Actors as narrators…..

A Reader’s Respite has a love-hate relationship with famous actors who try their hands as audiobook narrators.  For every narration we love, there are at least two that are disasters because – let’s be honest here – acting a role in front of the camera is vastly different from interpreting the nuances of a novel with only your vocal inflections.

When we heard that the latest much-hyped novel from David Vann, Caribou Island, was being released on audio narrated by Bronson Pinchot, A Reader’s Respite stopped dead in our tracks.

Bronson Pinchot?  You do know who Bronson Pinchot is, don’t you?

Any self-respecting child of the 80’s knows Pinchot as Balki Bartokomous, the Balkan immigrant who stole the 1980’s sitcom, Perfect Strangers.  And while we recognize the enormous disservice we do by pigeon-holing an actor (he has, after all, appeared on Broadway and in many notable dramatic roles over the years), it was our teen-crush on Balki  that led us to promptly cancel our library hold on the hardcopy of Caribou Island and download the audio version instead.

A Reader’s Respite would be lying if we didn’t admit that a small, deviant part of us was hoping to hear Pinchot read Caribou Island in his Balki voice.  (Thankfully no one allows us to make editorial decisions in this regard.)

Instead, Pinchot delivers a subtly stunning performance with Vann’s novel….not an easy task when you consider his dark novels are often favorably compared to that master-of-depression, Cormac McCarthy.

This isn’t Pinchot’s first rodeo when it comes to audiobook narration.  He also performed Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War (Karl Marlantes) last year and What is Left of the Daughter (Howard Norman), amongst others.

A Reader’s Respite, for one, is very thankful that Pinchot has leant his considerable talent to audiobooks.  Even if he doesn’t read in his Balki voice, his narrations are not to be missed.

Mortality (measured by books)

No one likes to think too much about there own mortality, but there are times in our lives when we are struck by how short this life really is.

Perhaps you realize it when an acquaintance of similar age unexpectedly passes away.  Or maybe it hits you on a milestone birthday (never thought you’d be this old, right?).

A Reader’s Respite recently faced our mortality whilst organizing our bookshelves.  Here’s how we figure it:

We have approximately 2,847 unread books  on our shelves.  If we continue at our normal reading pace of approximately 100 books per year, it will take us 28.47 years to read all of the books currently in our abode.

Normally A Reader’s Respite wouldn’t be so quick to give away our age, but with the Grim Reaper inching ever closer, we’ll throw caution to the wind and tell you that we will be 68.47 years old by the time we read every book that we’ve amassed.

And none of these tricky mathematical calculations factor in books yet to come and library treasures.

So it is that we are faced with the grim reality that we may very well pass from this world without reading some very important books. 

Of course, we should be disturbed by the fact that passing away without reading certain books that we really want to read is apparently more upsetting than, say, leaving our loved ones behind.  But that’s another topic altogether….

In the meantime, someone please promise to bury us with our unread books.  Maybe you can take it with you.

Book Sculpture

In addition to our Etsy obsession, A Reader's Respite is currently going through a book sculpture phase.

This piece was created by Hubertus Gojowczyk....it's entitled Latest News from the Year 1732 and 1733.  If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.  (We asked, so we know this to be true.) 

Still, it might be worth it to display on a shelf in Big Kid's room if only to freak him out a bit.  (Parent humor....we can't get enough of it.)

Inauspicious Beginnings

Just a few days ago, A Reader's Respite was merrily wishing each of you a year of good reading in 2011.  Too bad we forgot to wish the same for ourselves.  If we had, mayhap we would have been spared the absolute disaster newly released by Delacorte Press, entitled Vixen.

With a glitzy cover just begging for the impulse-buy rack at Barnes & Nobel, Vixen is the first of a proposed trilogy (Dear God, help us) marketed for the Gossip-Girl generation.  Set in the 1920s, the storyline follows a rich teen socialite who wants nothing more out of life than to follow her heart and be a flapper.  Of course, she has to overcome some obstacles first:

1. Her evil betrothed (think of him as a 1920s version of The Bachelor)
2. Her insanely jealous, but not as rich or beautiful, BFF
3. Her mysterious, but beautiful, cousin who has a deep, dark secret

Any of this sounding familiar, folks?

If you happened to have read any one of author Anna Godbersen's The Luxe Series (a travesty in and of itself), alarm bells are likely going off in your head right about now.

Because Vixen is almost a carbon copy of Godbersen's books, from the main protagonist who just wants to follow her own heart to the conniving BFF.  Author Jillian Larkin simply changed the setting from New York to Chicago and cut out some paper-doll flapper clothes and slapped them on her characters.

Similar to The Luxe books, there is absolutely no historical fiction value here.  The historical part only serves as a costume for the characters to wear.  There is no essence of the time period despite a few catch-phrases of the times ("you're the bees-knees!"), one would assume the setting is present day.

An overload of rich-girl scheming, drinking, and back-stabbing make for an extremely predictable plot (maybe because it's been written before) with awkward dialogue and no historical merits whatsoever.

the incomparable Zelda

If the era of the flappers interests you, you'd do far better to reach for Nancy Milford's excellent biography of the original flapper, Zelda Fitzgerald.  Through Zelda one comes to understand that being a flapper wasn't just about bobbing your hair and smoking a cigarette.  It was a state of mind and a way of life that women were adapting to break free of the chains (and corsets) that restricted them throughout the Victorian era.

Ultimately, Vixen and its sequels are simply Delacort's effort at a quick cash infusion.  And with such a huge marketing campaign behind it, coupled with the truth that trash sells, it will likely meet with large success.

In the meantime, A Reader's Respite is starting our New Year's Resolution List:

1. Don't be suckered in with a glitzy cover and a vague historical fiction description
2. (not sure, but we'll be adding to the list as the year goes on....)

Postscript:  Our copy?  In an unfortunate twist of events, we ended up with two review copies (that's twice the pain).  Just because we didn't pay a cent for it doesn't mean it gets a good review.  We calls them as we sees them around here.