affect character voices for some of the people she quoted or interviewed, as this is sort of a no-no in non-fiction narration and becomes cartoonish rather than enhancing the story.  But she had such a warm, cuddly type voice and I fell in love with her descriptions of babies, tykes and tots.  Please do not misunderstand that reading is for young children only.  Although Gurdon puts a lot of emphasis on this, she also stresses that reading out loud really is good and beneficial for all ages.  

 

2019 Audie Awards Winners

The Audie Awards came earlier this year for a reason I do not know.  Fortunately, I was in time with a post a while back on my picks for most categories.  It’s taken me a little longer to link to the winners page after the awards were held, but here it is. I’m pleased to know I picked some winners!  I learned of some new favorite narrators, Cassandra Morris among them.  Have you listened to any of them and if so, what were your thoughts?

 

 

2019 Audie Awards Finalists

The finalists for the 2019 Audie Awards have been announced and for the first time, I’ve gone through all 24 categories and made my choices IMHO.  It’s rather like the Oscars; in fact the Audies are like the Academy Awards for audiobooks.  Let it be known that I haven’t listened to any of these books in their entirety, only just the 3-4 min. excerpts available on AudioFile Magazine’s website.  Let it also be known that just because I approve of a narrator’s capability in delivering the material doesn’t necessarily mean I approve of the material itself.  Who do you think deserves to win?

Audio Drama: The Martian Invasion of Earth (hear trailer here)

Audiobook of the Year: Calypso

Autobiography/Memoir: Letter to Louis

Best Female Narrator: Girls & Boys

Best Male Narrator: Harry Clarke

Business/Personal Development: The Courage to Be Disliked

Faith-Based: not enough info.

Fantasy: Spinning Silver

Fiction: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

History/Biography: Robin

Humor: Noir

Literary Fiction & Classics: Bleak House

Middle Grade: Louisiana’s Way Home

Multi-Voiced Performance: not enough info.

Mystery: The Mystery of Three-Quarters

Narrated by Author: My Pride

Non-Fiction: Eager

Original Work: Magus Elgar

Science Fiction: Artemis

Short Stories: You Think It, I’ll Say It

Suspense: The Outsider

Romance: skipped.

Young Adult: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

Young Listeners: Her Right Foot

 

 

 

~Quote for 6/17/2018~

 

Audie Awards 2018 Tonight!

In case you didn’t know, the 2018 Audie Awards are being hosted tonight!  You can watch it live on Facebook here.

You can also view a list of the nominations by clicking here.  Among the names and titles that caught my eye:

Paul McCusker’s audio drama (I didn’t know he had a new one!) entitled Brother Francis, and starring Geoffrey Palmer.  He also has another audio drama I didn’t know about!: “The Trials of St. Patrick” (starring John Rhys-Davies).

Treasure Island is also among the nominated audio dramas.

Rachel McAdams is nominated for Best Female narrator for “Anne of Green Gables.”  (Does her red hair make her sounder redder?)

Both Kenneth Branagh and Stephen Fry are up for Best Male narrators for “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Sherlock Holmes” (respectively).

Martin Sheen narrated “The Home Front” and Phylicia Rashad narrated “My Life, My Love, My Legacy” –they are nominated for Best History.

“Captain Bayley’s Heir” (Heirloom Audio Productions) is another audio drama, nominated for Faith Based productions.

Another Christian fiction title is “Catching the Wind,” by Melanie Dobson.

For classics lovers, “Daisy Miller” (Henry James) and “Phineas Finn” (Anthony Trollope) are nominated.

I just noticed that Johnny Heller is being nominated for his part in “Wedgie & Gizmo”.  I had the privilege of seeing him and his wife in person, and asking a few questions.  (I’m name-dropping now; I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t know me from Adam.)

Oh yeah– and let’s not forget Scott Brick. 😉

Have you listened to any of these?  Feel free to provide reviews!

 

 

 

Scott Brick videos

Hi, there!  Quick post tonight about one of my favorite audiobook voice over talents: Scott Brick.  The reason why I hold him in high storyteller esteem is because he, Pat Fraley, and Hilary Huber have conjointly perfected many of the techniques behind the creation of audiobooks.  Not only is he easy and interesting to listen to, he just downright knows how to tell a story and do it well.  If you have listened to at least 5 audiobooks, chances are he’s probably narrated at least one of them.  I think his current tally is 600+.

Recently I’ve become addicted to the youtube channel VO Buzz Weekly.  Scott Brick was the featured guest on one of their episodes, which I am sharing here for those interested:

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS (stories)!

I hope everyone has themselves a merry little Christmas!  It doesn’t have to big, it doesn’t have to bright, it doesn’t have to be loud.  But I do hope it is merry, and that we ponder it in our hearts.

Chris Fabry did a recent program with past recordings of Christmas stories narrated by Mike Kellogg.  I thought I’d post it here for us to enjoy together.

 

Friends & Books

I recently watched an interesting documentary and wanted to quickly recommend it to you.  But first, a little backstory…

I bumped into someone I knew last Sunday evening and we got to talking on the subject of books.  I had happened to like the past year’s women’s book club our church held this summer; she had not been so enthused over it.  But she told me about a really good book she had finished that had her gushing.  It was called “And Ladies of the Club,” by Helen Hooven Santmyer, a book that had taken the author all of her life to write.  Apparently, it is a fictionalized account of a women’s book club spanning several decades.

Later this week, I decorated our Christmas tree.  This may sound abnormal, but for the last three years I’ve made a tradition of finding time to watch documentaries as I decorate.  It used to be traditional Christmas music, but seeing as how I am very particular and take many hours (or sometimes days) just trim our tree, the music gets annoying very quickly.  So documentaries it is…  While browsing my library’s hoopla (a new resource and worth checking to see if your library has it or something similar), I stumbled across a film simply called, “Book Club.”  It happened to be the true life story of a group of dear women who had formed a book club early on in their young, married lives as a way to improve their minds.  As the years passed, their club continued as new members arrived and others moved on.  But always a core membership remained.

It was such an interesting story, and ironically reminded me of the book my acquaintance told me about (although the two are unrelated, as far as I know).  A few things struck me about the documentary.  I noticed was that when the film showed clips of the women reading passages from their favorite selections they read clearly, smoothly, and comprehendingly.  Not choppy, disjointed, with ignorant pronunciation.  This is because they had lifetimes of practiced skill.  These ladies were well into their 80’s, and admittedly did not read as intellectually deep as they formerly had.  Yet, they were still reading literary fiction, memoirs, and other books of depth.  I believe this is because once their minds were used to quality reading, even at an old age they could not develop a taste for anything as fluffy as “Amish fiction” [yes, I’m ranting again!].  Comment was made on a few members’ determination to read books on self-improvement, though it may not make sense to the world at large why ladies of such an age would be.  But the results were evident in that the women had a large love for life and many interests.  It was not born overnight; their zest was began many years ago when they were still young.  They had felt worn out, underappreciated, maybe a bit isolated at a time when many women did not work, the world was at war, and they had babies and husbands to take care of.  But they deemed friendship and reading in community to be important enough to make the time and effort, and many emphasized that those things meant more to them than the books themselves.

It was interesting to hear of their different backgrounds, perspectives, and education.  Not all of them were the reverent or pious grandmother you may expect, and in a way it was sad some of them obviously did not have the joy of Jesus Christ in their life.  But part of a book club means learning from others that do not hold the same views as ourselves, I am learning.  I hope you will become curious and inspired by watching “Book Club” just as I was!

 

Words & Music: ~Clouds~

I hope everyone has had a profitable day!  I did, but it was also hot and exhausting and a lot of things didn’t go very well.  But nothing a little ice cream didn’t fix, and then I turned on BBC Radio 3’s program “Words and Music” where they did an episode dedicated to the theme of Clouds.  What a relaxing, soothing way to spend an evening!  I really hope you get a chance to listen to it before it expires.  You’ll enjoy music from Ralph Vaughan Williams and Perry Como, and narrators Simon Russell Beale and Adjoa Andoh read pieces (mainly poetry) from Emily Dickinson and Wordsworth.  I particularly enjoyed “Cloudburst,” by Eric Whitacre, Claude Debussy, and a poem called “Clouds,” by William Sharp.  Some parts of this program could bring one to tears, it is so heavenly and featherlight…

 

Ocean theme on “Words & Music”

I’ve just finished listening to one of the most enjoyable programs I’ve listened to yet from BBC Radio 3’s “Words & Music” program.  Entitled “Life’s a Wave”, all pieces of poetry, prose, and music have been selected to fit a sea-faring theme.  Although some parts of it are a little dark, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the voices of Lesley Sharp and John Shrapnel (both new discoveries for me).  I loved the quiet sounds Sharp’s voice made of the words no matter their meaning, and Shrapnel had such a burly, deck-scrubbed timbre that he made even “Moby Dick” sound fascinating!

Unfortunately, I waited a bit late to listen to it and pass it on, so there are only a dozen or so remaining days to listen.