Review: Columbine

Review: Columbine, by Dave Cullen

A Reader's Respite is lately addicted to our Ipod. Actually, we have an entire laundry-list of neuroses and addictions, but that's not important right now. The one we are talking about here is our newest obsession with listening to non-fiction on audiobook.

To be completely honest, A Reader's Respite doesn't really have any music on our Ipod anymore. We have audiobooks instead. And the newest neurosis to manifest itself around here is that we simply cannot fall asleep at night without a good non-fiction audiobook. That's not to say that non-fiction is so boring as to put us to sleep. Rather, it has become a ritual as comfortable as a favorite blanket.

Audiobooks have a lot of pressure on them: not only does the writing have to be good, but the narration does as well. There's been more than one excellent book out there that has been ruined by perfectly horrid narration. But when you find a good book told by a good narrator, well that, my friends, is priceless.



So it is to the non-fiction review blog Letters on Pages that A Reader's Respite owes our heartfelt thanks for recommending Dave Cullen's new book, Columbine, fabulously narrated by Don Leslie. (If you haven't checked out Adam's non-fiction reviews, you're missing out!)

For those who need a quick refresher: in 1999, Colorado teens Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire in Columbine High School, killing 13 students and faculty before turning the guns on themselves. The tragedy dominated the national news for months and the public was fed an enormous amount of mis-information, thanks to a botched investigation, gag-orders and grossly eroneous media reports.

Harris and Klebold, the little shits

Ten years later, Dave Cullen finally gives us the definitive story of the Columbine massacre, brilliantly written and illuminating. It was gratifying to finally learn the real story behind the tragedy: the victims, the motives, the history that led up to this horrific event. Don Leslie's narration is so compelling as to be almost addictive....you will not want to stop listening to his voice!

The unabridged version (and we'll just tell you right now, if A Reader's Respite ever catches you listening to anything abridged, we'll break your kneecap) runs a glorious 43 hours and 34 minutes. It is available on CD, but we highly recommend downloading it from Audible.com if you have an MP3 player ($15 a month gets you one free audiobook download each month...a steal!).

This is a highly recommended book in whatever format you prefer...read it.