I’ll start by raving about the audiobook version of Neil Gaiman’s latest, Anansi Boys. The story and writing are (unsurprisingly) superb. But the performance by Lenny Henry reading the story is just outstanding. Safe to say it is the most engrossing audiobook reading I’ve heard in a long time. Great pacing. Character voicing, usually the downfall of audiobooks, is handled exceptionally and consistently. Even if you’re not huge into audiobooks, I’d say give this one a twirl.
But there’s a caveat. Don’t be a dummy like me. If you decide to listen to Anansi Boys on an iPod (of which mine is a bulky, lumbering first-generation from 2002…every week feeling more like the audio equivalent of a bag-phone), please take care to listen to the tracks in the correct order. Duh, right? Well, last night on my way home from work an inadvertent thumb-press put me two chapters ahead and orders-of-magnitude confused.
I’m driving along, thinking, "hmm…this is pretty clumsy," disoriented and wondering how Gaiman or his editor had let this weird narrative shift slip through. "Fat Charlie is what?" Only after looking down to disconnect as I pulled into the driveway did I realize I had skipped several tracks and ruined a couple of nice surprises. Dumb.
I’m all caught up now, thanks for asking. Have a great weekend peeps!
