A new list! I love a list. I have only just started listening to audiobooks, and it’s not just about the story – it’s also about the narrator/s. Which is why Geneva is the outright winner.

One of my biggest issues with audiobooks has always been the length, as I am a fast reader and I don’t have the patience to listen for, say 11 or 12 hours, when I could have read it in five. I also fall asleep when I’m listening and then I have to find where I was, which is harder than on my Kindle.

But the outright biggie is the narrator. I can tell in the first few minutes whether I’m going to like them, and if I don’t (which is totally personal) I won’t buy the audio book. I’ll read it on my Kindle instead.

Geneva by Richard Armitage

First of all let me just say that the narration was brilliant. Richard Armitage voices Daniel and everything else, while Nicola Walker voices Sarah. It works really well, but then these two are amongst the finest actors of their generation.

I listened to it on Audible. It’s not like someone is simply reading a book, however good they are. This was a performance. And how exciting it was! It was a bit slow to start with, I have to admit, as we had to get to know the characters, but I listened to the last three and a half hours on the plane back from Gran Canaria. I’m glad it got to the end before we landed. I was on the edge of my seat – literally and not just because of the turbulence.

For my full review click here

The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams

The Dictionary of Lost Words is one of my favourite books this year. I never believed another book could match it, but it did. The Bookbinder of Jericho is set in the same location – Oxford – and the main characters, twin sisters Peggy and Maude Jones are the next generation. It’s 1914 and the girls work in the book bindery, folding and stitching. The work is repetitive, but what keeps Peggy going is having a peak at what she is binding, ‘bind the books, don’t read them,’ she is told. Every now and again the folding or stitching are not up to par and Peggy can take the pages home with her. She wants more.

For my full review click here

Gone by TJ Brearton

I’ve been listening to this on Audible. I really like the narrator, which to me is very important. Sometimes less than a minute and I think I can’t stand this voice. But this was perfect.

I love a conspiracy theory, but it must have its roots in fact. I don’t believe that Elvis is alive and living on the moon with Princess Diana. We are not talking about the National Enquirer here. I have this idea that when the world population hit 7 billion, someone, somewhere, decided to release a pandemic to bring it down. Ok, maybe not, but there has to be an inkling of possibility.

For my full review click here