Valentine’s Day is approaching, bringing thoughts of relationships. While mystery series are filled with threats and death, they keep us coming back because of the relationships between the characters we’ve come to love. Read more…
Did you know that September is California Wine Month? If you’re lucky enough to live in California or have vacation time, you’ll be able to participate in special festivals, tastings, and tours hosted by the state’s vintners and growers. Late summer into early fall is also harvest time, so there’s lots of activity in the vineyards and wineries, and local restaurants and towns will be celebrating all things wine.
Can’t hop on a plane to California? Neither can I, but we can still participate in the celebrations wherever we live. My plan is to listen to a good audiobook set in the California wine world. I may, however, have to pour a glass of Napa Valley Cab to enhance the mood. Cheers and enjoy! Read more…
Today marks the official first day of summer — what better day to share our summer audiobook listening recommendations? AudioFile happens to be located in Maine, aka Vacationland (that’s our beautiful coastline above), so we know how to do summer! Our staff picks include fiction, nonfiction, and family audiobook recommendations for all of your road trips, camp-outs, evening strolls, and long weekends. Read more…
Soldiers lunged muddy, exhausted, and wide-eyed across our kitchen table most evenings when I was a teenager. It was the Vietnam War, in all its fear and confusion, playing in black-and-white on the nightly news. I wish we’d had Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward’s audiobook, THE VIETNAM WAR: AN INTIMATE HISTORY, to support our viewing, as it’s every bit as informative and wide-ranging as their recent PBS documentary. Though the audiobook is abridged, Burns won an Earphones Award for his clear and serious narration, which helped me concentrate on the hard story without turning away.
You see, in 1969, while waiting for my ride outside the San Francisco airport, I did look away when a soldier dropped a bulging duffle at his feet, and said, “I’m just back from Vietnam.” Such were my muddled emotions that to my eternal regret, I couldn’t even manage a “Welcome home.” Between them, Steve Sheinkin’s MOST DANGEROUS: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM WAR, read by Ray Porter, and Howard Means’s 67 SHOTS: KENT STATE AND THE END OF AMERICAN INNOCENCE, read by Alan Sklar, help explain the mess we were in during those tumultuous times. They don’t absolve my rudeness to that soldier, but they put my reaction in context. Read more…
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