The town of Twisted River is home to hard logging men and their too few women. There is little education, but there are lots of fights. Dominic Baciagulpo is the cook in the Twisted River’s logging camp. The town is policed by Carl (the cowboy) who is a woman beater and a brute with a Colt 45. The five decades of the novel begin on the last night in Twisted River, when Danny accidentally kills Jane, long time girlfriend of Carl, with whom Danny’s father is having an affair. Danny was awoken in the night by the sounds of Dominic’s and Jane’s lovemaking and in the confusion of the darkness and the night, Danny, when he sees Jane astride Dominic,  mistakes her for a bear and brings her life to a premature end with a heavy skillet. The next five decades are spent hiding from Carl.

Through the period, Dominic’s and Danny’s closest friend Ketchum remains a constant. Ketchum is a bear of a man and a compelling character. Although a simple, tough man of the woods, he is a constant critic of US foreign policy as we travel through the periods of the Vietnam War and the events of 9/11.

As one comes to expect with Irving’s novels, there are many references to other books. Bears seem ever present, as does amputation.

For Arthur Morey’s narration I have nothing but praise. Although each character has his or hers own voice, the reading feels subtle. Ketchum is perhaps the one exception and is rightly played in a larger than life tone. His occasional profane ejaculations are very funny.

This is a novel of characters. As the novel progresses through the twentieth century and the early twenty first century, the listener is carried along through the sometimes small and seemingly insignificant events of a family as they sit alongside the great events of the post second world war America.

THE LOST SYMBOL will once again feature Dan Brown’s unforgettable protagonist, Robert Langdon. Brown’s longtime editor, Jason Kaufman, Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday said, “Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book’s narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan’s readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. THE LOST SYMBOL is full of surprises.”

The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring…. In Coraline’s family’s new flat are twenty-one window and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close, The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own. Only it’s different…. At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom. But there’s another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself. Performed by Neil Gaiman With original music by “The Gothic Archies”.

Of course also are Blackstone’s super range of classics. Titles such as The Count of Monte Cristo on 37 CDs and read by John Lee.  Dracula is available. There are a host of well read titles.

Synopsis:

Cheverell Manor an old house in Dorset is now a private clinic run by the famous plastic surgeon George Chandler-Powell. When journalist Rhoda Gradwyn arrived there one autumn afternoon, scheduled to have a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar removed, she had every expectation of a successful operation and a pleasant week recuperating.

Two days later she was dead, the victim of murder.

To Commander Adam Dalgliesh, who with his team is called in to investigate the case, the mystery at first seems absolute. Few things about it make sense. Yet as the detectives begin probing the lives and backgrounds of those connected with the dead woman—the surgeon, members of the manor staff, close acquaintances—suspects multiply all too rapidly. New confusions arise, including strange historical overtones of madness and a lynching 350 years in the past. Then there is a second murder, and Dalgliesh finds himself confronted by issues even more challenging than innocence or guilt.

P. D. James has gained an enviable reputation for creating detective stories of uncommon depth and intricacy, combined with the sort of humanity and perceptiveness found only in the finest novelists. The Private Patient ranks among her very best.

Exit Music

Ian Rankin often brings world and local events into his novels. In The Naming of the Dead, for example, he set the novel during the G8 summit in Edinburgh. The plot of Exit Music has parallels with the murder in the United Kingdom of Alexander Litvinenko. At the time of the murder, a group of high powered Russian businessmen are in town investigating investment opportunities in Scotland with the Scottish Parliament and senior bankers. The politicians and bankers want the case closed quickly and quietly. Rebus suspects links between the delegation of Russians and the murder and is, as usual, rubbing up his superiors the wrong way. The plot is rich and full of twists and sub-plots. As usual, too, Rankin’s writing takes the reader from the light to the dark. One of the funny sub-plots running through the book is Rebus’s attempts to get hold of signed copies of the poet’s work which he left at his final public reading – to sell on eBay! Meanwhile, Rebus’s nemesis, “Big Ger” Cafferty who seems to be involved with the Russian delegation, has been attacked and hospitalised. Rebus is suspected.

This reviewer confesses to being a huge fan of the Rebus series, having read every one in order. Tom Cotcher’s performance adds much to Rebus’s swansong. Highly recommended.

From Angie Sage we have Magyk for the teenager. For the youngest – and this one is my six year old son’s current favoured bedtime listening we have Araminta Spooky on CD.

Christopher Paolini audio books are HUGE sellers. The Inheritance trilogy was begun at the age of 15. Eragon was originally self published before being traditionally published. Eldest and most recently Brisingr followed.

An evergreen title is a full set of The Chronicles of Narnia on CD. Containing 31 CDs, C. S. Lewis’s complete Narnia works are read by actors such as Kenneth Branagh, Lynn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi and more.

In the only authorised recording of A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories, Peter Dennis reads the Winnie the Pooh Box Set. This audio set includes the ten stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, the ten stories of The House at Pooh Corner, the forty-four poems of When We Were Very Young, and the thirty-five poems of Now We Are Six.

We also have a range of Philip Pullman audio books.

About three things I was absolutely positive:
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him–and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be–that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

“I’D NEVER GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT TO HOW I WOULD DIE– I’d had reason enough in the last few months –but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this. . . . Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of something else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.”
When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret.
What Bella doesn’t realize is the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back. . . .
Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight will have readers riveted right until the very last page is turned.

One story is about an alternative view of America today. Owen Brick wakes up in a dark hole and finds himself in uniform. America is at war with itself and Brick is now a soldier. He gradually discovers that following the flawed 2000 election result, sixteen states have seceded from the Union, tens of thousands have died, there was no Twin Towers event and no war in Iraq.

Brick is told that the reason he has been transported to the parallel America is to assassinate the author of the war; a miserable 72 year old man in a wheelchair who is thinking it up – August Brill. It’s an interesting device that makes the listener think about fiction and authorship. “There are many worlds, and they all run parallel to one another, worlds and anti-worlds, worlds and shadow-worlds, and each world is dreamed or imagined or written by someone in another world. Each world is the creation of a mind.”

Finally his granddaughter comes into his room before dawn and Brill recounts the family history. This is a moving section of the book, as Brill and his granddaughter confront the past. It is a story about how families deal with life’s sorrows and the ugliness sometimes present in the world.

Auster reads the tale without much differentiation between the characters, but his deep & clear enunciation is rhythmic and soothing. It is always interesting to hear an author read his own work as emphasis and pauses are of course as the author intended.