#17 How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

I've been hearing about How to Win Friends and Influence People for years. I finally listened to the book last week.

There is nothing really magical about the information in HTWFAIP. It's all common sense advice followed up by anecdotes that are mildly entertaining. To be honest, there is a very small amount of information in the book - most of it is anecdotes used to substantiate the maxims.

Read it just because it's one of those books you should read. I'm glad I read it, but just barely.

8 hours 30 minutes

#16 Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi is a story about an Indian boy's adventures.

The first part of this book deals extensively with religion and is actually pretty dull. It is strange, because the rest of the book does not seem to need the first part of the book at all. The editor, if there was one, could have left this on the cutting room floor.

I was really turned off after the first hour or so of Life of Pi....I only continued to listen because it was the only audiobook I currently had.

Life of Pi then shifted gears and had me hooked. The shipwreck, castaway, and the rest of the book in general are fantastic. I do not want to give too much of this book away - I want you to read/listen to it!

This is a story of love, loss, courage, fear, hopelessness and salvation. You will like it.

11 hours.

Procuring free audiobooks

I'm a member of simplyaudiobooks.com - I can have two audiobooks out at a time. Sometimes, when the books are short, I find myself without an audio book for a day or two. This is unsatisfactory.

I used to download free audiobooks at http://www.librivox.org

Librivox is a great service. The best thing about librivox is that the audiobooks are free. The worst thing about librivox is that the audiobooks are free. I've listened to several books that were read by extremely talented readers using high quality recording equipment. I've also listened, or started to listen to audiobooks read by readers with speech impediments or severe regional accents that are either hard to understand or unbearable to listen to. When you are trying to listen to an audiobook, bad reading makes it impossible.

There are still other books where a different reader takes over from chapter to chapter. These are really hard, as you tend to get used to the way a reader reads a certain character. When ten different readers read the book, there is no continuity.

I found an excellent place for free audiobooks - iTunes. (DUH)

In iTunes, go to Podcasts - AudioPodcasts - Literature

There are a lot of classics, all read by professional readers. There's are also a selection of modern fiction books.

I've also found this list a good resource:

http://www.openculture.com/2006/10/audio_book_podc.html

#14 Bleachers by John Grisham

I've liked every John Grisham book I've read, and I've read most of them. I even liked his non-lawyer fiction novel, A Painted House.

Bleachers was not enjoyable for me. The story was downright boring, and the characters were not very well developed.

I can sum the book up in a sentence: Tough ol' ball coach was loved by his players, and his players experienced equal doses of hate and love for him. There, that's it.

John Grisham, who read the audiobook, has a voice made for writing, not reading, books.

Don't waste your time on this one.

4 hours

#13 - King of Torts by J ohn Grisham

John Grisham novels have always been my guilty pleasure. His books are not literary masterpieces by any stretch. What they are: easy to read, fast moving, and extremely entertaining.

King of Torts is no different. It is very similar to one of Grisham's first books, The Firm. Fledgling lawyer becomes the hottest class action lawsuit litigator almost overnight. The star of the book, Clay Carter, leaves many of his morals and ideals behind as his fame and fortune pile up.

King of Torts is a gripping tale - perfect for an audiobook. Extremely easy to follow and it is really just a fun book. Highly recommended.

6 hours. (abridged versrion)

#12 Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein

Robert Heinlein is my favorite author - I've read nearly everything by him. I hadn't read this book up to this point. I'm glad this isn't the first Heinlein book I read, because it would have been my last.

The middle of the book drags on and on, not really accomplishing anything. The morality of the book, similar to Stranger in a Strange Land and a few other Heinlein novels, is all about communal living, multiple husbands/wives and sexual partners. It also encourages an atheistic at worst, and agnostic at best worldview. The book spends around 3 hours on the romance between Lazarus Long and his own mother - after Lazarus Long goes back in time to meet his family.

I don't have to share the same morality, politics, or religous views as the author. I have disagreed with Heinlein many times before, but the writing and the story were good enough to entertain me thoroughly. This time, the story is not entertaining.

The reading of the audiobook is horrid also. The voice talent changes voices for each character, and the dialog sounds really...overly syrupy and gushy, to put it nicely. Not that the reader had much to work with.

25 hours 52 minutes

#11 Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson

A good book about an amazing man. Benjamin Franklin was a printer, writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, statesman and a key founding father of the United States of America. He helped write the Declaration of Independence and negotiated the peace that resulted in the end of the Revolutionary War and the recognization by England of the United States as a sovereign entity.

Isaacson's book is entertaining at most points - I recommend it.

6 hours