Because, ooh, that sounds good right now is reason enough to go off my reading challenges. I'm really beginning to wish that hadn't set so many challenges; I thought it would be fine since they are quite flexible, but it feels restricting. Next year, I'll have fewer.
These are extra books that I squeezed in around my reading challenges this past spring and summer.
Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie. Audiobook narration by Dan Stevens.
I've seen multiple movie versions of this, but I've never read it. I've looked for it in libraries a couple of times, but it's never there when I want it. I saw the e-audio on a list of celebrity readers when I was scanning for a voice I like.
The narration was good. Lots of accents. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I'd forgotten what a sad story the original crime is. I knew the ending, so if I hadn't, that would have made it better. (This is why I try to read the book first.) I know that Poirot is really popular, but I've always been more of a Marple fan.
I'm not going to go into the plot because it's such a popular book that many people have already read it, and you don't want to know too much going in.
China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan. Audiobook narration by Lydia Look. When I read Crazy Rich Asians, I knew that I wanted to listen to the next book on audio. I was curious about the Chinese words that I don't have any idea how to pronounce, and it described all these different accents that I wanted to hear.
This sequel lived up to the first book, and I really liked the first one. Some of the descriptions of lavish spending put me off, but I enjoy judging rich people, so that's OK. It honestly made me feel better about being poor.
This one has another big wedding and a long trip to China for Nicholas and Rachel. Nicholas's cousin Astrid is in the book as well as new characters. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one. I haven't moved on to the third one yet, but I probably will. *Bookshop doesn't have a direct link to the audiobook, but it links out to a site called Libro.fm. Of course, you can always check your library first :)
The Heiress: the Revelations of Anne deBourgh, Molly Greeley. I got this because I read Greeley's The Clergyman's Wife earlier in the year and really loved it. I didn't like this one as well, but it's definitely worth a read.
Anne's illness is never explained in Pride and Prejudice, which I never thought anything of because there were probably lots of invalids back then that the doctors didn't know what to do with. And I thought maybe she was just sick of living with Lady Catherine. But in this book, her illness is explained. Her father tries to help her, but the treatment is almost as bad as the cure, and her mother won't have it. No one will cross Lady Catherine, so no one knows how to help Anne.
Anne has visits from her cousins and gets a governess and loses her father. ***BIG SPOILERS*** She develops a crush on her governess, who leaves not long afterwards. Even though the governess left, she had really cared about Anne's mind and development, and she planted a seed that gave Anne the courage to try for a cure. She also meets someone else and they form a relationship. I was worried all along that they'd get caught and her girlfriend would end up in jail or the madhouse and that ruined a pretty big part of the book for me, but don't worry, it doesn't happen. ***/SPOILERS***
I've already started my scary books- can't wait for October- so I'll have another post of scaries for next month.
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