Freakonomics

A few months ago Donna mentioned Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's book, Freakonomics. I'd seen the book at the library - I even checked it out, but returned it without reading it because I had no time and other books seemed more interesting.

But Donna encouraged me to give it a try, and when I saw the audio book for sale at the library for fifty cents, I decided to listen to it.

This revised and expanded version is 8 hours long, and is read by one of the authors, Stephen J. Dubner. I listened to it in the car during the month of September. Several times, I had passengers with me who, although they thought they'd be bored to sleep listening to a book on economics, listened with fascination and without complaint.

Steven D. Levitt's studies in economics are not typical. He is mainly interested in lying, cheating, and crime. In this book I learned about cheating teachers, how real-estate agents take care of their best interests, the structure of drug gangs, how child-rearing experts work, what effect the legalization of abortion had on violent crime, how one's name can affect his success in life, and more.

This is not like the other economics books we have, but I think it's a "keeper."

Gambit

Gambit by Rex Stout is a Nero Wolfe mystery involving a murdered chess champion, the man who admitted to serving the victim a poisoned hot chocolate drink, and the alleged murderer's daughter, who believes without question that her father is innocent.

I listened to this audio book while working on an intricate piece of needlework, and the turns and twists in the mystery made it the perfect accompaniment to my work. Also, it was a nice, "clean" book - my children could have listened to it with me.

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Steve and I listened to this last week as we drove to Florida and back. We are just starting to venture into buying audio books, rather than checking them out of the library. This book is only the fourth one we've bought, and we enjoyed it and will keep it.

I think we're very picky about the voice of the reader when we listen to audio books, and that, plus the price, has made us hesitant to purchase books on CD in the past. This reader's voice was well-suited to the story (the reader was Lisette Lecat, a South African) and because I had read the book several years ago, I knew we'd like the plot.

It was pleasant to listen to the book with Steve and hear his reactions. I'd forgotten how slow and sometimes confusing is this first book in the series by Alexander McCall Smith. He really sets the groundwork in setting and characters in this book. I think the rest (except for The Full Cupboard of Life) were all better, but it still was good enough to "reread" again.

Under Orders

Last week as we drove to Florida and back I listened to the latest book by Dick Francis. The trip wasn't long enough for me to finish the audiobook, so I checked it out of the library as soon as we got home and read it to the end.

I wish Grandmother was still alive. She loved anything by Dick Francis and read all his books numerous times. When I saw this book in the bookstore I immediately thought of her and how pleased she would have been to have a new book of his. Because Grandmother did not like "racy" books - in the sense of "risque, " no pun intended! - I imagined that this would be good, clean, family-listening. Unfortunately, there were some vulgar words and an adulterous relationship in the story, so I didn't think it fit for our ears in parts. I wonder if all his books are that way?

The mystery - the violent death of a jockey after a race - was a well-tangled puzzle, and though I was able to partially figure it out before the end, the solution was satisfactory and a surprise. Because I am not a horse-lover, nor a racing fan, I was pleasantly amazed to find how much I enjoyed the book - both in audio and in print form. I'll be reading more of Francis's novels in the future.

Thirteen Moons

On Monday I listened to this audiobook for eleven hours as I drove from Virginia to Alabama. I had checked the book out of the library before I went on my trip, so I switched from audio to paper when I got home and finished the book reading it instead of listening to it.

I really liked it. I'm glad I bought the audiobook, glad I checked the regular book out of the library, and am contemplating buying the book to keep and re-read sometime.

I don't know that I'd have read it if I had not begun by listening to it. I'm very particular about audiobooks as a rule, and usually will not listen to them. However, Will Patton's voice was perfect for this story, and I was a captive audience with 750 miles to fill. I'd listened to 2/3's of the book by the time I got home and started on the paper copy. By then I had to find out what the ending would be. But at the same time, that ending was coming at me too fast. I began slowing down, absently measuring the amount of story left with my fingers as I read - now only an inch left, then 3/4's of an inch, then 1/8 of an inch, then the final pages.

Usually I avoid Southern fiction. I'm a Southerner, and I know the people and the places, the freaks and the misfits that much of Southern fiction depicts. I'm not that crazy at seeing the weirdness paraded about, nor the ho-hum "we are here in the South doing nothing but living and scratching our hound-dog, Ol' Blue, occasionally." Frazier told a good story about Will, from his childhood as an orphan "bound out" to act as shop-keeper at a frontier outpost during the early years of the U.S., to his last days as an old man during Reconstruction.

The stories within stories were entertaining, and the main story was neither outlandish nor soporific (although a cranky reviewer at the Washington Post would disagree with me - Jonathan Yardley did not like this book - and I got a kick out of his review!) Now I rather wish I'd listened to the entire audiobook - Will Patton's reading was that good. Maybe someday I'll listen to the entire book, but until then I'm savoring this one as the most satisfactory read I've had since The Thirteenth Tale, although the two books are nothing alike.