This week has been a busy one for the Juniper Moon crew. Paige and Erin are frantically packing up the last of the Spring 09 Shares for shipment; we hope to have the last of them out the door by Friday! I’ve dyeing new colorways for the shop, catching up on my chronically full email inbox, helping with retail shipping and working with Miss Lucy. Every minute has been accounted for at least once if not twice this week and we haven’t even started decorating for our Solstice Party on the 19th yet!
On Sunday I am flying down to Fort Worth to see my mom and sister and driving back in my sister’s car. Carrie just got an amazing job in Denmark! We are so proud of her but I am going to miss her fiercely. She’ll be starting at the beginning of January which is practically tomorrow. Since she won’t be needing a car here, I’m buying her’s to replace Chuck, my truck.
I’m really sad about losing Chuck but we’ve had five years together and it’s time. I leased the truck and really wanted to buy it out of the lease, but Toyota and I have vastly different ideas about what a five-year-old farm truck is worth, so I’m turning him in this weekend.
I am looking for some audio book recommendations for my drive from Fort Worth to Virginia next week. I usually like to download a couple of options, at least one of which is non-fiction, for a looooong drive like this one. Got any favorites? Post ‘em here for me.
In other news, our Yarnstorming Project is still going great guns and we have loads of yarn to send out to knitters in need but we are in need of donations for shipping expenses. If you’d like to help please send your contribution via paypal to program coordinator Nancy P at yarnstorming99@gmail.com. Any amount you can spare is greatly appreciated! Also, be sure to join our Yarnstorming Group on ravelry.
More news tomorrow! I’ve got to get back to the dye pots.
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I loved the audiobook of Sarah Waters’s The Night Watch, although there are a few tear-jerker parts where you might have to pull over.
I usually stick with all of the podcasts of This American Life. You can get them on iTunes for free, and they’re good.. varied subjects, anecdotal, short, etc.
i am an avid audio-bookphile…
i recommend PILLARS OF THE EARTH by KEN FOLLETT. prolly in my top 10, and i have read thousands of books. it will keep you busy for MANY hours, its a huge one. it is an historical fiction (which i dont usually love) and it was so awesome i listened very slowly at the end so it i could keep it going longer. there is a follow up to this wonderful story WORLD WITHOUT END, also a nice fat, keep ya busy tale. it took him almost 20 years to get around to it, but it was worth every word.
have a wonderful drive!
Just listened to “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” on the ride home to Ohio from Florida. I’ve read the book a few times, but the author reads the audio version and I get a better picture of what she’s talking about. If you haven’t read/heard The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I highly recommend it. The hours will fly by with both books.
What is Carrie doing in Denmark? I have tons of relatives there, seriously. My mother was Danish and I have about 20 first cousins over there!
Love, love, love the Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. The language of the book is beautiful spoken out loud and I particularly like the narrator.
I am hoping there is a yarn share being shipped off to my sister in law. I gifted her a share and she was just asking me when it would arrive. Can’t wait for her to have hand raised, home grown yarn.
Happy travels,
Melanie
I recommend “Clan of the Cave Bear” by Jean Auel… if you love book #1, you could do the whole series, which ended up to be 125 CD’s (took me a summer of commuting) but I really loved it!
Woohoo!!! Major congrats to Carrie! What an exciting time for her.
Conratulations, Carrie!!!! I’m so happy for you–and they are so lucky to get you. Best of everything to you!!
Susie, you could listen to the Twilight novels–I’ve checked out the audio books from my local library and downloaded them to my iPod–Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse . . . you’d have plenty to “read” all the way back to VA. I’d let you take my best road buddy, Mac (my sweet Westie boy), but I can’t do without him!
I’ve gotten a subscription to http://www.audible.com RIght now I’m listening to Moby Dick (the one narrated by Anthony Heald)! There are many available, and you can listen to a few minutes of each, to pick your favorite reader. I didn’t realize that there are funny bits! And jokes! The reader is almost as good as annotation, you “get” things when you hear this book that you don’t when you read it! Shiver is also good, read by a male and female, a teen aged werewolf romance. It’s not very expensive for what you get. I recently listened to a lot of L.M.Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott books from http://www.librivox.com That is free, it’s all public domain stuff.
I’d recommend either The Partly Cloudy Patriot or Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Non-fiction, a bit nerdy but so, so funny you will totally laugh out loud while driving alone in the car
The podcasts from The Moth – live storytelling. Some fantastic stories there. And the Series of Unfortunate Events, especially the last several episodes which are read by Tim Curry. Brilliant.
I just finished listening to “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett and loved it. I laughed, I cried, …
I suggest Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Settings include a couple of farms (!) and a mountain outpost near the farms. Three intertwined stories – it’s wonderful! Also, the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. British Egyptologists around the turn of the century – the reader is amazing! And the characters are great. Plus, there are a bunch of books, each with about 10-12 CDs.
Garlic and Sapphires, written by Ruth Reichl, recounts her time as restaurant critic for the New York Times. Very entertaining. Highly recommend it (her other books, as well).
“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shafer and Annie Barrows – excellent!
Also, “Tall Grass”, and “Prayers for sale” by Sandra Dallas – she writes about times forgotten.
“The Lace Reader” by Brunonia Barry – very different, takes place in Salem, MA.
Dan Brown – “DaVinci Code”, “Angels and Demons” and the new one “The Lost Symbol” – great reads (listens).
Safe Travels!!
“the olive farm” by carol dirnkwater. it is a great story that i listened to on my way to SQUAM. i think that you would appreciate her story given that you are also following a dream.
have a safe trip.
sorry i was a little too fast with the fingers… that should have been carol drinkwater. here is the link to her site.
http://www.caroldrinkwater.com/pages/books/the_olive_farm.htm
i listened to michael pollan’s ‘the omnivore’s dilemma’ on audiobook, which prompted my current need to have a farm of my own. but you’ve probably already read that.
i’m currently reading ‘the great bridge’ by david mccullough, which is about the building of the brooklyn bridge. it’s incredibly fascinating. and very long.
I third the recommendation for the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society; and I second the recommendation for The Help. Also, if you want something thought provoking and non-fiction, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell is fabulous. I’m half way through his What the Dog Saw (a collection of essays) and they are wonderful too). Have fun!
“The Thirteenth Tale” by Diane Setterfield, a fiction, was a wonderful novel to listen to. It is also a long one and most definitely kept me engaged the whole time. Also, for long trips, we like to listen to episodes of “This American Life”. Each episode is an hour long and I’m always surprised by how quickly the times passes while listening to them. Have a good trip!
Nonfiction – The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, amazing and moving stories of struggle, devastation and renewal when a large swathe of our country became known as the Dust Bowl. Read by the author.
I second recommendations of Assasination Vacation, This American Life and The Moth – particularly the latter as their archives offer hours & hours of material covering a variety of subjects.
Did you see the Best of lists in the NYT book review last Sunday?
I recommend “Eat, Pray, Love”. A memoir of a woman’s journey to wholeness through pasta. and other things.
I love Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick as a non-fiction. For fiction The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is excellent and he narrates brilliantly.
Now that you are deep in Civil War territory, try Shelby Foote’s *The Civil War*. It’s engrossing. I also love David McCullough’s *Mornings on Horseback*, a bio of Teddy Roosevelt’s youth — not sure if it’s available as an audiobook, though. And I’m with annie: anything by Sarah Vowell is good.
I’m listening to “Hotel at the Corner of Bitter & Sweet” – set in San Francisco and flips between modern day and 1942. A Chinese boy makes friends with a Japanese girl, she is being shipped of to an internment camp…pretty good story! Not a romance per se just a fine bit of fiction.
I ALWAYS recommend “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” by Stephen King but not his standard…I don’t like scary, horror stories but this is a great tale, excellent to listen to, you won’t want to stop for a potty break!!
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I listen to this one over and over and over.
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The Harry Potter books on tape are also REALLY good. And I also agree about Twilight! Don’t judge the series based on the silly girls and the crazy media junk – the story is really good. You won’t be able to “put it down”.
Have you read any of the Janet Evanovich books? She has the Stephanie Plum series which goes up to #15. They are very funny!!!! You could download the first few to get you started.
I’ll add another vote for Prodigal Summer; it is read by the author and she does a fabulous job. Also, The March, by E.L. Doctorow was a good audiobook. And, if you like mysteries, the Tony Hillerman books are always fun and interesting.
Someone else mentioned The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – it’s a great listen too!!
Harry Potter audiobooks are fantastic – and they’re nice and long, since they’re unabridged. Make sure it’s Tim Dale reading… he’s fantastic (he won awards for his readings of the HP series).
I agree with others that the Guernsey Potato book is a lot of fun, but its not very long.
I also loved Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer, but would be surprised if you hadn’t read it already. If you haven’t, it is magical. I haven’t yet read her next one – nonfiction, about a year in her family’s life of living off the grid – but it sounds promising. She also has a new novel out, though I can’t remember the title.
Also bet you’ve read Eat Pray Love, but if not that’s a great audiobook – read by the author, with a perfect blend of wit and emotion. She would be right at home with this crowd!
I’ve also been meaning to read Michael Pollan’s earlier book, The Botany of Desire, which I’ve heard a lot about.
Have you read The Known World by Edward P. Jones? Amazing historical novel, won the Pulitzer, very rooted in Virginia history.
Ok, enough from me….
You should get John Hodgman’s More Information Than You Require.
Ooops – please add my congrats to others best wishes to Carrie – we chatted a bit about the job prospect during the Shearing shindig – it was clear she really hoped it would word out. So please for her.
Congrats to Carrie! I’m sorry she’ll be so far from you, but on the other hand, you now have a cool new place to visit.
Kevin Kling is a great storyteller from Minnesota. I think of him as sort of the Garrison Keillor of my generation. http://www.kevinkling.com/ You can get him on itunes. Great drive time stories.
Podcasts of The Story from NPR is always good company: http://thestory.org/
Suggestions from a long time book listener:
1. anything by Bill Bryson (my personal favorites: In a Sunburned Country and I’m a Stranger Here Myself)
2. anything by Tracy Kidder
3. Here if You Need Me (Kate Braestrup)
4. anything by David Sedaris
5. anything by Ivan Doig
6. Stiff (Mary Roach) – grossed out some people – I found it fascinating
7. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (Alexandra Fuller)
8. Blessings (Anna Quindlan)
9. If you like historical fiction, I like the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon and my mom likes everything by Dorothy Dunnett.
Have a fun time in my birth city and enjoy the drive home.
Colby
You’ve lots of great suggestions here but not one mention of David Sedaris! I’m currently listening to his When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Laugh out loud funny. He’s wonderfully snarky, funny, a little bit mean, a little bit naughty but his observations and internal dialogue are so funny. Time flies when I listen to his books.
Remembered one more – The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss.
Not really about horses, it takes place in Oregon during World War I and is about how people got by on nothing and by neighbor helping neighbor.
I second The Hearts of Horses. Very unusual read, but don’t know how it would come across on tape.
The most amazing piece of fiction I’ve “read” on tape is The Book Thief. You’d never imagine how good it is until you try it. The narrator is Death. It’s hard and funny and incredibly imaginative.
Have a safe and fun road trip!
Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” should fill the non-fiction bill. It’s stuff I do not think I could have gotten through on the printed page, but as he reads it, it moves right along and is quite fascinating.
Safe travel.
I see you have a ton of suggestions.. and my suggestions are already here so I won’t repeat..but wow I am glad you asked as now we all have a great source of ideas for the audio books…yea! Hurray for Carrie…what will she be doing.. My friends in Tazmania grew up with the Crown Princess Mary (Donaldson) who married the Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark.. I, too, have friends over in Denmark because of this relationship. Anyways, have fun back in Texas and safe travels back here to Virginia. I leave for Montana on the 21st until the 6th of Jan! Bozeman, Big Sky area of MT! Can’t wait. They have lots of snow and I will have lots of time to knit. Be safe.
If you like a good mystery and a little bit of the weird, try The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, I listened to it over the summer and enjoyed it immensely.
I just listened to All the President’s Men. I know how it comes out, of course, but it still had me gripped and wanting more. A real mystery with twists and turns.
I love The Night Watch, and Pillars of the Earth and Clan of the Cave Bear, and, and, love the readers’ comments.
Congratulations, Carrie!!!
I second anything by Barbara Kingsolver – she has a new one out Lacuna, I think that I’m sure will be wonderful. As far as non-fiction goes, I highly recommend anything by Jared Diamond or Malcolm Gladwell. They are entertaining non-fiction while also being really interesting and great for conversation topics.
Drive safely!
I’m listening to Jay McInerny’s collection of short stories called Where it Ended. The reader is really awesome, as are the stories. Have fun!
I second Pillars of the Earth & World Without End by Ken Follett. I’ve listened to both at least 2 times each. (I am in my car 2 hours, 6 days a week so I go through audiobooks quick!) also the Oulander series by Diana Gabaldon.
I also enjoy Anne Perry for mysteries, James Rollins (similar to Tom Clancy but easier to keep track of scene changes), Laurie King (a series about Sherlock Holmes in his later years when he meets a brilliant young woman & they have delightful adventures), and two books by Kate Mosse – Labyrinth & Sepulchre (these have also been worthy of a second & third listen for me). There is also a series that starts with At Home In Mitford, by Jan Karon, about a 50year old bachelor minister in a quiet town in North Carolina & the crazy, charming, endearing things that happen to him. The first one was a freebie (or nearly so) from Audible a long time ago & I didn’t think I’d like it, but I hated to get out of the car & stop listening. It has a James Herriott feel to it.
happy driving & please tell us what you ended up listening to. I always prefer getting peoples recommendations to just following along with what the best sellers lists are telling me. There are alot of gems out there!