Good listens or reads!

It's been awhile since I listed the books that I've been listening to on my way to and from work. It seems like I got into a more serious reading mood as you will see.

House Rules is by Jodi Picoult. I enjoy Jodi' books and they always seem to have a surprise ending and this one is no exception. House Rules is about a boy named Jacob, his mother, and brother. Jacob has a high functioning form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. I did not know anything about Asperger's--how it affects the person who has it as well as the family, and found it to be very interesting. Jacob is a forensic science wizard which gets him in trouble with the law. He has trouble communicating with the lawyers and the judge showing how our legal system does not always work well for people who can't communicate 'normally'. It is narrated by several people and is about 20 hours.

My next listen was My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. Jill is a neuroscientist who had a stroke at age 37. She articulates the actual shutdown of her brain. The book is divided into sections. The first part gives a greater understanding of how the brain functions. In the second part, Jill articulates having the stroke, defining to herself that it really is a stroke, and then describing the actual shutting down of her brain. In the third part, Jill describes the methods and therapies that she used to get her brain functioning normally again, a process of about 8 years. For the most part, I enjoyed it. It got a little tedious at some points, but I highly recommend it to someone who has had a stroke and/or to their caregivers. It has some very valuable information about how to work with a stroke victim to help them regain their skills. The book is narrated by the author.

And then I got an iPad and actually read a book. : ) Still Alice was recommended to my by my friend Judy. It is a fictional story about a 50 year old Linguistics Professor at Harvard who develops early onset Alzheimer's. I found it to be very insightful and helped me understand a little more about such a horrible disease, and how it affects the victim as well as the family. I thought at first that it might be very depressing, and it was a little, but it was also a tender love story.
OK! Now for a recommendation on a happy and fun book. Finger Lickin Fifteen is another novel in the Stephanie Plum series. I find these books to be delightful getaways. I haven't listened to them all, so I'm not tired of the series nor the characters as some other reviewers have said. The first time my daughter listened to one of them with me she just rolled her eyes and complained. A couple of months later I found her reading the next one and she has already read Sizzling Sixteen and I didn't even know it was out. If you start reading this series, be ready to fall in love with Joe Morelli or Ranger or better yet, both.

Last, but not least, I re-listened to The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo on a trip to Aspen a few weeks ago. My husband was interested in it and I wanted to hear it again before I watched the movie--especially since it is in Swedish with sub-titles. Loved it all over again!

Well, that's all for now. If you've read anything that you would like to recommend, please comment. Until next time,

Happy listening and/or reading,

Lynda

PS My next listen might be Eat, Pray, Love again before I go to see the movie>