Noctuary's auditory hallucinations

Got your attention? Good. Let's start on a high note. What I liked about this audiobook. One, it was super quick. 6.5 hours. I busted through this in 2 days I believe. It was a fun listen. If you want zombie apocalypse and nothing but...well this is the audiobook for you! Not big on background details. It pretty much jumps right into ZOMBIES!!! It gave you that panic feeling of just reading and getting settled and ZOMBIES! Yup. That's what this book was about. I also liked that it was different in that it was one guy's journey really. No multiple stories. Which is good, don't get me wrong. But when you only have 6.5 hours, it's good to stick to one character. The narrator was awesome doing male voices. 

It's 4:40am when I got up to turn on my laptop to write this review. I have been awake for the last 3 hours listening to the end of this audiobook. Unable to move from my darkened room. Tossing and turning. Grimacing into the darkness. Stephen King has stated this is one of the scariest books he's ever read. I believe him. 

And apparently I can't sleep. Because you know..the prions. It's always about the prions. Let me start by saying this. I have insomnia. And this is the third book in months I've picked up about sleeping issues. These prions are serious business, man. Just pick up Charlie Huston's Sleepless for a good night's sleep! Anyways. This was a fun read. And quick! I listened to it in about 2 days I guess. I could NOT put it down. Where to start? 2012! Mayan prophecy! Prion's disease! Epidemics! Medical who done it! And the Dan Brown school of lost symbols and ancient words. All rolled up into one juicy end of the world shenanigans. As you can see I thought this book was a hoot. And it's all based on Los Angeles, my home town! The premise is a little short on fact facts. Like yeah I can get to Guatemala from LA just by making a drive to the ocean. Getting a boat. Paying some dudes a fee and all while the USA is quarantined. Like. Just like that. But over look that. Like I said it's a fun roller coaster. Especially when you read it after 2012. The characters are a bit one sided and a bit on the shallow end. But that's because they aren't wasting time with back stories. We just want you to get the scoop right away! No building up and bored learning about your character's 'motivation'. 

So I finally finished this audiobook yesterday. And I had to let it sit with me a day before deciding to post my review. Funny thing about this book. I picked it up earlier in the year. Maybe even last December. I got through one hour and had to ditch it. It was just too damn wordy. Every sentence was like a study in thesaurus 101. How many ways can I use another word for food, air, car etc. I'm a very sparse kind of girl. I read that way, I listen that way, hell I talk that way and most importantly I write that way (poetry wise, that is) I follow the NIN school of writing. 

*takes deep breath. Let's do this, shall we? First, I adore Jonathan Maberry. Like he's is mah hero. I loved everything about this audiobook. First let's start with the story. It gives you vignettes of people you think you won't care about. And then slowly and gently he works them into your sphere of auditory world. And suddenly you can't let these people go. The characters were real. Even though they could come off sounding cliche and one dimensional, they didn't. The female protagonist is inspiring. She's flawed. She's complex. She's fucking bat shit crazy to be honest. And I just wanted to be her. She felt so real. A strong woman without being a Wonder Woman. I digress to go to one of my fave poet Marge Piercy. And I quote 'A strong woman is a woman strongly afraid'. That's what makes this audiobook such a personal and emotional experience. And as far as zombie stories go, this one is horrifying. Why? Because this isn't some 2025 futuristic movie. It's now and it could be any small town USA. And I could be Desdemona Fox. 

A man dreams he is a butterfly. And in that dream has no memory of ever being a man. The man awakes. Remembering he had a dream of being a butterfly. Is the man dreaming of being a butterfly or is the butterfly dreaming of being a man? That is the crux of this oh so amazing gem of an audiobook. Let's start with narration. I usually ditch English accents for a variety of reasons. They always come off too posh, no emotion, too structural and formal. At first I felt that way about this narrator. But he had a way of being so personal that you felt he was a confidential friend telling you his tale of woe. The characters are well rounded, very believable. The atmosphere is set to a tee. This book is gothic horror/mystery/thriller/suspense/medical who done it/ supernatural. It all starts off very real. And before you know it, the supernatural creepies kick right in. And you are taking it for fact! A beautiful story. Emotional. Critical. Tonight I listened to the last chapter and was blown away. It was definitely worth the long listen. I can tell it's a good audiobook when I try to listen to it in my bed and fall asleep with the headphones one. Having to wake up and re-listen. In fact I will have to listen to this audiobook again to get the goods from the start. I won't give it away! Ssshhhh.

So I have to first say this isn't the first time I've come across this book. This book actually was one of my gateway books into vampire lore. I'm also pretty sure I watched The Last Man, Omega Man etc before I read this book. This edition is I am Legend plus other creepy stories. And those stores are real gems in my opinion. Now I picked this book up last year at the library. And I must admit, I was not as impressed as I was with the audiobook. And that's due to narration. Robertson Dean is THE MAN! I mean this guy can make a book a movie in your mind's eye. I had to google this guy just to see if he was indeed a man from the 50s era. He's not. I'm blown away. Listening to this man read poetic (as Matheson is known to really pull no punches in the emotionalism of a sentence) he is nothing short of a one man show. He can pull a dramatization without coming off corny or cheesy. Seriously, this review is more about him then the stories. The stories are amazing, we all know that. And they still hold up in this modern world. But do yourself a favor and listen to this guy's narration. Especially in Mad House. 

So after that quick listen to the audiobook about cadavers, I figured some other light reading would do! Yeah, I guess by my book choices you can see where my little black heart lies. I've always been interested in psychology (try reading The Psychiatrist and the Nazis for a fun read) and serial killers. I can remember being a teen and having to lock all my windows because Richard Ramirez was killing in our area. Something about his scooping out your eyes with a spoon! Good times. Anyway, this audiobook was so interesting. It delves right on into the mind of serial killers. What motivates them. what riles them up. Their childhood. Their way of thinking. Their...illnesses. It still leaves you with more questions then answers. Because let's be honest. These people are fucking insane. The very way they think of their victims is chilling in its non humanity. There is no reason. This book holds nothing back. I mean it delves right into the nitty gritty deets of what these killers did to their victims. Many a time I had to pause and clear my head. And many a time I cringed just visualizing the crimes. So as usual, this is about how this audiobook made me feel. It made me feel queezy. But hey, I did not but this audiobook down for a minute! I was hooked. And the narrator was good. At first she had this way of speaking that was exceptionally slow. As if she were reading to esl students. But then I realized this was needed. I needed to have a non committal voice to go with the horrid details of the crimes. Something to sort of balance out the horror so to speak. 

So I picked up this audiobook to supplement the more emotionally charged Robogenesis by Daniel H Wilson. I wasn't planning on just being seriously hooked on this book. But damn, I was! Morbid? Yeah. Extremely informative in a non boring medical way? Yeah. Funny as hell? Yeah! I know with such a dour taboo subject you'd think the author would be some mortuary talking stiff. Oh look, I made a punny! But this book actually comforted me to some extent. Both my parents are deceased. Father when I was just 11. Mother 2 years ago. And ever since my father's death I've been interested in the darker things of life. But this book really opened my eyes to how important a cadaver (a person) can be. I found the narrator to be like a very cool aunt at a funeral. The one that sits in backs and leans in to whisper how she's hungry and hopes all the old people don't die right then and there. Irreverent but not disrespectful. She displays her disgust with human sincerity. It's as if you are right there with her as she goes through the uncomfortable  viewing cadavers and having to talk about them like they were pieces of art. It's a fascinating read. And I wasn't left feeling heavy hearted. I actually felt more comfortable knowing that I have left my body as a medical donor as well. I can't wait for the exciting news that I'm going to have my head cut off and have plastic surgery practiced on it.  I hope I look good. 

So can you believe I picked up another audiobook with the same title as that last The Colony one? Yeah, me neither. Well this one was 100% better. And...a true story! It's about the Leper colony on Molokai island in Hawaii. It spans the about 100 years from 1868 to 1968. A harrowing, often sad, sometimes funny and always interesting story about the people who inhabited this island. I was enthralled into listening to this audiobook. The serious and dour nature of this subject didn't bring down the tone of the audiobook, if you can believe it. These people were inmates, patients,victims and village dwellers all at the same time. Forced to live through deplorable conditions. Pretty much written off to die. But they didn't. Not all of them. They grew together to form a tight knit community and managed to make it through. 

So I just finished up Dead Run by Adam Mansbach. I picked up this audiobook because I was just bored to be honest. Didn't really know what to listen to. It was in my library wishlist of approximately 244 other audiobooks. The premise seemed interesting. A man has to deliver a box of 'something' from one side of the Mexican-American border to the other. There are murders of girls. There are supernatural goings on. There's a young girl. There's a sheriff. Who is killing these girls? What's in the box, as Brad Pitt cried. Who is this Aztec supernatural being and why is he here? What makes the protagonist border carrier so special? And how does all this converge into one great kick ass ending?!There's one hell of an amazing story! The story moves from one point of view to another among many characters who eventually merge together. It's not convoluted, even though it's complicated. What I really love is the Hispanic folk lore that it takes on. A most interesting of stories. The author brings to life the characters of old and young. Of real and otherworldly. There is depth here. There is gore here. There is a great damn story here! I wish I could tell you what's going on. But I won't. I will once again just tell you how I felt listening to this. The narrator, Erik Bergmann makes this audiobook come to life! He is very reminiscent of Ray Porter. He does the most dead on American accent speaking Spanish to Spanish accents speaking English. It really helped bring this book to life for me. You know you are in for a good audiobook when you have to listen to the last hour in complete isolation to deal with all the feels!

First let me tell you why I picked up this audio. Yeah, I gave it a chance because I had just finished Charlie Huston's Already Dead. And like I said there, detective noir isn't my bag. But the premise of sleeplessness as some sort of disease you can catch? Oh yeah, that was a frightening idea. Considering my hate hate relationship with severe insomnia. The audiobook was interesting in that narration. It actually had two narrators. One being Ray Porter! Who I have adored ever since listening to the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Mayberry. Now about the story? I liked it. I was enthralled with it. The setting is a almost apocalyptic LA. My actual home town. So with the description of streets and beaches and what not, I was able to fully map the landscape of the audiobook in my mind. The characters were quirky, but the despair was very real. My only dislike is the style of the story. Again, I'm not big on detective noir. But only because it follows a formula of throwing you into the thick of things. And you don't find out all pertinent information until the last few chapters. This usually ends in the aha here is the exposition part. Let me re-wind so I catch it all. 

But still? A great listen. This book made me feel as  if this could happen. Where the far far away future where humans pay consequences for their actions suddenly isn't so far far away after all. 

I have to first say this up front. I normally don't like noir style of books or movies for that matter. I was attracted to this book because of the vampire subject. I love modern takes on an old standard. 1 hour into reading and I wasn't sure I was going to stick around with it. But it grew on me. The same way The Grifters audiobook grew on me. Great narrators can seriously make or break and audiobook. I was sucked in with the rich detail of the world. It took a bit of figuring out just what was going on. Not the strongest story ever. But interesting none the less. Enough so that I gave this author another shot. I'm currently listening to another of this books called Sleepless. 

I think the audiobook was like the pilot of a sitcom you will eventually come to love. It crammed a lot of info and back story into one audiobook. Though it did leave a bit to the imagination. I wouldn't mind visiting this world again. 

*as this is my first audiobook review here, I should let you know up front. I'm not one to go into great detail about what a book is...well about. You have the book and the reviews to read up on if you want that. I'd rather tell you how the book made me feel. What my experience was like listening to the book etc. To be perfectly honest, I doubt anyone will ever read these. It's more for me to catalog and then maybe re visit later down the line. 

So first let me say, I am here because Springpad is closing down. I had a nice little system of notebooks that cataloged all my audiobooks. I have a good reads account. But that is just too cluttered. I wanted a place to shelve my audiobooks. Both for the viewing pleasure of my friends and for me. 

I used to be an avid reader. My parents had me started at a young age. I  used to love those days at school when the Schoolastic book fair would come around! I would order all my little books just to get that free kitten poster! I also remember having a subscription to Sesame Street magazine. And that actually started my love of vampires. Still going strong all these years later.

But my eyesight is failing. I have blurry vision due to Diabetes. And so reading has become a chore for me. But then I decided to give my library a chance. And I found the wonderful world of audiobooks!

Now some people think it's not the same. Well if you don't have a choice, this is a life saver. Both reading and listening to books takes me to the same wonderful place. A place outside of my world. 

I made a resolution to read/listen to more books. And wow have I! I take 2 buses to work a total of 2 hours each way. So audiobooks just fly through me. 

I can't think of anything better then to be on a bus listening to a tale of zombies.

So that's why I now listen to audiobooks.