Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer

This audiobook was obtained from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Library website. It was 7 hours and 6 minutes long.

This book originally came out in 1996, but is now getting fresh attention because it has recently been made into a movie. It's the story of Chris McCandless, a 24 year old Emory University graduate who forsakes modern life to become a modern Henry David Thoreau. Without telling his family, who all believe he will be attending law school, he gives away his college fund, starts using an assumed name, and heads out west to live a life at loose ends. His travels take him to remote places, from Mexico to the Dakotas, and ultimately to the Alaskan wilderness. It is there, at life's extremities, and with no help in sight, that he comes to a miserable end.

Krakauer tells this story as only another person who enjoys extreme living can tell it. He helps you to get to know Chris McCandless by exhaustive research, including Chris' last written accounts and interviews with the people who were touched by him along the way, and through his own insight as a person who has been bewitched by the wilderness experience. You may come away admiring or pitying Chris McCandless, but you will not be able to forget him. I know that I want to see the movie when it comes out. I give this one 4 stars.

Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe and Kirby Heyborne

This audiobook came from Overdrive Audio via the Alachua County Library's website. It is in Windows Media Audio format, and it was 9 hours and 45 minutes long.

If you are interested in keeping your business alive and growing in the 21st Century, this thought-provoking book will help you come out of the economic Dark Ages.

Before hiring experts, look to the crowd. In today's global community, you can find out what will work and what will not by accessing niche groups who will not only tell you what they like, but help you build it as well. Collaborative effort is not just for your research team, and your team may not even be on your payroll. Enormously important projects with global scope and billions at stake are created by virtual communities of passionate enthusiasts in partnership with professionals. The Linux operating system, Wikipedia, and a host of smaller enterprises are examples of the amazing power of crowds. These crowds can now be assembled into working units on very technical projects by using the Internet, and even small companies do it.

If you already have a can-do attitude, this will take it up to another level and change your paradigm. I give this book 4 stars.

I still have a blog...

If you have been wondering where I have been for almost 4 months, it's like this: business took off and I hired 3 people. Now business is dragging the bottom (as it usually does in June-July) and I am really hustling to keep my guys doing something. What I am trying to say is that whether I am training people or selling new accounts, I have precious little time alone in the world of audio any more. It's been a big change, and I hope to figure out how I am going to reintegrate audiobooks into my life. I enjoy them too much to quit.

I will post a review soon, but it will take a real effort to do so. It is also the escalation of the political season, and I am a very busy political activist. So please hang in there!

Don Marsh

The Appeal, by John Grisham

This audiobook was obtained from Overdrive Audio, through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 12 hours and 33 minutes long, and was narrated by Michael Beck.

Typical John Grisham story of noble, financially challenged attorneys doing battle with a huge company represented by the legal armies from Hell. In spite of being predictable and uncommonly preachy, it is still a good read. Characters and dialog pop off the page as a good writer does his job. If you have time on your hands and nothing else to read, it's worth three stars. If you have other books waiting, downgrade it to two and try a new author.

Rise and Shine, by Anna Quindlen

This audiobook was obtained for free from Netlibrary.com. It was 10 hours and 49 minutes long, and was narrated by Carol Monda.

Meghan and Bridget Fitzmaurice lost their parents at an early age. Meghan grew up to be a world famous host of a morning news show, Rise and Shine, while Bridget grew up to an unmarried social worker who also helps keep Meghan's family grounded. The city of New York is also a major character in this book, providing the classist backdrop that is constantly making itself heard.

Meghan's life takes a turn downward when she inadvertently drops a 4 megaton expletive before her mike is turned off on the way to a commercial. She is temporarily suspended while the show's producers figure out what to do, and Meghan decides to go into hiding while she sorts out her life, including her failing marriage.

It's an easy read and it wasn't boring. But I had a hard time caring enough about the characters to really get into it. I felt like a was treading water, waiting for my next book. For that, it's only worth 2 stars.

The Next Step in the Dance, by Tim Gautreaux

This audiobook was obtained from NetLibrary.com through the Alachua County Public Library. This book was 11 hours and 42 minutes long, and was narrated by Vernel Bagneris.

Paul and Colette Thibodeaux are a young married couple in an insular Cajun community called Tiger Island. Paul is a talented machinist who is happy with his work and just as happy to play his accordion and dance up a storm at the local pub. Colette is beautiful and bored, and deeply annoyed with her husband's contentment. One day she finds and excuse to leave him, and she makes her way to Los Angeles. She finds work similar to what she did at the bank back home, except there is more opportunity for advancement. She's smart, hard-working, and the boss likes her, so she is doing well when Paul decides to follow her. He is cool enough to give her some space, and he finds a job for his unique talents and he is doing well, too.

But not all that glitters is gold. They are both working for unscrupulous creeps, so they both end up returning to Tiger Island just after the jobs have all dried up. They are still separated, but now Colette is pregnant, care of a weak moment with Paul while they were living in California.

The hits just keep coming before they ever work it all out. It's a good story, but it seems to come from a different time. Paul seems way older than 24, and Colette does not seem like 23. They just seem so middle aged in their attitudes and demeanor. It was a big distraction that pecked away at the story's credulity. It had its good moments, but it was a little more work to read than I like a book to be. 2 stars.

One Mississippi, by Mark Childress

This audiobook was obtained from NetLibrary.com, through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 13 hours and 17 minutes long and was narrated by Jeff Woodman.

Daniel Musgrove gets to start his life over in Mississippi after his father is transferred to a new territory. Changing high schools is bad enough, but downgrading from Indiana to Mississippi is excruciating. But then he finds a friend, a local outcast named Tim Cousins.

It's 1973, and their high school is about to elect its first black prom queen. It's also the night that Tim and Daniel take a couple of girls to the prom, and Daniel gets his first kiss. After bringing their dates home, they accidentally hit the new queen, who was riding home on her bicycle. They flee in terror, come back to see that their nemesis, a popular jock and bully, is getting busted for it after stopping to see if she is alright. They let him hang, and when she comes to, she has a colorblind brand of amnesia: she thinks she is white.

The lunacy just keeps coming. This was very, very funny book, but it takes some very, very dark turns. Funny, thought-provoking, sad, disturbing: it gets a star for each, which makes 4 altogether.