Ribkins My Brother

Ever since my youth I have found immense pleasure and delight with the random and coincidental unveiling of some new literary treasure. My passion is in novels, and when I find an author I like, I would read everything they ever produced.  Alexander Kent...read one novel, read them all. Tolkien and Stephen King. Cormac McCarthy.  Larry McMurtry.  Henning Mankell.   I could go on an on.

I take great pleasure in the discovery of something new in my literary diet.  I love novels that take me to some new place, or to some new point of view. I like being placed in new shoes and new situations.  A writer who is adept in taking me comfortably to parts unknown is cherished. 

And I love it when something is discovered walking though library or bookstore shelves and some trick of the eye flashes something completely different and fresh. It is a feeling similar to 'love at first site'....that moment of recognition of some beautiful new thing, a virgin novel entering my consciousness.

An literary moment as I describe took place just last week.  I had finished "The Last Ship" and I was looking for an audio book that had a similar apocalyptic plot.  I found several lists in GoodReads and other similar places...I would take rough ideas I found and then search through OverDrive at my library for one of those titles suggested.  Unfortunate, none were available. I put a couple on hold. But I needed something NOW....it is very painful for me to travel those hour long drives to work, or 2 hour flights to Dallas....without one or two audio books to sustain my powerful lust.

During my search, I came across an interesting title....but found that Overdrive had no audio copies available. However, OverDrive did provide me a list of  'You Might Also Like' suggestions. Desperate, I browsed through those suggestions.  The really odd thing, is almost all the suggestions they provided really had nothing whatsoever to do with what I was end of the world type scenarios.

Knowing I needed something for the next days commute, I decided on two of these random suggestions hoping at least one would pay off.  I also knew that onc of the holds I had placed may come through before too long, therefore I figured I was in pretty good shape.

Well, let me tell you friend...I found myself in much better shape than I could ever have imagined. Both turned out to be treasures. I had struck literary gold, and the gods of RANDOM had blessed me greatly.

The First Novel I read was "Tell The Wolves I'm Home", by Carol Rifka Brunt.  This was narrated very well by Amy Rubinate.  Set in the early 80's,  dealing adeptly with both AIDS and homosexual themes, this was a well crafted story about a young teen girl coming of age and having to deal with the AIDS related death of her beloved Uncle, and later again with the death of his lover Toby.  The novel also handled the young hero's own troubled relationship with her family, with her sister n particular. Her uncle was a famous but reclusive artist, and the book explores his past and legacy.  If I can think of any weakness to this novel, it may have been that I felt a bit the odd voyeur into this young teen's life. That feeling may have arisen from the fact that I d may have wandered a bit into YW literature this time around.  I have wandered into these 'shelves' before, much due to the fact that I had three daughters myself, it was not unknown for me to read some of their stuff from time to time.  Still, the author treated me allowing me to visit perspectives and settings that were foreign to me, and my visit was enlightening, warm, and comfortable. If I had wandered into YW land, so be it.   Two thumbs up.

The second 'find' was fantastic!  "The Talented Ribkins" by Ladee Hubard.  This book was wonderfully narrated by Kevin Kenerly.  A quick check in OverDrive revealed no additional books by this Author available. Drat.  But I was able to find a Audio Book narrated by Kenerly on OverDrive and I have already checked it out. That will be for my commute tomorrow.

I loved this book. The Author roughed me up a bit and squeezed me into the shoes of a post middle aged Civil Rights 'Freedom Fighter' with just a touch of  odd SUPERPOWERS.  I can't think of anywhere I would have rather been than driving through the African American neighborhoods of North Western Florida with this gifted author behind the wheel.   I won't give away the plot too much here, but I highly recommend this Audio Book.  The thought occurring to me right now is that this book is a screen play just waiting to happen...are you listening out there Denzil?  There are some wonderful characters filling these chapters just begging to be played by an all star, all black cast. I'd pay to see that. More of hint than a spoiler; look for a reference to Luke Cage about 3/4 of the way through.  Lots of really great detail work by this author, I felt that I was being educated into black culture and civil rights history.

Two thumps up, I suggest you check this one out.

Now, if you happen to do as I do and read both back to back...I'd love to discuss with you the common ground between these two seemingly disparate novels. There are several I noticed. Comments encouraged.

Cheers, nca

Hell-Boy Hath Fury

I have mentioned my passion for Audible Books before. Therefore, bringing this up again for you dedicated Netizans of 'Kotkas' won't  arrive a complete surprise. So, why did I feel the topic required rehashing?

I have many reasons for loving Audio versions of books.

• I love books. I have been a pretty avid reader since my early childhood years.  

• Since my Heart Surgery, I have trouble staying awake all night to plow through a good book. I just can't stay awake like I used to.  An unfortunate side effect, but I just am much sleepier than I used to be.  Audio Books have become my 'go to' literature source.

• My drive to work is about 1 hour of stop and go traffic. An Audio Book is perfect for this boring two hour entrapment each way each day. What better way to make the drive go quicker than a literary escape each day.

• Overdrive audio books checked out from my local library are free and the ease of downloading a new book is amazing. A few clicks on my Overdrive App on my I-Phone and I am ready to go.

• There are some terrific narrators out there folks.  A great narrator can add amazing depth to a great yarn.  I have found several favorites I consider top knotch, and I treasure new finds as I come across then.  Occasionally an A-List celebrity will take on the job. And there are some terrific professionals you come across quite often. Some of my favorite narrators include Jim Dale, John McDonough, Judy Kay, , and George Guidall, It is a shame to limit it to these favorites, there are many more. 

Recently I came across a new favorite to join these others narrators I enjoy.  I was quite surprised to discover that "Hell-Boy" Ron Perlman had done some Audio-book narration. Dudes, this guy is an excellent story teller.  I had picked up the David Benioff book "City Of Thieves" from Audible because it was set in Leningrad ('St. Pete') during the Nazi siege. This is a historic time that I am always fascinated to read about.  Within a few pages of Perlman's narration I was hooked.  I had to do a Google search on other books he has narrated and I was disappointed that the pick'ens were so slim.

Perlman did not try to disguise his rich voice nor swap to some funky Russian accent, he stuck to his own tone, accent, and cadence....and it was a real treat. I could not put my headphones down.

I'd like to encourage you my followers that if you are looking for a great story told by a unique celebrity voice, then check out the Audiobook of David Benioff's "City Of Thieves". And I'd like to encourage Mr. Perlman to keep up the 'narrating', I will continue to look for your work.

Cheers, nca

p.s. I'd love to hear some of your favorite audio-book narrators if you have a chance to comment. 

Jonna Linna On The Fly

Learning I would have to fly to Dallas for a day trip, I knew I wanted to bring a book on tape with me. I had never used my work I-Phone to download music or B.O.T., I thought I would give it a try.  At the library, I picked up a audio version of the novel "The Fire Wtness' by Lars Keplar. I loaded it in to iTunes and downloaded it to my I-Phone. The audio version was on 12 cd's.

Once ensconced on the plane, I turned on the airplane mode function and started up the story. I quickly learned that the method I had used to download the cd's caused whatever logic was in the I-Phone to randomize the selection of the chapters. The order of the story was virtually randomized. If I took the time to scan through the chapter headings, I could very slowly pick out the next chapter, but the randomness and the pausing while I searched for the next chapter quickly wore out the pleasure. I pocketed the I-phone and got out the cross-word puzzle in the air flight magazine.

Try two!



I went back to the library and read up on how to use Overdrive to download audio books directly to the I-phone. I then used Overdrive and my library card to download 'The Fire Witness' to my I Phone. Now, the story is in order, logical, and as I soon found out, extremely riveting. The process of downloading is simple, and free to library patrons.



The basic story line for ''The Fire Witness' is a young teen girl at a group home is suspected of murdering another girl at the home along with one of the workers. She flees the scene after kidnapping a young boy and the story chronicles her pursuit while pondering the causes of her troubled life. The story is the third in a series that features Jonna Linna, Swedish Detective Inspector.

The Blackstone audio version is read very well by Mark Bramhall. The book was translated into English by Laura Wideburg, the quality of that translation I can't vouch for. :)

I highly recommend finding out about Overdrive and Free Library downloads from your local library. It you love audio books, it is pretty slick way to keep your I-Phone loaded with excellent stuff like "The Fire Witness",

P.S. Feeling guilty about downloading library books online?  Read this article about how authors feel about library downloaded literature.